title: Skate (fish)

paragraphs: Skates are cartilaginous fish. They are the family Rajidae in the order Rajiformes. They are chondrichthyes, and closely related to the rays. There are more than 200 species in 27 genera.

paragraphs: There are two subfamilies, the hardnose skates and the softnose skates.

paragraphs: Skates are a bit like stingrays (they are in the same group), but they are usually smaller with shorter, thicker tails. There is also a difference: skates do not have stingers. Instead, their tails are thicker, with small "thorns" along the edges. At the base of the tail is a set of extra fins, too.

paragraphs: Skates and rays are also different in the way the give birth. Most rays are (the eggs develop inside a mother's body), but skates lay their eggs. This means they are oviparous.


title: Roger Moore

paragraphs: Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 1927 – 23 May 2017) was an English actor and a UNICEF ambassador. He is probably the most well known for playing fictional spy James Bond in seven movies from 1973 to 1985. He played James Bond more times than any other actor. He was also well known for playing Simon Templar in the television show "The Saint". He began his career by becoming a male model.

paragraphs: Moore was the only child of policeman, George Moore, and housewife, Lilian "Lily". He attended Battersea Grammar School, but was evacuated to Holsworthy, Devon, during the Second World War. He was then educated at Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. He then attended the College of the Venerable Bede at the University of Durham, but never graduated. Moore served in the Royal Army Service Corps, commanding a small depot in West Germany.

paragraphs: Moore left his first wife, skater Doorn Van Steyn, for singer Dorothy Squires. Squires was 12 years older than him. She was also, at that time, much more famous than he was. They lived together for a short time in Dafen, Llanelli, South Wales. While making a movie in Italy in 1961, Moore left Squires for Italian actress Luisa Mattioli. Moore has a daughter and two sons with Mattioli. Moore ended this marriage in 1993. His current marriage is to the Danish-Swedish multi-millionaire Kristina 'Kiki' Tholstrup.

paragraphs: When Moore married Kiki Tholstrup, he began spending winters in Crans-Montana, Valais (Switzerland) and summers at his apartment in Monaco.

paragraphs: In 1999, Moore was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) on 14 June 2003. He was proud the honor was for his charity work rather than his acting.

paragraphs: On 11 October 2007, three days before he turned 80, Moore was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Moore's Star was the 2,350th star. It is appropriately located at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard.

paragraphs: In 2008, the French Government appointed Moore a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

paragraphs: His autobiography "My Word is My Bond" was published the same year.


title: Melbourne Cup

paragraphs: The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major horse race. It happens once a year. People say it is "The race that stops a nation", it is for horses three-years-old and over, and it is 3200 metres long. The event has been held on the first Tuesday in November since 1861 (except on one year during the Second World War) by the Victoria Racing Club, on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. Many people say it is the most important "two-mile" horse race in the world.

paragraphs: The race was first held over two miles, about 3,218 metres, but after Australia changed to the metric system in 1972 it was changed to 3,200 metres. This made it 61 ft 6in shorter, and Rain Lover's 1968 race record of 3min.19.1sec was changed to 3min.17.9sec. Now, the record holder is the 1990 winner Kingston Rule with a time of 3min 16.3sec.

paragraphs: The race starts at 3.00pm Melbourne (AEST) time.

paragraphs: The event is one of the most popular events to watch in Australia. Over 110,000 people attend the race. Some people dress in traditional formal raceday clothing. Other people dress in different kinds of strange and amusing costumes,

paragraphs: In 2005 a total of 383,784 race fans went to the Melbourne Cup Carnival annual event

paragraphs: Seventeen horses raced in the first Melbourne Cup in 1861. The prize was a gold watch and 170 pounds cash. Some people say Archer (the winner) walked 800 km to the course from Nowra, New South Wales. However, it is possible he travelled by ship. Four thousand people watched the race.

paragraphs: Archer won again the next year. However, because the owner's application form arrived late the next year, Archer was unable to try for a third cup. Many owners boycotted (did not race in protest) the race, so it started with only seven horses. That is the smallest number in the history of the cup.

paragraphs: The winner of the Melbourne Cup last year was Rekindling, from Great Britain.

paragraphs: 'Fashions On The Field' is a major focus of the day. Raceday fashion sometimes draws almost as much attention as the race itself. The miniskirt received worldwide attention when model Jean Shrimpton wore one on Derby Day during Melbourne Cup week in 1965.

paragraphs: In Melbourne, the race day is a public holiday. In the rest of Australia most people watch the race on television and gamble. Some people bet at the TAB (the Australian betting office). Other people bet in workplace cup "sweeps". (In "sweeps" each person pays a small amount [e.g. $3] and draws a random horse. First, second, and third place then share the money.) In 2000 it was estimated that 80 percent of the adult Australian population placed a bet on the race that year.

paragraphs: Betting on the Melbourne Cup has become more and more popular over the years, with one time a year punters having a crack at picking the winning horse.


title: King Philip's War

paragraphs: King Philip's War (Metacom's War) was a war between Native Americans and English colonists. King Philip's War was fought between 1675 and 1676 in the area of the United States that is now New England.

paragraphs: When the Pilgrims left England, they came to live in Massachusetts near the Indians. As more Puritans arrived, they needed more land and they took it. Metacom, or "King Philip" as he was called in English was the leader of one of the Wampanoag Pokanoket tribes. His father had made a treaty with the English.

paragraphs: The English began to fear the power of the natives. The two sides accused each other of violating the treaty and preparing for war. John Wussausmon was Christian convert and a trader. He told the English that Philip was preparing an alliance to attack them. When he was found dead, the English executed three Indians for his murder, and people on both sides became more angry. Philip brought together a large force of Indians and attacked the Puritan settlements. The resulting war was large. The Indians lost and thousands of them died but not before the whole countryside suffered much loss. Many towns burned and every inhabitant was enveloped some way in the conflict. When King Philip was killed by a native, his head was cut off by Benjamin Church to be brought back to Plymouth. 500 Indians were also taken prisoner and made slaves.


title: Lip balm

paragraphs: Lip balm is a product which is put on lips so they will not dry when a person is outdoors in the sun and wind. Lip balm is usually made from petrolatum. Some types of lip balm also include sunscreen to protect the lips from sunburn. Lip balm comes in tubes and small pots with screw-on lids. Lip balm is often used during the winter, because the cold winter winds can dry out a person's lips so that they are cracked and hurting (this is called having "chapped" lips).


title: Coprophagia

paragraphs: Coprophagia is the eating of faeces. Many animals eat faeces, either their own or that of other animal groups. It is particularly common in dogs and puppies of about six months old, but little is known why; lack of stimulus and variety in the lifestyle or diet have been cited as potential reasons. Adding pineapple to their food is a well recognized solution for many dogs. Humans do it only on rare occasions and it is looked down upon in society. Eating one's feces can also spread disease.


title: Frankenwald

paragraphs: The Frankenwald (roughly translates to Franconian forest) is a mountain range. It is in the district of Oberfranken in Bavaria. It connects the Fichtelgebirge to the Thuringian forest. It is a long forested plateau. The hills in the plateau form a watershed between the Rhine and the Elbe rivers.

paragraphs: It was settled in the 13th century. The main branches of industry were porcelain-making, forestry, and the production of charcoal. Rafts were built to get the wood into the larger cities, along the Main river, and the Rhine. First, the people setlted on the plateau. They cut down some forest, and settled in the clearing that was created that way. A well preserved example of such a setltlement is Wilhelmsthal. Only at a later date did people settle in the valleys.

paragraphs: In the Frankenwald, the following landscapes are prevalent:


title: Rapid transit

paragraphs: Rapid transit is the name for a type of railway which has trains that run very often and carry many passengers at one time. It is usually in a city or urban area and takes people in and out of it. Trains go between places very quickly because they do not mix with other traffic. Most rapid transit railways do not have level crossings, but the tracks go over and under other roads, or run in tunnels or over bridges, so they do not meet.

paragraphs: Many places call their rapid transit system a metro. Other words for rapid transit, which vary around the world, are subway, underground, tube, elevated, or heavy rail. These words sometimes describe how the system is built: some systems are completely below or above ground, while others may have both below-ground and above-ground sections.

paragraphs: A single rapid transit system can have many lines that go different places and many stations where people can get on and off trains, and sometimes change between other forms of public transport. These lines often have stations where people can change from one line to another to go in a different direction. These kinds of stations are called interchange stations, and many of the biggest rapid transit systems have several of these stations.

paragraphs: Many people consider the oldest rapid transit system of any kind to be the Metropolitan Railway in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The first part of what would eventually become the London Underground started building in 1860, and the first part was opened in 1863. The first underground trains were powered by locomotives that burned coal, and the smoke made many people suffer from choking in the tunnels. Later trains on the line ran on electric power. This line, now part of the Metropolitan line, is still running today. Another railway line in London, the City and South London Railway, was the first rapid transit line to use trains that run on electricity. This part opened in 1890 and today is part of the Northern line. Several more underground railways were built in London, and today the Underground, which is called the "tube" for its small trains and tunnels, has eleven lines, some of which run on track that is used by National Rail trains.

paragraphs: The next two cities to build rapid transit lines were Budapest, Hungary (whose first metro line opened in 1896) and Glasgow, Scotland (whose "Subway" also opened in 1896). Soon, many other big cities in Europe were building metro lines of their own, such as Berlin, Germany (Berlin U-Bahn); Paris, France (Paris Métro); and Moscow, Russia (Moscow Metro). A number of Paris Métro lines use trains that have rubber tires along with wheels made of steel; this helps the trains run better and smoother especially on steep gradients. Montreal's metro system is also like this, along with some people mover systems, which carry fewer people than rapid transit.

