title: Stig Claesson

paragraphs: John Stig Claesson (June 2, 1928 – January 4, 2008) was a Swedish writer and illustrator. He also was known by his signature Slas.

paragraphs: Claesson was born on June 2, 1928 in Huddinge, south of Stockholm. He went to the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts between 1947 and 1952, when he began to illustrate Swedish classical books such as those written by Per Anders Fogelström.

paragraphs: Claesson was the father of actor Leif Claesson. Stig died on January 4, 2008 in Stockholm.


title: Dagens Nyheter

paragraphs: Dagens Nyheter (DN) is a daily newspaper in Sweden. Based in the town of Stockholm, it was started on 23 December 1864.


Chihuahua (state)


paragraphs: Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom are part of the National Health Service (NHS) systems. They are run by local ambulance services, known in England and Wales as "trusts". Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have one ambulance service each; the Scottish Ambulance Service (a Special Health Board), the Welsh Ambulance Service, and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. England is divided into ten regional ambulance services.

paragraphs: NHS ambulance services must by law answer four types of requests for care, which are:

paragraphs: The ambulance services have getting more and more busy. There has been a big increase in the number calls in the last two decades, as shown in the table below:

paragraphs: The ambulance service's work has also been getting more complicated. In the past, the main job of an ambulance was to take people to hospital. This led to ambulance services being nicknamed the "Big White Taxi Service". Nowadays, ambulance staff do far more treatment with the patient. It is now common for patients to be left at home after being treated.

paragraphs: A similar service is 111. This is a phone number for non-emergency medical advice. Many ambulance services employ the staff who answer 111 calls. In some cases, an ambulance may be sent to a 111 call if it is found to be more serious than expected.

paragraphs: Ambulance trusts may also carry out non-urgent patient transport services. This is done through a business agreement with local healthcare organisations. This service is free for patients to use. In some place private companies do this job instead, but it can be a big source of money for the trusts.

paragraphs: Before 1974 local councils would run the ambulance service. In 1974, they were merged into larger agencies that covered one or more counties. On 1 July 2006 the number of ambulance trusts fell from 29 to 13 and they were replaced by regional services.

paragraphs: Each of the 9 government regions of England are covered by a single NHS ambulance trust, with the exception of the South East region. This region is split between the South Central and South East Coast ambulance trusts, while the Isle of Wight has a special arrangement in which local hospitals provide the ambulance service.

paragraphs: The Scottish Ambulance Service is a Special Health Board funded directly by the Health Department of the Scottish Government. In 2006 the service answered over 520,000 emergency calls.

paragraphs: Scotland also has Britain's only government-funded Air Ambulance service. It has two Eurocopter EC 135 helicopters (based in Glasgow & Inverness) and two Beechcraft B200C King Air planes (based at Glasgow & Aberdeen).

paragraphs: The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) is the ambulance service that serves the whole of Northern Ireland, and was set up in 1995.

paragraphs: As with other ambulance services in the United Kingdom, it does not charge its patients directly for its services, but is funded through tax.

paragraphs: NIAS has over 270 ambulances and over 1,000 staff, based across 32 stations & sub-stations, 4 Control Centres and a Regional Training Centre.

paragraphs: The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust (Welsh:"Ymddiriedolaeth GIG Gwasanaethau Ambiwlans Cymru") was set up on April 1, 1998 and has 2,500 staff providing ambulance and related services to the 2.9 million residents of Wales.

paragraphs: Its headquarters are at the HM Stanley Hospital, St Asaph, Denbighshire and it is divided into three regions:

paragraphs: Private ambulance services are becoming more common in the UK. They often provide medical cover at large events, either with, or instead of the voluntary sector providers. Some organisers use a private firm instead of a voluntary ambulance service because of wider availability during the week (sometimes difficult for a voluntary service to cover) or for a wider range of skills, such as provision of qualified Paramedics.

paragraphs: The most common use for private ambulances is for non-urgent patient transport. Many trusts and hospitals have chosen to use a private company for these tasks. NHS ambulance services may also pay the private ambulances to answer some of their 999 calls.

paragraphs: All ambulance companies and the NHS Ambulance trusts must follow the same laws, so a private ambulance must have the same equipment and same type of staff working in it.

paragraphs: In most of the United Kingdom, the main voluntary ambulance services are the British Red Cross and St John Ambulance. In Scotland, the main voluntary ambulance is St Andrew's First Aid. The Order of Malta Ambulance Corps. can sometimes be found in Northern Ireland also. These groups have been providing both emergency and non-emergency medical cover in the UK for over 120 years, including active service in both World Wars. This is before any government organised service.

paragraphs: The main activity of the organisations apart from training and education, is providing ambulance cover at events, as an extension of their first aid contract.

paragraphs: They may also treat and transport certain categories of patient to hospital, although for more serious incidents, such as cardiac arrest it is likely that they would call on the ambulance service. This is arranged through agreements with the local ambulance service.

paragraphs: Both organisations also provide 'reserve' or 'support' cover to some, though not all, of the ambulance trusts (dependent on the local MOU), where ambulance crews from one of the organisations (who are usually volunteers, but in some instances may be paid staff) will attend 999, GP Urgent or PTS calls on behalf of the ambulance trust. In these cases the organisation is paid by the trust. This service is most often called on during major incidents, when there is a high level of staff absence or when there is an unusually high call volume, although in some areas, voluntary crews are regularly used to supplement full-time trust cover.

paragraphs: Both organisations have also provided cover for the public when NHS ambulance trust staff have held strikes or walk outs.


title: Public administration

paragraphs: Public Administration has two meanings. First it means putting into action government policy. Second, academics study this, and prepare civil servants for working in the public service (the non-political part of the government).

paragraphs: Public administration helps improve management and improve policies so that government can work better. Public administrators manage public programs, translate politics into the programs and services that citizens use every day. In universities, professors of public administration study government decision making, analyze policies, and think about how to improve policies and programs.


title: European Space Agency

paragraphs: European Space Agency or ESA (ESA; , ASE) is an international organisation with 22 member countries. Its job is to explore space.

paragraphs: Its headquarters are in Paris, France. ESA has a staff of more than 2,000 with an annual budget of about €4.43 billion / US$5.51 billion (2015).

paragraphs: The member countries of ESA are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

paragraphs: The main European launch vehicle Ariane 5 is operated through Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching and further developing this launch vehicle.


title: Management

paragraphs: Management means directing and controlling a group of people or an organization to reach a goal. Management often means the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources. In other word Management can also mean the person or people who manage, the managers. European Management is specifically defined by academic Andreas M. Kaplan as a cross-cultural, societal management approach based on interdisciplinary principles.


title: Republic of Texas

paragraphs: The Republic of Texas was a sovereign state in North America between the United States and Mexico that existed from 1836 to 1845. It was started on March 2 1836, when the people living in Texas declared themselves independent from Mexico. The Mexican army led by Santa Anna marched into Texas and attacked the new country. However the Mexican army was defeated and Santa Anna was captured at a battle near the site of Houston. The new republic did not have an easy time. It did not have a proper government, or any money. Its borders were often raided by Mexico, and there was fighting between the settlers and the Native Americans. The US government did not recognize the Republic of Texas.

paragraphs: In 1841, Santa Anna again became president of Mexico and the border attacks increased. By this time, thousands of new settlers had moved into Texas, and people in the US supported the people of Texas. The idea of annexation of Texas into the US became popular.

paragraphs: The Republic of Texas ended on December 29, 1845, when Texas became the 28th state of the United States of America.


title: Nuremberg Military Tribunals

paragraphs: The Nuremberg Military Tribunals are the follow up trials of war criminals held by the United States of America in Nuremberg.

paragraphs: The trial of the 24 Major War Criminals held by the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg is at Nuremberg Trials

paragraphs: The IMT only held one trial before disagreements between the four wartime allies stopped the series of trials that were planned. The four countries occupying Germany carried on with trials of many people in their own zone of occupation. Twelve that were held by the United States are the most famous of these rials. They involved the some of the most important people to be prosecuted after the 24 Major War Criminals.

paragraphs: The twelve US trials in front of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal took place from December 9, 1946 to April 13, 1949. The trials were:


title: Flag of the United Arab Emirates

paragraphs: The flag of the United Arab Emirates () is used to represent, or show, the United Arab Emirates. It contains the Pan-Arab colors, which are red, green, white, and black, to show Arab unity. The Flag was designed by a Young Emirati boy named as Abdullah Mohammed Al Maainah in 1971.

paragraphs: Red represents hardiness, bravery, strength and courage. The vertical red band can also be interpreted as binding all the other meanings together in unity.

paragraphs: Green represents hope, joy, optimism, and love. It can also symbolize the countries prosperity.

paragraphs: White represents peace and honesty. White is the purest colour, and is interpreted by some to symbolise cleanliness.

paragraphs: Contrary to popular belief, the black band does not represent oil. It stands for the defeat of enemies, and also strength of mind.

paragraphs: On this day, Emiratis across the UAE will sing the country’s national anthem.


title: The Donna Reed Show

paragraphs: The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom television series. It aired on ABC from 1958 to 1966. The show stars Donna Reed as Donna Stone, a housewife, Carl Betz as Alex Stone, a pediatrician (baby doctor), Shelley Fabares as their teenage daughter Mary, and Paul Petersen as their son Jeff. Mary left for college in the show's fifth year and Paul Petersen's real life little sister Patty Petersen joined the show as Trisha, a child the Stones adopt. Bob Crane and Ann McCrea joined the show in its last years as Stone family friends Dave and Midge Kelsey.

paragraphs: The show focuses on an upper middle class American family. Donna is a somewhat idealized housewife who capably handles any problems or situations that come her way. The show had many famous guest stars: singers James Darren and Lesley Gore, actor George Hamilton, swimmer and actress Esther Williams, Lassie as her TV character, sports stars Don Drysdale and Willie Mays, Buster Keaton, and Jay North as his TV character Dennis the Menace. Reed won the 1963 Golden Globe Best Female TV Star Award.


title: Alien: Resurrection

paragraphs: Alien: Resurrection is a 1997 American science fiction-horror-thriller movie. It was written by Joss Whedon and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It opened on November 26, 1997. The movie is the fourth in the "Alien" series of movies. It was the first in the series that was not made in England. The music was composed by John Frizzell. It stars Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley.

paragraphs: The events of "Alien: Resurrection" take place two centuries after the events of "Alien³". Ellen Ripley has been cloned on the outer space military science vessel "Auriga". This is done so they can get the alien queen embryo that was inside her. After taking out the queen embryo, the scientists decide to keep the Ripley clone alive for further study. They raise the alien queen to adult size and collect its eggs for further use. Because of the cloning process, Ripley has several new abilities including enhanced strength, acidic blood, and a link with the aliens.

paragraphs: The "Betty", a ship full of mercenaries, comes to the "Auriga". It is bringing several kidnapped humans to be used in experiments. The mercenaries meet Ripley. Their youngest member Call (Winona Ryder) recognizes her name and tries to kill Ripley. Call thinks Ripley may be used to create more aliens. Call is too late. The adult aliens have already been created and quickly escape their confinement. Dr. Wren, one of the ship's scientists, tells them that, in an emergency, the "Auriga" will automatically return to Earth. Knowing that this will free the aliens on Earth, Ripley, the mercenaries, Wren, a surviving marine named DiStephano, and a surviving alien host, Purvis, set out to escape on the "Betty" and then destroy the "Auriga".

paragraphs: As the group makes their way through the damaged ship, several of them are killed by the aliens. The group finds out that Call is an android. Using her abilities to control the damaged ship's systems, they set it to crash into the Earth. They hope that the aliens will be destroyed when the ship crashes. The alien queen from inside Ripley has also gain a new ability. She can give birth to live offspring now. The offspring, which appears more humanoid, sees Ripley as its "mother" and kills the alien queen. Ripley escapes soon after and heads for the "Betty".

paragraphs: Ripley and the surviving mercenaries arrive at the "Betty". As they launch, the human/alien offspring attacks Ripley and Call. Ripley kills it by using her own acidic blood to burn a hole through part of the ship. This causes the creature to be pulled through the small hole and into the vacuum of space. The survivors escape in the "Betty" as the "Auriga" crashes through the atmosphere and down towards Earth.

paragraphs: Despite positive reviews for Sigourney Weaver's and Winona Ryder's performances, the movie is the least successful in the series and was not well liked by the critics. The movie cost $70 million to make, but it earned only $47.8 million in the US. It did earn a total of $161.3 million worldwide. However, Winona Ryder won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for her role in the movie.

paragraphs: Screenwriter Joss Whedon was extremely unhappy with the final version of movie. In a 2005 interview, when asked how the movie was different from the script he had written, Whedon said, "It wasn't a question of doing everything differently, although they changed the ending; it was mostly a matter of doing everything wrong. They said the lines... mostly... but they said them all wrong. And they cast it wrong. And they designed it wrong. And they scored it wrong. They did everything wrong that they could possibly do. There's actually a fascinating lesson in filmmaking, because everything that they did reflects back to the script or looks like something from the script, and people assume that, if I hated it, then they’d changed the script... but it wasn’t so much that they’d changed the script; it’s that they just executed it in such a ghastly fashion as to render it almost unwatchable."


title: Dan Castellaneta

paragraphs: Daniel Louis Castellaneta (born October 29, 1957) is an Emmy award winning American Actor, Voice actor, Comedian and Screenwriter best known for providing the voice of Homer Simpson and other characters on the long-running FOX animated series "The Simpsons". As well as being a voice actor for The Simpsons, Dan Castellaneta has also written a few episodes of The Simpsons along with his wife, Deb Lacusta.


title: Team Milram

paragraphs: Team Milram is an Italian-registered UCI ProTeam established in 2006. The team is often called a German team because its main sponsor is Milram, part of the Nordmilch company from the German state of Bremen.

paragraphs: Milram took over the ProTeam licence of Domina Vacanze. Erik Zabel and Alessandro Petacchi are the team’s top cyclists. There are 25 other riders, mainly from Germany and Italy. Milram is the third team in the UCI ProTour with a German main sponsor.

paragraphs: The team manager is led by Italian Gianluigi Stanga, who has been a team manager in professional cycling since 1983. The directeurs sportifs ("Sports Directors") are the Italians Vittorio Algeri, Antonio Bevilacqua and Oscar Pellicioli . Gerry van Gerwen from the Netherlands is the commercial manager.

paragraphs: Milram only joined the UCI ProTour in 2006. Since then they have won 88 podium positions (that is, finished a race either first, second, or third) (24 first, 29 second, 35 third ).

paragraphs: Team MILRAM reorganised itself for its second season. Five new riders joined and eight riders left the team. The most prominent new rider is Igor Astarloa, 2003 World Champion from Spain. Additionally, the team added Brett Lancaster, the up-and-coming riders Marcel Sieberg and Niki Terpstra, as well as neo pro Sebastian Schwager. After breaking his kneecap in 2006, Alessandro Petacchi regained his top form and won some races.

paragraphs: There is a MILRAM Continental Circuit Team, and those young riders and those from other U23 teams are helped so they can develop their skills


title: Perrierbambus

paragraphs: A Perrierbambus is a kind of bamboo that grows in Madagascar.


title: Chi-square distribution

paragraphs: In probability theory and statistics, the chi-square distribution (also chi-squared or formula_1  distribution) is one of the most widely used theoretical probability distributions. Chi-square distribution with formula_2 degrees of freedom is written as formula_3. It is a special case of gamma distribution.

paragraphs: Chi-square distribution is primarily used in statistical significance tests and confidence intervals. It is useful, because it is relatively easy to show that certain probability distributions come close to it, under certain conditions. One of these conditions is that the null hypothesis must be true. Another one is that the different random variables (or observations) must be independent of each other.


title: Null hypothesis

paragraphs: In statistics, a null hypothesis, often written as formula_1, is a statement assumed to be true unless it can be shown to be incorrect beyond a reasonable doubt. The idea is that the null hypothesis generally assumes that there is nothing new or surprising in the population. The most common null hypothesis is the "no-change" or "no-difference" hypothesis (as in "there is no difference between a sample mean and a population mean"). When testing whether a thing works, and one would start with the null hypothesis that it will not work. The term was first used by Ronald Fisher in his book "The Design of Experiments".

paragraphs: Every experiment has a null hypothesis. For example:

paragraphs: The opposite of a null hypothesis is an alternative hypothesis. Some examples of alternative hypotheses are:


title: Timothy Leary

paragraphs: Timothy Francis Leary, (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American writer and psychologist from Springfield, Massachusetts. He is seen as a modern pioneer. He was in favor of research on psychedelic drugs and their use. He was one of the first people whose remains have been sent into space. As an icon of the counterculture of the 1960s, he is most famous as a person who stood in for the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of using LSD. He coined and popularized the catch phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out."


title: Ralph Metzner

paragraphs: Ralph Metzner (May 18, 1936 – March 14, 2019) was an American psychologist, and writer. He was born in 1936, in Germany. With Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert he was involved in a series of tests done at Harvard University, in the 1960s. These tests involved psychedelic drugs.

paragraphs: In the 1960s, professors Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert collaborated on a book titled "The Psychedelic Experience", which adapted portions of the "Tibetan Book of the Dead" as a guide for use in LSD experiences. They hoped to give users of LSD a simulation of death and rebirth, to "liberate" them from past problems or mistakes in their lives.


title: Rock band

paragraphs: A rock band is a group (a band) of musicians who play rock music. The standard line up for a rock band is four musicians playing lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums. One or more of the band can sing. This was the line up used by the Beatles.


title: Book of the Dead

paragraphs: The Book of the Dead is a name for an Egyptian text. It is also known as The Book of Coming [or Going] Forth By Day, or as the papyrus of Ani. It contains a number of texts, and spells. These allow the dead person to safely get to the place of the afterlife.

paragraphs: The book of the dead was most commonly written on a papyrus scroll. It was placed in the coffin of the dead person, or their burial chamber. The book of the dead in its most familiar form was first used in the New Kingdom, but many of the spells had their origins in the funerary texts of the Old and Middle Kingdoms.

paragraphs: The name "Book of the Dead" was the invention of the German Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius, who published a selection of the texts in 1842.

paragraphs: Missing sections of the book were found in the Queensland Museum in 2012. Historians are hoping that the missing pieces will give them a copy of the complete book.


title: Team Gerolsteiner

paragraphs: Team Gerolsteiner ("UCI Team Code:" GST) is a German road bicycle racing team in the UCI ProTour. It is sponsored by the drinks company Gerolsteiner Brunnen and the bike company "Specialized".

paragraphs: The team was founded in 1998 with manager Hans-Michael Holczer and sports directors Rolf Gölz and Christian Henn. The contract with Georg Totschnig in 2001 helped make the team enter Division I. In 2003 the team participated in the Tour de France for the first time.

paragraphs: The Leader is Georg Totschnig, who has finished in the top 10 in the Tour de France and is an excellent climber. In 2005, Totschnig won stage 14 of the Tour, showing his skill on the 15km long climb up the Port de Pailhères (2000m at 8.2%). He was the first Austrian to win a tour stage since Max Bulla in 1931. In 2007, Georg Totschnig retired and Levi Leipheimer moved to the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. The team used youngsters Markus Fothen and Stefan Schumacher to captain the team in the 2007 Tour de France.

paragraphs: In September 2007 Gerolsteiner said it would not renew its sponsorship.


title: 2006-2007 UCI Oceania Tour

paragraphs: The 2006-2007 UCI Oceania Tour is the third season of the UCI Oceania Tour of professional road bicycle racing held in various countries throughout the Oceania region. The season begins with the Jayco Herald Sun Tour stage race in October 2006 and runs until September 2007.

paragraphs: The points leader, based on the cumulative results of previous races, wears the UCI Oceania Tour cycling jersey. The final points leader is crowned the 2006-2007 UCI Oceania Tour champion. Gordon McCauley is the 2005-2006 champion of the UCI Oceania Tour.

paragraphs: The UCI Oceania Tour consists of the following one-day races and stage races:


title: Natural selection

paragraphs: Natural selection is a central concept of evolution. The English biologist Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, and is sometimes called the "survival of the fittest". Darwin chose the name as an analogy with artificial selection (selective breeding).

paragraphs: Natural selection is the process where organisms with favorable traits are more likely to reproduce. In doing so, they pass on these traits to the next generation. Over time this process allows organisms to adapt to their environment. This is because the frequency of genes for favourable traits increases in the population.

paragraphs: Members of a species are not all alike, partly because of differences in heredity (genetics). This is true even with children of the same parents. Some of these differences might make one organism better at surviving and reproducing than others in a particular habitat. When this organism reproduces, its children get the genes, which gave it the advantage. Some adaptations are extremely long-lasting, useful in many habitats. The evolution of wings in birds environment stays the same. If the environment changes enough, then another organism might do better.

paragraphs: "Natural selection" explains why living organisms change over time to have the anatomy, the functions and behaviour that they have. It works like this:

paragraphs: There are now quite a number of examples of natural selection in natural populations.

paragraphs: A well-known example of natural selection in action is the development of antibiotic resistance in microorganisms. Since the discovery of penicillin in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, antibiotics have been used to fight bacterial diseases. Natural populations of bacteria contain, among their vast numbers of individual members, considerable variation in their genetic material, as the result of mutations. When exposed to antibiotics, most bacteria die quickly, but some have mutations that make them slightly less susceptible. If the exposure to antibiotics is short, these individuals will survive the treatment. The elimination of individuals which have no resistance is an example of natural selection.

paragraphs: Given enough time, and repeated exposure to the antibiotic, a population of antibiotic-resistant bacteria will emerge. This leads to what is known as an evolutionary arms race, or co-evolution, in which bacteria continue to develop strains that are less susceptible to antibiotics, while medical researchers continue to develop new antibiotics that can kill them. Response strategies typically include the use of different, stronger antibiotics; however, new strains of MRSA have recently emerged that are resistant even to these drugs. A similar situation occurs with pesticide resistance in plants and insects, and with malarial resistance to quinine.

paragraphs: One famous case study is the study of peppered moth evolution, and there are many other examples. Most of these day-flying moths were light in colour, but just a few of the moths were dark. At first, the light coloured moths survived better because they were camouflaged against the light colour of the nearby trees. This made it hard for birds to see them.

paragraphs: When factories were built, the pollution made all the trees look black. Now the light coloured moths were obvious against the dark bark. The dark coloured moths had the advantage after the environment changed. The genes controlling dark colour spread through the population of moths. After the second world war, controls against pollution worked to make the environment cleaner. Then the lighter moths once again had the advantage, and are now much more common.

paragraphs: Mimicry is another example: Some harmless insects mimic other insects which are dangerous, or which taste foul. Mimicry evolves because "the better mimics survive better". They live to produce more offspring than the less good mimics. The genes of the better mimics become more common in the species. Over time, mimic species get closer to their models.

paragraphs: Sexual selection is a special kind of natural selection. It is a theory of Charles Darwin that certain evolutionary traits can be explained by competition "within" a species. Darwin defined sexual selection as the effects of the "struggle between the individuals of one sex, generally the males, for the possession of the other sex". It is usually males who fight each other. Traits selected by male combat are called secondary sexual characteristics (including horns, antlers, etc.) and sometimes referred to as 'weapons'. Traits selected by mate choice are called 'ornaments'.

paragraphs: Females often prefer to mate with males with external ornaments—exaggerated features of morphology. Genes that enable males to develop impressive ornaments or fighting ability may simply show off greater disease resistance or a more efficient metabolism—features that also benefit females. This idea is known as the 'good genes' hypothesis. Sexual selection is still being researched and discussed today.


title: Devanagari

paragraphs: Devanāgarī (देवनागरी) is an abugida script used to write many North Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Nepal Bhasa and Nepali from Nepal and sometimes Kashmiri. About a hundred smaller languages also use Devanāgarī.


title: Continental circuits

paragraphs: The UCI ProTour is the series of races for the top cycling teams. The Continental circuits are for teams that are not so good.

paragraphs: Some teams, such as Team Milram, have one team on the ProTour, a team of younger riders on the continental circuit as well as being linked with U23 teams. In this way teams can spot talented riders.

paragraphs: Usually organisers of a ProTour event can invite one or two teams from the continental circuit to compete. Also a ProTour team might decide to compete in a continental circuit race


title: Zac Efron

paragraphs: Zachary David Alexander "Zac" Efron (18 October 1987) is an American actor and singer. He is most famous for his role in the "High School Musical" series. Other movies including "17 Again" and "Charlie St. Cloud".

paragraphs: His mother, Starla Baskett, is a former secretary and his father, David is engineer. He is the older of two sons. He has a little brother, Dylan. He was dating Vanessa Hudgens.


title: Fiddle

paragraphs: The word fiddle refers to a violin when used in folk music. Many people also use it simply as a fun word for "violin". Someone who plays the fiddle is a "fiddler". The bow is sometimes called a "fiddling stick". Fiddle playing, or fiddling, is a style of folk music.

paragraphs: The word "fiddle" is also used for instruments of several hundred years ago which developed into the violin. These instruments varied a lot from one country to another and one time to another. They were of different shapes and sizes, and even had many different names. Often they were held against the chest instead of being tucked under the chin. In the Middle Ages a small, narrow violin called a kit was often used by dancing masters. It was small enough to be put in a pocket. In south eastern Europe there was even a fiddle with a belly (the front of the instrument) made of skin. Fiddle strings were usually made of gut.

paragraphs: Many fiddles have bridges which are flatter on top than those of classical violins. The flatter bridges makes it easier to play chords and to bow quickly from one string to another. The strings are tuned in a variety of ways. A player might even change the tuning for playing different pieces of music. Tunings other than the regular G-D-A-E tuning, such as G-D-G-D or A-E-A-E, are common. One, two or three of the strings may have been used for a drone (continuous note) while playing the tune on the top string(s).

paragraphs: Many fiddlers have not received classical training but have learned by listening to other fiddlers and copying them. The music they play is dance music. Classical violin playing developed out of country fiddle playing. Most fiddlers use bows which are the same as violin bows, but in some countries such as Hungary they use shorter, heavier bows with horse hair that is tied around the frog (the heel of the bow). With this type of bow the player tightens the hair by squeezing it while playing.

paragraphs: Fiddles were played by people from all areas of society: from noble people to simple peasants. Many of them were minstrels who entertained important people. Some of them may have been able to read music, but many would have learned by copying other players and memorizing the music. At important feasts the minstrels may have played music while walking up to the high table when the food was brought in. They played to accompany dancers and singers, and even acrobats. We can see from old paintings that they sometimes played with other instruments such as trumpets, drums or percussion. We do not know the music they played because it was never written down, but some tunes we still hear today may have come from those old tunes, since some people still learn tunes by ear, from people who learned them by ear, and so on. Some American "old-time" tunes, and some Breton tunes may have come to us in this way, for example.


title: Hardanger fiddle

paragraphs: A Hardanger fiddle or hardingfele in Norwegian, is a traditional string instrument used mainly in the south west of Norway. It is similar to the violin, but it has eight or nine strings and the wood is thinner. Four of the strings are strung and played like a violin, while the other strings are sympathetic strings (they vibrate when the others are played).

paragraphs: The Hardingfele is used for dancing. The player stamps his foot loudly while playing. It was the Norwegian tradition for a bridal procession to be led to the church by a Hardanger fiddler.

paragraphs: The instrument has a lot of decoration, with a carved animal (usually the Lion of Norway) or a carved woman's head as part of the scroll at the top of the pegbox, mother of pearl in the tailpiece and fingerboard, and black ink decorations called 'rosing' on the body of the instrument. Sometimes pieces of bone are used to decorate the pegs and the edges of the instrument.

paragraphs: The earliest known instrument is dated 1651 although we do not know whether this date is correct. By 1850 it had developed into the Hardanger fiddle known today.

paragraphs: The Hardanger fiddle can be tuned in lot of different ways, depending on the music to be played. The Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg liked Norwegian folk music. When he wrote the famous tune “Morning” for the music for "Peer Gynt" he was thinking of the notes that would be played on the Hardanger fiddle.

paragraphs: In the 20th century the Hardanger fiddle has become very popular in Norway through competitions. The players have to play in the style of the area they come from.


title: Auguste Rodin

paragraphs: Auguste Rodin (born François-Auguste-René Rodin; 12 November 1840 – 17 November 1917) was a French sculptor. Rodin was born in Paris. He made solid objects from stone or clay. His most famous works are 'The Thinker' and 'The Kiss'.

paragraphs: Although Rodin is generally considered the start of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past. His training was old-school. He took a craftsman-like approach to his work, but he was rejected three times to Paris's foremost school of art.

paragraphs: Rodin had a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, deeply pocketed surface in clay. Many of his most notable sculptures were roundly criticized during his lifetime. They clashed with the sculpture tradition, in which works were decorative, formulaic, or highly thematic.

paragraphs: Rodin's most original work departed from traditional themes of mythology and allegory. He modelled the human body with realism, with individual character and physicality. Rodin refused to change his style. Gradually there came increasing favour from the government and the artistic community.

paragraphs: His statue of writer Honoré de Balzac for the "Société des Gens des Lettres" was heavily criticised. Rather than try to convince skeptics of its merit, Rodin repaid the Société his commission and moved the figure to his own garden. After this experience, Rodin did not complete another public commission. Only in 1939 was Monument to Balzac cast in bronze. It is now thought to be a masterpiece.

paragraphs: Rodin's reputation grew, and he became the top French sculptor of his time. By 1900, he was a world-renowned artist. Rich private clients sought Rodin's work after his 1900 World's Fair exhibit. For example, a Japanese patron, Matsukata Kojiro, paid for some of Rodin's best castings, including "The Gates of Hell."

paragraphs: Rodin kept company with a variety of high-profile intellectuals and artists. He married his lifelong companion, Rose Beuret, in the last year of both their lives.

paragraphs: His sculpture suffered a decline in popularity after his death in 1917.


title: Joe Cole

paragraphs: Joseph John "Joe" Cole (born 8 November 1981) is an English professional football player. Cole plays as a midfielder for

paragraphs: Coventry City. At his peak he played for

paragraphs: Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League and for the England national team.

paragraphs: Cole was born in Paddington. He was adopted. He was raised in Somers Town, London.

paragraphs: Joe Cole trained at West Ham United at the start of his career. He moved to Chelsea in 2003 for a prize of £6,600,00 and scored 10 goals for Chelsea in the 2004/05 season.


title: Rebec

paragraphs: The rebec is a bowed string musical instrument that was played many hundreds of years ago. It was either held under the chin, like a violin, or held against the arm. The name “rebec” was spelt in a variety of ways.

paragraphs: The rebec dates back to the Middle Ages and was particularly popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. The instrument is European, but probably developed from the Afghan instrument called the “rebab”. Instruments like the rebec were being played in the 10th century.

paragraphs: The rebec can have any number of strings from one to five, although three is the most common number. The strings are often tuned in fifths. The instrument played high notes like the violin, but in later years bigger rebecs were made that played lower notes.

paragraphs: The rebec was mostly used for dance music. Dancing masters often used a kind of pocket-sized rebec called a “kit”.

paragraphs: The rebec was also used in folk music, especially in eastern Europe, Spain and North Africa.

paragraphs: In medieval and Renaissance times the rebec in Europe was played by minstrels. They dressed in special livery and played at important feasts and in processions. They were also played by cowherds. King Henry VIII has several rebec players at his court.

paragraphs: Today many Middle Ages re-enactors like to play rebec since it is an authentic Medieval instrument.


title: Resonator

paragraphs: A resonator is something that resonates. This may make a particular frequency of a sound or other vibration become bigger.

paragraphs: In electromagnetics a cavity resonator is a resonator composed of a space that is usually surrounded by a dielectric or metal which allows standing wave patterns at particular frequencies, eigenmodes, correlated to their size, shape, and material.

paragraphs: Most musical instruments have resonators. They are the parts which makes the sound louder. A vibraphone, for example, has long tubes underneath the keys. It also has a special effect: a mechanism which, when it is turned on, opens and shuts the resonators very quickly so that a trembling sound is heard.

paragraphs: The body of a violin is a resonator: without the body the sound of the string vibrating would hardly be heard, just as the sound of an elastic band stretched between two fingers can hardly be heard.


title: Joshua Bell

paragraphs: Joshua David Bell (born 9 December 1967) is an American violinist. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of today.

paragraphs: Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. His father was a psychologist and therapist. He began violin lessons at the age of four after his mother found that her son had taken rubber bands from around the house and stretched them across the handles of his dresser drawer to pluck out music he had heard her play on the piano. His parents got him a very small violin and started giving him lessons. He learned the violin very quickly, but also had time to enjoy things such as video games and sports.

paragraphs: Bell's first violin teacher suggested that he should learn with Josef Gingold. Bell says that Gingold was a great teacher. At the age of fourteen, Bell appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. He studied the violin at the Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, while managing to graduate from Bloomington High School North in 1984.

paragraphs: Joshua Bell first played in the Carnegie Hall, New York in 1985 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. He has since performed with almost all of the world's major orchestras and conductors. He has played all the well known concertos as well as new works. In 1993 he gave the first performance of Nicholas Maw's violin concerto which was dedicated to him. The recording of this work won Bell a Grammy award. He performed the solo part on John Corigliano's Oscar-winning soundtrack for the movie "The Red Violin" and was also featured in "Ladies in Lavender". Bell also made an appearance in the movie "Music of the Heart", a story about the power of music, with other famous violinists.

paragraphs: Bell's violin is a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin called the Gibson ex Huberman, which was made in 1713, a time when Stradivarius was making his best instruments. This violin had been stolen twice from the previous owner, Bronislaw Huberman; the last time the thief confessed as he was dying to having stolen it. Bell had held and played the violin, and its owner at the time jokingly told Bell the violin could be his for four million dollars. Shortly afterwards, by chance, Bell came across the violin again and discovered it was about to be sold to a wealthy German to become part of a collection. According to the Joshua Bell website Bell "was practically in tears." Bell then sold the Stradivarius violin that he had at the time for a little more than two million dollars and bought the Gibson ex Huberman for a little under the four million dollar asking price. His first recording made with the Gibson ex Huberman was "Romance of the Violin". It sold more than 5,000,000 copies and remained at the top of classical music charts for 54 weeks. In September 2006 he made a CD called the "Voice of the Violin" and was released in September 2006. It has songs arranged for the violin. He played the song "Vocalise" by Rachmaninoff in the Royal Albert Hall at the Last Night of the Proms in 2007. He is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

paragraphs: In an unusual experiment the Washington Post asked Bell to stand in the street and busk (play his violin) by the entrance to a Washington Metro station one cold morning in January 2007. During the 45 minutes that he played more than 1000 people passed him but only a few people stopped to listen, most of whom were children. Only one person recognized him and one other person realized he was a great violinist.

paragraphs: Bell lives in Manhattan. He is keen on sports such as golf and tennis. He has three children born by a former girlfriend, however married another woman on 5th October 2019.


title: Elastic modulus

paragraphs: An elastic modulus, or modulus of elasticity, is the mathematical description of an object or substance's tendency to be deformed elastically (i.e. non-permanently) when a force is applied to it.

paragraphs: The elastic modulus of an object is defined as the slope of its stress-strain curve in the elastic deformation region:

paragraphs: where λ is the elastic modulus; stress is the force that causes the deformation divided by the area to which the force is applied; and strain is the ratio of the change caused by the stress to the original state of the object.

paragraphs: If one specifies how stress and strain are to be measured, that allows for many types of elastic moduli to be defined.


title: ISO 3166-1

paragraphs: ISO 3166-1, is part of the ISO 3166 standard. It gives a code for the names of countries and dependent territories, and is published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The official name of the standard is "Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes". There are three sets of country codes:

paragraphs: ISO 3166-1 is not the only standard for country codes. Many international organizations use their own country codes, where some of them closely correspond to the ISO 3166-1 codes. For examples, see "country codes".

paragraphs: Currently, 244 countries and territories have official ISO 3166-1 codes. The only way to enter a new country name into ISO 3166-1 is to have it registered in one of the following two sources:

paragraphs: To be listed in the bulletin "Country Names", a country or territory must be any of the following:

paragraphs: Once a country name or territory name appears in either of these two sources, it will be added to ISO 3166-1 by default.

paragraphs: The following is a complete ISO 3166-1 encoding code list in alphabetical order by the English short country names officially used by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA), which uses country names from United Nations sources.

paragraphs: The table includes officially assigned codes only.

paragraphs: Besides the officially assigned codes, code elements may be expanded by using either reserved codes or user-assigned codes.

paragraphs: Reserved code elements are codes which, while not ISO 3166-1 codes, are in use for some applications in conjunction with the ISO 3166 codes. They are reserved to add flexibility to the coding system. Usually, obsolete codes may be kept as reserved, while some overseas territories, international organizations, and special nationality status have reserved codes of their own. See the corresponding sections in "ISO 3166-1 alpha-2" and "ISO 3166-1 alpha-3" for their respective reserved codes (ISO 3166-1 numeric does not have reserved codes).

paragraphs: User-assigned code elements are codes at the disposal of users who need to add further names of countries, territories or other geographical entities to their in-house application of ISO 3166-1, and the ISO 3166/MA will never use them in the updating process of the standard. See the corresponding sections in "ISO 3166-1 alpha-2", "ISO 3166-1 alpha-3" and "ISO 3166-1 numeric" for their respective user-assigned codes.

paragraphs: A country or territory may get new codes if it changes its name or its territorial boundaries. A country generally gets new alphabetical codes if its name changes, whereas a new numeric code is associated with a change of boundaries. Changes to ISO 3166-1 are announced in periodic newsletters, of which 12 have been released since the first edition of ISO 3166-1 was published in 1997:

paragraphs: The second edition of ISO 3166-1 was published in 2007, which comprises a consolidation of all changes to the lists as published in the newsletters above.

paragraphs: Information on reserved codes taken from "Reserved code elements under ISO 3166-1" published by Secretariat of ISO/TC 46, ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency, 2001-02-13, available on request from ISO 3166/MA.


title: Lira da braccio

paragraphs: The lira da braccio was a European string instrument that was played with a bow. It was used during the Renaissance. Italian poet-musicians in court in the 15th and 16th centuries often played it to accompany the poems they were reading. The lira da braccio was very similar to the medieval fiddle. Changes continued to be made to the way the lira da braccio was made until the end of the 16th century. In paintings it is often seen being played by the gods Orpheus and Apollo. Sometimes it was used in groups of instruments.

paragraphs: The instrument was a similar shape to a violin, but with a wider fingerboard and flatter bridge. It usually had seven strings, five of them tuned like a violin with a low D added to the bottom, and two other strings for drones. It is likely that the player often played the tune on the top strings and chords on the lower strings.

paragraphs: The lira da braccio was very popular at court. Later, in the 16th century, the madrigal became very popular and also the violin, so the lira da braccio was used less. It continued to be used in plays, especially when it was associated with Apollo. By the middle of the 17th century people no longer played it.


title: Atlas (missile)

paragraphs: Atlas was a missile built by the "Convair" Division of "General Dynamics".

paragraphs: It was originally designed as an ICBM in the late 1950s. It launched the Mercury project space capsules and became the foundation for a family of successful space launch vehicles now built by "United Launch Alliance". The Atlas rocket family is today used as a launch platform for commercial and military satellites, and other spacecraft.

paragraphs: The Atlas, first tested in 1957, was the United States' first successful ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile).

paragraphs: Atlas, named for the Atlas of Greek mythology, got its start in 1946 with the award of a United States Army Air Force research contract to Convair for the study of a 1,500 to 5,000 mi. (2,400 to 8,000 km) range nuclear armed missile.

paragraphs: The missile was originally given the military designation "XB-65", thus making it a bomber; from 1955 it was redesignated "SM-65" and, from 1962, it became "CGM-16". This letter "C" stood for "coffin" or "Container", because the rocket was stored in a semi-hardened container; it was prepared for launch by being raised and fueled in the open. The Atlas-F (HGM-16) was stored vertically underground, but launched after being lifted to the surface.


title: Flag of Dominican Republic

paragraphs: The Dominican Constitution says that the flag of the Dominican Republic has a white cross in the centre; the arms of the cross get to the sides of the flag and divides the flag into four rectangles —the left rectangles are blue (top) and red (bottom), and the right ones are red (top) and blue (bottom). The width of the white cross is half the height of one of the rectangles.

paragraphs: The National Flag, like the state and war flags of other Latin American countries, has a small coat of arms in the centre of the white cross but there is not a coat of arms in the ensign (the flag used by commercial ships).

paragraphs: The Dominican flag was created the first day of Independence (27 February 1844); it was created from the Haitian flag but with a white cross; that is, two blue rectangles on the top and two red rectangles on the bottom. The colors are from the French flag. That was the "First National Flag".

paragraphs: The first Dominican Constitution of 6 November 1844 did not say anything about the distribution of the rectangles but from the start the flag was represented with alternation of the colors (that is, blue and red on top and red and blue on bottom); this is the "Second National Flag". Only the Constitution of 1908 is specific about the color distribution.


title: Southampton

paragraphs: Southampton is a city in the United Kingdom. The city is in Hampshire. It is about in the middle of the south coast of England. Southampton is the largest city on the south coast.

paragraphs: It is an important port. It is the nearest city to the New Forest. In 1912, the RMS Titanic sailed from there as was common with most ocean liners at the time. It contains several memorials and museum exhibitions related with the doomed ship.

paragraphs: Southampton has lots of landmarks, of which one is the Bargate. This is the old main gate of the city wall of Southampton, and nowadays is used as the beginning of the guided tour of Southampton, "Walk the Walls". In medieval Southampton, a bell was rung at dusk every day to tell people that the gates would shortly be locked.

paragraphs: Today, the Bargate Shopping Centre is nearby.

paragraphs: Named after "The Mayflower", which set sail from Southampton to the "New World" (via Plymouth), the Mayflower is the theatre in Southampton. It was built in 1928.

paragraphs: Southampton is home to many cruise ships and ocean liners, including the "Queen Victoria" and the "Queen Mary 2".

paragraphs: There is also a regular ferry service to Hythe (a small village on the other side of Southampton Water), which leaves every half hour.

paragraphs: Southampton has a football team Southampton F.C., which is nicknamed "The Saints". In 2001, the team moved stadiums, from "The Dell", to St. Mary's Football Stadium. The club was founded in 1885, and has been playing ever since.


title: Lhasa Apso

paragraphs: The Lhasa Apso is a small breed of dog. It originated in Lhasa, Tibet, which it is named after. Male Lhasas generally weigh about 14 to 18 pounds, and female Lhasas weigh 12 to 14 pounds. Lhasas have developed a thick coat of fur because they were bred in Tibet, which can get very cold. Their coat comes in many different colors, and they usually have dark brown eyes and a black nose. Lhasas generally live long lives, some surviving into their twenties. Lhasa Apsos do tend to develop arthritis in their legs, which is due to the fact they are excitable, energetic dogs.


title: States and territories of Australia

paragraphs: From 1926 to 1931, Central Australia existed as a separate territory between the 20th and 26th parallels of latitude, before being becoming a part of the Northern Territory again.

paragraphs: The states started as separate British colonies before Federation (in 1901). Their powers are protected by the Australian constitution. The territories are under the control of the Commonwealth government. The Australian Parliament has powers to create laws in the territories that it does not have in the states.

paragraphs: Most of the territories are directly administered by the Commonwealth government. Three of the territories (the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Norfolk Island) administer themselves. In the territories that govern themselves, the Australian Parliament has the power to govern, and can override laws made by the territorial governments. It has done this at times, but it is rare that it happens. The Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are usually treated as states.

paragraphs: Each state has a governor. This governor is chosen by the Queen, but she chooses the person on the advice of the state Premier. The Administrators of the Northern Territory and of Norfolk Island are chosen by the Governor-General. The Australian Capital Territory is governed by the Governor-General.

paragraphs: The head of government of each state is called the Premier. This person is chosen by the state's Governor. Normally the Governor will select as Premier whoever leads the lower house of the state Parliament. However, the Governor can chose someone else as Premier. The head of government of the self-governing mainland territories is called the Chief Minister. The Northern Territory's Chief Minister, is normally whoever controls the Legislative Assembly, is appointed by the Administrator.


title: The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

paragraphs: The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show is an alternative name for two separate American television animated shows: "Rocky and His Friends" (1959–1961) and "The Bullwinkle Show" (1961–1964).


title: Jimmy Finlayson

paragraphs: James Henderson "Jimmy" Finlayson (August 27, 1887 – October 9, 1953) was a Scottish-American actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Finlayson was bald, with a fake moustache, and had many trademark comic mannerisms and is famous for his squinting, outrageous "double-take, "fade away" head reaction, and characteristic expression "D'oh!".


title: Body mass index

paragraphs: The body mass index (or BMI) is a measure which shows whether people have the right weight for their height. The World Health Organisation (WHO), governments and health workers use it. It is also sometimes called the Quetelet Index.

paragraphs: The BMI was invented by Adolphe Quetelet between 1830 and 1850.

paragraphs: A scientist named Ancel Keys first used the term "body mass index" in 1972. He wrote that governments should measure the BMI of adults to find out whether they are too fat or too thin.

paragraphs: For example, a man whose weight is and height is has a BMI of:

paragraphs: A man whose weight is and height is has a BMI of:

paragraphs: Health organisations, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), use the BMI to help decide whether people are too fat or too thin. The WHO uses these numbers for adults:

paragraphs: Some people disagree with these numbers. Some experts think the "Overweight" range for people with Asian body types should be 23–27.49, not 25–29.99. Some experts think the lowest "Normal" BMI should be 20 for men, and 18 for women.

paragraphs: The old BMI definition of overweight was 27. This changed in 1998.

paragraphs: BMI is useful for governments who want to know about the health of their people. For example, in the United States in 2007, 74% of adults had a BMI above 25 ("Overweight" or "Obese") and 27% of adults had a BMI above 30 ("Obese"). Many of these people will become ill because they are too fat. This information helps the United States government decide what to do about the health of its people.

paragraphs: BMI is less useful for finding out whether one person is too fat or too thin. BMI does not say how much weight is fat, how much is muscle and how much is bone. For example, many athletes have a high BMI. They are not fat. Their BMI is high because they have lots of heavy muscle. Other people have lots of fat and not much muscle. They are too fat but their BMI is normal.

paragraphs: Even so, BMI is popular. It is easy to use and easy to understand, and it gives useful information for people with "normal" bodies.

paragraphs: The Ponderal Index is similar to the body mass index, but the height is cubed, not squared. The formula is:

paragraphs: Some experts suggest that the exponent should be between 2.3 and 2.7. The best formula might be:


title: Middle age

paragraphs: Middle age is the period of life between youth and before old age. There is no fixed age, but most people think it begins when someone is about 40 years old, until the person is 65 years old.

paragraphs: In most countries, people that think that by middle age, people should be mature, perhaps with a good, steady job and a family. Due to promotion, middle age is sometimes a time when adults have greater wealth and influence than earlier in their careers, although they may have less disposable income due to having children. However, it is also common for some adults to suffer from mid-life crisis, when they are unsure about their life and sometimes become depressed because of it. Women and men often have different experiences of middle age partly depending on whether they choose to work or care for their family full-time.

paragraphs: Middle-aged people begin to look older, with more wrinkles in their skin, and start to have grey hair. They become less fit and usually gain more weight.

paragraphs: Middle-aged females find it harder to become pregnant. If they do have a baby, there is a higher chance that it will have a genetic disease (Down syndrome, for example). Females usually have their menopause in middle age, when they stop bleeding every month. When that happens, they cannot have children anymore.


title: Tribute

paragraphs: A tribute (from Latin "tribulum", contribution) is when one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often case in historical situations, of submission or loyalty.

paragraphs: This is trade between the parties under a contractual relationship formed upon pressure, and based upon the possibility of threats if improved relationships did not happen.

paragraphs: In Imperial China, the term "tribute" is used to describe a kind of regulated trade in goods and services between China (the only great power in East Asia) and other trading partners.

paragraphs: Despite the term "tribute" state, China did not get involved in the domestic affairs and diplomacy of its trading partners, such as Joseon, Japan, Siam, Cochinchina and the Ryūkyū Kingdom.

paragraphs: In music, a tribute is when a singer, musician or band plays the music of another musical group. These artists may make an entire album called a "tribute album" that is nothing but songs that were first played by other musicians. A "tribute band" is a band that only plays songs that were made famous by one other band. They will often dress like that band and try to look like them as they perform. For example, a Kiss tribute band will only play songs by the band Kiss. They will also dress like the band and use the same makeup designs as members of the bands.


title: Brandy (singer)

paragraphs: Brandy Rayana Norwood (born February 11, 1979), professionally known as Brandy, is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actress.

paragraphs: Brandy became famous as a teenager in the early 90s with the debut "Brandy" which received a platinum certification in the US. In 1997 she became the first African American in history to play the role of Cinderella in the movie with the same title. Her second album "Never Say Never" followed which sold over 16 million copies worldwide. A couple of highly successful singles was released from the record, including "The Boy Is Mine", a duet with Monica, which spent 13 weeks at number one on the US singles chart. In 1999 Brandy starred in the horror movie "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer". Brandy earned the title "Princess of R&B" due to her success in the 1990s. She starred in the sitcom "Moesha" as the title character.

paragraphs: Her third album "Full Moon" was released in 2002. The album went platinum a month after it's release. The follow-up titled "Afrodisiac" was released in 2004. Thereafter Brandy's career suffered from several setbacks, most notably the 2006 car accident where another driver was killed. The singer's sixth album is expected for release in 2012.

paragraphs: To date Brandy has sold over 30 million records worldwide which makes her one of the best-selling female artists in music history. In 2010 she was ranked amongst the 50 most successful teenagers in American history.

paragraphs: Brandy was a contestant in the late 2010 season of "Dancing with the Stars".


title: Kew Gardens

paragraphs: Kew Gardens or the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in the United Kingdom.

paragraphs: Kew’s historic landscapes and buildings are a collection of gardens and parks and glasshouses.

paragraphs: Kew has the world's largest collection of plant specimens, and is one of the most important centres of research in botany.

paragraphs: Kew Gardens are open to visitors who pay to enter.

paragraphs: Early work on the gardens started in the 17th century when King Henry VII built Richmond Lodge in the area.

paragraphs: The land was a private royal garden until the Victorian era. In 1840, the Royal Botanic Garden was established.

paragraphs: The great expansion of the British Empire in the 19th century brought an expanded interest in exotic plants, so the gardens expanded.

paragraphs: In the 20th century, the gardens continued to grow larger and even more important in plant science.

paragraphs: The gardens were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.

paragraphs: The Temperate glass house was fixed over 5 years. It opened again in 2018.


title: Yo Gabba Gabba!

paragraphs: Yo Gabba Gabba! is an American television show is an Nick Jr. from August 20, 2007 until February 2, 2009. It is shown on Nick Jr., on the Nickelodeon network. The program is about a colourful D.J. named DJ Lance Rock, and 5 toy monsters, who live in Gabbaland. In every program a band plays music. Most of the bands are famous indie rock acts, like for instance Arcade Fire and Enon.

paragraphs: The series was first shown on August 20, 2007 on Nick Jr. and began being shown February 23, 2008 on Noggin. A second series was shown in 2008.


title: Post (album)

paragraphs: Post is an album by Icelandic rock singer Björk. She sent it out on June of 1995. It includes techno and dance songs.

paragraphs: Post was one of the most popular albums of Björk. It was ranked #26 in "Spin" magazine's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005".


Component


title: Landscape

paragraphs: A landscape means an area of land as one can see it. This includes landforms, flora, fauna and human elements, for instance human activity or the built environment.

paragraphs: According to its meaning, lighting and weather conditions are part of landscape as well. Objects inside the building can sometimes be considered part of landscape as well.

paragraphs: The landscape is determined mainly by the underlying geology. This can be seen clearly in the East African Great Rift Valley. There almost everything in the landscape is caused by or connected with the pulling apart of Africa which is happening there. Even in Great Britain, a geologically quiet place, the whole landscape can be understood by understanding its geological past.

paragraphs: The word was borrowed as a painters' term from Dutch during the 16th century, when Dutch artists began to become masters of the landscape genre. The Dutch word "landschap" had earlier meant simply “region, tract of land” but now meant “a picture depicting scenery on land”.


title: Dell

paragraphs: Dell is a private company that makes laptop and desktop computers and computer accessories. It was formed in 1984. It is named after Michael Dell, the CEO and creator of the company. Dell makes computers for businesses and home users, and they also make computer monitors and Printers. They used to make portable music players, called the Dell DJ, and PDAs too.

paragraphs: Their company is in Round Rock, Texas. In 2006, they employed over 78,000 people. Some of their computers have a Linux operating system. Most computers for consumer usage will come with Microsoft Windows.


title: Svartahrid

paragraphs: Svartahrid is a black metal band from Norway. The band was formed in Skien, Telemark in 1994.


title: Marcel Marceau

paragraphs: Marcel Mangel (22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) better known by his stage name Marcel Marceau, was a French mime. He was one of the most popular mimes in the world. He was said to be "single-handedly responsible for reviving the art of mime after World War II."

paragraphs: Marceau created many personalities. The most famous of these is probably "Bip the clown". He received several awards for his works.


title: Bugs Bunny

paragraphs: Bugs Bunny is an Academy Award-winning animated gray rabbit who starred in the "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" series created by Warner Bros. He made the phrase ""What's up, Doc?"" popular as early as 1940. Other things he says are "I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque", "Of course you realize, this means war", and "Ain't I a stinker?". He is often seen as a very studious character, with a carrot in his mouth. His counterpart is commonly Daffy Duck, with whom he is usually arguing. In other shorts, he comes up against Wile E. Coyote, Elmer Fudd, or Yosemite Sam. Bugs speaks with a Brooklyn accent (and usually a mouthful of carrots), causing him to drop his "Rs". Bugs is somewhat based on the comedian Groucho Marx. Bugs is one of a dozen cartoon characters to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; he was the second after Mickey Mouse.


title: Kaz II mystery

paragraphs: The Kaz II is a 12 metre catamaran that was found drifting 160 km (80 nautical miles) off the northern coast of Australia on April 18, 2007. What happened to the crew of the boat is still unknown. The circumstances in which they disappeared are mysterious and have been compared to that of the 1800s ship "Mary Celeste".


title: The Simpsons shorts

paragraphs: "The Simpsons" shorts is a series of one-minute television shorts that ran on the variety show "The Tracey Ullman Show" for three seasons. The shorts were created by cartoonist Matt Groening.


title: James L. Brooks

paragraphs: James L. Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is a three-time Academy Award, nineteen-time Emmy and Golden Globe-winning American producer, writer, and movie director.

paragraphs: He is best known for creating American television programs such as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "The Simpsons", "Rhoda" and "Taxi". His best-known movie is "Terms of Endearment", for which he received three Academy Awards in 1984.


title: Wi-Fi

paragraphs: Wi-Fi is a way of connecting to a computer network using radio waves instead of wires. It was invented to connect computers that are near each other, and nowadays is much used for Internet connections.

paragraphs: The Wi-Fi Alliance says Wi-Fi is any "wireless local area network" (WLAN) that follows the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 specification. A Wi-Fi device can work with any Wi-Fi network anywhere in the world.

paragraphs: The word "Wi-Fi" is a play on words with hi-fi, and was invented to replace the name "IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum".

paragraphs: As of 2013, most wireless networks use one of two radio frequency bands. These are not the only two bands, but are the most used. One of the bands is at around 2.4 GHz, and the other is at 5 GHz. Both of these have benefits and drawbacks: The 2.4 GHz band is widely used, and devices are usually cheaper. Microwave ovens, DECT telephones and other wireless devices also use the 2.4 GHz band, and sometimes cause interference which slows transmissions. The 5 GHz band has more frequencies and usually less interference, but there are more rules for using it. In some places, the 5 GHz band may not be used outdoors. Because fewer devices use the 5 GHz band, devices that do are often more expensive.

paragraphs: The World Health Organization (WHO) says that Wi-Fi is not dangerous.


title: Digital Object Identifier

paragraphs: A Digital Object Identifier (or DOI) is a permanent way to identify an online document. This identification is not related to its current location.

paragraphs: A typical use of a DOI is to give a scientific paper or article a unique number that can be used by anyone find the location of the paper. It may also make it possible to find an electronic copy, for example, on the Internet. The DOI system has a DOI resolution system which is used to locate where the document is. When the document is moved, the DOI resolution system is updated with the new location of the document.

paragraphs: For example, links to "Web 2.0 authorship: Issues of Referencing and citation for academic integrity" by Kathleen Gray "et al." The work was published in "The Internet and Higher Education," Vol. 11, Issue 2, 2008.


title: Encyclopaedia Metallum

paragraphs: Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives is a website which lists bands from various forms of heavy metal music.


title: Tropical Depression Ten (2007)

paragraphs: Tropical Depression Ten was a short-lived tropical cyclone that moved onto land on western Florida in September 2007. It was the tenth tropical cyclone of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm formed as a subtropical depression on September 21 in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico from the contact of a tropical wave, the end of a cold front, and a low pressure system. Originally, the system had a disorganized circulation and thunderstorm patterns, but later turned into a tropical depression after convection became more organized over the center. Moving northwestward, the depression came onto land near Fort Walton Beach early on September 22, and shortly later, it dissipated over southeastern Alabama. The depression caused only light damages to the area and was limited to light rainfall, although the system that would later become "Tropical Depression 10" created a damaging tornado in Eustis, Florida.

paragraphs: By September 17, the contact between a tropical wave and the end of a cold front created huge amounts of thunderstorms over the Bahamas and western Atlantic Ocean. An upper-level low over western Florida created more convection across the area, and on September 18 the system began moving towards Florida. Originally, the system was very disorganized, but surface pressures slowly went down across the area, with a weak low pressure area forming on September 19. A Hurricane Hunters aircraft was sent to fly into the system on September 20 reported an organized low and strong wind gusts in the storm as it moved into the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, along with little and disorganized thunderstorm activity. Convection slowly became better organized, with a well-defined rainband in its eastern half and irregular thunderstorm activity near the center. In spite of its bad organization, with a disorganized circulation and an upper-level low aloft, the National Hurricane Center started advisories on "Subtropical Depression Ten" at 1500 UTC on September 21 while it was located about 40 miles (60 km) south of St. Vincent Island, Florida, stating "the potential for additional development right along the coastline."

paragraphs: With a mid-level ridge to its northwest, the subtropical depression was predicted to move alongside with the coastline of Florida and Alabama. As an outcome, the cyclone was forecasted to have winds of 45 mph (75 km/h) and move onto land on southern Mississippi. The circulation became better organized as convection modestly increased over the center, and within 6 hours of its formation, the system turned into a tropical depression. The cyclone continued moving northwestward, making landfall around 0000 UTC on September 22 near Fort Walton Beach, Florida with winds of 35 mph (55 km/h). The cloud pattern began to become disorganized as it moved inland, and 3 hours after it moved ashore the National Hurricane Center gave out its last advisory on the depression. As the depression continued into Alabama, it became more disorganized, and by 0900 UTC on September 22 the cyclone collapsed into a remnant low pressure area.

paragraphs: At the same time the National Hurricane Center gave out its first advisory on the depression, they also gave out a tropical storm warning from Apalachicola, Florida to the delta of the Mississippi River. Shortly thereafter, an inland tropical storm warning was given out for Pearl River, Walthall, and Pike counties in Mississippi and Washington Parish in Louisiana. Also, the New Orleans National Weather Service gave out a coastal flood watch for four parishes in southeastern Louisiana. In Mississippi, Governor Haley Barbour declared a state of emergency. Officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for people living in areas of low lands and in mobile homes for Jackson, Harrison, and Hancock counties. Officials in New Orleans opened three emergency shelters, stating the possible need of shelter for citizens in about 17,000 FEMA trailers after Hurricane Katrina. Because of the threat of the cyclone, Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco also declared a state of emergency and placed the state's National Guard and other disaster services on stand-by.

paragraphs: Before of the depression's development, several oil and gas companies removed unneeded workers from offshore oil platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico; the Shell Oil Company evacuated about 700 employees, while Noble Energy removed its workforce of about 300 people from two oil rigs. Exxon Mobil stopped its production by about 1,000 barrels of oil and 55,000 ft³ (1,500 m³). With 27.7% of the daily crude oil production stopped because of the depression, oil prices rose higher after days of increasing levels, and on September 20 reached a record rate of over $84 per barrel.

paragraphs: Together, the wind shear and low-level helicity created moderate convection across central Florida associated with the precursor low pressure system. Late on September 20, a supercell formed near Lake Apopka, and moved quickly northward it created an EF1 tornado near Eustis; the tornado moved around for about 2 miles (3 km) and reached winds of about 100 mph (160 km/h). The tornado destroyed 20 homes, left 30 others severely damaged, and injured one person, and cut power for about 300 people. The depression also created waves of about 5 feet (1.5 m) and rip currents along the west coast of Florida. Outer rainbands began affecting coastal sections of western Florida by about 12 hours before the formation of the depression. Precipitation in the state reached 2.83 inches (71.9 mm) in Crestview. In other places, rainfall totals reached 1.46 inches (37.1 mm) in Albany, Georgia and 0.51 inches (13 mm) in Dothan, Alabama.


title: Software piracy

paragraphs: Software piracy (officially called copyright infringement of software) refers to the illegal copying of software. It often uses the Internet. Some countries have laws about this. The problem is considered to be bigger in certain countries than in others. Those who hold the copyright get less money because of copyright infringement. As a result of this, some copyright holders publish “anti-piracy” campaigns to tell people about the effects of infringement.

paragraphs: Very often, the people making the laws have to make a trade-off between allowing people to copy and use the software, and the copyright holders charging for the content. At the same time, even not allowed distribution makes the content more popular. Because of these two reasons, infringement of copyright for proprietary software and content can be bad also for free software and content.

paragraphs: In 2010 to 2012, the entertainment industry advocated changes to United States law to make it easier to end piracy websites, called Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act. Some websites including the English Wikipedia protested these proposals on January 18, 2012. The next day, the United States Department of Justice seized the Megaupload website which is claimed to be one of the largest piracy websites.

paragraphs: Illegally distributed proprietary software often has the following features: