title: Traditional animation

paragraphs: Traditional animation is much harder than today's style of animation. It often uses a stop-motion camera to "liven", or animate, the photos made by the producer. When movie-makers use stop-motion, they need to draw one picture for every scene. However, there are tools to help save time with movie-making. Other types of animation, such as limited or digital animation, can also be used now. FPS is the number of times a movie is shot in one second.

paragraphs: The photographer first shoots out or edits many photos. These photos are combined to make the storyline. And as with all movies, not all scenes make it into the final movie.

paragraphs: Many people help out in the editing of a movie. But in old times, people had to draw the scenes on their own. Then the stop-motion camera took a photo of a scene once a second.

paragraphs: Most movies or cartoons in the 1950's required very hard work of the editors. To make things cheaper, though, people made limited animation that used two to three copies of the same image (so the stop-motion process would be two to three times faster.)

paragraphs: Right now movie-makers use digital animation to "liven the movie even more". Movies from the 2000 to 2010 years are usually 1–2 hours long.

paragraphs: FPS, or "frames per second", is the number of scenes being shot in one second. The higher this is, the more "smooth" the film looks. Most movies have an FPS of 24 to 60.

paragraphs: Cels, or celluloids, are tools used to "preserve" scenes. An editor uses a cell to draw a scene then make changes to it on the next drawing. It is useful when a cartoon or movie involves moving figures or objects.

paragraphs: Sometimes a sketch pad is used to draft the scenes the editors think would be good in the movie. A sketchpad at first may contain a comic book that looks like an animation when the editors flip it back and forth.

paragraphs: Often editors preview the animation with a video shower. On the stream of scenes, movie-makers test their animation and fix bugs or problems.


title: Milarepa

paragraphs: Milarepa (c. 1052—1135) is the most famous yogi, poet and Buddhist saint of Tibet. A collection of his teachings in the form of poetic songs called "The Hundred Thousand songs of Milarepa", and his biography "The Life of Milarepa" are two of the most popular books in Tibet.

paragraphs: Milarepa was a student of Marpa and the teacher of Gampopa. Together these three (Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa) are considered to be the founders of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

paragraphs: Milarepa was born in the village of Kya Ngatsa in the Gungthang province of western Tibet to a family of farmers. He was named Mila Thöpaga, which means ""Mila, a joy to hear."" When his father died, Milarepa's uncle and aunt took all of the family's wealth and property and mistreated Milarepa, his mother and sister. At his mother's urging, Milarepa left home and studied magic so that he could take revenge on his uncle and aunt.

paragraphs: While his aunt and uncle were having a party to celebrate the marriage of their son, Mila took his revenge by summoning a great hail storm to demolish their house, which killed 35 people. The villagers were angry and set off to look for Milarepa, but his mother got word to him and he sent anther hailstorm to destroy their crops.

paragraphs: Mila later came to regret his evil actions and so became determined to practice the Buddha's teachings. Setting out to find a teacher, he was eventually led to Marpa the translator. Marpa proved a harsh task master. Before Marpa would teach Mila, he had him build and then demolish three towers in turn and go through many other trials. Eventually Mila was granted the teachings of the Six Yogas of Naropa and Mahamudra. After practicing these teacings very diligently for twelve years in remote Himalayan caves of Tibet and Nepal, Mila attained the complete enlightenment. He is said to be the first to achieve this state within one lifetime. During his meditation practice he ate mostly nettle soup which made his skin turn green, and wore only a single cotton robe. He became known as Milarepa, which means the "Mila, the cotton clad one".

paragraphs: Later Milarepa become a wandering teacher and attracted many disciples, of whom the most well known were Rechungpa and Gampopa. Rechungpa followed the yogic lifestyle of his teacher while Gampopa, a Kadampa monk, eventually established a monastery a Daglha Gampo which became the first Kagyu institution. Later Gampopa's immediate disciples and their successors established the various branches of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.


title: The Pillars of the Earth

paragraphs: The Pillars of the Earth is a history novel set in the 12th century written in 1989 by Ken Follett. The book is currently being made into a film of four parts. 2007 Ken Follett published a sequel to the book entitled "World Without End.


title: Galactic quadrant

paragraphs: A galactic quadrant is one of four sectors of the Milky Way galaxy.

paragraphs: A galactic quadrant is also a fictional area in the television show "Star Trek". In the television show the Milky Way Galaxy is split into four sections. These sections are the Alpha Quadrant, Beta Quadrant, Gamma Quadrant, and Delta Quadrant.


title: Quinn Sullivan

paragraphs: Quinn Sullivan (born March 26, 1999) is an American child prodigy from New Bedford MA. He plays the guitar.

paragraphs: Sullivan began taking guitar lessons at age three. He has studied with Brian Cass of The Overclock Orchestra and the Toe Jam Puppet Band as well as Stan Belmarce. The first original song he wrote with Chris Waters was titled "Sing, Dance, Clap Your Hands". Sullivan first gained national media attention at age six when he appeared on "The Ellen Degeneres Show". Sullivan gained more notoriety when Buddy Guy asked him to come on stage and play during a performance at the Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 2007. Quinn has since performed on stage with Guy as well as with B.B. King and has played in venues such as the Beacon Theatre in New York City, the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, and Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago. In 2008, Sullivan appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and was featured on NBC's "The Today Show" in July 2009. In 2009, Sullivan opened for Buddy Guy on his East Coast tour during the summer, played his own set at the popular summer music festival Lollapalooza, as well as the Austin City Limits Festival in October.

paragraphs: Sullivan makes a guest appearance on Buddy Guy’s Grammy-nominated album "Skin Deep", released in 2008. Sullivan's solo can be heard on the track “Who’s Gonna Fill Those Shoes”. Sullivan's single, "Summer of Love", was released in 2009.


title: Yellowfin tuna

paragraphs: The yellowfin tuna ("Thunnus albacares") is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide.

paragraphs: Yellowfin is often marketed as ahi, from its name ʻahi although the name ʻahi in Hawaiian also refers to the closely related bigeye tuna. Although the species name "albacares" might suggest otherwise, the fish usually known as albacore is a different species of tuna. The yellowfin tuna is sometimes referred to as albacore by French and Portuguese fishermen. It is the National fish of the Maldives.


title: Chowder

paragraphs: Chowder is the name of a soup usually made with fish or mussels. It is especially popular in the United States.


title: Malcolm Rifkind

paragraphs: Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British Conservative Party politician. He hold cabinet positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. He was the Chairman for the Intelligence and Security Committee and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Kensington.

paragraphs: Malcolm Rifkind was born in Edinburgh into a Jewish family from Lithuania. He first became a Conservative MP at the February 1974 General Election for the constituency of Edinburgh Pentlands. He was first made a cabinet minister in 1979 and served constantly through 18 years of Conservative government.

paragraphs: At the 1997 General Election, Malcolm Rifkind lost his seat to the Labour Party. He tried but failed to regain the seat at the 2001 General Election and re-entered parliament in 2005 as the MP for Kensington. Rifkind left parliament in 2015.


title: Brandon Jennings

paragraphs: Brandon Jennings (born September 23, 1989 in Compton, California) is an American basketball player. He plays point guard for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played basketball in Italy for Lottomatica Roma of the Italian Lega A.


title: Red wolf

paragraphs: The red wolf ("Canis rufus") is a subspecies of wolf. It is an endangered species of wolf from Eastern North America.

paragraphs: Red wolves were declared extinct in the wild in 1980 after the few remaining wild wolves were placed in a captive breeding program. Reintroduced to the wild in 1987 in northeastern North Carolina, red wolves began to recover, but the population is rapidly diminishing as of late 2016.

paragraphs: The red wolf is smaller than a gray wolf and larger than a coyote. It is slender and long-legged, and it lives in the wild only on the Albemarle Peninsula in North Carolina. It hunts small mammals, rodents, and white-tailed deer.

paragraphs: There is a lot of controversy about its taxonomy, which is not settled yet.


title: Ocelot

paragraphs: The ocelot ("Leopardus pardalis") is a small mammal, one of nine species in the genus "Leopardus".

paragraphs: It lives in South and Central America, as far up as Mexico. It has been reported as far north as Texas and in Trinidad, in the Caribbean. These fast cats eat small mammals, birds, fish, and snakes. They are very good swimmers.

paragraphs: Once hunted for its beautiful fur, the cat is now protected and listed as 'least concern' by the IUCN Red List. The cat is nocturnal and likes forests and dense vegetation. It is very territorial, and will fight to keep its territory. Like many cats, male ocelots mark their territory by spraying urine.

paragraphs: Their kittens grow slowly, staying with their mother for up to two years. They have to learn how to catch prey before they can be independent.

paragraphs: Although a "small cat", it is a good deal bigger than the others. The ocelot ranges from in length, plus in tail length, and typically weighs . Larger ones have been reported. It is the largest of the generally dainty "Leopardus" wild cat genus.


title: Iteration

paragraphs: An iteration is a step where some action is repeated. In everyday life, an iteration is simply a repeated action, for example when someone says, "Do I have to re"iterate" myself?". In this case, the re"iteration" is what the person said and might say again. In computer science, an iteration is one run through a block of code that is repeated multiple times. In fractal geometry, an iteration is one application of the set of rules of the fractal to create another stage of the fractal. it is also used in computer programming.


title: Solar plexus

paragraphs: The solar plexus is a nerve plexus in the abdomen at the center of the body. The plexus is a complex of nerves which serves various organs in the central part of the body. It is also known as the celiac plexus Celiac plexus.


title: Dennis Brain

paragraphs: Dennis Brain (born 17 May 1921; died London, 1 September 1957) was a British horn player. During his short life he became world-famous. Many people thought of him as the greatest horn player ever. He made the horn very popular among classical music lovers in Britain. His recordings include the four horn concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which he recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

paragraphs: Dennis Brain was born in London on 17 May 1921. Several of his family were horn players, including his father Aubrey, his grandfather Alfred Edwin Brain Sr and his uncle Alfred Edwin Brain Jr. His mother Marion was a singer who had sung at Covent Garden. He had a brother Leonard who was 6 years older and who was to become an excellent oboe player.

paragraphs: Dennis started to learn the piano. He also played bugle in the school cadet band at Richmond Hill Preparatory School. From there he was sent to St Paul’s School in Kensington where he sang in the choir and played piano solos at concerts. In 1936 he left school and got a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where he learned the horn with his father as well as the piano and, from 1938, the organ. He learned a lot from his organ teacher G.D.Cunningham who had taught his uncle Alfred the piano some 40 years before.

paragraphs: Dennis’s first professional concert was at the Queen’s Hall in 1938 when he played Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no 1 together with his father (there are important solo parts for two horns in this music). Soon he was playing in other concerts and making gramophone recordings.

paragraphs: The outbreak of World War II in 1939 interrupted his last year of studies. All theatre halls and concert-halls were closed. He managed to get a job as principal horn with the RAF Central Band which were in Uxbridge in north-west London. Dennis was always a very friendly person who got on well with everybody. The older players in the band might not have liked a 17-year-old boy to have a principal’s job, but everybody realized he had exceptional skills. He played in concerts whenever possible. There were lunch-hour concerts in the National Gallery during the war, and he often played in these. He started to become famous. He met Benjamin Britten and he persuaded him to compose his "Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings". He performed it in 1943 with the tenor Peter Pears and they recorded it for Decca in 1944. He toured the USA with the RAF Orchestra. Several conductors heard him and wanted Brain to join their orchestra.

paragraphs: By 1945, Brain was the most famous horn player in England. He was still only 24. His father hurt himself in a fall and could not play much. Dennis took over some of his work. After the war two new orchestras were formed in London: the Philharmonia and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Brain was made principal horn player in both. Later, he left the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra because he did not have time.

paragraphs: Brain played a lot of chamber music, forming a wind quintet with his brother in 1946. This group got bigger and toured to Germany, Italy and Austria. Brain also started a trio with the pianist Wilfrid Parry and violinist Jean Pougnet. The trio toured Scotland twice and there were plans to tour Australia in the winter of 1957.

paragraphs: In November 1953 Brain recorded the Mozart Horn Concertos Nos. 1–4 for EMI with the Philharmonia Orchestra with Karajan conducting. He kept up his organ playing (his teacher had hoped he would become an organist) and in July 1954, again conducted by Karajan, Brain performed the organ part in a recording of the Easter hymn from Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana".

paragraphs: In 1955 Brain became known to millions of people when he presented a radio program called "The Early Horn".

paragraphs: Brain had a good sense of humour. Among the many concerts he played in was a music festival in 1956 which celebrated the life of Gerard Hoffnung, the artist who had drawn many cartoons about music. Dennis played a Leopold Mozart horn concerto by blowing through rubber hose pipes. He cut the hose to the length he needed with garden shears so that it was perfectly in tune.

paragraphs: Brain was known for being careless. The horn he played for many years had lots of dents in it because he kept knocking it or dropping it. Benjamin Britten gave him a second copy of music for a new work he had written. Inside he wrote: "For Dennis - in case he loses the other one". His Alexander horn was badly damaged in his fatal crash. Normally it would have been thrown away, but it was saved and was restored by Paxmans of London and can be seen in the Royal Academy of Music's free museum.

paragraphs: Brain often asked composers to write new works for him to perform. Many composers wrote for him without even being asked. Among them were Benjamin Britten "Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings", "Canticle III", Malcolm Arnold "Horn Concerto No. 2", Paul Hindemith "Concerto for Horn and Orchestra", York Bowen "Concerto for Horn, Strings and Timpani", Peter Racine Fricker "Horn Sonata" (Dennis was at school with Peter), Gordon Jacob "Concerto for Horn and String Orchestra", Mátyás Seiber "Notturno" for Horn and Strings", Humphrey Searle "Aubade" for Horn and Strings, Ernest Tomlinson "Rhapsody and Rondo" for Horn and Orchestra, "Romance and Rondo" for Horn and Orchestra, Lennox Berkeley "Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano" and Elisabeth Lutyens.

paragraphs: Brain also made the two horn concertos by Richard Strauss very popular. He was the second to perform the "Horn Concerto No. 2" in public in 1948.

paragraphs: Apart from horns Dennis had one big passion: he loved cars. At orchestral rehearsals he often had a car magazine on the music stand instead of his music (he knew the music from memory anyway). His first car was an open Morris 8 with two seats. He shared it during the war with his brother to motor from Uxbridge into London. Later he had several cars. Whenever a car did not work he bought another instead of repairing it. He loved to drive and would often drive all the way home after a concert even if it was 100s of miles. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf let him drive her huge Hudson saloon car over the Gotthard Pass in Switzerland when it was officially closed because of heavy snow. On another occasion Herbert von Karajan let him drive his Mercedes 300SL. Once he bought a very rare 1939 12-cylinder Lagonda, but he soon crashed it and it could not be repaired. Other cars included a Citroen and a green TR2 sports car.

paragraphs: On 31 August 1957 Dennis was at the Edinburgh Festival playing a concert in the Usher Hall. The Philharmonia Orchestra were playing Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique" with the conductor Eugene Ormandy. Unusually that day he seemed tired and Ormandy told him he should get more rest. But Dennis had a recording session the next morning in London, so after the concert he got into his car (his TR2), put his horn on the back seat and set off on the 380-mile journey back home.

paragraphs: It was about 6.00am the next morning when he was near London. It was raining heavily and he was on the A1 at the Barnet by-pass. According to witnesses he was travelling very fast when he came to a bend, the car left the road, turned over and crashed into a tree. The car was a complete wreck. Dennis was dead. He was 36 years old. He was buried at Hampstead Cemetery in London.

paragraphs: Whenever Dennis played his horn is sounded easy and effortless. It had an extraordinary lyrical beauty and was always incredibly musical. He was a very sensitive player who listened very carefully to the other players and blended in with them. At first he played a French instrument, a Raoux piston-valve horn, similar to that used by his father. This type of instrument has a lovely smooth tone, but was less powerful than the German-made instruments which had become popular since the 1920s. In 1951 he changed to single B instrument made by Alexander, which was not quite as wide as the usual German instruments, still keeping the lighter sound of French horns.

paragraphs: Dennis had made the horn very popular as an instrument, not just through his concerts and recordings but also through the radio. He played difficult music that other horn players could not play. His Mozart recordings inspired Flanders and Swann's "Ill Wind" and his classical playing. His sudden death added to the musical legend.


title: Aubrey Brain

paragraphs: Aubrey Brain (born London 12 July 1893; died London 21 September 1955) was a British French horn player. There were a lot of French horn players in his family. His father, Alfred Edwin Brain senior, played in Henry Wood’s orchestra at the very first prom in 1895. Later he played for the London Symphony Orchestra. His brother, also called Alfred Edwin Brain, was principal horn player in Henry Wood’s Queen’s Hall Orchetra, but then he emigrated to the USA where he eventually played for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His son Dennis Brain was to become the most famous French horn player of all.

paragraphs: Aubrey Brain was born in London in 1893. He started to learn the horn from his father. In 1911 he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. He soon became one of Britain’s best horn players. The other great players of the French horn were his father, his elder brother and Adolf Borsdorf. He became principal horn player of the Beecham Opera Company. There he met Marion Beeley, a mezzo-soprano. They married in the summer of 1914 just before the World War I. When war broke out he joined the Welsh Guards and played horn in the band. After the war it was difficult for him at first to find a really good job as horn player . The best horn jobs were already taken by his brother Alfred. Aubrey and Marion had two sons: Leonard (born 1915) and Dennis (born 1921). However, in 1922 Alfred emigrated to the United States. Aubrey soon became first horn of the Royal Philharmonic Society (his father played second horn), and first horn of the Queen’s Hall Orchestra. He was also first horn in the New Symphony and soon he joined the orchestra of Covent Garden as principal horn. In 1923 he joined the London Symphony Orchestra.

paragraphs: In 1923 Borsdorf retired as professor of horn at the Royal Academy of Music, and Aubrey took his place. One of his first pupils was his younger brother Arthur. Although very talented Arthur decided not to take up horn playing professionally and joined the police. Later, Aubrey’s son Dennis was one of his students.

paragraphs: Aubrey had a very successful career, not only as principal horn player in several orchestras, but also as a soloist. He played Mozart’s Second Horn Concerto in 1923 at The Proms. His playing can be heard on several of the very early recordings when the LSO recorded for HMV. Several works were written for him, including the Concerto for French horn, Violin and orchestra by Dame Ethel Smythe. He played it very well, including the chords in the last movement (it is possible to play chords on the horn by humming one note and playing another note of the harmonic series). He played it at the Proms. The conductor Bruno Walter invited him to play it in Berlin. This made Aubrey the first British horn player to play a solo concerto abroad.

paragraphs: When the BBC Symphony Orchestra was started in 1930 Aubrey was their principal horn player. He was still principal horn player with the other big London orchestras (this would be impossible nowadays), but gradually his gave up these positions as the BBC Symphony Orchestra got more and more work and needed their players to be full time.

paragraphs: Aubrey played a French-type horn (a “Raoux horn”) which had a narrow-bore (the tube was very narrow). The German-type horn had a wider bode and made a slightly different sound. Playing on a Raoux horn there was more risk of a note cracking (not speaking properly). The German-type horn was becoming very popular in England, but Aubrey insisted that all the horn players in the BBC Symphony Orchestra continued to play on Raoux horns. Aubrey was a very skilled musician in chamber music and made a recording with the violinist Adolf Busch and the pianist Rudolf Serkin of the Brahms Horn Trio. It sold many copies and continued to sell for many years until the 78rpm records were replaced by long-playing records.

paragraphs: During the war Aubrey started to have health problems. He had a bad fall on Christmas Day 1940. Towards the end of the war he started to get blurred vision, his speech became slurred and he had strange feelings in his fingers and toes. He retired in 1945 after the first rehearsal for the Prom season. He still performed occasionally, usually together with his son Dennis. He died on 20 September 1955, three days after a bad fall which gave him a heart attack.

paragraphs: Aubrey Brain may be remembered less today because of the exceptional fame of his son Dennis. However, he was a very great horn player who helped to improve the standard of horn playing in Britain, both by his teaching and by the example of his performances. The recordings on which he can be heard were all made before the days of the LP. His older son Leonard became a well-known oboist.


title: Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport

paragraphs: Tweed New Haven Regional Airport , formerly known as Tweed-New Haven Airport, is a public airport southeast of the central business district of New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Tweed New Haven Regional Airport is currently owned by the City of New Haven. The airport property is in New Haven and the town of East Haven.

paragraphs: American Eagle provides daily non-stop service to Philadelphia, PA and weekly non-stop service to Charlotte, NC.


title: Bangor International Airport

paragraphs: Bangor International Airport is a public use passenger airport. It is 3 miles (5 km) west of the city of Bangor, Maine, United States. It is owned and operated by the City of Bangor. It used to be a military base called Dow Air Force Base. The airport has a single runway that is 11,439 ft (3486 m) long and 200 ft (60 m) wide.

paragraphs: The airport is used a lot because it's near the Great Circle Route, a major air route between Europe and the East Coast of the United States. The 'international' in the airport's name doesn't refer to it being close to Canada (to which it has no regular flights), but its role in travel across the Atlantic Ocean.

paragraphs: Bangor International Airport has passenger service on three airlines, Delta Airlines, Allegiant Air, and US Airways.


title: Vertebrate brain

paragraphs: The vertebrate brain is the main part of the central nervous system. In vertebrates (and most other animals) the brain is at the front, in the head. It is protected by the skull and close to the main senses of vision, hearing, balance, taste, and smell. As an animal moves forward, its senses collect data about the surroundings, and that data goes directly to the brain.

paragraphs: Brains are extremely complex. The brain controls the other organs of the body, either by activating muscles or by causing secretion of chemicals such as hormones and neurotransmitters. Muscular action allows rapid and coordinated responses to changes in the environment; hormones and the autonomic nervous system make slower changes in the body.

paragraphs: It is also a part of human and animal body. The brain of an adult human weights about 13001400 grams

paragraphs: In vertebrates, the spinal cord by itself can cause reflex responses as well as simple movement such as swimming or walking. However, sophisticated control of behaviour requires a centralized brain.

paragraphs: The structure of all vertebrate brains is basically the same. At the same time, during the course of evolution, the vertebrate brain has undergone changes, and become more effective. In so-called 'lower' animals, most or all of the brain structure is inherited, and therefore their behaviour is mostly instinctive. In mammals, and especially in man, the brain is developed further during life by learning. This has the benefit of helping them fit better into their environment. The capacity to learn is seen best in the cerebral cortex.

paragraphs: Several brain areas have kept their identities across the whole range of vertebrates, from hagfishes to humans. Here is a list of some of the most important areas, with a brief description of their functions as currently understood. These functions may still be disputed to some degree. Starting from the back (or, in humans, the underneath part) the regions are:

paragraphs: The relationship between brain size, body size and other variables has been studied in a wide range of vertebrate species. Brain size increases with body size but not proportionally.

paragraphs: Averaging across all mammals, it follows a power law, with an exponent of about 0.75. This formula applies to the average brain of mammals but each family departs from it, reflecting their sophistication of behavior. For example, primates have brains 5 to 10 times as large as the formula predicts. Predators tend to have larger brains. When the mammalian brain increases in size, not all parts increase at the same rate. The larger the brain of a species, the greater the fraction taken up by the neocortex.


title: Cassiterite

paragraphs: Cassiterite is a mineral. Its chemical formula is SnO. It contains tin dioxide. It is black because of impurities. It is the main ore of tin. Its Mohs hardness is 6-7.


title: Group 14 element

paragraphs: The Group 14 elements, also known as the carbon group and the Group IV elements, is a group of elements on the periodic table. Each element has 4 valence electrons. Only carbon makes anions. Silicon and germanium are semimetals. Tin and lead are poor metals. Ununquadium, a radioactive element, is not stable enough to see its properties. All of them can form +4 oxidation state compounds. Tin and lead can form +2 compounds, too.


title: Burst kinetics

paragraphs: Burst kinetics is a form of enzyme kinetics. Upon adding enzyme to substrate, a large initial velocity is exhibited that levels off once all enzymes have been saturated. At this point enzyme velocity linearly increases. The initial high velocity is called the burst phase.


title: U.S. Route 2

paragraphs: U.S. Route 2 is a highway that has two parts. The western part begins in Everett, Washington and ends in St. Ignace, Michigan. The eastern part begins in Rouses Point, New York and ends in Houlton, Maine. For much of its route, Route 2 runs near the U.S.-Canadian border. Part of it follows the Theodore Roosevelt Highway. It goes through Glacier National Park


title: U.S. Route 3

paragraphs: U.S. Route 3 is a highway that travels from Cambridge, Massachusetts to the Canadian border.


title: Tunak Tunak Tun

paragraphs: Tunak Tunak Tun is an Indian pop song released in 1998. It has become an internet meme. It was made because most of Daler Mehndi's other videos have women dancing. Some people said that was the only reason his music was popular. This one has just him but became a success anyway. It has used bluescreen technology.


title: Todd Bodine

paragraphs: Todd Bodine (February 27, 1964 in Chemung, New York) is an American racecar driver. Bodine was given the nickname The Onion because of his bald head. Bodine drives the #30 Toyota Tundra for Germain Racing in the Camping World Truck Series. Todd Bodine has two Camping World Truck Series championships.

paragraphs: Bodine drove in his first NASCAR Busch Series race in 1986, for Pistone Racing at Martinsville. He started and finished the race in 27th after his car had an engine problem.

paragraphs: Bodine did not race in the Busch Series again until 1990, when he drove in eight races for Diamond Ridge Motorsports in the #42 and #81 Ames Pontiac. His first race of the year was again at Martinsville. In 1991, Bodine decided to drive his first full season for Frank Cicci. He won one race and had 15 top ten finishes. At the end of the year, Bodine was 7th in points.

paragraphs: Bodine drove in his first Winston Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International Raceway on August 9, 1992. He drove the #34 Ford Thunderbird for Cicci-Welliver Racing, finishing 37th. He drove his first full season in the Winston Cup Series series in 1994 when he raced for Butch Mock Motorsports. He raced the #75 Ford Thunderbird sponsored by Factory Stores. He missed one race that season and had two Top 5 and 7 Top 10 finished. He finished 20th place in the point standings. In 1995 as he finished 33rd in the points with only one Top 5 and 3 Top 10 finished. He was released from Butch Mock in 2005 and drove for Bill Elliott while he was away in 2006 for four races. He also drove three races for David Blair Motorsports and Andy Petree Racing. In 1997, he drove for Ricky Craven while he was away for Hendrick Motorsports at Texas. He also drove for his brother Geoff Bodine at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

paragraphs: For the 1998 season, Bodine started racing with a new team called ISM Racing. The team was closed and Bodine went back to Cicci-Welliver in the Busch Series. He drove the #30 Slim Jim car. Bodine finished 33rd in points.

paragraphs: During the 1999 season Bodine drove the #66 car for the Cicci-Welliver team. Bodine got ten top-five finishes and finished fourth in the points standings.

paragraphs: Bodine made his first start in the Craftsman Truck Series 1995 driving for Roush Racing's #61 Ford. He ran 5 races that year.

paragraphs: Bodine did not race in the Craftsman Truck Series again until 2004, when he raced for Fiddleback Racing at Charlotte, and also raced for HT Motorsports's #59 Dodge at Kansas. Later in the year, he signed with the new race team Germain-Arnold Racing. He finishing 4th in their first race at Richmond International Raceway. Bodine left Germain-Arnold Racing and went back to Fiddleback Racing for the 2005 season. After a race at Michigan Speedway the team had no money left, and was shut down. After Fiddleback Racing shut down, Bodine went back to Germain-Arnold Racing. He won with the team at Kansas Speedway, and finished the season with five victories.

paragraphs: In 2006, Bodine was driving the #30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota for Germain Racing. Bodine won at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Gateway International Raceway, and Texas Motor Speedway. Todd Bodine won the 2006 Craftsman Truck Championship on Nov 17, 2006 by 122 points over Johnny Benson. The win was Bodine's first championship in any NASCAR division. Bodine continued to drive for Germain Racing in the 2007–2010 seasons. During the 2010 season Bodine won four races, and finished first in points winning his 2nd NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. Aric Almirola finished in second place, 207 points behind Bodine.


Intercourse


title: Jimmie Johnson

paragraphs: Johnson started racing on motorcycles when he was five years old. Johnson left motorcycle racing and went on to drive in some off-road races. While he was off road racing, he met Herb Fischel. Fischel was the head of Motorsports at General Motors, who owns the Chevrolet brand Johnson drives for today.

paragraphs: In 1998, Johnson started racing in the American Speed Association (ASA) series. He had only raced in six stock car races in his life before the season. Johnson ended the season fourth in points, and he won the Rookie of the Year award. Johnson also started to race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He drove in three races during 1998. In 1999, Johnson raced in both the ASA Series and the Nationwide Series. He won twice and finished 3rd in the ASA series. In 2000, Johnson raced the full season in the Nationwide Series. He drove for Herzog Motorsports, and finished 10th in the points standings. He won his first and only Nationwide Series race in 2001 at the Hills Brothers Coffee 300 at Chicagoland Speedway in his 81st start in the series. It was at this time that Johnson was teamed up with crew chief Chad Knaus who he still works with today.

paragraphs: At a driver's meeting before the Nationwide Series race at Michigan International Speedway, Johnson asked NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Gordon for advice. Gordon liked Johnson, and after the talk Gordon suggested Johnson to team owner Rick Hendrick. Hendrick gave Johnson an offer to drive for him. Gordon became part owner and Johnson's car, the #48.

paragraphs: In 2002, Johnson started racing full time in the Winston Cup Series. Johnson finished the season 5th in the points standings, and had won 3 races. In 2003 Johnson once again won 3 races, had 14 top-five finishes and 20 top-ten finishes. He finished the season second in the Winston Cup Series points standings to Matt Kenseth. In 2004 Johnson had 8 wins, 20 top-fives, 23 top-tens and he finished the year 2nd in the point standings. In 2005 Johnson stayed in the top five in the points standings all year, winning 4 races. He finished the 2005 season 5th in the Nextel Cup Series points.

paragraphs: In 2006 Johnson won five races and his first Nextel Cup Series championship. Johnson had 13 top-fives, 24 top-tens, 1 pole, and he led 854 laps during the 2006 season. In 2007 Johnson had 10 wins, 4 poles, 20 top-fives, and 24 top-tens. At the end of the season, he had won his second championship.

paragraphs: In his 2008 season Johnson got 7 wins, 6 poles, 15 top-fives, 22 top-tens, and his third Sprint Cup Series Championship. Johnson only failed to finish one race in the 2008 season. During the 2009 season Johnson had 7 wins, 4 poles, 16 top-fives, 24 top-tens, and he led a total of 2,238 laps. He finished the season 1st in points, becoming the only driver to win four championships in a row.

paragraphs: In 2010, Johnson won his 5th Sprint Cup Series championship. He finished the season withd 2 pole positions, 17 top-fives, 23 top-tens, 6 wins, 1326 laps led. He failed to finish four of the races in the 2010 season. With this championship, Johnson became the only driver to have won 5 championships in a row.


title: Mary: A Fiction

paragraphs: Mary: A Fiction is a novel written by Mary Wollstonecraft, a British feminist. It is her first and only complete novel. Wollstonecraft wrote it when she was a governess in Ireland. The novel was published in 1788 shortly after she decided to embark on a writing career, an unpopular profession for women in 18th-century Britain.

paragraphs: It tells the story of a heroine's "romantic friendships" with a woman and a man.

paragraphs: Wollstonecraft was inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea that "geniuses are self-taught", so Wollstonecraft made Mary, the main character, a self-taught heroine. Wollstonecraft describes Mary as independent and capable of defining femininity and marriage for herself. It is Mary's "strong, original opinions" and her resistance to "conventional wisdom" that makes her a genius. Mary also critiques marriage, 18th-century sensibility and its damaging effects on women.


title: Dwight Howard

paragraphs: Dwight David Howard (born December 8, 1985 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a professional basketball player. He plays for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His position is center. The Magic chose Howard with the first pick overall in the 2004 NBA Draft. Howard did not play college basketball. He entered the draft right out of high school. Howard is one of the greatest rebounders and defensive players in the history of basketball. He is the NBA's active leader in offensive rebounds, total rebounds and blocked shots.

paragraphs: Howard has been chosen as the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year three times, and won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in 2008. Howard was also named to the All-NBA First Team three times, was an All-Star five times, and won a gold medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

paragraphs: From roughly 2008 to 2012, Howard was widely considered both the best rebounder, best defensive and center basketball player in the world, as highlighted by leading the league in rebounding almost every season and winning a league record three consecutive NBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

paragraphs: He showed frustration at the end of 2011-12 NBA season and demanded a trade to either the New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Lakers or Dallas Mavericks. On August 10, 2012, he was traded from the Magic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a trade that also involved the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets.


title: Medical ultrasonography

paragraphs: Diagnostic ultrasonography is the use of ultrasound to visualize hidden body structures. This medical imaging technique is used to display muscles, tendons, and other internal organs. It makes it easier to assess damage done to these structures. Obstetric sonography is the name for a number of tests done during the pregnancy of a woman. Diagnostic sonography has a wide field of use, including emergency medicine, where it is regularly performed on patients which are in a state of shock or trauma. This test is known as Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma. It can detect any fluid in the body cavities. Doctors can then decide whether life-saving surgery must be performed.


title: Tin(IV) iodide

paragraphs: Tin(IV) iodide, also known as stannic iodide and tin tetraiodide, is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is SnI. It contains tin and iodide ions. The tin is in its +4 oxidation state.

paragraphs: Tin(IV) iodide is a red-orange solid. It reacts with water to make hydriodic acid and tin(IV) oxide. It dissolves in organic solvents. It reacts with hydriodic acid to make the SnI ion.

paragraphs: It is normally made by reacting iodine with tin. It can also be made by reacting tin(IV) oxide with hydriodic acid.


title: Tin(II) iodide

paragraphs: Tin(II) iodide, also known as stannous iodide, is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is SnI. It contains tin and iodide ions. The tin is in its +2 oxidation state.

paragraphs: Tin(II) iodide is a red-orange solid. It is a reducing agent.

paragraphs: It is made by dissolving tin or its oxide in hydriodic acid.


title: Medulla oblongata

paragraphs: The medulla oblongata (or medulla) is the lower half of the brainstem. It is just on top of the spinal cord. It connects the higher parts of the brain to the spinal cord (see the picture at the right of this page).

paragraphs: The cardiac, respiratory, and vasomotor control centers are in the medulla. This means that the medulla controls heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and the size of the body's blood vessels. If the medulla did not work, the person would die.

paragraphs: The medulla does many important things. It relays nerve signals between the brain and spinal cord. Signals from the brain tell the rest of the body what to do. Signals from the spinal cord tell the brain what is going on in the body. Without the medulla, none of these signals would get through.

paragraphs: The medulla also controls autonomic functions (things the body does automatically, without a person having to think about them).

paragraphs: The medulla controls breathing. Groups of neurons in the medulla tell the body when to breathe in, when to breathe faster, and when to breathe slower.

paragraphs: The medulla measures how much carbon dioxide is in a person's blood. When the body makes energy, carbon dioxide gets left over. The body has to get rid of extra carbon dioxide, because it is poisonous. The only way the body can get rid of carbon dioxide is by breathing it out.

paragraphs: If there is too much carbon dioxide in the blood, the medulla sends signals to the breathing muscles and tells them to work harder. This makes the person breathe faster, so they can breathe out the extra carbon dioxide. Once the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood is normal again, the medulla tells the body to breathe slower again.

paragraphs: The medulla helps control the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The main part of the nerves that control these two systems are in the medulla. These nerves get signals from other parts of the brain and the body. These signals help tell the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems what to do.

paragraphs: Together, these two systems control many important things, like how fast the heart beats and how hard it squeezes. In the cardiac center, there are special nerves that will make the heart beat harder and faster, called "excitatory nerves". There are also "inhibitory nerves", which will make the heart beat slower and not as hard. If a person's blood pressure gets too low, the cardiac center will send a message to the excitatory nerves, telling them to make the heart beat faster and harder. This raises the blood pressure. If the blood pressure gets too high, the cardiac center sends a message to the inhibitory nerves, which slow the heart down and make it not beat so hard. This lowers the blood pressure. In a healthy person, the cardiac center balances out the signals it sends to these sets of nerves, to keep the blood pressure normal.

paragraphs: The vasomotor center controls the size of the body's blood vessels. When a person is stressed or in danger, the vasomotor center makes the blood vessels get smaller. This is part of the body's "fight or flight" reaction. It causes more blood to go to the body's most important organs, like the brain, heart, and lungs. This can help a person survive if they are in danger. It also makes the blood pressure go up.

paragraphs: At other times, the vasomotor center makes the blood vessels get wider. This makes the blood pressure go down, and makes it easier for blood to get to some parts of the body.

paragraphs: The medulla also controls some important reflexes, like vomiting, coughing, sneezing, and swallowing.

paragraphs: Sets of neurons in the medulla help control other important things, like movement, digestion, and sleep.

paragraphs: Because the medulla controls so many important things, injuries to the medulla can cause some serious problems.

paragraphs: For example, an injury to the middle of the medulla can cause these symptoms:

paragraphs: An injury to one side of the medulla can cause these symptoms:

paragraphs: If a person's medulla is completely destroyed (for example, from a very bad injury, or because it did not get enough oxygen to survive), that person will die.


title: Tin(II) bromide

paragraphs: Tin(II) bromide, also known as stannous bromide, is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is SnBr. It contains tin and bromide ions. The tin is in its +2 oxidation state.

paragraphs: Tin(II) bromide is a yellowish solid. Its color is between the bright orange tin(II) iodide and the colorless tin(II) chloride. It is a reducing agent.

paragraphs: It is made by reacting tin or its oxide with hydrobromic acid.

paragraphs: Tin(II) bromide is used to make organic compounds with tin atoms attached.


title: Tin(IV) bromide

paragraphs: Tin(IV) bromide, also known as stannic bromide, is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is SnBr. It contains tin and bromide ions. The tin is in its +4 oxidation state.

paragraphs: Tin(IV) bromide is a colorless solid. It melts easily. It is soluble in water.

paragraphs: Tin(IV) bromide is made by reacting tin with bromine.


title: Tin(IV) fluoride

paragraphs: Tin(IV) fluoride, also known as stannic fluoride, is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is SnF. It contains tin and fluoride ions. The tin is in its +4 oxidation state.

paragraphs: Tin(IV) fluoride is a colorless solid. Its melting point is very high. It reacts with alkali metal fluorides like potassium fluoride to make hexafluorostannates, compounds that have the SnF ion in them.

paragraphs: Tin(IV) fluoride is made by reacting tin and fluorine. It can also be made by reacting hydrogen fluoride with tin(IV) chloride.

paragraphs: It is sometimes used in toothpaste, although tin(II) fluoride is more common.


title: Tin(II) sulfide

paragraphs: Tin(II) sulfide, also known as stannous sulfide, is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is SnS. It contains tin and sulfide ions. The tin is in its +2 oxidation state.

paragraphs: Tin(II) sulfide is a dark brown solid. It is rarely found as a mineral. It does not dissolve in water but dissolves in concentrated hydrochloric acid.

paragraphs: Tin(II) sulfide is made by reacting tin with sulfur. It can also be made by reacting tin(II) chloride with hydrogen sulfide.


title: Tin(IV) sulfide

paragraphs: Tin(IV) sulfide, also known as stannic sulfide, is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is SnS. It has tin and sulfide ions in it. The tin is in its +4 oxidation state.

paragraphs: Tin(IV) sulfide is a gold-colored or brown solid. It reacts with strong acids to make hydrogen sulfide.

paragraphs: Tin(IV) sulfide is made by reacting hydrogen sulfide with tin(IV) compounds such as tin(IV) chloride.

paragraphs: It is used as a decorative coating because of its color. This coating is known as mosaic gold.


title: Tin(II) fluoride

paragraphs: Tin(II) fluoride, also known as stannous fluoride, is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is SnF. It contains tin and fluoride ions. The tin is in its +2 oxidation state.

paragraphs: Tin(II) fluoride is a colorless crystalline solid. It dissolves in water. It is a reducing agent. It can be oxidized to solid tin(IV) fluoride, which does not work for dentistry.

paragraphs: It is made by reacting tin or its oxide with hydrofluoric acid.

paragraphs: It is commonly used in toothpastes as a source of fluoride ions. The fluoride ions react with the enamel of the tooth, making it harder to attack by bacteria. It also stops gingivitis. Some mouthwashes have tin(II) fluoride in them.


title: Foreign reserve

paragraphs: A foreign reserve is the currency from another nation that is held by a nation's treasury. They are another set of assets in a country. Formerly, only gold and silver were used as reserves, but now the currency of other countries is used. There is a benefit to having a foreign reserve. When a nation has one, it can change the exchange rate to make it best for the country. But sometimes the exchange rate drops and the foreign reserve becomes worthless.


title: Cerebral cortex

paragraphs: The cerebral cortex is a most important part of the brain. In humans, it is by far the largest part of the brain.

paragraphs: Though this cannot be seen directly, different parts of the cortex have different functions (see diagram). It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness.

paragraphs: It is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It has up to six layers of nerve cells. The human cerebral cortex is 2–4 mm (0.08–0.16 inches) thick.

paragraphs: In preserved brains, it is grey, so it is often called 'grey matter'. In contrast to gray matter that is formed from neurons and their unmyelinated fibers, the white matter below them is formed predominantly by myelinated axons interconnecting neurons in different regions of the cerebral cortex with each other and neurons in other parts of the central nervous system.

paragraphs: The surface of the cerebral cortex is folded in large mammals, such that more than two-thirds of it in the human brain is buried in the grooves.

paragraphs: The phylogenetically most recent part of the cerebral cortex, the neocortex, has six horizontal layers; the more ancient part of the cerebral cortex, the hippocampus, has at most three cellular layers. Neurons in various layers connect vertically to form small microcircuits, called 'columns'.

paragraphs: The neocortex is the newest part of the cerebral cortex to evolve. The six-layer neocortex is a distinguishing feature of mammals; it has been found in the brains of all mammals, but not in any other animals. In humans, 90% of the cerebral cortex is neocortex.

paragraphs: The cellular organization of the old cortex is different from the six-layer structure mentioned above.


title: A Matter of Life and Death

paragraphs: A Matter of Life and Death is an album by Iron Maiden. It is their fourteenth album and went on sale on 5 September 2006.

paragraphs: The album talks a lot about war and death, as well as other parts of life. It was produced by Kevin Shirley.

paragraphs: It is a popular album, and sold within the top ten most popular album in several countries when it was released. It was the first Iron Maiden album to do this in the United States.


title: Playful Kiss

paragraphs: Mischievous Kiss (also known as Playful Kiss / It Started with a Kiss) is a Korean television series based on the popular anime/manga called "Itazurana Kiss". It has 14 episodes with more than 8 subtitles.

paragraphs: It is about a clumsy student named Oh Ha Ni. She is a senior student from Section F who has a very low IQ. Oh Ha Ni fell in love with the perfectionist Baek Seuk Jo. Baek has an IQ of 200 and is from section A. When Oh Ha Ni decided to Baek Seung Jo she loved him, he rejected her in front of the entire school. This embarrassed her. When Oh Ha Ni’s house is destroyed, they moved to her father’s long-time friend who turns out to be Baek Seung Jo’s dad. Now that they lived in the same house.


title: One World Film Festival

paragraphs: One World is a movie festival that takes place each year in Prague, Czech Republic. The theme of the festival is human rights documentary movies. The Czech organization People in Need organizes the festival. People can watch about 130 documentary movies from almost 40 countries during one week. Every year "One World" focuses on a different human rights issue or problem. The festival also offers other events, such as debates with filmmakers and photography exhibitions. The festival is at the end of April each year.


title: People In Need

paragraphs: People in Need (PIN, "Člověk v tísni" in Czech) is a Czech organization that does relief work and creates development projects around the world. It works in regions that are in crisis. At the same time, it supports human rights and democratic freedom. PIN is a nonprofit and non-governmental organization.

paragraphs: PIN cooperates with many other organizations such as: Alliance 2015, the Czech Forum for Development Cooperation (FoRS), the European Union Monitoring Center (EUMC), UNHCR, UNICEF, and many others.

paragraphs: PIN had a budget of over 13 million of Euro in 2008 and about 500 staff all over the world.). It works or worked in more than 40 countries.

paragraphs: PIN organizes the One World Film Festival each year to show human rights documentaries.

paragraphs: The organization was founded in 1992 by Šimon Pánek and by Jaromír Štětina. Pánek had been a student activist during the Velvet Revolution. Štětina was journalist who wrote about wars.

paragraphs: The Relief and Development Department of PIN helps victims of natural disasters and wars, works against poverty worldwide, and supports universal education. In 2009, the Relief and Development Department was working in eighteen countries in Asia (for example Afghanistan, Cambodia, Sri Lanka), Africa (e.g. Ethiopia, Angola, Namibia) and Europe (e. g. Romania, Ukraine, Czech Republic). Programs focus on education, health care, clean drinking water, hygiene, and support for jobs that can continue for a long time.

paragraphs: People in Need supports people who oppose the government and the develop civil society in countries where the government its power to control many parts of daily life. People in Need also gives the Homo Homini award to a person protected human rights and developed democracy without using violence.

paragraphs: PIN has had programs to fight against poverty and social exclusion in the Czech Republic since 1999. They helped people from poor areas with housing, unemployment, or debt problems. Social Integration Programmes (SIP) started in 2006 and now works in more than 50 cities and towns in the Czech Republic. PIN also offers informative and educational programs in schools to teach about poverty and migration.

paragraphs: People in Need has been active in Chechnya and Ingushetia since 2000. In 2005, the Russian weekly Argumenty i Fakty claimed the organization supports Chechen separatist and terrorists. PIN said it did not. Then, Russia made the organization leave, but PIN was allowed back in 2007.


title: Ha Jin

paragraphs: Jīn Xuěfēi (simplified Chinese: 金雪飞; traditional Chinese: 金雪飛; born February 15, 1956) is a living Chinese-American writer. He uses the pen name Ha Jin (哈金). "Ha" comes from his favorite city, Harbin. In 1984, he went to America and began to write about China only in English. His work increased international attention to Chinese culture and history.

paragraphs: Ha Jin was born in Liaoning, China. His father was a military officer. Jin joined the People's Liberation Army during the Cultural Revolution when he was 13 years old. He began to teach himself about Chinese literature and to learn the high school curriculum at sixteen. He left the army when he was nineteen, as he entered Heilongjiang University. He got his B. A. degree in English studies there. Next, he earned a M.A. degree in Anglo-American literature at Shandong University.

paragraphs: Jin grew up in the chaos of early communist China. He was at Brandeis University when the 1989 Tiananmen incident happened. The way the Chinese government stopped the protest by force was important to Jin. It helped him decide to emigrate to the United States. It also made him choose to write in English "to preserve the integrity of his work." He eventually earned a Ph.D..

paragraphs: Jin sets many of his stories and novels in China in an imaginary place called Muji City. He has won the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel, "Waiting" (1999). He has received three Pushcart Prizes for fiction and a Kenyon Review Prize. Many of his short stories have appeared in "The Best American Short Stories" anthologies. His collection "Under The Red Flag" (1997) won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. "Ocean of Words" (1996) has been awarded the PEN/Hemingway Award. The novel "War Trash" (2004), set during the Korean War, won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

paragraphs: Jin teaches at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. He used to teach at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

paragraphs: Jin was at the American Academy in Berlin, Germany, in the fall of 2008. He was a Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellow for Fiction.


title: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

paragraphs: This prize is given in the United States. There are several other Pulitzer Prizes. The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is for writing by an American author. Usually this writing is about American life. It started as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.

paragraphs: Entries from this point on include the finalists listed after the winner for each year.


title: Raymond Carver

paragraphs: Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. Carver is considered a major American writer of the late 20th century. He also helped improve short story writing in the 1980s.

paragraphs: Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mill town on the Columbia River, and grew up in Yakima, Washington. His father was a skilled sawmill worker from Arkansas. He was a fisherman and a heavy drinker. Carver's mother sometimes worked as a waitress and as a clerk in a shop. He had one brother, James Franklin Carver, was born in 1943.

paragraphs: Carver studied at local schools in Amery, Wisconsin. In his spare time he read mostly novels by Mickey Spillane or publications such as Sports Afield and Outdoor Life and hunted and fished with friends and family. After graduating from Yakima High School in 1956, Carver worked with his father at a sawmill in California. In June 1957, aged 19, he married 16-year-old Maryann Burk. She had just graduated from a private Episcopal school for girls. Their daughter, Christine La Rae, was born in December 1957. When their second child, a boy named Vance Lindsay, was born the next year, Carver was 20. Carver supported his family by working as a janitor, sawmill laborer, delivery man, and library assistant. During their marriage, Maryann worked as a waitress, salesperson, administrative assistant, and high school English teacher.

paragraphs: Carver became interested in writing in California. He had moved there with his family because his mother-in-law had a home in Paradise. Carver attended a creative-writing course taught by the novelist John Gardner. Gardner became his mentor and had a major influence on Carver's life and career. Carver continued his studies first at Chico State University and then at Humboldt State College in Arcata, California, where he studied with Richard Cortez Day. Carver received his B.A. in 1963. During this period he was first published and served as editor for the university literary magazine called Toyon. Carver included some of his own writing under pen names. He later attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, for one year. Maryann graduated from San Jose State College in 1970 and taught English at Los Altos High School until 1977.

paragraphs: In the mid-1960s Carver and his family lived in Sacramento. He worked as a night custodian at Mercy Hospital. He sat in on classes at what was then Sacramento State College including workshops with poet Dennis Schmitz. Carver and Schmitz soon became friends, and Carver's first book of poems, "Near Klamath", was later written and published with helpful advice from Schmitz.

paragraphs: With his appearance in the respected "Foley collection," the impending publication of "Near Klamath" by the English Club of Sacramento State College, and the death of his father, 1967 was a landmark year for Carver. That was also the year that he moved his family to Palo Alto, California, so that he could take a job as a textbook editor for Science Research Associates. He worked there until he was fired in 1970 for his inappropriate writing style. In the 1970s and 1980s as his writing career began to take off, Carver taught for several years at universities throughout the United States.

paragraphs: During his years of working different jobs, rearing children, and trying to write, Carver started to drink heavily. He said that he eventually more or less gave up writing and started drinking all of the time. In the fall semester of 1973, Carver was a teacher in the Iowa Writers' Workshop with John Cheever, but Carver said that they did less teaching than drinking and almost no writing. The next year, after leaving Iowa City, Cheever went to a treatment center to try to overcome his alcoholism, but Carver continued drinking for three years. After going in the hospital three times (between June 1976 and February or March 1977), Carver began his 'second life' and stopped drinking on June 2, 1977, with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous.

paragraphs: Carver met the poet Tess Gallagher at a writers' conference in Dallas, Texas in November, 1977. Beginning in January, 1979, Carver and Gallagher lived together in El Paso, Texas, in a borrowed cabin near Port Angeles, in western Washington state, and in Tucson, Arizona. In 1980, they moved to Syracuse. Gallagher was the coordinator of the creative writing program at Syracuse University. Carver was a professor in the English department. He and Gallagher bought a house in Syracuse, at 832 Maryland Avenue. Later, the house became so popular that the couple had to hang a sign outside that read "Writers At Work" so that people would leave them alone. In 1982, Carver and first wife, Maryann, were divorced. He married Gallagher in 1988 in Reno, Nevada. Six weeks later, on August 2, 1988, Carver died in Port Angeles, Washington, from lung cancer at the age of 50. In the same year, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

paragraphs: Raymond Carver is buried at Ocean View Cemetery in Port Angeles, WA. The words on his grave are:

paragraphs: Carver's career was dedicated to short stories and poetry. He often wrote about blue-collar experiences. These were similar to his own life. In the same way, he often included themes of alcoholism and recovery from his life.

paragraphs: His first published story appeared in 1960, titled "The Furious Seasons." His first collection, "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?", was published in 1976. The story with the same name had already appeared in the collection, "Best American Short Stories 1967".

paragraphs: Tess Gallagher published five Carver stories after he died in a book called "Call If You Need Me". One of the stories, "Kindling", won an O. Henry Award in 1999. Throughout his lifetime Carver won six O. Henry Awards: the winning stories were: "Are These Actual Miles" (originally titled "What is it?") (1972), "Put Yourself in My Shoes" (1974), "Are You A Doctor?" (1975), "A Small, Good Thing" (1983), and "Errand" (1988).

paragraphs: Carver believed he would have died of alcoholism at the age of 40 if he had not found a way to stop drinking. When he knew the cancer would kill him, he wrote a poem about that bonus of 10 years, called "Gravy."


title: Oscar Hijuelos

paragraphs: Oscar Jerome Hijuelos (August 24, 1951 – October 12, 2013) was an American novelist. He is the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

paragraphs: Hijuelos was born in New York City, in Morningside Heights, Manhattan. His parents were Cuban immigrants. He studied at the Corpus Christi School in Morningside Heights. Later, he attended Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Manhattan Community College. He studied writing at the City College of New York and earned two degrees in Creative Writing there: his B.A. in1975 and M.A. in 1976. He had several jobs before becoming a full-time writer.

paragraphs: His first novel, "Our House in the Last World", was published in 1983 and received the 1985 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome. His second novel, "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love", received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for the film "The Mambo Kings" in 1992 and as a Broadway musical in 2005.

paragraphs: Hijuelos has taught at Hofstra University. He is a faculty member in the Department of English at Duke University.

paragraphs: Hijuelos collapsed due to a heart attack while playing tennis in Manhattan and never regained consciousness. He was 62 and is survived by his wife Lori Marie Carlson.


title: Roman consul

paragraphs: A Roman consul was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.

paragraphs: Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month.

paragraphs: The consuls were usually patricians, though after 367 BC plebs (common people; plebeians) could stand for election as consul.

paragraphs: Consuls had extensive power in peacetime (administrative, legislative and judicial), and in wartime often held the highest military command. They conducted some religious rites which could only be done by the highest state officials. Consuls also read auguries, an essential step before leading armies into the field.

paragraphs: The consuls could convene the Senate, and presided over its meetings. Each consul served as president of the Senate for a month. They could also summon any of the Roman assemblies and preside over them. Thus, the consuls conducted the elections and put legislative measures to the vote. When neither consul was within the city, their civic duties were assumed by the "praetor urbanus" (city prefect).

paragraphs: Each consul was accompanied in every public appearance by twelve "lictors", who displayed the magnificence of the office and served as his bodyguards. Each lictor held a "fasces", a bundle of rods that contained an axe. The rods symbolized the power of scourging, and the axe the power of capital punishment. When inside the city, the lictors removed the axes from the fasces to show that a citizen could not be executed without a trial. Upon entering the democratic assembly, the lictors would lower the fasces to show that the powers of the consuls derive from the people (populus romanus).

paragraphs: Outside the walls of Rome, the powers of the consuls were far greater in their role as commanders-in-chief of all Roman legions. It was in this function that the consuls were vested with full imperium (power).

paragraphs: When legions were ordered by a decree of the Senate, the consuls conducted the conscription. Upon entering the army, all soldiers had to take their oath of allegiance to the consuls. The consuls also oversaw the gathering of troops provided by Rome’s allies.

paragraphs: Within the city a consul could punish and arrest a citizen, but had no power to inflict capital punishment. When on campaign, however, a consul could inflict any punishment he saw fit on any soldier, officer, citizen or ally.

paragraphs: Each consul commanded an army, usually two legions strong, with the help of military tribunes and a quaestor who had financial duties. In the rare case that both consuls marched together, each one held the command for a day in turn. A typical consular army was about 20,000 men strong and consisted of two citizen and two allied legions. In the early years of the republic, Rome's enemies were in central Italy, so campaigns lasted a few months.

paragraphs: As Rome's frontiers expanded, in the 2nd century BC, the campaigns became lengthier. Rome was a warlike society, and very seldom did not wage war. So the consul upon entering office was expected by the Senate and the people to march his army against Rome's enemies, and expand the Roman frontiers. His soldiers expected to return to their homes after the campaign with spoils. If the consul won an overwhelming victory, he was hailed as imperator by his troops, and could request to be granted a triumph.

paragraphs: The consul could conduct the campaign as he saw fit, and had unlimited powers. However, after the campaign, he could be prosecuted for his misdeeds.

paragraphs: In the Roman Empire, the consuls were merely a figurative representative of Rome’s republican heritage. The consulate then held much less power and authority, since the emperor was the supreme leader. However, consuls were often high-ranking and important in their own right. Some were designated successors of their emperor. Also, emperors frequently appointed themselves as consuls.

paragraphs: The office survived (much altered) until the early 9th century AD.


TESOL


title: TESOL International Association

paragraphs: TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.) is a global education association for English language teachers who teach speakers of others languages.

paragraphs: TESOL has some special interest groups called "Interest Sections". They promote research and continuing education in areas that are important to TESOL members. Current Interest Sections include the following:

paragraphs: TESOL was founded in 1966 and has corporate headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. TESOL has more than 13,000 members in more than 120 different countries. TESOL is an NGO under the United Nations.

paragraphs: TESOL has relationships with 98 independent organizations worldwide: 41 in the United States and 57 in Asia, the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

paragraphs: TESOL convenes an annual conference with papers, symposia, key note speakers, workshops, and annual meetings for the Interest Sections. Presenters speak on topics ranging from practical advice for the classroom to new theories for explaining language learning. The event also has a large book fair where most major publishers have displays. Usually around 10,000 people attend the conference. It was first held in 1966.

paragraphs: Each year, TESOL gives four awards, each to one of its members.


title: O. Henry Award

paragraphs: The O. Henry Award is given for especially good short stories. The prize is given each year. The award is named after the American short story author, O. Henry.

paragraphs: The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories is a book that is published each year with that year's twenty best stories from magazines in U.S. and Canadian, written in English.

paragraphs: The award itself is called The O. Henry "Award", not the O. Henry "Prize", though until recently there were first, second and third prize winners.

paragraphs: The award was first given in 1919. Money to support the award comes from the Society of Arts and Sciences. As of 2003, the series editor chooses twenty short stories and each one is called an O. Henry Prize Story. All stories originally written in English and published in an American or Canadian magazine can possibly win. Three people become jurors each year. The jurors get the twenty prize stories in text form. The author or publication name are not listed. Each juror works alone and chooses one special short story and comments on it.

paragraphs: The goal of The O. Henry Prize Stories is to improve the art of the short story. Starting in 2003, "The O. Henry Prize Stories" is dedicated to a writer who has made a major contribution to the art of the short story. The O. Henry Prize Stories 2007 was dedicated to Sherwood Anderson, a U.S. short-story writer. Jurors for 2007 were Charles D'Ambrosio, Lily Tuck, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

paragraphs: Laura Furman is now the series editor for "The O. Henry Prize Stories".

paragraphs: In 2009 Anchor books announced a change in the series tittle. Anchor is the publisher of The O. Henry Prize Stories. They worked with the PEN American Center and renamed the series the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories collection. Profits from selling The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 books went to PEN's Readers & Writers Program. This program sends well-known authors to under served inner-city schools.

paragraphs: In an interview for the Vintage Books and Anchor Books blog, editor Laura Furman called working with PEN a "natural partnership."

paragraphs: For more information or complete lists of yearly winners, visit The O. Henry Prize Stories website.


title: SimCity DS

paragraphs: SimCity DS, or SimCity Creator, is a simulation video game made in 2007 by Electronic Arts. The player can build a city, while trying to keep it healthy.

paragraphs: The player will be known as the "Mayor" throughout the game. They will have to look at five sheets to run their city.

paragraphs: Zones are the places where buildings can develop. They are different, and the "heavier" the zone, the more buildings grow. However, land value has a greater effect.

paragraphs: Certain facilities are called "needs". Power and water are considered "needs" in the game, although one is not completely mandatory.

paragraphs: "Advisers" are people you choose to help you build a city.


title: Power line

paragraphs: Power lines are wires that conduct electricity through to another place. Many have transformers. The voltage of the power at the end is usually 100V (Japan), 120V (North and Central America, parts of South America and Africa, and Saudi Arabia), or 220-240V (most of the rest of the world), but is much higher while going through the electric power transmission lines. The power at the end is then safe enough to be used when "stepped-down" by a transformer.

paragraphs: The original power is made at a power plant. As the power is sent through the power lines, sometimes it encounters spots that it cannot go through. Then it will need to raise its voltage with a step-up transformer. The act is called "stepping up". Where the electric power distribution reaches buildings, this voltage is too dangerous to be used, so it goes through a step-down transformer. This is called "stepping down". Then the electricity can be distributed to buildings.


title: Dean of Invention

paragraphs: Dean of Invention is a TV show on Planet Green. The presenters, Dean Kamen and Joanne Colan investigate new inventions.


title: Greco–Persian wars

paragraphs: The Greco–Persian Wars were a series of wars fought between Classical Greece and Persia's Achaemenid Empire in the 5th century BC. The struggle lasted 50 years, from 499–449. Herodotus wrote a history of the war. Fifty years before the war started, Cyrus the Great had conquered the Greek colonies on the western coast of Asia Minor, an area the Greeks called Ionia. The Persians put a tyrant in charge of each city or polis. About 530 BC Cyrus died in battle.

paragraphs: Aristagoras, the Tyrant of Miletus was on an expedition to conquer the island of Naxos with Persian support, but that was a failure, Arisagoras encouraged Ionia to rebel against the Persians, leading them to the Ionian Revolt. Aristagoras got support from Athens and Eretria, and together they burnt the Persian regional capital city, Sardis. The Persian king, now Darius the Great, vowed revenge.

paragraphs: When the Ionian Revolt was finally over, then the Greeks and the Persians decided to place their next battle on the plain of Marathon. The Greeks won the Battle of Marathon, because of Miltiades' brilliant strategy. His strategy was to weaken the middle of the group of soldiers but leave the sides with many soldiers. Of course the Persians charged for the middle, that had less soldiers, then the sides of the Greek army swept in surrounding the Persians.

paragraphs: Much of what is known of these wars comes from Herodotus.

paragraphs: Although 449 BC saw the end of the wars started by the Ionian revolt, the two civilisations continued for more than a hundred years. The wars between Athens and Sparta allowed Persia to take back all she had lost in the Greco–Persian wars, until finally Alexander the Great put an end to the Achaemenid Empire. This is a brief summary of these later conflicts:


title: Windows Live

paragraphs: Windows Live is an internet product of Microsoft. Until 2005 its many services were under MSN. They moved them to Windows Live to show people that these services are made to work with Windows operating system. They used the term less after 2012.

paragraphs: The Windows Live family features many different services. The most famous service being Windows Live Hotmail. However, there are also many more free services provided by Windows Live which only requires one account to access. Google and Yahoo! compete against Windows Live with similarly diverse services.


title: Battle of Corinth

paragraphs: The Battle of Corinth was a battle fought between the Roman Republic and the Ancient Greek state of Corinth and its allies in the Achaean League in 146 BC. This was a few months after the Romans destroyed Carthage in the Third Punic War. It resulted in total destruction of Corinth, which was previously famous for its wealth. The Romans burnt it to the ground and went on to conquer the rest of Greece.


title: Perm Krai

paragraphs: Perm Krai is a "krai" (federal territory) of Russia that came into existence on 1 December 2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast (province) and Komi–Permyak self-governing district. The city of Perm became the administrative center of the new federal subject.

paragraphs: Perm Krai is located in the east of the East European Plain and the western slope of the Middle Ural Mountains. The length from north to south is ; length from west to east is .

paragraphs: Rivers of Perm Krai belong to the Kama River Basin, the largest tributary of the Volga River. There are more than 29,000 rivers in Perm Krai. Together they are more than long, but only two rivers have lengths exceeding ; the Kama () and the Chusovaya ().

paragraphs: The landscape is mostly low rolling hills covered by forests and fields. The Ural Mountains are in the eastern part of Perm Krai. The highest mountain Tulysmsky Kamen () is in the north east of the territory.


title: Caro–Kann defence

paragraphs: The Caro–Kann defence is a chess opening. It is a defence for Black when White opens by moving his King's pawn two squares on the first move. It begins:

paragraphs: It is then followed by 3. (the Modern Variation), 3. (the Classical Variation), 3. (the Exchange Variation), or 3. (the Advance Variation). The modern variation (3.Nc3) is most popular.

paragraphs: The Caro–Kann, like the Sicilian defence and French defence, is an asymmetrical defence to 1.e4. These are sometimes called 'semi-open games'. The Caro is thought to be more solid and less dynamic than the others, which means that play is likely to be more quiet and positional. It may lead to good endgames for Black, who has the better pawn structure.

paragraphs: The opening is named after the English player Horatio Caro and the Austrian Marcus Kann, who studied the opening in 1886.

paragraphs: The most common way of handling the Caro–Kann, the Classical variation (often called the Capablanca variation) happens after the moves

paragraphs: For a long time, this was thought to be the best play for both sides in the Caro–Kann. White usually continues

paragraphs: Although White's pawn on h5 looks ready to attack, it can prove to be a weakness in an endgame.

paragraphs: This variation is a big reason that people think the Caro-Kann is a solid defence. Black makes very few compromises in his pawn structure, and plays c5 in time to fight for the d4 square. Black can castle queenside, castle kingside, or even leave his king in the centre. Should the game go to an endgame, Black often has good chances because of his solid pawn structure and kingside pawn majority.

paragraphs: Another solid positional line is the Modern variation. It happens after the moves

paragraphs: Played by the first world champion Wilhelm Steinitz, today the variation is called either the Smyslov variation or, most often, the Modern variation.

paragraphs: The short-term goal of 4...Nd7 is to make developing his pieces easier by trading a pair of knights without damaging his pawn structure by the direct 4...Nf6. Play is similar to the Classical variation except that Black is not forced to play his QB to the g6 square. However, this freedom comes at a cost as White is able to take up space in the center. White often plays the aggressive 5.Ng5!? pressuring key points such as the f7-square.

paragraphs: This variation can lead to a quick mating trap with 5.Qe2 Ngf6?? 6.Nd6#.

paragraphs: The Bronstein–Larsen Variation is after:

paragraphs: Black has chosen a worse pawn structure, and often castles queenside. Black does have compensation, with the open g-file for the rook and unusually active play for the Caro-Kann. It is generally considered somewhat double-edged.

paragraphs: Viktor Korchnoi has played 5...exf6 many times (including his first world championship match with Anatoly Karpov), and this line has also been employed by Ulf Andersson. Black's 5...exf6 is thought to be sounder than 5...gxf6!? of the previous and offers Black fast development, though also giving White the superior pawn structure and long-term prospects.

paragraphs: is most often played. Against it are aggressive lines such as the Bayonet Attack (4.Nc3 e6 5.g4), a popular line in the 1980s and later favoured by Latvian Grandmaster Alexei Shirov. A more natural development 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 was popularised by English Grandmaster Nigel Short and often seen in the 1990s.

paragraphs: 3...c5 is an important alternative which avoids the opening theory on 3...Bf5. It was used by Botvinnik in his 1961 match with Tal. In comparison to the French defense, Black gains the tempo normally spent on ...e6. However, White can counter this by opening the centre with 4. dxc5. This exposes the black pawn on d5.

paragraphs: 3...e6 is natural and playable, but when Black plays ...c5 (as he soon will do) he is a tempo behind the advance line of the French defence (1e4 e6 2.d5 d5 3.e5 c5).

paragraphs: The Panov-Botvinnik Attack begins with the move

paragraphs: This system often leads to typical isolated queen's pawn (IQP) positions, with White gaining rapid development, a grip on e5, and kingside attacking chances to make up for the long-term structural weakness of the isolated d4 pawn. The major variation in this line 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3, when Black's main alternatives are 6...Bb4 (a position which often transposes into lines of the Nimzo-Indian defence) and 6...Be7, once the most common line. 6...Nc6?! is inferior as it is favourably met by 7.c5!, after which White plans on seizing the e5-square through the advance of his b-pawn to b5 or by exchanging the Black's Knight on c6 after Bb5.

paragraphs: The "true" Exchange Variation begins with

paragraphs: This line is thought to have equal chances for both sides, and was tried by Bobby Fischer. Some of the strategic ideas are analogous to the Queen's Gambit declined, Exchange variation, (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5) with colours reversed.

paragraphs: This is 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3, played by Bobby Fischer in his youth. White gets rapid development and has options with the d-pawn. Black's logical and probably best reply is 3...Bg4. After 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3, the positional continuation, Black has the option of 5...Nf6 or 5...e6. 4...Bh5 is a complicated line, in which White can trap the bishop, though Black has much compensation.

paragraphs: The variation sets a trap: if Black plays along the lines of the Classical Variation, he gets in trouble after 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 (4...Nd7 is playable) 5.Ng3 Bg6?! (5...Bg4) 6.h4 h6 7.Ne5 Bh7 (7...Qd6 may be best) 8.Qh5! g6 (forced) 9.Bc4! e6 (9...gxh5?? 10.Bxf7#) 10.Qe2 with a huge advantage for White. Now 10...Qe7! is best. Instead, Lasker–Radsheer, 1908 and Alekhine-Bruce, 1938 ended quickly after, respectively, 10...Bg7?? 11.Nxf7! and 10...Nf6?? 11.Nxf7!

paragraphs: White can play 2.c4. Then Black may play 2...d5 (see ). This can transpose to the Panov–Botvinnik line given above, with 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 or White can capture twice on d5. Alternatively, Black may play 2...e5.

paragraphs: Also, White can play 2.Nc3. Then Black may play 2...d5. If White replies 3.d4 then we get the main Capablanca line or the Two knights variation. Or Black may play 2...g6.

paragraphs: The Caro–Kann can also be reached through the English Opening: 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5.

paragraphs: The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings has ten codes for the Caro–Kann Defence, B10 to B19.


title: Bronze Age collapse

paragraphs: The Bronze Age collapse is so called by historians who study the end of the Bronze Age.

paragraphs: The palace economies of the Aegean and Anatolia of the late Bronze Age were replaced, eventually, by the village cultures of the 'Greek Dark Ages'.

paragraphs: Between 1200 and 1150 BC, the cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and Syria, and the Egyptian Empire in Syria and Canaan, interrupted trade routes and extinguished literacy.

paragraphs: In the first phase of this period, almost every city between Troy and Gaza was violently destroyed, and often left unoccupied: examples include Hattusa, Mycenae, Ugarit.

paragraphs: The gradual end of the Dark Age saw the rise of settled Neo-Hittite Aramaean kingdoms of the mid-10th century BC, and the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

paragraphs: Every important Anatolian site during the preceding late Bronze Age shows a destruction layer. It appears that civilization did not recover to the same level as that of the Hittites for another thousand years. Hattusa, the Hittite capital, was burned and abandoned, and never reoccupied. Troy was destroyed at least twice, before being abandoned until Roman times.

paragraphs: The sacking and burning of the sites of Enkomi, Kition, and Sinda may have happened twice, before they were abandoned. Originally, two waves of destruction, ca. 1230 BC by the Sea Peoples and ca. 1190 BC by Aegean refugees have been proposed.

paragraphs: Syrian sites previously showed evidence of trade links with Egypt and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age. Evidence at Ugarit shows that the destruction there occurred after the reign of Merenptah.

paragraphs: The last Bronze Age king of Ugarit, Ammurapi, was a contemporary of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma II. The exact dates of his reign are unknown. A letter by the king is preserved on one of the clay tablets found baked in the conflagration of the destruction of the city. Ammurapi stresses the seriousness of the crisis faced by many Near Eastern states from invasion by the advancing Sea Peoples in a dramatic response to a plea for assistance from the king of Alasiya (Cyprus):

paragraphs: My father, behold, the enemy's ships came (here); my cities(?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots(?) are in the Land of Hatti, and all my ships are in the Land of Lukka?...Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us.

paragraphs: Unfortunately for Ugarit, no help arrived and Ugarit was burned to the ground at the end of the Bronze Age. A cuneiform tablet found in 1986 shows that Ugarit was destroyed after the death of Merneptah, about 1178 BC.

paragraphs: All centres along a coastal route from Gaza northward were destroyed, and not reoccupied for up to thirty years.

paragraphs: None of the Mycenaean palaces of the Late Bronze Age survived. Destruction was heaviest at palaces and fortified sites. Thebes was one of the earliest examples of this. Its palace was sacked repeatedly between 1300 and 1200 BC. Eventually it was destroyed by fire.

paragraphs: At many other sites it is entirely unclear what happened. It is clear that Athens saw a significant decline during the Bronze Age Collapse. There is no evidence of any significant destruction at this site. Fortification at this site suggests fear of the decline in Athens. It is possible that the abandonment of Athens was not a violent affair and other causes have been suggested.

paragraphs: The Peloponnese was the worst affected in Greece by far. Up to 90% of small sites in the region were abandoned, which suggests a major depopulation in the region. Again, as with many of the sites of destruction in Greece, it is unclear how this destruction came about. The city of Mycenae for example was initially destroyed in an earthquake in 1250 BC as evidenced by the presence of crushed bodies buried in collapsed buildings. However, the site was rebuilt only to face destruction in 1190 BC as the result of a series of major fires. There is a suggestion by Robert Drews that the fires could have been the result of an attack on the site and its palace. This is denied by Eric Cline who points out the lack of archaeological evidence for an attack.

paragraphs: We see a similar situation in Tiryns in 1200 BC when an earthquake destroyed much of the city including its palace. It is likely however that the city continued to be inhabited for some time following the earthquake. As a result there is a general agreement that earthquakes did not permanently destroy Mycenae or Tiryns because physical destruction cannot fully explain the collapse. The cause of the continued decline of these sites could be environmental. In particular There was a lack of homegrown food. Palaces were important in managing and storing food imports. Their destruction made worse the more crucial factor of food shortage. The importance of trade is further supported by the lack of any evidence for violent or sudden decline in Mycenae.

paragraphs: The destruction on Pylos by fire around 1180 suggests a violent destruction to the city. There is some evidence of Pylos expecting a seaborne attack with tablets at Pylos discussing "Watchers guarding the coast". The tablets do not give any context as to what is being watched for and why. Regardless of what the threat from the sea was, it likely played a role in the decline. It would have hindered trade and perhaps vital food imports.

paragraphs: The end Bronze Age collapse marked the start of a period that has been called the Greek Dark Ages, which lasted for more than 400 years. The occupation of some cities, like Athens, did continue however their existence was of a much different nature. They had a more local sphere of influence, limited trade and an impoverished culture. It took centuries for Greece to recover.

paragraphs: Several cities were destroyed, Assyria lost northwestern cities which were reconquered by Tiglath-Pileser I after his ascension to kingship. Control of the Babylonian and Assyrian regions extended barely beyond the city limits. Babylon was sacked by the Elamites.

paragraphs: After apparently surviving for a while, the Egyptian Empire collapsed in the mid twelfth century BCE (during the reign of Ramesses VI). This led to the Third Intermediate Period, that is, non-dynasty.

paragraphs: Robert Drews describes the collapse as "the worst disaster in ancient history, even more calamitous than the collapse of the Western Roman Empire". A number of people have spoken of the cultural memories of the disaster as stories of a "lost golden age". Hesiod for example spoke of Ages of Gold, Silver and Bronze, separated from the modern harsh cruel world of the Age of Iron by the Age of Heroes.

paragraphs: It was a period associated with the collapse of central authority, a depopulation, particularly of urban areas, the loss of literacy in Anatolia and the Aegean, and its restriction elsewhere, the disappearance of established patterns of long-distance international trade, and increasingly vicious struggles for power.

paragraphs: There are various theories put forward to explain the situation of collapse, many of them compatible with each other.

paragraphs: The Hekla 3 eruption was about this time, and is dated at 1159 BC by Egyptologists and British archeologists.

paragraphs: Earthquakes tend to occur in sequences or 'storms', where a major earthquake above 6.5 on the Richter magnitude scale can set off later earthquakes along the weakened fault line. When a map of earthquake occurrence is superimposed on a map of the sites destroyed in the Late Bronze Age, there is a very close correspondence.

paragraphs: Evidence includes the widespread findings of "Naue II-type swords" (coming from South-Eastern Europe) throughout the region, and Egyptian records of invading "northerners from all the lands".

paragraphs: The Ugarit correspondence at the time mentions invasions by tribes of such as the mysterious Sea Peoples. Equally, the last Linear B documents in the Aegean (dating to just before the collapse) reported a large rise in piracy, slave raiding and other attacks, particularly around Anatolia. Later fortresses along the Libyan coast, constructed and maintained by the Egyptians after the reign of Ramesses II, were built to reduce raiding.

paragraphs: This theory is strengthened by the fact that the collapse coincides with the appearance in the region of many new ethnic groups. Indo-European tribes such as the Phrygians, Thracians, Macedonians and Dorian Greeks seem to have arrived at this time – possibly from the north. There also seems to have been widespread migration of the Aramaeans – possibly from the South-East.

paragraphs: Ultimate reasons for these migrations could include drought, developments in warfare/weaponry, earthquakes or other natural disasters. This means that the migrations theory is not incompatible with the other theories mentioned here.

paragraphs: The Bronze Age collapse may be seen in the context of a technological history that saw the slow, comparatively continuous spread of iron-working technology in the region, beginning with precocious iron-working in what is now Bulgaria and Romania in the 13th and 12th centuries BC.

paragraphs: Leonard R. Palmer suggested that iron, whilst inferior to bronze weapons, was in more plentiful supply and so allowed larger armies of iron users to overwhelm the smaller armies of bronze-using chariotry.

paragraphs: It now seems that the disruption of long distance trade cut easy supplies of tin, making bronze impossible to make. Older implements were recycled and then iron substitutes were used.

paragraphs: Drought could have easily precipitated or hastened socio-economic problems and led to wars. More recently Brian Fagan has shown how the diversion of mid-winter storms, from the Atlantic to north of the Pyrenees and the Alps, bringing wetter conditions to Central Europe but drought to the Eastern Mediterranean, was associated with the Late Bronze Age collapse.

paragraphs: Robert Drews argues that massed infantry used newly developed weapons and armor. Cast rather than forged spearheads and long swords, a revolutionizing cut-and-thrust weapon, and javelins were used. The appearance of bronze foundries suggest "that mass production of bronze artifacts was suddenly important in the Aegean". For example, Homer uses "spears" as a virtual synonym for "warrior", suggesting the continued importance of the spear in combat.

paragraphs: Such new weaponry, used by a proto-hoplite model of infantry able to withstand attacks of massed chariotry, would destabilize states that were based upon the use of chariots by the ruling class. This precipitated an abrupt social collapse as raiders and/or infantry mercenaries began to conquer, loot, and burn the cities.

paragraphs: A general systems collapse has been put forward as an explanation for the reversals in culture. This theory raises the question of whether this collapse was the cause of, or the effect of, the Bronze Age collapse being discussed.

paragraphs: In the Middle East, a variety of factors — including population growth, soil degradation, drought, cast bronze weapon and iron production technologies — could have combined to push the relative price of weaponry (compared to arable land) to a level unsustainable for traditional warrior aristocracies. In complex societies which were increasingly fragile, this combination of factors may have contributed to the collapse.

paragraphs: The critical flaws of the late Bronze Age are its centralization, specialization, complexity and top-heavy political structure. These flaws then revealed themselves through revolts, defections, demographic crises (overpopulation), and wars between states. Other factors which could have placed increasing pressure on the fragile kingdoms include the aggression of the ‘Sea Peoples’, the effect of pirates on maritime trade, drought, crop failures, and famine.


title: Washington University in St. Louis

paragraphs: Washington University of St. Louis is a research university in St. Louis.


title: Lions Gate Bridge

paragraphs: The Lions Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is one of Canada's National Historic Sites.


title: Andray Blatche

paragraphs: Andray Blatche (born August 22, 1986 in Syracuse, New York) is an Filipino-American basketball player that currently plays for the Washington Wizards of the NBA. On September 25, 2005, Blatche was shot in a carjacking in Alexandria, Virginia and recovered successfully. Blatche has played for the Washington Wizards for 5 seasons. Blatche became a naturalized Filipino in 2014. He plays for the Philippine national basketball team.


title: Evgeni Malkin

paragraphs: Evgeni Vladimirovich Malkin (born July 31, 1986) is a Russian professional ice hockey centre. He currently plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL) and serves as their alternative captain. He was selected 2nd overall by the Penguins in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

paragraphs: He plays on Team Russia in the Olympics.

paragraphs: Malkin won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009.