title: Orson Scott Card

paragraphs: Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is a popular American writer, a critic, political writer, and speaker. He is best known for his science fiction books. His novel "Ender's Game" and its sequel "Speaker for the Dead" both won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, making Card the only writer (as of 2007) to win both of science fiction's top prizes two years in a row.

paragraphs: Card is an English professor at Southern Virginia University. He has written two books on creative writing. Card teaches other people about writing. He is also a judge in the Writers of the Future competition. Card’s great-great-grandfather is Brigham Young, who was a leader for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Card is also a member of the LDS Church. Today he still writes many fiction works. He has also produced writing about church, politics, and society in his columns and books.

paragraphs: Card is the son of Willard Richards Card and Peggy Jane (maiden name Park). He is the third of six children. Song-writer Arlen Card is his younger brother. Card was born in Richland, Washington. He grew up in Santa Clara, California, Mesa, Arizona, and Orem, Utah. He went on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Brazil. Card graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) and the University of Utah. He also spent a year in a Ph.D program at the University of Notre Dame.

paragraphs: For part of the 1970s Card worked as an associate editor of the "Ensign", which is an official magazine of the LDS Church.

paragraphs: Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. Greensboro has greatly affected "Ender's Game" and many of his other works.

paragraphs: Card started his writing career as a poet. He studied with Clinton F. Larson at a school in Utah, BYU. Card studied about the theater. He started turning books into plays, then started writing his own full-length plays. Many of his plays were produced by theater directors at BYU. He also started writing fiction. The fiction stories he wrote in college later became "The Worthing Saga".

paragraphs: At BYU, Card started a theater company. His theater company produced plays at "the Castle," an outdoor stage in Provo. His company's plays were the first plays ever produced at the Castle. Card also got a part-time job as a proofreader at BYU Press. Later, he got a full-time job copy editing. In 1976, Card got a full-time job as an assistant editor at the "Ensign", a church magazine. He moved to Salt Lake City. While he was there, Card published his first piece of fiction, a short story called "Gert Fram." The story was printed in the July 1977 fine arts magazine under the pen name Byron Walley.

paragraphs: Card wrote a short story called "Ender's Game" while working at the BYU press. He sent it to several publications. The story was about a school where boys can fight in space. He later turned the short story into a novel, also called "Ender's Game".

paragraphs: "Ender's Game" and the second book in the same series "Speaker for the Dead" were each given the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. This made Card the only author () to win both of science fiction's top awards two years in a row. The series also includes the books "Xenocide", "Children of the Mind", "Ender's Shadow", "Shadow of the Hegemon", "Shadow Puppets", "First Meetings in the Enderverse", "Shadow of the Giant", "Shadows in Flight", "", and "Ender in Exile". "Ender in Exile" takes place in between "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead". Card has said he plans to write a book called "Shadows Alive" to link the "Shadow" series and the "Speaker" series together. He has also written a three book series which takes place before "Ender's Game". The three books are called "Earth Unaware", "Earth Afire", and "Earth Awakens". This trilogy tells the history of the character Mazer Rackham among other things. In 2013 the novel "Ender's Game" was made into a movie. Asa Butterfield played the character Ender and Gavin Hood directed the movie.

paragraphs: Some of Card's other science fiction books include "The Tales of Alvin Maker", "", The Homecoming Saga, and "Hidden Empire".

paragraphs: Card has branched out into other areas of fiction with books such as "Lost Boys", "Treasure Box" and "Enchantment". He wrote a novel about the James Cameron film "The Abyss" and the comic book "Ultimate Iron Man" for a Marvel Universe series. Card wrote the narration in three video games: "Loom", "The Secret of Monkey Island" and "The Dig" in the early 1990s.

paragraphs: In 1983, Card published the novel "Saints". “Saints” is a fiction book about one of Card’s ancestors. His ancestor joined the LDS Church in its early days. Card writes about his ancestor’s life up until Utah became a state.

paragraphs: In 2000, Card published the first book in "The Women of Genesis" series. These books tell the story of the women in the Bible. The books are 'Sarah" (2000), "Rebekah" (2002), and "Rachel and Leah" (2004).

paragraphs: In 2005, Card made a magazine called "Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show". He edited the first two magazines, but he was too busy to keep up with it. Edmund R. Schubert was one of Card’s former students. Schubert took over the magazine and became the editor in 2006.

paragraphs: Card also wrote the dialog and screenplay for the Xbox video game "Advent Rising'’.

paragraphs: In 2008, Card's short book"Hamlet's Father" was published in "The Ghost Quartet" collection (Tor Books). “Hamlet’s Father” was a retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.


title: Genius Squad

paragraphs: Genius Squad is a book that was written by Catherine Jinks in 2008. It was published by Allen & Unwin, Australia. It is the second book in a series that follows the main character Cadel Piggot.


title: Evil Genius (book)

paragraphs: Evil Genius is a book written by Catherine Jinks in 2005. It was published by Allen & Unwin, Australia. The book is the first in a series that follows the story of "Cadel Piggot".


title: Catherine Jinks

paragraphs: Catherine Jinks (born 1963 in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian writer. She has written over thirty books and has won many awards, including the Children's Book Council Of Australia Book of the Year Award three times, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, the Aurealis Award for Science Fiction, the Australian Ibby Award, and the Davitt Award for Crime Fiction.


title: Public speaking

paragraphs: Public speaking is speaking to a group of people in an organized way: to give information, influence or persuade, or to entertain the listeners.

paragraphs: In public speaking there are five important questions, which are often expressed as ""who" is saying "what" to "whom", using "which medium", with what "effects"?"

paragraphs: The Ancient Greeks called public speaking rhetoric; the Romans called it oratory. Until the late 20th century it was also called "forensic speaking", or "forensics". Propaganda is an another name for speech for or against some point of view. In George Orwell's words propaganda is a reflection of prejudices and beliefs that colors people's [or societies] aesthetic judgements. Often they are simply fallacies or conjectures.

paragraphs: Professional public speakers may use storytelling techniques or humor as a communication tool. A public speaker who is strong at using comedy might have more success adding a joke into a speech than one who is weak in that area.

paragraphs: A speaker's guideline is given in "TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking".

paragraphs: The 6 I model of credibility for public speaking are:

paragraphs: The AIDA model is about designing the message and delivering it effectively to the target audience. It says the speaker should first get attention, hold the interest level of the audience, arouse desire for the solution or the objective (appeal, theme, etc.) desired to communicate, and finally obtain action or actionable commitment from the audience.


paragraphs: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) is a university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It was founded in 1789. UNC is one of three schools that claim to be the oldest public university in the United States. To be more exact, UNC is the first school in the U.S. to hold classes and graduate students as a public institution; it began teaching students in 1795 and graduated its first students in 1798. (The University of Georgia was founded in 1785, but did not start teaching classes until 1801; The College of William & Mary was founded in 1693 and taught students at that time, but did not become a public school until 1906.)


title: Michigan State University

paragraphs: Michigan State University (or "MSU" for short) is a public university in East Lansing, Michigan.

paragraphs: The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic team of the university. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. The school colors are green and white. They play in NCAA Division I, with almost all of their teams playing in the Big Ten Conference. In 2010, the MSU football team won a share of the Big 10 title, and played in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The men's ice hockey team plays in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, but will leave that conference in July 2013 when the Big Ten starts a men's hockey league.

paragraphs: Established in 1855, MSU was originally an agricultural college. Students were known as "Aggies," but are now known as the "Spartans." Currently, Michigan State University has the largest single campus student body of any university in the state of Michigan, and is one of the largest universities in the country.

paragraphs: The mascot of the university is called "Sparty". He is mostly shown as a muscular male Spartan warrior/athlete dressed in a stylish Greek costume.


title: Big Ten Conference

paragraphs: The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Most of its 14 member institutions are in the Midwestern United States.

paragraphs: The Big Ten gained its first "associate member"—i.e., a school playing only a small number of sports (in this case, one) in the conference—in 2014. The same school brought a second sport into the Big Ten in 2016. A second school became an associate member in 2017.


title: Asteroid spectral types

paragraphs: Asteroids are assigned a type based on spectral shape, color, and sometimes albedo. These types are thought to correspond to an asteroid's surface composition. For small bodies which are not internally differentiated, the surface and internal compositions are presumably similar, while large bodies such as 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta are known to have internal structure.

paragraphs: The present-day classification was initiated by Clark R. Chapman, David Morrison, and Ben Zellner in 1975 with three categories: C for dark carbonaceous objects, S for stony (silicaceous) objects, and U for those which did not fit into either C or S. This classification has since been expanded and clarified.

paragraphs: A number of classification schemes are currently in existence , and while they strive to retain some mutual consistency, quite a few asteroids are sorted into different classes depending on the particular scheme. This is due to the use of different criteria for each approach. The two most widely used classifications are described below:

paragraphs: The most widely used taxonomy for over a decade has been that of David J. Tholen, first proposed in 1984. This classification was developed from broad band spectra (between 0.31μm and 1.06μm) obtained during the Eight-Color Asteroid Survey (ECAS) in the 1980s, in combination with albedo measurements . The original formulation was based on 978 asteroids.

paragraphs: This scheme includes 14 types with the majority of asteroids falling into one of three broad categories, and several smaller types. They are, with their largest exemplars:

paragraphs: Objects were sometimes assigned a combined type such as "e.g." CG when their properties were a combination of those typical for several types.

paragraphs: This is a more recent taxonomy introduced by Schelte J. Bus and Richard P. Binzel in 2002, based on the Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey (SMASS) of 1447 asteroids . This survey produced spectra of a far higher resolution than ECAS, and was able to resolve a variety of narrow spectral features. However, a somewhat smaller range of wavelengths (0.44μm to 0.92μm) was observed. Also, albedos were not considered.

