title: Hirohito

paragraphs: The name "Shōwa" was given to Hirohito after he died. Emperors of Japan are normally renamed in this way; and people started using the new name in 1990. During his long reign, many people outside Japan call him Emperor Hirohito, or just Hirohito.

paragraphs: Prince Hirohito was named regent for his father in 1921. He became emperor after his father's death.

paragraphs: Hirohito was the emperor of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War which became World War 2 (1931 to 1945). Though he was supposed to be an absolute monarch (an emperor who can make all the laws and rules), most of the power in the Japanese Government during this time was held by Japan's Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō and the military. His role in WW2 is controversial.

paragraphs: After Japan's defeat in the war, the role of emperor changed. The emperor became a symbol of the state.

paragraphs: Hirohito was the first emperor to travel outside Japan. He visited Europe in 1971 and he traveled to the United States in 1975.

paragraphs: Emperor Showa died of small intestine cancer and was succeeded by his son, Prince Akihito.

paragraphs: The state funeral for the late emperor was an international event. World leaders attending the funeral included U.S. President George H. W. Bush, French President François Mitterrand, and the Duke of Edinburgh.

paragraphs: Emperor Shōwa is buried in the Imperial Mausoleum in Hachiōji, along with Emperor Taishō.

paragraphs: In an overview of writings by and about Hirohito, OCLC/WorldCat includes roughly 900+ works in 1,500 publications in 15 languages and 31,000 library holdings .


title: Human evolution

paragraphs: Human evolution is about the origin of human beings. All humans belong to the same species, which has spread from its birthplace in Africa to almost all parts of the world. Its origin in Africa is proved by the fossils which have been found there.

paragraphs: The term 'human' in this context means the genus "Homo". However, studies of human evolution usually include other hominids, such as the Australopithecines, from which the genus "Homo" had diverged (split) by about 2.3 to 2.4 million years ago in Africa. The first "Homo sapiens", the ancestors of today's humans, evolved around 200,000 years ago.

paragraphs: It was known for centuries that man and the apes were related. At heart, their anatomy is similar, despite many superficial differences. This was the reason why Buffon and Linnaeus, in the 18th century, put them together in one family. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution says that such basic structural similarity comes from the common origin of the group. The apes and man are close relatives, and are primates: the order of mammals which includes monkeys, apes, lemurs and tarsiers.

paragraphs: The great apes live in tropical rainforests. It is thought that human evolution started when a group of apes (now called the australopithecines) began to live more in the savannah. A savannah is more open, with trees, shrubs and grass. This group started walking on two legs. They began to use their hands to carry things. Life in the open was different, and there was a big advantage in having better brains. Their brains grew larger, and they began to make simple tools. This process began at least 5 million years ago. We have fossils of two or three different groups of walking apes, and one was the ancestor of humans.

paragraphs: The biological name for "human" or "man" is "Homo". The modern human species is called "Homo sapiens". "Sapiens" means "thought". "Homo sapiens" means "the thinking man".

paragraphs: Paleoanthropology looks at ancient human fossils, tools, and other signs of early human life. It began in the 19th century with the discovery of a skull of "Neanderthal man" in 1856.

paragraphs: By 1859, zoologists had known for a long time that humans are, in their anatomy, similar to the great apes. There are also differences: humans can speak, for example. But the similarities are more basic than the differences. Humans also have features with a much older history, from early in the life of vertebrates.

paragraphs: The idea that species are caused by evolution had been proposed before Darwin, but his book gave much evidence, and many were persuaded by it. The book was "On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection", published in November 1859. In this book, Darwin wrote about the idea of evolution in general, rather than the evolution of humans. "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history", was all Darwin wrote on the subject. Nevertheless, the implication of the theory was clear to readers at the time.

paragraphs: Several people discussed the evolution of humans. Among them were Thomas Huxley and Charles Lyell. Huxley convincingly showed many of the similarities and differences between humans and apes in his 1863 book "Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature". When Darwin published his own book on the subject, "The Descent of Man, and selection in relation to sex", the idea of human evolution was already well-known. The theory was controversial. Even some of Darwin's supporters (such as Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Lyell) did not like the idea that human beings have evolved their impressive mental capacities and moral sensibilities through natural selection.

paragraphs: Since the 18th century, scientists thought the great apes to be closely related to human beings. In the 19th century, they speculated that the closest living relatives of humans were either chimpanzees or gorillas. Both live in central Africa in tropical rainforests. In fact, chimpanzees are closest to us. Biologists believed that humans share a "common ancestor" with other African great apes and that fossils of these ancestors would be found in Africa, which they have been. It is now accepted by virtually all biologists that humans are not only similar to the great apes, but actually are great apes.

paragraphs: The issue was confirmed by late 20th century studies on the sequences of proteins and genes in apes and man. These studies showed that man shares about 95 to 98% of these structures with chimpanzees. This is a much closer relationship than with any other type of animal, and fully supports the ideas put forward in the 19th century by Darwin and Huxley.

paragraphs: Primates have diversified in habitats such as trees and bushes. They have many features which are adaptations to their environment. Here are some of those traits:

paragraphs: Not all primates have these anatomical traits, nor is every trait unique to primates. Primates are frequently highly social, live in groups with 'flexible dominance hierarchies'.

paragraphs: Closely related animals almost always have closely related parasites. This usually comes about because parasites evolve with their hosts, and when host populations split, their parasites split also. It is also possible for parasites to get from one species to another. Two of the most serious parasitic infections of humans in Africa have originated in apes. Each may have been transferred to humans by a single cross-species event.

paragraphs: There are several species of mosquito, and several species of the malarial parasite "Plasmodium". The most serious type, "P. falciparum", which kills many millions of people each year, originated in gorillas. It is now virtually certain that chimpanzees are the source of HIV-1, the major cause of AIDS. This information is got by the sequence analysis of ape and human viruses.

paragraphs: The relevance of this to evolution is that our physiology is so close to the apes that their parasites were able to transfer to humans with great success. Humans have much less resistance to these parasites, which are ancient in origin, but comparatively new to our species.

paragraphs: It was not until the 1920s that hominid fossils were discovered in Africa. In 1924, Raymond Dart described "Australopithecus africanus". The specimen was called the Taung Child, an australopithecine infant discovered in a cave deposit being mined for concrete at Taung, South Africa. The remains were a remarkably well-preserved tiny skull and a cast of the inside of the individual's skull. Although the brain was small (410 cm³), its shape was rounded, unlike that of chimpanzees and gorillas, and more like a modern human brain. Also, the specimen had short canine teeth, and the position of the foramen magnum was evidence of bipedal locomotion. All of these traits convinced Dart that the Taung baby was a bipedal human ancestor, a transitional form between apes and humans.

paragraphs: It took another 20 years before Dart's claims were taken seriously. This was after other similar skeletons had been found. The most common view of the time was that a large brain evolved "before" bipedality, the ability to walk on two feet more or less upright. It was thought that intelligence similar to that of modern humans was necessary for bipedalism. This turned out to be wrong: bipedality came first.

paragraphs: The australopithecines are now thought to be immediate ancestors of the genus "Homo", the group to which modern humans belong. Both australopithecines and "Homo sapiens" are part of the tribe Hominini, but recent data has brought into doubt the position of "A. africanus" as a direct ancestor of modern humans; it may well have been a cousin. The australopithecines were originally classified as either gracile or robust. The robust variety of "Australopithecus" has since been reclassified as "Paranthropus", although it is still regarded as a subgenus of "Australopithecus" by some authors.

paragraphs: In the 1930s, when the robust specimens were first described, the "Paranthropus" genus was used. During the 1960s, the robust variety was moved into "Australopithecus". The recent trend has been back to the original classification as a separate genus.

paragraphs: It was Carolus Linnaeus who chose the name "Homo". Today, there is only one species in the genus: "Homo sapiens". There were other species, but they became extinct.

paragraphs: The figure shows where some of them lived and at what time. Some of the other species might have been ancestors of "H. sapiens". Many were likely our "cousins", they developed away from our ancestral line.

paragraphs: Anthropologists are still investigating the exact line of descent. A consensus on which should count as separate species and which as subspecies has not been reached yet. In some cases this is because there are very few fossils, in other cases it is due to the slight differences used to classify species in the "Homo" genus.

paragraphs: The evolution of the genus "Homo" took place mostly in the Pleistocene. The whole genus is characterised by its use of stone tools, initially crude, and becoming ever more sophisticated. So much so that in archaeology and anthropology the Pleistocene is usually referred to as the Palaeolithic, or the Stone Age.

paragraphs: "Homo habilils" was likely the first species of Homo. It developed from the Australopithecus, about 2.5 million years ago. It lived until about 1.4 million years ago. It had smaller molars (back teeth) and larger brains than the Australopithecines.

paragraphs: There are two proposed species that lived from 1.9 to 1.6 million years ago. Their relation has not been clarified. One of them is called "Homo rudolfensis". It is known from a single incomplete skull from Kenya. Scientists have suggested that this was just another habilis, but this has not been confirmed. The other is currently called "Homo georgicus". It is from Georgia and may be an intermediate form between "H. habilis" and "H. erectus", or a sub-species of "H. erectus".

paragraphs: "Homo erectus" was first discovered on the island of Java in Indonesia, in 1891. The discoverer, Eugene Dubois originally called it "Pithecanthropus erectus" based on its morphology that he considered to be intermediate between that of humans and apes. Homo erectus lived from about 1.8 million to 70,000 years ago. The earlier specimens (from 1.8 to 1.2 million years ago) are sometimes seen as a different species, or a subspecies. called "Homo ergaster", or "Homo erectus ergaster'.

paragraphs: In the early Pleistocene, 1.5–1 mya, in Africa, Asia, and Europe, presumably, some populations of "Homo habilis" evolved larger brains and made more elaborate stone tools; these differences and others are sufficient for anthropologists to classify them as a new species, "H. erectus". In addition "H. erectus" was the first human ancestor to walk truly upright. This was made possible by the evolution of locking knees and a different location of the foramen magnum (the hole in the skull where the spine enters). They may have used fire to cook their meat.

paragraphs: A famous example of "Homo erectus" is Peking Man; others were found in Asia (notably in Indonesia), Africa, and Europe. Many paleoanthropologists are now using the term "Homo ergaster" for the non-Asian forms of this group. They reserve "H. erectus" only for those fossils found in the Asian region that meet certain requirements (as to skeleton and skull) which differ slightly from ergaster.

paragraphs: "Homo neaderthalensis" (usually called Neanderthal man) lived from about 250,000 to about 30,000 years ago. Also, less usual, as "Homo sapiens neanderthalensis": there is still some discussion if it was a separate species "Homo neanderthalensis", or a subspecies of "H. sapiens". While the debate remains unsettled, evidence from mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal DNA sequencing indicates that little or no gene flow occurred between "H. neanderthalensis" and "H. sapiens", and, therefore, the two were separate species. In 1997, Dr. Mark Stoneking, then an associate professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, stated:

paragraphs: More investigation of a second source of Neanderthal DNA supported these findings.

paragraphs: A genetic analysis of a piece of finger bone found in Siberia has produced a surprise result. It dates to about 40,000 years ago, at a time when Neanderthals and modern man were living in the area. German researchers found its mitochondrial DNA did not match either that of our species or that of Neanderthals. If this result is correct, the bone belongs to a previously unknown species. The degree of difference in the DNA suggests this species split off from our family tree about a million years ago, well before the split between our species and Neanderthals.

paragraphs: "Homo floresiensis", which lived about 100,000–12,000 years ago has been nicknamed "hobbit" for its small size. Its size may be a result of island dwarfism, the tendency for large mammals to evolve smaller forms on islands. "H. floresiensis" is intriguing both for its size and its age. It is a concrete example of a recent species of the genus "Homo" that shows derived traits not shared with modern humans. In other words, "H. floresiensis" share a common ancestor with modern humans, but split from the modern human lineage and followed a different evolutionary path. The main find was a skeleton believed to be a woman of about 30 years of age. Found in 2003 it has been dated to approximately 18,000 years old. The living woman was estimated to be one meter in height, with a brain volume of just 380 cm This is small for a chimpanzee and less than a third of the "H. sapiens" average of 1400 cm.

paragraphs: There is an ongoing debate over whether "H. floresiensis" is indeed a separate species. Some scientists believe that "H. floresiensis" was a modern "H. sapiens" suffering from pathological dwarfism. Modern humans who live on Flores, the island where the skeleton was found, are pygmies. This fact is consistent with either theory. One line of attack on "H. floresiensis" is that it was found with tools only associated with "H. sapiens".

paragraphs: Stone artefacts have now been found on Flores which can be dated to a million years ago. These artefacts are "proxies"; which means there were no skeletons of humans, but only a species of "Homo" could have made the artefacts. The artefacts are flakes and other implements, 48 in all, some of which show signs of being worked to produce a cutting edge. This means that humans were present on Flores by that date, but it does not tell us which species that was.

paragraphs: "Homo sapiens" has lived from about 250,000 years ago to the present. Between 400,000 years ago and the second warm period in the Middle Pleistocene, around 250,000 years ago, its skull grew and more sophisticated technologies based on stone tools developed. One possibility is that a transition between "H. erectus" to "H. sapiens" occurred. The evidence of Java Man suggests there was an initial migration of "H. erectus" out of Africa. Then, much later, a further development of "H. sapiens" from "H. erectus" in Africa. Then a subsequent migration within and out of Africa eventually replaced the earlier "H. erectus".

paragraphs: Studies of the human genome, especially the Y-chromosome DNA and mitochondrial DNA, have supported a recent African origin. Evidence from autosomal DNA also supports the recent African origin. The details of this great saga are not fully established yet, but by about 90,000 years ago they had moved into Eurasia and the Middle East. This was the area where Neanderthals, "Homo neanderthalensis", had been living for a long time (at least 500,000 years in western Europe).

paragraphs: By about 42 to 44,000 years ago "Homo sapiens" had reached western Europe, including Britain. In Europe and western Asia, "Homo sapiens" replaced the Neanderthals by about 35,000 years ago. The details of how this happened are not known.

paragraphs: At roughly the same time "Homo sapiens" arrived in Australia (However a recent archaeological dig in Kakadu, Northern Territory, may suggest "Homo sapiens" arrived in Australia 65,000 years ago). Their arrival in the Americas was much later, about 15,000 years ago. All these earlier groups of modern man were hunter-gatherers.

paragraphs: Current research has established that human beings are genetically rather homogenous (similar). The DNA of individuals is more alike than usual for most species. This may have resulted from their relatively recent evolution or from the Toba catastrophe. Distinctive genetic have arisen as a result of small groups of people moving into new environmental circumstances. These adapted traits are a very small component of the "Homo sapiens" genome and include such outward 'racial' characteristics as skin color and nose shape, and internal characteristics such as the ability to breathe more efficiently at high altitudes.

paragraphs: "H. sapiens idaltu", from Ethiopia, about 160,000 years ago, is a proposed subspecies. It is the oldest known anatomically modern human.

paragraphs: This list is in chronological order by genus.


title: Ancient Rome

paragraphs: Ancient Rome is the name for a civilization in Italy. It began as a small farming community in the 8th century BC. It became a city and took the name of Roma from its founder Romulus. It grew to become the largest empire in the ancient world. It started as a kingdom, then became a republic, then an empire.

paragraphs: The Roman Empire was so big that there were problems ruling Rome's vast territory that stretched from Britain to the Middle East. In 293 AD, Diocletian split the empire into two parts. A century later, in 395 AD, it was permanently split into the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire.

paragraphs: The Western Empire ended because of the Germanic tribe, the Visigoths in 476 AD. In the 5th century AD, the western part of the empire split up into different kingdoms. The eastern Roman Empire stayed together as the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire was defeated by the Ottoman Empire in 1453.

paragraphs: Rome was founded, according to legend, on 21 April 753 BC and fell in 476 AD, having nearly 1200 years of independence and roughly 700 years of rule as a major power in the ancient world. This makes it one of the longest lasting civilizations in the antiquity.

paragraphs: Roman culture spread to Western Europe and the area around the Mediterranean Sea. Its history still has a big influence on the world today. For example, Roman ideas about laws, government, art, literature, and language are important to European culture. The Roman language, Latin, slowly evolved, becoming modern French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and many other languages. Latin also indirectly influenced many other languages such as English.

paragraphs: Beginning with Emperor Nero in the first century AD, the Roman government did not like Christianity. At certain points in history, people could be put to death because they were Christians. Under Emperor Diocletian, the persecution of Christians became the strongest. However, Christianity became an officially supported religion in the Roman Empire under Constantine I, who was the next Emperor. With the signing of the Edict of Milan in 313, it quickly became the biggest religion. Then in 391 AD by an edict of Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity Rome's official religion.

paragraphs: The Byzantines were threatened by the rise of Islam, whose followers took over the territories of Syria, Armenia and Egypt and soon threatened to take over Constantinople. In the next century, the Arabs also captured southern Italy and Sicily.

paragraphs: The Byzantines survived during the 8th century and, beginning in the 9th century, took back parts of the conquered lands. In 1000 AD, the Eastern Empire was at its largest point, and culture and trade flourished. However, the expansion was suddenly stopped in 1071 at the Battle of Manzikert. This finally made the empire start becoming weaker. After centuries of fighting and Turkic invasions, Emperor Alexius I Comnenus called for help from the West in 1095.

paragraphs: The West responded with the Crusades, eventually resulting in the Fourth Crusade which conquered Constantinople in 1204. New countries including Nicaea took pieces of the now smaller empire. After the recapture of Constantinople by Imperial forces, the empire was little more than a Greek state confined to the Aegean coast. The Eastern Empire came to an end when Mehmed II conquered Constantinople on 29 May 1453.

paragraphs: Remains of Roman work and architecture have been found in the furthest corners of the late Empire.


title: Globalization

paragraphs: Globalization is the connection of different parts of the world resulting in the expansion of international cultural, economic, and political activities. It is the movement and integration of goods and people among different countries. There are advantages and disadvantages to globalization, all of which have economic, social, political, and cultural impacts. Globalization describes mainly trade practices, extending also to the communication patterns and cultural system that underlie these practices.

paragraphs: It is a term which may be used broadly to mean doing things as distant people do them, or more narrowly to mean complying to global standards in economy, politics, culture, education, environment or other matters. It describes the way countries and people of the world interact and integrate. Many things have become globalized as people come into contact.

paragraphs: Economic globalization is how countries are coming together as one big global economy, This is all making international trade easier. In the late 20th century, many people agreed to lower tariffs, or taxes on goods that are imported from other countries. Telegraphy and bull other communication technologies have helped people to buy and sell products from around the world, thus bringing globalization. Herman E. Daly has said that there is an important difference between internationalization and globalization. Internationalization is about nations working together for the same goals. These are things like treaties, alliances, and other international agreements. Globalization is about international trade that are

paragraphs: Political globalization is how institutions and countries can influence the whole world. The United Nations are an example of globalization because most countries of the world are members of its General Assembly. This international organization can make countries follow rules and apply economic sanctions to a country that doesn't. This means the countries in the U.N will punish them by not talking or trading with them, so they don't benefit from globalization.

paragraphs: Cultural globalization is how culture is becoming homogeneous, which means that people from all over the world act in similar way. For example, many people around the world write with the Latin alphabet, wear T-shirts and jeans and watch Hollywood movies and other media.

paragraphs: Some people, like Noam Chomsky, do not like globalization because they feel it only helps rich people get richer by making poor people poorer. Offshore outsourcing, such as a company hiring workers in a developing country, is often a part of globalization. This sometimes means that some people in a developed country lose their jobs. Joseph Stiglitz said that international groups like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have made it harder for poorer nations to get richer. Globalization also means that problems from other countries will affect your country. For example, the Great Depression of the 1930s started in the United States but affected the entire world.

paragraphs: Many countries also dislike it when international organizations such as the United Nations tell them what to do. However they obey to avoid sanctions. Many people also criticize the fact that globalization means that fewer people are deciding what brands, like Coca-Cola and McDonald's, taking over smaller, local shops and businesses. They criticize the fact that powerful countries have bigger influence on world culture than others. For example, the United States is the biggest cultural exporter, which means that countries around the world are becoming like the United States. However, this hurts local cultures. Jean Baudrillard believes that globalization hurts local cultures and is the cause of most terrorism. He also believes that most supporters of globalization just want to stay in power.

paragraphs: Gregory Meyjes interprets globalization as a largely hegemonic, unequal process of socio-cultural imposition. Questioning the various processes (economic, political, cultural) by which globalization or globalisation has favored rapid Anglo-cultural dominance over a more gradual, egalitarian evolution towards an inclusive world civilization, Meyjes argues for cultural policies that support "ecological" relations between local ethnocultural traditions, by protecting cultural specificity in the short term and allow as many cultural groups as possible to organically contribute to the whole. At the global level, Meyjes therefore proposes the term universalization or universalisation to denote a process of (largely) non-imposed socio-cultural exchange between state-level and sub-state-level groups and "nations" – i.e. a transnational process that informs the gradual emergence of a universal civilization.

paragraphs: Others, like Thomas Friedman, believe that globalization can bring people together and make everyone richer without getting rid of local cultures. People who support globalization also believe that it makes war less likely because it is bad for business. Francis Fukuyama also argued that globalization would eventually lead to a system of world governance which would cause wars to end.

paragraphs: Many believe that globalization helps out poorer nations by bringing them business. A report by the World Bank said that poverty in India and Indonesia was cut in half because of globalization. The report also said that people in poorer nations are living longer and better because they were making more money.


title: North Holland

paragraphs: North Holland is a province (area with a local government) of the Netherlands. It is in the northwest. The capital is called Haarlem. Other cities in the province are Amsterdam, Hilversum, Alkmaar, Zaandam, and Hoorn.


title: Folk music

paragraphs: Folk music is music that is played or sung by ordinary people (not professional musicians). It is traditional music that people learn by listening to other people playing it and then copying them. We say that the tradition is “orally transmitted” or “handed down orally”, meaning that the music is not written down but taught by speaking (“oral” means “belonging to the mouth”). Every country has its own traditional music. Folk song is part of folk music. A folksinger is a person who sings folk songs.

paragraphs: In the 1960s a new type of music was started by a book Bob Dylan who mixed traditional folk song with rock and roll. This music is sometimes called “folk rock” .

paragraphs: Folk music is music for everybody to play and listen to. In this way it is different from classical music which is mainly developed by professional musicians for a smaller group of people. Folk music is part of a popular culture, although the term “popular music” or “pop music” today refers to a kind of music which people can hear through television, radio and other means of recording.

paragraphs: In many parts of the world nearly all music is folk music. The term “folk music” is usually used for European and American music which is part of an oral tradition. Folk music as an oral tradition, is much less important than before, in part because of new technology (radio, television etc, and recordings of music ). Folk tunes are now often written down, and they have influenced other kinds of music, so that the differences between various types of music are harder to see.

paragraphs: In older times folk music was part of “communal recreation”. This means that small communities such as villages or families would relax by playing and singing music together. People would often make up a new song or new piece of music, or make changes to music that they already knew. In this way music was always changing. People would get musical ideas from other groups nearby. This is why folk music from neighbouring countries often sound similar.

paragraphs: Ballads were a popular kind of folk music. These were folk songs which told a story (they were “narrative”). Sometimes they had a refrain after each verse so that everybody could join in. Ballads told stories of love, myths or folklore. This is how stories were handed down from one generation to another.

paragraphs: Instrumental folk music was used for dancing. Some of the instruments may have been very simple, such as a pair of sticks, rattle or a simple drum. Other instruments may include fiddle (the folk word for “violin”), bagpipes, harp, zither, or various wind instruments, depending on the time of history and the country.

paragraphs: Some singing was polyphonic, i.e. there were two or more parts (voices). Very often two voices would sing in parallel (going up and down together). In countries such as Russia persons sings in three or four parts, e.g. in the tradition of “podgolosnaya” (“underneath the voice”). In countries such as Britain this polyphonic tradition did not exist. Folk songs there were sung by one singer, unaccompanied.

paragraphs: Folk music used different scales. These are called modes. The Ionian mode (like our major scale) was the most common in Western Europe. In some parts of Eastern Europe modes with several semitones were used, but for the most part, half steps were avoided. This results is the tunes being described as tetratonic (four notes per octave) or pentatonic (five notes per octave).

paragraphs: Folk music also includes simple children’s songs and lullabies.

paragraphs: Folk music was sung by people as they worked. In the early days of European immigration in America the pioneers sang as they travelled, cowboys sang as they worked, slaves sang in the cottonfields.

paragraphs: In the 18th century folk music started to have an influence on classical music (or “art music”). People from the higher classes started to be interested in folk music because they were conscious of being part of a tradition. Composers such as Mozart and Schubert wrote folk dances for orchestras or small groups of instruments.

paragraphs: Folk music was used by many composers in the Romantic period. Gustav Mahler used folk song in a lot of his music. In the early twentieth century some composers travelled around collecting folk music which was being played or sung by people in the country. They often used some of these ideas in their music. Bartok did this in Hungary as well as in Bulgaria and in the United States, and people such as Cecil Sharp and the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams collected folk music in England. In the United States the influence of jazz on classical music is all part of the story of folk music.


title: Abraham

paragraphs: Abraham (originally Abram) is a man in the Book of Genesis and the Qur'an. There, he is said to be the father of all Jews. This is because he is their ancestor. Abraham is part of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. Abraham is considered the father of these three religions, which are called Abrahamic religions.

paragraphs: Abraham is the father of Isaac with his wife Sarah. He also has Ishmael with Hagar, Sarah's handmaid, and he has other children with Keturah, whom he marries after Sarah's death. He is the grandfather of Jacob and Esau. Abraham is believed to be the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites and Edomites. Abraham was the third son of Terah and the grandson of Nahor. Abraham's older brothers were named Nahor and Haran.


title: Tao Te Ching

paragraphs: Tao Te Ching ( <nowiki>[</nowiki><nowiki>]</nowiki>) is the Chinese name of a book by a man named Laozi (or Lao Tzu, which literally means "old master"). Laozi was a sage (a wise man) and he was a record-keeper. The title can mean "The Book of the Way and its Virtue." People believe the book was written around 600 BC.

paragraphs: It is an important text to Chinese culture. It is very important in Chinese philosophy (way of thinking) and religion. It is the main book for Taoism, which is both a philosophy and part of Chinese folk religion. It also influenced other philosophies in and around China.

paragraphs: There are many ways to translate the book's title, because each Chinese word has a few meanings:

paragraphs: The three words together gives the meaning "Virtue Way Rules".

paragraphs: The book is constructed of a series of poems, each containing a rule, way or belief to becoming successful.

paragraphs: The Tao Te Ching is a short book of about 5,000 Chinese characters. It has 81 short chapters. It has two parts: Part One is the Tao Ching (道經) "Way Rules", which is chapters 1–37; Part Two is the Te Ching (德經) "Virtue Rules", which is chapters 38–81.

paragraphs: The Tao Te Ching is one of the most translated books in history, alongside the Bible and the Quran. Why are there thousands of translations? The text is short, the meaning is difficult. There are many interpretations, or ways to understand what the book says.


title: Bacon

paragraphs: Bacon is a type of meat that comes from pigs. It is taken from the sides, back, or belly of the pig. It is often cut in thin slices, unlike other cured or smoked pork products. It is usually fried or grilled. It can also be microwaved.

paragraphs: In the USA, back bacon and smoked ham is sometimes called Canadian bacon.

paragraphs: Bacon has lots of fat. Because bacon comes from pigs, some religions will not eat it. In some cultures and religions (such as Islam and Judaism), eating pork may be considered "unclean." Because of this, other varieties of bacon are also made out of turkey or chicken instead. Turkey bacon and chicken bacon usually contain half of the fat of pork-based bacon.


title: Molotov-Ribbentrop pact

paragraphs: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (otherwise known as the Nazi-Soviet Pact) was signed by Vyacheslav Molotov (Soviet foreign minister working for Stalin) and Joachim von Ribbentrop (Nazi-German foreign minister working for Hitler) on 23 August 1939. The pact promised that neither the Soviet Union nor Nazi Germany would attack the other. A secret part of the pact established spheres of interest, which later became a border when they also invaded and divided Poland between them.

paragraphs: On 1 September 1939 the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany began. The Soviet invasion of Poland began on the 17 September that year.

paragraphs: About 250,000 to 454,700 Polish soldiers and policemen were captured and interned by the Soviet authorities. 125,000 were imprisoned in camps run by the NKVD. 43,000 soldiers born in western Poland, then under German control, were transferred to the Germans; in turn, the Soviets received 13,575 Polish prisoners from the Germans. That shows the close co-operation between the Nazis and the Soviets.

paragraphs: France and Britain declared war soon because both countries had treaties pledging them to defend Poland if it was attacked. Neither country was on a war footing, so for some time nothing could be done to help Poland. But, actually, World War II had started.

paragraphs: Later, Hitler broke the treaty with the USSR. In June 1941 he invaded the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). This was part of a series of conflicts in World War II.


title: Vyacheslav Molotov

paragraphs: Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (; in Kukarka – November 8, 1986 in Moscow) was a Soviet politician and diplomat. He was a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he came to power. He was a protégé of Joseph Stalin, until the 1950s. Nikita Khrushchev dismissed him from office. He was the main Soviet signatory of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of 1939. This pact was signed between Germany and the USSR, and it was a promise not to attack each other. The pact lasted about two years, until Germany started the invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The Molotov Cocktail, which was invented by Finns fighting against the Soviet invasion of Finland, is named after him.


title: Babylonia

paragraphs: Babylonia was a city state in Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium BC, over 3000 years ago. Its capital city was Babylon, which meant "The Gate of the Gods". They built an empire out of the lands of the former Akkadian empire.

paragraphs: Mesopotamia is the region of the two rivers, Euphrates and Tigris. At that time the region also included the city states of Assyria to the north, and Elam to the south-east. It is part of the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. It was there people first lived together in a civilization, with farming, cities and writing.

paragraphs: The Babylonians had a written language that they used for trade and communication. They got it from the Sumerians, who invented it. The Babylonians used the same cuneiform system of pressing triangular shapes into soft clay. They wrote in two different languages: Sumerian for religious purposes and Akkadian language for official purposes.

paragraphs: Hammurabi was a king of Babylon who fought wars and made Babylonia into an empire by putting Assyria under a vassal (puppet) king. He created the earliest written set of laws, called the "Code of Hammurabi". It has 280 judgments and can be seen today in the Louvre, a museum in Paris. Whereas the earlier Sumerian punishments had not been harsh, Babylonian law was quite severe. The death penalty was given for theft, murder, and other crimes.

paragraphs: The houses in Babylon had open roofs, so that on hot nights, the family could sleep there. The living rooms, dining rooms, and the kitchens were, of course, downstairs. Lamps burned with olive oil, and every house had a chapel for burial and worship ceremonies. Since Mesopotamia had only clay for use in building, the strong wooden supports for the houses were imported from Lebanon. Eventually, people began baking their bricks and improved the strength of their buildings.

paragraphs: Later, Babylon was sacked by the Hittite king Musilis I, which led to the so-called 'Dark Ages' of the Bronze Age, where there is little evidence in writing. The date of the sacking of Babylon is debated by archaeologists, who have proposed no fewer than four chronologies. Possible dates for the sack of Babylon are:

paragraphs: The difficulty is to line up the Mesopotamian dates with the Ancient Egyptian dates.

paragraphs: After the Hittite destruction, Babylon was ruled by Kassites for 576 years. Next it was ruled by Elam, and then regained its independence for about three centuries. They were then conquered by the Neo-Assyrians. A century later they again became free, to form the Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean Empire. This constant conquest and re-conquest is partly due to geography. There are no natural boundaries except the rivers, and it is easy to get at the cities from north or south.

paragraphs: The king Nebuchadnezzar II reigned for 43 years. He conquered Phoenicia in 585 BC.

paragraphs: The Babylonian empire was finally brought to an end by Cyrus the Great of Persia.

paragraphs: It was in 549 BC that Cyrus put an end to the empire of the Medes. Three years later Cyrus had become king of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia), and was engaged in a campaign in northern Mesopotamia.

paragraphs: In 539 BC Cyrus invaded Babylonia. A battle was fought at Opis in the month of June, where the Babylonians were defeated; and immediately afterwards Sippara surrendered to the invader. Two days after the capture of Sippara, "the soldiers of Cyrus entered Babylon without fighting". Cyrus did not arrive until the 3rd of "Marchesvan" (October), Gobryas having acted for him in his absence. Gobryas was now made governor of the province of Babylon.

paragraphs: Cyrus now claimed to be the legitimate successor of the ancient Babylonian kings and the avenger of their god Bel-Marduk. The invasion of Babylonia by Cyrus was doubtless helped by the presence of foreign forced exiles like the Jews, who had been planted in the midst of the country.

paragraphs: One of the first acts of Cyrus was to allow these exiles to return to their own homes, carrying with them the images of their god and their sacred vessels. The permission to do so was embodied in a proclamation, whereby the conqueror endeavored to justify his claim to the Babylonian throne. The feeling was still strong that none had a right to rule over western Asia until he had been consecrated to the office by Bel and his priests; and accordingly, Cyrus henceforth assumed the imperial title of "King of Babylon."

paragraphs: Like the Sumerians, the Babylonians ate vegetables, fruits, meat, and fish. They also ate bread and enjoyed toasting and eating the pesky but crunchy locusts which destroyed their precious crops.

paragraphs: The Babylonians loved art. Beautiful vessels ornamented with sparkling gold were buried with the kings. In those days books dealt with floods which were thought to be caused by sin, or about the journey of Abraham.

paragraphs: Science, too, improved well: they invented the first calendar, the 60-minute hour, and the advance multiplication table.

paragraphs: Life was rich, full, and usually peaceful. People rarely thought about war or how to protect the city. As a result, Babylon was conquered in 730 BC by the Assyrians and Kassites. This great civilization then ended.


title: Joachim von Ribbentrop

paragraphs: Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop ("von" later added) (30 April 1893 in Wesel – 16 October 1946 in Nuremberg) was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was executed by hanging for war crimes after the Nuremberg trials.

paragraphs: Before the war, from 1936 to 1938, he was ambassador in the United Kingdom.


title: Noise

paragraphs: Noise is another word for sound. It usually means it is not wanted. Noise is perceived by our ears. They can be damaged by noise. Noise is created through any object, which produces vibration unnecessarily.

paragraphs: Noise can also mean data (information) that typically does not have a meaning, like "white noise". Loudspeaker measurements can use white noise for measuring loudspeakers frequency response.

paragraphs: Noise can also refer to some math that makes random numbers. Click here to learn about it.

paragraphs: In electronics, heat produces noise in resistors. Depending on the type of resistor, the amount of noise may differ. Most audio devices are designed not to produce noise.


title: Karma

paragraphs: Karma (car-ma) is a word meaning the result of a person's actions as well as the actions themselves. It is a term about the cycle of cause and effect. According to the theory of Karma, what happens to a person, happens because they caused it with their actions. It is an important part of many religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. In Shinto (a religion often syncretised with Buddhism), Karma is interpreted as "Musubi" (むすび), a view of karma is recognized in Shinto as a means of enriching, empowering and life affirming.

paragraphs: In terms of spiritual development, Karma is about all that a person has done, is doing and will do. Karma is not about punishment or reward. It makes a person responsible for their own life, and how they treat other people.

paragraphs: The "Theory of Karma" is a major belief in Hinduism, Ayyavazhi, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. All living creatures are responsible for their karma - their actions and the effects of their actions.

paragraphs: Karma is often misconstrued as the universal principle of cause and effect. Our actions, both good and bad, come back to us in the future, helping us to learn from life’s lessons and become better people. In religions that include reincarnation, karma extends through one's present life and all past and future lives as well.

paragraphs: Karma is basically energy. One person throws out energy through thoughts, words and actions, and it comes back, in time, through other people. Karma is the best teacher, forcing people to face the consequences of their own actions and thus improve and refine their behavior, or suffer if they do not. Even harsh karma, when faced in wisdom, can be the greatest spark for spiritual growth. The conquest of karma lies in intelligent action and unemotional response.

paragraphs: Supporting any action, with the claim, "I am doing it," is karma. Claiming doership of any action, binds karma. To support the action with the belief 'I am the doer' is called binding the karma. It is this support of the belief of 'doership' that binds karma. If you know that you are not the doer and are aware of who the true doer is, 'I am not the doer' and 'who is the doer' then the action will not have any support and the karma will be shed.

paragraphs: The process of action and reaction on all levels—physical, mental and spiritual—is karma. One must pay attention to thoughts, because thought can make karmas—good, bad and mixed.

paragraphs: “I say kind words to you, and you feel peaceful and happy. I say harsh words to you, and you become ruffled and upset. The kindness and the harshness will return to me, through others, at a later time. Finally, what I give is what I get back.”

paragraphs: “An architect thinks creative, productive thoughts while drawing plans for a new building. But were he to think destructive, unproductive thoughts, he would soon not be able to accomplish any kind of positive task even if he desired to do so.”

paragraphs: Hindus look at time as a circle, as things cycle around again. Karma is a very just law which, like gravity, treats everyone the same. The law of karma puts man at the center of responsibility for everything he does and everything that is done to him. Understanding the way karma works, Hindus try to live a virtuous life. This is called dharma.

paragraphs: There are three types of karma in Hinduism:

paragraphs: Karma is considered one of the natural laws of the mind, just as gravity is a law of matter. Just as God created gravity to bring order to the physical world, He created karma as a divine system of justice that is self-governing and infinitely fair. It automatically creates the appropriate future experience in response to the current action.

paragraphs: Several different views exist in Hinduism regarding the role of divine beings. In Hinduism, many see the deities or devas as playing some kind of role. Other Hindus, such as the Mimamsakas, reject such notions and see karma as acting independently, considering the natural laws of causation sufficient to explain the effects of karma.

paragraphs: Some interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita suggest an intermediate view, that karma is a law of cause and effect yet God can mitigate karma for His devotees. It is said in Bhagavad Gita that only the karma that is done with a sense of doership and with attachment to the karma could cause good or bad reactions. Karma that is done with an attitude of duty and without attachment to the results will not create any effect and will move one closer to God.

paragraphs: Another view holds that a Satguru, acting on God's behalf, can mitigate or work out some of the karma of the disciple.


title: Western hemisphere

paragraphs: The western hemisphere is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that is west of the Prime Meridian. Pretend that the earth is cut in half, from the North Pole, through England, to the South Pole. The Western Hemisphere is the half to the west. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere.


title: Molotov cocktail

paragraphs: A Molotov cocktail is the term for a simple incendiary weapon. It is also known as a petrol bomb, fire bomb, or benzine torch. They are relatively easy to make, and may be used by irregular paramilitary forces and rioters. These bombs are also used to commit arson (set fire to buildings).

paragraphs: They were used for the first time in the Spanish Civil War between July 1936 and April 1939, before they became known as "Molotov cocktails".

paragraphs: A Molotov cocktail consists of a glass bottle partly filled with a flammable liquid. The liquid will typically be gasoline, alcohol, methanol or ethanol. The mouth of the bottle is closed with a cork or other type of tight sealing made of rubber, glass, or plastic, and a cloth rag is fixed securely around the mouth. The weapon is used by first soaking the rag in a flammable liquid immediately before using it, lighting the rag, and throwing the bottle at the target. The bottle breaks when it lands, spilling the flammable liquid over the target, which is then ignited by the burning rag.

paragraphs: Many substances may be added to the basic Molotov cocktail to enhance its use as a weapon. These include:

paragraphs: Molotov cocktails are similar to napalm bombs in principle. Napalm was originally made by combining flammable naphthalene and petrol with a thickening agent palmitic acid. The latter two are the main ingredients of Molotov cocktails. When gasoline is used as the main ingredient, motor oil is commonly added to help the gasoline cling to the target.

paragraphs: The name "Molotov cocktail" is derived from Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, a Soviet politician. He was the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, or the Foreign Minister, of the Soviet Union.

paragraphs: During the early part of World War II, when Finland refused to surrender some land to the Soviet Union, the Soviets invaded. The poorly equipped and heavily-outnumbered Finnish Army faced Red Army tanks in what came to be known as the Winter War. The army borrowed an improvised incendiary device from the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War. In that conflict, the Spanish Nationalists under the orders of General Francisco Franco had used the weapon against Soviet T-26 tanks. Those tanks helped the Spanish Republicans in a failed 1936 Soviet assault near Toledo, 30 km from Madrid.

paragraphs: When Molotov claimed in radio broadcasts that the Soviet Union was not dropping bombs but rather delivering food to the starving Finns, the Finns started to call the air bombs satirically "Molotov bread baskets". Soon they responded by saluting the advancing tanks with "Molotov cocktails." At first the term was used to describe only the burning mixture itself, but the term was soon applied to the combination of both the bottle and its contents. This Finnish use of the hand- or sling-thrown explosive against Soviet tanks was repeated in the subsequent Continuation War. Molotov cocktails were eventually mass-produced by the Finnish military, bundled with matches to light them.

paragraphs: These weapons saw widespread use by all sides in World War II. They were very effective against light tanks, and very bad for enemy morale. The following is a first-hand description of their effects, written during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943:

paragraphs: During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, members of the Israeli Kibbutz Degania managed to stop a Syrian tank assault by using Molotov cocktails. They were frequently used against Soviet tanks with great efficiency in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

paragraphs: The weapon has been used against tanks effectively because of the conformation of parts of tanks, particularly around the undersides and fuel tank "entrances". A Molotov cocktail could blow up the fuel tank, destroying the machine, particularly for older (before 1940) tank models. Molotov cocktails are much more effective against gasoline engines than diesel engines' tanks. This is because diesel has a high flashpoint of 64 °C – making it more difficult to ignite compared to petrol. Some Soviet tanks actually had an entry to the gas tank on the side of the vehicle, which could be opened by combatants in close quarters, letting out the highly flammable liquid and making destruction of the tank even easier. Note that these tactics were only effective due to the advantage guerrillas had in close quarters; tanks can barely maneuver in such conditions and are not able to counter quick-moving enemies armed with incendiary bombs.

paragraphs: Petrol bombs were widely used throughout the Troubles in Northern Ireland in riot situations, directed towards the RUC or the British Army. As well as occasional situations where they continue to be used against the PSNI and army, they are frequently used in sectarian attacks on homes and businesses by both communities. Fireworks and homemade grenades, known as blast bombs now commonly accompany petrol bomb attacks on the security forces.

paragraphs: As such things can cause a lot of damage, and actually kill people, it is illegal in most countries to make or possess them. When they are used against property, this usually counts as "arson". When they are used against people, the charges range from manslaughter to murder.

paragraphs: Given the recent terrorism laws, such things could also fall under anti-terror legislation.

paragraphs: Molotov cocktails were put to use recently during the riotous 2005 civil unrest in France. Another situation with popularity for them is the Palestinian Intifada.

paragraphs: In Sydney, during the Cronulla Riots, rioters carrying Molotov cocktails were apprehended when they carried open bottles in a bus. The resulting smell of petrol alerted the driver, who in turn alerted the police.

paragraphs: During the Columbine High School massacre, the two gunmen built and threw several Molotov cocktails; however, none of them exploded. It is presumed that this was due to bottles being overfilled.


title: Flammability

paragraphs: Flammability or inflammability means that something can be set on fire easily. It will burn easily. The words come from Latin. The word at the base is "in-flammare" (late Latin). It means something like "to put fire to a thing".

paragraphs: "Inflammable" and "flammable" are used to mean the same thing. People sometimes get confused and think that "inflammable" means "not flammable" because the prefix "in" is often used to mean "not". For example, something that is inhuman is not human. Since many people do not know that "inflammable" means "burns easily", "flammable" is used more often in public places as a warning.

paragraphs: Flammability can be tested. Paper, for example, is more flammable than wood, and less flammable natural gas.


title: Arson

paragraphs: Arson is a crime. When someone deliberately sets fire to a building, vehicle, etc. they do not own and they want to cause damage, it is called arson. A person who commits arson is an arsonist. Arsonists usually use gasoline or kerosene to start a fire. An accused in the act of arson is generally booked for mischief by fire or explosive substance under the section 435 of Indian penal code,1860 (IPC).


title: Cocktail

paragraphs: A cocktail is a kind of mixed drink. Usually, it is made with alcoholic drinks such as vodka, gin or rum. Since such spirits do not have much taste of their own (at around 40% alcohol), other ingredients are added. Common ingredients are fruits, fruit juice, sugar, crushed ice, and ice cubes. If the cocktail is served in a bar or nightclub, it often comes with a piece of fruit on top. For example, a gin and tonic could have a lemon, a Piña Colada could have a pineapple and a cherry. A popular cocktail in Cornwall UK is the McVey, 440ml of strongbow and 125ml of Malibu.

paragraphs: Most cocktails were invented in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. People began drinking a lot of cocktails in the United States in the 1920s due to Prohibition. Around that time, cocktails from Cuba, such as the mojito, became popular around the world.

paragraphs: Cocktails made without alcohol are also made.

paragraphs: Because all the ingredients give their flavor to the finished drink, a cocktail is only as good as the worst ingredient.

paragraphs: There are many kinds of cocktails. They include:

paragraphs: There is a group called the IBA that determines what common cocktails are, and how they should be made


title: Sneeze

paragraphs: A sneeze is a reaction in the nose in which air and mucus (the liquid found in the nose) are forced out quickly. It often happens after breathing dust or other small things into the nose. When people sneeze, their eyes close. This is a natural reflex which keeps the eyes from being bulged by the great pressure of air which is being released through the sinus cavity (the area the nostrils lead into).

paragraphs: A common thing to say to people when they sneeze is "Bless you!" or in the United States sometimes "Gesundheit!" (from German, meaning "Good health"). There is a story that the blessing started with Pope Gregory VII (540–604 AD). He said a blessing might stop people from getting the bubonic plague which was killing people in Rome at the time. When people sneeze the speed is about 150 kilometers per hour or more.

paragraphs: There is a myth that when you sneeze your heart and all internal organs stop functioning.


title: Puma

paragraphs: Pumas ("Puma concolor"), also called cougars, mountain lions or brown panthers, are large wild cats that live in the western half of North America, along with Florida, and most of Central and South America. Pumas are mainly tan-color, and can be up to 9 feet long, although average length is 6 – 8 feet. They can weigh from 29 kilograms to 90 kilograms. (The males are larger.) Most pumas live up to 21 years. Although pumas are very large and some are larger than humans, the puma is classified as a small cat. That means that, in scientific terms, the puma is more closely related to the domestic cat than they are to lions. Unlike the big cats in the genus "Panthera", the puma cannot roar. Instead, it can growl, hiss, screech, and purr. Since pumas are, in the biological sense, small cats, they are capable of purring continuously. The big cats can only purr while breathing out.

paragraphs: Pumas are carnivores because they eat only meat. Pumas are apex predators. They hunt deer, raccoons, squirrels, foxes, rabbits and skunks. They can also eat mice, beavers, coyotes, bobcats, birds, porcupines, cattle, goats, fish and bear cubs. They hunt at night. Cougars can see better at night than people can. They can hear well too. Pumas stalk their prey, which means they walk slowly and quietly, they hide and then when close, they jump or run fast to catch their prey by surprise. They live and hunt alone. Female cougars take care of their babies until they are old enough to take care for themselves. Baby cougars are called cubs or kittens.

paragraphs: Pumas live in the mountains and forests far from people. However, encounters with humans happen sometimes. 26 people have been killed by cougars in North America in the last 30 years. However, many more cougars have been killed by humans. Cougars used to be found all in eastern North America, but they were hunted to extinction there by the beginning of the 1900s. Also, recent sightings of cougars have been reported from Michigan, New Brunswick, southern Indiana, Kentucky, and Vermont. For now, the only confirmed, population of cougars east of the Mississippi River is in Florida, where a subspecies of the cougar called the Florida Panther lives.

paragraphs: Schools that have a cougar as their mascot include:


title: Google Talk

paragraphs: Google Talk (also called Google Chat) was an instant messaging service that was offered by Google. It let users communicate by using texting and voice chatting. The service was sometimes called Gchat, Gtalk, or Gmessage by its users.

paragraphs: It is built on the XMPP platform. A web-based version was also available online.


title: Armour

paragraphs: Armour (or armor U.S.) is a protective covering or clothing to prevent injury from attack. Armour can be worn by a person, or it can be used to protect machines, animals, even buildings. Armour has always been made from the strongest materials available at the time, but weight has always been a problem. Early body armour was made from leather. Later, metals were used (e.g. mail or plate armour). Some modern armour, like bullet-proof vests, are made from plastics that do not stretch or break, such as Kevlar. These plastics may be woven into a cloth and used in layers, which makes them even stronger.

paragraphs: Plastic lamination (layers) is often used to protect windows against bullets. Many jewellery stores, embassies, and vehicles have bullet-proof glass with this feature.

paragraphs: Armour put on vehicles is usually made of metal and can include one layer over another with open spaces in between (spaced armour) or multiple layers of metal; ceramics (baked clay), and other materials. Another type of armour uses blocks of explosive that explode when another explosion goes off near it. This explosive armour protects by pushing against the other explosion. Vehicle armor is often angled to increase the amount of armour that must be shot through to get inside and to make the shot bounce off rather than piercing the armour.

paragraphs: Tanks have the heaviest armour of all land vehicles. Other military vehicles have armour, but not as much as a tank.

paragraphs: Sometimes armour is put in non-military vehicles, such as limousines used by leaders of a country or by anyone who thinks they might be attacked, e.g. film stars or presidents of major companies.

paragraphs: In the past, armour has also been used in wars to protect animals such as dogs, elephants, and horses. Today, police dogs and horses sometimes wear woven plastic bullet-proof vests.

paragraphs: Many sports involve violent physical contact and may be highly dangerous if the players are unprotected. Such sports include ice hockey, American football and kendo. Sports armour is usually made from hard plastic.


title: North Star Computers

paragraphs: North Star Computers was one of the earliest manufacturers of microcomputers. Before they started making their first computer, the "North Star Horizon", they made floppy disk drives for S-100 bus computers. They included a disk operating system called "North Star DOS" (or "N*DOS"). The Horizon used the North Star disk controller and operating system. It was one of the first microcomputers that had multi-user features.

paragraphs: Their second computer, called the "North Star Advantage", ran CP/M, and had the keyboard and monitor built-in. The graphics were very powerful for their time. When the IBM PC came out, North Star made an MS-DOS compatible processor card that could be added to the "Advantage".

paragraphs: Their third computer, the "North Star Dimension", was multi-user like the "Horizon", but MS-DOS based.

paragraphs: Because their products in the early 1980s were only MS-DOS compatible, not fully PC compatible, they never sold very many, and the company went out of business.


title: Mario Bros.

paragraphs: Mario Bros. is a video game made in 1983. In the game, Mario or Luigi must defeat enemies by jumping on them from below and then kicking them, when they are knocked down. It is the first game to feature Luigi as a playable character. It was later remade for other game consoles at the time. "Mario Bros." was also included with the four "Super Mario Advance" games.


title: Oval

paragraphs: An oval is a shape. It is round but a bit longer in one direction.


title: Focus

paragraphs: Focus is a Latin word for hearth. In English it means many things.


title: Pipe organ

paragraphs: The pipe organ is a keyboard instrument in which the sound is made by air blowing through pipes. A person who plays the organ is called an organist. The organist plays the instrument using both the hands and the feet. The hands play the keyboards (called manuals), while the feet play pedals which also make notes.

paragraphs: Organs have been made for many centuries. They are usually found in places for Christian worship such as churches and cathedrals, although they may also be found in places like town halls and concert halls or even large private houses. Very small organs can be called “chamber organs”. Organs in large churches, cathedrals or halls are very large instruments indeed, and are built especially for the building they are in. They are called “pipe organs” to distinguish them from modern “electronic organs”.

paragraphs: No two organs are ever quite the same, and they vary greatly from one country to another and one historical period to another. The information here is about organs from Europe, Great Britain and America.

paragraphs: In a pipe organ, the musical notes are made by blowing air through pipes. Every organ must have pipes, something to blow the air and a way of controlling which pipes are played.

paragraphs: The pipes are made of metal or wood. They are lined up in rows in the "organ case" which can be as big as a room. The metal pipes are round tubes. They can be made of different types of metal, but the most common type is an alloy (or mixture of metals) of tin and lead called "spotted metal" because it has round shiny spots on it. This alloy makes pipes sound good as the harder tin provides clarity and definition while the softer lead produces tonal warmth. Very small pipes can sometimes be made of silver, like flutes. Some organs also have some pipes made of brass that sound like trumpets. Most organs have a lot of wooden pipes. The wooden pipes have four flat sides and make a sound different from that of the "spotted metal" pipes. They are not usually seen; they are neatly lined up behind the large metal pipes at the front of the organ which are sometimes painted with colours and patterns. All the pipes have to be made with an end that tapers at the bottom where the air blows in.

paragraphs: Each pipe can play only one note which depends on its size. The small pipes play high notes and the large pipes play low notes. Each pipe has its own special sound which depends on the material it is made from (whether it is wood or brass or spotted metal) and on the shape of the pipe. The pipes are arranged in "ranks" so that all the pipes of the same shape and material can be controlled to play a tune together, without all the others.

paragraphs: To blow air through the organ, there are boxes called "wind chests". When the organist is playing, he/she can see a little gauge that tells whether there is enough air. The wind chests can be kept full in two ways. The old-fashioned way is to have an enormous set of "bellows" which are pumped up and down by a person using a large handle. This sucks in air and fills the wind chest. Pumping the bellows of a large pipe organ is heavy work. For this reason, most organs nowadays have an electric motor and a large fan which fills the wind chest.

paragraphs: The organist uses keyboards like those on a piano to play the organ. A small organ may have just one keyboard, but many organs have two keyboards and a very big one may even have five. Organists do not call them keyboards; they call them "manuals". An organist will talk about "a four-manual organ" (which means it is a large one). The manuals are arranged on the organ "console", and the organist sits on a bench in front of the console to play. Apart from the manuals there are two other important parts of the console. There are a set of long wooden pedals which the organist can play with his/her feet. Each pedal plays a different note.

paragraphs: On either side of the manuals there are rows of "stops" which look like knobs. The stops can be pulled out or pushed in. When a stop is pulled out, it turns on some sets of pipes. The organist can choose whether to play loud pipes or soft pipes, flute-sounding pipes or brassy pipes, sweet pipes or harsh-sounding pipes. As the organist plays, he/she does not just have to think about the right notes. He/she also has to think about the sort of "voice" that the organ should play in. He/she can play different ranks of pipes together by pulling out several stops. Some pipes, usually the biggest decorated pipes at the very front of the organ, are used only for the grandest music. By tradition, these pipes are the symbol of the "Voice of God".

paragraphs: When the organist presses the keys of the organ, the sound comes from the air blowing through the pipes. This is because a valve (an opening with a one-way door) opens up to let the air into the pipe, and closes again when the organist stops pressing that key. This can happen in several ways. Traditional organs have what is called a "tracker action". The trackers are thin wooden rods and wires which move backwards and forwards, opening and shutting all the valves. They are worked by levers under the keyboard. A tracker action organ has to have the console right near the organ, usually under the big front pipes.

paragraphs: A more modern development was to have a "tubular pneumatic" action, in which the console could be away from the organ, but connected to it by tubes through which air could be pushed to open the valves. In the most modern pipe organs, the manual is connected to the organ pipes by electric wires. The power to open and shut the valves is controlled by electro-magnetic switches. The console does not have to be close to the organ. This makes it possible for the organist to sit in a position where he/she has good contact with the people in the church, or with other musicians.

paragraphs: A very small organ may only have one manual (keyboard). Most organs have at least two. In English and American Organs the lower manual is the main one and is called the "Great". The upper manual is called the "Swell" because it operates pipes which are inside a “swell box” which has that can be opened or closed. This makes the music get louder or quieter (crescendo or diminuendo). The organist operates the swell box with a pedal which (rocks to and fro). It is in the centre just above the pedal board. On old English organs the swell box is operated by a lever at the side. This is quite difficult to use. Most of these have now been replaced by central swell boxes.

paragraphs: If there is a third manual, it is called the "Choir" in English-speaking countries. Originally the English called them “chair organs” because they were a separate instrument. The organist had to turn round and face the other way to play it. It is thought that the word "chair" gradually changed to "choir" because it was often used to accompany the choir. In German organs the third manual was called the “Positiv”. The name “Rückpositiv” (“back positive”) was used because the pipes were behind the organist’s back as he/she sat facing the main organ. These started to become popular again with organ builders in the 1950s when it was felt that the Romantic organ was not suitable for old music, and some organ builders started using Baroque principles again so that the music of composers such as Bach could sound like it used to. The Choir manual is nearest to the player, the Great is in the middle and the Swell is farthest away. The Choir or Positiv often contains soft stops which are suitable for accompanying the choir. On French organs from the late 19th century onwards, the three manuals are arranged differently: the Great (“Grande Orgue”) is nearest to the player, the “Positif” is the middle manual and is like a smaller version of the Great, and the Swell (“Recit”) is the top manual. This makes it easy for the organist to build up the music, getting louder gradually, by starting at the top and gradually coming down.

paragraphs: The fourth manual is called the "Solo" because the stops on this manual are used to play out the tune as a solo. This manual is even farther away from the player than the Swell. Large cathedral organs usually have four manuals. The Solo will probably have a very loud stop indeed called the “Tuba” or “Tuba Mirabilis”.

paragraphs: If there is a fifth manual it may be called the "Echo" because it has very quiet stops that echo. Alternatively, especially on American organs, it might be a "Bombarde". The Bombarde usually contains loud, bold reed stops, including stops called 'Bombarde'. For instance: a State Trumpet or Pontifical Trumpet might be placed on this manual which can be heard above all the other stops playing. The Bombarde is borrowed from French Organs where it is a standard stop on nearly all the manuals and pedals. Having a Bombarde Manual is something of a luxury for an organist. It can be found, for example, on the organ of Westminster Abbey.

paragraphs: It is extremely unusual to have more than five manuals, but in America there are a few very large organs. The Wanamaker organ at Macy's store in Philadelphia has six manuals. The world’s largest organ is in the Atlantic City Convention Hall. It has seven manuals and over 33,000 pipes. However, the largest organ in the world does not work since it would be too expensive to run it.

paragraphs: Having two or three manuals makes it possible to have quick changes of sound during a piece. The player can also play on two manuals at once: one with the left hand and one with the right. This is particularly useful to make a tune louder than the accompaniment (on a piano this can be done by pressing harder). The manuals can also be coupled together, for example, pulling out the “Swell to Great” stop will make all the sounds from the Swell come out on the Great as well. On an organ with mechanical action the keys of the Swell will be seen “playing by themselves” like a pianola, but on some older organs it can be hard work for the organist’s fingers when the manuals are coupled as it makes the action very heavy.

paragraphs: The notes on the pedals are arranged like the notes on a keyboard, but are obviously much bigger. The player needs to learn to play by 'feel', otherwise he will have to spend all his time looking at his feet. He plays each note, either with the toe or the heel and either on the inside of the foot or the outside. The American and British Standard organ contains 30 notes giving a range of nearly 2 ½ octaves (C to F, or sometimes C to G: 32 notes). They are not quite in a straight line but fan out a little to make it easier to play (it is called a ", pedalboard"). In German and French organs and organs built before 1920, the pedalboard will be straight without any fan curvature to it. Many organists find that this makes it more difficult to play. Organists need a good pair of shoes: ones which have good narrow heels and preferably pointed toes. The soles need to be fairly slippery, but not too much, so that the player can slide the foot from one pedal to another. Organists usually like to keep a pair of shoes which are worn only for playing the organ so that the soles do not have grit or dirt from the street.

paragraphs: The stops on an organ console give different sounds, like the instruments of an orchestra, and have names which tell the organist what kind of sound they will produce. The stops are usually to the left and right of the organist and they are pulled out (“drawstops” or “pulls” because they are “drawn” i.e. pulled). Some organs have “tab stops” or “rocker stops” which are in front of the player and can be rocked forwards and backwards for on/off.

paragraphs: The stops of an organ can be divided into families.

paragraphs: The "chorus" stops are the foundation stops, the basic ones which are good for building up the big, solid sound. A "diapason" or "principal" is a chorus stop.

paragraphs: The "flute" stops sound like flutes in an orchestra. They are gentler than the diapasons and sound good for very quick and light music.

paragraphs: The "reeds" are stops like the "oboe", "clarinet", "trumpet", "fagotto", "trombone". Each pipe has a reed inside. Their sound is very strong and nasal (like speaking through the nose).

paragraphs: The "strings" are quiet stops which sound like string instruments. These are stops like the "violone" and "gamba".

paragraphs: There is another way of grouping the stops. Each stop will have a number underneath the name. The number may be 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 or even 2 2/3 or 1 3/5. If the number is 8 this is called an “eight foot stop”. This is the normal pitch: the note will sound as it is written, e.g. when playing Middle C the sound will be Middle C. A 4 foot stop will sound an octave higher than written, a 2 foot stop will be two octaves higher. A 16 foot stop will sound an octave lower than an 8 foot stop. 8 foot is therefore the normal pitch, and the others are added to it to make a larger, brighter sound. 16 foot stops are normal in pedal parts.

paragraphs: Mutation stops are stops in which a note does not sound a whole number of octaves above the normal pitch. Examples are the Tierce 1 3/5 (which sounds 2 octaves and a third above) and the Nazard or Twelfth 2 2/3 (one octave and a fifth).

paragraphs: An organist needs to learn which combinations of stops sound good together and how to balance them well. Each organ is different and has its own character.

paragraphs: The combination of stops that an organist chooses for a particular piece of music is called the “registration”. The list of all the stops that a particular organ has is called the “specification”. The specification of an organ shows the names of the stops for each of the manuals and for the pedals, as well as the list of couplers.

paragraphs: Organs also have buttons called “pistons” which help to change the registration in the middle of a piece. There are “toe pistons” operated by the feet, and “thumb pistons” which are placed just below each manual so that they can be pushed by the thumb while the fingers keep playing. Large organs often have “general pistons” which change any combination of stops across the organ. These are often be computerised so that players can set them up differently depending on the music they are going to play. If several players regularly use the instrument they can each have their own personal settings for the pistons which they can lock so that no one else can change them.

paragraphs: Each stop controls a row of pipes, called a “rank”. Each rank makes a different sound (one row for the “diapason” sound, another row for the “flute”, another for the “trumpet” and so on). The stops control the air flow through the ranks. Some stops may control more than one rank. For instance, a Mixture stop of three ranks will have 182 pipes (3 ranks of 61 pipes each) and in some organs the Celeste is a 2 rank stop. The celeste pipes are tuned slightly sharper than the rest of the organ so that, when played together with another quiet stop such as the Salicional, there will be a pleasant throbbing beat because two pipes are slightly out of tune with one another. Organ Pipes are normally made of metal or wood. High quality metal organ pipes usually contain 75 percent tin or more, and the rest is lead. The Pipes are placed on windchests inside an "organ case" in a special room called an Organ chamber. A windchest is a box-like device which contains pallets that are opened and closed to admit air to a pipe so that it sounds. The pallets are operated by pull wires and rollers in the case of a tracker instrument but may also be operated by pneumatics or direct electric action using magnets.

paragraphs: There is always air being pumped into the windchest when the organ is switched on. In the days before electricity someone (an organ blower) had to pump the air into the windchest using bellows. This was hard work. Large organs would have needed more than one organ blower to do this job.

paragraphs: No other instrument has developed in such a wide variety of ways as the organ. If Bach, who lived in the early 18th century, had gone from his home in Germany to France, he would have found it impossible to play his music properly on French organs. If Couperin, who lived at the same time, had gone from his home in France to Germany, he would not have been able to play his music on the organs that Bach was using. Neither of them could possibly have played on an organ in England at the time. For one thing, English organs in the 18th century still had no pedals. This means that organists need to know a lot about what organs were like in other countries in other centuries in order to know what registrations to use when playing music by composers of the past.

paragraphs: The earliest organs were water organs invented in Ancient Greece. The Romans used them in circuses and gladiator combats because they were loud. They were still popular in some countries a few hundred years ago, for example, in pleasure gardens.

paragraphs: In the Middle Ages large organs were built in the huge Gothic cathedrals in Britain. These instruments did not have different stops: all the ranks sounded at once. They were played by a slider mechanism. Only in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries did they start to use a keyboard. The so-called "Mixture Organ" (or "Blockwerk") still sounded several pitches at once. Very small organs called "portatives" (because they could be carried) were used in . "Positives" were a bit bigger and were used to accompany singing in the church. The "Regal" was like a portative but it had reeds and no pipes. It could be put on a table. The world's oldest organ is generally agreed to be the one built at Sion, Switzerland in the 15th century. the organ.

paragraphs: By about 1450, the organs that were being built in Germany and the Netherlands had two or three manuals and pedals. There were stops so that the player could choose which ranks he wanted to sound. The collection of pieces called the "Buxheimer Orgelbuch" (about 1470), is one of the first collections we have of organ music. French organs, too, were developing. In England, organs were quite small. Composers like John Bull, William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons wrote music for chamber organs. In the Netherlands Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a very famous organist and teacher.

paragraphs: The Baroque period was a great period for organ music in Germany. Organs there were built on the "Werkprinzip" (literally: "work principle") which meant that each keyboard with its pipes was built separately, like two or three different organs, although they were played from the same console. Organs like these were built by the famous Arp Schnitger (1648-1719). Many famous German composers wrote organ music, especially Johann Pachelbel (1653-1709) in South Germany and (Dietrich Buxtehude) (1637-1707) in North Germany. The great composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) learnt from these composers and wrote some of the most famous organ music of all times. The great organ builder Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753) lived during this time and built organs with a very beautiful tone. Instead of a keyboard called a Choir (or Chair Organ) he built an "Oberwerk" which was above the "Hauptwerk" (Great).

paragraphs: French organ builders at this time were very interested in colour (meaning: different sounds). Many stops had names like Cornet, Tierce and Prestant. When all the stops of the Principal chorus played together it was called the "Plein jeux". This was like the medieval Blockwerk. All the reed chorus together was called "Grand jeux". This would have sounded very loud and was used for dialogues and fugues. Composers included Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703), Louis Marchand (1669-1732), Louis Nicolas Clérambault (1676-1749), Louis Claude Daquin (1694-1772) and François Couperin (1683-1733).

paragraphs: In England there was not much interest in developing the organ. It was used for accompanying the choir. There were no pedals. Pieces for organ were called voluntaries. Henry Purcell wrote a few organ pieces.

paragraphs: Organ composition reached a great peak in the work of J.S.Bach, but then people started to lose interest. Not many developments took place in organ-building during the Classical music period. Although Mozart played the organ and called it the “King of Instruments” he did not often write music for it. Among the organ builders at this time were Joseph and Claude-Ignace Callinet who built the organ at Notre-Dame's (St. Etienne, Loire) in 1837.

paragraphs: The organ in 19th century Germany started to be used for imitating the sound of an orchestra. People also started to be interested in playing the music of J.S. Bach. Many Classical organs were re-built and sometimes they lost their original character. Organs in different countries started to sound the same.

paragraphs: Gradually, composers started writing for the organ again. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) wrote some excellent sonatas and preludes and fugues which were inspired by Bach’s music and made other composers want to write organ music. Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and Franz Liszt (1811-1886) wrote for the organ and later in the century Max Reger (1873-1916) and Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933).

paragraphs: In France, the organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899) was a real genius. His organs had lots of new ideas including the Barker lever (which made it easier to play on coupled manuals) and placing families of stops on to separate chests. Organists could change their registrations quickly, pushing in or pulling out the stops that they needed. Composers included César Franck (1822-1890), Charles-Marie Widor (1845-1937) and Louis Vierne (1870-1937). The last two wrote long works in several movements which they called Symphonies because they were full of colourful sounds like those in a symphony orchestra. There were usually three manuals called "Grand", "Positif" and "Récit" placed in that order (with Grand nearest to the player). The Grand had warm foundation stops and big reeds (it was like combining the classical plein jeux and grand jeux). The Positif had string stops as well as a solo reed, and the Récit had lighter reeds.

paragraphs: In England, Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) wrote some important organ music inspired by J.S. Bach, and his son Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876) was influenced by Continental Romantic composers such as Mendelssohn. In 1851, the organ builder Henry Willis built a large organ for Crystal Palace Exhibition. It had three manuals and a pedal board. This set the standard in English organ building for the future.

paragraphs: During the 20th century organ builders became more and more interested in returning to some of the ideas of the Baroque and Classical periods. Many organs now have electric action, but a good mechanical action has the advantage that the player feels more close to the instrument that he is playing. Some large 20th century organs are able to play many kinds of organ music. Other 20th century organs were built as copies of Baroque or Classical instruments, but this means these instruments are mainly suitable for Baroque or Classical music, and are not well suited for music of the 19th and 20th centuries.

paragraphs: In the 19th century, many organs in England and America were placed in corners of churches where they could not be heard very well. In the 20th century, organ builders thought more about the best position for the organ, so that the sound would fill the main part of the church, the nave.

paragraphs: Among the most famous 20th century organ composers are Marcel Dupré (1886-1971), Jehan Alain (1911-1940) and Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) in France, Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) in Germany, and Edward Elgar (1857-1934) and Herbert Howells (1892-1983) in England. The Czech composer Petr Eben (1929-2007) was one of the most important organ composers at the end of the 20th century, writing in an individual style.

paragraphs: As well as the obvious use of the organ for accompanying church choirs and singing the organ has often been used to accompany instruments. In the Baroque period small organs were used to accompany solo instruments or small groups of instruments or orchestras. This kind of accompaniment was called continuo. Occasionally composers have written organ concertos in which the organ is the solo instrument and the orchestra accompanies. Handel wrote several of these. In modern times Francis Poulenc wrote an organ concerto. There is an important organ solo in Symphony no 3 by Saint-Saëns. Other orchestral works sometimes have organ parts. Organists have often made organ “transcriptions”, i.e. arranged music written for other instruments so that it can be played on the organ.


title: Celtic

paragraphs: The words Celt and Celtic can have many meanings.

paragraphs: The following should only be pronounced /selt(ik)/:


title: Manx language

paragraphs: The Manx language, (known in Manx as "Gaelg" or "Gailck"), is a language spoken in the Isle of Man.

paragraphs: It is a Celtic language of the Goidelic language family. It is in the same family as Scottish and Irish.

paragraphs: Manx is spoken mainly by people who learn it through interest. It died out as a natural community language in the 20th century. The last of the old native speakers died in 1974.

paragraphs: Manx is protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

paragraphs: Manx was beginning to differ from Middle Irish in about 900–1600 AD, and it is called Yn Ghaelg / Yn Ghailck by Manx speakers. There became fewer and fewer Manx speakers during the 19th century and the language was replaced by English. In 1901, 9% of the people in the Isle of Man were said to speak Manx but in 1921 the number dropped to only 1%.

paragraphs: Today, Manx is used as the only language taught at five of the Isle of Man’s pre-schools. Manx is taught as a 2nd language at all of the Island's primary and secondary schools.

paragraphs: There is now a school that teaches all of its lessons in Manx. The census of 2001 said that 2.2% of the population of the island could speak the language. There are currently 54,000 second language Manx speakers, mainly in the Isle of Man.


title: Goidelic languages

paragraphs: The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are a group of Celtic languages. They are spoken in Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man.


title: Manx cat

paragraphs: The Manx is a breed of domestic cat. It either has no tail at all, a "rumpy", or it has a very short tail, a "stumpy". This is because of a natural difference in spine length. The back legs are also longer than the front legs. The breed comes from the Isle of Man, where it was found as early as three hundred years ago.

paragraphs: The Manx's character is nervous. The Manx's appearance is round on the whole. They are skilled hunters.


Horn


title: Agave

paragraphs: Agaves are a type of succulent plant from Mexico and the southwestern parts of the United States. They have thick, sharp leaves. Agave plants flower only once, produce seeds and then die. Before flowering they usually live for 10 to 25 years. Because they live for a long time they are sometimes called "century plants".

paragraphs: Agave is used to make things like tequila, agave syrup and pulque. They were an important food for many indigenous people in the southwestern United States, such as the Navajo and the Hokoham.


title: Apple sauce

paragraphs: Apple sauce (or 'applesauce') is a sauce made from stewed and mashed apples. Peeled or unpeeled apples can be used and different spices or additives like cinnamon can be used.

paragraphs: Sugar or high fructose corn syrup is often added to the applesauce to sweeten it. Applesauce can be fine or coarse textured, and can include large pieces of apple. It is easy to make at home, and it is also sold ready-made in supermarkets.

paragraphs: It is a common food or snack for children and people who have problems eating solid food. Parents often feed it to their babies because teeth are not needed to eat it. It is sometimes recommended to fight diarrhea, since it is high in dietary fiber.

paragraphs: In the United Kingdom, apple sauce is normally used as a sauce for ham, pork, and gammon.

paragraphs: Apple sauce was once a food prepared for winter, since it keeps well.

paragraphs: Apple sauce can be used in baking as a substitute for fat (such as butter or oil) or eggs.


title: Charles Richter

paragraphs: Charles Francis Richter (April 26, 1900 – September 30, 1985) was an American seismologist (someone who studies earthquakes) and a physicist. He is known for creating the Richter scale of magnitude, which says how big an earthquake is.

paragraphs: Richter went to work at the Carnegie Institute in 1927 after Robert Millikan offered him a position as a research assistant there, where he began a collaboration with Beno Gutenberg. The Seismology Lab at the California Institute of Technology wanted to begin publishing regular reports on earthquakes in southern California and had a pressing need for a system of measuring the strength of earthquakes for these reports. Together, Richter and Gutenberg devised the scale that would become known at the Richter scale to fill this need, based on measuring quantitatively the displacement of the earth by seismic waves, as Kiyoo Wadati had suggested.