paragraphs: The first subway in North America was in Boston. Building started in 1895 and the first section was opened in 1897. The tunnels for this subway are still used by the Green Line of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), who has since built some other subways. In 1904, the New York City Subway opened, serving New York City. It quickly grew and soon became one of the largest in the world. It still has the most stations of any rapid transit system, with over 400 of them. Several more cities in the United States and Canada built their own subways, such as Philadelphia (operated by SEPTA); Los Angeles (operated by METRO); Montreal Metro in Montreal, Toronto Subway in Toronto and Vancouver SkyTrain in Vancouver, Canada.

paragraphs: Although most rapid transit systems are mostly built in underground tunnels, there are some lines which have been built above the street. These "elevated" lines are cheaper to build than subways since no tunneling is required. A well-known mostly elevated rapid transit system is the Chicago 'L' serving Chicago since 1892. The New York City Subway also has many elevated sections similar to Chicago. The Bay Area Rapid Transit system in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Washington Metro in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, two of the newer rapid transit systems built in the US, began running in 1972 and 1976, in that order. Although these last two systems have long sections of track without stations and run mostly above ground, in some places in the median strip of highways; all lines travel through subways in the inner city parts.

paragraphs: The first subway in South America opened in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires in 1913 (the Buenos Aires Underground). The oldest trains on the Underground were used for almost one hundred years, and were not replaced with new cars until 2013. Other cities in Latin America with rapid transit include São Paulo, Brazil (São Paulo Metro); Santiago, Chile (Santiago Metro); and Mexico City, Mexico (Mexico City Metro). Trains in Santiago and Mexico City are like Paris and Montreal as they are rubber-tired. Although there are not as many cities with rapid transit railways as there are in Europe or other places, many large cities operate bus rapid transit networks, which carry many people like railways and often have their own lane on roads, but use buses instead of trains. These systems are often designed to be converted into rail-based rapid transit in the future.

paragraphs: The first subway in Asia was the subway in Tokyo, Japan. The first section, part of the Ginza Line, was opened in 1927. Now, there are 13 lines run by two different companies (Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway), and many trains on these lines, called "through trains", run directly onto regular Japanese railways. Many other cities in Japan have subways of their own, like Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya. In China, the first subway, Beijing Subway, opened in Beijing in 1969. Other cities in China began to build subways, including Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. These systems, especially Beijing with its 18 lines, have become some of the largest and longest in the world. For example, the Shanghai Metro had only one line when it opened in 1993, but today has 14 of them. Both the Beijing and Shanghai systems have over 500 kilometers of track. Other cities in Asia with big subway systems are Taipei, Taiwan (Taipei Metro), Seoul, South Korea (Seoul Metropolitan Subway); Delhi, India (Delhi Metro); and Singapore (MRT). Three of Singapore's MRT lines, along with three smaller LRT lines, are automatically operated without a driver. A few more metro systems that run this way are London's Docklands Light Railway; the SkyTrain in Vancouver, Canada; and the Dubai Metro serving Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

paragraphs: Africa does not have many cities with rapid transit. Among those that have one, the oldest is in Cairo, Egypt (Cairo Metro), in use since 1987. Some cities in South Africa, though, have commuter rail networks with trains that come at high frequencies like rapid transit. Australia was the last continent to have a rapid transit system, although its biggest cities already have large commuter rail networks, some of which run in tunnels like rapid transit. The first ever rapid transit system in Australia opened in Sydney (Sydney Metro) in 2019. It, too, uses driverless trains.


title: Municipality

paragraphs: A municipality is a word used for a city, a town or a village, or a small group of them. It has a clearly defined territory, and all the people living on that territory share one common local government of the <br>.

paragraphs: In most countries, a municipality is the smallest administrative subdivision to have its own democratically elected representative leadership. A municipality is usually governed by a mayor and a city or municipal council. The municipality can be created as a municipal corporation.

paragraphs: In some countries, municipalities are referred to as "communes" (for example, French "commune", Italian "comune" or Swedish "kommun").


title: Problem

paragraphs: A problem is a situation preventing something from being achieved. The word comes from a Greek word meaning an "obstacle" (something that is in your way). Someone who has a problem must find a way of solving it. The means of solving a problem is called a "solution".

paragraphs: "John has locked his car keys inside his car so that he cannot get at them. John has a problem".

paragraphs: Some problems are made up for fun. These are like puzzles. Some of them can be solved with logic, others can be solved by trial and error or by a "heuristic".

paragraphs: Here is an example of a mathematical problem:

paragraphs: "John is three times as old as Mary. In three years time he will be twice as old as Mary. How old are John and Mary?" The answer to this problem is that John is 9 and Mary is 3.

paragraphs: Children often like to give one another problems that can be solved by "lateral thinking". This means using the imagination rather than strict logic. Here is an example:

paragraphs: "Peter, Ruth, Samuel and Jessica live in the same house. Peter and Ruth went out. When they returned they found Jessica lying dead, surrounded by glass. They were sure Samuel had done it. Why did they not call the police?" The answer is: Samuel was the cat and Jessica was a goldfish.

paragraphs: A well-known example of a problem that cannot be solved is that of squaring the circle – how to get a square that has the same area as a given circle, using geometry.

paragraphs: These are classic works on problem-solving:

paragraphs: Most of these deal with well-formulated problems. There are also a number of books on the psychology of thinking, which is obviously a large part of problem-solving:


title: Order

paragraphs: Order has many meanings (like a dictionary):


title: Friedrichshafen

paragraphs: Friedrichshafen is a city in Germany. It is at the north shore of the Lake of Constance. It is the second largest city at the lakeside, after Konstanz. About 58.000 people live there. The city is famous for having one of the first Zeppelins.


title: Zeppelin

paragraphs: "For the English rock group, see Led Zeppelin."

paragraphs: A Zeppelin is a type of airship. It is a dirigible, which means it is rigid airship, but can be directed. It was developed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, in the early 20th century. The name Zeppelin is now used as a common name for all airships. Zeppelins were used in the First World War. In the Second World War the Nazis largely used them for propaganda purposes.

paragraphs: One of the most well-known Zeppelins was the LZ 129 Hindenburg, which caught fire on May 6, 1937, during a landing after a non-stop trip from Germany to New Jersey in the United States. Another, the LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin was still in use after this disaster although some modifications had to be made after the disaster. After the Second World War and the fall of the Nazis in Germany, Zeppelins were not used anymore. Plans exist to use Zeppelins to lift heavy weights. Sometimes, they are also used as tourist attractions, or for advertising.


title: Stanza

paragraphs: A stanza is a related group of lines or verses in a poem. A stanza also can be a verse in paragraph form. They can keep on going without punctuation. It may also be a line in a poem.

paragraphs: Two most important features of a stanza is the number of lines and the rhyme scheme. There are many kinds of stanza.

paragraphs: An Italian sonnet consists of two four-line stanzas and two three-line stanzas:

paragraphs: A French ballad is composed of three eight-line stanzas and a four-line one:

paragraphs: Some stanzas are named after poets, who invented or often used them. An example is Sapphic stanza that was named after famous Greek woman poet Sappho.

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


title: Nanga Parbat

paragraphs: Nanga Parbat, located in Northern Pakistan, is the ninth highest mountain in the world. It is 8,126 metres (26,660 ft) above sea level. It is in Gilgit Baltistan, between Chilas and Astore. Nanga Parbat means "Naked Mountain". In 1953, an Austrian German named Hermann Buhl was the first to climb it.

paragraphs: Nanga Parbat is in the west of the Himalayas, and is the most western of the mountains higher than eight thousand meters. It lies just south of the Indus River, in the Astore District of the Northern Areas in the region of Kashmir. Not far to the north is the western end of the Karakoram mountains.

paragraphs: Nanga Parbat is the highest peak in the Nanga Parbat Range. The range covers an area of in length and in width. In the east it joins the Pir Panjal Range.

paragraphs: The steep incline of its peak that rises above the ground far below make Nanga Parbat a difficult and dangerous climb. Many deaths in the mid and early 20th century gave it the nickname of "killer mountain".


title: Cheema

paragraphs: Cheema (Shahmukhi: چیمہ, : ਚੀਮਾ) (also spelled Chima) is a typical group of people of the Jat cast found in India and bordering Pakistan who are also known as warriors. Jats are a large and important group in Punjab. Cheema's are one of the few major subclans of Jats. They speak Punjabi, and usually own vast farmlands. Majority of Cheema clan who are Muslims are found in West Punjab (Pakistan), and many who are Sikhs are found in East Punjab (India).

paragraphs: The Cheema tribe was called "Shaka" in India, from the name Saka used by the Persians. From the time of the Mahabharata wars (1500-500 BC) Shakas were mentioned many times in texts like the Puranas, the Manusmriti, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Mahabhasiya of Patanjali, the Brhat Samhita of Vraha Mihira, the Kavyamimamsa, the Brihat-Katha-Manjari, the Katha-Saritsagara, and many other old texts. There are three Royal families of jatt (Cheema, Sandhu and Gill). It is also said that Cheema/Chattha Jaats are the decedents of Maharaja Prithvi Raj Chohan from one of his wives.

paragraphs: The Vanaparava of the Mahabharata has a prophecy saying that the kings of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, and Abhiras shall rule unrighteously in Kaliyuga (MBH 3/188/34-36).

paragraphs: Alexander overran the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BC and marched into what is now Afghanistan with an army of 50,000. His scribes do not mention Gandhara or Kamboja; instead, they name twelve small countries in those territories. This means that Gandhara and/or Kamboja must not have been very great kingdoms in the late 4th century BC. In 326 BC, most of these twelve or so countries that used to be in the Gandhara Kamboja Mahajanapadas were conquered by the Macedonian conqueror.

paragraphs: Alexander invited all the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara to come to him and submit to his authority. Ambhi, ruler of Taxila, whose kingdom extended from the Indus to the Hydaspes (Jhelum), complied. After confirming him in his satrapy, Alexander marched against the Sakas (Cheemas are considered to be decadents of the Sakas) and Kamboja highlanders of the Kunar also Swat valleys known in Greek texts as Aspasios and Assakenois (q.v.) and in Indian texts as Ashvayana and Ashvakayana (names referring to their equestrian nature), who had refused to submit to Alexander. The "Ashvayan", "Ashvakayan", Kamboja and allied Saka clans offered tough resistance to the invader and fought him to a man. When worse came to worst, even the Ashvakayan women took up arms and joined their menfolk on the field, thus preferring ""a glorious death to a life of dishonor"".

paragraphs: Thereafter, Alexander marched east to the Hydaspes, where Porus, ruler of the kingdom between the Hydaspes (Jhelum) and the Akesines (Chenab) refused to submit to him. The two armies fought the historic Battle of the Hydaspes River on the riverbank outside the town of Nikaia (near the modern city of Jhelum). Porus's army fought bravely, but was no match for Alexander's. When the defiant Raja (though wounded and having lost his sons) was brought before Alexander, a legendary conversation took place in which Alexander inquired of Porus, "How should I treat you?", the brave Porus shot back, "The way a king treats another king." Alexander was struck by his spirit. He not only returned the conquered kingdom to Porus, but added the land lying between the Akesines (Chenab) and the Hydraotis (Ravi), whose ruler had fled. Alexander's army crossed the Hydraotis and marched east to the Hesidros (Beas), but there his troops refused to march further east, and Alexander turned back, following the Jhelum and the Indus to the Arabian Sea, and sailing to Babylon.

paragraphs: In the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Yuezhi tribe of modern China moved westward into Central Asia, which, in turn, caused the Sakas (Scythians) to move west and south. The Northern Sakas, also known as the Indo-Scythians, moved first into Bactria, and later crossed the Hindu Kush into India, successfully wresting power from the Indo-Greeks. They were followed by the Yuezhi, who were known in India as the Kushans or Kushanas. The Kushanas founded a kingdom in the 1st century that lasted for several centuries. Both the Indo-Scythians and the Kushans embraced Buddhism, and absorbed elements of Indo-Greek art and culture into their own. Another Central Asiatic people to make Punjab their home were the Hephthalites (White Huns), who engaged in continuous campaigns from across the Hindu Kush, finally establishing their rule in India in the fifth century.

paragraphs: The "Chach Nama" is a romantic work influenced by the 13th-century history, not a historical text of the 8th-century, states Asif, a historian and professor at Columbia University in New York City of Pakistani origin.

paragraphs: Many Jatt/Cheema were oppressed by Hindu king Raja Dahir who ruled over Punjab where the majority of the population followed Buddhism (Ram Swarup Joon: "History of the Jats", Rohtak, India (1938, 1967)). The Jat made strong alliances with the Muslim Arabs and hailed the conquest of Muhammad bin Qasim an Arab general. Muhammad bin Qasim defeated the Hindu Raja Dahir in alliance with Jats and other Buddhist Rajas. On his arrival at the town of Brahmanabad between six and sixteen thousand men died in the ensuing battle. Buddhists and the Jat, Meds and Bhutto tribes hailed him as a rescuer from tyranny at the hands of "Chach" and his kin (regarded as Cusurpers of the Rai Dynasty).

paragraphs: Historian Baladhuri records the local sentiments upon Qasim's recall,

paragraphs: “people of Hind wept for Qasim and preserved his likeness at Karaj”.

paragraphs: While the “Chach-Nama” notes the following as highlights of Qasim’s rule:

paragraphs: As the Chach-Nama is a non reliable and non contemporary source of history, it has no authenticity and it holds no historical value (According to Pakistani Origin historian Dr. Asif)

paragraphs: The rulers before Islam were: Siharus, Sahasi II, Chach, Dahir. The first two were Buddhist Jatt , and the last two were Hindu jatt . The new Brahmin rulers were not friendly to the many Buddhists in Sind at that time, and they were cruel to the Jats and Meds, who were most of the peasants. Bad conditions were put on the Jats and they lost many civil rights. "When Chach, the Brahmim chamberlain who usurped the throne of chach King went to Brahmanabad, he enjoined upon the Jats and Lohanas not to carry swords, avoid velvet or silken cloth, ride horses without saddles and walk about bare-headed and bare-footed". It was because of this background that Muhammad bin Qasim received cooperation from the Buddhists as well as the Jats and Meds during his campaign in Sind ("An advanced history of India" by Ramesh Chandra Majumdar; Hemchandra Raychaudhuri; Kalikinkar Datta Delhi: Macmillan India, 1973).

paragraphs: In fact he was hailed as deliverer by several sections of local population. The position of the Buddhists in Sind seeking support from outside can be read in the Chach Nama.

paragraphs: Mohamammad Bin Qasim came as a deliverer for the ancient tribes of Jats and Meds and he defeated the oppressing King of Sindh. From then the war between Budhists and Hindus saw another contender who's future followers of the monotheistic Islamic faith would change the history of India forever.

paragraphs: The Cheema clan hold a largest number of Political seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan and Senate of Pakistan in Punjab, Dr Nisar Ahmad Cheema from NA-79 leads the Cheemas in the national assembly today, His ancestors have done so over the past 6 decades.

paragraphs: This Cheema family has been and still his the largest and the most powerful family, belonging to Wazirabad, this family has had a large number of Civil servants, Judges, Police officials, Federal Ministers and Provincial Ministers and even a President of Pakistan. In the current generation, IG Police Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema has gained nationwide popularity and is regarded as the best cop the country has ever produced. Many Cheemas have immigrated, establishing successful careers in aid agencies, and armies amongst other professionals. Cheemas have a very strong political control in many districts such as Gujranwala.A Village of Faisalabad Malkhanwala 226RB(Chak Cheema,Bajwa) is the most powerful Village in pakistan.Cheemas are the owners of many Rice and floor Mills such as Ghulam Haider Cheema from Aroop used to have the biggest rice and floor business in Pakistan.

paragraphs: Late Sardar (Captain) Autar Singh Cheema was the First Pakistan born but an Indian national to climb the highest peak of the world Mount Everest on 20th May 1965. He belonged to and after retiring from active service in the Indian army lived in his ancestral village at Chak Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan India.

paragraphs: Many Cheemas have now settled in England after participating in both WW1 and WW2 Indian army for British forces. Mostly misled for thinking they would get the freedom of India at the end of world, which was not. Approximately 1.3 million Indian soldiers served in World War One - and more than 74,000 of them lost their lives.

paragraphs: The Cheema Clan located in Nurmahal (Cheema Kalan and Cheema kurd) are situated on the lands of former Noor Jahan (The Persian Queen) the twentieth and last wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. The Queens secret underground passage ways are located on the Cheema land now. Most of the Cheema lands located in Nurmahal were gifted to the Cheema clan for their bravery, hard work and centuries of dedication in Indian Armed forces and Navy.

paragraphs: Cheema Clans are found World Wide now including; America, Canada, England and Australia

paragraphs: The Udyogaparava of the Mahabharata "(5/19/21-23)" tells us that the composite army of the Kambojas, Yavanas, and Shakas participated in the Mahabharata war under the command of Sudakshina Kamboja. The epic repeatedly says this composite army was very fierce and wrathful.

paragraphs: Mahabharata, too similarly groups the Shakas with the Kambojas and Yavanas and states that they were originally noble Kshatriyas but got degraded to "vrishala" status on account of their non-obersvance of the sacred Brahmanical codes.

paragraphs: [[Manusmriti]] places the [[Shakas]] with the [[Kambojas]], [[Yavanas]], [[Pahlava]]s, [[Paradas]] and labels them all as degraded Kshatriyas ([[Holy]] Warriors) defying the [[Brahmana|Brahmanical]] codes and rituals.

paragraphs: In the "[[Puranas]] Darada" the Jatt sub-tribes have been called degrading terms such as [[Rakshasas]] (demons) not having [[darshan]] of the [[Brahmin]].

paragraphs: Cheema are most numerous in the [[Amritsar]] district. There are also 42 villages in the [[Patiala]] district. According to Cunningham, this area used to be called "Chima des" ("Des" or "Desh," in the Hindustani language and Punjabi language, means "country"). Many people settled in Montgomery ([[Sahiwal]]) and [[Sandal Bar]] when the British ruled Punjab because of the construction of a large canal network in these areas. The Cheema also have few villages scattered across [[Rawalpindi]], [[Bhawalpur]], [[Amritsar]], [[Gurdaspur]], [[Jalandhar]], NurMahal or Noor Mahal, [[Moga]], [[Ludhiana]], and [[Sangrur]].

paragraphs: In the western Punjab plains, Cheema communities are not generally found past "Chaj Doab". In the eastern Punjab plains, they are not were found past the [[Sangrur]] district, until 1947, when many Sikh Cheemas moved from [[Sialkot]] and [[Gujranwala]] to settle in [[Patiala|Village Chak 4e Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan Patiala]], [[Karnal]], and [[Sirsa]] after partition of the [[Punjab region|Punjab]]. Some families also moved afterward [[Udhamsingh nagar]](Uttrakhand), [[Pilibhit]], [[Puranpur]], and [[Rampur]] (Utter pradesh). This region is called Mini Punjab and the Terai Region.

paragraphs: In Pakistan, [[Sialkot]] and [[Gujranwala|Gujranwal]] districts both have large Cheema populations with many Cheema villages, such as Chak 4e in Sri Ganganagar (Raj) Begowal, Verowala Cheema Jamke Cheema, Tajokay Cheema, Adamkay Cheema, Bhopalwala, Sahowala, Kamalpur, [[Manpur]], and Lodikay Cheema, and in [[Gujranwala District|Gujranwal]], Baddokey Cheema, Kot Inayat Khan,[[Delawar Cheema]], [[Saroki Cheema]], [[Bharoki Cheema]], [[Mansorwali Cheema]], [[Ratti Thatt]], [[Bankay Cheema]], [[Kathor|Kathor, Kalay Wala]], [[Kheway Wali]], [[Wadala Cheema]], [[Phaloki Cheema]], [[Marday Ki]], and [[Chabba Cheema]]. In [[Rawalpindi]] district, there is a [[Gujranwala|village]] near [[Gujar Khan]] which is named [[Sui Cheemian]] and it has a substantial population of Cheemas.

paragraphs: In southern Punjab, [[Bahawalpur]] and Yazman have considerable numbers of Cheema families, in great enough numbers that the area elects more than a dozen cabinet members.

paragraphs: In India, the Rupnagar and Mohali districts of the Punjab state have large Cheema populations with many Cheema villages, such as Salaura.


title: K2

paragraphs: K2 is the second highest mountain in the world, at . It is also known as Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori. K2 is part of the Karakoram range. It is located partly in China and partly in Pakistan. The name K2 came from the first survey of Karakoram. At that time, the surveyors gave each mountain a simple label of "K" followed by a number.

paragraphs: K2 is known as the "Savage Mountain" as it is very hard to climb. It is considered to be harder to climb than Mount Everest. K2 has the second-highest fatality rate among the eight-thousand-metre mountains. One person dies for every four who reach the top. As of 2011, only 300 people have climbed to the top of the mountain. At least 80 people have died trying to climb it. K2 has never been climbed during the winter.

paragraphs: The summit was first reached in 1954, by Italian climbers Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni.

paragraphs: The name K2 is was first used by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of British India. Thomas Montgomerie made the first survey of the Karakoram range. He did so from Mount Haramukh which is to the south. At the time he sketched the two most prominent peaks, and called them K1 and K2.

paragraphs: The policy of the Great Trigonometrical Survey was to use local names for mountains when possible. K1 had the local name of Masherbrum which was soon used. K2, however, appeared not to have a local name. This may have been due to its remoteness. It is not visible from Askole, the last village to the south, or from the nearest village to the north. It is believed few local people would have gone to where it could be seen. The name "Chogori", from two Balti words, "chhogo" ("big") and "ri" ("mountain") (چھوغوری) has been suggested as a local name. There is not much evidence for its widespread use, however. It may have been invented by Western explorers. It does form the basis for the name "Qogir" () which the Chinese government uses as the official name of the mountain.

paragraphs: As the mountain did not have a local name, the name "Mount Godwin-Austen" was suggested. This was in honor of Henry Godwin-Austen who had been an early explorer of the area. While the name was rejected by the Royal Geographical Society, it was used on several maps and is still used once in a while.

paragraphs: The label K2 is still the name by which the mountain is commonly known. It is now also used in the Balti language, rendered as "Kechu" or "Ketu". The Italian climber Fosco Maraini stated that while the name K2 came by chance, is was good for the mountain. He said:

paragraphs: The mountain was first surveyed by a European team in 1856. Team member Thomas Montgomerie called the mountain K2. The other mountains were originally named K1, K3, K4, and K5, but were later changed to use local names. In 1892, Martin Conway led a British expedition that made it to the Baltoro Glacier.

paragraphs: The first real attempt to climb K2 was in 1902 by an Anglo-Swiss expedition. It took fourteen days for them to reach the foot of the mountain. After five attempts the team only made it to .

paragraphs: The next expedition was in 1909. It was led by the Italian Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi. This team made it only to an elevation of on the South East Spur of the mountain. After looking for and not finding other routes, the Duke said that K2 would never be climbed.

paragraphs: The next attempt was not made until 1938. At that time, American Charles Houston took an expedition to the mountain. They decided that the Abruzzi Spur was the best route and made it to a height of around .

paragraphs: In 1939, an American expedition led by Fritz Wiessner came within of the summit. It ended in disaster when four members died on the mountain.

paragraphs: Charles Houston tried again in 1953. The try was a failure due to a storm which trapped the team for 10 days at . One climber died in the expedition. Many others nearly died in a mass fall but were saved by Pete Schoening.

paragraphs: Finally, in 1954, an Italian expedition made it to the summit. It was lead by geologist Ardito Desio. The two climbers to reach the top were Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni, at 6pm on 31 July 1954. One member of the expedition (Colonel Muhammad Ata-ullah of Pakistan) had been part of the 1953 American attempt as well. Other members were scientists, a doctor, a photographer, and others. Mario Puchoz died in the attempt. Two other members had to be hospitalized and one had to have his toes amputated due to frostbite.

paragraphs: The second success was not until 23 years after the first. It was a Japanese expedition lead by Ichiro Yoshizawa in 1977.

paragraphs: The third success was in 1978, and used a different route from the first two. This one was done by an American team, lead by James Whittaker.

paragraphs: Another notable success was in 1982, when a Japanese team climbed from the harder Chinese side of the mountain. The previous successes had been from the Pakistan side. The expedition was lead by Isao Shinkai and Masatsugo Konishi. Three members of the team made it to the summit on 14 August. One of them, however, died on when coming down. Four other members made it to the summit the next day, on 15 August.

paragraphs: The first person to reach the summit twice was Czech climber Josef Rakoncaj. He was part of a 1983 Italian expedition that made the summit. Then three years later he made the summit again as part of an international expedition.

paragraphs: The first woman to reach the summit was Polish climber Wanda Rutkiewicz in 1986. Two other women reached the summit later that same day, but died when coming down.

paragraphs: In 2004, the Spanish climber Carlos Soria Fontán became the oldest person ever to summit K2, at the age of 65.

paragraphs: In 2018, Polish climber Andrzej Bargiel became the first person to ski down K2 after he made it to the top.

paragraphs: In addition to these notable successes, about 300 people have climbed to the top of the mountain.

paragraphs: Even though the summit of Everest is higher, K2 is a much more difficult and dangerous climb. This is in part due to its worse weather. It is believed by many to be the world's most difficult and dangerous climb. This is what lead to the nickname "the Savage Mountain". Only about 300 people have made it to the top. This is much less than the 5,600 who have made it to the top of Everest. At least 80 (as of September 2010) people have died attempting the climb.

paragraphs: While some have tried to climb K2 during the winter, none have yet had success.


title: Respiration

paragraphs: During respiration, energy is released in a form that can be used by cells. All living things respire. Both plant and animal cells use the process of respiration to release energy from glucose.

paragraphs: There are two types of respiration. One is aerobic respiration and the other is anaerobic respiration. Breaking down of food in presence of oxygen is called aerobic respiration, whereas breaking down food in when there is no oxygen is called anaerobic respiration.

paragraphs: Some use oxygen to break down glucose completely into CO (Carbon dioxide) and HO (Water).

paragraphs: See these (in this order) for an outline of the biochemistry of aerobic respiration:


title: Kingsley Amis

paragraphs: Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than twenty novels, three collections of poetry, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He was the father of the British novelist Martin Amis.

paragraphs: Kingsley Amis was born in Clapham, South London, England. He went to school at the City of London School and St. John's College, Oxford. At Oxford, he met Philip Larkin and became friends. Amis served in the Royal Corps of Signals in the Second World War.

paragraphs: Amis was a fan of jazz music. He liked the American musicians Sidney Bechet, Henry "Red" Allen and Pee Wee Russell.

paragraphs: His first novel "Lucky Jim" was very successfull. The novel won the Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. "Lucky Jim" was the first English novel that focused on an ordinary man as anti-hero. As a poet, Amis was a part of The Movement (anti-romantic poetry).

paragraphs: As a young man, Kingsley Amis was a member of the Communist Party. He left them when the Soviet Union invaded Hungary in 1956. After that, Amis became anti-communist, and conservative. He talks about his political change in the essay "Why Lucky Jim Turned Right" (1967).

paragraphs: Amis was an atheist. Novels such as "The Green Man" and "The Anti-Death League" were about the personality of a divine being. They were also about its relationship to death and dying.

paragraphs: Amis's novel "The Old Devils" won the Booker Prize in 1986. He received a knighthood in 1990.

paragraphs: Amis was married. The first time in 1948 to Hilary Bardwell and then to novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard in 1965. He divorced Howard in 1983. Amis spent his last years living with his first wife and her third husband. He had two sons and a daughter. His younger son was novelist Martin Amis. Martin wrote about his father's life and decline in his memoir "Experience".

paragraphs: Amis' interest in science fiction led to "New Maps of Hell" (1960). It was about how he felt about science fiction in literature. He liked the stories of Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth. With the Sovietologist Robert Conquest, Amis produced the science fiction series "Spectrum" I–IV. This series got a lot of its ideas from the 1950s magazine "Astounding Science Fiction". He wrote three science fiction novels. "The Alteration" was an alternate history novel set in a twentieth-century Britain. "Russian Hide-and-Seek" was an alternate history where Russia had conquered Britain after the Second World War. He also wrote the supernatural-horror novel "The Green Man" which the BBC adapted for television.

paragraphs: Amis wrote books about Ian Fleming's James Bond. He wrote the popular "James Bond Dossier". Later, he wrote, "The Book of Bond, or, Every Man His Own 007". It was a tongue-in-cheek how-to manual about being a spy like Bond. He wrote it under the name "Lt Col. William 'Bill' Tanner". Tanner was M's Chief of Staff in many of the Bond novels.


title: 340s

paragraphs: The 340s decade ran from January 1, 340, to December 31, 349.


title: Ferdinand II of Aragon

paragraphs: Ferdinand II the Catholic (, 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516) was king of Aragon (1479–1516), Castile, Sicily (1468–1516), Naples (1504–1516), Valencia, Sardinia and Navarre and Count of Barcelona. His marriage to Isabella of Castile unified most of the Iberian Peninsula as Spain and started its move to become a great power.

paragraphs: Ferdinand was the son of John II of Aragon by his second wife, the Aragonese noblewoman Juana Enriquez. He married Infanta Isabella, the sister by a different mother of Henry IV of Castile, on 19 October 1469 in Ocaña. He became Ferdinand V of Castile when Isabella succeeded her brother as Queen of Castile in 1474. The two young monarchs had to begin with a civil war against Juana, princess of Castile (also known as Juana la Beltraneja), who claimed to be the daughter of Henry IV. They won. Ferdinand succeeded his father as King of Aragon in 1479. This meant the Crown of Castile and the various territories of the Crown of Aragon were united in a personal union. For the first time since the 8th century this created a single political unit which might be called Spain, although the various territories were not properly administered as a single unit until the 18th century.

paragraphs: The first decades of Ferdinand and Isabella's joint rule were taken up with the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada, the last Muslim enclave in the Iberian peninsula. This was completed by 1492 and then the Jews were expelled from both Castile and Aragon. The royal couple sent Christopher Columbus on his expedition which discover the New World. By the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, the extra-European world was split between the crowns of Portugal and Castile by a north-south line through the Atlantic Ocean.

paragraphs: Ferdinand was busy in the last decades of his life with the so-called Italian Wars. He was fighting with the Kings of France for control of Italy. In 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and expelled Ferdinand's cousin, Alfonso II, from the throne of Naples. Ferdinand's alliance with various Italian princes and with Emperor Maximilian I, expelled the French by 1496 and installed Alfonso's son, Ferdinand, on the Neapolitan throne. In 1501, following the death of Ferdinand II of Naples and his succession by his uncle Frederick, Ferdinand of Aragon signed an agreement with Charles VIII's successor, Louis XII. Louis had just successfully asserted his claims to the Duchy of Milan, and they agreed to partition Naples between them, with Campania and the Abruzzi, including Naples itself, going to the French and Ferdinand taking Apulia and Calabria. The agreement soon fell apart, and over the next several years, Ferdinand's great general Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba conquered Naples from the French, by 1504. Another less famous "conquest" took place in 1502, when Andreas Paleologus, de jure Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, left Ferdinand and Isabella as heirs to the empire, thus Ferdinand became de jure Roman Emperor.

paragraphs: After Isabella's death, her kingdom went to her daughter Joanna. Ferdinand served as the latter's regent during her absence in the Netherlands, ruled by her husband Archduke Philip. Ferdinand attempted to retain the regency permanently, but was rebuffed by the Castilian nobility and replaced with Joanna's husband, who became Philip I of Castile. After Philip's death in 1506, with Joanna mentally unstable, and her and Philip's son Charles of Ghent only six years old, Ferdinand resumed the regency, ruling through Francisco Cardinal Jimenez de Cisneros, the Chancellor of the Kingdom.

paragraphs: In 1508, war resumed in Italy, this time against Venice. All the other powers on the peninsula, including Louis XII, Ferdinand, Maximilian, and Pope Julius II joined together against as the League of Cambrai. Although the French were victorious against Venice at the Battle of Agnadello, the League soon fell apart, as both the Pope and Ferdinand became suspicious of French intentions. Instead, the Holy League was formed, in which all the powers now joined together against France.

paragraphs: In November 1511 Ferdinand and his son-in-law Henry VIII of England signed the Treaty of Westminster, pledging mutual aid between the two against France. Earlier that year, Ferdinand had conquered the southern half of the Kingdom of Navarre, which was ruled by a French nobleman, and annexed it to Spain. At this point to reinforce his claim to the kingdom, Ferdinand remarried with the much younger Germaine of Foix (1490–1538), a granddaughter of Queen Leonor of Navarre. The Holy League was generally successful in Italy, as well, driving the French from Milan, which was restored to its Sforza dukes by the peace treaty in 1513. The French were successful in reconquering Milan two years later, however.

paragraphs: Ferdinand died in 1516 in Madrigalejo, Cáceres, Extremadura. He had made Spain the most powerful country in Europe. The succession of his grandson Charles, who inherited not only the Spanish lands of his maternal grandparents, but the Habsburg and Burgundian lands of his paternal family, would make his heirs the most powerful rulers on the continent. Charles succeeded him in the Aragonese lands, and was also granted the Castilian crown jointly with his insane mother, bringing about at long last the unification of the Spanish thrones under one head.

paragraphs: Ferdinand and Isabella had 5 children, Isabella of Asturias, Juan of Aragon, Joanna of Castile, Maria of Aragon, and Catherine of Aragon. Joanna and Catherine married with several European dynasties, setting the bases for the huge heritage of their grandson Charles V. His granddaughter was Queen Mary I of England.


title: Web 2.0

paragraphs: Web 2.0 () is what people call new ways of showing or using things on the Internet.

paragraphs: Web 2.0 is considered beneficial because it is easy for people to publish their work, connect with other people, and share and exchange information.

paragraphs: To people who use the Internet, wikis and blogs are Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is mostly about user-generated and interactive content.

paragraphs: Before Web 2.0, Internet users could just read information on web pages. With Web 2.0, users can interact with the site and add information. In Web 1.0, the previous version, information was only written by the website author.

paragraphs: The Internet technology which is used for web 2.0 is not different from the old Internet technology, but the ways people use the web (the Internet) has changed.

paragraphs: Some people think that Wikipedia is a great example of "Web 2.0". Many other famous websites, such as Facebook and Youtube, are considered Web 2.0 Websites.


title: The Broons

paragraphs: The Broons is a comic strip in the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Post. It is about a Scottish family with 11 members.

paragraphs: The strip is written in the Scots language.


title: Roman Republic

paragraphs: The Roman Republic was a phase in history of the Ancient Roman civilization. According to legend, the city of Rome was founded by Romulus in . It was a kingdom until 510 BC, when the last King, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was overthrown, thus beginning the Roman Republic.

paragraphs: The Roman Republic was a civilization ahead of its time and very advanced. The Roman people elected "Consuls", who ruled for a short time. Some of the ideas of the Roman Republic are still used today.

paragraphs: The end of the republic is still a matter of dispute; different scholars will give different dates for it. Usually, the dates of the start of the First Triumvirate or the Second Triumvirate are given. (The Triumvirates were groups of three men who had much power)

paragraphs: The end of the republic is often said to be when Gaius Julius Caesar was appointed as dictator (single ruler) by the Roman Senate. This happened after a series of civil wars that lasted from about 49 BC to the year 44 BC.

paragraphs: Some people say the republic ended with the naval Battle of Actium between Marcus Antonius and Octavian. They both had been in the Second Triumvirate. It was fought on 2 September 31 BC. Octavian won. Later on, he was proclaimed Roman Emperor. The end date could also be when Octavian was given the title of the first "Augustus". This was on 16 January 27 BC.

paragraphs: These are modern views though. In the view of the early emperors, the "res publica" (what is translated to "Republic") still existed. It was simply "under their protection". They promised it would some day, maybe, be restored to its original form. This never happened, and so the beginning of the Roman Empire was the end of the Roman Republic.

paragraphs: The Republic got most of its wealth from trading and taxation. The Republic had few enemies but it was constantly on war with the Gauls, who were conquered by Caesar later. The Punic Wars against Carthage were fought all over the Mediterranean coasts, mainly because of Sicily and trade disputes. The third enemy being the Germanic tribes or simply barbarians (uncivilized people).

paragraphs: The Republic suffered many disasters including Spartacus (the leader of a slave revolt) Spartacus defeated one consul's army before being captured, the Republic suffered at the hands of Hannibal, who after crossing the Alps defeated the Roman Army at Cannae and many other battles which saw Rome with a great fear of being destroyed by Hannibal.


title: First Triumvirate

paragraphs: The First Triumvirate is the name most historians give to the political alliance between Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey). They made it in 60 BC to give each other power. Each person helped the others to be more powerful.

paragraphs: Caesar was able to gain money from Crassus to finance his public works campaign. He also gained military power from Pompey's loyal legions. Crassus, who was much envied and hated for his wealth and the means he used to attain it, was also able to gain popularity from Pompey as well as Caesar who had a loyal following in the plebeian class. Pompey was grateful to Caesar for his support against slander in the senate. Caesar's speeches in the senate were in favor of giving the newly conquered land to Pompey's returned legions. Pompey and Crassus ended their old grudge that dated back to the Third Servile War because they realised the advantages they allowed each other. To cement the Triumvirate, Crassus told Caesar's numerous debt holders that he would pay Caesar's loans if Caesar defaulted. Pompey married Caesar's only child, Julia. The Triumvirate lasted until Crassus' death in the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC.

paragraphs: Caesar and Pompey started fighting. Caesar won at the Battle of Pharsalus. Caesar became dictator in the year 44 BC.


title: Second Triumvirate

paragraphs: The Second Triumvirate was an alliance between Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus. It was formed to punish the conspirators who assassinated Julius Caesar.

paragraphs: The Triumvirate lasted from 43 BC to 33 BC. It ended the effort by Marcus Tullius Cicero to make the Senate once again the top body of the Republic. From then on Rome was ruled by an Emperor.

paragraphs: The Triumvirate army, led by Octavian and Mark Antony, defeated the Conspirators' army led by Cassius and Brutus. The war ended with the Battle of Philippi in Roman Macedonia in 42 BC. Cassius and Brutus committed suicide and the remainder of their army joined the Triumvirate forces.


title: Occam's razor

paragraphs: Occam's razor (or Ockham's razor) is a principle from philosophy. Suppose there exist two explanations for an occurrence. In this case the one that requires the smallest number of assumptions is usually correct. Another way of saying it is that the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation. Occam's razor applies especially in the philosophy of science, but also more generally.

paragraphs: William of Ockham, a Franciscan friar who studied logic in the 14th century, first made this principle well known. In Latin it is sometimes called lex parsimoniae, or "the law of briefness". William of Ockham supposedly (see below) wrote it in Latin:

paragraphs: This means if there are several possible ways something might have happened, the way which uses the fewest guesses is probably the correct one. However, Occam's razor only applies when the simple explanation and complex explanation both work equally well. If a more complex explanation does a better job than a simpler one, then you should use the complex explanation.

paragraphs: A problem with Occam's razor is that the sentence is not really about things ("entia" = entities), but about explanations or hypotheses. Other thinkers have come up with other versions:

paragraphs: In science, Occam's razor is used as a heuristic (general guiding rule or an observation) to guide scientists.

paragraphs: Example: Two trees have fallen down during a windy night. Think about these two possible explanations:

paragraphs: Even though both are possible, several other unlikely things would also need to happen for the meteorites to have knocked the trees down, for example: they would have to hit each other and not leave any marks. In addition, meteorites are fairly rare. Since this second explanation needs several assumptions to all be true, it is probably the wrong answer. Occam's razor tells us the wind blew the trees down, because this is the simplest answer therefore probably the right one.

paragraphs: Example: A person is standing on the top of a roof and dropping a feather. In calculating how long it takes for the feather to reach the ground, to make the maths simpler, one might make an assumption: that the effect of air resistance can be ignored. This assumption makes the problem simpler, but is unlikely to lead to a good prediction as to the time it will take for the feather to fall. Thus, making the assumption that air resistance can be ignored is in this case not the "simplest" in concept, but the simplest in other respects (in this case, the maths). "Not" making the assumption here "is" the "simplest" in concept because it involves making fewer assumptions.

paragraphs: Occam's razor also comes up in medicine. When there are many explanations for symptoms, the simplest diagnosis is the one to test first. If a child has a runny nose, it probably has the common cold rather than a rare birth defect. Medical students are often told, "When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras".


title: Rio Grande do Sul

paragraphs: Rio Grande do Sul is a Brazilian state. It is in Southern Brazil. It has common borders with Uruguay to the south, and Argentina to the west. It has a very high standard of living. Its capital city is Porto Alegre. About 10 million people live in the state. The surface area of Rio Grande do Sul is about 282,000 square kilometres.


title: Turbofolk

paragraphs: Turbofolk or Pop-folk is a style of music from the Balkans that was invented in the early 1990s. It mostly comes from Greece, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, but it is also popular in other nearby countries. It sounds like a mix of Arabic-style singing (in the Serbian language) with electronic music and rock music.

paragraphs: Turbofolk is sometimes associated with the recent Balkan wars and the Breakup of Yugoslavia but it is still popular.


title: Bérurier Noir

paragraphs: Bérurier Noir are a French punk band which formed in Paris in 1983. It is made up of Loran (guitar), François (vocals) and Dede (drum machine). In 1985 Masto joined, playing the saxophone. They sing about French politics and anarchism. They are one of the most famous French punk bands.


title: Roman Britain

paragraphs: Roman Britain ("Britannia") was the part of Great Britain in the Roman Empire from AD 43 to 409 or 410.

paragraphs: The first invasion was led by Julius Caesar, in the days of the Roman Republic. He defeated the dominant Catuvellauni tribe in 54 BC near Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire.

paragraphs: Their capital was taken over by the Romans. Trouble in Gaul (mainly modern France & Belgium) prevented Caesar from staying in Britain. The full conquest of Britain was delayed for almost a century.

paragraphs: In 43 AD, the Emperor Claudius sent an invasion force, led by Aulus Plautius, a distinguished senator. He was given four legions, totalling about 20,000 men, plus about the same number of helpers The legions were:

paragraphs: The "II Augusta" was commanded by the future emperor Vespasian. The other three legions were also led by high-ranking men.

paragraphs: The invasion was one of the most significant events in British history. After the revolt of Boudica there was usually peace and a process of full "romanization" started successfully in southeast Britain.

paragraphs: The Romans considered Britannia as a single territory and administratively they divided the huge island in five provinces: "Britannia prima" (capital London), "Britannia secunda", "Flavia Caesariensis", "Maxima Caesariensis" and "Valentia". It seems that they have created also a sixth province -during Agricola conquest- in Caledonia, called "Vespasiana".

paragraphs: Roman legions left in 410 AD after almost four centuries, and the administration of the country was taken over by prominent local chieftains. This was known as Sub-Roman Britain, with a Romano-British culture and the people may have used a Latin-based language. It lasted for more than two centuries but gave way to an increasingly Anglo-Saxon England by the start of the seventh century.

paragraphs: Roman technology made its impact in road building and the construction of villas, forts and cities. During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an extensive network of roads. They were used in later centuries, and many are still followed today. The Romans also built water supply, sanitation and sewage systems. Many of Britain's major cities, such as London ("Londinium"), Manchester ("Mamucium") and York ("Eboracum"), were founded by the Romans.

paragraphs: There was no writing in Britain before the Romans. They introduced it and, when they left, writing only survived with the help of religion.

paragraphs: The British were skilled in the arts, and produced ornamental jewellery and pottery which was exported to Europe. They built defensive structures such as hill forts. They were proficient in warfare with spears, bows and arrows. Small round stones found in such sites indicate the use of slings or catapults.

paragraphs: To keep Roman control, forts and garrisons were built throughout Britain, and the existing roads improved. The local people had to maintain the Roman roads in Britain, and got tax relief for their efforts.

paragraphs: Roman roads allowed for troop movements and the distribution of supplies. The forts and garrisons needed food and other services. Vast areas produced these goods. For example, the often flooded Somerset levels was like a huge market garden that provided supplies for the garrisons at Exeter, Gloucester, Bath and the forts in between. Local fishermen supplied fresh fish, and farmers reared sheep, pigs, cattle and poultry for the garrisons.

paragraphs: Missionaries from Gaul began to introduce Christianity to the West country. Before the end of the first century AD they had a Church of Celtic Christianity. This spread such that by the mid second century much of Cornwall, Devon, Western Dorset, and South Somerset had adopted Christianity. The spread of Christianity continued eastward and strongly northward into Wales through the next two centuries, especially after the adoption of Christianity by Rome. The Romans had built shrines and temples to their pagan gods and continued to patronize these, even after the adoption of Christianity by Rome.


title: Bixente Lizarazu

paragraphs: Bixente Lizarazu (born 9 December 1969) is a former French football player. He is one of the most successful football players in the world. He won the FIFA World Cup in 1998 and the European Football Championship in 2000. He has also won the UEFA Champions League (2001) and was champion of the Bundesliga (both with Bayern Munich) five times in a six-year period (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005).

paragraphs: Lizarazu was born in Saint-Jean-de Luz, a small village in Basque region of France, in 1969. His first club was Eglantins Hendaje (1977-1989). He then went to Girondins Bordeaux (1989-1996). After playing for Bordeaux, he played for the Spanish club Athletic Bilbao (1996-1997) before he went to Bayern Munich (1997-2005). For a six months, he played for Olympique Marseille (2004). He ended his career in 2005.


title: Shetland

paragraphs: Shetland (or the Shetland Islands) is an archipelago, the furthest out part of Scotland in the United Kingdom.

paragraphs: The islands are between the Faroe Islands and the Orkney Islands. They are about 50 miles to the northeast of the Orkney Islands. They are about 100 islands in the group. People live on 16 of them.

paragraphs: The islands form part of the boundary between the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the North Sea to the east.

paragraphs: The largest islands of the group are Mainland, Yell, Unst, Fetlar, Whalsay, and Bressay. In general, the climate of the group is subarctic, and rather bleak.

paragraphs: They used to be called Hjaltland or Zetland. Today, the islands are part of Scotland. The administrative centre is Lerwick.

paragraphs: The economy of the islands is largely based on agriculture. The sheep are known for their fine wool. Other well-known exports are the Shetland ponies and Shetland Sheepdog.

paragraphs: In 1969 crude oil was discovered near the islands, leading to an alternative source of income for them.

paragraphs: By the end of the 9th century the Norsemen shifted from plundering to invasion, mainly due to the overpopulation of Scandinavia in comparison to resources and arable land available there.

paragraphs: Shetland was colonised by Norsemen in the 9th century. The fate of the native population is unknown. The colonisers established their laws and language. That language evolved into the West Nordic language Norn, which survived into the 19th century.

paragraphs: After Harald Finehair took control of all Norway, many of his opponents fled, some to Orkney and Shetland. From the Northern Isles they continued to raid Scotland and Norway, prompting Harald Hårfagre to raise a large fleet which he sailed to the islands. In about 875 he and his forces took control of Shetland and Orkney. Ragnvald, Earl of Møre received Orkney and Shetland as an earldom from the king as reparation for his son's being killed in battle in Scotland. Ragnvald gave the earldom to his brother Sigurd the Mighty.

paragraphs: Shetland was Christianised in the 10th century. In the Treaty of Perth in 1266 the Norwegian king surrendered his furthest British islands to Scotland. They included the Hebrides, and the Isle of Man. In return, the Scots recognised Norwegian sovereignty over Orkney and Shetland. The islands did not become Scottish until the 15th century, and were ratified by an Act of Parliament in 1669.

paragraphs: For three centuries the Shetlanders sold their fish (salted cod) through the German Hanseatic League, a trading organisation. This arrangement lasted from 1400 to 1700 AD.

paragraphs: In WWII Shetland was active in covert operations against the Germans in Norway. The 'Shetland Bus' (fishing vessels) sailed in covert operations between Norway and Shetland. They carried intelligence agents, refugees, instructors for the resistance, and military supplies. Many people on the run from the Germans, and much important information on German activity in Norway, were brought back to the Allies this way.

paragraphs: In the early 1970s, oil and gas were found off Shetland. The East Shetland Basin is one of the largest petroleum sedimentary basins in Europe. Sullom Voe terminal opened in 1978 and is the largest oil export harbour in the United Kingdom with a volume of 25 million tons per year.

paragraphs: Firm geological evidence shows that at around 6100 BC a tsunami caused by the Storegga Slides hit Shetland, as well as the rest of the east coast of Scotland, and may have washed over some of the Shetland Islands completely.

paragraphs: Shetland has been populated since at least 3400 BC. The early people subsisted on cattle-farming and agriculture. During the Bronze Age, around 2000 BC, the climate cooled and the population moved to the coast. During the Iron Age, many stone fortresses were erected, some ruins of which remain today.

paragraphs: Due to the practice of building in stone on the virtually tree-less islands, Shetland is extremely rich in physical remains of all these periods, though Shetland is less rich in material remains than Orkney.

paragraphs: The artifacts of all the eras of Shetland's past can be studied at the newly built (2007) Shetland Museum in Lerwick.


title: Salt evaporation pond

paragraphs: A Salt evaporation pond (or saltern pond) is a man-made shallow pond. Usually it is located near the sea. The ponds can be filled with salt water. The water is then left to evaporate. The salt is left behind, and can be harvested. Such ponds also provide a habitat for several kinds of animals. Most of these animals are birds.

paragraphs: The color tells how much salt there is left in the water. Green colors come from special algae. These algae are there in low to mid salinity ponds (ponds with little salt in the water). In middle to high salinity ponds, an alga called Dunaliella salina shifts the color to red. Millions of tiny brine shrimp create an orange cast in mid-salinity ponds. Other bacteria such as Stichococcus also contribute tints. These colors are especially interesting to airplane passengers or astronauts passing above due to their somewhat artistic formations of shape and color.


title: Salinity

paragraphs: Salinity is a scientific term. Scientists use it to tell how much salt there is in water. Salinity is measured by the amount of sodium chloride found in 1,000 grams of water, if there is 1 gram of sodium chloride in 1,000 grams of water solution it is 1 part per thousand. This is written as 1‰.


title: Food preservation

paragraphs: Food preservation is about the ways and means which help to preserve food. Food spoils from bacteria if it is not treated. For thousands of years, humans have used methods of preserving food, so that they can store food to eat later. The simplest methods of preserving food, such as drying strips of fish or meat in the hot sun have been used for thousands of years, and they are still used today by indigenous peoples. The other ancient method is to use salt, and often drying and salting are done together.

paragraphs: Food is spoiled because microorganisms change it. There are five basic techniques which make food last longer:

paragraphs: Usually several of the techniques are combined.

paragraphs: Many common methods use several of these approaches at the same time. For example, pickles preserved in a jar are heated then put in a mixture of vinegar and brine. Fruit jams and jellies are heated and mixed with a large amount of sugar. Some preserved fruit is heated and then mixed with alcohol (for example, Brandy) and a large amount of sugar. Smoked hams are cured in brine and then exposed to the smoke from burning wood chips.


title: Clapham Junction railway station

paragraphs: Clapham Junction railway station is a train station in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is on St. John's Hill in the south west of Battersea.

paragraphs: All services to Waterloo and many services to Victoria and Croydon stations pass through the junction; these include South West Trains, Gatwick Express and Southern services. Services from Clapham Junction also head north along the West London line, through West Brompton and Kensington (Olympia), on to Willesden Junction and Watford Junction - services (to Willesden Junction) are operated by London Overground.

paragraphs: Typical off-peak service of about 110 trains (one train every 30 seconds) is:

paragraphs: The station has 16 platforms, numbered 2 to 17, and arranged in two groups. Platform 1, the northernmost platform, is no longer used. It does not have any rails. If the planned East London Line extension gets to Clapham Junction, the platform may be used again.

paragraphs: The station's main entrance is from St. John's Hill, into a foot tunnel which is 15 ft (4.6 m) wide. It runs under the eastern end of the 17 platforms, and to a northern exit, which has restricted opening hours. The foot tunnel becomes very crowded during the morning and evening rush hours, and ticket barriers at the end of the tunnel are a particular pinch point.

paragraphs: A covered footbridge connects the platforms at their western end. The footbridge does not have an exit to or from the station.

paragraphs: The station is named Clapham Junction because it is close to the joining point of a number of major rail lines—although the name is not shared by any junction near the station. The names of the nearby rail junctions are:


title: Adenosine triphosphate

paragraphs: Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a nucleotide used in cells as a coenzyme. It is often called the "molecular unit of currency": ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism.

paragraphs: Every cell uses ATP for energy. It consists of a base (adenine) and three phosphate groups. One molecule of ATP contains three phosphate groups, and it is produced by ATP synthase from inorganic phosphate and adenosine diphosphate (ADP, the di meaning two phosphate groups) or adenosine monophosphate (AMP).

paragraphs: The ATP molecule is very versatile, meaning that it can be used for many things. Energy is stored in its chemical bonds.

paragraphs: When ATP binds with another phosphate, energy is stored that can be used later. In other words, when a bond is made, energy is stored. This is an endothermic reaction.

paragraphs: When ATP breaks a bond with a phosphate group and becomes ADP, energy is released. In other words, when a bond is broken energy is released. This is an exothermic reaction.

paragraphs: The ATP phosphate exchange is a nearly never-ending cycle, stopping only when the cell dies.

paragraphs: ATP is the main energy source for the majority of cellular functions. This includes the synthesis of macromolecules, including DNA and RNA (see below), and proteins. ATP also plays a critical role in the active transport of macromolecules across cell membranes, e.g. exocytosis and endocytosis.

paragraphs: In all known organisms, the deoxyribonucleotides that make up DNA are synthesized by the action of ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) enzymes on their corresponding ribonucleotides. These enzymes reduce the sugar residue from ribose to deoxyribose by removing oxygen.

paragraphs: In the synthesis of the nucleic acid RNA, ATP is one of the four nucleotides incorporated directly into RNA molecules by RNA polymerases. The energy driving this polymerization comes from cleaving off a pyrophosphate (two phosphate groups). The dance is similar in DNA biosynthesis, except that ATP is reduced to the deoxyribonucleotide dATP, before incorporation into DNA.


title: Shrimp

paragraphs: Shrimp refers to small, decapod crustacea. Shrimp are mainly found in three groups: Caridea, Procarididea, and Dendrobranchiata. There are thousands of species, and usually there is a species adapted to any particular habitat. Any small crustacean which resembles a shrimp tends to be called one.

paragraphs: Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals that live close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. They have a high tolerance to toxins in polluted areas, and may contribute to high toxin levels in their predators. They play important roles in the food chain and are important food sources for larger animals from fish to whales.

paragraphs: Shrimp are related to prawns. In cooking, the criterion is often only the size of the animal (prawns are bigger). Biologically, prawns and shrimp can be told apart by the structure of their gills. In prawns, the gills are branching; in shrimp they are not.

paragraphs: Many shrimp species are caught to be eaten. Usually, the head and the digestive tract are removed before the shrimp is eaten. The muscular tails of shrimp can be eaten, and they are widely caught and farmed for human consumption.

paragraphs: Commercial shrimp species support an industry worth 50 billion dollars a year. In 2010 the total commercial production of shrimp was nearly 7 million tonnes. Shrimp farming took off during the 1980s, particularly in China, and by 2007 the harvest from shrimp farms exceeded the capture of wild shrimp. There is often pollution damage done to estuaries when they are used for shrimp farming.


title: Prawn

paragraphs: Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of decapod crustaceans, and contains shrimp and prawn.

paragraphs: Dendrobranchiata are commercially fished and are used for cooking. The difference between prawns and shrimp is usually that prawns are larger than shrimps. Prawns are crustaceans similar in appearance to shrimps, but they can be distinguished by the gill structure which branches out in prawns but not in shrimps. Prawns are also related to crabs and lobsters. Prawns have two pairs of antennae.

paragraphs: Prawns are found in calmer waters were the they can nest in water plants to lay their eggs. Like shrimps, prawns tend to prefer warmer waters in the tropics but some species of prawn are found in the Northern Hemisphere.

paragraphs: Prawns eat by filtering nutritious particles out of the water flowing around the prawn. Therefore, prawns are found near rocks or close to the sea floor.

paragraphs: Prawns are a common source of food for humans around the world, particularly in areas where the prawn exists naturally such as South-East Asia.


title: Lee Redmond

paragraphs: Lee Redmond (born February 2, 1941) is a woman from the Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. She is famous for having the longest fingernails in the world.

paragraphs: She has not cut her fingernails since 1979. The combined length of her fingernails are 7 meters and 51 centimeters long (24 feet, 8 inches) . She has an active life despite of her long fingernails. Lee Redmond is in the Guinness Book of World Records in the category "Longest Fingernails - Female".

paragraphs: On February 10, 2009, Lee was in a car crash, and was thrown out of the car. She was badly hurt and all her fingernails were broken off.


title: Martin Amis

paragraphs: Martin Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a Welsh novelist. His best known novels include "Money" (1984), "London Fields" (1989), "Time's Arrow" (1991) and "The Information" (1995).

paragraphs: Affected by several writers including his father Sir Kingsley Amis, Amis's style of writing has affected a generation of writers. His recent work has looked at moral and geopolitical issues, including The Holocaust, Communist Russia, and the September 11, 2001 attacks and Islamism.

paragraphs: Amis was born in Swansea, South Wales. He was the middle of three children, with an older brother, Philip, and a younger sister, Sally. He went to many different schools in the 1950s and 1960s. The fame of his father's first novel "Lucky Jim" sent the Amises to Princeton, New Jersey, where his father lectured. Amis's parents, Hilly and Kingsley, divorced when he was twelve.

paragraphs: Amis graduated from Exeter College, Oxford. He graduated with a first-class degree in English. After Oxford, he got a job at "The Times Literary Supplement". At age 27, he became literary editor of "The New Statesman".

paragraphs: His first novel "The Rachel Papers" (1973) won the Somerset Maugham Award. It tells the story of a smart, self-centered teenager (which Amis says he based on himself) and his relationship with his girlfriend in the year before going to university.

paragraphs: "Dead Babies" (1975) has a typically 1960s plot. It has a house full of characters who abuse various substances. A movie version was made in 2000 which was unsuccessful.

paragraphs: "Success" (1977) told the story of two foster-brothers, Gregory Riding and Terry Service, and their good and bad luck.

paragraphs: "Other People: A Mystery Story" (1981), about a young woman coming out of a coma.

paragraphs: "Money" (subtitled "A Suicide Note") is a first-person narrative by John Self. He was an advertising man who wanted to be a movie director. The book follows him as he flies back and forth across the Atlantic looking for success. The book was a huge success and is Amis's most highly regarded work.

paragraphs: "London Fields" is Amis's longest book. It show the encounters between three main characters in London in 1999, as a climate disaster draws near.

paragraphs: "Time's Arrow" is about a doctor who helped torture Jews during the Holocaust. It was written in the form of an autobiography. The story is unusual because time runs backwards during the entire novel.

paragraphs: The "Experience" is mainly about his relationship with his father, Kingsley Amis. He also writes about finding long-lost daughter, Delilah Seale and of how one of his cousins, 21-year-old Lucy Partington, became a victim of suspected serial killer Fred West.

paragraphs: He lives and writes in London and Uruguay and is married to writer Isabel Fonseca, his second wife.


title: Xi Shun

paragraphs: Xi Shun (Bao Xishun) (China, born in 1951) is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest living man. He is 2.36 meters (7 ft 9 in) tall. The last time he was measured was on January 15 of 2005. On August 7, 2007 Leonid Stadnyk was measuring and was found to be taller than him. In September of 2005 he made his first trip outside of China to London to visit Guinness World Records.

paragraphs: Xi Shun served in the People's Republic of China army but got discharged because of rheumatism. He once saved some dolphins' lives by getting pieces of plastic from their stomachs that veterinarians could not reach.


title: Crab

paragraphs: Crabs are in the subphylum Crustacea. They are decapods (having eight walking legs and two grasping claws), along with lobsters, crayfish and shrimps. Crabs form an order within the decapods, called the Brachyura. Their short body is covered by a thick exoskeleton.

paragraphs: They are an extremely successful group, found all over the world. They are basically heavily armoured shell-breakers. Most crabs live in sea-water, but there are some who live in fresh water, and some who live on land. The smallest are the size of a pea; the largest (the Japanese spider crab) grows to a leg span of 4 metres. About 7,000 species are known.

paragraphs: Crabs have short tails. A crab's tail and reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax. It is folded under its body, and may not be visible at all unless the crab is turned over. Usually they have a very hard exoskeleton. This means they are well protected against predators. Crabs are armed with a single pair of claws. Crabs can be found in all oceans. Some crabs also live in fresh water, or live completely on land.

paragraphs: The pincers (claws) of crabs are their most important weapons. They have at least three functions. The pincers' role in eating is to seize and subdue the prey. If the food is a shellfish (mollusc), then the pincers can exert force to open or break the mollusc's shell. Pincers are also used in fighting between males, and for signalling to other crabs.

paragraphs: Crabs are omnivores, they eat almost anything they find. Often this is algae, but animal food is essential for its good health and development. They will eat molluscs, other crustaceans, worms, fungi and bacteria.

paragraphs: Crabs are prepared and eaten all over the world. Some species are eaten whole, including the shell, such as soft-shell crab; with other species just the claws and/or legs are eaten. In some regions spices improve the culinary experience. In Asia, Masala Crab and Chilli crab are examples of heavily spiced dishes. In Maryland, blue crab is often eaten with Old Bay Seasoning.

paragraphs: For the British dish "Cromer crab", the meat is extracted and placed inside the hard shell. One American way to prepare crab meat is by extracting it and adding a flour mix, creating a crab cake. Crabs are also used in "bisque", a French soup.

paragraphs: True crabs appear in the fossil record in the Lower Jurassic. They are part of the 'Mesozoic marine revolution', in which a number of sea-floor predators evolved.

paragraphs: The closest relatives of the crabs are anomurans, a crustacean group which includes animals such as hermit crabs, king crabs and squat lobsters. They look a lot like crabs and many have the word 'crab' in their name, but are not true crabs. Anomurans can be told apart by the number of legs: crabs have eight legs, along with two claws or pincers, while the last pair of an anomuran's legs is hidden inside the shell, so that only six are visible.


title: Gran Colombia

paragraphs: Gran Colombia was a country formed after New Granada declared independence in 1819. The rebels, led by Simon Bolivar, defeated the Spanish Empire but then fought among themselves. In 1831 Venezuela and Ecuador, being the eastern and southern part of the country, declared independence from Gran Colombia. After that the remaining territory is just called Colombia. Decades later, Panama also became independent from Colombia.


title: Nail (anatomy)

paragraphs: A nail is a hard part of the body at the tip of the fingers and toes, of which most people have ten. Toenails and fingernails are similar, except that toenails grow four times more slowly. Only certain mammals have nails: mostly, they are found in primates. They are made of the same kind of material (keratin) as the claws of other animals.

paragraphs: Like hair, nails never stop growing. They must be cut from time to time. It does not hurt when people cut their nails as they are not innervated. The nails are made up of a protein called keratin which also makes up the main element of hair and skin. People paint their nails to make themselves look more attractive, usually females. On occasion nails can grow into the skin acting as a nidus of infection known as an ingrowing nail. They can hurt, so are often treated through medicine. The cutting and painting of the nails is called a manicure.

paragraphs: The functions of nails are not obvious. They include:


title: Crustacean

paragraphs: The Crustacea are a subphylum of arthropods with 67,000 described species. They are part of the phylum Arthropoda. Crustaceans include crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. They are relatives of insects. If the Arthropods are regarded as a superphylum, then the insects and crustacea would be phyla. (see List of animal phyla). The group has an extensive fossil record, reaching back to the Cambrian.

paragraphs: Most crustaceans are aquatic, mostly marine. Some have moved onto land permanently. Crustaceans that live on land include some crabs, and woodlice. Crustacea range in size from a parasite 0.1mm long, to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span of up to 14 ft (4.3 m) and a mass of 44 lb (20 kg). The North Atlantic lobster can weigh more than 40 pounds.

paragraphs: Most crustaceans are mobile, but some become sessile after their larval stage. Barnacles become attached to rocks on the sea shore. Some are parasitic, like fish lice, and tongue worms. Crustacea usually have separate sexes however some are hermaphroditic (can be both male and female). Their eggs eventually hatch into larvae.

paragraphs: Crustaceans are a subphylum organized in the phylum Arthropoda and so like other arthropods they have a tough exoskeleton, a series of jointed appendages, and a segmented body. Crustaceans have three major body parts. They are, front to back: head, thorax, and abdomen. Generally, they have two pairs of antennae, two eyes. The mouth has two mandibles. Most breathe with gills, although certain land crabs have developed lungs. Lobsters and crabs have hard outer skeletons (exoskeleton), and tend to preserve well as fossils. As adults, they moult their shells as they grow in size.

paragraphs: Most crustaceans crawl along the bottoms of streams, rivers, and the ocean, sometimes coming on land. Because they move along the ground under the water, they are called "benthic" creatures. Even though lobsters and shrimps can swim a bit, they usually walk along the bottom of the body of water in which they live.

paragraphs: More than 10 million tons of crustaceans are produced by fishery or farming for human consumption, the majority of it being shrimps and prawns. Krill and copepods are not as widely fished, but may be the animals with the greatest biomass on the planet, and form a vital part of the food chain.

paragraphs: All arthropods must replace their exoskeletons with new ones in order to grow. This applies to those in the subphylum of Crustacea. They replace their exoskeletons by molting. Molting is controlled by hormones in their bodies. A new exoskeleton is then secreted to replace the old one. While they wait for their new exoskeleton to harden it can be dangerous as they may be preyed up by larger predators and not be able to defend themselves. Most Crustaceans molt many times between hatching and adulthood. In most cases growth and development involves metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is a dramatic change in their physical form.

paragraphs: Crustaceans have a number of larval forms. The earliest and most characteristic is the nauplius. In most groups, there are further larval stages, including the "zoea" (pl. zoeæ or zoeas). This name was given to it when naturalists believed it to be a separate species. It follows the nauplius stage, and often has spikes on its carapace. These may assist these small organisms in maintaining directional swimming. In many decapods, due to their accelerated development, the zoea is the first larval stage. In some cases, the zoea stage is followed by the "mysis" stage, and in others, by the "megalopa" stage, depending on the crustacean group involved.


title: Motile

paragraphs: An organism is called motile if it can move on its own. Most organisms are motile. Organisms that cannot move themselves are called "sessile".


title: Maria Montessori

paragraphs: Maria Montessori was an Italian educator and doctor. She was born on 31 August 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy.

paragraphs: Maria Montessori created the first Montessori school. It was a method of education which respected the natural development of the child. Its main feature was to allow as much independence as possible to the individual child. Another feature was to allow mixed ages in the same classroom. This was different from the formal classroom teaching used even for young children at the time. Maria Montessori started this method when she was in charge of a school for handicapped children. Maria Montessori also founded around 1907 in San Lorenzo, a slum area of Rome, the first Casa dei Bambini ("Children's House"). She died on May 6, 1952.


title: Jacob de Gheyn III (painting)

paragraphs: Jacob de Gheyn III is a famous painting.

paragraphs: It was painted by Rembrandt in 1632 and is the most stolen painting in the world. It has been stolen and recovered from galleries at least four times, making it the world's most stolen painting.

paragraphs: Every time the painting has been recovered anonymously and as a consequence nobody was accused of the theft. This painting by Rembrandt is so well known that it would be difficult for a thief to take it again.

paragraphs: Jacob de Gheyn III, also known as Jacob III de Gheyn (1596–1641), was a Dutch Golden Age engraver, son of Jacob de Gheyn II, canon of Utrecht (city), and the subject of a 1632 oil painting by Rembrandt. The portrait is half of a pair of pendent portraits. The other piece is a portrait of de Gheyn's friend Maurits Huygens, wearing similar clothing (ruffs and black doublets) and facing the opposite direction

paragraphs: As legend goes, a man by the name of Marcus Smith V was found in a gallery sneaking and slowly making his way toward the painting with intent to steal it. The ghost of Jacob de Gheyn III sneaked up behind him and killed him. the legend is most likely untrue because Smith was with a lover that night and was actually poisoned the next night.


Fame