paragraphs: While attempting to keep to the Tholen taxonomy as much as possible given the differing data, asteroids were sorted into the 24 types given below. The majority of bodies fall again into the three broad C, S, and X categories, with a few unusual bodies categorized into several smaller types:

paragraphs: A significant number of small asteroids were found to fall in the Q, R, and V types, which were represented by only a single body in the Tholen scheme.

paragraphs: In this Bus and Binzel SMASS scheme only a single type was assigned to any particular asteroid.

paragraphs: A few Near-Earth objects have spectra which differ strongly from any of the SMASS classes. This is presumably because these bodies are much smaller than those detected in the Main Belt, and as such may have younger less-altered surfaces or be composed of a less varied mix of minerals.

paragraphs: These classification schemes are expected to be refined and/or replaced as further research progresses. However, for now, the spectral classification based on the two above coarse resolution spectroscopic surveys from the 1990s is still the standard. Scientists have been unable to agree on a better taxonomic system, largely due to the difficulty of obtaining detailed measurements consistently for a large sample of asteroids (e.g. finer resolution spectra, or non-spectral data such as densities would be very useful).

paragraphs: The three main groupings of asteroids are thought to be related to the three basic meteorite types:


title: Saturn's Gallic group of satellites

paragraphs: The Gallic group is a dynamical grouping of the prograde irregular satellites of Saturn following similar orbits. Their semi-major axes range between 16 and 19 Gm, their inclinations between 35° and 40°, and their eccentricities around 0.53.

paragraphs: The International Astronomical Union (IAU) reserves names taken from Gallic mythology for these moons.

paragraphs: Similar mean orbital elements led the discoverers to postulate a common origin for the group in a break up of a larger body.

paragraphs: The diagram illustrates the Gallic group in relation to other irregular satellites of Saturn. The eccentricity of the orbits is represented by the yellow segments (extending from the pericentre to the apocentre) with the inclination represented on Y axis.

paragraphs: The four members of the group are (in order of increasing distance from Saturn):

paragraphs: The group was later found to be physically homogenous, all satellites displaying "light-red" colour (colour indices B − V = 0.91 and V − R = 0.48)

paragraphs: Remarkably, recent observations revealed that the largest member of the group, Albiorix, displays actually two different colours: one compatible with Eriapo and Tarvos, and another less red. Instead of the common progenitor, it was postulated that Tarvos and Erriapus could be fragments of Albiorix, leaving a large, less red crater.

paragraphs: Such an impact would require a body with the diameter in excess of 1 km and relative velocity close to 5 km/s, resulting in a large crater with the radius of 12 km. Numerous, very large craters observed on Phoebe, prove the existence of such collisions in the Saturnian system's past.


title: Sulawesi

paragraphs: Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes) is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia, and is between Borneo and the Maluku Islands.

paragraphs: Sulawesi is the world's eleventh-largest island, covering an area of 174,600 km. The island is surrounded by Borneo to the west, by the Philippines to the north, by Maluku to the east, and by Flores and Timor to the south. It has a distinctive shape, dominated by four large peninsulas: the Semenanjung Minahassa; the East Peninsula; the South Peninsula; and the South-east Peninsula. The central part of the island is ruggedly mountainous, such that the island's peninsulas have traditionally been remote from each other, with better connections by sea than by road.

paragraphs: These are the ten largest cities in Sulawesi by population in 2010.


title: Flores

paragraphs: Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an island arc. Its area is about . It goes east from the island of Java. There are about 1.5 million people in Flores. The largest town is Maumere.

paragraphs: Flores is east of Sumbawa and Komodo. It is west of Lembata and the Alor Archipelago. To the southeast is Timor. To the south is the Sumba strait. The Flores Sea is to the north.

paragraphs: On December 12 1992, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale occurred. It killed 2,000 people in the town of Maumere.


title: Sumbawa

paragraphs: Sumbawa is an Indonesian island in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain. It has Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba farther to the southeast. It is in the province of West Nusa Tenggara.

paragraphs: Sumbawa is 15,448 km² (three times the size of Lombok). About 1.5 million people live there. It marks the boundary between the islands to the west, which were influenced by religion and culture spreading from India, and the region to the east that was not so influenced.

paragraphs: Sumbawa is inside the Pacific Ring of Fire. It is a volcanic island, including Mount Tambora (8°14’41”S, 117°59’35”E) which exploded in 1815, the most destructive volcanic eruption in modern history (roughly four times larger than the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, between Java and Sumatra, in terms of volume of magma ejected). The eruption killed as many as 92,000. It also apparently destroyed a small culture of Southeast Asian affinity, known to archaeologists as the Tamboran kingdom. It launched 100 cubic kilometers of ash into the upper atmosphere, which caused 1816 to be the "year without a summer."


title: Clothing in Ancient Rome

paragraphs: Clothing in Ancient Rome is most commonly known by the toga and stola.

paragraphs: The cloth was made from wool, linen or hemp. Cotton and silk were also used, more rarely. Leather was also used. The kind of clothing showed status.


title: Tibia (video game)

paragraphs: Tibia is a MMORPG video game released in 1997. Three German science students, Stephan Börzsönyi, Guido Lübke, Ulrich Schlott and Stephan Vogler, thought of the idea for the game. It was made by the German company CipSoft.


title: Royal Library of Turin

paragraphs: The Royal Library of Turin is an important museum in Turin, Italy.

paragraphs: It was started by King Charles Albert of Sardinia in 1839.

paragraphs: Now it has 187,987 print volumes, 4,403 hand-written volumes (manuscripts), 3,000 drawings, 188 books made before 1501 (incunabula), 5,029 books from the sixteenth century, 20,987 pamphlets, and many engravings and maps. These works come mainly from collections from Savoy.

paragraphs: The most important antique is a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. This self-portrait is in an underground vault that is resistant to fires, earthquakes, and even airplane crashes.


title: Tibia

paragraphs: The tibia, also known as the shinbone, or shankbone is the larger and stronger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates. It connects the knee with the ankle bones and is parallel to the fibula. Additionally it is the second largest bone in the body as its supports a significantly large portion of the human bodyweight. The tibia is essential to everyday movement such as standing and walking as well as jumping and running.


title: Chauzon

paragraphs: Chauzon is a commune of the Ardèche "département" in the southern part of France.


title: Chazeaux

paragraphs: Chazeaux is a commune of the Ardèche "département" in the southern part of France.


title: Cheminas

paragraphs: Cheminas is a commune of the Ardèche "département" in the southern part of France.


title: Le Cheylard

paragraphs: Le Cheylard is a commune of the Ardèche "département" in the southern part of France.


title: Theory of Colours

paragraphs: Theory of Colours (original German title, Zur Farbenlehre) is a book by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published in 1810. It contains some of the earliest and most accurate descriptions of phenomena such as coloured shadows, refraction, and chromatic aberration.

paragraphs: Its influence extends primarily to the art world, especially among the Pre-Raphaelites. Turner studied it comprehensively, and referred to it in the titles of several paintings. Wassily Kandinsky considered Goethe's theory "one of the most important works".

paragraphs: Although Goethe's work was never well received by physicists, a number of philosophers and physicists have been known to have concerned themselves with it, including Arthur Schopenhauer, Kurt Gödel, Werner Heisenberg, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Hermann von Helmholtz. Mitchell Feigenbaum even convinced himself that "Goethe had been right about colour!"

paragraphs: In his book, Goethe shows how colour is perceived in a variety of circumstances, and considers Isaac Newton's observations to be special cases. Goethe's concern was not so much with the measurement of colour phenomenon, but with how qualities of colour are perceived. Science has come to understand the distinction between the optical spectrum, as observed by Newton, and the phenomenon of human colour perception as presented by Goethe.

paragraphs: For Goethe, "the highest is to understand that all fact is really theory. "The blue of the sky reveals to us the basic law of color. Search nothing beyond the phenomena, they themselves are the theory."

paragraphs: Goethe's studies of colour began with subjective experiments which examined the effects of turbid media on the perception of light and dark. He observed that lights seen through a turbid medium would appear yellowish, and darkness seen through a turbid medium that had been lightened would appear blue.

paragraphs: Starting from these observations, he began numerous experiments, observing the effects of darkening and lightening on the perception of colour in many different circumstances.

paragraphs: For Goethe, light is ""the simplest most undivided most homogenous being that we know. Confronting it is the darkness"" (Letter to Jacobi). Unlike his contemporaries, Goethe did not see darkness as an absence of light, but rather as polar to and interacting with light.

paragraphs: Based on his experiments with turbid media, Goethe characterized colour as arising from the dynamic interplay of darkness and light. The editor of the Kurschner edition of Goethe's works gives the following analogy:

paragraphs: When viewed through a prism, the orientation of a light-dark boundary with respect to the prism is significant. With white above a dark boundary, we observe the light extending a blue-violet edge into the dark area; whereas dark above a light boundary results in a red-yellow edge extending into the light area.

paragraphs: Goethe was intrigued by this difference. He felt that this arising of colour at light-dark boundaries was fundamental to the creation of the spectrum (which he considered to be a compound phenomenon).

paragraphs: Since the colour phenomenon relies on the adjacency of light and dark, there are two ways to produce a spectrum: with a light beam in a dark room, and with a dark beam (i.e. a shadow) in a light room.

paragraphs: Goethe recorded the sequence of colours projected at various distances from a prism for both cases (see Plate IV, "Theory of Colours"). In both cases, he found that the yellow and blue edges remain closest to the side which is light, and red and violet edges remain closest to the side which is dark. At a certain distance, these edges overlap. When these edges overlap in a light spectrum, green results; when they overlap in a dark spectrum, magenta results.

paragraphs: With a light spectrum, coming out of the prism, one sees a shaft of light surrounded by dark. We find yellow-red colours along the top edge, and blue-violet colours along the bottom edge. The spectrum with green in the middle arises only where the blue-violet edges overlap the yellow-red edges.

paragraphs: With a dark spectrum (i.e. a shadow surrounded by light), we find violet-blue along the top edge, and red-yellow along the bottom edge – where these edges overlap, we find magenta.

paragraphs: Due to their different approaches to a common subject, many misunderstandings have arisen between Newton's mathematical understanding of optics, and Goethe's experiential approach.

paragraphs: Because Newton understands white light to be composed of individual colours, and Goethe sees colour arising from the interaction of light and dark, they come to different conclusions on the question: is the optical spectrum a primary or a compound phenomenon?

paragraphs: For Newton, all the colours already exist in white light, and the prism merely fans them out according to their refrangability. Goethe sought to show that, as a turbid medium, the prism was an integral factor in the arising of colour.

paragraphs: Whereas Newton narrowed the beam of light in order to isolate the phenomenon, Goethe observed that with a wider aperture, there was no spectrum. He saw only reddish-yellow edges and blue-cyan edges with white between them, and the spectrum arose only where these edges came close enough to overlap. For him, the spectrum could be explained by the simpler phenomena of colour arising from the interaction of light and dark edges. Goethe's reification of darkness has caused almost all of modern physics to reject Goethe's theory.

paragraphs: Newton explains the appearance of white with colored edges by saying that due to the differing overall amount of refraction, the rays mix together to create a full white towards the centre, whereas the edges do not benefit from this full mixture and appear with greater red or blue components.


title: Orthodox

paragraphs: Orthodox is a word about beliefs. It is made from two Ancient Greek words, ὀρθός "orthós" „correct, straight“ and δόξα "dóxa" „teaching, worship". Orthodoxy means a teaching that is supposed to be close to the original.


title: Will Rogers

paragraphs: William Penn Adair “Will” Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was a Cherokee-American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer and actor.

paragraphs: Known as Oklahoma's favorite son, Rogers was born to a well off Indian Territory family and learned to ride horses and use a lariat so well that he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for throwing three ropes at once—one around the neck of a horse, another around the horse's rider, and a third around all four legs of the horse. During his life he traveled around the world three times, made 71 movies (50 silent films and 21 "talkies"), wrote more than 4,000 nationally-syndicated newspaper columns, making him a world-famous figure.

paragraphs: By the mid-1930s, Rogers was loved by the American people, and was the highest-paid movie star in Hollywood at the time. During an around-the-world trip with piolt Wiley Post, Rogers died when their small airplane crashed near Barrow, Alaska Territory in 1935.


title: Tetris DX

paragraphs: Tetris DX is a video game released in 1998 for the Game Boy Color console. It is a remake of the Game Boy game "Tetris". The game can save high scores, has two new modes, and three profiles for three separate players.


title: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

paragraphs: In 1994, "" was released. It is the sequel to "Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins".

paragraphs: Before "Super Mario Land", Mario had went away. While he was away, Wario took over Mario's castle. He takes the six golden coins from the castle and scatters them around to all the various worlds. When Mario comes back, he must travel to each world, get the coins back, and then face off against Wario.

paragraphs: This game features a save function and an easy mode. The game is a platforming game, with Mario running around six worlds (areas of the game) The game's power-ups are the Super Mushroom, (makes Mario big), Fire Flower, which lets Mario throw fire balls, the Super Star, and a new item called the Carrot, which turns Mario into a rabbit that can fly.


title: Alkene

paragraphs: In organic chemistry, an alkene, olefin, or olefine is an unsaturated chemical compound containing at least one carbon-to-carbon double bond. The simplest alkenes, with only one double bond, no rings, and no other functional groups, are hydrocarbons with the general formula CH.

paragraphs: Aromatic compounds are often drawn as cyclic alkenes, but their structure and properties are different and they are not considered to be alkenes.

paragraphs: The double bond in the middle makes them more reactive because the molecule is not saturated. An alkene's unsaturation means that it will take the color out of bromine. The names of alkenes always end with -ene.

paragraphs: The following is a list of the first 16 alkenes:

paragraphs: The physical properties of alkenes are comparable with those of alkanes. The main differences between the two are that the acidity levels of alkenes are much higher than the ones in alkanes. The physical state depends on molecular mass (gases from ethene to butene - liquids from pentene onwards). The simplest alkenes, ethene, propene and butene are gases. Linear alkenes of approximately five to sixteen carbons are liquids, and higher alkenes are waxy solids.


title: Afrodisiac

paragraphs: Afrodisiac is the fourth studio album by American R&B/pop singer Brandy Norwood, released by Atlantic Records on June 28, 2004 outside North America and on June 29, 2004 (see 2004 in music) in Canada and the United States. It was mostly produced by Timbaland, with more production from Warryn Campbell, Organized Noise, Walter Millsap, Ron Feemster, Big Chuck, and Kanye West. A lot of critics liked the album, but it did not sell a lot of copies. It has sold less copies than any other album she has made so far.


title: Speaker for the Dead

paragraphs: Speaker for the Dead (1986) is a science fiction book by Orson Scott Card. It is a sequel to the novel "Ender's Game", and takes place around the year 5135, some 3,000 years after the events in "Ender's Game". Because of space travel, the main character Ender is only about 35 years old.

paragraphs: Like "Ender's Game", the book won the Hugo Award (1987) and Nebula Award (1986) for outstanding science fiction novel, making Card the first writer to win both of these awards two times in a row. "Speaker for the Dead" was updated in 1991. It was followed by "Xenocide" and "Children of the Mind".


title: Xenocide

paragraphs: Xenocide (1991) is a science fiction book that is third in the "Ender's Game" series. It was written by Orson Scott Card and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1992. It was followed by "Children of the Mind".


title: Children of the Mind

paragraphs: Children of the Mind (1996) is the fourth, and currently the last, book of Orson Scott Card's popular "Ender's Game" series, a series of science fiction novels that focus on the character Ender Wiggin. Although Card has written some additional novels that take place with in the Ender Saga, they take place in the middle of the storyline and therefore are not sequals to "Children of The Mind".


title: Ender's Shadow

paragraphs: Ender's Shadow (1999) is a science fiction book that was written by Orson Scott Card. It is a parallel novel, which means it has a story that has some of the events in "Ender's Game" from the point of view of another character named Bean. This book was first titled "Urchin", but it was changed before release. "Ender's Shadow" is the first of a series that includes "Shadow of the Hegemon", "Shadow Puppets", and "Shadow of the Giant".


title: Shadow of the Hegemon

paragraphs: Shadow of the Hegemon (2001) is the second book in the "Ender's Shadow" series (also called the "Bean Quartet") by Orson Scott Card. It is also the sixth book in the Ender's Game series. It is told mostly from the point of view of Bean, a mostly minor character in the first novel "Ender's Game".


title: Bernard Haitink

paragraphs: Bernard Haitink CH KBE, (b. March 4, 1929, Amsterdam) is a famous Dutch conductor.

paragraphs: Haitink studied music at the conservatoire in Amsterdam, the town where he was born. He started his career playing the violin in orchestras. Then he learned to conduct.

paragraphs: He became second conductor of the Netherlands Radio Union Orchestra in 1955. He then became chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in 1957. On 7 November 1956 the famous conductor Carlo Maria Giulini was not able to conduct a concert of the Concertgebouw Orchestra so the young Bernard Haitink conducted instead. This helped him to become famous. Three years later he became a conductor of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and he stayed with them for a quarter of a century. In 1963 he became the main conductor of that orchestra, and in 1999 they gave him the title of honorary conductor.

paragraphs: Haitink has also had jobs outside the Netherlands. He was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1967 to 1979, music director at Glyndebourne Opera from 1978 to 1988 and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1987 to 2002. He also held posts with the Dresden Staatskapelle and Boston Symphony Orchestra, and conducted many other great orchestras of the world.

paragraphs: In 1977, he was given an honorary knighthood in the Order of the British Empire

paragraphs: Haitink has conducted music by many composers from different periods. He has recorded many great works for Phillips, Decca and EMI. In 2004 his recording of Janáček’s opera "Jenufa" was given the Grammy Award for the best opera recording.

paragraphs: Haitink has five children from his first marriage. He lives in Switzerland with his fourth wife, who used to be a viola player in the orchestra of the Royal Opera House.


title: Shadow Puppets

paragraphs: Shadow Puppets (2002), by Orson Scott Card, is the sequel to "Shadow of the Hegemon" and the third book in the "Ender's Shadow" series (often called the "Bean Quartet"). It was first going to be called "Shadow of Death".


title: Libération

paragraphs: Libération (also called Libé) is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris in 1973 by Jean-Paul Sartre.


title: Justice

paragraphs: Justice is a concept on ethics and law that means that people behave in a way that is fair, equal and balanced for everyone.

paragraphs: Governments, and especially the police and courts, see that the laws are obeyed in most societies. Because they can punish a person for not obeying the law, most people agree that laws should be fair and the same for everyone. But governments sometimes make laws that many people believe are not just. If many people believe this, people may lose respect for the law and may even disobey it. However, in democratic societies, the law itself has ways to change or get rid of these unjust laws.


title: Shadow of the Giant

paragraphs: Shadow of the Giant (2005) is the fourth book in Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Shadow" series (sometimes called the "Bean Quartet").


title: Metropolitan Tabernacle

paragraphs: The Metropolitan Tabernacle is a large Reformed Baptist church in the Elephant and Castle in London. It was Charles Spurgeon's church for many years.


title: The Icemark Chronicles

paragraphs: The Icemark Chronicles is a series of books consisting of "The Cry of the Icemark", followed by "Blade of Fire", and "Last Battle of the Icemark". The books were written by Stuart Hill from Leicester. Fox 2000 Pictures have bought the right to create a movie based on the books. The first is planned for 2008.


title: Songmaster

paragraphs: Songmaster (1980) is a science fiction book by Orson Scott Card. The story of the "Songmaster" occurs in a future human empire, and follows Ansset, a young boy whose singing voice has the power of making people's feelings stronger. This makes him both a possible healer and destroyer. He is trained in the art of singing so perfectly that his songs can show ideas and feelings better than words. This book was based on Card's short story "Mikal's Songbird".

paragraphs: One reviewer said that "Songmaster" was "Quite possibly Card's best published work, ever." The publisher described the story as "...a haunting story of power and love—the tale of the man who would destroy everything he loves to preserve humanity's peace, and the boy who might just sing the world away".

paragraphs: As with some other Card novels ("Ender's Game", for example), this book started out as a shorter story "Mikal's Songbird", which was a Nebula Award finalist in 1978. "Songmaster" got the Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award in 1981.


title: College football

paragraphs: College football is American football played by teams of students from different American universities, colleges, and military academies. Play between colleges first made American football popular in the United States. College football is still popular today among students, alumni, and other fans of the sport.

paragraphs: American Football is variation of Rugby introduced by Walter Camp.

paragraphs: The very first match between two college teams using new "American" variation of Rugby was played between Princeton and Rutgers University in 1869. First season of college football had only two matches played. The game became popular quickly in coming years.


title: Eye for Eye

paragraphs: Eye for Eye (1987) is a science fiction novella (or short book) by Orson Scott Card. It first began in the March 1987 issue of "Asimov's Science Fiction" magazine. In 1990 it appeared in Card’s short story collection "Maps in a Mirror" and also as a Tor double novel, with "The Tunesmith" by Lloyd Biggle, Jr.. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1988.


title: Seventh Son (book)

paragraphs: Seventh Son (1987) is an alternate history fantasy book written by Orson Scott Card. It is the first book in Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker series about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son. "Seventh Son" was nominated for both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award. The idea that the seventh son of a seventh son may have special powers is common in folklore around the world.

paragraphs: Seventh sons have strong "knacks" (magical powers or skills), and seventh sons of seventh sons are both very rare and powerful. In fact, young Alvin appears to be the only one in the world. His powers make him the target of The Unmaker. After he recognizes Alvin's powers as those of a Maker, he attempts to kill Alvin.


title: Locus Award

paragraphs: The Locus Awards were started in 1971 and are given to winners of "Locus Magazine's" yearly readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are given at a yearly banquet. Unusually, the publishers of winning works are given a certificate.

paragraphs: The first Locus Award was given in 1971 for works published in 1970.

paragraphs: The following writers have won the most awards in the "fiction" sections as of July 2005:


title: Nebula Award

paragraphs: The Nebula Award is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction written in the United States.

paragraphs: The fiction Nebulas are awarded in the following categories:


title: Allergen

paragraphs: An allergen is something that causes allergies in humans.

paragraphs: Dust, pollen and pet dander are all common allergens. It is possible to be allergic to anything from chlorine to perfume. Food allergies are not as common, but some foods, like peanuts, nuts, seafood and shellfish cause serious allergies in lots of people.


title: Big Six

paragraphs:
The term Big Six could mean:
The Big Six is the name of:
Bix Six is a nickname for:


title: Kurt Masur

paragraphs: Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. He conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras. He especially likes conducting German Romantic music.

paragraphs: Masur was born in Brieg, which was then part of Germany but is now called Brzeg and lies in Poland. He studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig.

paragraphs: His first important conducting job was with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he worked from 1955 to 1958 and again from 1967 to 1972. He also worked with the Komische Oper of East Berlin. From 1970 to 1996 he was the Kapellmeister (musical director) of the famous Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.

paragraphs: Dresden and Leipzig both lie in what used to be the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). For years Masur worked faithfully for the communist leaders of that country. When the political situation started to change in 1989, he helped to keep the demonstrations peaceful by talking to the politicians and the people and stopping them from fighting.

paragraphs: In 1991, Masur became music director of the New York Philharmonic. He stayed there for over a decade, helping to make them one of the world’s finest orchestras.

paragraphs: From 2000 to 2007, Masur was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2002 to 2008, Masur was music director of the Orchestre National de France.

paragraphs: On his 80th birthday (18 July 2007), Masur conducted musicians from both these orchestras at a Proms concert in London, conducting music by Tchaikovsky and Bruckner.

paragraphs: Masur enjoyed working with young musicians, conducting youth orchestras and giving masterclasses. He has given lessons on the art of conducting Beethoven’s music.

paragraphs: Masur has been married three times. His first wife, with whom he had a daughter, died in 1972 in a car accident. Masur himself was badly injured in that accident. Until his death, he lived with his third wife, Tomoko. They have a son, Ken-David, who has also become a conductor.

paragraphs: On 26 April 2012 Masur fell off the podium while he was conducting the National Orchestra of France at a concert in Paris. He was taken to hospital to recover from his injuries.

paragraphs: Masur died of Parkinson's disease at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut on December 19, 2015 at the age of 88.


title: Province of Lecco

paragraphs: Lecco is a province in the region of Lombardy in italy.


title: Province of Lodi

paragraphs: Lodi is a province in the region of Lombardy in Italy.


title: Province of Mantua

paragraphs: Mantua (or ) is a province in the region of Lombardy in Italy.


title: 2008 Sichuan earthquake

paragraphs: The 2008 Sichuan earthquake () was a big earthquake in China on May 12, 2008. Thousands of people were killed, thousands more people were missing and thousands were hurt. Millions of people were left homeless after their houses fell down. The earthquake could be felt 58 of kilometres away.

paragraphs: The earthquake was measured at 8.0M and 8.3 M by the China Seismological Bureau.

paragraphs: The earthquake happened at 2:d, at a depth of . The earthquake was felt in Beijing away and in Shanghai away. Tall office buildings in those cities shook with the tremor. The earthquake was also felt in nearby countries.

paragraphs: It is believed that 69,227 people died, 374,176 people were hurt, and 18,222 people listed as missing.(July 2008 numbers) The earthquake left about 4.8 million people homeless, though the number could be as high as 11 million. Approximately 15 million people lived in the affected area. It was the deadliest and strongest earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed at least 240,000 people.

paragraphs: 52 big aftershocks, ranging in size from 4.4 to 6.0, were recorded within 72 hours of the main tremor.

paragraphs: Scientists worked out that the earth moved up to along the Longmen Shan Fault. This fault is about long and deep. The earthquake made the ground on the surface move more than . Japanese seismologist, Yuji Yagi, said that the earthquake took place in two parts. The fault tore in two sections, the first one moving about . In the second part of the quake the fault moved another .

paragraphs: The earthquake lasted about two minutes. It was powerful because it did not happen very deep under the ground. Many people were killed because there were so many people living above the epicenter. Teruyuki Kato, a seismologist at the University of Tokyo, said that the shock waves traveled a long way. The waves did not lose their power because of the hardness of the ground in central China.

paragraphs: A list of places that felt the earthquake::

paragraphs: The quake happened because a part of the earth's surface, called the "Indian plate", is slowly moving north. It is moving about every year. It crashes into the "Eurasian plate". This has pushed up the ground and made the Himalaya mountains. Some of the earth's crust gets pushed into Sichuan and southern China. This pushing has caused many earthquakes in China. The epicentre was in the mountains on the eastern edge of the Qing-Tibet Plateau. This is on the north west edge of the Sichuan Basin. The earthquake was caused by movement on a north east fault. This is the Longmen Shan fault, that runs along the edge of the basin.

paragraphs: Office buildings in Shanghai, including the Jin Mao Tower and the Hong Kong New World Tower, were evacuated (all the people were made to leave). Emergency services in Chengdu could not answer all the phone calls . Workers at a Ford plant in Sichuan were evacuated for about 10 minutes. The Chengdu airport was shut down. One SilkAir flight was sent to land in nearby Kunming instead. Cathay Pacific flights from Hong Kong to London were stopped. Chengdu airport reopened as the airport was used for relief operations.

paragraphs: Reporters in Chengdu said they saw cracks in walls of some buildings. In Beijing many office buildings were evacuated. This included the building with the media offices for the 2008 Summer Olympics. None of the Olympic venues were damaged. A train with 13 petrol tanks came of the railway tracks in Huixian County, Gansu Province, and caught on fire. The earthquake had twisted the rails.

paragraphs: All of the highways into Wenchuan, and others across Sichuan province, were damaged. This slowed down arrival of the rescue troops. In Beichuan county, 80% of the buildings collapsed. In Shifang, 2 chemical factories were damaged and leaked 80 tons of liquid ammonia. The Dujiangyan Irrigation System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site was damaged. This is an ancient water system which is still in use. The famous Fish Mouth was cracked.

paragraphs: Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange stopped trading in companies based in south west China. The price of copper rose because production stopped. Oil prices dropped because people thought China would not need as much oil.

paragraphs: Half of the wireless communications were lost in the Sichuan province. China Mobile had lost more than 2,300 base stations due to lack of power and too many phone calls. China Unicom's service in Wenchuan and nearby areas were cut off, with more than 700 phone towers out of action.

paragraphs: Two pandas at a Giant Panda reserve were injured. Two others went missing after the quake.

paragraphs: The Zipingpu hydro power station, east of the epicenter, was destroyed. The dam wall cracked, and the buildings collapsed. The Tulong dam was in danger of bursting. About 2,000 troops were sent to Zipingpu, to try and release the pressure through spillway. In total, 391 dams, were damaged by the quake.

paragraphs: By May 18, 2008, 21 new lakes had formed in the Sichuan. This was because the earthquake blocked rivers. Villages had to be evacuated because of the flooding.

paragraphs: The Chinese government said the quake killed 69,181 people, including 68,636 in Sichuan province. There are 18,498 people listed as missing; 374,171 people were injured. This includes 158 workers who were killed in landslides as they tried to fix roads.

paragraphs: One rescue team found only 2,300 people still alive in Yingxiu. Before the quake there had been about 9,000 people there. In Beichuan county, 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed, 10,000 injured and 80% of the buildings were destroyed. Eight schools fell down in Dujiangyan.

paragraphs: A 56-year-old Taiwanese tourist was killed in Dujiangyan. He was trying to rescue 11 tourists trapped on the Lingyanshan Ropeway. Because of the earthquake, they had been trapped inside the cable cars.

paragraphs: Thousands of school children died because of badly built schools.

paragraphs: least 1,700 people. At least 7,000 school buildings collapsed. Another 700 students were buried in a school in Hanwang. At least 600 students and staff died at Juyuan Elementary School. Up to 1,300 children and teachers died at Beichuan Middle School.

paragraphs: Because of China's one-child policy, many families lost their only child. Officials in Sichuan province have removed the limit of one child for families whose only child was killed or badly injured. So-called "illegal children" under 18 years of age may be made a legal replacement for their dead brother or sister. This may be too late for some, as many of the parents are too old or unable to have children again.

paragraphs: On May 29, 2008, officials began looking at the ruins of thousands of schools that collapsed. They were searching for clues about why they fell down. Thousands of parents have said the government and builders did not build schools properly. Many other nearby buildings were not damaged. Parents of children killed in the schools say they have yet to receive any reports. Local officials told them not to protest but the parents demonstrated and demanded an investigation. The government censors have stopped stories of badly built schools from being published in the media. There has been an incident where police drove away the protestors.

paragraphs: Liu Shaokun (刘绍坤), a Sichuan school teacher, was arrested on June 25, 2008. He had been spreading "rumors and destroying social order" about the Sichuan Earthquake. Liu had gone to the Shifang (什邡) area, taken photos of collapsed school buildings, and put them online. He had also said he was angry at “the shoddy tofu buildings” in a media interview. He has been ordered to serve one year of re-education through labor (劳动教养) (RTL). Because of complaints from the other countries, Liu has been released to serve his RTL sentence outside of the labor camp.

paragraphs: Safety checks are to be carried out at schools across China. The National Development and Reform Commission are making new laws to improve building standards for primary and middle schools in rural areas.

paragraphs: Insurance companies have put their losses at US$1 billion from the earthquake. The total cost of damage could be more than US$20 billion. Chengdu, a city of 4.5 million people, had a value of about US$115 billion. Only a small part was insured.

paragraphs: The damage to buildings in the earthquake was because of Chinese building designs. China did not have earthquake building rules until after the big Tangshan earthquake in 1976. Older buildings, built before 1976, were not designed to stay up in an earthquake. News reports showed that the poorer, rural villages were hardest hit.

paragraphs: China's President Hu Jintao said that help and assistance would be quick. Premier Wen Jiabao, immediately flew to the earthquake area to plan the rescue work.

paragraphs: The China's Health Ministry sent 10 emergency medical teams. The Chengdu Military Area Command sent 50,000 troops and police to help in Wenchuan County. A relief team of 184 people left Beijing:

paragraphs: Because of the mountains, the soldiers found it very difficult to get help to the rural areas.

paragraphs: Many rescue teams, including the Taipei Fire Department from Taiwan, said they were ready to help. It was difficult to move people into the hardest hit areas closest to the epicenter. It was not possible to reach the area because roads were damaged and blocked by landslides. People needed tents, medical supplies, drinking water and food. .

paragraphs: The small village of Sier could only be reached by walking. Landslides were a danger to a search and rescue group of 80 men. Each man carried about of relief supplies. The village is above sea level. The extreme mountain conditions meant they could not use helicopters. Over 300 Tibetan villagers were stranded in the ruined village without food and water. Commander Yang Wenyao's rescue group arrived after walking for 5 days, and helped the injured and stranded villagers down the mountain

paragraphs: Heavy rain and landslides made rescue efforts difficult. 20 helicopters were used on the first day to deliver food, water, emergency aid and carry injured people. The next day, 15,600 troops from the Chengdu Military Region joined the rescue force. Within 2 days telephones in the major town of Wenchuan were being fixed. 100 soldiers, along with relief supplies, parachuted into inaccessible Maoxian County, northeast of Wenchuan.

paragraphs: Three days after the quake, China's Premiere Wen Jiabao ordered another 90 helicopters. A total of 150 aircraft were used in relief work. This is China's largest ever non-combat airlifting operation.

paragraphs: After the earthquake, donations were made by people from all over China. People gave money at schools, banks, and gas stations. People also donated blood, resulting in long line-ups in most major Chinese cities.

paragraphs: China stated it would gratefully accept international help to cope with the quake. The Tzu Chi Foundation arrived from Taiwan on May 13. This was the first force from outside the People's Republic of China to join the rescue effort. 100 tons of relief supplies donated by the Tzu Chi Foundation and the Red Cross Society of Taiwan arrived in Chengdu by May 15.

paragraphs: Francis Marcus of the International Federation of the Red Cross praised China's rescue effort as "swift and very efficient". He said the size of the disaster was so big that "we can't expect that the government can do everything and handle every aspect of the needs". The "Economist" said that China reacted to the disaster "rapidly and with uncharacteristic openness". This was different to Myanmar's secretive response to Cyclone Nargis, which struck the country 10 days before the earthquake.

paragraphs: On May 16, rescue groups from South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Russia and Taiwan arrived to join the rescue effort. The United States shared some of its satellite images of the quake-stricken areas with the Chinese government. The US sent two U.S. Air Force C-17's carrying supplies, which included tents and generators.

paragraphs: The Internet has been used for passing information to help rescue and recovery in China. For example, the official Xinhua set up an online rescue request center in order to find the problems in disaster recovery. When rescue helicopters had trouble landing near the epicenter in Wenchuan, a student proposed a new landing spot online. Volunteers have also set up several websites to help store contact information for victims.

paragraphs: The State Council declared 3 days of national mourning (sadness) for the quake victims starting on May 19, 2008. The Chinese National Flag was raised to half-mast. It is the first time China had national mourning days for something other than the death of a state leader. Many people say it the biggest display of mourning since the death of Mao At 14:28 CST on May 19, 2008, one week after the earthquake, the Chinese public held a moment of silence. People stood silent for 3 minutes. Air defense, police and fire sirens, and the horns of vehicles, vessels and trains sounded. Cars on Beijing's roads stopped. After the silence, in Tiananmen Square, crowds began calling out "Long Live China".

paragraphs: The Ningbo Organizing Committee of Beijing Olympic torch relay stopped the relay for 3 days.

paragraphs: Chinese websites changed their front pages to black and white. Sina.com and Sohu, changed their homepage to news items only, and removed all advertisements. Chinese video sharing websites, youku and Tudou, had a black background and only showed videos about the earthquake. Other entertainment websites, including gaming sites, were blacked out. Other websites had links to earthquake donations.

paragraphs: Chinese TV stations made their logo in gray. They showed non-stop earthquake footage from CCTV-1. Even pay television channels, such as Channel V China, also showed earthquake footage. Some TV stations stopped showing commercials.

paragraphs: On May 18, CCTV-1 had a special 4 hour TV show called "The Giving of Love" (爱的奉献). Many famous people from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan were on the show. People watching gave about 1.5 billion Chinese Yuan ($US 208 million) for the victims. The entertainers sang "Tomorrow Will be Better", followed by Faye Wong singing "Wishing We Last Forever".


title: Alvin Journeyman

paragraphs: Alvin Journeyman (1995) is an alternate history/fantasy book that was written by Orson Scott Card. It is the fourth book in Card's "The Tales of Alvin Maker" series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son. Being a seventh son of a seventh son gives him magical powers.


title: Province of Milan

paragraphs: Milan (or ) is a province in the region of Lombardy in Italy.


title: Red Prophet

paragraphs: Red Prophet (1988) is an alternate history/fantasy book by Orson Scott Card. It is the second book in Card's "The Tales of Alvin Maker" series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son. "Red Prophet" was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1988 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1989.

paragraphs: The second book in Card's "The Tales of Alvin Maker" series, "Red Prophet" is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son (which gives him magical powers), Lolla-Wossiky, Tenskwa-Tawa, and Ta-Kumsaw, Lolla-Wossiky's older brother.

paragraphs: While it is a separate story, the book continues and develops many of the themes shown in the first book. When Alvin Miller and his older brother Measure go to the place of his birth (where Alvin is supposed to become apprenticed to the Hattrack River blacksmith) the two brothers are captured by 'Reds' (Native Americans) and brought into a plot with possibilities of affecting the entire future of America.


title: Province of Pavia

paragraphs: Pavia is a province in the region of Lombardy in Italy.


title: Province of Sondrio

paragraphs: Sondrio is a province in the region of Lombardy in Italy.


title: Province of Varese

paragraphs: Varese is a province in the region of Lombardy in Italy.


title: Prentice Alvin

paragraphs: Prentice Alvin (1989) is an alternate history/fantasy book that was written by Orson Scott Card. It is the third book in Card's "The Tales of Alvin Maker" series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son (this gives him magical powers). "Prentice Alvin" was considered for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1989 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1990.

paragraphs: After being released from his time with Ta-Kumsaw, an Indian leader who taught Alvin the ways of Indian people, he sets out to start his apprenticeship as a Smith in the town where he was born.

paragraphs: While there he meets a young half-black boy by the name of Arthur Stuart, the son of a slave and a slave-owner who has been taken in by the owners of the town's guesthouse.

paragraphs: Another new friend comes in the form of Miss Peggy Larner, who he later finds out that she is the "torch" who helped him to be born so many years ago, and with whom he has been linked to since that day.

paragraphs: Eventually, Alvin is forced into helping Arthur to escape from some slave-hunters, which requires him to change Arthur's DNA to prevent the hunters' knacks (powers) from finging him. Alvin also creates a plow of living gold, which is bestowed with magic, as his journeyman work to release himself from his apprenticeship as a Smith (and also as a Maker).

paragraphs: The story ends with Alvin and Arthur leaving the town and going back to Alvin's home in the west.


title: George Winston

paragraphs: George Winston is a pianist from Michigan in the United States of America. He was born there in 1949 but moved to Montana as a child. Most of his music is about the four seasons and landscapes in the United States of America.


title: Octane

paragraphs: Octane is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an alkane with eight carbon atoms. It is commonly used in fuel. It is the most important part of gasoline, because it is the part that lets out most of the energy that comes from gasoline when it is burned. A "high octane" fuel will be better than a "low octane" fuel.


title: William Herschel

paragraphs: Sir Frederick William Herschel FRS (15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-British astronomer, the greatest observational astronomer of the day. He is best known for discovering Uranus in 1781. He also discovered infrared radiation, binary stars, and published important catalogues of stars and nebulae. Herschel built many telescopes, including the largest in the world at that time.

paragraphs: Herschel was also a musician in his younger days. He played the cello, oboe, harpsichord and organ. He composed numerous musical works, including 24 symphonies and many concertos, as well as some church music.

paragraphs: Herschel was born in the Electorate of Hanover, one of ten children. His father was of Jewish descent, and an oboist in the Hannover Military Band. In 1755 the Hannoverian Guards regiment, in whose band Wilhelm and his brother Jakob were engaged as oboists, was ordered to England. At the time the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover were united under George II. The next year the brothers resigned from the Guards band, and moved to London to avoid the Seven Years' War. Wilhelm, nineteen years old at this time, learnt the English language quickly. In England he went by the English version of his name, Frederick William Herschel.

paragraphs: Herschel's music led him to an interest in mathematics and lenses. His interest in astronomy grew stronger after 1773 and he made the acquaintance of the English Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne. He started building his own reflecting telescopes and would spend up to 16 hours a day grinding and polishing the metal primary mirrors.

paragraphs: When he discovered Uranus, Herschel was not looking for a planet but doing a survey of stars; it was an accidental discovery.

paragraphs: It was the first discovery of a new planet since ancient times. The first five, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, are visible with the naked eye, and have been known since early history. Uranus was the first discovered by telescope. Actually, Uranus had been seen before by other observers with telescopes, but had been marked on charts as a fixed star. Herschel found it moved against the background of stars, and at first thought it was a comet. His measurements were used by the French mathematician Pierre Laplace, who worked out its orbit, and proved it was a planet.

paragraphs: Herschel called the new planet the 'Georgian star' (Georgium sidus) after King George III, which brought him favour; the name did not stick, however. In France, where reference to the British king was to be avoided if possible, the planet was known as 'Herschel' until the name 'Uranus' was universally adopted. The same year, Herschel was awarded the Copley Medal and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1782, he was appointed "The King’s Astronomer". He got a generous award from the king, which enabled him to stop work as a musician, and devote all his time to astronomy. The award was a life pension to Herschel of £200 a year, and £50 a year to Caroline. Work on the 40-foot telescope was also supported by a grant from the king.

paragraphs: During the course of his career, he constructed more than four hundred telescopes. He was helped in this by his brother Alexander who, like Caroline, spent all his time working as Herschel's assistant.

paragraphs: The largest and most famous of his telescopes was a reflecting telescope with a main mirror and a 40-foot (12 m) focal length. This was the world's largest telescope from 1789 until it was dismantled (taken apart) 50 years later. The mirror was made of a hard metal alloy of tin and copper, called 'speculum', which he polished by hand.

paragraphs: On 28 August 1789, his first night of observation using this instrument, he discovered a new moon of Saturn. A second moon followed within the first month of observation. However, the 40-foot telescope was awkward to use, and most of his observations were done with a smaller reflector.

paragraphs: He continued his work as a telescope maker, selling many of them to other astronomers. Together with his pension from the king, the money helped support him and his two siblings in their work.

paragraphs: Herschel used to work with his sister Caroline Herschel. She recorded his observations as he made them. In 1783 he gave Caroline a telescope, and she began to make astronomical discoveries in her own right, particularly comets.

paragraphs: Caroline discovered eight comets, three nebulae and, at her brother's suggestion, updated and corrected Flamsteed's work on the position of stars. This was published as the "British Catalogue of Stars". She was honoured by the Royal Astronomical Society for this work. Caroline also continued to serve as his assistant.

paragraphs: Herschel was the first to find out that some line-of-sight apparent double stars were actually true binary star systems where the two stars revolved around each other. This was the first evidence that Newton's laws of gravitation apply outside the Solar System. Herschel discovered 850 binary stars, and worked up the first catalogue of binary stars. His son John Herschel discovered many more, and extended the catalogue.

paragraphs: Herschel studied the changes in star position relative to the Solar System. Changes do occur, and quite rapidly for some nearby stars. Also, the whole Solar System moves, and this was discovered by Herschel.

paragraphs: From studying the proper motion of stars, he was the first to realize that the solar system is moving through space. He worked out the approximate direction of that movement. He also studied the structure of the Milky Way and concluded that it was in the shape of a disk. This was also a really significant discovery.

paragraphs: On 11 February 1800, Herschel was testing filters for the sun so he could observe sun spots. When using a red filter he found there was a lot of heat produced.

paragraphs: Herschel discovered infrared radiation by passing sunlight through a prism and holding a thermometer just beyond the red end of the visible spectrum. This thermometer was meant to be a control to measure the ambient air temperature in the room. He was shocked when it showed a higher temperature than the visible spectrum. Further experimentation led to Herschel's conclusion that there must be an invisible form of light beyond the visible spectrum.

paragraphs: William Herschel and his wife Mary had one child, John. In 1816, William was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order by the Prince Regent.

paragraphs: Herschel died at Observatory House, Windsor Road, Slough, Buckinghamshire, and is buried at nearby St Laurence's Church, Upton. He died in his 84th year, which is the same number of years Uranus takes to orbit the Sun. His son John Herschel also became a famous astronomer. His sister Caroline returned to Hanover, Germany after the death of her brother. She died on 9 January 1848 at the age of 97.

paragraphs: His house at 19 New King Street in Bath, Somerset where he made many telescopes and first observed Uranus, is now home to the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.


title: Caiman

paragraphs: The Caiman is a subfamily of the Alligators. The alligators are divided into True alligators and caimans. Caimans and true alligators develop slower than the rest of the crocodiles. Their lifestyle is also slower. Because of this, they grow older than the other crocodiles. In total, there are 6 species of caimans. All of them live in South America, the Spectacled Caiman can also be found in Central America.


title: Cluj County

paragraphs: Cluj is a county (judeţ) of Romania, in Transylvania. The capital of Cluj County is Cluj-Napoca. About 755,000 people live in Cluj County.

paragraphs: Cluj County has 5 municipalities, 1 town and 74 communes.


title: Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana

paragraphs: Tangipahoa Parish is a parish in the U.S. State of Louisiana. The parish was put together from parts of 4 other parishes in 1869. Before it was a parish, many slaves were forced to work on sugar plantations in the area. After the Civil War, the white people continued to be very violent towards the black people they had enslaved. All across the south, there were lynchings against black people. Tangipahoa Parish had more lynchings than any nearby parish.


title: Quetzalcoatl

paragraphs: Quetzalcóatl (pronounced: ketsalˈkoːaːtɬ in Nahuatl) is an Aztec sky and creator god. The name is a combination of "quetzalli", a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and , which means serpent; it is therefore usually translated as "feathered serpent" or "plumed serpent". Quetzalcoatl was often pictured as a snake with feathers, although he was sometimes shown in the form of a human. Quetzalcoatl was associated with the planet Venus, as well as being the patron god of the Aztec priesthood, of learning and of knowledge.

paragraphs: The name Quetzalcoatl was also taken on by several ancient Aztec leaders. Many events and characteristics attributed to Quetzalcoatl are therefore exceedingly difficult to separate from the political leaders who took his name. To name one leader Herman Cortes who sailed to the Aztecs to conquer and to steal their gold. Today Quetzalcoatl is arguably the best known Aztec deity but there were several other important Aztec gods too: Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli.

paragraphs: Other Mesoamerican cultures have worshipped a feathered serpent god as well: At Teotihuacan the several monumental structures have images of a feathered serpent (See the so-called "Citadel and Temple of Quetzalcoatl"). One can see similar images at Chichén Itza and Tula. This has led scholars to conclude that the deity called Quetzalcoatl in the Nahuatl language was among the most important deities of Mesoamerica.

paragraphs: There are many legends associated with Quetzalcoatl. One legend said that the world had been created four times before, but each time it was destroyed again. Then Quetzalcoatl collected human bones from the underworld and added his own blood to bring them to life. He was therefore considered the creator of the humans living at the time of the Aztec Empire.

paragraphs: Another legend said that Quetzalcoatl had been banished, but that he would return from the east just before the end of the world. This legend has been used to support the idea that the Aztec leader Moctezuma thought that the Spanish "conquistador" Cortés was Quetzalcoatl returning from exile. This would also explain why Moctezuma treated the Spanish so well. However, most historians now think that this idea was invented by the Spanish, and that Moctezuma didn't really think that Cortés was a god.


title: Heartfire

paragraphs: Heartfire (1998) is an alternate history/fantasy book that was written by Orson Scott Card. It is the fifth book in Card's "The Tales of Alvin Maker" series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son (which gives him magical powers).


title: Pattern matching

paragraphs: Pattern matching is a family of tools for finding similar objects in different sources. In image processing, the pattern matching is used for locating a small image (called model) in a bigger one (called target image). For searching text, regular expressions are commonly used.

paragraphs: The simple way is to move the model in the target image and measure a similarity in each position. The position with highest value of the similarity will be accepted as result. The normalized correlation is used as a common metric for similarity.

paragraphs: The common way to reduce an amount of calculations is using the image pyramid. When using the image pyramid, the search is started on the reduced target image, and results are improved in the next, more detailed one. This process is similar to the human vision.


title: The Crystal City

paragraphs: The Crystal City (2003) is an alternate history/fantasy book that is written by Orson Scott Card. It is the sixth book in Card's "The Tales of Alvin Maker" series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son (which gives him magical powers).


title: The Tales of Alvin Maker

paragraphs: The Tales of Alvin Maker is a series of books by Orson Scott Card. They are about the experiences of a young man named Alvin Miller who finds out that he powers for making and changing things around him. It takes place in an alternate history of the American frontier in the early 1800s. It is based on early American folklore and superstition.


title: Atlanta Falcons

paragraphs: The Atlanta Falcons are an American football team in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the NFC South of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Falcons joined the NFL as a 1966 expansion team. The Falcon's quarterback is Matt Ryan. Their uniform is a red jersey with white pants. An old nickname for the Falcons is Red Birds. In their 42 years in the NFL, the Falcons have a record of 262-386-6 with division championships in 1980, 1998, 2004, 2010 and 2012. They have played twice in the Super Bowl. This was in 1999 in Miami in which they lost to the Denver Broncos and 2017 against the New England Patriots.

paragraphs: Their current stadium since 2017 is the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1992 through 2016, the Georgia Dome was their home stadium for 25 seasons before it was destroyed and replaced.


title: New Orleans Saints

paragraphs: The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The Saints play in the Southern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL).

paragraphs: In 1980, the Saints became the first ever NFL team to finish with 1 win and 15 losses.

paragraphs: After a history of bad luck, the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV in the 2009 season off an interception from Peyton Manning by cornerback Tracy Porter. That was also meaningful because only about four years earlier the city was badly hurt when Hurricane Katrina came through in 2005.

paragraphs: That was later tarnished as in 2012 they and defesnive coodinator Gregg Williams were exposed to have used a bounty stystem, in which players were paid to deliver especially hard/illegal hits to the opponent. Brees denied knowing of the system. The Saints soon recovered and won three straight NFC South division titles.

paragraphs: The team name was inspired by a popular Mardi Gras song called "When the Saints Go Marching In".

paragraphs: The Saints have several famous players including their starting quarterback Drew Brees. They also have running back Alvin Kamara, wide receiver Michael Thomas and defensive end Cameron Jordan.


title: Los Angeles Rams

paragraphs: The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team in Los Angeles, California, United States. Originally known as the Cleveland Rams, and then later as the St. Louis Rams, they are currently in the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team has won two NFL Championships and one Super Bowl. Their starting quarterback is Jared Goff. They will play at the under construction SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

paragraphs: The Rams played in Cleveland, Ohio from 1936 to 1945, before moving to Los Angeles, California in 1946. The Rams stayed in Los Angeles until the 1995 season, when the team moved to St. Louis, Missouri and played there until 2015. In 2015, the team wanted to move back to Los Angeles. Stan Kroenke, the team’s current owner, met with other NFL owners to approve the move. The owners approved the Rams' move to Los Angeles with a 30–2 margin. The Rams returned to Los Angeles at the beginning of the 2016 season. The Rams have won the Super Bowl title in 1999, when they were established in St. Louis.

paragraphs: On May 31, 2009, the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" reported that the Rams were up for sale. The sale price was not known, but "Forbes" magazine's estimated that the Rams' value was $929 million.


title: Gary Lightbody

paragraphs: Gary Lightbody was born on 15 June 1976 in Northern Ireland. He is the lead singer of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol. He first started Snow Patrol under the name "Polar Bears" while at the University of Dundee, Scotland, in 1994.


title: Analog Science Fiction and Fact

paragraphs: Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2007, it is the longest currently published magazine of that genre. First published in 1930 in the United States with the name Astounding Stories as a pulp magazine, its name has been changed several times, such as Astounding Science-Fiction in 1938, and Analog Science Fact & Fiction in 1960.


title: Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom

paragraphs: Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom are as follows:

paragraphs: Numbers beginning 01 or 02 are normal phone numbers for home and business telephone lines.

paragraphs: These numbers are always split into two parts:

paragraphs: Numbers beginning with 03 are for businesses, government and other organisations that need a number not linked to any single part of the country. The law says they must always cost the same to call as normal 01 and 02 phone numbers from fixed telephones and from mobiles and be included in all call package bundles.

paragraphs: These numbers are for mobile phones and similar mobile services:

paragraphs: These are numbers that are charged at a different price to normal phone calls.

paragraphs: These are more expensive revenue-share numbers with a Service Charge of up to £1.50 per minute. These numbers are used to pay for services, for recorded information, for dating and for voting in competitions. The caller also pays an Access Charge to their own phone network and this varies from network to network.

paragraphs: National Health Service (non-emergency): 111

paragraphs: Current time: 123 (not available from some mobiles)

paragraphs: Telephone numbers in British Overseas Territories do not come under the UK telephone numbering plan. These calls are treated as international calls. Below are the access codes for the overseas territories:


title: Telnet

paragraphs: Telnet is a common network protocol used on the Internet and also inside a LAN (local network). It was developed in 1969 beginning with RFC 15 and is now defined as IETF STD 8, which is one of the first Internet standards. However, due to its lack of security, Telnet has been replaced with Secure Shell (SSH) on most servers.

paragraphs: Telnet is one of the simplest ways to exchange data between two computers. It allows two computers anywhere on a computer network, including the worldwide Internet, to exchange text and other data in real time. It is still widely used for testing computer programs, and is simple enough that it is included on most computers today. But it allows many people to eavesdrop on the data exchange, which is why it has mostly been replaced by SSH.


title: Ofcom

paragraphs: Ofcom is the United Kingdom's regulatory body for telecommunications. This means they are responsible for making sure that the law is followed by television and radio broadcasters.


title: Manuel Marulanda

paragraphs: Pedro Antonio Marín, (1930-2008) known by his pseudonym, Manuel Marulanda Vélez, and nicknamed by his comrades "Tirofijo" (), apparently because of a reputed ability to accurately aim firearms. He was the main leader of the FARC-EP (""Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo""). He was born on May 13, 1930 (a date that has been disputed), in a coffee-growing region of west-central Colombia in the Quindío Department, to a peasant family politically aligned with the Liberal Party during La Violencia.

paragraphs: Marulanda himself changed his political and ideological inclinations to the Communist Party (PCC) sometime during the period of "La Violencia" (roughly 1948 to 1958) that followed the assassination of the Liberal Party's leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán.

paragraphs: He has been considered to be seriously ill, and his death has been reported several times throughout his long career as a guerrilla, but the status of his health remains uncertain.

paragraphs: In March 2006, Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General of the United States, announced in conjunction with DEA and Department of Justice officials that the State Department had placed a $5 million dollar reward on Tirofijo's head, or for information leading to his capture.

paragraphs: According to a Brazilian journal, he seems to have sufffered from some form of cancer. There also seem to have been disputes on leadership (of the FARC) in January 2008.

paragraphs: His death has been reported several times; He seems to have died of a heart attack in May 2008 This has now been confirmed.

paragraphs: A Colombian newspaper published an interview with the defense minister of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos on the 24th of May, 2008. In it, Santos said, that Colombian intelligence agents thought, that Manuel Marulanda had died on the 26th of March 2008, either of natural causes, or through a heart attack. FARC commander ‘Timochenko’ confirmed on May 25 Telesur that ‘Manuel Marulanda’ died of a heart attack, as announced earlier by the Colombian government and the Colombian armed forces

paragraphs: This information was confirmed on the 25th of May: Marulanda had died of a heart attack.


title: David Livingstone

paragraphs: David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 4 May 1873) was a Scottish medical missionary with the London Missionary Society. He wanted to be a missionary, but he could not get many people to convert to Christian beliefs, so instead, he explored and charted much of southern and eastern Africa. He gave the Victoria Falls their name. He named them after his queen, Queen Victoria.

paragraphs: As an explorer, Livingstone had some advantages. He usually travelled lightly, and he was able to reassure chiefs that he was not a threat. Other expeditions had many soldiers armed with rifles, and even more people hired to carry supplies. They were often seen as military incursions or were mistaken for slave-raiding parties. Livingstone travelled on most of his journeys with a few servants and porters, bartering for supplies along the way. He only had a couple of guns for protection. He preached a Christian message but did not force it on unwilling ears. He understood the ways of local chiefs, and got permission to go through their territory. He was often hospitably received and aided, even by Mwata Kazembe.

paragraphs: Livingstone believed in trade, and wanted to see Christian missions established in central Africa. His motto on the base of the statue dedicated to him at Victoria Falls, was "Christianity, Commerce and Civilization". The reason he emphasised these three was that they would form an alternative to the slave trade, which was still rampant in Africa at that time. It would give the Africans some dignity when they met Europeans. The abolition of the African slave trade was his main hope. Around this time he believed the key to achieving these goals was the navigation of the Zambezi River as a Christian commercial highway into the interior. He returned to Britain to try to get support for his ideas, and to publish a book on his travels. The book brought him fame as one of the leading explorers of the age.

paragraphs: Livingstone died near a lake, in what is now Zambia.


title: Cincinnati Cyclones

paragraphs: The Cincinnati Cyclones are a ice hockey team in the ECHL (East Coast Hockey League). They used to be in the IHL (International Hockey League). The team plays in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cyclones won a championship (the Kelly Cup championship) in the 2007–2008 season. This was the first time they had won a championship in 18 years.


title: Timor

paragraphs: Timor is an island at the south end of the Malay Archipelago, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara.

paragraphs: The island's surface is 11,883 square miles (30,777 km²). The name is a variant of "timur", Malay for “east”; it is so called because it is at the east end of a chain of islands.


title: Biggar, South Lanarkshire

paragraphs: Biggar is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is a royal burgh, which means a king or queeen thought it was a very good town when Scotland still had its own royal family. There are many museums in Biggar.


title: South Lanarkshire

paragraphs: South Lanarkshire is a county in the central part of Scotland. It was formerly called Clydesdale. The Strathclyde police currently governs the county.


title: North Lanarkshire

paragraphs: North Lanarkshire is a county in the central part of Scotland. It is small compared to nearby South Lanarkshire. The area was formed in 1996.


title: Motherwell

paragraphs: Motherwell is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is an important town as many people have to come through it to get to places such as Lanark, Hamilton and Glasgow. It has a big train station with four platforms, the biggest in North Lanarkshire. The station can take you to places such as London. Motherwell is next to Wishaw.

paragraphs: Motherwell has a football team, Motherwell F.C.. They play at Fir Park.


title: Stirling engine

paragraphs: A Stirling engine is a kind of heat engine that converts heat into useful mechanical energy by the movement of a piston inside a cylinder within the engine. Unlike other commonly found heat engines such as the internal combustion engine used in cars and the steam engine used on railways, it re-uses the same gas for each stroke of the piston so there is no noisy exhaust. The same gas is repeatedly heated and cooled within the engine’s cylinder.

paragraphs: To run it needs a supply of heat to heat its hot parts. This can come from a fire, but also from the sun’s rays, from hot rocks near a volcano or from nuclear energy. It also has cold parts which cool the gas inside it and these are kept cold by a stream of air or water flowing over them.

paragraphs: It was invented by a Scottish minister, Reverend Dr. Robert Stirling in 1816.


title: Wishaw

paragraphs: Wishaw is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is bordered by Motherwell and Carluke, and is split into several areas such as Netherton, Craigneuk, Newmains, Cambusnethan and Pather.

paragraphs: One of only three hospitals in Lanarkshire is in Wishaw. Wishaw General Hospital is at the bottom of Wishaw, easy to find as it is on the main A721 road.

paragraphs: The origin of the name is uncertain. One suggestion is that it is from the Scots word for "Wicket gate in the wood", and that it used to be called "Wygateshaw". Another theory is that it was originally "Viashaw", meaning way or road through the wood. Yet another theory is that the name derives from "Wee Shaw", meaning small wood.

paragraphs: In November 1996, the world's worst recorded outbreak of "E. coli" occurred in the town, in which 20 people died and around 200 were infected.

paragraphs: Wishaw has had a number of famous residents, including:


title: FARC

paragraphs: FARC (or FARC-EP) is the abbreviation of Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo. This is the name of a guerrilla organisation operating in Colombia. The group says it has Marxist- Leninist roots. When the name of the group is translated into English, it usually reads "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army".

paragraphs: The government of Colombia, the United States, Canada and the European Union<ref name="EU: Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001">Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 EUR-Lex - 32004D0306 - EN. Accessed 20 February 2008.</ref> have classified the organisation as a terrorist group. Other countries, such as Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Venezuela do not see the group as terrorist. They instead refer to the group as “insurgents”. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, for example, publicly rejected this classification of "terrorists" in January of 2008. He called on Colombia and other world governments to recognize the guerrillas as a "belligerent force". Chávez said that if they were recognised that way, they would then be obliged to stop kidnappings and terror acts in order to respect the Geneva Conventions.

paragraphs: The FARC was established in the 1960s as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. The group started as a guerrilla movement. It became involved with trading illegal drugs during the 1980s. This caused an official separation from the Communist Party and the formation of a political structure it calls the Clandestine Colombian Communist Party.

paragraphs: The FARC-EP still claims to be a guerrilla movement. According to the Colombian government, FARC has an estimated 6,000-8,000 members in 2008, down from 16,000 in 2001. Other estimates are higher, including up to 18,000 guerrillas, with the FARC themselves claiming in a 2007 interview that they have not been weakened.

paragraphs: The FARC-EP is present in 15-20 percent of Colombia’s territory. Most of them are in southeastern jungles and in plains at the base of the Andes mountains.

paragraphs: In June 2016, the FARC signed a ceasefire accord with the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos in Havana. This accord was seen as a historic step to ending the war that has gone on for fifty years. On 25 August 2016, the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, announced that four years of negotiation had secured a peace deal with FARC and that a national referendum would take place on 2 October. The referendum failed with 50.24% voting against. The Colombian government and the FARC on 24 November signed a revised peace deal, which the Colombian Congress approved on 30 November.

paragraphs: On 27 June 2017, FARC ceased to be an armed group, disarming itself and handing over its weapons to the United Nations.


title: Lanarkshire

paragraphs: Lanarkshire ("Siorrachd Lannraig" in Gaelic), also called the County of Lanark, is a county of Scotland.


title: Atoll

paragraphs: An atoll is a kind of island. It is made when a coral reef forms around an island that sinks over many years. In the end, the land is gone, and only the coral reef continues to grow until it becomes an atoll, an island shaped like a doughnut.

paragraphs: Charles Darwin, who is most famous for his theory of evolution, was the first person to find out how atolls form. He said that volcanoes in the ocean sometimes wear away or sink deeper. Coral growing on a volcano likes to be near the surface, and it keeps growing to stay there.

paragraphs: Most atolls are in the warm parts of the Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean.


title: Province of Genoa

paragraphs: Genoa (or ) is a province in the region of Liguria in Italy.


title: Province of Imperia

paragraphs: Imperia is a province in the region of Liguria in Italy.


title: Province of La Spezia

paragraphs: La Spezia is a province in the region of Liguria in Italy.


title: Province of Savona

paragraphs: Savona is a province in the region of Liguria in Italy.


title: Evelyn Waugh

paragraphs: Evelyn Waugh (pronounce like the word "war") (28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer. He was born in Hampstead and raised in Golders Green, both in north-west London.

paragraphs: Waugh is well known for his satirical novels which include "Decline and Fall", "Vile Bodies", "Scoop", "A Handful of Dust" and "The Loved One", and especially for "Brideshead Revisited" and the "Sword of Honour" trilogy. When he was writing these novels he used experiences that he had in his own life. He often described British aristocracy and high society, making satirical fun of them. However, in his real life he was also attracted to them.

paragraphs: Waugh was a convert to Catholicism. His travel writings and his diaries and letters have also been published.

paragraphs: He was the father of writer Auberon Waugh (1939-2001).


title: Dima Bilan

paragraphs: Dima Bilan (; born Viktor Belan on December 24, 1981) is a popular Russian singer. Bilan was in the 2006 Eurovision contest. He sang the song "Never Let You Go." He finished in second place. In the 2008 contest, he came back with song "Believe" and he won with 272 points.

paragraphs: In February 2007 Bilan started to record his first international album in English in Los Angeles, Miami and in Philadelphia in collaboration with producer Jim Beanz and Ryan Tedder. One of the new tracks will be a duet with one of Timbaland's most successful artists, Nelly Furtado.


title: Thankerton

paragraphs: Thankerton is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, close to Biggar and Lanark. It is at the bottom of Tinto, a hill.


title: Brideshead Revisited

paragraphs: Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh. It was first published in 1945. The novel deals with subjects such as religion, especially Catholicism, and the love of God. It tells the story of a family called Flyte. They are an aristocratic family. The story is told by a narrator called Charles Ryder.

paragraphs: "Brideshead Revisited" was made into a television serial for ITV, produced by Granada Television, in 1981. A movie of the book was made in 2008. The movie makes several changes to the story of the book. The movie is mostly about the relationship between Charles and Julia.

paragraphs: Charles Ryder, who tells the story, is a student at the University of Oxford. He makes friends with Sebastian Flyte, the younger son of an aristocratic family. Sebastian, who comes from a very rich family, takes Charles to his family's home, Brideshead Castle. Charles meets his family, including Sebastian's sister, Julia.

paragraphs: During the holiday Charles goes back to his home, where he lives with his father. During the holiday Sebastian has a small injury and Charles goes back to him. Sebastian and Charles spend the rest of the summer together.

paragraphs: Sebastian's family is Catholic. His father, Lord Marchmain, had been an Anglican, but he had converted to Roman Catholicism, his wife's religion. The family talk a lot about religion which surprises Charles, who had always thought that Christianity was not an important subject. Lady Marchmain, Sebastian's mother, is a very strict Catholic. She tries to control others by making them feel guilty. Sebastian finds comfort by drinking alcohol. He often gets drunk, and over a period of two years he has less and less to do with the Flyte family.

paragraphs: However, Charles is fated to meet the Flyte family again, and he falls in love with Julia, who by that time is married to a rich Canadian, Rex Mottram.

paragraphs: Charles's own wife has been unfaithful, so he plans to divorce her so that he and Julia can marry. However, Julia decides for religious reasons that it would not be right for her to marry Charles. As Lord Marchmain lay dying, he had received the sacrament of Extreme Unction. This act had also influenced Charles, who had been "in search of love in those days" when he first met Sebastian, "that low door in the wall...which opened on an enclosed and enchanted garden,", an important metaphor in the book.

paragraphs: Charles became an architect. During the Second World War becomes an army officer. By chance he is billeted at Brideshead. It seems to him that builders do a useful job, even if there are problems sometimes.


title: Wilt Chamberlain

paragraphs: Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain (August 21 1936–October 12 1999) was an American basketball player. Chamberlain played in the NBA during the 1960s, and many people think he is one of the best players in basketball history. At 7 feet 1 inch, he was the tallest and heaviest player in the league for most of his career, and he was one of the most famous people in the game for many years. He is the first and only basketball player to score 100 points in an NBA game. Chamberlain led the league several times in points, accuracy, rebounds and minutes. He also won 4 NBA Most Valuable Player awards and was placed in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

paragraphs: He won two NBA championships: the first in 1967, with the Philadelphia 76ers, and the second in 1972, with the Los Angeles Lakers. Chamberlain also played for several seasons with the Philadelphia Warriors and toured with the Harlem Globetrotters. In 1999, he died from congestive heart failure.


title: Kirkfieldbank

paragraphs: Kirkfieldbank is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is close to Lanark. They, along with New Lanark, participate in the Lanark Lanimers. They have one primary school, Kirkfieldbank primary.