title: Opera seria

paragraphs: Opera seria is an Italian term which refers to the "serious" style of Italian opera in the 18th century. It was different from opera buffa which was a musical comedy. Opera seria was supposed to be about serious tragedy. The term “opera seria” only started to be used after the time when it was popular in order to talk about the historic period.

paragraphs: Italian "opera seria" was always in the Italian language, even when it was composed or performed in other countries such as Germany, Austria, England and Spain. In France the opera seria was not so popular. They had their own forms of opera.

paragraphs: Popular composers of opera seria included Hasse, Vinci, Jommelli, George Frideric Handel, Piccinni, Paisiello, Cimarosa, Gluck, and Mozart.

paragraphs: "Opera seria" was often called "dramma per musica" ("drama through music"). The story was told in recitative, a quick-flowing music with simple accompaniment. Then there were arias which were the big songs where the singers could show off their skills. They were normally in "da capo" form (a main section, a middle section, and the main section repeated). The opera would start with an overture and there would also be some ensembles where several characters sung at once.

paragraphs: The stories of opera seria were usually about the ancient Greek and Roman gods or kings. This was in contrast to opera buffa, which was about ordinary people and often made fun of kings and nobility.

paragraphs: The main singers in opera seria were mostly castrati, male singers who had been castrated when they were young so that they still sang with high voices. Gradually during the 18th century the female singers got more of the main roles (the “prima donna” or “first lady”).

paragraphs: One of the first composers of opera seria was Alessandro Scarlatti. In England George Frideric Handel wrote many great opera seria. The most important man in the development of mid-18th century opera seria was Metastasio who wrote libretti. His words were set by the greatest composers in Europe: Hasse, Porpora and, especially, Mozart.

paragraphs: In the later part of the 18th century Christoph Willibald Gluck changed a lot of traditions in opera. He did not want opera to be just a way for singers to show off their voices. He wanted the story to be important. He did not use dry recitative but tried to make the drama, dance and music all important, especially the chorus. "Orfeo ed Euridice" was his first important opera, followed by others such as "Alceste".

paragraphs: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was influenced by Gluck’s reforms. His two great opera seria were "Idomeneo" (1780) and "La clemenza di Tito" (1791). Mostly, however, Mozart was not so interested in writing about the old Greek gods and kings. His other great Italian operas: "Cosi fan tutte", "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Don Giovanni" are something between opera seria and opera buffa. These were set to libretti by Lorenzo da Ponte.

paragraphs: Other important "opera seria" composers were Luigi Cherubini and Gaspare Spontini, followed by Rossini whose musical style made further changes to opera seria.


title: Mosbach

paragraphs: Mosbach is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. About 25,000 people live there. It is between Heidelberg and Heilbronn. There are other big towns nearby: Sinsheim, Eberbach and Osterburken.

paragraphs: In Neckarelz, a suburb of Mosbach, is the most important train station. There are trains running from Mannheim - Heidelberg - Heilbronn, Stuttgart - Heilbronn - Neckarelz and Kaiserslautern - Mannheim - Heidelberg - Mosbach - Osterburken. There are also 2 other stations: Mosbach and Mosbach West. There are only trains from Kaiserslautern to Osterburken.

paragraphs: Mosbach has an area of . The postal codes are from "74801" to "74821", the old one was "6950". The telephone numbers start with "+49 6261", The cars have number plates with the letters "MOS".


title: Counties of Ireland

paragraphs: There are 32 historic counties on the island of Ireland. 26 are in the Republic of Ireland and 6 are in Northern Ireland.

paragraphs: The counties "in italics" do not have a county council, instead they are have two or more smaller administrative county councils (called districts, in Northern Ireland)

paragraphs: Several large towns are county boroughs. These councils have the same powers and duties of a county council.


title: Melk Abbey

paragraphs: Melk Abbey or Stift Melk is a Benedictine abbey. It lies on the Danube, near the city of Melk. It is located in Lower Austria. It is one of the distinguishing features of a region known as Wachau. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

paragraphs: The abbey was almost totally destroyed in a fire, on 14 August 1297. It was rebuilt in Baroque style at the beginning of the 18th century.


title: Walenstadt

paragraphs: Walenstadt is a small city in east Switzerland. It is near Lake Walen and is divided in four part cities: Tscherlach, Berschis, Walenstadt and Walenstadtberg.


title: Exhibitionism

paragraphs: Exhibitionism is a tendency some people have. These people derive pleasure from the fact that other people can see them naked, or while having sex. Exhibitionism is much more common in extraverts, especially people who have histrionic personality disorder.

paragraphs: Exhibitionism is more common in women than in men.

paragraphs: Enjoying watching other people have sex, or being naked, is called voyeurism.


title: Norman Rockwell

paragraphs: Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 - November 8, 1978) was an American painter. He was born in New York City. During 40 years Rockwell drew the cover pages of "The Saturday Evening Post". He died of emphysema in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge owns much of his work.

paragraphs: Well known are his paintings on the "Four Freedoms" of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, called: "Freedom of Speech", "Freedom of Worship", "Freedom from Want" and "Freedom from Fear".


title: Zuiderzee Works

paragraphs: The Zuiderzeewerken ("Zuiderzee Works") are a system of dams, land reclamation and water drainage works in the Netherlands during the twentieth century. Plans for the works date back to the 1600s, but it was not until a very bad flood in 1916, that the Dutch parliament finally agreed to pay for the works. Now it is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

paragraphs: First some dams or dykes were built to separate the South Sea () from the North Sea. The biggest was the "Afsluitdijk" ('closure dyke'). It is long. When it was finished in 1932, the South Sea was completely cut off and from then on would become a lake called the "IJsselmeer".

paragraphs: Land reclamation meant building more dams and pumping out the water inside. The new land is called a polder. Polders make new land for agriculture and make flood protection better, because the lake is smaller.

paragraphs: There are gates and sluices at the ends of the Afsluitdijk. The gates, called locks, can be opened to let ships through. The sluices let water out of the IJsselmeer. If there were no sluices the lake would fill up and flood the countryside. This is because it is always being filled with water from rivers and the polders which are still being drained.


title: Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto

paragraphs: Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (February 3, 1898 – May 11, 1976 ) was a Finnish architect who made many important contributions to architecture. Sometimes called the "Father of Modernism".

paragraphs: Alvar Aalto was born in Kuortane, Finland. He studied architecture at the Technical University of Helsinki from 1916 to 1921. He returned to Jyväskylä, where he opened his first architectural office in 1923. Alvar Aalto died in May 11, 1976, in Helsinki.


title: Crook of Devon

paragraphs: The Crook of Devon is a Perthshire village about 6 miles south west of Kinross on the A977. It was famous in the 17th century for its witch burnings. Down the road at the side of the Institute (Village Hall) on the right hand side is a field called Lamblaires and in the north west corner is the place where the witches were strangled and then burned at the stake.


title: Opéra-comique

paragraphs: Opéra comique is a French opera tradition. Many French operas from the early 18th century to the early 20th century are opéras comiques. In this French tradition there is spoken dialogue as well as songs and dances. It developed from the popular vaudevilles.

paragraphs: In Paris there is a theatre called the Opéra-Comique where these operas were performed. Although “opéra comique” means “comic opera” it is not necessarily comedy. Bizet’s opera "Carmen" is probably the most famous opéra comique, and it is a tragedy. By the late 19th century the opéra-comique usually had no spoken dialogue. There was music all the way through (as there is in "Carmen").


title: Vaudeville

paragraphs: A Vaudeville was a French satirical poem or song in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was used a lot in French theatre where entertainments using such songs were called "comédie en vaudeville". Late in the 19th century, a type of variety show done in American theaters came to be called "vaudeville" which was popular from the early 1880s to the early 1930s. The typical American vaudeville performance was made up of a several different, unrelated performances which were grouped together into a single show. Entertainers typically traveled from town to town as arranged by a "vaudeville circuit". It became less popular after the rise of movies, cinema, and radio, which eventually took over as the main forms of public entertainment.

paragraphs: The earliest vaudeville was the "vau de vire", a Norman song of the 15th century, named after the valley of Vire. During the 16th century a style grew in the towns in France called the "voix de ville" ( "city voices"), whose name may have been a pun on "vau de vire". These were also satirical. The two styles came together and in the 17th and 18th century. The term 'vaudeville' came to be used for songs satirizing political and court events.

paragraphs: The comédie en vaudeville grew from the tradition of these simple songs. The Paris audiences in the late 17th and early 18th century enjoyed hearing the familiar vaudeville tunes to new words. These comedies then grew into opéra-comique.


title: Poppy

paragraphs: A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Paperveroideae.

paragraphs: The name is used especially for the bright red flowers which are common in this group. They are symbolic, and used to remember the Armistice Day of World War I, now known as Remembrance Day. Now it is celebrated in the Commonwealth for those who died in all wars.

paragraphs: Some types can be grown and used to make the drug opium. Ancient Egyptian doctors had their patients eat seeds from a poppy to relieve pain. Poppy seeds contain small quantities of both morphine and codeine. These are pain-relieving drugs that are still used today. The morphine practically disappears from the seeds twenty days after the flower has opened, so from then on poppy seeds and their oils are not narcotic.

paragraphs: There are a number of showy flowers, typically one per stem, in to the poppy family. They include a number of attractive wildflower species with showy flowers growing singularly or in large groups. Many species are grown in gardens. These include large plants used in a mixed herbaceous border and small plants that are grown in rock or alpine gardens.

paragraphs: The flower color of poppy species include: white, pink, yellow, orange, red and blue. Some have dark center markings. The cultivated species include many other colors ranging from dark solid colors to soft pastel shades. Before blooming, the petals are crumpled in bud, and as blooming finishes, the petals often lie flat before falling away.

