title: Kalahasti

paragraphs: Kalahasti is a place in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus. In Kalhasti, there is a famous and ancient temple of Shiva, a god of Hindus. The temple is one of the five such temples of Shiva in south India collectively known as Pancha Bootha Sthalams. The other four such temples are at Kanchipuram, Thiruvanaikaval, Tiruvannamalai, and Chidambaram.

paragraphs: In this temple, people worship Shiva in the form of a linga. There are many mythological stories about this linga. One of the stories tell that an elephant, a snake, and a spider used to worship this linga. The god Shiva blessed them with moksha (liberation).

paragraphs: Another story tells about a saint named Kannappa. He took out his eyes and offered the same to the linga. At this supreme sacrifice, Shiva became very happy. He appeared in the form of a human being, and restored the eyesight of Kannappa. Kannappa is worshipped as one of the 63 saiva saints in Tamil Nadu.

paragraphs: Sri Kalahasti temple, 36 km away is famous for its Vayudeva temple, which is the only shrine of the god of wind in India. Constructed in the 12th century by the Chola king, Rajarajendra, Vayu is incarnated as Lord Shiva and worshipped as Kalahasteeswara.

paragraphs: This is an important temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. This temple has one of the elemental lingas, the vayu (air) linga. There is a lamp inside the inner sanctum that is constantly flickering despite the lack of air movement inside. The air-linga can be observed to move even when the pujaris close off the entrance to the main Deity room, which does not have any windows. You can see the flames on several ghee lamps flicker as if blown by moving air. The linga is white and is considered Swayambhu, or self-manifested.

paragraphs: Kalahasti is surrounded by two sacred hills. The Durgamba temple is on the northern hill. On the south hill there is the shrine of Kannabeswara, in memory of the Sage Kannappa, who offered an eye to the Lord. When he tried to offer his other eye as well, the Lord mercifully stopped him. There is also a temple dedicated to Subramanya on one of the surrounding hills.

paragraphs: The main linga is untouched by human hands, even by the priest. Abhisheka (bathing) is done by pouring a mixture of water, milk, camphor, and panchamrita. Sandal paste, flowers and the sacred thread are offered to the utsava-murti, not the main linga.

paragraphs: This temple is one of the most impressive Siva temples in India. It features an enormous, ancient gopuram (tower) over the main gate. The tower is 36.5m (120 feet) high. The entire temple is carved out of the side of a huge stone hill. It was built in1516 by King Krishnadeva Raya.

paragraphs: The temple is run by neatly dressed Saivite Brahmins.


title: Raidas

paragraphs: Ravidas, also spelt as Raidas, was an Indian saint of 15th century. He belonged to a family of leather workers. Traditionally, in Buddhism.Some of his verses found place in Guru Granth Sahib, the main text of Sikhism.

paragraphs: Mirabai, a Rajput lady of a royal family of Rajasthan, was one of the followers of Ravidas. They follow his teachings and consider him their Guru, the teacher.

paragraphs: Raidas was also a poet. He wrote poems in Hindi. A few of his poems are "ab kaise chutey ram nam","aasi Lal tujh binu".


title: Rishi

paragraphs: Rishi is a word used in many Hindu scriptures. A simple translation of the word into English would mean a sage. Hindu scriptures and Hindu mythology tell about a number of rishis. They describe a rishi as an old person, with a lot of knowledge and wisdom. They also say that some of the rishis had great powers, and sometimes even some gods of Hindus like Indra were afraid of rishis. Some of the rishis were famous for becoming angry very quickly and easily. Their anger sometimes resulted in the rishis cursing people.

paragraphs: Rishis used to live in deep forests. Many young men from villages and towns also lived with them as their students and disciples. Rishis taught them in schools called Gurukuls. After education, these young men returned to live with their families. However, some of them shall always remain with the rishis as their disciples. Sometimes, even kings and other members of the ruling families would go to them to seek advice and blessings. Sometimes these rishis and their disciples would go to the royal courts and participate in discussions there.

paragraphs: Seven such rishis were the most famous. Hindu scriptures have named them as "saptarishis", that is, the seven sages. The seven sages were Kashyapa, Atri, Vashitha, Vishvamitra, Gautam, Jamdagni, and Bharadvaja. According to Hindu mythology, these seven sages had become like divine beings. Ancient astrology of Hindus identified these seven sages with the stars of the sky, the Great Bear. Their wives formed the Pleiades.


title: Tiruvannamalai

paragraphs: Tiruvannamalai is a place in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus. In Tiruvannamalai, there is a famous and ancient temple of Shiva, a god of Hindus. The temple is one of the five such temples of Shiva in south India.

paragraphs: In this temple, people worship Shiva in the form of a linga. Many Hindus go to this place all around the year. In the months of November and December, a festival lasting for ten days takes place. During this festival, people light up an entire hill near Tiruvannamala.


title: Vishvamitra

paragraphs: Vishvamitra is the name of a rishi (sage) of ancient India. This is a Sanskrit word, and its translation is: universal friend, that is, a friend of everybody. Vishvamitra wrote many verses of the Vedas, especially the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda.

paragraphs: The Hindu scriptures have many stories about Vishvamitra. One of them tell about the competition between another rishi named Vashistha. Both wanted to become priests of big royal families of ancient India.


title: Rabindranath Tagore

paragraphs: Rabindranath Tagore (), popularly called "Kabiguru", was born on 7 May 1861. His name is written as Rabindranath Thakur in many languages of India. He was a poet, philosopher, and artist. He wrote many stories, novels, poems, and dramas. He is also very well known for composing music. His writings greatly influenced Bengali culture during the late 19th century and early 20th century. In 1913, he became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

paragraphs: His major works include "Gitanjali" ("Song Offerings"), a world-famous poetry book; "Gora" ("Fair-Faced"); "Ghare-Baire" ("The Home and the World"); and many other works of literature and art. Tagore was also a cultural reformer and modernized Bengali art. He made it possible to make art using different forms and styles.

paragraphs: Tagore died on August 7, 1941 ("Baishey Shrabon" in Bengali, 22nd Shrabon).

paragraphs: Tagore was born in the city of Kolkata (Calcutta), at 6 Dwarkanath Tagore Lane, Jorasanko Thakur Bari. He was the youngest of his parents' 14 children. His father was Debendranath Tagore. His mother was Sarada Devi.

paragraphs: Tagore was a Bengali Brahman by birth. His nickname was "Rab" or "Rabi".

paragraphs: Tagore wrote his first poem when he was eight years old. In 1877, at the age of 16, Tagore published his first large poetry collection and wrote his first short story and dramas.

paragraphs: In February 1873, at age 11, Tagore went on a tour of India with his father. The tour lasted for several months. They visited many places like Amritsar in Punjab (British India), and Dalhousie in the Himalayas. Tagore also visited his father's estate at Shantiniketan. There he read biographies and studied history, astronomy, modern science, and Sanskrit. He also read works of Kalidas.

paragraphs: During this time, Tagore also composed many literary works. One of them was a long poem in Maithili (the language spoken by the people of Mithila, India). Tagore wrote a poem in the style of Vidyapati, a famous poet who wrote in Maithili.

paragraphs: In 1878, Tagore went to London. He enrolled at a public school in Brighton, England. He wanted to become a barrister. Later he studied at University College London. But in 1880, after Tagore did not do well in school, his father called him back from London. His father arranged a marriage for him with Mrinalini Devi, a girl of ten years. Child marriage was common during that time. They got married on December 9, 1883. Together they had five children, but two died during childhood.

paragraphs: In 1890, Tagore began managing his family's estates in Sheildah, now in Bangladesh. In 1898, Tagore's wife and children joined him there. Tagore traveled across the vast estate. Between 18911895, he wrote many short stories about life in Bengal, especially rural life.

paragraphs: In 1901, Tagore left Sheildah. He went to Shantiniketan (West Bengal) to build an ashram (which is like a monastery in Indian religions). In English, "Shantiniketan" means "an abode [place] of peace". He built a prayer hall, a school, and a library. He planted many trees and built a garden.

paragraphs: Tagore's wife and two of his children died in Shantiniketan. On January 19, 1905, Tagore's father also died.

paragraphs: By this time, Tagore had started receiving monthly income as part of his inheritance. He also started receiving some royalties for his literary works. He was very popular among readers of the Bengali language, as well as other people who knew his works through translations and reviews.Rabindranath's father bought a large parcel of land in Santiniketan, intending to establish a preparatory school.

paragraphs: On November 14, 1913, Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy had selected him based on a small number of his translated works, and his 1912 work of poems named "Gitanjali: Song Offerings".

paragraphs: The British Crown gave Tagore a knighthood in 1915. However, he gave back the title in 1919 to protest the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in Amritsar. During this massacre, troops of the British Raj killed people who had no weapons.

paragraphs: In 1921, Tagore and an agricultural economist named Leonard K. Elmhirst set up the Institute for Rural Reconstruction in a village named Surul, near Tagore's ashram at Shantiniketan. Tagore recruited many scholars and officials from many countries to help the Institute. Its goal was to use schooling to "free village[s] from ... helplessness and ignorance".

paragraphs: In the early 1930s, Tagore also grew more concerned about India's "abnormal caste consciousness" and differences based on castes. He lectured on the evils of such practices and also wrote many poems and dramas on these themes. He also became an activist.

paragraphs: Even during the last decade of his life, Tagore continued his activism. He criticized Mohandas Gandhi, one of India's leaders, for his comments about an earthquake on January 15, 1934 in Bihar. Gandhi had said the earthquake had happened because God wanted to punish people for practicing casteism.

paragraphs: Tagore also wrote a hundred-line poem about the poverty in Kolkata. Later on, Satyajit Ray based one of his movies on this poem.

paragraphs: During this period, Tagore wrote fifteen volumes of prose-poems. They covered many parts of human life. In his last years, Tagore took an interest in science and wrote a collection of essays. These essays explored biology, physics, and astronomy.

paragraphs: Tagore spent the last four years of his life in poor health. In late 1937, he lost consciousness. He was in a coma for a long time. Eventually, he woke up, but three years later, he went back into a coma. During these years, whenever he was conscious and felt well enough, he wrote poems. These poems talk about how he came close to death. Tagore died on August 7, 1941 at the age of 80 in his childhood home in Kolkata.

paragraphs: Between 1878 and 1932, Tagore visited thirty countries on five continents. His goal was to make his literary works known to people who did not speak Bengali. He also spread his thoughts and ideas, including his political ideas.

paragraphs: In 1912, Tagore went to England. The Anglo-Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote the preface to the English translation of Tagore's famous book "Gitanjali" ("Song Offerings"). Tagore also met Ezra Pound, Robert Bridges, Ernest Rhys, Thomas Sturge Moore, and many others.

paragraphs: From May 1916 until April 1917, Tagore gave many lectures in Japan. Shortly after returning to India, the 63-year-old Tagore visited Peru at the invitation of the Peruvian government. At the same time, he also visited Mexico. Both governments pledged donations of $100,000 to Tagore's school at Shantiniketan.

paragraphs: On May 30, 1926, Tagore reached Naples, Italy. The next day, he met fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in Rome. On 20 July 1926, Tagore criticized and spoke out against Mussolini.

paragraphs: In July 1927, Tagore and two friends went on a four-month tour of Southeast Asia. They visited Bali, Java (island), Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Siam, and Singapore. