title: Palaeolithic

paragraphs: The Palaeolithic, (or Paleolithic), refers to the prehistoric period when stone tools were made by humans. They are found in the Great Rift Valley of Africa from about 3.3 million years ago. They were probably made by Australopithecines. They are found in Europe somewhat later, from about 1 mya (0.7mya for Britain). The Palaeolithic is by far the longest period of humanity's time, about 99% of human history. The geological period which corresponds to the Palaeolithic is the Pleistocene.

paragraphs: Stone tools were not only made by our own species, "Homo sapiens". They were made by all previous members of the genus, starting with relatively crude tools made by "Homo habilis" and "Homo erectus". In Europe, the large-brained Neanderthal Man ("Homo neanderthalensis") made tools of high quality, and was in turn outshone by the many tools made by our own species. These tools are the first cultural products which have survived.

paragraphs: The Palaeolithic dates from about 2.6 million years ago and ended around 15,000 with the Mesolithic in Western Europe, and with the Epipaleolithic in warmer climates such as Africa. The Palaeolithic age began when hominids (early humans) started to use stones as tools for bashing, cutting and scraping. The age ended when humans began to make small, fine tools (Mesolithic) and finally when humans began to plant crops and have other types of agriculture (Neolithic). In some areas, such as Western Europe, the way that people lived was affected by the Ice age. The move towards agriculture started in the Middle East.

paragraphs: During the Palaeolithic Age humans grouped together in small bands. They lived by gathering plants and hunting wild animals. As well as using stone tools, they used tools of wood and bone. They probably also used leather and vegetable fibers but these have not lasted from that time.

paragraphs: The Oldowan is the archaeological term used to refer to the stone tool industry that was used by hominids during the earliest Palaeolithic period. For a long time it was thought that the Oldowan was the earliest stone tool industry in prehistory, from 2.6 million years ago up until 1.7 million years ago. It was followed by the more sophisticated Acheulean industry. Oldowan tools were therefore the earliest tools in human history, and mark the beginning of the archaeological record. The term "Oldowan" is taken from the site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, where the first Oldowan tools were discovered by the archaeologist Louis Leakey in the 1930s. Now it is realised that stone tools were used much earlier (3.3 million years ago) and that was definitely before the genus "Homo" had evolved.

paragraphs: It is not known for sure which species actually created and used Oldowan tools. It reached its peak with early species of "Homo" such as "H. habilis" and "H. ergaster". Early "Homo erectus" appears to inherit Oldowan technology and refines it into the Acheulean industry beginning 1.7 million years ago. Oldowan tools are sometimes called "pebble tools", so named because the blanks chosen for their production already resemble, in pebble form, the final product. Oldowan tools are sometimes subdivided into types, such as chopper, scrapers and pounders, as these seem to be their main uses.

paragraphs: Acheulean is the industry of stone tool manufacture by early humans of the Lower Palaeolithic era in Africa and much of West Asia and Europe. Acheulean tools are typically found with "Homo erectus" remains. They are first developed out of the more primitive Oldowan technology some 1.8 million years ago, by "Homo habilis".

paragraphs: It was the dominant technology for most of human history. More than a million years ago Acheulean tool users left Africa to colonize Eurasia. Their oval and pear-shaped hand axes have been found over a wide area. Some examples were finely made. Although it developed in Africa, the industry is named after the type site of Saint-Acheul, now a suburb of Amiens in northern France where some of the first examples were found in the 19th century.

paragraphs: John Frere was the first to suggest in writing a very ancient date for Acheulean hand-axes. In 1797 he sent two examples to the Royal Academy in London from Hoxne in Suffolk. He had found them in prehistoric lake deposits along with the bones of extinct animals and concluded that they were made by people ""who had not the use of metals"" and that they belonged to a ""very ancient period indeed, even beyond the present world"". His ideas were ignored by his contemporaries however, who held a pre-Darwinian view of human evolution.

paragraphs: Radiometric dating, often potassium-argon dating, of deposits containing Acheulean material is able to broadly place Acheulean techniques from around 1.65 million years ago to about 100,000 years ago. The earliest accepted examples of the type, at 1.65 m years old, come from the West Turkana region of Kenya. Some think their origin might be as early as 1.8 million years ago.

paragraphs: In individual regions, this dating can be considerably refined; in Europe for example, Acheulean methods did not reach the continent until around 400 thousand years ago and in smaller study areas, the date ranges can be much shorter. Numerical dates can be misleading however, and it is common to associate examples of this early human tool industry with one or more glacial or interglacial periods or with a particular early species of human. The earliest user of Acheulean tools was "Homo ergaster" who first appeared about 1.8 million years ago. Some researchers prefer to call these users "early Homo erectus". Later forms of early humans also used Acheulean techniques and are described below.

paragraphs: There is considerable time overlap in early prehistoric stone-working industries. In some regions Acheulean tool-using groups were contemporary with other, less sophisticated industries such as the Clactonian. Then, later, Acheulean tools occur at the same time as the more sophisticated Mousterian. The Acheulean was not a neatly defined period, but a tool-making technique which flourished especially well in early prehistory. Acheulean was a basic method for making stone tools which was shared across much of the Old World.

paragraphs: The Clactonian is an industry of European flint tool manufacture that dates to the early part of the interglacial period 400,000 years ago. Clactonian tools were made by "Homo erectus" rather than modern humans. Early, crude flint tools from other regions using similar methods are called either Clactonian or "core & flake" technology.

paragraphs: The Clactonian is named after finds made at Clacton-on-Sea in the English county of Essex in 1911. The artefacts found there included flint chopping tools, flint flakes and the tip of a worked wooden shaft along with the remains of a giant elephant and hippopotamus. Further examples of the tools have been found at sites in Swanscombe, Kent, and Barnham in Suffolk; similar industries have been identified across Northern Europe.

paragraphs: The Clactonian industry involved striking thick, irregular flakes from a core of flint, which was then employed as a chopper. The flakes would have been used as crude knives or scrapers. Unlike the Oldowan tools from which Clactonian ones derived, some were notched implying that they were attached to a handle or shaft.

paragraphs: The Clactonian industry may have co-existed with the Acheulean industry (which used handaxes). However, in 2004 there was an excavation of a butchered Pleistocene elephant near Dartford, Kent. Archaeologists recovered numerous Clactonian flint tools, but no handaxes. Since handaxes would be more useful than choppers to dismember an elephant carcass, this is evidence of the Clactonian being a separate industry. Flint of sufficient quality was available in the area, so probably the people who carved up the elephant did not have the knowledge to make handaxes.

paragraphs: The Mousterian is an industry of stone tools associated with Neanderthal Man, "Homo neanderthalensis". It dates from about 300,000 years to about 30,000 years ago. There are up to thirty types of tools in the Mousterian as contrasted with about six in the Acheulean.

paragraphs: The Mousterian was named after the type site of Le Moustier, a rock shelter in the Dordogne region of France. Similar flintwork has been found all over unglaciated Europe and also the Near East and North Africa. Handaxes, long blades

paragraphs: and points typify the industry. Overall, the items are more perfectly finished than any previous work. The method used to get the blades and flakes is called the Levallois technique. It is a prepared-core technique: the core is worked on so that a long, fine blade can be struck off. For this quality of work, a 'soft' hammer made of something like deer antler is necessary, rather than a stone hammer. The extra brain size of the Neanderthals is probably relevant to these advances.

paragraphs: The cultures which follow the Mousterian are all cultures of modern humans, "Homo sapiens". It is characteristic of our species to produce many more tools, all specialised for particular tasks. There are at least 100 types of tools in the Upper Palaeolithic compared to a maximum of 30 tools in the Mousterian.

paragraphs: The Palaeolithic is sometimes divided into three (somewhat overlapping) periods which mark technological and cultural advances in different human communities:

paragraphs: After the Palaeolithic follows the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras, which marks the end of Stone Age. The Bronze Age and the Iron Age come right after the Stone Age.

paragraphs: Possibly among the earliest traces of art are Venus figurines. These are "figurines" (very small statues) of women, mostly pregnant with visible breasts. The figurines were found in areas of Western Europe to Siberia. Most are between 20,000 and 30,000 years old. Two figurines have been found that are much older: the Venus of Tan-Tan, dated to 300,000 to 500,000 years ago was found in Morocco. The Venus of Berekhat Ram was found on the Golan Heights. It has been dated to 200,000 to 300,000 years ago. It may be the one of the earliest things that show the human form.

paragraphs: Different kinds of stone, bones and ivory were used to make the figurines. Some are also made of clay which was then burned in a fire. This is one of the earliest known traces of the use of ceramics.

paragraphs: Today it is not known what the figurines meant to the people who made them. There are two basic theories:

paragraphs: Scientists have excluded that these figurines were linked to the fertility of fields, because agriculture had not been discovered at the time the figurines were made.

paragraphs: The two figurines that are older may have mostly formed by natural processes. The Venus of Tan-Tan was covered with a substance that could have been some kind of paint. The substance contained traces of iron and manganese. The figurine of Berekhat Ram shows traces that someone worked on it with a tool. A study done in 1997 states that these traces could not have been left by nature alone.

paragraphs: Cave paintings are paintings that were made on the walls or roofs of caves. Many cave paintings belong to the Palaeolothic Age, and date from about 15,000 to 30,000 years ago. Among the most famous are those in the caves of Altamira in Spain and Lascaux in France. There are about 350 caves in Europe where cave paintings have been found. Usually, animals have been painted, like aurochs, bisons or horses. Why these paintings were done is not known. They are not simply decorations of places where people lived. The caves they were found in usually do not show signs that someone lived in them.

paragraphs: One of the oldest caves is that of Chauvet in France. Paintings in the cave fall into two groups. One has been dated to around 30,000 to 33,000 years ago, the other to 26,000 or 27,000 years ago. The oldest known cave paintings, based on radiocarbon dating of "black from drawings, from torch marks and from the floors". As of 1999, the dates of 31 samples from the cave have been reported. The oldest paintings have been dated from 32,900±490 years ago.

paragraphs: Some archaeologists have questioned the dating. Züchner believe the two groups date from 23,000–24,000, and 10,000–18,000 years ago. Pettitt and Bahn believe the dating is inconsistent. They say the people at that periods of time painted things differently. They also do not know where the charcoal used to paint some things is from, and how big the painted area is.

paragraphs: People from the Palaeolithic era drew well. They knew about perspective, and they knew of different ways to draw things. They also were able to observe the behaviour of animals they painted. Some of the paintings show how the painted animals behaved. The paintings may have been important for rituals.

paragraphs: Paleolithic hunting and gathering people ate leafy vegetables, fruit, nuts and insects, meat, fish, and shellfish. As there is little direct evidence, it is almost impossible to determine the relative proportions of plant and animal foods. There is a modern diet called paleolithic diet, but it has few things in common with the paleolitic diet of the time. Even the claim that most humans of a given period shared the same diet is problematic. The Paleolithic was an extended period of time. During that time, there were many technological advances, many of which had impact on human dietary structure. For example, humans probably did not possess the control of fire until the Middle Paleolithic, or tools necessary to engage in extensive fishing. On the other hand, both these technologies are generally agreed to have been widely available to humans by the end of the Paleolithic (consequently, allowing humans in some regions of the planet to rely heavily on fishing and hunting). In addition, the Paleolithic involved a substantial geographical expansion of human populations. During the Lower Paleolithic, ancestors of modern humans are thought to have been constrained to Africa east of the Great Rift Valley. During the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, humans greatly expanded their area of settlement, reaching ecosystems as diverse as New Guinea and Alaska. The also needed to adapt their diets to the local resources that were available.

paragraphs: Anthropologists have different opinions about the proportions of plant and animal foods consumed. Just as with still existing hunters and gatherers, there were many varied "diets" - in different groups -of fruit and vegetables. The relative proportions of plant and animal foods in the diets of Paleolithic people often varied between regions; in colder regions, more meat was necessary. These regions were not populated by anatomically modern humans until 30,000-50,000 BP. It is generally agreed that many modern hunting and fishing tools, such as fish hooks, nets, bows, and poisons, were not introduced until the Upper Palaeolithic and possibly even Neolithic. The only hunting tools widely available to humans during any significant part of the Paleolithic period were hand-held spears and harpoons. There's evidence of Paleolithic people killing and eating seals and elands as far as 100,000 years BP. On the other hand, buffalo bones found in African caves from the same period are typically of very young or very old individuals, and there's no evidence that pigs, elephants or rhinos were hunted by humans at the time.

paragraphs: Another view is that until the Upper Paleolithic, humans were frugivores (fruit eaters) who supplemented their meals with carrion, eggs, and small prey such as baby birds and mussels. Only on rare occasions did they manage to kill and consume big game such as antelopes. This view is supported by studies of higher apes, particularly chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are the closest to humans genetically. They share more than 96% of their DNA code with humans, and their digestive tract is functionally very similar. Chimpanzees are primarily frugivores, but they could and would consume and digest animal flesh, given the opportunity. In general, their actual diet in the wild is about 95% plant-based, with the remaining 5% filled with insects, eggs, and baby animals. In some ecosystems, however, chimpanzees are predatory, forming parties to hunt monkeys. Some comparative studies of human and higher primate digestive tracts do suggest that humans have evolved to obtain greater amounts of calories from sources such as animal foods, allowing them to shrink the size of the gastrointestinal tract relative to body mass and to increase the brain mass instead.

paragraphs: Paleolithic peoples suffered less famine and malnutrition than the Neolithic farming tribes that followed them. This was partly because Paleolithic hunter-gatherers accessed to a wider variety natural foods, which allowed them a more nutritious diet and a decreased risk of famine. Many of the famines experienced by Neolithic (and some modern) farmers were caused or amplified by their dependence on a small number of crops. It is thought that wild foods can have a significantly different nutritional profile than cultivated foods. The greater amount of meat obtained by hunting big game animals in Paleolithic diets than Neolithic diets may have also allowed Paleolithic hunter-gatherers to enjoy a more nutritious diet than Neolithic agriculturalists. It has been argued that the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture resulted in an increasing focus on a limited variety of foods, with meat likely taking a back seat to plants. It is also unlikely that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers were affected by modern diseases of affluence such as Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, because they ate mostly lean meats and plants and frequently engaged in intense physical activity, and because the average lifespan was shorter than the age of common-onset of these conditions.

paragraphs: Large-seeded legumes were part of the human diet long before the Neolithic agricultural revolution, as evident from archaeobotanical finds from the Mousterian layers of Kebara Cave, in Israel.<ref name="doi10.1016/j.jas.2004.11.006"></ref> There is evidence suggesting that Paleolithic societies were gathering wild cereals for food use at least as early as 30,000 years ago. However, seeds, such as grains and beans, were rarely eaten and never in large quantities on a daily basis.<ref name="doi:10.1080/11026480510032043"></ref> Recent archeological evidence also indicates that winemaking may have originated in the Paleolithic, when early humans drank the juice of naturally fermented wild grapes from animal-skin pouches. Paleolithic humans consumed animal organ meats, including the livers, kidneys and brains. Upper Paleolithic cultures appear to have had significant knowledge about plants and herbs and may have, albeit very rarely, practiced rudimentary forms of horticulture. In particular, bananas and tubers may have been cultivated as early as 25,000 BP in southeast Asia. Late Upper Paleolithic societies also appear to have occasionally practiced pastoralism and animal husbandry, presumably for dietary reasons. For instance, some European late Upper Paleolithic cultures domesticated and raised reindeer, presumably for their meat or milk, as early as 14,000 BP. Humans also probably consumed hallucinogenic plants during the Paleolithic period. The Australian Aborigines have been consuming a variety of native animal and plant foods, called bushfood, for an estimated 60,000 years, since the Middle Paleolithic.

paragraphs: People during the Middle Paleolithic, such as the Neanderthals and Middle Paleolithic Homo sapiens in Africa, began to catch shellfish for food as revealed by shellfish cooking in Neanderthal sites in Italy about 110,000 years ago and Middle Paleolithic "Homo sapiens" sites at Pinnacle Point, in Africa around 164,000 BP.<ref name="NYTIMES/10/08/07"></ref> Although fishing only became common during the Upper Paleolithic, fish have been part of human diets long before the dawn of the Upper Paleolithic and have certainly been consumed by humans since at least the Middle Paleolithic. For example, the Middle Paleolithic "Homo sapiens" in the region now occupied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo hunted large -long catfish with specialized barbed fishing points as early as 90,000 years ago. The invention of fishing allowed some Upper Paleolithic and later hunter-gatherer societies to become sedentary or semi-nomadic, which altered their social structures. Example societies are the Lepenski Vir as well as some contemporary hunter-gatherers such as the Tlingit. In some instances (at least the Tlingit) they developed social stratification, slavery and complex social structures such as chiefdoms.

paragraphs: Anthropologists such as Tim White suggest that cannibalism was common in human societies prior to the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, based on the large amount of “butchered human" bones found in Neanderthal and other Lower/Middle Paleolithic sites. Cannibalism in the Lower and Middle Paleolithic may have occurred because of food shortages. However, it may have been for religious reasons, and would coincide with the development of religious practices thought to have occurred during the Upper Paleolithic. Nonetheless, it remains possible that Paleolithic societies never practiced cannibalism, and that the damage to recovered human bones was either the result of ritual post-mortem bone cleaning or predation by carnivores such as saber tooth cats, lions and hyenas.


title: Bolas

paragraphs: Bolas (from Spanish "bola", "ball", also known as "boleadoras") are a throwing weapon made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, designed to capture animals by entangling their legs. They are used by the gauchos in South America today, but have been found in excavations of pre-Hispanic settlements, especially in Patagonia, where indigenous peoples used them to catch guanaco and ñandu.

paragraphs: Gauchos use boleadoras to capture running cattle or game. The thrower gives the balls momentum by swinging them and then releases the boledoras. The weapon is usually used to entangle the animal's legs, but when thrown with enough force might even break the bone.

paragraphs: There is no uniform design; most bolas have two or three balls, but there are versions of up to 8 or 9 balls. Some bolas have balls of equal weight,othes vary the knot and cord. Gauchos use bolas made of leather cords with wooden balls or small leather sacks full of stones in the ends of the cords.

paragraphs: Bolas can be named depending on the amount of weights used:


title: Howard Hughes

paragraphs: Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976), was an American businessman and movie producer. During his life, he was one of the richest people in the world. He was born in Humble, Texas to a rich family. He went to Hollywood and became a movie producer and aviator. Hughes broke several world records for flying aeroplanes. He created his own air company, which was later bought by TWA.

paragraphs: Many people now think Hughes may have had OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder. This is because later in life, he kept himself away from the outside world. He lived in a hotel suite at The Desert Inn in Las Vegas as a recluse. He never left his room. He also did not cut his hair or fingernails. He had a group of doctors and other people to help take care of him.

paragraphs: In 1972, a man named Clifford Irving claimed to have co-written the autobiography of Hughes. It was later shown to not be real. Hughes died in Houston while being moved to a hospital in Mexico. After he died, there was an argument over his will.


title: Tarzan

paragraphs: Tarzan is a main fictional character. He appeared in many books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Burroughs first wrote about Tarzan in 1914. The book was called "Tarzan of the Apes". Tarzan's father was an English lord who died in the African jungle. The baby Tarzan was left alone in the jungle. Giant apes found the baby Tarzan and took care of him. Tarzan has also appeared in other media including movies, movie serials, comic books, and television programs.


title: Surfer Rosa

paragraphs: Surfer Rosa is the first music album by the Pixies. It was released by a record label called 4AD in March 1988.


title: OK Go

paragraphs: OK Go is a rock band from Chicago. The band members are Damian Kulash (lead vocals and guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar and backing vocals), Dan Konopka (drums and percussion) and Andy Ross (keyboards, guitar and backing vocals). Their best known song is "Here It Goes Again".


title: Death zone

paragraphs: The death zone is the name used by mountain climbers for high altitude where there is not enough available oxygen for humans to breathe. This is usually above 8,000 metres (26,247 feet). Most of the 200+ climbers who have died on Mount Everest have died in the death zone. Due to the inverse relationship of atmospheric pressure to altitude, at the top of Mount Everest the average person takes in about 30% of the oxygen in the air that they would take in at sea level; a normal human person used to breathing air at sea level could only be there for a few minutes before they became unconscious. Most climbers have to carry oxygen bottles to be able to reach the top. Visitors become weak and have inability to think clearly and make decisions, especially under stress. Since helicopters also perform poorly in thin air, many bodies of dead visitors are left on the mountain.

paragraphs: Climber Lincoln Hall, who was left for dead on Everest on May 25, 2006, managed to survive. Lack of oxygen in his blood made it easier for him to get frostbite. He also had headaches, nausea, vomiting and hallucinations. He said later this was caused by cerebral edema – or swelling of the brain. This is caused at high altitude when blood leaks into the brain itself and that can kill a person if the brain becomes too compressed. Hall was left for dead when his breathing and heartbeat stopped. He was found the next morning by a team of four led by U.S. climber Daniel Mazur. Hall was sitting cross-legged near a ten-thousand foot cliff's edge, without his gloves, hat, or oxygen, with his climbing suit unzipped. Mazur later reported that Hall seemed lucid, and his first words were, "I imagine you're surprised to see me here." A massive rescue operation was assembled, and Hall was rescued. He survived for an additional seven years, speaking and writing books about his experiences on Everest, before his death in 2012 from mesothelioma.


title: George F. Smoot

paragraphs: George Fitzgerald Smoot III (born February 20, 1945) is an American professor of astrophysics and cosmology. In 2006 he won a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on COBE with John C. Mather. That work made it possible to measure black holes and cosmic radiation much more exactly than was possible before.

paragraphs: This work gave new evidence for the big-bang idea that the universe was once a big explosion. This work was completed using the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE). The Nobel Prize committee said: "the COBE-project can also be regarded as the starting point for cosmology as a precision science."

paragraphs: Professor Smoot works for the University of California, Berkeley Department of Physics. In 2003 he was awarded the Einstein Medal.

paragraphs: Professor Smoot was born in Yukon, Florida. He went to Upper Arlington High School in Upper Arlington, Ohio until 1962. He studied mathematics for some time before going to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was awarded two bachelor's degrees for mathematics and physics in 1966, and a Ph.D. in particle physics in 1970.

paragraphs: Smoots cousin, Oliver R. Smoot, also studied at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and was made famous for the Smoot measurement of the Harvard Bridge between Cambridge and Boston. The "Smoot" length was marked in paint over 360 times on the bridge and is repainted there every year. Oliver later worked as the Chairman of the American National Standards Institute.

paragraphs: Professor Smoot began to study cosmology, and went to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where he worked with Luis Walter Alvarez on the experiment HAPPE, a high up weather balloon for detecting antimatter in the upper atmosphere.

paragraphs: He then took up an interest in the microwaves in cosmic radiation which had been discovered by Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson in 1964. This work gave new evidence of what the universe is made of. Some researchers thought that the universe was rotating, which would mean that temperature of microwaves would seem different when measured from different angles. With the help of Alvarez and Richard A. Muller, Professor Smoot developed a radiometer to measure the difference in temperature from two angles 60 degrees apart. The radiometer was put on top of a Lockheed U-2 plane, but the measurements seemed to show that the universe was not rotating. It did, however, detect another difference in the microwave temperature on one side of the sky. They called this a dipole pattern and a Doppler effect of the Earth's motion. A doppler effect happens because the Sun, and the Milky Way are moving at nearly 600 km/s. They think this is caused by gravity from the Great Attractor.

paragraphs: The measurements from the radiometer showed that one side of the sky was different to the other but this was surprising because it was expected that many differences would be found all over the sky. Smoot was working on finding these smaller differences in the late 1970s when he gave NASA an idea to make a satellite with a detector that was similar to the one mounted on the Lockheed aeroplane. This detector would be much more powerful and it would not be affected by the atmosphere. NASA spent US$160  million on the satellite and named it the COBE. The COBE satellite was delayed after the Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed, but was launched successfully on November 18, 1989. After more than two years, on 21 April 1992, the COBE research team claimed that the satellite had detected the small differences they were looking for. This was very important in the study of the early universe. The study was "evidence for the birth of the universe". Professor Smoot said: "If you're religious, it's like looking at God."

paragraphs: More than 1,000 researchers, engineers and other workers helped to make the COBE. John Mather was in control of the whole project and the experiments that made the COBE possible. George Smoot was in control of measuring the small differences in the temperature of the radiation.

paragraphs: Smoot worked with the "San Francisco Chronicle"s journalist, Keay Davidson, to write a book called "Wrinkles in Time", all about the team's work. In the book "The Very First Light", John Mather and John Boslough write more of the COBE story. Mathers book says that Professor Smoot was giving news of COBE to the press before NASA did. This made problems between Smoot and Mather in the past.

paragraphs: After COBE, Smoot helped with another experiment with a stratospheric balloon called the MAXIMA experiment. This ballon took some better measurements than the COBE. Smoot has continued studying cosmic radiatin and now works on the third generation COBE satellite Planck. He is also working on the design of a Supernova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP), a satellite which is to measure dark energy. He has also assisted in analyzing data from the Spitzer Space Telescope in connection with measuring far infrared background radiation.


title: Soundgarden

paragraphs: Soundgarden was an American rock band. They began in Seattle, Washington, in 1984.

paragraphs: Soundgarden helped create the sound of grunge music. This is a genre of alternative rock that first became popular in Seattle. They were first signed to a local record label Sub Pop. Later, they were the first grunge band to sign to a major label, A&M Records, in 1988.

paragraphs: Soundgarden became well-known with the 1994 album "Superunknown". It debuted at number one on the "Billboard" charts. Two singles won Grammy Awards; "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman". VH1 has ranked Soundgarden at number 14 in their special "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".

paragraphs: In 1997, the band broke up because they could no longer agree on the sound of their musical future. The members worked on other projects for more than ten years. Soundgarden got back together in 2010. Two years later, they released their sixth studio album, "King Animal".

paragraphs: On May 17, 2017, frontman Chris Cornell was found dead in his Detroit hotel room, the night after a concert at the city's Fox Theatre. Police are treating it as suspected suicide. Soundgarden will almost certainly not continue.

paragraphs: Soundgarden began in 1984. They first had three members: singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. The band named themselves after a wind-channeling pipe sculpture, "A Sound Garden". The art work is in Magnuson Park, in Seattle.

paragraphs: At first, Cornell played drums while singing, but in 1985 the band hired Scott Sundquist so that Cornell could just sing. The band's first recordings were three songs on a compilation album for C/Z Records named "Deep Six". Also appearing on the album were early grunge artists Green River, Skin Yard, Malfunkshun, The U-Men and the Melvins. In 1986, Sundquist left the band. He was replaced by Matt Cameron, who had been the drummer for Skin Yard.

paragraphs: A Seattle radio staion DJ, Jonathan Poneman, liked Soundgarden after seeing them perform. He later said, "I saw this band that was everything rock music should be". Poneman offered to pay for a record to be made by the band. Teaming up with Bruce Pavitt, Poneman also contributed $20,000 to the financially struggling Sub Pop. This helped turn Sup Pop into a popular, successful record label that attracted more success with grunge bands. Sub Pop then released Soundgarden's "Screaming Life" EP in 1987, and the "Fopp" EP in 1988. A combination of the two was issued as "Screaming Life/Fopp" in 1990.

paragraphs: Though major labels were asking Soundgarden to sign with them, in 1988 the band chose a small independent label, SST Records. SST released their debut album, "Ultramega OK". The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 1990.

paragraphs: The band's first music video, "Flower", became popular; airing regularly on MTV's "120 Minutes". In 1989, Soundgarden promoted "Ultramega OK" with a tour of the United States and then went to Europe. This was their first overseas tour.

paragraphs: In 1989, Soundgarden released their first album for a major label, A&M Records. "Louder Than Love" became the band's first to chart on the "Billboard" 200. It reached number 108 on the chart in 1990. The band supported the album with tours of North America and Europe.

paragraphs: A month before touring for "Louder Than Love" began, bassist Hiro Yamamoto left to go back to college. Yamamoto was unhappy because he felt he was not important enough to the band. Former Nirvana bassist Jason Everman took his place for the tour. Everman was fired immediately after Soundgarden got back from Europe in mid-1990. An EP "Loudest Love" and the video compilation "Louder Than Live", were both released in 1990. The video shows five live tracks made during the "Louder Than Love" tour.

paragraphs: Bassist Ben Shepherd joined Soundgarden in 1990. Their next album, "Badmotorfinger" was released in 1991. It had some success, reaching number 39 on the album charts. But it got less attention because of the surprise success of Nirvana's "Nevermind", released the same month as Badmotorfinger. Two singles got popular airplay on alternative radio stations and MTV.

paragraphs: The first single from "Badmotorfinger", "Jesus Christ Pose", got negative attention when MTV banned its music video in 1991. Many listeners were outraged by the song and its video, calling it anti-Christian. The band received death threats while on tour in the United Kingdom in support of the album. "Badmotorfinger" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1992.

paragraphs: After a tour of North America in 1991, the band opened for Guns N' Roses in North America on the band's "Use Your Illusion Tour". After several tours to promote the album, they rejoined Guns N' Roses in the summer of 1992 in Europe as part of the Use Your Illusion Tour with another opening act, Faith No More. The band took part in the 1992 Lollapalooza tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and Ministry.

paragraphs: The band later released a video compilation "Motorvision". It was made in 1992 at the Paramount Theatre. Also that year, they appeared in the movie "Singles". They were show performing "Birth Ritual". The song appeared on the soundtrack, as did a Chris Cornell solo song, "Seasons".

paragraphs: Soundgarden released "Superunknown" in 1994. It became the band's best-selling album, partly because of the popular singles "Black Hole Sun", "Spoonman", "My Wave", and "Fell on Black Days". Upon its release in March 1994, "Superunknown" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 album chart.

paragraphs: The lyrics of the songs were dark and sad; much of them seem to be talking about substance abuse, suicide, and depression. Reviewer J.D. Considine of "Rolling Stone" said "Superunknown" "demonstrates far greater range than many bands manage in an entire career." He also stated, "At its best, "Superunknown" offers a more harrowing depiction of alienation and despair than anything on "In Utero"."

paragraphs: The music video for "Black Hole Sun" received the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Rock Video|Best Metal/Hard Rock Video" award in 1994. Soundgarden won two Grammy Awards in 1995; "Black Hole Sun" received the award for Best Hard Rock Performance and "Spoonman" received the award for Best Metal Performance.

paragraphs: After a worldwide tour to promote "Superunknown", the band members began working on what would become their last studio album for more than 15 years. It was released in 1996. Four singles were released from the album: "Pretty Noose", "Blow Up the Outside World", "Burden in My Hand", and "Ty Cobb".

paragraphs: The music was less heavy metal and grunge sounding than the group's previous albums. The band members said that they wanted to experiment with other sounds. In a review, David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly" said, "Few bands since Led Zeppelin have so crisply mixed instruments both acoustic and electric." However, the writing and recording of the album was stressful for the group. Thayil and Cornell seemed to not agree on a change from the heavy guitar riffs that had become the band's trademark. The album got favorable reviews, but did not sell as well as "Superunknown".

paragraphs: The band played on the 1996 Lollapalooza tour with Metallica, who had asked for them to appear. After Lollapalooza, the band left for a world tour. Tensions continued to increase during the tour. When asked if the band hated touring, Cornell said, "We really enjoy it to a point and then it gets tedious, because it becomes repetitious. You feel like fans have paid their money and they expect you to come out and play them your songs like the first time you ever played them. That's the point where we hate touring." At the tour's final stop in Honolulu, Hawaii on February 9, 1997, Shepherd threw his bass guitar into the air in frustration after his equipment failed. He then stormed off the stage. The band then also left the stage, but Cornell returned to play a solo as an encore.

paragraphs: On April 9, 1997, the band announced they were breaking up. Thayil said, "It was pretty obvious from everybody's general attitude over the course of the previous half year that there was some dissatisfaction." A best-of album named "A-Sides", was released in November 1997 through A&M Records.

paragraphs: After almost 13 years, on January 1, 2010, Chris Cornell wrote on his Twitter, "The 12-year break is over and school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!" The message linked to a website for fans to enter their e-mail addresses to get updates on the reunion.


title: Book of Judges

paragraphs: The Book of Judges is the seventh book in both the Christian Bible (Old Testament), and the Hebrew Tanakh. It was originally written in Hebrew, to the people in Israel. The Hebrew word for the book is "Shaptiym", which means, 'people of judgment.'

paragraphs: The book contains the stories of many "judges" who were leaders who typically led the people in battle and then served as a civil leader. While not kings, these men were respected and they sometimes decided cases. That is why they were called Judges. One of the Judges was Samson who was a very strong man. He fought against the Philistines. After his girl friend, Delilah, tricked him by cutting his hair, he was made a slave. At his death, he destroyed many enemies by pulling down a building on them. Gideon was another famous judge. He defeated an army of Midianites with only 300 men. Another famous judge was Deborah, possible the most powerful woman in the Bible. She was a military, civil and religious leader.

paragraphs: In the book, there is a pattern which repeats. The people turn from God, and he allows their enemies to harm them. Then they pray to God. He sends them a new judge. This judge helps the people and defeats their enemies. The people are happy for a time, but soon they again turn from God. The cycle repeats itself.


title: Black people

paragraphs: Black people is a term that is used for a racial group of people with a dark skin color. The meaning of the word is mainly used for people of Sub-Saharan African descent. A meaning that also includes certain groups in Oceania and Southeast Asia.

paragraphs: Black people in the United Kingdom are called Black British people. They make up 3.3% of the people in the UK.

paragraphs: During apartheid people in South Africa were classified into four main races: Black, White, Asian (mostly Indian) and Coloured. Under apartheid black people were treated the most badly. Coloured people were treated slightly less badly. In South Africa, Chinese people who lived there during apartheid are classed as black. About 80% of people in South Africa are Black African. The income of the average white South African household is six times as much as that of the average Black South African household. 14% of Black South Africans have HIV. 0.3% of Indians and whites do.

paragraphs: In India and Pakistan there are Siddi people.

paragraphs: Black people can also have light skin because of illness. Michael Jackson, another American singer, was born with brown skin but his skin became light because of a disease called vitiligo. A black person may be called white by other black people if they do not associate themselves with black culture. White people may also be called black. White men race mixed with their black female slaves during slavery in the South causing miscegenation and producing mulatto slaves. Some mulatto slaves married white men. Some black Americans have English American ancestry and some white American descendants of slave owners have African ancestry from slavery. Some Afro-Americans also have Native American ancestry. Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans, Afro-Latinos and Afro-Brazilians can also be considered Afro-American besides of their African ancestry from the slave trade. White women also mated with black male slaves during slavery. Louisiana,

paragraphs: North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri and Arkansas had the most slaves. Most white male slave owners were English Americans and British colonists. Slave traders were white men from England. Biracial president Barack Obama was the first Afro-American president.

paragraphs: White men who were Spanish colonizers shipped African slaves to Latin American countries such as Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Cuba, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic because of the decline of Native Americans from smallpox and disease. Native Americans were initially slaves but white Europeans turned to Africans because of the mass decline of the Native American population. Many Mestizos and Hispanics have African DNA from the slave trade because of the race mixing with white people, African slaves and Native Americans. Many African ex-slaves in Latin America are mixed race and have Native American and Spanish ancestry. Racial whitening was a policy in Brazil to turn African slaves white in the future and to improve the uncivilized, undesirable African race. "Mestizaje" in Latin America by the Spanish was similar to the racial whitening that happened in Brazil.

paragraphs: Black slaves were shipped to various Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, Haiti, The Bahamas, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. Europeans, mostly the British, the Dutch and the French brought Africans to the Caribbean to work on crops like coffee, sugar, cocoa, cotton and indigo.


title: Book of Ruth

paragraphs: The Book of "Ruth" (meaning "pity or compassion") is the eighth book of the Old Testament (Christian), and the Tanakh (Jewish). It is one of the shortest books in both the Jewish and Christian holy books, consisting of only four chapters. It is unknown who wrote the book. Some think that it was written by Samuel, but there is no evidence for that.

paragraphs: According to many scholars, this book was originally part of the Book of Judges, and was later taken from that book and made independent. It was probably written around 900 BC.

paragraphs: The book tells the story of the family of Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their sons Mahlon and Chilion. Because of a famine, they were forced to leave Bethlehem and go to the land of Moab. Once there, Elimelech died, and his sons married two Moabite women. Mahlon married Ruth, and Chilion married Orpah. After some time there, Mahlon and Chilion both died.

paragraphs: Naomi was forced to return home because her husband and sons were dead. She then told Ruth and Orpah to return home to their families and find new husbands. Orpah returned home but Ruth promised she would follow Naomi wherever she went. Ruth's pledge to Naomi is found in chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. " But Ruth said, "Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!"" Although originally made by a daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law, a form of this pledge is sometimes included in wedding services.

paragraphs: They returned to their home and Ruth decided she would go into the fields to pick up grain the wealthy people would drop on the ground (a common practice in that time). A kind man named Boaz, who was the owner of the field, noticed her and her beauty. He also learned that she had chosen to follow the God of Israel and that she was caring for her widowed mother-in-law. He told his workers to drop extra grain for her. When she went home to tell her mother-in-law how much she received, they found out that Boaz was a close relative of theirs. Under Jewish law, this gave Ruth the right to marry Boaz, if Boaz bought the land formerly owned by Ruth's husband.

paragraphs: After an even closer relative said he would not buy the land and marry her, Boaz and Ruth were happily married. She would bear him a son named Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David, who was, according to the New Testament, the ancestor of Jesus.


title: Mesolithic

paragraphs: The Mesolithic was a period in the development of human technology between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age.

paragraphs: In the Palaeolithic, people were pure hunter-gatherers. In the Neolithic they were farmers in settlements with domesticated animals and wheat, with over 500 kinds of tools and with pottery. The Mesolithic was a transitional period between the two. It happened at different times in different places. Mesolithic tools are small tools produced by chipping, and are hunter-gatherer tools, often arrowheads and points. Neolithic tools are often polished and far more varied. They are tools of more settled societies with some agriculture.

paragraphs: The term 'Mesolithic' was introduced by Hodder Westrop in 1877, though the idea had been used earlier. It was not much used until V. Gordon Childe popularized it in his book "The dawn of Europe" (1947). There is another term, 'Epipalaeolithic', which is sometimes used instead.

paragraphs: The type of tool is the diagnostic factor. The Mesolithic featured devices made with small chipped stone tools. The Neolithic mainly abandoned this mode in favor of polished, not chipped, stone tools.

paragraphs: The Mesolithic culture can be set apart from that of the Palaeolithic in these ways:

paragraphs: The Fertile Crescent was the first part of the world to move out of the Palaeolithic.

paragraphs: In some areas, such as the Near East, agriculture was already underway by the end of the Pleistocene, and there the Mesolithic is short. In areas with limited influence of ice age, the term "Epipaleolithic" is sometimes preferred.

paragraphs: Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the last ice age ended have a much more evident Mesolithic era. This lasted millennia. In Northern Europe, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviours which are preserved in characteristic finds. These conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 4000 BC (6,000 before present) in northern Europe.

paragraphs: Genetic research has been done on the skeleton of a 7,000-year-old man from north-west Spain. It shows he had blue eyes and a dark skin. The analysis showed that he had ancestral alleles in several skin pigmentation genes. This means he had dark hair and brown skin.

paragraphs: Researchers were surprised because they thought that European populations evolved light skin quite quickly. In lower latitudes dark skin protects from UV rays in sunlight. In northern latitudes this is not such a problem, but the supply of vitamin D is a problem. Vitamin D is synthesised by the action of sunlight on skin. Therefore, it is an advantage in much of Europe to have a light skin.

paragraphs: Earlier research was done on data using 2,196 samples from 185 diverse populations. It showed that at least three ancestral groups contributed to present-day Europeans.


title: Epipalaeolithic

paragraphs: The Epipaleolithic or "peripheral old stone age" is a term used for the hunter-gatherer cultures that existed after the end of the last ice age, before the Neolithic.

paragraphs: The term is sometimes confused with Mesolithic, and the two are sometimes used as synonyms. Yet, when a distinction is made, Epipaleolithic is used for those cultures that were not much affected by the ending of the Ice Age and the term Mesolithic is reserved for Western Europe where the extinction of the Megafauna had a great influence on the paleolithic populations at the end of the Ice Age.


title: Agricultural revolution

paragraphs: There are also several more local events related to agriculture and called revolutions:


title: Neolithic revolution

paragraphs: The Neolithic revolution (New Stone Age) was the first agricultural revolution. It was a gradual change from nomadic hunting and gathering communities and bands to agriculture and settlement. This period is described as a "Revolution" because it changed the way of life of communities which made the change. It occurred in different prehistoric human societies at different times. Many societies changed 9–7 thousand years ago

paragraphs: The term refers to the general time period over which these developments took place. It also applies to the changes which took place: the adoption of early agriculture techniques, crop cultivation, and the domestication of animals.

paragraphs: The Neolithic Revolution is important for developments in social organization and technology.

paragraphs: The Neolithic revolution led to living in permanent or semi-permanent settlements. Because of this fewer people led a nomadic lifestyle. To be able to know who the crops grown belonged to, the concept of land ownership was developed. The natural environment was changed, population densities grew, and people ate more vegetable and cereal foods in their diet. Hierarchies developed in society. Grain was stored, and could be traded. Surplus production from good crop yields helped societies survive bad years.

paragraphs: With domesticated animals such as dogs, goats, sheep, and cattle, and crops, human society changed. Now, having crops and livestock, they no longer needed to move around. They could build better settlements. Their diet also changed. It included more oats and vegetables. People also started to keep and manage some foods - it was not advisable to eat all grain seeds, because then there would be no seeds left to plant the next year. Also, there were surpluses in some years and these could be traded for other goods with other people.

paragraphs: These changes happened in several places of the world, independently. They did not happen in the same order though. The earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. It is still unclear to what extent plants were domesticated in Britain, or if permanently settled communities existed at all. Early Japanese societies used pottery "before" developing agriculture.

paragraphs: In the Paleolithic there were many different human species. According to current research, only the modern human reached the Mesolithic and Neolithic though.

paragraphs: Vere Gordon Childe gave the name "Neolithic Revolution" to this process in the 1920s. He thought that it was as important as the Industrial Revolution (which happened in the 18th and 19th century).

paragraphs: There are different theories why this transition could have happened:

paragraphs: According to Harland, there are three main reasons why the Neolithic revolution happened:


title: British Army

paragraphs: The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army included Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland. It was administered by the War Office from London. Since 1963 it has been managed by the Ministry of Defence.

paragraphs: Under Oliver Cromwell, the English Army was active in the conquest and settlement of Ireland since the 1650s. The Cromwellian campaign was characterised by its uncompromising treatment of Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War.

paragraphs: From roughly 1763 and the Seven Years' War the United Kingdom has been one of the leading military and economic powers of the world. The British Empire expanded in this time to include colonies, protectorates, and Dominions throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Although the Royal Navy is widely regarded as having been vital for the rise of Empire, and British dominance of the world, the British Army played important roles in colonisation.

paragraphs: The British army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars in which the army served in Spain, across Europe, and in North Africa. The war between the British and French Empires stretched around the world. The British Army finally came to defeat Napoleon at one of Britain's greatest military victories at the battle of Waterloo.


title: Mario Kart

paragraphs: Mario Kart (stylized as MARIOKART) is a series of racing video games and media franchise, made by Nintendo. It began with "Super Mario Kart" for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. To date, there are four "Mario Kart" games on home consoles, three portable games, and three Namco co-developed arcade games, making a total of twelve. The latest game for the series is "Mario Kart 8".

paragraphs: In the "Mario Kart" series, players compete in go-kart races, controlling one of a selection of characters from the "Mario" franchise. Up to eight participants can compete in each race, with the exception of "Mario Kart Wii", which holds twelve. One of the features of the series is the use of various power-up items obtained by driving into item boxes laid out on the course. These power-ups include mushrooms to give players a speed boost, Koopa Shells to be thrown at opponents, and banana peels that can be laid on the track as hazards. The type of weapon received from an item box is random and often influenced by the player's position in the race. For example, players lagging far behind may receive more powerful items while the leader will only receive small defensive items. This gameplay mechanic–called "rubber banding"– allows other players or computers a realistic chance to catch up to the leading player no matter how far ahead they are. As the series has progresses, each new title has introduced new elements in order to keep the gameplay fresh. Changes typically include new items, new stages, and new methods of obtaining speed boosts, but most games have also featured a new play mechanic as well. Changes new titles have brought to the series include: "Mario Kart 64" introducing 4-player racing and bringing the series into the third dimension, "'s" introducing a partner system and the Double Dash!!, "Mario Kart Wii's" use of motorbikes and twelve participants per race, and the newest entry into the franchise, "Mario Kart 7", featuring hang gliders, submarines and a new first-person perspective as well as customizing karts.

paragraphs: Many course themes are repeated throughout the series. For example, most games have featured a circuit course, a desert course, a city or highway course with traffic, some form of a beach course, a stadium course, a jungle course, an ice or snow course, Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road. Each game in the series includes 16 original courses, with the exception of "Super Mario Kart" and "Super Circuit", which holds 20. Most races have three laps, while some games have more or less. There are also three to six original battle arenas in each game, designed exclusively for Battle mode. So far, there are 120 original courses and 30 original arenas spread throughout these seven games. Additionally, there are 48 Retro courses and 10 Retro arenas. These consist of older material recreated for newer games.

paragraphs: Each "Mario Kart" game features a variety of different modes. The following modes recur most often in the series:

paragraphs: Several "Mario Kart"-related items appear in the "Super Smash Bros." series, with "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" in particular featuring a stage based on one of "Mario Kart DS"<nowiki>'s</nowiki> courses. Certain courses from the series have also appeared in "F-Zero X", "Itadaki Street DS", "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games", "Fortune Street" and "Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games". Various items from the series can also be seen in games such as "Nintendogs" and "Animal Crossing".

paragraphs: "Mario Kart" has had a range of merchandise released. This includes a Scalextric style "Mario Kart DS" Figure-8-Circuit. It comes with Mario and Donkey Kong figures, while a Wario and a Luigi are available separately. It also includes CD soundtracks. A line of remote-controlled karts are available in stores. Each kart has a Game Boy Advance-shaped controller. It features forward driving and rotates when put in reverse, instead of steering. The current line-up of karts is Mario, Donkey Kong and Yoshi. There are three large karts that depict the same trio. These karts are controlled by a GameCube controller shape. Japanese figurines of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, and Bowser are also available for purchase as well as for "Mario Kart 64", figures of Mario, Luigi, Wario, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi were made by Toybiz. There is also a land-line telephone featuring Mario holding a lightning bolt while seated in his Kart, as seen here.

paragraphs: K'Nex has released "Mario Kart Wii" sets, with Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Bowser in karts and bikes. Club Nintendo also released merchandise with a platinum soundtrack from "Mario Kart Wii" and three gold trophies from "Mario Kart 7".

paragraphs: "Nintendo Power" listed the "Mario Kart" series as being one of the greatest multi-player experiences, citing the diversity in game modes as well as the entertainment value found.

paragraphs: Guinness World Records awarded the "Mario Kart" series with five world records in the "Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008", including "First Console Kart Racing Game" and "Best Selling Handheld Racing Game." Guinness World Records ranked the original "Super Mario Kart" number 1 on the list of top 50 console games of all time based on initial impact and lasting legacy.


title: City Loop, Melbourne

paragraphs: The Melbourne City Loop is where Melbourne, Victoria's railway lines meet. Most of the stations are under the ground. The stations in the loop are Flinders Street Station, Southern Cross Station, Parliament, Melbourne Central and Flagstaff.


title: Percy Bysshe Shelley

paragraphs: Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English poet of the early nineteenth century. He is widely thought of as one of most important poets of the Romantic movement in English literature. Some of his poems, like "Ozymandias" and "Ode to the West Wind", are among the most famous in English.

paragraphs: Shelley was born in Horsham, Sussex. He was the son of a member of Parliament. He attended the University of Oxford, for only one year; he was expelled for being an atheist. In his own time Shelley was very unpopular for his political and religious views and for his personal conduct. He married young, but left his wife to run away with Mary Godwin. After Shelley's first wife committed suicide, Shelley married Mary Godwin; she later became famous as Mary Shelley, the author of the novel "Frankenstein".

paragraphs: Shelley left England and spent much of his life travelling in Europe, especially in Italy. He became a close friend of poet Lord Byron, who also left England and travelled in Europe because of sexual controversy at home. Shelley continued to write poetry throughout this time; he wrote several major works, like the verse drama "The Cenci" and long poems like "Alastor" and "Adonais", as well as many shorter poems.

paragraphs: About a month before his 30th birthday, Shelley drowned in a boating accident off the coast of Italy. He was one of three important English Romantic poets of the same generation who died young; the other two were Lord Byron and John Keats.


title: Romani language

paragraphs: Romani or Romany (native name: "") is the language of the Roma and Sinti. The Indo-Aryan Romani language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which are Romance languages.

paragraphs: Analysis of the Sanskrit based Romani language has shown that it is closely related to those spoken in central and northern India, Hindustani language in particular. This linguistic relationship is believed to indicate the Roma's and Sinti's geographical origin. Loanwords in Romani make it possible to trace the pattern of their migration westwards.

paragraphs: The following table shows the distribution of Romani speakers in Europe according to Bakker et al. (2000) . The last column shows the percentage of Romani speakers in the Roma population in each country.


title: Fudge

paragraphs: Fudge is a sometimes cake-like candy that can be rich and can have the flavor of cocoa. It is made by putting sugar, butter, milk, and chocolate and mixing them together.


title: Sinti

paragraphs: Sinti or Sinta (Singular masc.=Sinto; sing. fem.=Sintisa) is the name of some communities of the nomadic people usually called "Gypsies" in English. This includes communities known in German and Dutch as "Zigeuner" and in Italian as "Zingari". They are closely related to, and are usually considered to be a subgroup of, the Roma people.

paragraphs: While the Sinti were, until quite recently, chiefly nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled. In earlier times, they frequently lived on the outskirts of communities.

paragraphs: The Sinti arrived in Germany and Austria in the Middle Ages, eventually splitting into two groups: "Eftavagarja" ("the Seven Caravans") and "Estraxarja" ("from Austria"). These two groups then expanded, the Eftavagarja into France, where they assimilated into the local Romani groups (Manouches), and the Estraxarja into Italy and Eastern Europe, mainly what are now Croatia, Hungary, Transylvania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, eventually taking various regional names.


title: Strapping Young Lad

paragraphs: Strapping Young Lad was a metal band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They played extreme metal. These people played in the band: Devin Townsend (guitar, vocals), Jed Simon (guitar, vocals), Byron Stoud (bass, vocals), Gene Hoglan (drums). The band went on an extended hiatus and would eventually disband in 2007.


title: Rock climbing

paragraphs: Rock climbing is a sport where someone uses their hands and feet to climb up a rock or an artificial climbing wall. Rock climbing is a very difficult sport because you need to have a lot of strength. Rock climbers must know how to use ropes, carabiners and harnesses for their own safety.

paragraphs: Because of many different kinds of rocks around the world, many different kinds of climbing started.


title: Doug Henning

paragraphs: Douglas James Henning (May 3, 1947 – February 7, 2000) was a Canadian magician, illusionist and escape artist. He was born in Winnipeg. He helped to re-{popularize magic shows, during his heyday (most popular and successful period) in the 1970s.

paragraphs: Henning's approach to magic and performing was different from earlier magicians. While magicians usually performed in black formal wear, Henning wore colorful clothes. He also studied psychology in college, to know how the human mind works.

paragraphs: Henning is credited by many for the resurgence of the public's interest in magic, thanks to his breakthroug Broadway show, "The Magic Show," which opened in 1974 and ran for almost five years. This was followed by eight television specials on NBC (the first of which remains the most watched magic television special in history, with over fifty million viewers). In 1982, he appeared in another Broadway show, "Merlin", which ran for seven months. Though the magic in Merlin was met with accolades, critics trounced the show's book and music.

paragraphs: Henning was a spokesperson for Polaroid, TWA, Minolta and Chrysler.

paragraphs: He was a student of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and used transcendental meditation to help him focus and to relax. He tried to help the Maharishi open a theme park, called Vedaland. Henning also ran for public office in Canada, but lost the election.

paragraphs: Henning died in 2000 of liver cancer in Los Angeles. Instead of normal medical treatments, he tried to cure himself through natural remedies and diet, but this did not work. After his death, Henning's widow kept the Vedaland campaign going.

paragraphs: The first and only written biography of Doug Henning, "Spellbound: The Wonder-filled Life of Doug Henning" was published in 2009 (John Harrison, BoxOffice Books, New York.)


title: Rancid (band)

paragraphs: Rancid are an influential ska-punk band formed in 1991 in Albany, California by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman.

paragraphs: Rancid were formed in 1991 out of the ashes of out of the seminal ska punk band Operation Ivy, which had broken up two years earlier. Following Operation Ivy's breakup, Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman decided to form a new band, and started a hardcore punk group called Generator, which quickly broke up. They also started two other ska influenced bands, Downfall and Dance Hall Crashers, but moved on quickly from both. In 1991, after Armstrong and Freeman recruited drummer Brett Reed, Rancid officially became Rancid.

paragraphs: Rancid's first official recorded release was a 1992 self-titled EP, which is currently out of print, for Operation Ivy's old label Lookout! Records. Also during 1992, shortly after releasing this, Rancid were signed to Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz's label, Epitaph Records, and finally released their first album in 1993, which is also self-titled. Prior to its release, the band was looking for a second guitarist and Armstrong asked former UK Subs guitarist Lars Frederiksen to be Rancid's second guitarist, but he immediately turned down the request. However, after Billie Joe Armstrong (who was in Green Day at the time) declined, Frederiksen changed his mind and decided to join Rancid.

paragraphs: Frederiksen was present on Rancid's second album, "Let's Go", which was released in 1994 and spawned the radio hit "Salvation". That year their label-mates, The Offspring, experienced a huge success with their album "Smash". The Offspring took Rancid on tour with them, and helped "Let's Go" make it to #97 on Billboard's Heatseekers and Billboard 200 charts, respectively. With the success of the album Rancid were pursued by several major labels, including Madonna's Maverick Records, but the band eventually turned down the idea of signing to a different label and decided to just stay on Epitaph.

paragraphs: Rancid's popularity grew in 1995 with their third album, "...And Out Come the Wolves", which quickly surpassed "Let's Go" in terms of success. The critically-acclaimed album, also the band's most successful, produced three singles, "Roots Radicals", "Time Bomb", and "Ruby Soho", which all charted on the North American Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, and the band performed two of these songs on "Saturday Night Live". "...And Out Come the Wolves" was certified gold by the RIAA on January 22, 1996. It was also certified platinum on September 23, 2004.

paragraphs: Since the release of "...And Out Come the Wolves", Rancid would became one of the most important punk bands of the 1990s, along with ALL, Bad Religion, Face to Face, Green Day, Guttermouth, Lagwagon, NOFX, The Offspring, Pennywise, Social Distortion (the latter of which Freeman would eventually join and later leave), The Vandals, and many others.


title: Glen Canyon Dam

paragraphs: Glen Canyon Dam is a large dam on the Colorado River. It is in Page, Arizona. The dam is 583 feet high and it is 1,560 feet wide. It creates Lake Powell which is 186 miles long. The purpose of the dam is to create electricity and to prevent floods. The reservoir can store 27 million acre-feet of water (which is the amount of water that can cover one acre to 1 foot deep). Construction of the dam began in 1956. It was able to begin storing the flow of the river in 1963.


title: Superunknown

paragraphs: Superunknown is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Soundgarden. The album was released in 1994. The album is well known thanks to singles like "Black Hole Sun", "Spoonman" and "Fell on Black Days".


title: Badmotorfinger

paragraphs: Badmotorfinger is the third studio album by the American rock band Soundgarden. It is one of Soundgarden's best-selling albums. The album was released October 8, 1991.

paragraphs: "Satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas" was a bonus CD included with some editions of "Badmotorfinger" (like how "Songs from the Superunknown" was included with "Superunknown"). The title is a palindrome ("Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.")


title: Bernoulli's principle

paragraphs: Bernoulli's principle is an idea of fluid dynamics. It says that as speed of the fluid increases, pressure decreases. The photo on the right shows this happening. The air in the wide part of the tube has a higher static pressure than the thin part. For a steady flow, the amount of fluid entering the pipe must equal the amount leaving the pipe, so the fluid speed in the thin part must increase.

paragraphs: When a force acts over an area, it is called "pressure". A higher pressure pushes (accelerates) fluid toward lower pressure. So any change in a fluid's speed must be matched by a change in pressure (force). Bernoulli saw that while the fluid moved more quickly in the smaller part of the tube, the pressure became less. Please note that this refers to changes in speed and pressure along a single path of flow and does not apply to two different flows at different speeds.

paragraphs: The full version of Bernoulli's principle includes both the work by the pressure and by the changes in potential energy from changes in height. In this form, the principle says the total of the pressure, kinetic energy, and potential energy is a constant. (Bernoulli does not consider viscosity or compressibility.)


title: Book of Proverbs

paragraphs: The Book of Proverbs is a book in both the Tanakh (Judaism), and the Old Testament (Christianity). The book contains some important teaching and instructions in each of these respective Religions. While some verses teach duty to God, many can be seen as good advice. Even nonreligious persons may find this advice to be useful.

paragraphs: Most scholars believe that Solomon was the writer of at least part of the book. Other authors are mentioned as well, but these references are missing in the Greek Septuagint. The Septuagint sees King Solomon as the author of the whole Book of Proverbs. In the Middle Ages, scholars thought the Vulgate was a more faithful rendering of 30:1 and 31:1. In their eyes the words "Agur" and "Lamuel" were only other names for Solomon.

paragraphs: Dates for the writing of the book are unclear. Because of suggested authorship of Solomon, and the workings of Hezekiah's men, there are some dates that can be worked with. However, there are not enough to give specific timing to the completion of the book, though it could have been as late as third century BC

paragraphs: The first part of the book (Chapters 1-10) is mainly praise for Wisdom. Wisdom is personified as a woman. This does not mean that an actual person is spoken of. Christians believe that Jesus is the person who most shows the wisdom of God. (Colossians 2:3). Some of the attributes of Jesus are said to be found in the "Wisdom" of the Book of Proverbs. This first section also advises young men not to go to prostitutes.

paragraphs: The center part of the book (Chapters 10-29) contains many "stand alone" verses. These are in the form of Hebrew Poetry. Each verse has two parts. The second part may give the opposite side of some advice, such as "Hard workers get rich, lazy people become poor". In other cases the two halves repeat the same idea again, but in different words.

paragraphs: The final chapter is a famous poem of praise to "a virtuous woman". This chapter was from "King Lemuel", but was taught him by his mother. It is one of the few parts of the Bible which has a female author.


title: Welwitschia

paragraphs: Welwitschia or "Welwitschia mirabilis" is known as one of the oldest living plants. It can be called a "living fossil". The plant is mainly found in the deserts of Namibia. Some of these plants may be more than 5000 years old. This would make them the oldest living things on Earth.

paragraphs: It is named after the discoverer, Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch. The plant is locally called "long haired thing". Its structure consists of a short, woody, top-shaped stem, and never more than two leaves, which are enormously long, (two or three metres) and break up at the ends.


title: Petasites

paragraphs: Petasites is a genus of herbs with leaves in the shape of a heart in the family Asteraceae. The common English name of petasites is "Butterbur". Plants of this genus grow near rivers and other water places in Europe, Asia and North America.

paragraphs: In general, the leaves are very big. His root is very long and grows very quick. Flowers are white, yellow, white-yellow or white-red, they are small and in a great number.

paragraphs: Butterbur is used in medical purposes, but there is a poison in all parts of the plant.

paragraphs: Some species of Butterbur are cultivated as a garden plant.


title: Death Angel

paragraphs: Death Angel is a thrash metal band from Concord, California. They played from 1982 to 1991. In 2001 they started to play again. All of their members are from the Philippines. The members are: Mark Osegueda (vocals) Rob Cavestany (guitar, vocals), Ted Aguilar (guitar), Andy Galeon (drums), Dennis Pepa (bass, vocals)


title: Arch Enemy

paragraphs: Arch Enemy is a death metal band from Sweden. They started in 1996. The members are: Alissa White-Gluz (vocals), Michael Amott (guitar, vocals), Jeff Loomis (guitar), Sharlee D'Angelo, (bass) Daniel Erlandsson (drums).


title: Living fossil

paragraphs: Living fossil refers to life forms which have survived with little change for a long time, and which are still around today.

paragraphs: Living fossils are not identical to their ancestors, of course. But they lived in the same or similar environments, and their adaptations suggest that their life-style was the same, or very similar.


title: Caliban (band)

paragraphs: Caliban is a metal band from Hattingen, Germany. They started in 1997. They play "metalcore" which is mixture of Hardcore and Heavy metal. The members are: Andreas Dörner (vocals), Denis Schmidt (guitar, vocals), Marc Görtz (guitar), Marco Schaller (bass, vocals) and Patrick Grün (drums).


title: NetBSD

paragraphs: NetBSD is an open source version of the Unix-derivative BSD computer operating system.

paragraphs: NetBSD is known for being very portable (able to work with a many kinds of computers), such as a small ARM or big amd64 Opteron computers. It is also seen as being fast (does things quickly), secure (hard for people to do bad things to) and stable (does not break often).

paragraphs: When people use NetBSD, like most software, they must agree to a license. The BSD license, which NetBSD uses, allows everyone to use, change, give away or sell NetBSD, as long as they do not take away the copyright notice and license text. This means people can make new things from NetBSD without having to give people the source code (information for the computer to make the program run).


title: Soilwork

paragraphs: Soilwork is a melodic death metal band from Helsingborg, Sweden. They started in 1996. They have made 7 albums until now. The members are: Bjørn „Speed“ Strid (vocals), Daniel Antonsson (guitar), Ola Flink, (bass), Dirk Verbeuren (drums) and Sven Karlsson (Keyboard).


title: Lamb of God

paragraphs: Lamb of God is a metal band from Richmond, Virginia. They started in 1990. They play a style called Groove metal with Death metal influences. This style is similar to Thrash metal but has more rhythm. Their music is very similar to Pantera's music. The members are: Randy Blythe (vocals), Mark Morton (guitar), Willie Adler (guitar), John Campbell (bass) and Chris Adler (drums).


title: Carabiner

paragraphs: A Carabiner is a metal loop, which can be opened on one side. This side is called gate. The other side is called spine. Carabiners are often used for rock climbing, sailing and canoeing. They also are used for construction of high buildings or window cleaning. The word comes from the German word ""Karabinerhaken"", which means "hook for a carbine".

paragraphs: Climbing carabiners are very strong. Many can hold loads greater than 20 kN. When belaying a climber, using a belay device (such as a Grigri or an ATC), a carabiner with a locking feature must be used to prevent the carabiner from opening accidentally.

paragraphs: The last two types exist with and without locking devices. HMS carabiners usually are not produced without locking device. Non-locking-carabiners are often used in quickdraws.


title: Cyclamen

paragraphs: Cyclamen is a genus of 20 species of flowering plants. It is in the Myrsinaceae family. The genus is most widely known by its scientific name Cyclamen. It may also be called Persian violet (it is not related to the violets), or primrose (neither is it a primrose). This is because Cyclamen has been part of the Primulaceae families.

paragraphs: Cyclamen come from the Mediterranean, from Spain to Iran. They are also found from northeast Africa to Somalia. They are perennial herbaceous aestivating plants, with a surface or underground tuber (derived from the hypocotyl) 4-12 cm diameter, which produces leaves in late winter, and flowers in the autumn; the leaves die down during the hottest part of the Mediterranean summer drought to save water. Each leaf or flower grows on its own stem, which shoots up from the hypocotyl. The variegation is thought by some botanists to be a form of natural disruptive camouflage to reduce grazing damage by animals.

paragraphs: The hypocotyl grows leaves and flowers on stems, either one flower or one leaf per stem. The stem for leaves and flowers appears identical except in height. The leaves grow on stems of around 6 cm height.


title: Bambi (character)

paragraphs: Bambi is the main character in Felix Salten's book "Bambi, A Life in the Woods". He is a European Roe Deer. Bambi is also the main character in the Disney movies based on the book: "Bambi" and "Bambi II". In the movies, Bambi was an American white-tailed deer.


title: Grigri

paragraphs: A Grigri is a securing device for rock climbing. Unlike many other securing devices, a Grigri is half-automatic. It works like a seat belt in a car. The rope can be slowly pulled through, but if there is lot of weight on the rope the Grigri locks the rope. "Grigri" is a trademark of the company Petzl, but because it was the first half-automatic securing device, many people call devices of other companies also Grigri.


title: Thumper (Bambi)

paragraphs: Thumper is a fictional rabbit in the Disney movies "Bambi" and "Bambi II". He is Bambi's sidekick.


title: Jacmel

paragraphs: Jacmel (Kréyòl: "Jakmèl") is a city in southeast Haiti, on the Caribbean coast, at the mouth of the river "Grande Rivière de Jacmel". It is the capital city of the Sud-Est "Département".

paragraphs: The city is in the "Baie de Jacmel" ("Jacmel Bay") about 86 km south of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. It is also the chief town of an "arrondissement" (a part of a department) with the same name. The "arrondissement" has four "communes" (a "commune" is like a municipality): Jacmel, Cayes-Jacmel, La Vallée and Marigot.

paragraphs: "Jacci" was the Taíno name for the region where is located Jacmel. It was changed to the Spanish word "Yáquimo" (sometimes written as "Jáquimo") and then to the French word Jacmel.

paragraphs: Christopher Columbus gave the name "Puerto de Brasil" ("Brazil port") to the place where Jacmel is now because there were many trees called "Brasil" (English: Brazilwood) in the region that were cut and sent to Spain; the tree has a yellow substance (and wood) that was used to give that color to hair, cloths and other objects.

paragraphs: In 1504, Nicolás de Ovando, Spanish governor of the Hispaniola, founded the town of "Villanueva de Yáquimo" (or "Villanova de Yáquimo"). But people left the town and French people came to live here; in 1698, the new town of Jacmel was founded.

paragraphs: There are many beautiful old houses in Jacmel, from the 1880s. Since 2004, the 'Festival Film Jakmèl' is celebrated in Jacmel and, since 2007, the international music festival 'Festival Mizik Jakmèl'.

paragraphs: Many visitors come to Jacmel for its carnival, the "Bassins Bleu" waterfalls, and the white sand beaches near the city.


title: Honda S2000

paragraphs: The Honda S2000 was a roadster created by the car company Honda. It was first on sale in April 1999. It is the successor (new model) of the S800. Production of the S2000 ended in 2009.

paragraphs: The S2000 was introduced in 1999 as a 2000 model.


title: Narre Warren railway station, Melbourne

paragraphs: Narre Warren Railway Station is a railway station in Metcard Zone 2, located in Narre Warren, Victoria.


title: Premium station

paragraphs: A Premium station is a term used in the Melbourne train system for a station where there are better things than the other stations. There are currently 72 stations like this. All 5 City Loop stations are Premium stations, as well as the following stations -


title: Walker Percy

paragraphs: Walker Percy (May 28, 1916–May 10, 1990) was an American author. He wrote a novel called "The Moviegoer".


title: Talcott Parsons

paragraphs: Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 - May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist who created an idea called structural functionalism. This is a type of sociology. Parsons worked at Harvard University from 1927 to 1973.


title: Edward Hopper

paragraphs: Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American painter. He created paintings called "The Nighthawks" or "Chop Suey'.


title: Elias Canetti

paragraphs: Elias Canetti (born July 25, 1905 – died August 14, 1994) was an Bulgarian-Swiss Jewish author who wrote "Crowds and Power". A mountain in Antarctica is named for him.


title: Gao Xingjian

paragraphs: Gao Xingjian (born January 4, 1940), is a Chinese-French writer. He was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Literature.

paragraphs: He is also a stage director and a painter.


title: English Renaissance drama

paragraphs: English Renaissance drama is sometimes called Elizabethan drama, since its most important developments started when Elizabeth I was Queen of England from 1558 to 1603. But this name is not very accurate; the drama continued after Elizabeth's death, into the reigns of King James I (1603–1625) and his son King Charles I (1625–1649). Shakespeare, for example, started writing plays in the later years of Elizabeth's reign, but continued into the reign of James. When writing about plays from James's reign, scholars and critics sometimes use the term Jacobean drama; plays from Charles I's reign are called Caroline drama. (These names come from the Latin forms of the two kings' names, "Jacobus" for James and "Carolus" for Charles.) But for the subject as a whole, terms like English Renaissance drama or theatre are more accurate.

paragraphs: The year 1576 was a key date in this subject, since that is when the first permanent theatre building was built in London. It was called simply The Theatre, because it was the only place of its kind in England at the time. Before 1576, plays were acted in public halls and large houses, and in inns and public squares and courtyards and other open spaces, by troops of actors that mostly travelled around the countryside between cities and towns. Once the actors had a permanent place to act plays, they could develop their art without the constant need to travel. The Theatre was followed by other theatres in the London area; there were the Curtain, The Rose, the Swan, the Globe, and others too. More plays were written by more playwrights to fill these theatres.

paragraphs: Playwrights worked in both the classic types of drama, tragedy and comedy. They also began their own type of history play, mainly about earlier English kings and the events of their reigns. Shakespeare's "Richard III" and Marlowe's "Edward II" are two examples of this type of English history play. Plays were often written in poetry; early plays were mainly in rhymed verse, though as time passed playwrights came to prefer unrhymed blank verse. Prose was also used in some plays, mostly for comedy.

paragraphs: English Renaissance drama grew and developed until 1642, when it suddenly stopped. In the early years of the English Civil War, the Puritans who were fighting King Charles gained control of London and the region around it. The Puritans were against play-acting; they thought it was sinful and immoral. On September 2, 1642, the Puritans forced the London theatres to close, and to stay closed for most of the time until 1660. Then the English Restoration brought a new king, Charles II, who let the theatres re-open. In the 18-year gap between 1642 and 1660, English society had changed a good deal, and a new style of drama rose up in the Restoration era; it is usually called Restoration drama or Restoration theatre.


title: Blank verse

paragraphs: The term Blank verse means poetry that does not use rhyme.

paragraphs: Blank verse relies on the meter of the lines in the poem to give structure, and to create the feeling of poetry as compared to prose. An example from William Wordsworth's poem "Michael" shows the lack of rhyme and the strict meter in blank verse – each line sticks fairly closely to the pattern of iambic pentameter:

paragraphs: Many critics judge blank verse to be better than rhyme for serious subjects, and many poets have used blank verse for their most important works. Shakespeare used rhyme in his early plays, but in his more mature works like "Hamlet" he preferred blank verse. John Milton wrote "Paradise Lost" in blank verse, including a note at the beginning of the poem saying that rhyming poetry was used to disguise badly written poems, Lord Tennyson used it for "Idylles of the King", and Wordsworth used it for "The Prelude" and "The Excursion". John Keats used rhyme in his "Endymion", his first try at a major poem; for his second attempt, "Hyperion", he switched to blank verse. The longest poems in English literature are written in blank verse, for example "The Fall of Nineveh" by Edwin Atherstone or "King Alfred" by John Fitchett. This last is about 130 000 lines long.

paragraphs: Many 20th century poets gave up both rhyme and the strict meter of blank verse to write free verse.

paragraphs: Joseph Berg Esenwein, Mary Eleanor Roberts, "Art of Versification". Revised edition. Springfield: 1920.


title: Cave of Altamira

paragraphs: Altamira (Spanish for 'high view') is a cave in Spain famous for its Upper Paleolithic cave paintings featuring drawings and coloured paintings of wild mammals and human hands. It is located near the town of "Santillana del Mar" in Cantabria, Spain, 30 km west of the city of "Santander". The cave with its paintings has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

paragraphs: The cave is approximately 300 meters long


title: Altamira

paragraphs: Altamira could mean any of the following:


title: F.C. Kuban Krasnodar

paragraphs: FC Kuban () is a Russian football club based in Krasnodar. In 2006 they won promotion to the Russian Premier League. Kuban have previously spent two seasons in Russian Premier League and three seasons in Soviet Top League.

paragraphs: The club was founded as Dynamo in 1928, but was named Neftyanik in 1954, Kuban in 1958, and Spartak in 1960. In 1963 the club was renamed Kuban and has been known by this name ever since.

paragraphs: Kuban and their predecessors mainly played at the lower levels of Soviet football, winning the RSFSR championship four times. Kuban played in the Soviet Top League in 1980-1982, achieving their best result (13th position) in 1981.

paragraphs: In 1992, due to the dissolution of the USSR, Kuban were entitled to play at the top level instead of being relegated to the Second League. They finished 18th out of 20 teams and were relegated. After spending several seasons in First and Second divisions, they won promotion back to the Premier League for 2004, but were again relegated straight away. This happened again in 2006 when they won promotion for the 2006-2007 season and then finished second to bottom.


title: Liiga

paragraphs: Liiga also known as SM-liiga from 1975 to 2013, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is generally thought of as one of the top leagues in Europe. It started in 1975. SM is a common abbreviation for "Suomen mestaruus", "Finnish championship".


title: Aurochs

paragraphs: The Aurochs, or urus, ("Bos primigenius") was a large species of cattle. The aurochs used to be common in Europe. It is extinct now. It was a wild animal, not a domesticated animal. The extinct aurochs/urus is a not the same species as the "wisent" (the European bison).

paragraphs: According to the Paleontologisk Museum, University of Oslo, aurochs developed in India some two million years ago, came into the Middle East and farther into Asia, and reached Europe about 250,000 years ago. People once thought that they were a different species from modern European cattle ("Bos taurus"). Today, people think that aurochs and modern cattle are the same species.

paragraphs: Modern cattle have become much smaller than their wild ancestors: the height of a large domesticated cow is about 1.5 meters (5 feet, 15 hands), while aurochs were about 1.75 meters (5.75 feet, 17 hands).

paragraphs: Aurochs also had several features not often seen in modern cattle, such as lyre-shaped horns set at a forward angle, a pale stripe down the spine, and different color according to the gender. Males were black with a pale stripe down the spine, while females and calves were reddish (these colours are still found in a few domesticated cattle breeds, such as Jersey cattle). Aurochs were also known to have very aggressive behaviour, and killing one was seen as an act of courage in ancient cultures.

paragraphs: At one time there were three aurochs subspecies, namely "Bos primigenius namadicus" (Falconer, 1859) that occurred in India, the "Bos primigenius mauretanicus" (Thomas, 1881) from North Africa and the "Bos primigenius primigenius" (Bojanus, 1827) from Europe and the Middle East. Only the European subspecies survived until recent times.


title: Privas

paragraphs: Privas is a commune of France, capital (Prefecture) of the Ardèche department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. It is the smallest administrative centre of any department in France.

paragraphs: Today Privas is known for several confectionery made with chestnuts produced in the region, as the "marron glacé".

paragraphs: When the department of Ardèche was created on 4 March 1790, the capital was Privas alternating with Annonay, Aubenas, Le Bourg(-Saint-Andéol) and Tournon. In September of that year, Privas became the only capital of the department.

paragraphs: The "commune" of Privas is in the central eastern part of the Ardèche department, in the valley of the "Ouvèze" river, a tributary of the Rhône river. The "commune" of Privas is in the centre of a region known as the "Bassin Privadois".

paragraphs: The "commune" has an area of , and its average altitude is ; at the city hall, the altitude is .

paragraphs: The distances from Privas to other cities are:

paragraphs: The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Largentière is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Maritime Temperate climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".

paragraphs: The inhabitants of Privas are known, in French, as "Privadois" (women: "Privadoises").

paragraphs: With a population of 8,313, Privas has a population density of inhabitants/km. It is the prefecture with fewest people living in it.

paragraphs: Privas is the prefecture of the Ardèche department since 1800. It is also the capital of the "arrondissement" of Privas and the administrative centre () of the canton Privas, formed by 15 "communes", including Privas, with 20,402 inhabitants .

paragraphs: It is part of the intercommunality "Privas Centre Ardèche", officially named as "Communauté d'agglomération Privas Centre Ardèche".


title: Guilherand-Granges

paragraphs: Guilherand-Granges is a town and commune of the Ardèche "département", in the southern part of France.


title: Tournon-sur-Rhône

paragraphs: Tournon-sur-Rhône is a "commune" in the Ardèche department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. It is a "subprefecture" of the department. The city is at about to the north of Valence, the capital of the Drôme department.

paragraphs: Tournon-sur-Rhône, with the name of Tournon, was one of the seven districts of the Ardèche department when it was created on 4 March 1790. When the "arrondissements" were created in 1800, Tournon was one of the three "arrondissements" of the department.

paragraphs: On 18 March 1988, the name of the city was changed from Tournon to Tournon-sur-Rhône.

paragraphs: The "commune" of Tournon-sur-Rhône is on the northeastern part of the Ardèche department, on the border with the Drôme department. The city is on the right side of the Rhône river.

paragraphs: The distances from Tournon-sur-Rhône to other cities are:

paragraphs: Tournon-sur-Rhône is surrounded by the "communes":

paragraphs: The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Montluçon is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Maritime Temperate climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".

paragraphs: The inhabitants of Tournon-sur-Rhône are known, in French, as "Tournonais" (women: "Tournonaises").

paragraphs: With a population of 10,558, Tournon-sur-Rhône is the fourth largest city of the department and has a population density of inhabitants/km.

paragraphs: Evolution of the population in Tournon-sur-Rhône

paragraphs: Tournon-sur-Rhône is a subprefecture of the Ardèche department since 1800. It is also the capital of the "arrondissement" of Tournon-sur-Rhône and the administrative centre () of the canton Tournon-sur-Rhône formed by 13 "communes", including Tournon-sur-Rhône, with 20,885 inhabitants .

paragraphs: It is part of the intercommunality "Arche Agglo", officially named as "Communauté d'agglomération Hermitage-Tournonais-Herbasse-Pays de Saint Félicien".