paragraphs: The pollen of the oriental poppy, "Papaver orientale", is dark blue. The pollen of the field poppy or corn poppy ("Papaver rhoeas") is dark blue to grey. Bees use poppies for their pollen.

paragraphs: The opium poppy, "Papaver somniferum", is grown for opium, opiates or seeds to be used in cooking and baking.


title: Time signature

paragraphs: A time signature is a set of two numbers, one on top of the other one, written right after the key signature in a piece of music. The two numbers in a time signature tell you how many of one kind of note there are in each measure in the song. For example, formula_1 means that there are four beats in each measure and the quarter note gets one beat.

paragraphs: The number in the top of the time signature tells a player how many of a certain kind of note there are in each measure. The number in the bottom of the time signature tells what kind of note is used a certain number of times in each measure. The number on the bottom of the time signature can be any exponent of 2. So, 64 could be a number that is put in the bottom of the time signature, but 65 could not be one.

paragraphs: This table shows different numbers that could be the bottom of a time signature, and what they mean. Note that each note down lasts for one-half of the amount the note above it lasted. For example, one quarter note lasts one beat, and one-half note lasts one half of a beat, because one divided by two is one-half.


title: Really Simple Syndication

paragraphs: RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish often updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS document, which is called a "feed," "web feed," or "channel," contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites without having to check them manually. This flow of content between websites and users is called "web syndication".

paragraphs: RSS content can be read using software called an "RSS reader," "feed reader" or an "aggregator." The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that begins the subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds often for new content, downloading any updates that it finds. This content is stored in an standard XML file that many different computers and programs can understand. This file tells the programs how to show the content to the user.

paragraphs: The letters "RSS" are used to refer to any of these formats:

paragraphs: RSS is used also on exchanges. An example of using RSS, is Carbon Place, which uses it to show orders to the public.

paragraphs: There were other similar formats before RSS that were not as popular. The first one was the Meta Content Framework made in 1995 by Ramanathan V. Guha and others at Apple Computers.

paragraphs: The first version of RSS was called RDF Site Summary. It was made by Dan Libby and Ramanathan V. Guha at Netscape and made public in March 1999. This became RSS 0.9. In July 1999, RSS 0.91 was created by Dan Libby, which got rid of some features that weren't useful. It also added elements from Dave Winer's news syndication format. Libby renamed the format from RDF to RSS Rich Site Summary and planned how it should be made better in the future.

paragraphs: In 2001, the company was restructured by their owner, AOL, and no longer supported RSS. After that, the format was being developed by the RSS-DEV Working Group and Dave Winer. Winer was the first to write programs that could read and write RSS and were not made by Netscape.

paragraphs: RSS 1.0 was produced in December 2000 by the RSS-DEV team, which included representatives of O'Reilly Media and Moreover Technologies. This version added support for XML namespaces and RDF, which was previously removed in RSS 0.91. This version also changed the name back to "RDF Site Summary" and added new elements that help describe content, such as Dublin Core.

paragraphs: Also in December 2000, Dave Winer released RSS 0.92. It added the enclosure element, which could be used to include sound in RSS feeds. This feature is one of the origins of Podcasting. Winer also made drafts of RSS 0.93, which allowed many enclosure elements per an item element, along with RSS 0.94, but those versions were cancelled after being released.

paragraphs: In September 2002, Winter made RSS 2.0, the next major version of RSS. This version introduced the following changes:

paragraphs: To make sure that old programs which only support RSS 0.92 still work with RSS 2.0, namespace support only applies to other content within the feed, not the elements themselves. Other formats such as Atom tried to remove this limitation, however it never caught on.


title: European Union member state

paragraphs: A European Union member state is any one of the twenty-seven countries that have joined the European Union (EU) since it was found in 1958 as the European Economic Community (EEC). From an original membership of six states, there have been five successive enlargements. The largest happened on 1 May 2004, when ten member states joined.

paragraphs: Following the addition of Croatia in 2013, the EU's membership now stands at twenty-eight. Negotiations are also under way with other states. The process of enlargement is sometimes referred to as European integration. However, this term is also used to refer to the intensification of cooperation between EU member states as national governments allow for the gradual centralising of power within European institutions. Before being allowed to join the European Union, a state must fulfill the economic and political conditions generally known as the Copenhagen criteria: these basically require that a candidate member state must enjoy a secular, democratic system of government, together with the corresponding freedoms and institutions, and respect the rule of law. Under the terms of the Treaty on European Union, enlargement of the Union is conditional upon the agreement of each existing member state as well as approval by the European Parliament.

paragraphs: Bulgaria and Romania make up the second part of the EU's fifth enlargement, and joined the EU on 1 January 2007. This date was agreed upon at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003, confirmed at Brussels on 18 June 2004, and affirmed by the country reports of October 2004 and the final report delivered on 26 September 2006. Bulgaria and Romania signed their Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005 at a ceremony held at Neumünster Abbey in Luxembourg.


title: Quetzal

paragraphs: Quetzals are brightly colored birds in the trogon family. They are found in forests and woodlands, especially in humid highlands.

paragraphs: These birds live in the Americas. The word "quetzal" was first used for the resplendent quetzal, a famous long-tailed quetzal that lives in Central America. The resplendent quetzal is the national symbol of Guatemala.

paragraphs: They are strongly sexually dimorphic, as usual with the males being brighter. Parts of the female plumageis brown or grey. These largely solitary birds feed on fruits, berries, insects and small vertebrates (such as frogs). Even with their famous bright plumage, they can be hard to see in their natural wooded habitats.

paragraphs: In Aztec times, the quetzal was worshiped as the god of the air. Its long tail feathers, which can grow up to 2 ft (60 cm) long, were highly prized for making into costume and head-dresses.


title: The Powerpuff Girls

paragraphs: The Powerpuff Girls is an American comedy-action satirical adventure superhero children's animated television series. It aired on Cartoon Network in 1998-present. It is about three superpower magic-girls superhero named Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup in Townsville, USA. They are in kindergarten to elementary schools and have superpowers, through save the worlds from villainous. The show was created by Craig McCracken and revival developed by Nick Jennings and Bob Boyle created and produced by Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network Studios. also the theatrical film adaption in 2002 as The Powerpuff Girls Movie by Warner Bros Animation.

paragraphs: Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup the heroes live in Professor's House on the city of Townsville, USA, and saved the worlds. Powerpuff Girls characters interacted with mythological characters and characters from multi-media pop culture and television and movies.

paragraphs: The following is a list of Blu-ray, DVDs releases for "The Powerpuff Girls" and 2016 series.


title: Teutonic Knights

paragraphs: The Teutonic Knights are a Roman Catholic military order. It was formed at the end of the 12th century in Acre, Palestine, during the Crusades. The Teutonic Knights are now a clerical order based in Vienna, Austria.

paragraphs: In 1226 Konrad of Masovia brought the Teutonic Knights to fight against Baltic pagan Prussian tribes. They won quickly and, their new country being Prussia, were called Prussians. The knights started to be a danger for the then weak Poland. Finally, the power of the Teutonic Order was crushed in Battle of Tannenberg in 1410.


title: Renju

paragraphs: Renju (Japanese and ) is a version of the board game Gomoku. The game comes from Japan. It is played in many other countries including China, Korea, Russia, Estonia and Sweden. It is played with black and white stones on a Go board.


title: Nainital

paragraphs: Nainital is a town in the Indian state of Uttarakhand and headquarters of Nainital district in the Kumaon foothills of the outer Himalayas.

paragraphs: "Naini Lake" has too low a level of oxygen in the bottom layer to sustain fish. This is mostly due to pollution, which includes illegal dumping of garbage.


title: 24 (TV series)

paragraphs: 24 is an Emmy and Golden Globe winning American television series broadcast by Fox Network in the US and shown worldwide. The show first came on TV on November 6, 2001, airing eight seasons of 24 episodes each until May 24, 2010. The show returned on May 5, 2014 for a 12 episode miniseries called "Live Another Day "that aired until July 14, 2014. The first six seasons were all focused the fictional Los Angeles branch of the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). The seventh season focused on the Washington, D.C. branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The eighth season focused on the fictional New York City branch of CTU. "Live Another Day" focused on the London station of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

paragraphs: "24" is shown in real time, with each season depicting a 24-hour period in the life of Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), who works with the government as it fights threats to the country. "Live Another Day", however, mainly depicted a 12-hour period over its 12 episodes, but ended the final episode with a 12-hour time jump to finish the 24 hour cycle. Bauer is often in the field for each season's main government agency as they try to protect America from terrorists. The show also follows the actions of other agents, government officials and terrorists associated with the plot. The first six seasons of the show were all based in Los Angeles and nearby locations  — both real and fictional  — in California, although sometimes other locations have been used as well. Some of the fourth and sixth seasons, and all of the seventh season, were in Washington, D.C.. The eighth and final season of the original series was in New York City. "Live Another Day "was set in London. "Legacy" was set in Atlanta.


title: Tony Award for Best Musical

paragraphs: This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949.


title: Queen Anne's Revenge

paragraphs: Queen Anne's Revenge was the name of Blackbeard's famous pirate ship. Built in 1710 as the "Concord", it was captured by the French in 1711 and by pirates in 1717, before being run aground on an island near North Carolina


title: Mouthpiece (brass)

paragraphs: A brass mouthpiece is the part of a brass instrument that a player blows into to make a sound. The purpose of a mouthpiece is to send vibrations down the instrument to make a musical note.

paragraphs: Larger mouthpieces are used on larger instruments, and smaller ones are used on smaller instruments. This is because a larger mouthpiece makes a lower sound, and a smaller mouthpiece makes a higher sound, and bigger instruments make lower sounds and smaller instruments make higher sounds.

paragraphs: A mouthpiece has many different parts, and all its parts have different names.

paragraphs: Some very small changes in how a mouthpiece is made can change the sound of an instrument a lot.

paragraphs: Most mouthpieces for brass instruments are made of brass, the traditional material. Many are plated with more expensive metals.

paragraphs: Some players gold plate their brass mouthpieces, covering them with a thin layer of gold. This makes the sound of the instrument better than with any other mouthpiece. For some people that are allergic to silver, this is the best (but not cheapest) way to play a brass instrument without getting sick. Gold does not smudge, so it only has to be cleaned with soap and water once in a while.

paragraphs: Silver plating is almost always used on brass mouthpieces because it does not cost too much money and a silver-plated mouthpiece helps a player make a pretty good sound. Silver plating is not as expensive as gold, but it is sometimes very important to have if a player plays a certain way. Silver-plate gives a clearer sound than gold and is good for styles of playing that need a lot of volume. Also, silver needs to be cleaned more often because it smudges easily.

paragraphs: Another type of mouthpiece is a plastic mouthpiece. These mouthpieces are good because they never break or dent, they do not cost as much as silver or gold mouthpieces, and they are good for playing outdoors. They are very often given to players in marching bands. They do not make as good sounds as silver or gold mouthpieces, though.

paragraphs: Two of the newest things mouthpieces can be made out of are stainless steel and titanium. They are very rare, and are only made by a few companies. Steel and titanium mouthpieces do not vibrate as much, so they make a very clear sound, require much less cleaning, and they do not need to be silver plated. However, they are much more expensive than mouthpieces that are silver or gold plated.


title: Erskine Hamilton Childers

paragraphs: Erskine Hamilton Childers (11 December 1905 – 17 November 1974), was the son of Robert Erskine Childers (author of the spy thriller "The Riddle of the Sands". He was the fourth President of Ireland from 1973 until his death in 1974, and a TD from 1938 until 1973.

paragraphs: Childers was born in London. He moved to Ireland after the First World War and lived in County Wicklow with his father Robert Erskine Childers. His father helped bring guns to Ireland for the Easter Rising, and opposed the treaty that set up the Irish Free State. The younger Childers was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and Trinity College, Cambridge, hence his striking British upper class accent.

paragraphs: In 1922, when Childers was 16, his father was executed by the Irish Free State. Before his execution the older Childers made his son promise from to find every man who had signed his father's death warrant out and shake his hand.

paragraphs: After finishing college in Britain Childers worked in a tourism board in Paris, until Éamon de Valera invited him back to Ireland to work for the Irish Press. He became a naturalised Irish citizen in 1938.

paragraphs: As member of Fianna Fáil, he held a number of ministerial posts in the cabinets of Éamon de Valera, Seán Lemass and Jack Lynch, becoming Tánaiste Deputy head of the government) in 1969. Erskine's period as a minister was controversial. One commentator described his ministerial career as "spectacularly unsuccessful", but others praised his willingness to take tough decisions.

paragraphs: Childers was elected the fourth President of Ireland on 30 May, 1973, defeating Tom O'Higgins by 635,867 votes to 578,771. Childers, though 67, was an extremely hard-working and He died suddenly of a heart attack in November 1974, while making a public speech to the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin.

paragraphs: Childers' state funeral in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was attended by world leaders including Nelson Rockefeller, Vice-President of the United States, Earl Mountbatten of Burma (representing Queen Elizabeth II), Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and presidents and crowned heads of state from Europe and beyond. He was buried County Wicklow. At first it was expected that President Childers' widow, Rita, would be offered the office of president to continue his work, but it went instead to the former Chief Justice, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh.

paragraphs: One of Childers' sons, also called Erskine was a UN civil servant and Secretary General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations. A daughter by 2nd wife Rita, Nessa Childers, is a councillor for the Green Party on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

paragraphs: John N. Young, "Erskine H. Childers: President of Ireland"


title: Tánaiste

paragraphs: A Tánaiste (plural: Tánaistí) is the deputy head of the government of the Republic of Ireland.

paragraphs: The Taoiseach nominates a member of Government to be Tánaiste. Mary Coughlan is the current Tánaiste.

paragraphs: Under the Irish Free State, the deputy leader was Deputy President of the Executive Council. In 1937 the title was changed to Tánaiste

paragraphs: In history, the tánaiste was the heir of the chief (taoiseach) or king (rí).


title: Irish Free State

paragraphs: The Irish Free State () was the name of Ireland from 1922 to 1937. It replaced both the Irish Republic and Southern Ireland.

paragraphs: The government was called the Executive Council, and it was headed by the President of the Executive Council, instead of a Prime Minister.

paragraphs: Until 1927 it was ruled by a Governor General on behalf of the King of the United Kingdom. After a row between the Governments in London and Dublin it was decided that the Governor General represented the King of Ireland, not the King of the United Kingdom, even though they were the same person.

paragraphs: The change meant that the King and the Governor General were advised by the Irish government about what to do in Ireland, and stopped the British government from having any control over Irish affairs.

paragraphs: The constitution of 1937 changed the name of the country to the Irish language , or , but the King stayed head of state until 1948.


title: 2018 Winter Olympics

paragraphs: The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games, is a sporting event that took place in between February 9 and 25, 2018. The deadline for bids was January 2009. The winning city, Pyeongchang, South Korea, was announced on July 6, 2011.

paragraphs: Officially, it is being called 'PyeongChang', spelled that way so people don't confuse it with Pyongyang, which is in North Korea.

paragraphs: On July 4, 2007, Sochi, Russia was selected to host the 2014 Winter Games, hurting European candidates' chances at a successful bid. The IOC rarely awards back-to-back games to the same continent.

paragraphs: America was going to submit a bid, but the country changed its bid to the 2022 Winter Olympics. Here are the cities which had showed interest:


title: Kabyles people

paragraphs: The Kabyles ("" in Kabyle pronounced ) are a Berber people. Their traditional homeland is highlands of Kabylie (or Kabylia) in northeastern Algeria.

paragraphs: Their name comes from the name of the mountainous region in the north of Algeria where they live traditionally. It means "tribes" (from the Arabic "qaba'il" which is the plural of "qabîlah" قبيلة tribe). They speak the Kabyle variety of Berber. Kabyles have been very active to fight for the official recognition of the Berber language in Algeria.


title: Berber languages

paragraphs: The Berber languages or Tamazight are a group of closely related languages mainly spoken in Morocco and Algeria. Kabyle is a Berber language.


title: Southern Ireland

paragraphs: Southern Ireland was the twenty-six county Irish state created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. This Act divided the island of Ireland in two, Northern Ireland (covering approximately fifteen percent of the island, in the northeast) and Southern Ireland (covering the remaining territory to the south and west). Both were given bicameral (two houses) parliaments and separate governments.

paragraphs: The king was represented by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who also acted in Northern Ireland.

paragraphs: Southern Ireland never existed except on paper. It was set up by law, but the first attempted meeting of its Parliament failed because it was short of a "quorum" (the number of members needed to hold a meeting). The second sitting was only to confirm the decision of Dáil Éireann to confirm the Anglo-Irish Treaty, then dissolved it itself.

paragraphs: So the British government set up Southern Ireland but there was never any government to take power.

paragraphs: After the treaty was confirmed Michael Collins, head of Dáil Éireann's government became Chairman of the Provisional Government

paragraphs: According to the British he met the Lord Lieutenant and was made the King's prime minister. According to the Irish viewpoint, Collins went to accept the surrender of Dublin Castle. Arthur Griffith became President of Dáil Éireann, and then both Dáil Éireann and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland were then replaced in a new election, for the 'Third Dáil', sometimes called the 'Provisional Parliament' or the 'Constituent Assembly'. When Griffith died and a week later Collins was assassinated both in August 1922, W.T. Cosgrave was appointed to both offices, so the Irish nationalist and the British both systems of government joined into one temporary system, until the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State came into force in December 1922.


title: Züsedom

paragraphs: Züsedom is a small village in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. Since 1 January 2012, it is part of the municipality Rollwitz.


title: Bankstown Bunker

paragraphs: The Bankstown Bunker was a top secret Royal Australian Air Force base that was used during the Second World War. During the war it was Australia's main air defence base. It is no longer in use. The bunker is buried underneath a public park in the suburb of Condell Park in the City of Bankstown, which is in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is still possible to go into the bunker through a secret passageway.

paragraphs: The Bankstown bunker is a three-story building that was mostly underground. It was secretly used during the Second World War by the Australian air force. Builders started to build the bunker in 1942. Workers and volunteers began to work inside the bunker in January 1945. It was called the Sydney "Air Defence Headquarters" and replaced another secret air force base that was in a secret tunnel. This was the Number One Fighter Sector Headquarters underneath St. James train station in Sydney. After that, it was moved to a picture theatre in Bankstown called the Capital Hall. The main job for the people who worked in the bunker, was to track all planes in the eastern area of the South West Pacific. Some of the people who worked in the bunker were from the No.2 Volunteer Air Observer Corps (VOAC), The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force and a few members of the Royal Australian Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces. Workers worked in the bunker 24 hours a day seven days a week in shifts called "Flights". The people who worked inside the bunker traveled to work in buses with tinted windows. Everyone that worked in the bunker had to receive special training.

paragraphs: At the end of the war, the bunker was no longer used and people forgot about it. In 1971 it was rediscovered by a reporter who worked for a local newspaper in the area. In 1972 the bunker was set on fire. In 1976 houses were built over part of the building, whilst the main part is underneath a public park.

paragraphs: The bunker was built in the same fashion as the underground Operations rooms of wartime England, which planned Britain's air defence fighter plane attacks on the invading German Luftwaffe.

paragraphs: To get inside the bunker you had to enter through a secret passageway which was hidden under a grassy hill. Stairs led to a maze of hallways that lead to different sections. There were two different entrances to get inside the bunker. The two doors were guarded by special police that worked for the military.

paragraphs: The bunker walls were 1.5 metres thick and it was almost bomb proof. It had all the latest equipment of the time to allow it to run as a top secret defence base. It had its own code room, plotting rooms, two escape tunnels, radio transmitter room, kitchen, dining area, bathrooms and bedrooms. In the center of the bunker was a large operations room. This was a large room about two stories high. It was the control centre for all air force missions in the Pacific area. The room also had a big map of the South West Pacific theater of World War II. The bunker also had its own generator, air conditioning and switchboards which directed fifty telephone lines. The telephone lines went to various locations including radar stations and VAOC lookout posts which reported aircraft locations to the bunker. There are rumours of a tunnel running from the bunker to an unknown location.

paragraphs: There is a small park at the end of Taylor Street. In this park, there is a large hill that looks totally out of place. It is under this hill that the bunker has been buried. It is still possible to get in through a secret door.

paragraphs: There is another bunker in Bankstown. This one is called a "Remote Receiving station" not much is known about its history. It was in Picnic Point National Park, near the South Sydney Power station, People who live in the area say that it is still there. There are many other rumours of bunkers in the Bankstown area, such as under an electricity block house on the corner of Milpera road and Henry Lawson Drive, a demolished bunker under Condell Park High School.

paragraphs: The Bankstown Bunker was on a TV show called Burke's Backyard. Don Burke hosted the episode from inside the bunker. To get inside the bunker he used the secret passageway.


title: Coldplay

paragraphs: Coldplay is an English rock band formed in London in 1996. The band's members are vocalist/pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bass player Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion. Coldplay became famous around the world with their 2000 song "Yellow". Their first album, "Parachutes", was very successful and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Coldplay were nominated for this award again in 2003 and 2005. Coldplay is one of the most successful bands of the 21st century, selling over 90 million records worldwide. The band is also known for hit singles, including "Speed of Sound" and the 2 Grammy Award-winning songs, "Clocks" and their 2008 single "Viva la Vida" (Song of the Year for 2008).

paragraphs: Coldplay, are an English alternative rock band, formed in London in 1996-1997. Chris Martin, and Jonny Buckland, were looking forward to form a band while at University College London. After forming Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as the bass guitarist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a drummer and backing vocalist who plays various instruments, making the band's lineup complete. Phil Harvey was the group's manager from 1998 to 2001. The band finally changed their name to "Coldplay" in 1998. Tim Rice-Oxley was to be added to the lineup, but he refused as he was already a member of Keane. The band later recorded and released three EPs; "Safety" in 1998, "Brothers & Sisters" as a single in 1999 and "The Blue Room" in the same year. The Blue Room was their first release on a major record label, after signing to Parlophone.

paragraphs: Coldplay's early material was compared to acts such as Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, U2, and Travis. They had achieved worldwide fame with the release of the single "Yellow" in 2000, followed by their debut album <nowiki>"</nowiki>Parachutes<nowiki>"</nowiki> released in the same year, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The band's second album, "A Rush of Blood to the Head" (2002), won multiple awards, including "NME"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Album of the Year. Their next release, "X&Y", received a slightly less enthusiastic yet still generally positive reception upon its release in 2005. The band's fourth studio album, "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" (2008), was produced by Brian Eno and released again to largely favourable reviews, earning several Grammy nominations and wins.

paragraphs: Since the release of "Parachutes", Coldplay have drawn influence from other sources, including Echo & the Bunnymen, Kate Bush, George Harrison and Muse on "A Rush of Blood to the Head", Johnny Cash and Kraftwerk for "X&Y" and Blur, Arcade Fire and My Bloody Valentine on "Viva la Vida". Coldplay have been an active supporter of various social and political causes, such as Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign and Amnesty International. The group have also performed at various charity projects, such as Band Aid 20, Live 8, Sound Relief, , and the Teenage Cancer Trust.

paragraphs: Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland first met during their orientation week at University College London (UCL) in September 1996. The pair spent the rest of the college year planning a band, ultimately forming a group called Pectoralz. Guy Berryman, a classmate of Martin and Buckland, later joined the group. By 1997, the group, who had renamed themselves Starfish, performed gigs for local Camden promoters at small clubs. Martin also had recruited his longtime school friend Phil Harvey, who was studying classics at Oxford, to be the band's manager. Coldplay have since accepted Harvey as the fifth member of the group. The band's lineup was completed when Will Champion joined to take up percussion duties. Champion had grown up playing piano, guitar, bass, and tin whistle; he quickly learned the drums, despite having no previous experience. The band finally settled on the name "Coldplay" which was suggested by Tim Crompton, a local student who had been using the name for his group. By 1997, Martin had also met then Classics student Tim Rice-Oxley. During a weekend on Virginia Water, they asked each other to play off their own songs on the piano. Martin, finding Rice-Oxley to be talented, asked him to be Coldplay's keyboard player but Rice-Oxley refused as his own band, Keane, was already operational. Days after, this event would shape the second line-up of Keane and keep Coldplay's unaltered, thus leaving both bands as quartets.

paragraphs: In 1998, the band released 500 copies of the "Safety EP." Most of the discs were given to record companies and friends; only 50 copies remained for sale to the public. In December of that year, Coldplay signed to the independent label Fierce Panda. Their first release was the three-track "Brothers and Sisters EP", which they had quickly recorded over four days in February 1999.

paragraphs: After completing their final examinations, Coldplay signed to Parlophone for a five-album contract in the spring of 1999. After making their first appearance at Glastonbury, the band went into studio to record a third EP titled "The Blue Room". Five thousand copies were made available to the public in October, and the single "Bigger Stronger", received BBC Radio 1 airplay. The recording sessions for "The Blue Room" were tumultuous. Martin kicked Champion out of the band but later pleaded with him to return, and because of his guilt, went on a drinking binge. Eventually, the band worked out their differences and put in place a new set of rules to keep the group intact. Inspired by bands such as U2 and R.E.M., Coldplay decided that they would operate as democracy, and that profits would be shared equally. Additionally, the band determined they would fire anyone who used hard drugs.

paragraphs: At first, the band planned to record their debut album in the space of two weeks. However, tours and other live performances caused the recording to spread out between September 1999 and April–May 2000. In March 1999, Coldplay began work on their debut album, recorded at Rockfield Studios, Matrix Studios, and Wessex Sound Studios with producer Ken Nelson, although the majority of Parachutes' tracks were recorded at Liverpool's Parr Street Studios. The band worked in three studio rooms at Parr Street, and tracked much of the album in one of these rooms—the project studio which Nelson describes as "basically a demo room". The album was mixed by American engineer Michael Brauer in New York. Coldplay's record label had originally intended to use a mixing engineer for the tracks they picked as singles, but eventually hired Brauer to work on all songs for the album. During that period, they played on the Carling Tour, which showcased up-and-coming acts.

paragraphs: After releasing three EPs without a hit song, Coldplay charted into the Top 40 with the lead single from "Parachutes", "Shiver". Released in March 2000, it reached number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. June 2000 was a pivotal moment in Coldplay's history: the band embarked on their first headlining tour, including a showing at the Glastonbury Festival. The band also released the breakthrough single "Yellow". The song shot to number four on the UK Singles Chart and placed Coldplay in public consciousness. "Yellow" and "Shiver" were initially released as EPs in the spring of 2000. The former was later released as a single in UK on 26 June 2000. In the United States, the song was released as the lead single off the then-untitled debut album. In October 2000, the track was sent to US college and alternative radio outlets.

paragraphs: Coldplay released their first studio album, "Parachutes", on 10 July 2000 in the United Kingdom by their record label, Parlophone. The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. It was released on 7 November 2000 by record label Nettwerk in North America. The album has been made available on various formats since its initial release; both Parlophone and Nettwerk released it as a CD in 2000, and it was also released as a cassette by newfound US label Capitol in 2001. In the following year, Parlophone issued the album as an LP. The band released a limited-edition CD of "Trouble", the third single off the album, which features a remix of "Yellow". It was pressed to 1,000 copies, and was issued only to fans and journalists. Both "Yellow" and "Trouble" earned regular radio airplay in the UK and US.

paragraphs: "Parachutes" was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in September 2000. Having found success in Europe, the band set their sights on North America, released the album there in November 2000, and started the "U.S. Club Tour" in February 2001. Although "Parachutes" was a slow-burning success in the United States, it eventually reached double-platinum status. The album was critically well-received and earned a Best Alternative Music Album honours at the 2002 Grammy Awards. Chris Martin claimed after the release of "Parachutes" the album's success was intended to achieve the band's status as the "biggest, best band in the f...ing world."

paragraphs: After the success of "Parachutes", Coldplay returned to the studio in September 2001 to begin work on their second album "A Rush of Blood to the Head", once again with Ken Nelson producing. The band started recording the album in London a week after the September 11 attacks in the United States. Since the band had never stayed in London before, they had trouble focusing. They decided to relocate in Liverpool, where they recorded some of the songs on Parachutes. Once there, vocalist Chris Martin said that they became obsessed with recording. "In My Place" was the first song recorded for the album. The band released it as the album's lead single because it was the track that made them want to record a second album following a "strange period of not really knowing what we were doing" three months after the success of Parachutes. According to Martin "one thing kept us going: recording 'In My Place'. Then other songs started coming."

paragraphs: The band wrote more than 20 songs for the album. Some of their new material, including "In My Place" and "Animals", was played live while the band were still touring "Parachutes". The album's title was revealed through a post on the band's official website. The album was released in August 2002 and spawned several popular singles, including "In My Place", "Clocks", and the ballad "The Scientist". The latter was inspired from George Harrison's title track to "All Things Must Pass", which was released in 1970.

paragraphs: Coldplay toured from June 2002 to September 2003 for the "A Rush of Blood to the Head Tour". They visited five continents, including co-headlining festival dates at Glastonbury Festival, V2003 and Rock Werchter. Many concerts showcased elaborate lighting and individualised screens reminiscent of U2's "Elevation Tour" and Nine Inch Nails' "Fragility Tour". During the extended tour, Coldplay recorded a live DVD and CD, "Live 2003", at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion.

paragraphs: In December 2003, readers of "Rolling Stone" chose Coldplay as the best artist and the best band of the year. At that time the band covered The Pretenders' 1983 song "2000 Miles" (which was made available for download on their official website). "2000 Miles" was the top selling UK download that year, with proceeds from the sales donated to Future Forests and Stop Handgun Violence campaigns. "A Rush of Blood to the Head" won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards. At the 2004 Grammy Awards, Coldplay earned Record of the Year for "Clocks".

paragraphs: Coldplay spent most of 2004 out of the spotlight, taking a break from touring while recording their third album. "X&Y" was released in June 2005 in UK and Europe. This new, delayed release date had put the album back into the next fiscal year, actually causing EMI's stock to drop. It became the best-selling album of 2005 with worldwide sales of 8.3 million. The lead single, "Speed of Sound", made its radio and online music store debut on 18 April and was released as a CD on 23 May 2005. The album debuted at number one in 20 countries worldwide, and was the third-fastest selling album in UK chart history. Two other singles were released that year: "Fix You" in September and "Talk" in December. Critical reaction to "X&Y" was less enthusiastic than that of its predecessor, with "New York Times" critic Jon Pareles describing Coldplay as "the most insufferable band of the decade" Comparisons between Coldplay and U2 became increasingly common, although critical reaction to the album was still largely positive. Chris Martin later revealed that the negative remarks made him feel "liberated".

paragraphs: From June 2005 to July 2006, Coldplay went on their "Twisted Logic Tour", which included festival dates like Coachella, Isle of Wight Festival, Glastonbury and the Austin City Limits Music Festival. In July 2005, the band appeared at Live 8 in Hyde Park, where they played a rendition of The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" with Richard Ashcroft on vocals. In September, Coldplay recorded a new version of "How You See the World" with reworked lyrics for War Child's "" charity album. In February 2006, Coldplay earned Best Album and Best Single honours at the BRIT Awards. Two more singles were released during 2006, "The Hardest Part" and "What If". The sixth and final single, "White Shadows" was released in Mexico during June 2007.

paragraphs: In October 2006, Coldplay began work on their fourth studio album, "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends", with producer Brian Eno. Taking a break from recording, the band toured Latin America in early 2007, performing in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. After recording in churches and other venues in Latin America and Spain during their tour, the band said the album would likely reflect Hispanic influence. The group spent the rest of the year recording with Eno.

paragraphs: Martin described "Viva la Vida" as a new direction for Coldplay: a change from their past three albums, which they have referred to as a "trilogy". He said the album featured less falsetto as he allowed his voice's lower register to take precedence. Some songs, such as "Violet Hill", contain distorted guitar riffs and bluesy undertones. "Violet Hill" was confirmed as the first single, with a radio release date of 29 April 2008. After the first play, it was freely obtainable from Coldplay's website from 12:15 pm (GMT +0) for one week (achieving two million downloads), until it became commercially available to download on 6 May. "Violet Hill" entered the UK Top 10, US Top 40 (entering the Top 10 in the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart) and charted well in the rest of the world. The title track, "Viva la Vida", was also released exclusively on iTunes. It became the band's first number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and their first UK number one, based on download sales alone.

paragraphs: On 15 June 2008, "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" topped the UK album chart, despite having come on the market only three days previously. In that time, it sold 302,000 copies; the BBC called it "one of the fastest-selling records in UK history". By the end of June, it had set a new record for most-downloaded album ever. In October 2008, Coldplay won two "Q" Awards for Best Album for "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" and Best Act in the World Today. The band followed up "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" with the "Prospekt's March" EP, which was released on 21 November 2008. The EP features tracks from the "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" sessions and, as well as being available on its own, was issued as a bonus disc with later editions of "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends". The song "Life in Technicolor II" was released as a single on 9 February 2009.

paragraphs: In June, Coldplay began their "Viva la Vida Tour" with a free concert at Brixton Academy in London. This was followed two days later by a 45-minute performance that was broadcast live from outside BBC Television Centre. "Lost!" became the third single from the album, featuring a new version with Jay-Z. Coldplay performed the opening set on 14 March 2009 for Sound Relief at the Sydney Cricket Ground and then played a sold-out concert later that same night. Sound Relief is a benefit concert for victims of the Victorian Bushfire Crisis and the Queensland Floods.

paragraphs: In 2009, Coldplay was nominated for four BRIT Awards: British Group, British Live Act, British Single ("Viva la Vida") and British Album ("Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends"). At the 51st Grammy Awards in February 2009, Coldplay won three Grammy Awards in the categories for Song of Year for "Viva la Vida", Best Rock Album for "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends", and Best Vocal Pop Performance by a Duo or Group for "Viva la Vida".

paragraphs: On 15 May 2009, Coldplay released a live album, entitled "LeftRightLeftRightLeft" which was recorded at various shows during the tour. "LeftRightLeftRightLeft" was to be given away at the remaining concerts of their "Viva la Vida" tour. It was also released as a free download from their website.

paragraphs: Coldplay finished recording the new album in 2011. The band finished recording the new album in mid-2011.

paragraphs: On 19 October 2011, Coldplay performed songs at an event for Steve Jobs, including "Viva la Vida", "Fix You", "Yellow" and "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall". On 26 October their concert in Spain, was streamed by YouTube as a live webcast. On 30 November 2011, Coldplay received three Grammy Award nominations for the 54th Grammy Awards. On 12 January 2012, Coldplay were nominated for two Brit Awards. On 21 February 2012, they were awarded the Brit Award for Best British Group for the third time. The album was the best-selling rock album in the UK in 2011, selling 908,000 copies. The album's second single, "Paradise", was also the best-selling rock single in the UK, selling 410,000 copies. At the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards on 6 September, "Paradise" won the award for Best Rock Video. "Mylo Xyloto" has sold over 8 million copies.

paragraphs: Coldplay's musical style has been defined as alternative rock, being compared to Radiohead and Oasis. Lead singer Chris Martin once proclaimed the band's music as "limestone rock". The band's music has been called "meditative" and "blue romantic"; it "reflects on their emotions" and Martin "endlessly examines his feelings". Martin's lyrical wordplay has been called feminist, similar to Andrew Montgomery of Geneva.

paragraphs: The tone of the band's first studio album, "Parachutes", was described as melodic pop with "distorted guitar riffs and swishing percussion". It was also described as being "exquisitely dark and artistically abrasive". In a review for "A Rush of Blood to the Head", the songs were considered to contain "lush melodies and a heartbreak" and that they had a "newfound confidence." The music on "X&Y" has been considered to be "ruminations on Martin's doubts, fears, hopes, and loves." Coldplay acknowledge the Scottish alternative rock band, Travis, as a major influence on their earlier material.

paragraphs: In "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends", the group's style was moving towards art rock, experimenting with different instruments such as tack pianos, and even what Will Champion described as a "very crude" variant of Spanish flamenco clapping. "Prospekt's March" moved towards a more conservative style but maintained some of their experimental styles from the previous album.

paragraphs: Coldplay's musical style and image has also been satirically described as "bland", with its members representing the "faces of radical beige" (a neutral color). University College London's satirical newspaper, "The Cheese Grater", featured a mock article in February 2010, following the arrest of UCL student Abdulmutallab on charges of terrorism, in which they declared that "Bland, middle class rock band was not monitored, admits University College. Were Coldplay made 'radically ...' at UCL?"

paragraphs: Despite Coldplay's worldwide popularity, the band has remained protective of how their music is used in the media, refusing its use for some product endorsements. In the earlier years, Coldplay turned down multimillion-dollar contracts from Gatorade, Diet Coke, and Gap, who wanted to use the songs "Yellow", "Trouble", and "Don't Panic" respectively. According to lead singer, Chris Martin, "We wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if we sold the songs' meanings like that." The song "Viva la Vida" was featured in a commercial for the iTunes Store, advertising its exclusive availability of the single as a digital download on iTunes. Additionally, Chris Martin appeared at an Apple Inc. Special Event on 1 September 2010, playing a number of songs, and also thanked Apple for their assistance in marketing "Viva la Vida". Coldplay supports Amnesty International. Martin is regarded as one of the most visible celebrity advocates for fair trade, supporting Oxfam's ongoing Make Trade Fair campaign. He has been on trips with Oxfam to assess conditions, has appeared in its advertising campaign, and is known for wearing a "Make Trade Fair" wristband during public appearances (including at Coldplay concerts). The band were also filmed for Make Poverty History, clicking their fingers.

paragraphs: During the early years, Coldplay became widely known in the media for giving 10 percent of the band's profits to charity, which they continue to do. Bass guitarist Guy Berryman said, "You can make people aware of issues. It isn't very much effort for us at all, but if it can help people, then we want to do it." The band also asks that any gifts intended for them are donated to charity, according to a response on the FAQ section of Coldplay's website. Martin spoke out against the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, and endorsed the United States Democratic presidential candidates John Kerry and Barack Obama in 2004 and 2008 respectively.

paragraphs: In June 2009, Coldplay began supporting Meat Free Monday, a food campaign started by Paul McCartney which attempts to help slow climate change by having at least one meat free day a week.

paragraphs: From 17-31 December 2009, Coldplay auctioned a quantity of significant band memorabilia, including their first guitars. Proceeds went to Kids Company, a charity which helps vulnerable children and young people in London. A month later in January 2010, Coldplay performed a slightly modified version of "A Message", entitled "A Message 2010", at the Hope For Haiti Now telethon special, raising money for the victims of the Haitian Earthquake.


title: Sleeping sickness

paragraphs: Sleeping sickness, or African trypanosomiasis, is an infectious disease. It is caused by parasites from the species "Trypanosoma brucei".

paragraphs: People get African trypanosomiasis from the tsetse fly. Because of this, it is most common in certain areas of Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, where the tsetse fly lives. Researchers say that about 70 million people, in 36 countries, are at a high risk for getting sleeping sickness. As of 2010, sleeping sickness had caused around 9,000 deaths per year (compared to 34,000 in 1990).

paragraphs: In 2013, about 30,000 people had African trypanosomiasis. Also, about 7,000 more people were getting the disease every year. More than 80% of these people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

paragraphs: Medications can treat African trypanosomiasis. The treatment is usually done in a hospital, because the drugs have many side effects. For sleeping sickness that was not treated early, the medications used for treatment are based on arsenic, a poison. These medications are dangerous, and about 5% of people die from taking them.

paragraphs: The best way to protect against African trypanosomiasis is to protect against insect bites.

paragraphs: The signs and symptoms of African trypanosomiasis happen in two stages.

paragraphs: If African trypanosomiasis is not treated at this point, the parasite will also get into the circulatory system and defeat the body's natural defenses. If this happens, the person can have:

paragraphs: This phase begins when the parasite invades the central nervous system by passing through the blood–brain barrier.

paragraphs: In this stage, one of the most common symptoms is trouble sleeping. This is where the name "sleeping sickness" comes from. People in this stage often cannot sleep normally, and may be up all night and then sleep during the day..

paragraphs: Other symptoms in this stage can include:

paragraphs: Without treatment, a person with African sleeping sickness will go into a coma; (thus the name) all their important organs will stop working; and they will die.Damage caused in the neurological phase cannot be fixed.


title: Ayyubid dynasty

paragraphs: The Ayyubid or Ayyoubid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origins which ruled Egypt, Syria, Yemen (except for the Northern Mountains), Diyar Bakr, Mecca, Hejaz and northern Iraq in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Ayyubids are also known as Ayoubites, Ayyoubites, Ayoubides or Ayyoubides.

paragraphs: The Ayyubid dynasty was begun by Saladin (Salah ah-Din). Saladin and his uncle Shirkuh conquered Egypt for the Zengid King Nur ad-Din of Damascus in 1169. The dynasty's name comes from Saladin's father and Shirkuh's brother, Najm ad-Din Ayyub.


title: Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State

paragraphs: The Executive Council was the cabinet of the Irish Free State, it was headed by the "President of the Executive Council".

paragraphs: Constitution of The Irish Free State said that the Vice President would act for the President of the Executive Council while he was absent, or until a new President was elected

paragraphs: Because the Executive Council only had five, six or seven members, the Vice President was also a minister in charge of a department.

paragraphs: Neither the ministry of the Irish Republic nor the Provisional Government had a deputy head of government, so the office of Vice-President of the Executive Council was a new idea of the Free State. In 1937 when the Constitution of the Irish Free State was replaced by Bunreacht na hÉireann the Vice President was replaced by the Tánaiste.


title: Tsetse fly

paragraphs: Tsetse flies are large biting flies that live in the tropical regions of Africa. They bite vertebrates, and drink their blood. They are the insect vectors of some serious diseases.

paragraphs: They have been studied a lot because they can spread sleeping sickness and other diseases.

paragraphs: The genus "Glossina" has about 34 species in three groups of species. One group of species lives out on the savannah; another group lives near rivers, and the third group lives in tropical forests.

paragraphs: Tsetse have an unusual life cycle. Female tsetse only fertilize one egg at a time and keep each egg in their uterus while the offspring develops internally during the first larval stages. During this time, the female feeds the developing offspring with a milky substance secreted by a modified gland in the uterus.

paragraphs: In the third larval stage, the tsetse larva finally leave the uterus and crawl into the ground. There it forms a hard outer shell and becomes the pupa. It completes its metamorphosis into an adult fly. This takes twenty to thirty days, while the larva relies on stored resources.

paragraphs: Normally, insect larvae feed themselves before pupation, but tsetse development (before it emerges as a full adult) occurs without feeding. The development is based only on nutritional resources provided by the female parent, which shows how blood is a rich source of nutrition. The female must get enough energy for her needs, for the needs of her developing offspring, and to store the resources which her offspring will require until it emerges as an adult.

paragraphs: Before the 20th century, people and their cattle simply did not live in areas infested with tsetse flies. In the 20th century, using pesticides after World War II caused as many problems as it solved. Now more subtle methods are preferred. Tsetse flies can be trapped by using large blue cloths as a lure. Another good method is to release irradiated male flies, which are sterile. Since females mate only once in their lives, that much reduces the population.


title: Pun

paragraphs: A pun is a joke which is a “play on words” (a game using words). People make puns in order to make other people laugh. Many jokes are actually puns. A pun usually uses a word which can have more than one meaning, even if the spelling is different:

paragraphs: Sometimes a pun may use a whole phrase that can be heard in more than one way, as in the following knock-knock joke:

paragraphs: (The last sentence is supposed to mean: “This was the way I used to speak before I got my false teeth”).

paragraphs: There is a joke about a man who sent ten different puns to friends in the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.

paragraphs: (The joke here is on “no pun intended,” which is said when a person unintentionally says a pun by coincidence, and announces the find ).

paragraphs: There are many websites and books which have jokes, very often with puns.

paragraphs: Puns are easier to make in some languages than others. Languages with many homophones (words which sound the same but have a different meaning) such as the Chinese language are most suitable for puns.

paragraphs: Puns do not have to be about homonyms. They can sometimes be a double entendre using both a literal sense of the word and a metaphor (figurative use). For example, if a young man joins the Navy and someone says that he "sailed through his exams", this is a joke because: 1) the expression "to sail through something" means "to do it easily", but 2) the Navy is about sailing in ships. It is possible to say something like that without realizing that it is a pun.

paragraphs: Another example is a story about two boys growing up and eating more and more food. One of the parents just began a new job and the other says, "I hope you can start bringing home the bacon!" In this example, bacon is a play on words meaning both money and the food, bacon.

paragraphs: Many British people love making puns, especially bad puns (where a word has to be mispronounced to make the joke work). Lewis Carroll made many puns in his books "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice through the Looking Glass".

paragraphs: These are also a few examples of different puns:

paragraphs: Really "cool" music as the rock band plays on an iceberg,

paragraphs: "You're fired!" as the man is shot from a gun.

paragraphs: "How is your vineyard doing?" a neighbor asked. The woman replied, "It's growing grape!" (play on words: "It's going great!"


title: North American P-51 Mustang

paragraphs: The P-51 Mustang was an American fighter made by North American Aviation during World War II. Later versions escorted American bombers over Europe and Japan. There were 5 versions of the Mustang built, called the P-51A, P-51B, P-51C, P-51D, and the P-51H. To provide more power at high altitude, the B, C, D, and H versions had a Packard-built version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine instead of the Allison engine used in the P-51A. The Packard Merlin engine featured a more advanced supercharger, allowing much better performance above 15,000 feet when compared to the Allison. The P-51D version had a "bubble" canopy, or one unobstructed by metal supports. After World War II, it was used in the Korean War as a dive bomber and was used by many Central American air forces until the 1970s. Today, P-51 Mustangs are often used in air races.


title: Airsoft

paragraphs: Airsoft is a sport that uses fake guns (Airsoft guns) to battle. This game is usually compared with paintball, another sport that uses fake guns to battle. The difference between the two sports are:

paragraphs: Because of how simple the sport of Airsoft works (shoot people), people usually make things interesting by changing the gameplay styles. Some examples are short-term battles, organized scenarios, historical reenactments and Military Simulation. Game fields also have very different styles, from battle in small spaces, or battle in big outdoor places. Because of how Airsoft guns work, tactics used in the Military can also be used in the game.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

paragraphs: MiG-15 Fagot was a jet combat airplane designed by Mikoyan, a Russian airplane company. It was intended as an interceptor but fought more often as an air superiority fighter. It first flew in 1947, and went in military service in 1949. It was one of the first to use a swept wing. It first fought in the Korean War, where it defeated the American Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. To try to beat the MiG-15, the North American Aviation F-86 Sabre was brought in. Today, it is used to train new pilots.


title: North American F-86 Sabre

paragraphs: The F-86 Sabre (nicknamed the "Sabre jet") was an American fighter plane made by North American Aviation. It first flew in 1947, and was introduced to battle the MiG-15 in the Korean War. Unlike the fighter before it, the F-86 had swept wings to be faster.


title: Patrick Hillery

paragraphs: Patrick John Hillery (; 2 May 1923 – 12 April 2008) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and the sixth President of Ireland from 1976 until 1990. First elected at the 1951 general election as a Fianna Fáil TD for County Clare, he remained in Dáil Éireann until 1973. During this time he served as:

paragraphs: He was Ireland's first European Commissioner, serving for three years until he became President in 1976. He never faced an election, because both time he ran for president he was unopposed.

paragraphs: Patrick John Hillery, known as "Paddy Hillery", was born in Spanish Point, Miltown Malbay, County Clare in 1923. He attended University College Dublin, where he studied medicine. In 1947 he returned to his home town where he followed in his father’s footsteps as a doctor. As a doctor he also spent a year working as coroner for West Clare.

paragraphs: Hillery married Mary Beatrice (Maeve) Finnegan on 27 October 1955. Together they had a son, John, and a daughter, Vivienne, who died after a long illness in 1985, shortly before her eighteenth birthday.

paragraphs: Hillery was asked by Éamon de Valera to be his running mate in the 1951 general election. He won the election and Hillery was successful on his first attempt to get elected. He only became a minister after de Valera retired as Taoiseach in 1959.

paragraphs: As Minister for Education, Hillery established comprehensive schools and Regional Technical Colleges.

paragraphs: After another election win in 1969 Hillery became Minister for External Affairs (renamed Foreign Affairs in 1972), one of the top cabinet posts. After "Bloody Sunday"), he travelled to the United Nations in New York to demand UN involvement in peace-keeping on the streets of Northern Ireland. In 1972, he negotiated Irish membership of the European Economic Community, a process that was completed in 1973.

paragraphs: Following Ireland's successful entry into Europe Hillery was rewarded by becoming the first Irishman to serve on the European Commission. He was appointed Vice-President of the Commission as well as having special responsibility for Social Affairs. Hillery's most famous policy was to force EEC member states to give equal pay to women.

paragraphs: In 1976 the new Fine Gael–Labour Party National Coalition Government of Liam Cosgrave said they would not re-appoint him to the Commission. He thought about returning to medicine, perhaps moving with his wife, Maeve (also a doctor) to Africa. When President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh resigned, Hillery agreed to become the Fianna Fáil candidate in the election.

paragraphs: He was elected without a contest as the only candidate, becoming President of Ireland on 3 December 1976.

paragraphs: After 1982 people thought he was a very good and honest President. Before then he had been written off as boring and dull. In 1982 the Taoiseach, Fine Gael's Garret FitzGerald, lost a vote in Dáil Eireann. Dr Fitzgerald asked for a general election. As President he did not have to agree, and Dr Fitzgerald would have had to resign. This meant Dáil Éireann might choose Charles Haughey as Taoiseach. Hillery thought a new election was best, but many people from the President's own party tried to persuade him otherwise.

paragraphs: President Hillery refused to speak to any opposition party politicians, but when Charles Haughey, who was Leader of the Opposition, had rang the President's Office he "threatened" to end the career of the army officer answered and refused on Hillery's "explicit" orders to put the call through to the President. Hillery called the Irish Army's Chief of Staff the following day and as Commander-in-Chief of the Army had ordered the Chief of Staff to make sure that no politician ever interfered with the career of the young army officer.

paragraphs: In 1983 Hillery was again elected unopposed. Hillery left office in 1990 (he had served the maximum two terms), widely applauded for his integrity, honesty and devotion to duty. However he re-entered public life in 2002 during the second referendum on the Nice Treaty, when he urged a "yes" vote. The referendum was carried.

paragraphs: In 2002, state papers released by the British Public Record Office under the 'Thirty Year Rule' and published in the Irish media, revealed how Hillery was viewed. A briefing paper, prepared for then British Foreign Secretary, Sir Alec Douglas-Home and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Whitelaw, observed about Hillery:


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21

paragraphs: The MiG-21 Fishbed is a jet aircraft made by Mikoyan. It is a supersonic fighter aircraft and first flew in 1956. It has a delta wing and at least 30 countries used it. More than 10,000 were made, which is more than any other supersonic plane. It fought in the Vietnam War and is still being used today.


title: Pantyhose

paragraphs: Pantyhose is a piece of women's clothing that covers the waist down. They fit tightly. Modern tights come in different colors. Аor every day women are usually chosen brown (tan color pantyhose) or black or nude (skin) pantyhose. But today are very popular different patterned pantyhose: for example, Polka Dot, Backseam, Tattoo and so on). In addition to beautiful trendy patterned pantyhose, there are also functional pantyhose, such as modeling and compression pantyhose.


title: Tights

paragraphs: Tights are a tight fitting clothing. In American English, the term includes pantyhose. They usually fit from the waist down and are often worn in dancing. Tights in the past were made of elasticized silk or other material. Modern tights are often made of spandex.

paragraphs: Tights were invented in 1598, by a man called William Lee. He was a reverend and made a machine that knitted together silk.

paragraphs: Tights come in thin and thick options. Thinner tights are called sheer and thicker ones are called opaque. People measure this thickness uses something called "denier". They are five categories that show what denier a pair of tights is: Ultra sheer, sheer, semi-opaque, opaque and thick-opaque.

paragraphs: Tights are intended to maintain a wearer’s legs warm, and they arrive in a vast collection of colors, lengths, and materials. Tights come in a diverse selection of colors and patterns. 1 rule of thumb to consider is that coated leggings like the shiny metallic leggings will usually have less stretch than faux leather leggings or even our basic nylon leggings which are the absolute most easy to fit due to their unhindered stretch.


title: Cockatiel

paragraphs: Cockatiels are small birds originally from Australia and are related to many other cockatoos. They are the second most common bird species kept as a pet. Cockatiels can live from 10 to 25 years, depending on how healthy their lifestyle is, although wild cockatiels usually live shorter.

paragraphs: Cockatiels have tiny feathers on their head called a crest. The crest allows the owner to have an idea of what they are feeling; straight up if scared or excited, flat when they're angry, and slightly curved is normal/happy.

paragraphs: In the wild, cockatiels are prey animals, meaning there are predators that eat them. As a result, cockatiels can scare easily, especially when they meet someone or something they do not know. With enough patience and affection, an owner can tame the cockatiel and help them get over their natural fear. Like many other parrots, cockatiels are very good at climbing, and use their beak to position themselves each time.

paragraphs: Cockatiels come in many different colours, some naturally while others were specifically bred. Gray is considered to be their original colour, and is one of the most popular, along with Lutino (yellow). Males have a brighter crest and face, and sing louder and more frequently than females. A cockatiel has very long tail feathers compared to other birds.

paragraphs: Seeds make up most of their diet, but veterinarians strongly recommend various fruits, vegetables, and beans as well. However, a few of these may be harmful to them, and it is advised to be cautious with what they eat. It can be very hard to get adults to try new foods, so it is best to have them try little by little at a time instead of all at once.

paragraphs: Like other birds, they can be taught to do many tricks; including flips, handshakes, fly-on-command, showing their wings, and more. Patience and repetition is key, as teaching one trick can take many months. They can also be taught to sing, but may become confused and ruin the song if it's too complex.

paragraphs: Cockatiels are social birds, and like to spend time with others. They can become overly attached to their owners over time (especially if raised young), and may start to shriek when they feel lonely. If the owner is unable to spend a lot of time with them, getting them a partner (preferably another cockatiel) can help resolve their clinginess.


title: North Hollywood shootout

paragraphs: The North Hollywood shootout was a gunfight that happened on February 28, 1997. Emil Matasareanu (July 19, 1966 - February 28, 1997) and Larry Eugene Phillips Jr. (September 20, 1970 - February 28, 1997) were bank robbers, and used AK-47s, an AR-15, an HK-91, and 9 MM pistols. The police could not easily kill them because of their heavy body armor, which was made out of kevlar. 20 people were wounded, and the only two killed were the robbers.

paragraphs: Matasareanu was shot dead by police. Phillips shot himself in the head with a Beretta M92F as police shot him multiple times. His body was left in the street for about an hour before ambulances came to take his body away.


title: AR-15

paragraphs: The AR-15 is a semi-automatic rifle designed by the ArmaLite Division of the Farichild Enginer and Aircraft Corporation in 1958 by Eugene Stoner. It is the civilian predecessor of the M-16 rifle.

paragraphs: The " AR" in its name reflects the first two letters in the company name... ArmaLite. The fact that the AR-17 is a shotgun gives lie to a common belief that AR stands for "ArmaLite Rifle."

paragraphs: The military version is the M-16, manufactured by Colt Firearms, FNMI, Harrington Richardson, Daewoo, and others.

paragraphs: The AR-15 is a semiautomatic rifle that discharges a single shot with each pull of the trigger until empty. The M-16, unlike the AR-15, is a select fire (semi and fully automatic) magazine fed, gas operated, shoulder fired assault rifle. The M-16 first saw combat in the Vietnam War.

paragraphs: The AR-15 is a lightweight, magazine-fed, air-cooled rifle with a rotating locking bolt actuated by propellant gas expanding within an internal gas piston operating system.

paragraphs: The gas for this system is tapped from the barrel and travels down a gas tube that feeds it into the bolt carrier and thus the gas (i.e. piston) cylinder. The gas expands within the piston cylinder and forces the carrier rearward. A cam pin linking the bolt to unlocking surfaces of the bolt carrier forces the bolt to unlock from the barrel and allows the assembly to drive to the rear.

paragraphs: An error in an early article covering the AR-15 described the system as a "direct impingement" system. This long standing error is based on the fact that a true direct impingement system also moves propellant gasses from the barrel into the face of the carrier. Unlike pressurizing a piston cylinder in the bolt carrier, the gas of the direct impingement system simply passes into a shallow depression in the bolt carrier and actually blows the carrier to the rear.

paragraphs: Early usage of the M16 version of the AR-15 in Viet Nam resulted in intense criticism of poor reliability. On-scene studies revealed that the barrel and chamber tended to accumulate rust pits in the humid conditions in Viet Nam that caused difficult extraction of fired cartridge cases. Chrome plating of the barrels and chambers solved the problem and the M16 has gone on to great approval. While the early AR-15s also were built with un-chromed barrels the moderate climate in the US and gentler use by owners resulted in few problems.

paragraphs: Barrels of current commercial variants of the AR-15 are produced in chromed, un-chromed, and stainless steel barrels with little extraction difficulty in the more moderate climate in the US.

paragraphs: Even the earliest AR-15 and M16 internal piston systems were chromed plated and the rifles performed well if properly lubricated and cleaned. Nonetheless some rifle manufacturers have accused the internal piston system of inferiority and modified the rifles to an external piston system and driving rod pushing the carrier.

paragraphs: Two such designs were developed for the military and found unneeded. Extreme test firing (2000 rounds with no cleaning or lubing and no malfunctions) confirmed findings that simple lubrication keeps the rifles functioning for extreme periods, but all manufacturers recommend more frequent cleaning.

paragraphs: First considered of little use, the AR-15 was long considered to provide inferior accuracy to target shooters in the prestigious Service Rifle matches. The provision of heavier match barrels and target sights by ArmaLite and heavier match bullets by the Sierra Bullet company produced accuracy so satisfactory that they have displaced the previous M1 and M16 rifles used in those matches. The

paragraphs: The AR-15s light weight, accuracy, and light recoil has made it extremely popular with shooters and its use is spreading around the world. It is a useful collector's item, ranch or home secuity rifle, and small caliber hunting rifle and has become one of the most popular rifles in the world, and ArmaLite's are manufactured even today.


title: Timpani

paragraphs: Timpani (sometimes called kettle drums) are drums that are made out of large bowls that are usually made of copper shaped by craftsmen, which after being tuned, have a skin-like material stretched over the top. This material used to be a type of vellum or treated skin, but modern drums use a synthetic material. This top section is known as the "drumhead".

paragraphs: "Timpani" is an Italian word. It is also a plural of the word "timpano". However "timpano" is rarely used in informal English. More often, a timpano is referred to as a "drum", a "timpani", or simply a "timp". Someone who plays a timpani is called a "timpanist".

paragraphs: Timpani are different from other drums because they are tuned to certain musical notes. A timpanist will often describe the drum as being "in voice" (or out of voice, as the case may be) when it is correctly tuned. To play it, it is hit with a special drumstick or "timpani mallet". Other drums that are used in orchestras and bands make a sound rather than a note, and are not tuned. A player normally sits with a group of two, three or four timpani around him, which is why the name timpani is in the plural.

paragraphs: Timpani were originally used in official bands. They can still be seen in the bands of the modern official as in the Household Cavalry of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, in which the "kettle drums" (as they are called) are carried by large drumhorses. In the 1700s timpani became popular in orchestral music, and can be heard in the music of Handel, Beethoven and other 19th century composers wrote music that needed the timpani. Nowadays all large orchestras have timpani, and some bands that play popular music use them as well.

paragraphs: A timpani drumhead, also called a timpani head, can be made out of two different things. Some are made out of animal skin, like calfskin or goatskin. Other ones can be made out of thick plastic. Because plastic heads are hard to break and do not cost as much as animal skin heads, they are used more often than animal skin heads. However, a lot of professional players prefer skin heads because they think that skin heads make a better sound when they are hit. The drumhead is stretched over the bowl of the timpani and held on by screws for tuning the timpani.

paragraphs: The screws that hold and tune the drumhead are called "tension rods". To tune the timpani, the "tension rods" can all be tightened or loosened. The timpani makes a higher sound if the tension rods are made tighter, and a lower sound if they are loosened. There are usually around seven tension rods on the timpani.

paragraphs: Tuning a timpani by turning every tension rod by itself can be very hard, so some timpani makers invented different ways to change the drum's pitch more quickly.

paragraphs: In a chain timpani, the tension rods are all attached to a chain. This chain is hooked up to a lever, and when a player moves the lever back and forth, it tightens and loosens all the screws at the same time to change the pitch of the drum.

paragraphs: A pedal timpani is a timpani that uses a pedal to change its pitch. It is the kind of timpani that is used the most today. A player can push on the pedal to make the timpani play higher notes, or let the pedal come back up to play lower notes. There are three different kinds of pedal timpani:

paragraphs: Timpani are played with a special kind of drumstick called "timpani mallets". A player uses two mallets at a time when they play the drum. The two parts of the mallet are called the "shaft" and the "head". The head is the part of the mallet that is shaped like a circle, and is the part that hits the timpani, and the shaft is the wooden part of the mallet that is held by a timpanist. A timpani mallet's head can be made out of many things, but is usually made out of a wood sphere that is covered with felt or a thin cloth. The shaft of the mallet is usually made out of wood, like hickory, cherry, or bamboo, but can also be made out of metal, like aluminum. Some timpani mallets do not have a felt head, and just have a wooden one. These mallets are sometimes used in classical and baroque music.

paragraphs: In the beginning of the 20th century, some mallets had shafts made out of whale bones and heads made out of sponges.

paragraphs: With a pedal timpani, a player can produce different sound effects using the pedals. Performing glissando on timpani demands switching the pedals. Glissando is generated by pressing the pedal during the vertebra. Furthermore it is possible to play glissando at any volume level up or down. For example, Alexander Rahbari, an outstanding Iranian-Austrian composer used glissando effect produced by switching timpani pedals in the opening of his piece, Persian Mysticism Around G, where the player moves from Bb up to C and then rolling down to G(see the timpani part on right below).


title: Hurricane Lorenzo (2007)

paragraphs: Hurricane Lorenzo was the twelfth named storm and fourth hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. It formed in the Bay of Campeche off the east coast of Mexico where it quickly strengthened into a hurricane. It made landfall in central Mexico early on September 28 as a Category 1 hurricane.

paragraphs: On September 21, an area of convection formed in the western Caribbean Sea associated with a trough of low pressure. Convection increased and a wide area of low pressure formed on September 22 as the convection moved northwestward towards the Yucatan Peninsula. On September 23 the area of low pressure moved over the Yucatan Peninsula and was creating thunderstorms from the southern Gulf of Mexico to the northwestern Caribbean Sea. Over the next few days the large area of low pressure was moving unevenly over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, but convection was restricted from strong upper-level winds. By September 25 upper-level winds started decrease as conditions became more favorable for tropical cyclone formation and by that morning visible satellite imagery showed that a tropical depression could be forming about 180 mi (290 km) east of Tampico, Tamaulipas.

paragraphs: During the evening of September 25 a United States Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft found that the area of low pressure had turned into a tropical depression. The depression tracked slowly to the south and southwest into the Bay of Campeche. On September 26, convection increased and the depression was getting closer to strengthening into a tropical storm. At 0300 UTC September 27 the Government of Mexico gave out a tropical storm watch for parts of the Mexican Gulf Coast as the depression was predicted to strengthen into a tropical storm. The depression began to quickly strengthen on September 27, and the depression became Tropical Storm Lorenzo around midday. Continued strengthening that afternoon brought Lorenzo to hurricane strength, less than seven hours after being named. Lorenzo made landfall in central Mexico south-southwest of Tuxpan as a Category 1 hurricane with 80 mph winds on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Lorenzo dissipated later that afternoon as the final advisory was given out.

paragraphs: A tropical storm warning was given out for the central Mexican Gulf Coast on September 26. When Lorenzo began to rapidly strengthen, the warning was raised to a hurricane warning. Mexico's Civilian Protection officials declared a "red alert" for much of the state of Veracruz.

paragraphs: At first, no evacuations were given out right away, as a result of the up-coming start of Lorenzo, although shelters were set up in the state of Veracruz and officials cancelled classes at all local schools. Because of the fast development of the storm though, officials quickly evacuated over 100,000 people just before landfall by using bullhorns on the streets warning people of the up-coming threat.

paragraphs: Pemex oil production continued in spite of the threat of the system and its offshore impacts. Nonetheless, the price of oil increased to record highs of $83.90 a barrel from the concerns by investors about possible damage.

paragraphs: Moderate damage was reported in east-central Mexico as Lorenzo hit the area. Shacks were badly damaged by the strong winds, a lot of tree damage was reported and many areas lost electricity service. Flooding was also reported as rivers quickly rose from the heavy rain and wet ground. Scattered landslides were also reported. The area was already cleaning up after Hurricane Dean, which hit the area in late August.

paragraphs: Heavy rain was the cause to at least five deaths; which included a woman and two children in Chiconcuautla in Puebla's Sierra Norte region, and a senior citizen who fell into a hole near his home in Pánuco, Veracruz.


title: Supergiant

paragraphs: Supergiants are some of the largest stars in the universe. They are larger than giant stars, and less luminous than hypergiants. They vary greatly in size. They tend to be situated towards the top of the Hertzsprung-Russel Diagram, which is a graph depicting star development. Some are only 50 million kilometers across, small enough to fit inside the orbit of Venus. Some are 2,700 million km across, as wide as the orbit of Neptune.


title: Tipton

paragraphs: "This is about the town in the West Midlands, England. For other towns called Tipton, see Tipton (disambiguation)."

paragraphs: Tipton is a town in the Sandwell borough of the West Midlands, England, with a population of around 47,000.

paragraphs: Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation, and is a part of the Black Country.


title: Organic matter

paragraphs: Organic matter (or organic material) is matter that has come from a recently living organism. It is capable of decay, or is the product of decay; or is composed of organic compounds. There is not one definition of organic matter only. It varies upon the context, the subject it is being used for.

paragraphs: Soil is composed of minerals and organic matter, as well as living organisms. The organic matter in soil comes from plants and animals. In a forest, for example, leaf litter and woody material falls to the forest floor. This is one kind organic material. When it decays to the point it is no longer recognizable it is called soil organic matter. When the organic matter has broken down into a stable humic substances that resist further decomposition it is called humus.

paragraphs: The equation of "organic" with living organisms comes from the now-abandoned idea of vitalism that attributed a special force to life that alone could create organic substances. This idea was first questioned after the "a"biotic synthesis of urea by Friedrich Wöhler in 1828.


title: Need for Speed: Carbon

paragraphs: Need For Speed: Carbon is an racing game by Electronic Arts that belongs to the "Need for Speed" series. It is the 12th game in the Need For Speed series and is available on many gaming systems such as PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Wii and PC.

paragraphs: Need for Speed Carbon is like but the biggest change is that it is night time.