title: History of Poland

paragraphs: The History of Poland is the history of rather different territories during the past millennium. At one time, in the 16th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the second largest state in Europe, after Russia. At other times there was no separate Polish state at all. Poland got back its independence in 1918, after more than a century of rule by nearby empires, but its borders shifted again after the Second World War.

paragraphs: Poland began to form into a country around the middle of the 10th century in the Piast dynasty. In 966, Prince Mieszko I got himself and the whole Polish nation christened.

paragraphs: In the 12th century Poland broke into some smaller states, which were later attacked by Mongol armies in 1241. In 1320 Władysław I became the King of the repaired Poland. His son Casimir III repaired the Polish economy, built new castles and won the war against the Ruthenian dukedom.

paragraphs: The Black Death, which affected many parts of Europe from 1347 to 1351, did not come to Poland.

paragraphs: Beginning with the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila, the Jagiellon dynasty (1385–1569) formed the Polish-Lithuanian Union. The partnership proved beneficial for the Poles and Lithuanians, who played a dominant role in one of the most powerful empires in Europe for the next three centuries. The "Nihil novi" act adopted by the Polish Sejm (parliament) in 1505, transferred most of the legislative power from the Monarch to the Sejm. This event marked the beginning of the period known as "Nobility Commonwealth" when the State was ruled by the "free and equal" Polish nobility. The Lublin Union of 1569, established the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as an influential player in European politics and a vital cultural entity.

paragraphs: In the 17th century Sweden attacked all of Poland (this was called “the Deluge”). Many wars against the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Cossacks, Transylvania and Brandenburg-Prussia ended with the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. During the following 80 years, the government and natione were weaker, making Poland dependent on Russia. Russian tsars took advantage of this by offering money to traitors, who would block new ideas and solutions. Russia, Prussia, and Austria broke Poland into three pieces in 1772, 1793 and 1795, which dissolved the country. Polish people did not like the new kings, and often rebelled.

paragraphs: In 1791, in an attempt of reform the Sejm of Poland and Lithuania accepted the Constitution of May 3 which was the first modern constitution in Europe and the second (after the United States) on Earth. But that did not help against the partitions of Poland in 1793 and 1795.

paragraphs: Napoleon made another Polish state, “the Dutchy of Warsaw”, but after the Napoleonic Wars, Poland was split again by the countries at the Congress of Vienna. The eastern part was ruled by the Russian tsar.

paragraphs: "See also: Polish victims of The Holocaust"

paragraphs: During World War I all Western Allies agreed to save Poland. Soon after the surrender of Germany in November 1918, Poland became the Second Polish Republic ("II Rzeczpospolita Polska"). It got its freedom after several military conflicts; the largest was in 1919-1921 Polish-Soviet War.

paragraphs: On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany attacked Poland, and the Soviet Union attacked on September 17. Warsaw was defeated on September 28, and was split up into two pieces, one owned by Nazi Germany, the other by the Soviet Union. The eastern part of the German zone was turned into the German Government area.

paragraphs: Out of all the countries that were in the war, Poland lost the highest amount of its people: over 6 million died, half of them Polish Jews. Poland also gave the most troops, after the US, the British and the Soviets, to ultimately defeat Nazi Germany. At the war's end, Poland's borders were moved west, pushing the east border to the Curzon line. The west border was moved to the Oder-Neisse line. The new Poland became 20% smaller by 77,500 square kilometeres (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced millions of people to move: Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews.

paragraphs: After these events, Poland became, for the first time, a real country. There are still many Polish in the neighboring countries Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania, as well as in other countries. The most Poles outside of Poland are in the United States, especially in Chicago.

paragraphs: After the Second World War, the Soviet Union put a Communist government in Poland, and the country was named the People's Republic of Poland. In 1989 Solidarity - a political group led by Lech Wałęsa - helped defeat the communist government in Poland.

paragraphs: During the early 1990s the country turned its economy into one of the most solid in Central Europe. There were many improvements in human rights, such as free speech, democracy, etc. In 1991 Poland became a member of the Visegrad Group and joined NATO in 1999 also with the Czech Republic and Hungary. Polish voters then voted to join the European Union in a vote in June 2003. The country joined the EU on May 1, 2004.


title: Polish-Lithuanian Union

paragraphs: The term "Polish-Lithuanian union" means a development from personal union between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — the "Republic of the Two Nations" — in 1569 and eventually to the creation of a short-lived state in 1791.

paragraphs: The most important acts in the process of union were:


title: Personal union

paragraphs: A personal union is a relationship of two or more sovereign states, which, through law, share the same person as their head of state.

paragraphs: Personal unions can begin for very different reasons. The case that a princess who is already married to a king becomes pregnant, and their child inherits the crown of both countries is a rather common cause. But a personal union sometimes was seen as a means against uprisings if a state wants an annexation of an other state. These unions can be written down in a constitution that clearly expresses that both states shall share the same person as head of state, but that is not always the case. Under these circumstances a personal union can easily be broken.

paragraphs: Personal union with the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908, when it annexed the Congo Free State.

paragraphs: Personal union with Belgium from 1885 to 1908, when Belgium annexed it.

paragraphs: The actual situation was slightly more complex with the Dutch provinces Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel entering into personal union in 1689 and Drenthe in 1696. Only 2 Dutch provinces never entered into the personal union: Friesland and Groningen.


title: Scordatura

paragraphs: Scordatura in music is a technique in which players of string instruments tune their strings to different notes from a normal tuning. The word “scordatura” is an Italian word which means “mistuning”. It was used for lutes, guitars, viols and instruments of the violin family.

paragraphs: Using a scordatura tuning made the instrument sound different. For example: a string tuned to a slightly higher note will sound louder and brighter because it is tighter. Care has to be taken not to tune it too high otherwise it will break. Scordatura also made it possible to play unusual chords or combinations of notes in string-crossing (when the bow moves quickly from one string to another).

paragraphs: When a composer writes for an instrument using scordatura tuning he shows at the beginning of the music what notes the strings must be tuned to. The music is then written, not as it sounds, but so that the player can read it as if the instrument were being played normally, e.g. if a G string is tuned up to G# and the composer wants a G# he simply writes a G, but it will sound G#.

paragraphs: Scordatura tuning was mainly popular in the Baroque period from 1600-1750. Composers such as Heinrich Biber often used it. He composed a group of sonatas for violin and accompaniment called the "Rosary Sonatas". In each sonata the violin is tuned in a different way. In Sonata XI (called "Resurrection") he even asks the violinist to make the two middle strings cross over between the bridge and the tailpiece so that the violin is tuned to two Gs and two Ds.

paragraphs: In the classical period a famous example of scordatura is Mozart’s, "Sinfonia Concertante" for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in which he asks the viola to tune all four strings a semitone higher than usual. This makes it sound louder and brighter so that it matches the brightness of the violin, especially as the violin is playing with normal tuning in the key of E flat, which sounds a soft key (because the key of Eflat hardly uses any “open” strings).

paragraphs: In the late 19th century and 20th century there are examples of composers using scordatura. In his Fourth Symphony Mahler asks the violin soloist (the leader of the orchestra) to play on a violin tuned to Gsharp-D-A-Eflat. The music is describing a poor beggar playing a violin. The violin soloist needs a second instrument for this, so that he can swap quickly back to a normal violin.

paragraphs: Saint-Saëns asks the solo violin in "Danse Macabre" to tune the E string to Eflat to make it sound like the devil.

paragraphs: Zoltán Kodály wrote a sonata in B minor for solo cello, for which the cellist has to tune down the two lower strings to F# and B instead of G and C. This helps to make a very dark, rich sound when playing B minor chords.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

paragraphs: The 2028 Summer Olympics, which will be officially known as the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad, is a sporting event that will happen from July 21 to August 6 in Los Angeles, California, United States.

paragraphs: Applying to host the games was supposed to begin in 2019. The host city was supposed to be announced in 2021. In July 2017, The International Olympic Committee decided to award 2024 and 2028 Games at the same time. On July 31, 2017, an agreement was announced that Los Angeles would apply to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. The agreement made Paris, France host the 2024 Summer Olympics. On September 13, 2017, the hosts for both Olympic games was announced at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru.


title: Etruscan origins

paragraphs: There are three main hypotheses as to the origins of the Etruscan civilization. Autochthonous development "in situ" out of the Villanovan culture, as claimed by the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus who described the Etruscans as indigenous people who had always lived in Etruria. A migration from the Aegean sea, as claimed by a couple of Greek historians: Herodotus, who described them as a group of immigrants from Lydia in Anatolia, and Hellanicus of Lesbos who claimed that the Tyrrhenians were the Pelasgians originally from Thessaly, Greece The third hypotheses is reported by Livy and Pliny the Elder, the Etruscans as related to Rhaetian people to the north and other populations living in the Alps.

paragraphs: German linguist Helmut Rix proposed the Tyrsenian language family, with Etruscan related to the Rhaetic language spoken in the Alps north of Etruria, and to the Lemnian language spoken in Lemons. In particular the Lemnian language could have arrived in the Aegean Sea during the Late Bronze Age, when Mycenaean rulers recruited groups of mercenaries from Sicily, Sardinia and various parts of the Italian peninsula.

paragraphs: The latest mtDNA study (2013) suggests that the Etruscans appear to fall very close to a Neolithic population from Central Europe and to other Tuscan populations.


title: Etruscan language

paragraphs: The Etruscan language was spoken and written by the Etruscans in the ancient area of Etruria (what is now Tuscany, western Umbria and northern Latium) and in parts of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna (where the Gauls took the place of the Etruscans), in Italy.

paragraphs: Inscriptions have been found in northwestern and west-central Italy in the region that still has a name that came from the Etruscans, Tuscany (from Latin "tusc" "Etruscans") and in Latium, north of Rome, in Umbria west of the Tiber, around Capua in Campania and in the Po Valley to the north of Etruria. That is probably the area in Italy in which the language was once spoken.


title: Albanian language

paragraphs: The Albanian language ("") is an Indo-European language. It is spoken mostly in Albania (3,500,000), Kosovo and 500,000 Republic of North Macedonia.


title: Trialeti culture

paragraphs: The Trialeti culture was seen around the 2nd millennium B.C. In the late 3rd millennium B.C. settlements of the Kura-Araxes culture began to be replaced by early Trialeti culture sites. The Trialeti culture was the second culture to appear in the Caucasus, after the Kura-Araxes culture. The Trialeti culture shows close ties with the highly-developed cultures of the ancient world, particularly with the Aegean.


title: Kura-Araxes culture

paragraphs: The Kura-Araxes culture or the Early trans-Caucasian culture, a people that lived from 3400 BC until about 2000 BC. The earliest evidence for this culture is found on the Ararat plain; thence it spread to Georgia by 3000 B.C.

paragraphs: The land they lived in are now Armenia, Georgia , Azerbaijan and the Caucasus.


title: Biodiesel

paragraphs: Biodiesel is a type of fuel prepared by changing vegetable oil, animal fat, special types of algae and possibly even sewage. It is considered a type of renewable energy, since it all comes from living plants and animals. It can be used to power an engine, usually for vehicles, including airplanes. It replaces diesel that comes from petroleum, a type of fossil fuel.

paragraphs: Biofuel prepared from biomass is different since it does not start from oil and uses a different chemical process to make the fuel.

paragraphs: Biodiesel is much cleaner and has less pollution than diesel fuel made from fossil fuels. It also acts as a solvent (like soap). In fact, it cleans the engine so much that it might pull out old dirt in the engine and clog up the filters. After the filters are replaced then it is fine.

paragraphs: In the United States and several other places, new laws say that regular diesel fuel must be low in sulfur. This gets rid of pollution, especially acid rain, but it also makes the fuel less slippery. Adding in biodiesel helps keep the fuel slippery and the engine running smoothly.

paragraphs: Most biodiesel comes from plants. This means a lot of farmland is used to grow plants for fuel instead of for feeding animals and people. There are scientists, chemical engineers and agricultural engineers who are studying ways to use algae and saltwater plants to make oil. This would not take away farmland that is used to grow food. Also, some biodiesel comes from waste oil and waste animal fat, that would otherwise be thrown away. NASA is testing biodiesel made from chicken fat to fuel their airplanes.

paragraphs: All diesel fuel has a problem starting an engine in cold weather, but biodiesel has more of a problem. This can be solved by mixing biodiesel and regular diesel at the right mixture. Or by heating the fuel before it is used by the engine. There might be a heater built into the vehicle for this.

paragraphs: Most biodiesel is made from oilseed. Oilseed is any type of seed that has enough oil in it to be useful in making vegetable oil.

paragraphs: In Brazil, castor beans are the best plants to make biodiesel.

paragraphs: In Germany biodiesel is usually made from rapeseeds.

paragraphs: Soybeans and sunflower seeds are commonly used in the United States.

paragraphs: In Thailand, the raw material will most likely come from palm oil, coconut oil, Jatropha oil, and animal fat.

paragraphs: Jatropha trees also grow in India and Africa.

paragraphs: Some people make their own biodiesel by converting old oil that is used in restaurants to fry foods. The exhaust smells a bit like french fries.

paragraphs: Someday algae might be used to make more biodiesel than is made today with vegetable oil. Algae can be grown in places that food cannot be grown in, so it would not take food away from people. But right now it is still too expensive, but scientists are looking at ways to make the process better.


title: Nimrod

paragraphs: Nimrod (; , "an-Namrūd") according to the Bible was the son of Cush, grandson of Ham and a "mighty hunter before the Lord" who built cities at Akkad, Erech (Uruk), and Babel. According to many legends, and as told by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, he became an evil tyrant who forced all his subjects to bake bricks for the Tower of Babel.


title: Julie Kavner

paragraphs: Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950 in Los Angeles, California) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress and comedienne, best known for playing Brenda Morgenstern on "Rhoda" in the 1970s, as an actress in several Woody Allen-directed films and playing the voice of Marge Simpson on the animated television show "The Simpsons". She also voices Marge's sisters Patty and Selma.


title: Age of Empires

paragraphs: Age of Empires is a series of real-time strategy computer games made by Ensemble studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios.

paragraphs: Three games in the main series are: "Age of Empires", "Age of Empires II" and "Age of Empires III". There is also a spinoff game called "Age of Mythology". It is similar to "Age of Empires", but players can also control monsters like the cyclops. After Ensemble Studios had closed down, another game called "Age of Empires Online" was made. It is "free to play", which means that you do not have to pay money to play the game, but you can buy things in the game if you want to.

paragraphs: "Age of Empires I" (2018) and "Age of Empires II" (2019), twenty years later, come in "Definitive Editions" with better graphics et cetera. "Definitive Edition" of "Age of Empires III" is in development.

paragraphs: In "Age of Empires", the player usually guides a small tribe of people to build a city. The people, called villagers, can hunt deer, collect berries, and farm for food. They can chop trees for wood. They can collect gold and stone at mines in the ground. The villagers build buildings to make a large city.

paragraphs: There are enemy cities that the player must destroy. When the player has enough food, wood, gold, and stone, the player can train soldiers to fight the enemy. At the beginning of the game, the player only gets weak soldiers, but the player can get better and better units as time goes on.

paragraphs: Each game takes place over four or five time periods called ages. Each players starts in the first age and wants to get to the last age. Each game has a different set of ages:

paragraphs: When a player has enough food and gold to advance to the next age, the player must wait. After about a minute, the city reaches the next age. The player's buildings look different and the player can do new things to improve his town and soldiers. New, powerful soldiers such as archers (people that shoot with a bow and arrow), cavalry (warriors that ride horses), catapults (machines that throw stones), artillery (big guns that shoot cannon balls) can be used. The player can build walls and towers to defend the city. The player can even build many different Wonders that give different effects.

paragraphs: All of the "Age of Empires" games are usually good because the game makes sure no type of soldier is too powerful. There is always a way to kill a large group of enemy units. For example, if a group of twenty archers is attacking, the player should fight back with cavalry or artillery. Many people call this balance, because it is impossible for one unit to get too powerful.

paragraphs: The "Age of Empires" games have many different groups of people to choose from. Each group has a different set of soldiers and abilities.

paragraphs: There are four common ways to play "Age of Empires":

paragraphs: "Age of Empires" can be played alone (against computer players) or online against human players. "Age of Empires" can be played online using official multiplayer platforms or programs like GameRanger and Voobly.


title: Bridge (instrument)

paragraphs: A bridge on a string instrument is something that stands on the body of the instrument and supports the strings. It sends the vibrations of the strings to the main part of the instrument so that the sound can be heard.

paragraphs: The bridge of an instrument in the violin family (violin, viola, cello and double bass) can be seen very clearly. It is a piece of hardwood which is shaped like a bridge. The top is like an arch in shape because the player needs to be able to play on one string at a time. The feet of the bridge have to be shaped to fit on the front of the instrument (the “belly”) which is curved. The bridge is not fixed to the instrument: it is only held up because of the tension (tightness) of the strings. The soundpost, a small wooden column inside the body, is also held up by tension of the strings and the bridge.

paragraphs: The part of the string which vibrates and gives the note is the part between the bridge and the top of the fingerboard (or the part between the bridge and where the player puts his finger). The other end of the string is fixed to a tailpiece.

paragraphs: On a banjo the bridge works in the same way, but on a guitar the bridge is fixed to the instrument and the strings are fixed to the bridge.

paragraphs: There are even instruments with moveable bridges such as the Japanese koto which has a separate bridge for each string.


title: Brazilwood

paragraphs: Brazilwood or Pau-Brasil, sometimes known as Pernambuco Wood ("Caesalpina echinata") is a Brazilian tree. It has a dense, orange-red wood (which takes a high shine), and it is the most frequently used wood for making bows for string instruments from the violin family. The wood also gives a red dye called brazilin.

paragraphs: There are actually several trees in this family which have very similar properties, including the development of red dye. So the term "brazilwood" is sometimes used for these other species as well. The tree was exploited for their dye in the 18th century, and is now lost over much of its original range.

paragraphs: When Pedro Álvares Cabral explored Brazil, he named it after the brazilwood that he found there.


title: Chav

paragraphs: Chav (male) and chavette (female) are mainly negative slang words in the United Kingdom for a subcultural stereotype of young underclass white people. Chav: "a young working class person who dresses in casual sports clothing".

paragraphs: They may wear fashion based on American hip-hop such as fake gold jewellery and designer clothing, combined with elements of working class British street fashion. Many are either school age or late teens/early twenties and may come from a family culture of social security claimants ("SS claimants"). The term first appeared in dictionaries in 2005. They tend to listen to R&B, hip hop, UK garage, grime and reggae and drum & bass music.

paragraphs: "Chav" has started to mean a variety of things. Most chavs do not wear Burberry – this happened mostly in the '90s and early '00s. Chavs are stereotypically narrow-minded and more often than not, below average intelligence. Chavs also tend to use slang language to appear "cooler" and more "edgy".

paragraphs: Chavs may be associated with criminality, including: assault, mugging, robbery, burglary and car crime. Anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) were introduced to tackle such persistent offending.

paragraphs: In 2011, Owen Jones published his first book, "Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class". Jones says in it that 'chav' is a word used to make working-class people seem less human.


title: Council house

paragraphs: The council house is a form of public housing found in Ireland and the United Kingdom, sometimes called social housing in modern times. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to help the local population. As of 2005, approximately 20% of the country's housing is owned by local councils or by housing associations. The largest council estate in the country (and one of the largest in the world) is Becontree, Dagenham, with a population of over 100,000. Building started in the 1920s and took nearly 20 years to finish.

paragraphs: The Republic of Ireland has a similar public housing system, Local Authority Accommodation.


title: Midnight Madness

paragraphs: Midnight Madness is a 1980 comedy movie from Walt Disney Productions, starring David Naughton. The movie is about a group of college students who participate in an all night puzzle solving race. It is Michael J. Fox's first film role.

paragraphs: The movie did not do well in theaters and many critics did not like it. However, the movie has gained a cult following, and has been the inspiration for many real-life puzzle and alternate reality games.


title: Barvas

paragraphs: Barvas or Barabhas is a village on the Isle of Lewis. It is said to have the biggest percentage of Gaelic speakers in Scotland, (74.7% here speak Gaelic.)


title: Lewis

paragraphs: Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Western Isles (or Outer Hebrides) of Scotland.

paragraphs: Its biggest town is called Stornoway, which has a population of over 5000. Most people on the island speak Gaelic. On the island, there is a town called Barvas, which is the place which has the biggest percentage of Gaelic speakers (74.7% of the people speak Gaelic).


title: Stornoway

paragraphs: Stornoway is the biggest town in the Outer Hebrides. It is on the Isle of Lewis, and over 5,000 people live there. It has nearby the Stornoway Airport, an old RAF airbase which now acts a link between the island and the Scottish mainland.


title: Skye

paragraphs: Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. More than 9000 people live there, and half of the people speak Gaelic. The main settlement is Portree, known for its picturesque harbour.

paragraphs: The island has been occupied since the mesolithic period and has a colourful history. It was rule by the Norse for 400 years, then dominated by Clan MacLeod and Clan Donald. The Highland Clearances of the 19th century caused a decline in the population from over 20,000 to around 9,200 in the early 21st century. The population has risen 4% from the census of 1991. The main industries are tourism, agriculture, fishing and whisky-distilling.

paragraphs: Skye is part of the Highland Council local government area and is now linked to the mainland by a road bridge. The island is renowned for its spectacular scenery, vibrant culture and heritage, and its abundant wildlife, including the Golden Eagle, Red Deer and Atlantic Salmon.

paragraphs: Skye has a rich heritage of ancient monuments from the clans, especially castles. Dunvegan Castle has been the seat of Clan MacLeod since the 13th century. It may have been inhabited by a single family for longer than any other house in Scotland.

paragraphs: The 18th century Armadale Castle, once home of Clan Donald was abandoned as a residence in 1925 but now hosts the Clan Donald Centre. Nearby are the ruins of two more MacDonald strongholds, Knock Castle, and Dunscaith Castle, the legendary home of Queen Scáthach.

paragraphs: At 1,656 square kilometres (639 sq mi), Skye is the second-largest island in Scotland after Lewis and Harris.

paragraphs: The Black Cuillin, low mountains mainly composed of basalt and gabbro, include 12 peaks the Scots call 'Munros'. This is some of the most dramatic and challenging mountain terrain in Scotland. The ascent of Sgùrr a' Ghreadaidh is one of the longest rock climbs in Britain and the Inaccessible Pinnacle is the only peak in Scotland that requires technical climbing skills to reach the summit. A full crossing of the Cuillin ridge may take 15–20 hours to complete.


title: 2024 Summer Olympics

paragraphs: The 2024 Summer Olympics, which will be officially known as the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, is a sporting event that will happen from July 26 to August 11 in Paris, France.

paragraphs: On July 11, 2017, a proposal to choose the 2024 and 2028 Olympic host cities at the same time was approved by an Extraordinary IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland. On July 31, 2017, the International Olympic Committee made a deal with Los Angeles to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. It made Paris host the 2024 Summer Olympics. On September 13, 2017, the hosts for both Olympic games was announced at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru.

paragraphs: Thomas Bach stated that Hamburg would apply for 2024 Olympic Games. Hamburg would have hosted the games the first time in history and would therefore have received the virtue over Berlin as Berlin's inhabitant had a negative atmosphere towards the Olympic Games application.

paragraphs: The organization of the Games in Copenhagen was investigated by the Danish government

paragraphs: Larry Needle, executive director of the Philadelphia Sports Congress, said that if Philadelphia, the largest city in Pennsylvania, wanted to host the Olympics, its earliest realistic chance would have been the 2024 Summer Games

paragraphs: A study by eleven graduate students from the University of Pennsylvania showed that Philadelphia should have considered bidding for the 2024 Olympics. The study said that one of the city's biggest challenges would be convincing the voters who select the host city that Philadelphia is a "world-class city", something that "will require strategic changes in the city’s landscape in conjunction with a persuasive marketing strategy". The study mentions that when arriving in the city from Philadelphia International Airport, it is difficult to find a route that does not have abandoned oil tanks, old structures and thousands of tons of waste. One good thing about having the Games in Philadelphia is that it is near many large cities.

paragraphs: On July 10, 2007 it was revealed that the Canadian Olympic Committee had worked on a potential bid for the 2020 or 2024 games for Toronto, the capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. This would have been Toronto's third bid for the summer Olympic games, after unsuccessful bids for the 1996 and 2008 Summer Games.

paragraphs: The subtropical city of Brisbane would seriously consider bidding for the Olympic Games in 2020 or 2024, former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has said. His announcement came after IOC President Jacques Rogge said the IOC would love to see a bid from Brisbane in the future.

paragraphs: Australia hosted the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. In 1986, Brisbane lost the bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics, which were held in Barcelona. However, Brisbane has experience in hosting major international sporting events; the city hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the 2001 Goodwill Games.

paragraphs: Australia also hosted the Olympic games in Sydney, 2000.


title: 2022 Winter Olympics

paragraphs: The 2022 Winter Olympics, formally called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, is the 24th Games of the Winter Olympics. It is an international winter sports event that will be held from February 4 to February 20, 2022. The winning bid was announced in the summer of 2015 and Beijing was chosen, and since it hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, it will be the first city ever to host both the Summer and the Winter Olympics.


title: Guarneri

paragraphs: Guarneri is the name of a family of famous violin makers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries. Together with the families Amati and Stradivari they made some of the best violins the world has known.

paragraphs: Andrea Guarneri (c. 1626 - 7 December 1698) was a pupil in the workshop of Nicolo Amati from 1641 to 1646 and returned to make violins for Amati from 1650 to 1654. He married a rich lady and they were able to buy a large house which became known as the “Casa Guarneri”. They had seven children. Two of his sons: Pietro Giovanni and Giuseppe Giovanni, became violin makers. Andrea Guarneri produced some fine violas, one of which was played by William Primrose in the early 20th century.

paragraphs: Pietro Giovanni Guarneri (18 February 1655 - 26 March 1720), known as Peter of Mantua ("Pietro da Mantova") to distinguish him from his nephew Pietro Guarneri. He worked in his father's workshop from around 1670 until his marriage in 1677. He had settled in Mantua by 1683, where he worked both as a musician and a violin maker. His instruments are generally better than his father's. However, he did not make so many instruments because he spent a lot of his time playing them. None of his children became violin makers. Joseph Szigeti played one of his instruments.

paragraphs: Andrea's younger son, Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri (25 November 1666 - 1739 or 1740), known as "filius Andreae", joined his father's business in Cremona. He inherited it in 1698. He is one of the great violin makers.

paragraphs: Giuseppe Giovanni Battista was father to two other instrument makers: Pietro Guerneri who settled in Venice and Bartolomeo.

paragraphs: Pietro Guarneri (Peter of Venice or "Pietro da Venezia") (14 April 1695 - 7 April, 1762) made some instruments that are as great as those of his father. One of his cellos was played by Beatrice Harrison.

paragraphs: Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri ("del Gesù"), also known as Joseph (21 August 1698 - 17 October 1744), has been called the finest violin maker of the Amati line (Amati and his pupils). Giuseppe is known as "del Gesù" because his labels always have the characters I.H.S. ("iota-eta-sigma") and a Roman cross. His instruments are different from the others made by his family. They are thought of as the greatest violins with the exception of those by Stradivari. The famous violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini’s favorite instrument was a Guarneri del Gesù violin of 1743. The "Lord Wilton" Guarneri del Gesù violin made in 1742 was owned by Yehudi Menuhin and other Twentieth-century 'del Gesù' players have included, Arthur Grumiaux, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern and Henryk Szeryng.


title: Amati

paragraphs: Amati is the name of a family of Italian violin makers. Between about 1549 to 1740 they made some of the most wonderful violins that were ever produced. They worked in Cremona in Italy, the town which is famous for violin making.

paragraphs: famous member of the family was Andrea Amati who was born some time before 1511 and died in Cremona on 24 December 1577. He can be thought of as the inventor of the violin in its modern form. He made violins, violas and cellos. A small number of his instruments are still in existence. They are dated between 1564 and 1574 and they have the coat of arms of Charles IX of France on the back.

paragraphs: Andrea Amati’s two sons were Antonio Amati who was born about 1540 in Cremona and died there on 14 February 1607 and Girolamo Amati who was born about 1561 in Cremona and died of the plague there on 21 October 1630. They are known as "The Brothers Amati", but they did not work much together. However, they both produced some great instruments. They made the shape of the f holes perfect and gave their instruments more strength. They also made some large violas and cellos. They had an enormous influence on all other violin makers.

paragraphs: Nicolò Amati was the son of Girolamo Amati. He is now the most famous member of the family. He was born on 3 December 1596 and died on 12 April 1684) He was the most eminent of the family. He had become a very skilled violin maker by 1630 when his father died. During the next few years there was a lot of suffering because of the plague and not many people could afford to buy instruments. Then, after 1640, there was more demand again and Nicolò made many great instruments. Those that have survived are among the most sought-after and expensive violins today. He made instruments that were slightly wider and were known as the “Grand Pattern”. Many other violin makers learned from him. These pupils include Andrea Guarneri and possibly also Antonio Stradivari.

paragraphs: The last maker of the family was Nicolo's son, Girolamo Amati, known as Hieronymus II. He was born on 26 February and died on 21 February, 1740. Although he made some improvements to his father's instruments, they are not as good. Antonio Stradivari became the greatest violin maker at this time.


title: Guardians of Scotland

paragraphs: The Guardians of Scotland were appointed to act as King during the two "interregnums" of 1290-1292 and 1296-1302.

paragraphs: An interregum is a time when a monarchy has no king. It is from the Latin for "between reigns".


title: Montel Vontavious Porter

paragraphs: Alvin Burke, Jr. (born October 28, 1973) is an American professional wrestler and rapper. He is better known by the ring name Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He has also worked with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). He is a former one time WWE Tag Team Champion with Matt Hardy and a former two time WWE United States Champion.

paragraphs: He spent six months in a juvenile detention center after a robbery and later completed 9½ years of an 18½ year prison sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping which at the time he started it he was sixteen. He has a rare heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. He converted to Islam while in prison but has since described himself as a nonbeliever.


title: Pretzel

paragraphs: A pretzel (French: "Bretzel", Alsatian: "bradchdal", German: "Breze" or "Brezel") is a baked snack that originated in Germany. It is traditionally twisted into a unique knot-like shape. The pretzel dough is made from wheat flour and yeast. Before baking, it is dipped into "Natronlauge" (, sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH) or sodium carbonate solution (NaCO)) and sprinkled with coarse salt. During baking, a Maillard reaction then gives the pretzel its characteristic brown color and distinctive flavor. In Bavaria, it is obligatory in a Weißwurst breakfast.

paragraphs: Because they are made mostly of wheat, pretzels can be problematic for people who have wheat allergy, Coeliac Disease, or wheat intolerances.

paragraphs: There are different types of pretzels, like Chocolate Pretzels.


title: Shoplifting

paragraphs: Shoplifting is theft by stealing goods or money from a retail store. Shoplifting is punishable by law enforcement.


title: Portrait

paragraphs: A portrait is a painting or a photograph of a person's face and its expression. The purpose of a portrait is to show the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography, a portrait is actually not a snapshot, but a calm image of a person in a still position. A portrait normally shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer.


title: Steroid

paragraphs: A steroid is a organic compound, either natural or man-made, which has four cycloalkane rings in its structure. Plants, animals and fungi make hundreds of different natural steroids.

paragraphs: Steroid hormones are steroids which act as hormones in the body. Natural steroid hormones are usually made from cholesterol in the adrenal glands and gonads. Cholesterol is a plentiful steroid in animal cells: it is important for cell membranes.

paragraphs: One review noted: The adrenal gland hormones play a vital role in adapting to "ever-changing environmental and emergency situations, and help vertebrates in their successful survival".

paragraphs: Prednisone is an important man-made steroid medication, used to treat inflammation.

paragraphs: Some steroid hormones are anabolic steroids (AAS). Since the discovery and synthesis of testosterone in the 1930s, AAS have been used by physicians for many purposes, with varying degrees of success, including:

paragraphs: Certain anabolic steroids, such as testosterone, are used to help make muscles stronger. Such steroids are used to improve a person's performance, but they are sometimes overused and abused by athletes. The rate of steroid abuse grew greatly in the early 21st century, all over the world. Overuse of anabolic steroids can have bad effects on the human body. They can cripple or kill. Sports organisations now regulate their use.


title: Road rage

paragraphs: Road rage means violent behavior by a driver of a road vehicle. This includes verbal abuse, offensive gestures, and dangerous driving methods. Road rage may cause violence or accidents.


title: Graceland

paragraphs: Graceland is a 13.8 acre estate and large white-colored mansion that was owned by Elvis Presley. It is located at Memphis, Tennessee, USA.


title: Harry Shearer

paragraphs: Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943, in Los Angeles, California) is an American comedic actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, musician, author, radio host, director and producer. Shearer is famous for playing the voices of several minor characters for "The Simpsons" (1989 to present).

paragraphs: Shearer was a child actor. He acted on the Jack Benny radio program.

paragraphs: Shearer was a member of the Credibility Gap comedy group. The radio stations KRLA and later KPPC broadcast the Credibility Gap. He performed on the Pop Chronicles music documentary.

paragraphs: Shearer portrayed Derek Smalls in the 1984 comedy movie "This is Spinal Tap". Rob Reiner directed this movie.

paragraphs: Shearer speaks the voices for many characters on "The Simpsons" cartoon. Some of the characters he plays are Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, and Ned Flanders.


title: Nancy Cartwright

paragraphs: Nancy Jean Cartwright (born on October 25, 1957 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American actress and voice actress. She is known for providing the voices of Bart Simpson, Nelson Muntz, Todd Flanders and Ralph Wiggum on the animated television show "The Simpsons". She also plays the voice of Chuckie Finster on "Rugrats" and "All Grown Up!".

paragraphs: Cartwright graduated from Fairmont High School. She went to Ohio University and the University of Los Angeles (UCLA). At UCLA, she earned a degree in theatre.


title: Coco Lee

paragraphs: Coco Lee (; born Ferren Lee, 17 January 1975, Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong-American pop, dance and urban contemporary singer. Her real name is Ferren Lee-Kelly and 李美林 Lǐ Měi Lín in Chinese (although she also uses the stage name 李玟 Lǐ Wen when she writes songs). She sings Cantonese, Mandarin and English.

paragraphs: CoCo Lee was born in Hong Kong to a Chinese Indonesian father and a Hong Kong Chinese mother. Her father died when she was young, and CoCo moved at age 10 with her mother, and her 2 sisters to California, United States. She went through school while trying out her singing voice and she followed her older sisters in entering many local singing contests. CoCo Lee went to high school in San Francisco, California. CoCo later went for a short time to the University of California, Irvine. CoCo is close to her mother, who has at times managed her career.

paragraphs: After Lee's high school graduation in 1993, she went on holiday in Hong Kong, probably seeing her two sisters Carol and Nancy Lee take part in the Miss Hong Kong Pageant, and while there, she became runner-up in the 12th Annual New Talent Singing Awards. The following day, the local record label Capital artists Records contacted her.

paragraphs: CoCo Lee appeared in some compilations with other singers with Capital artists. Then, in 1994 she worked with Fancy Pie Records and recorded four albums with them. She later signed with another record company in 1996 by Sony Music, who has continued to represent her until 2008. After that, she changed her record company and decided to work with Warner Music (Taiwan).

paragraphs: CoCo sang the song "A Love Before Time" for the action-drama movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. People around the world could see her when she sang this song live at the 2001 Academy Awards ceremony.

paragraphs: In 2002, CoCo was the star singer at a Houston Rockets basketball game. She became the first East Asian singer to ever sing the American National Anthem at a major world sporting event.

paragraphs: Aside from her fame in singing Mandarin music, CoCo's English-language songs have also become famous. Her love song "Before I Fall In Love" was included in the soundtrack of the romance movie Runaway Bride.

paragraphs: Walt Disney Pictures also hired her to sing the title song and be the voice of the heroine Fa Mulan in the Mandarin version of Mulan. She recorded the song "Reflections", which she also sang at the 2005 opening of the Hong Kong Disneyland with Lea Salonga. A "Reflections" PV was also filmed. She also sang an English version which appears on her maxi single "Take a chance on love".

paragraphs: CoCo has been getting into acting part-time. She co-starred in the Chinese comedy movie "Master of Everything (Bamboo Shoot)" with John Lone, which won the Best Foreign Film award at the 2005 Beverly Hills Film Festival. While in character within the movie, she sings one of her own songs, "Di da di".

paragraphs: In the world of fashion, CoCo was an Omega Global Ambassador in 2004, and Chanel named CoCo its first "Asian-Pacific Celebrity Ambassadress" in 2001. She got her nickname "CoCo" from being an admirer of CoCo Chanel.

paragraphs: In June 2005, CoCo's engagement to Canadian millionaire businessman Bruce Rockowitz was made public, although it seems to have happened some months earlier. Even though Rockowitz is 18 years older than she, her mother approved the marriage.

paragraphs: CoCo returned to the San Francisco bay area in 2007 for a live concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre on 22 September 2007 with special guest Alex To. It was her first live performance in her hometown in several years.

paragraphs: In 2008, Coco was chosen to sing one of the Olympic songs, "Forever Friends", opposite Sun Nan.

paragraphs: On July 17 2009, she had a solo concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. She's the first Chinese singer to ever performed in this place. She notably sang 3 Michael Jackson's songs "Gone too soon", "Rock with you" and "The way you make me feel" in homage to her idol.

paragraphs: On August 14, she released her new Mandarin album "East to west" with Warner Music. The main hit singles are "Party time", "Beautiful theme song" and "Turn". It also contains the cover of Jay Sean's "Maybe" called "Love now" and "BYOB", a song to encourage people to bring and recycle their own shopping bags to save the environment.

paragraphs: She recorded the song "Smile Shanghai" (微笑上海) with other artists including JJ Lin, Andy Lau, Jam Hsiao or Jane Zhang for Shanghai World Expo 2010.

paragraphs: On March, 27 2010, Lee began her "East2West" World Tour Concert in Taipei at Taipei Arena. She pursued at the Encore Theatre in Wynn Casino in Las Vegas on July 3 and 4, then in Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore on October 2 and in Nanning on December 16.

paragraphs: CoCo Lee's voice has been favourably compared with that of Mariah Carey and other western artistes, due to her tonality, strength and vocal range. Her voice is classified as a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range of three octaves. Her lowest recorded note is an E3 and highest recorded note is E6. Her highest chest voice note is F6 in the song Before I Fall in Love.

paragraphs: In March 2011, Lee was one of many artists participating in the recording of "Artists 311 Love Beyond Borders" (愛心無國界311燭光晚會) official theme song called "Succomb not to sorrow" (不要輸給心痛) in Cantonese version.

paragraphs: On April 7, 2011, her song "Dreams on oriental seas" (梦在东方的海上) featuring Sun Nan was broadcasted. It has been named as he theme for the 14th FINA world championships, that will take place in Shanghai on July 2011.

paragraphs: On June 8, 2011, Lee announced that she recently set up her own studio. That way, she's more free to write and produce music that she loves. Her new album is planned for Summer 2011.

paragraphs: On June 25, her song "Four seas alliance" (四海盟約), the theme song for the 2011 China television drama "Water Margin" (水滸傳), was broadcasted.


title: Daniel Schneidermann

paragraphs: Daniel Schneidermann (born April 5, 1958 in Paris) is a French journalist. He mainly reports about televised media. He is most active in weekly columns. Schneidermann has written in "Le Monde" and is presently in "Libération". He also can be seen on the television program "Arrêt sur images" ("Freeze-frame"), broadcast by the public television channel France 5.


title: Pound (mass)

paragraphs: A pound (usually abbreviated as lb, plural lbs) is a unit used to measure the mass of something. It is used in the imperial system and the United States customary system. There are a number of different definitions. The most commonly used definitions band today is the international avoirdupois pound. This is equal to , and is divided into 16 avoirdupois ounces.

paragraphs: The avoirdupois pound (abbreviation lb., plural lbs.) is the most common unit. This type is used for all purposes except the uses of the troy pound. Most people from the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Liberia and Burma use this as their standard measure of their personal mass.

paragraphs: The troy pound (abbreviation t lb., plural t lbs.) is generally not used anymore. It was used in England by apothecaries and jewellers. A troy pound contains 12 troy ounces. The troy ounce is still used to measure the mass of precious metals and gems.

paragraphs: In some European countries, a metric pound is an informal term for half a kilogram (500 grams). In the Netherlands, however, the metric pound () is equal to one kilogram.


title: Eastern Armenia

paragraphs: Eastern Armenia was a part of Ottoman Armenia and Persian that was merged with the Russian empire.

paragraphs: The Eastern Armenian dialect of the Armenian language is spoken mostly in the Caucasus region (including Armenia) and in Iran and Russia.


title: Western Armenia

paragraphs: Western Armenia (), also referred to as Byzantine Armenia, later Turkish Armenia, or Ottoman Armenia is a term coined following the division of Greater Armenia between Byzantine Empire ("Western Armenia") and Persia ("Eastern Armenia") in 387 AC.

paragraphs: After the death of Armenian king "Arshak III", in 390 AC, the Western Armenia was governed by Greek generals. In the 7th century Western Armenia was one of the centers of "Pavlikian" Christian popular sect. Since 9th century the most part of Western Armenia included Vaspurakan and Taron was under the rule of Bagratid dynasty of Armenia. Then the Zakarid Armenia of 13-14th centuries included some parts of Western Armenia.

paragraphs: After Turkish-Persian wars of 1602-1639 Western Armenia became part of Ottoman Empire. Since Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 that term is referred to the Armenian-populated historical regions of the Ottoman Empire that remained under Ottoman rule after the eastern part was ceded to the Russian Empire.

paragraphs: Western (Ottoman) Armenia was composed of six vilayets ("vilâyat-ı sitte"), the vilayets of Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbekir, Kharput, and Sivas. After the collapse of Ottoman Empire Western Armenia remained under Turkish rule, and in 1894–96 and 1915 Turkey perpetrated systematic massacres and forced deportations of Armenians.

paragraphs: After the Armenian genocide the distinct Western Armenian dialect of the Armenian language (recognized as one of the major dialects of Armenian ) is spoken primarily in Istanbul, Lebanon, Egypt, other parts of Armenian diaspora, and formerly in eastern Turkey. It differs orthographically from Eastern Armenian, there are also phonological differences. In some parts of the diaspora, the Armenian schools, such as L'École Arménienne Sourp Hagop and the Armenian Sisters Academy instruct Western Armenian to the students, instead of Eastern Armenian, the official dialect of the Republic of Armenia.

paragraphs: The fate of Western Armenia — commonly referred to as "The Armenian Question" — is considered as a key issue in the modern history of the Armenian people. The first and second congresses of Western Armenians took place in Yerevan in 1917 and 1919. Since 2000, an organizing committee of congress of heirs of Western Armenians who survived the Armenian Genocide is active in diasporan communities.


title: Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)

paragraphs: The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons lasted from 1385 to 1569. It was created by the accession of Wladislaus II Jagiełło, Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo united Poland and Lithuania into one monarchy. The union was confirmed but also transformed by the Union of Lublin in 1569, which was shortly followed by the end of the Jagiellon dynasty that had ruled Poland for two centuries.


title: Jagiellon dynasty

paragraphs: The Jagiellons were a royal dynasty that came from Lithuania and reigned in some Central European countries (present day Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Kaliningrad, parts of Russia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia) between the 14th and 16th century.

paragraphs: Members of the dynasty were grand dukes of Lithuania 1377–1392 and 1440–1572, kings of Poland 1386–1572, kings of Hungary 1440–1444 and 1490–1526, and kings of Bohemia 1471–1526. The family was a branch of the Lithuanian Gediminaičių dynasty.

paragraphs: The name (other variations used in English include: Jagiellonians, Jagiellos, Jogailos, Jagiellas) comes from Jogaila ("pol.:" Jagiełło), the first Polish king of that dynasty.

paragraphs: Jagiellons were hereditary rulers of Poland and Lithuania.

paragraphs: The Jagiellon rulers of Poland–Lithuania (with dates of ruling in brackets) were:


title: D'oh!

paragraphs: D'oh! (also spelled out as annoyed grunt), is a famous catchphrase created by the fictional character Homer Simpson, from the popular animated television series, "The Simpsons". It was also famously accepted into the "Oxford English Dictionary" in 2002. The quote is normally used when Homer hurts himself, finds out that he has done something stupid, or when something bad has happened or is about to happen to him. He often gives himself a facepalm at the same time. Other characters from the Simpsons have also been heard using the chatchprase too, the most common being his son Bart. Homer has also been known to change this phrase slightly. For example, in The Simpsons Movie he shouts "D'oooooome!" when the town is sealed in the glass dome.


title: Aqua regia

paragraphs: Aqua regia ("Royal water" in Latin) is a very strong acid. It is made by mixing one part concentrated nitric acid and three parts concentrated hydrochloric acid. The acid was named by alchemists because it can dissolve the noble metals gold and platinum. Tantalum, iridium and a few other metals are not dissolved by it.

paragraphs: Aqua regia was discovered around the year 800AD, by Jabir Bin Hayyan (Geber), when he mixed common salt with vitriol (sulphuric acid). In the Middle Ages it was one of the ways that alchemists tried to find the philosopher's stone.

paragraphs: When Germany invaded Denmark in World War II, the Hungarian chemist took the Nobel Prize medals of and to keep them safe. De Hevesy dissolved the medals, which were made of gold, into aqua regia. He did this so the Nazis would not steal them. He placed the jar that held the solution of aqua regia and gold on a shelf in his laboratory at the . The jar looked the same as hundreds of other jars in the laboratory, so the Nazis thought that all the jars had normal chemicals in them. After the war, de Hevesy returned to the lab, found the jar with the solution, and removed the gold from it. He returned the gold to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Nobel Foundation used the gold to make new medals for Laue and Franck.

paragraphs: Aqua Regia is used in metal etching and scientific analysis. It is also used to clean certain lab machines from tiny metal particles. It is particularly used in the extraction and purification of gold and platinum. Users mix it immediately before use so it won't decompose.


title: Inari (mythology)

paragraphs: The traditional messengers of Inari are foxes.


title: Kurgan hypothesis

paragraphs: The Kurgan model of Indo-European origins is about both the people and their Proto-Indo-European language.

paragraphs: It uses both archaeology and linguistics to show the history of their culture at different stages of the Indo-European expansion.

paragraphs: The Kurgan model is the most widely accepted theory on the origins of Indo-European.

paragraphs: When it was first suggested in 1956, Marija Gimbutas's answer to the question of Indo-European origins was a pioneering interdisciplinary synthesis of archaeology and linguistics. From the nineties on, new archaeological evidence from Northern European prehistoric cultures was put forward on the influence and expansion of Kurgan cultures.


title: Marija Gimbutas

paragraphs: Marija Gimbutas (Lithuanian: Marija Gimbutienė, born Marija Birutė Alseikaitė) (Vilnius, Lithuania, January 23, 1921 – Los Angeles, United States February 2, 1994), was a Lithuanian-American archeologist, known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old Europe" and the theories that she introduced. Between 1946 and 1971, her writings merged traditional spadework with linguistics and mythologies.


title: Luwians

paragraphs: The Luwians also known as "Luvians" were a people closely related to the Hittites. Sometime after 2300, the Luwians, an Indo-European-speaking people, settled in southern Anatolia.

paragraphs: The Luwians were related to the Hittites and were the dominant group in the Late Hittite culture.


title: Phrygia

paragraphs: Phrygia () was a kingdom in the west central part of the Anatolia. The Phrygian people started to live in the area from c. 1200 BC, and made a kingdom in the 8th century BC. It was ruined by Cimmerian invaders c. 690 BC, then conquered by its neighbor Lydia, before it passed successively into the Persian Empire of Cyrus, the empire of Alexander and his successors, was taken by the king of Pergamon, and became part of the Roman Empire. The Phrygian language survived until about the 6th century AD.


title: White Genocide

paragraphs: White Genocide (Armenian: Ճերմակ or սպիտակ ջարդ, Jermag or Spitag Chart) is the word Western Armenians use to describe assimilation in the West. Armenians were forcibly deported from their homeland in Anatolia during the Armenian Genocide in 1915-1918, and never allowed to return. Western Armenians consider Armenians who assimilate within the local population of the country where they were eventually forced to emigrate (such as France, USA, Argentina, etc.) as lost to their nation due to the continuing exile after the actual genocide itself, and thus consider that lost Armenian to be another victim of the genocidal attempt to eliminate the Armenians. The term "White Genocide" was also used for the regions of Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan where Armenians were forcibly deported and cleansed from the regions.


title: Didier Drogba

paragraphs: Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (born 11 March 1978 in Abidjan) is a Côte d'Ivoire professional football player. He plays for Phoenix Rising FC in the United Soccer League.

paragraphs: He lived in Abidjan until he was 5 years old and then he moved to France to live with his uncle, Michael Goba. His uncle had been a professional football player in Côte d'Ivoire.

paragraphs: In the 2006/07 season, he was the top scorer of the English Premier League with 20 goals. Drogba played for Le Mans at Ligue 2 in 1998. He moved to Olympique Marseille in 2003 and scored 29 goals in the next season. In July 2004, Drogba moved to Chelsea in the English Premier League. Drogba stayed at Chelsea for about 10 years. Drogba was a member of Côte d'Ivoire’s national team and was their top scorer with 65 goals in 105 appearances.


title: Muscatine, Iowa

paragraphs: Muscatine is a city in Muscatine County, Iowa. In 2000, 22,697 people lived in the city of Muscatine.

paragraphs: Muscatine began as a trading post in 1833. The city was first called Bloomington in 1839. The name was later changed because there were so many other cities named Bloomington. Some people think the name "Muscatine" came from the name of a local Native American tribe.

paragraphs: A person from Germany founded a button company in Muscatine in 1884. They made buttons from clam shells found in the Mississippi river. Muscatine was and still is called the "Pearl button capital of the world."

paragraphs: Sam Clemens, also called Mark Twain, worked at the newspaper the city for a short amount of time. He also wrote about Muscatine in his book "Life on the Mississippi".

paragraphs: ""And I remember Muscatine--still more pleasantly--for its summer sunsets. I have never seen any, on either side of the ocean, that equaled them. They used the broad smooth river as a canvas, and painted on it every imaginable dream of color, from the and delicacies of the opal, all the way up, through cumulative intensities, to blinding purple and crimson conflagrations which were enchanting to the eye, but sharply tried it at the same time. All the Upper Mississippi region has these extraordinary sunsets as a familiar spectacle. It is the true Sunset Land: I am sure no other country can show so good a right to the name. The sunrises are also said to be exceedingly fine. I do not know.""


title: Armenian Army

paragraphs: The Armenian Army is the army of Armenia. Armenia has sent around 1,500 officers to be trained in Greece and Russia over the past years. Since the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armenia has made the army boost the defense and help defend Nagorno-Karabakh from a possible new attack by neighboring Azerbaijan.


title: Armenian Air Defense

paragraphs: The Armenian Air Defense is the anti-aircraft group of the Armed Forces of Armenia. It was a part of the military reform program of Ter-Grigoriants.

paragraphs: Armenian anti-aircraft defense has an anti-aircraft missile brigade and two regiments armed with 100 missile launchers of various models and fixes. These missile launchers include the M79 Osa, Krug, S-75, S-125, and S-300. There are also 24 Scud ballistic missiles with eight launchers.


title: Armed Forces of Armenia

paragraphs: The Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia is the Army, Air Defense, and Border Guard. Some parts were formed out of the former Soviet forces in the Armenian SSR.

paragraphs: The Commander-in-Chief of the military is the President of Armenia, currently Robert Kocharyan. The Ministry of Defense is in charge of political leadership. It is currently headed by Mikael Harutyunyan. Military command is in the hands of the General Staff, headed by the Chief of Staff, who is Lieutenant-General Seyran Ohanyan. Armenia established a Ministry of Defense on 28 January 1992. The Border guards purpose is to patrol Armenia's borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan, while Russian troops continue to watch its borders with Iran and Turkey.


title: President of Armenia

paragraphs: President of Armenia is the head of state of Armenia since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.


title: Levon Ter-Petrossian

paragraphs: Levon Ter-Petrosyan (Armenian: Լևոն Տեր-Պետրոսյան; Russian: Левон Тер-Петросян) (born January 9, 1945), also Levon Ter-Petrosyan, was the President of Armenia from 1991 to 1998. Because of many economic and political problems, he resigned on February 3, 1998. He was replaced by Robert Kocharyan. Levon Ter Petrosian, announced he will run again for office in the presidential election which will start next year. Ter-Petrossian was born in Aleppo, Syria to an Armenian-Syrian family of genocide survivors. They emigrated to Armenia in 1946.

paragraphs: In 1968, Ter-Petrossian graduated from the Oriental Studies Department of the Yerevan State University. In 1972, he completed his postgraduate studies at the Leningrad State University. In 1987, he received his doctoral degree from the same university. In 1972-1978, Ter-Petrossian worked as junior researcher at the Literature Institute of Armenia named after Manouk Abeghian. In 1978-1985, he held the post of science secretary at Matenadaran named after Saint Mesrop Mashtots. Since 1985, Ter-Petrossian has been working at Matenadaran as a senior researcher.


title: Intonation (music)

paragraphs: Intonation, in music, can have two different meanings:


title: Musical tuning

paragraphs: In music tuning an instrument means getting it ready so that when it is played it will sound at the correct pitch: not too high or too low.

paragraphs: When two or more instruments play together it is particularly important that they are in tune with one another. This means that when they play the same note it is indeed exactly the same note. If the two instruments are not in tune with one another it will sound unpleasant because two notes which are very slightly different in pitch will produce a “beat”.

paragraphs: Instruments such as the piano or organ have to be tuned by people who are specialists in tuning. For most instruments, however, the players themselves need to tune their instruments before they play. Players of string instruments can turn the pegs at the top of their instruments to change the tension (tightness) of the string. Players of wind instruments can make their instruments very slightly longer or shorter by pushing out or pulling in one of the joints. Timpanists turn the taps which are around the top of their instruments to change the tension of the drum head.

paragraphs: When an orchestra gives a concert the instruments have to tune carefully so that they are in tune with one another. Usually it is the principal oboist’s job to stand up and play the note A so that everyone can tune to that note. In some countries such as the US it is tradition for the principal violinist (concertmaster) to give the A. If the orchestra are going to play with a piano soloist they will have to tune to the A of the piano because the piano has already been tuned by the piano tuner.

paragraphs: When a violinist tunes his instrument he is making sure that his four strings are tuned perfectly to G, D, A and E. Each string is wound around a peg near the top of the scroll, so that turning the peg changes the tuning. He may also have “adjusters” or “fine tuners” which are at the other end of the string where it is attached to the tailpiece. The adjusters make it easier to make small changes to the tuning. The violinist will make sure that the A is in tune, then the A and D can be played together so that they are exactly a fifth apart, then the D and G and finally the A and E are compared.

paragraphs: If they are not tuning to a piano, players of instruments sometimes use a tuning fork which gives an exact note (usually an A) so that they know they are in tune. There are also electronic tuning devices.

paragraphs: When an instrument such as the piano is tuned, the piano tuner has to know how to make each note relate correctly to the others. During the course of music history there have been several systems of doing this. These different "tuning systems" are all about the exact scientific relationship between the notes of the scale. There has been an enormous amount of discussion among musicians about how best to tune instruments.

paragraphs: When two notes are an octave apart the higher note is vibrating at twice the speed of the lower note. For example: if a string is vibrating at 440 Hz (440 times a second) the note we hear is an A (the A above Middle C on the piano). If the string is stopped halfway up (e.g. because the player presses it down with a finger) it will vibrate at 880 Hz and we will hear the note one octave higher.

paragraphs: The note which vibrates at 1 ½ times the frequency of the basic note will be the note a perfect fifth higher (an E).

paragraphs: If a piano tuner starts by tuning a C, then tunes a G so that it is exactly 1 ½ times the frequency of the C, he can continue tuning in fifths (a D, then an A etc.) until he arrives back at C again. However, he will find that, for mathematical reasons, the last C is not in tune with the first C. This was discovered long ago by Pythagoras and is called “the comma of Pythagoras”.

paragraphs: Musical tuning systems throughout the centuries have tried to find ways of dealing with this problem. From the 16th century onwards several music theorists wrote long books about the best way to tune keyboard instruments. They often started by tuning up a fifth and down a fifth so that these notes were perfectly in tune (e.g. C, G and F), then they would continue (tuning the D to the G and B flat to the F) until they met in the middle around F sharp. Sometimes old organs today are tuned by such a method. Playing in keys with very few sharps or flats (such as C, G or F) sounds very beautiful, but playing in keys with lots of sharps or flats sounds horribly out of tune.

paragraphs: In 1584, Zhu Zaiyu, a prince of Chinese Ming Dynasty, published the invention of equal temperament in his book "A New Account of the Science of the Pitch-Pipes." In 1585 Simon Stevin invented a similar system. Some scholars think one of these really invented this system. Others think both did, or neither.

paragraphs: Around 1700, based on this new system, the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote two books of 24 preludes and fugues (called the "Well-tempered Clavier)" to prove that it was now possible to play in any key.

paragraphs: Here are some of the main ways of tuning the twelve-note chromatic scale which have been developed in order to get round the problem that an instrument cannot be tuned so that all intervals are "perfect":


title: Captain of Köpenick

paragraphs: The Captain of Köpenick (born Wilhelm Voigt on February 13, 1849 - January 3, 1922) was a German shoemaker, criminal and impostor who became world-famous in 1906 for a trick he played in Berlin when he pretended to be a Captain in the army.

paragraphs: Voigt was born in Tilsit, a town which was then part of Germany but is now called Sovetsk near Kaliningrad, Russia. In 1863, aged 14, he was sent to prison for 14 days for stealing. He was expelled from school.

paragraphs: Voigt’s father taught him how to make shoes. However, Voigt continued to steal and forge and was often sent to prison. Eventually he was let out of prison in 1906.

paragraphs: Voigt travelled around until he went to live with his sister who lived near Berlin. He worked briefly as a court shoemaker until, on August 24, 1906, police expelled him from Berlin as an “undesirable” (someone who is not wanted). Although he was supposed to have gone to Hamburg he stayed in Berlin. He could not get a job because he was an unregistered citizen, but he could not register to live in Berlin because he had no job.

paragraphs: On October 16 1906 Voigt was ready for the big adventure that made him famous. He had bought parts of a captain's uniform from different shops. He had resigned from the shoe factory ten days before. He put on the captain’s uniform and went to the local army barracks, stopped four grenadiers and a sergeant on their way back to barracks and told them to come with him.

paragraphs: These soldiers had been taught to obey officers without asking any questions, so they did what they were told. He told the commanding sergeant to report to his boss, and told 6 more soldiers to come with him. Then he took a train with the soldiers to Köpenick, east of Berlin, occupied the local city hall and told the soldiers to guard all the exits.

paragraphs: He told the local Police to go and look for people breaking the law, and told the local Post Office not to let anyone make telephone calls to Berlin for an hour (this was in the early days of the telephone when people could not dial numbers automatically: they had to ask the Post Office to make the connection).

paragraphs: He arrested the town secretary and the mayor, saying that they had been taking money from the town hall, and he took a large amount of money: 4002 marks and 37 pfennigs, signing a receipt for it, but using the name of the governor of the jail where he had been.

paragraphs: Then he stopped two carriages and told the grenadiers to use them to take the mayor and the treasurer to the police so that they could be questioned. He told the remaining guards to stand in their places for half an hour. Then he went to the train station. Later he changed back into ordinary clothes and disappeared.

paragraphs: During the next few days the newspapers around the world reported what had happened. Everybody seemed to think it was a very amusing joke.

paragraphs: Voigt was arrested on October 26 and on December 1 he was sentenced to four years in prison for forgery, impersonating (pretending to be) an officer and wrongful imprisonment. However, so many people seemed to have sympathy with Voigt. Even the Emperor Wilhelm II was probably amused by it and he pardoned him on August 16, 1908.

paragraphs: In England everybody thought the whole story was funny. The English people thought it showed that the stereotype (idea) they had about Germans was right, i.e. that they were taught to obey orders and not to think.

paragraphs: After Voigt had been pardoned and let out of jail he spent his remaining years travelling to many countries including United States and Canada where he told people about his great adventure. He appeared in small theatres and signed lots of photographs. A waxwork was made of him in Madame Tussaud's museum in London.

paragraphs: In 1910, he moved to Luxembourg and worked as a waiter and shoemaker. Two years later, he bought a house and retired, but the inflation after World War I made him poor. Voigt died in Luxembourg.

paragraphs: Many plays and movies were written about him, including a play by the German author Carl Zuckmayer called "Der Hauptmann von Köpenick" (The Captain of Köpenick), Several movies were produced about the affair, including an English language adaptation by John Mortimer (1971).


title: Hittites

paragraphs: The Hittites were an ancient people from Anatolia who spoke an Indo-European language. They established a kingdom centered at Hattusha in north-central Anatolia from the 18th century BC.

paragraphs: At its peak, the Hittite Empire covered most of modern Turkey and Syria. This was under the reigns of Suppiluliuma I (~1350–1322) and Mursili II (~1321–1295 BC). They had up-and-down relationships with Ancient Egypt to the south, and the Assyrian Empire in Mesopotamia. They were a party to the first known peace treaty, which was made with Ramesses II of Egypt by Hattusili III in 1258 BC.

paragraphs: After 1180 BC, the empire disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some surviving until as late as the 8th century BC.

paragraphs: The Hittite Kingdom reached its zenith during the reign of Suppiluliuma I (~1350–1322). The kingdom of Mitanni, wracked by civil war, was unable to withstand the Hittite onslaught. Suppiluliuma swiftly attacked the Mitanni heartland, capturing and plundering the Mitanni capital of Washshuganni. He then turned west, recrossed the Euphrates and captured all the Syrian kingdoms which were vassals to the Mitanni, including Aleppo, Mukish, Niya, Qatna, Upi (Upina), and Kadesh. Other kingdoms such as Ugarit and Amurru (an Egyptian vassal) voluntarily became vassal states of the Hittites.

paragraphs: When hostilities flared up once more with Mitanni, Tulipinu, Suppiluliuma's son and viceroy at Aleppo invaded Carchemish but was unable to take the city. Suppiluliuma met with his son and then invaded Syria himself, laying siege to the city of Carchemish. Suppiluliuma broke the siege on the eighth day, installing his son Piyassili as viceroy of the kingdom. With his sons as viceroys of Aleppo and Carchemish, Suppiluliuma had cemented his rule over Syria and brought the empire of Mitanni to an end. The Mitanni King was assassinated soon after.

paragraphs: When Tutankhamun, the Egyptian Pharaoh died,his widow asked to marry one of Suppiluliuma's sons. He agreed, and sent his son Zannanza to Egypt to marry the queen. However, Zannanza was assassinated en route to Egypt. Suppiluliuma was furious and blamed the new Egyptian Pharaoh Ay for his son's death. A Hittite army under crown prince Arnuwanda invaded Egyptian territory from Syria, pillaging and taking many prisoners. These prisoners brought with them a plague which ravaged the Hittite Kingdom continuing well into Mursili's reign and may have killed Suppiluliuma himself.

paragraphs: Mursili II was young and inexperienced, but he proved to be a strong king. In the first years of his reign he carried out punitive campaigns against several kingdoms. In Syria the Nuhashshi king Tette rebelled and was joined by Egyptian troops. Troubles in Syria continued when Mursili's brothers Tulipinu and Piyassili both died. The loss of his Syrian viceroys led to rebellion and even the invasion of Carchemish by Assyria. Leaving his generals to deal with Syria and Haysa, Mursili invaded Carchemish and drove out the Assyrians. Later in his reign Mursili II campaigned against the Kaska once again retaking the Hittite holy city of Niniveh. He also decisively defeating the King of Tummanna.


title: Suppiluliuma II

paragraphs: Suppiluliuma II, the son of Tudhaliya IV, was the last known king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite Empire, ruling 1207 BCE – c.1178 BCE, contemporary with Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyira.

paragraphs: He is known from two inscriptions in hieroglyphics. They record wars against former vassal Tarhuntassa, and against Alasiya in Cyprus.

paragraphs: After the fall, the Kaskians were probably in control of Hatti. Hattusa itself was destroyed, its site only re-occupied by a Phrygian fortress some 500 years later.


title: Battle of Rhandeia

paragraphs: The Battle of Rhandeia was a battle fought between Armenia and Parthia against the Roman Empire. It was fought just after the Mithridatic Wars. The Romans were led by Lucius Caesennius Paetus. They were defeated by the Parthian-Armenian army led by Tiridates I of Armenia.

paragraphs: The Parthians made Tiridates the King of Armenia. He was the brother of the Parthian king Vologases I. Tiridates replaced Tigranes, a Roman ally, as king. The Romans fought to take back the throne, but were forced into surrender at Rhandeia (autumn 62).


title: Hydrochloric acid

paragraphs: Hydrochloric acid is a chemical compound. It is a solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl) gas that is dissolved in water. In the past, people called it muriatic acid. It is widely used in industry, and it is also made by the stomach to help digest food. Hydrochloric acid, like all acids, react with bases to produce salts (chlorides).

paragraphs: In high concentrations, hydrochloric acid can make acidic mists. Both the mist and the solution hurt human tissue. They are caustic, and can cause chemical burns. These can damage the eyes, the skin, the respiratory system, and other organs of the human body.

paragraphs: When hydrochloric acid is mixed with certain chemicals such as bleach, the toxic gas chlorine is made. When working with hydrochloric acid, certain safety measures should be taken. These include using rubber or PVC gloves, wearing goggles to protect the eyes, as well as special clothing that is resistant to chemicals.

paragraphs: Hydrochloric acid reacts with some metals, corroding them and making flammable hydrogen gas.

paragraphs: The risks of coming in contact with hydrochloric acid depend on its concentration. The following table lists the EU classification of hydrochloric acid solutions:

paragraphs: The Environmental Protection Agency says hydrochloric acid is a toxin.


title: Kobayr monastery

paragraphs: Kobayr (Armenian: Կոբայր) is a 12th century Armenian Apostolic Church monastery. It is located in the village Kober within Lori marz, Armenia.

paragraphs: Kobayr was built on a shelf of a gorge by the princes of the junior Bagratuni branch, Kyurikids in 1171. The monastery was later acquired by the Zakarids and converted into a Chalcedonian monastery. Many of the writings in the monastery are written in Georgian.

paragraphs: The monastery is being fixed and paid for by the government of Armenia with the help of the government of Italy. The ruins of the main church in the monastery contain frescoes of Christ and the twelve apostles as well as the Church fathers and other Christian figures.


title: Hnevank

paragraphs: Hnevank (, means old monastery) is a 7th century Armenian Apostolic Church monastery. It is near the city of Stepanavan in the Lori marz of Armenia. The monastery is on a hill within a gorge, near where the Dzoraget and Gargar rivers join.

paragraphs: The monastery was all rebuilt by lord Smbat of the House of Orbelian, a branch of the Liparitids who were removed to Armenia in the late 12th century from Georgia. Liparitids were themselves a branch of the Mamikonians. Smbat was the ancestor of the Armenian princes of Syunik. Georgian writings around the drum attests his name. The monastery has a gavit and various service buildings around the site. The government of Armenia has recently begun fixing the monastery. The broken dome of the main church has been restored entirely.


title: Huntington's disease

paragraphs: Huntington's disease is a genetic disorder. It affects the brain and gets worse over time. This can lead to problems with moving, memory loss as well as thinking skills. Lastly, it also causes changes in behavior. Chorea is one of the main symptoms of Huntington's disease. On average, the disease leads to death about fifteen years after the first signs of the illness show. It is found in about 6 in 100,000 people. There is a 50% chance of inheriting this disease from the parents.

paragraphs: The disease is named after George Huntington. George Huntington specialized in medicine and psychology. In 1872, he was the first to describe the medical condition he was seeing in patients in a paper about science. In an 1908 review, an important scientist who also focused on medicine and psychology, William Osler said about this paper: "In the history of medicine, there are few instances in which a disease has been more accurately, more graphically or more briefly described."

paragraphs: According to Huntington, the disease is characterized by three things: it is inherited; people who have it become cases for psychiatry (insanity and people who kill themselves); and it only occurs in adults. That was the medical understanding at that time. Of these, the last one is wrong: some children also show signs of the disease.

paragraphs: Symptoms of Huntington's disease usually begin between the ages of 35 and 44 years. They can, however, start in any age group from babies to old age. Also, Huntington's disease kills the cells in the body and brain.

paragraphs: In fact, children with Huntington's disease are often much sicker. They get worse faster. Instead of having chorea, they usually have rigidity (or stiffness) of their muscles and it is painful. Seizures (uncontrollable movements in the body) are also a common sign in children.

paragraphs: In 2015, there is still no treatment for the disease itself. There are medicines available to help with some of the symptoms. Tetrabenazine was approved in 2008 by the FDA. This medicine helps slow some of the restless movements of chorea. Other medicines that can help with psychiatric symptoms and movements are benzodiazepines and anticonvulsants usually taken for seizures.

paragraphs: Science Daily reported on May 6, 2019 that an international clinical trial has found a new drug is safe. It reported that the drug used by UBC researchers successfully lowers levels of Huntingtin protein.


title: Adenoidectomy

paragraphs: Adenoidectomy is the process of taking out a person's adenoids from the back of their throat through the process of surgery. They may be removed for several reasons, including difficulty breathing through the nose and having ear infections. The surgery is common in young kids. The procedure is usually performed using a substance called anaesthesia (Greek for "without sensation"), and the substance puts a person to sleep when it is applied. Recovery time from the operation can vary from several hours to a few days.

paragraphs: Adenoidectomy is usually done on young children because their adenoids were infected by a virus. If the disease was to be left alone, it would worsen. The affected person could have harder times breathing or hearing, and may possibly be killed from the disease. Normally functioning adenoids help maintain the body's healthy immune system during early childhood. They shrink when a person gets older. When a person becomes an adult, their adenoids completely disappear.


paragraphs: The Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission was made in 2001 to help Turkey and Armenia be closer. The main goal was to make the governments more active.


title: ROT13

paragraphs: ROT13 (or ROT-13) is a very simple form of encryption cipher. It is a variant of a Caesar cipher. In it, the alphabet is written in two lines, of 13 characters each. Encryption, and decryption is done by simply switching the letters that are below each other. That way, "A" becomes "N", "B" becomes "O", and so on.

paragraphs: ROT13 can also be used for letter games. There are some words, that will produce another existing word, when they are treated with ROT13. The longest example in the English language is the pair of 7-letter words abjurer and nowhere; there is also the 7-letter pair chechen and purpura. Other examples of words like these are shown in the table.

paragraphs: The 1989 International Obfuscated C Code Contest (IOCCC) had an entry by Brian Westley. Westley's computer program can be ROT13'd or reversed and still compiles correctly. Its operation, when executed, is either to perform ROT13 encoding on, or to reverse its input.

paragraphs: The newsgroup "alt.folklore.urban" made a word—furrfu. It was the ROT13 encoding of the frequently encoded utterance "sheesh". "Furrfu" evolved in mid-1992 as a response to postings repeating urban myths on alt.folklore.urban, after some posters complained that "Sheesh!" as a response to newcomers was being overused.


title: Tony Kahn

paragraphs: Tony Kahn is an American radiohost, narrator, and writer who has won many awards. He is the son of Hollywood movie writer Gordon Kahn.

paragraphs: Kahn was born in Los Angeles, California. His father was placed on a list of people with political beliefs that some people thought were not acceptable. This happened during a time in American history known as the Red Scare. The Red Scare is a term used to describe a time during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States when people were accused of (often wrongly) being communists.

paragraphs: Because of the Red Scare, Kahn had to leave Los Angeles with his family. They went to Mexico during the 1950s. They returned after a few years and Kahn went to school at Harvard University where he studied the Russian language. He graduated with very good grades. He then went to Columbia University where he got a masters degree -- an advanced academic degree or diploma -- in Slavic studies.

paragraphs: Tony Kahn is known for his work in radio. He produces and directs a radio show called "Morning Stories" for the radio station WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. He has also contributed to other radio shows such as Minnesota Public Radio's "The World". On "The World", Kahn is sometimes the host and sometimes a reporter. He has won twelve New England Emmys, six Gold Medals of the New York International Festival and an award called the Edward R. Murrow Award for Feature Reporting.


title: DDT

paragraphs: DDT is a well-known pesticide. The abbreviation stands for Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane, one of its names. The Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948, for his discovery. In the 1960s there was a study that questioned if it was good to spread large amounts of DDT indiscriminately. The study also found that DDT could cause cancer. DDT is also highly poisonous to birds and other animals further up the food chain. This is why DDT was replaced by other pesticides. The Stockholm Convention which took effect in 2004, restricts the use of DDT to vector control. The convention does not affect the use of DDT for public health issues. This is because there are very few affordable alternatives. DDT is still widely used in India, North Korea and possibly elsewhere.<ref name="DDTBP.1/2"></ref>


title: Nucleobase

paragraphs: Nucleobases are important for genetics. They are parts of RNA and DNA that may be involved in pairing (see base pair).

paragraphs: They include cytosine, guanine, adenine, thymine in (DNA), uracil in (RNA) and xanthine and hypoxanthine (mutated forms of guanine and adenine). These are abbreviated as C, G, A, T, U, X and HX . They are usually simply called bases in genetics. Because A, G, C and T appear in the DNA, these molecules are called DNA-bases; A, G, C and U are called RNA-bases.


title: Kėdainiai

paragraphs: Kėdainiai is a town in the centre of Lithuania. The river Nevėžis passes by the town. More than 30.000 people live here. Kėdainiai has an old town with a lot of churches. Also, Kėdainiai is a centre of industry, especially chemistry.


title: Base pair

paragraphs: In molecular biology, two nucleotides on opposite complementary DNA strands that are connected by hydrogen bonds are called a base pair (often abbreviated bp).

paragraphs: In DNA pairing, adenine (A) forms a base pair with thymine (T),

paragraphs: Guanine (G) pairs with cytosine (C) in DNA, to form a G/C base pair.


title: Complementarity (molecular biology)

paragraphs: In molecular biology, complementarity is a property (something that it can do) of nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA. Each nucleotide has a nitrogenous base, and each nitrogenous base can pair up with the nitrogenous base from another different nucleotide. One can say that the nitrogenous base is complementary to the other in that the base pairs between them are non-covalently bonded by hydrogen bonds.

paragraphs: Since there is only one complementary base for any of the bases found in DNA and in RNA, enzymes can make a complementary strand from any single strand. This is needed for DNA replication.

paragraphs: For example, the complementary strand of the DNA sequence


title: Glissando

paragraphs: In music a glissando is a slide up or down the notes of a scale. The plural is “glissandi”. In written music the instruction to the player is often shortened to “gliss”. The word comes from the French “glisser” = “to slide”.

paragraphs: With the singing voice, or with an instrument such as the trombone or a string instrument a glissando is a smooth slide in which the pitch gradually changes, becoming higher and higher. The trombonist can make a glissando by blowing whilst pushing out or pulling in the slide. The violinist can make a glissando by sliding a finger up or down the fingerboard.

paragraphs: With instruments such as the piano, xylophone or harp a glissando is a quick slide in which we hear one note after another because the pitches between the notes cannot be played. On the piano there are two ways to play a glissando: either on the white notes or on the black notes. At the end of the piano piece called "Ondine" from "Gaspard de la Nuit" by Maurice Ravel both these types of glissando can be heard. The pianist has to play a glissando with tips of the fingers or the finger nails. It can be quite painful to practise them a lot. Harpists are very fond of playing glissandi. By changing the position of the harp pedals a harpist can change the scale which will sound when the glissando is played.

paragraphs: Many modern timpani have pedals which tighten or slacken the drum head. These can be used to make a glissando. The Hungarian composer Béla Bartók often used this effect.

paragraphs: Some jazz clarinettists manage to play a glissando on the clarinet. They do this by gradually changing the way they blow whilst at the same time gradually lifting all the fingers off the keys. George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" starts with a glissando on the solo clarinet.

paragraphs: When composers write a glissando they write the first and the last note, and then put a long, straight line between the notes, and write the word “glissando” or “gliss”.


title: Almudena Cathedral

paragraphs: The Almudena Cathedral (Spanish: Catedral de la Almudena) is a Catholic cathedral in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the newest landmarks in Madrid. It is on a hilltop, next to the Royal Palace.

paragraphs: It was designed as long ago as 1879, but then the plans were changed to make it look like a 13th-century cathedral like the one in Rheims. Building started in 1882, but during the Spanish Civil War no more work was done do it, and the building was not finished until the 1980s. The architects who finished it, Fernando Chueca Goitia and Carlos Sidro, made some of the building look neo classical style. It was consecrated in 1993 by Pope John Paul II.

paragraphs: From the front of the cathedral, visitors can see parts of the old city wall which was built in the 9th century.

paragraphs: In May 2004 Prince Felipe, the heir to the throne, married Doña Letitia Ortiz Rocasolano in the cathedral. She was a newsreader on Spanish television.


title: KIO Towers

paragraphs: The Puerta de Europa towers (Gate of Europe or Europe's Gate or just Torres KIO) are two office buildings in Madrid. They were built in 1996 by the Kuwait Investments Office (KIO) now owned by Caja Madrid and Realia Business. Each building is 115m tall and leans 15º. They are located near Plaza de Castilla.


title: Portamento

paragraphs: In music, portamento is a gradual slide from one note to another. It is very similar to a glissando, but a glissando is deliberately written in the music by the composer and may be a long slide between two or three octaves or more. A portamento is a much shorter slide, usually between two notes which are quite close. Opera singers often used to slide from one note of a tune to another instead of singing each note separately and clearly. The habit of putting in portamento between notes spread to other instruments as well. When listening to recordings of violin playing from the early 20th century we can hear that the players used a lot of portamento.

paragraphs: Over the last half century portamento has gone out of fashion and singers and instrumentalists are taught not to slide from one note to another. However, there are some places, especially in opera, where it can be effective so long as it is not done all the time. It is a matter of taste.


title: Hydrogen bond

paragraphs: A hydrogen bond is a low kind type of dipole-dipole bond that exists between an electronegative molecule and a hydrogen molecule bonded to another electronegative molecule. This type of bond always involves a hydrogen atom. That explains the name.

paragraphs: Hydrogen bonds can occur between molecules ("intermolecularly"), or within different parts of a single molecule ("intramolecularly"). The typical hydrogen bond is stronger than van der Waals forces, but weaker than covalent, ionic and metallic bonds.

paragraphs: Intermolecular hydrogen bonding is responsible for the high boiling point of water (100 °C). Most molecules with hydrogen bonding have high boiling points and melting points. Because hydrogen bonds are what make water stick together so well, they also help other molecules that can make hydrogen bonds dissolve in water. This is because the molecules form bonds with the hydrogen in the water, too, helping them dissolve.


title: Thalidomide

paragraphs: Thalidomide is a drug. It was used as a sedative. It also had uses for other illnesses.

paragraphs: It was mainly prescribed to pregnant women in the 1950s and 1960s, to help with sleep, until it was found to be a teratogen (that is: birth deformity causing substance). The drug can cause birth defects in rats, primates and humans. Before the drug was released, not enough tests were done.

paragraphs: About 10,000 children were born with deformities, between 1956, and 1962. These could be directly linked to the fact that their mothers had taken the drug during their pregnancy. After this discovery, more rigorous tests were required in the United States, before a drug can be said to be safe to take during pregnancy. Other countries made similar laws. Thalidomide was not used as a drug for decades.

paragraphs: Researchers continued to look for ways to use the drug. They discovered that it had good effects on certain types of skin diseases, associated with leprosy. Currently, studies are being done to see how this drug could help with cancer treatment, as well as some other, less-known diseases. It has been used in Multiple myeloma treatment with success.


title: United Arab Republic

paragraphs: The United Arab Republic was a country formed in 1957 when Egypt and Syria joined together. Gamal Abdel Nasser was the president. When they separated in 1961, Egypt kept the name of United Arab Republic until 1971 when the official name of the country was changed to Arab Republic of Egypt.


title: Drop goal

paragraphs: A drop goal, also referred to as a dropped goal or field goal, is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball above the crossbar and between the uprights. A drop goal is worth three points in rugby union and one point in rugby league.


title: Southern Rhodesia

paragraphs: Southern Rhodesia was the a self-governing British colony in southern Africa. It existed at various times during the 20th century. It covered territory north of the Limpopo River and south of the Zambezi River.


title: Displacement

paragraphs: Displacement is a word. It means that something is moved. More specifically, this movement can be: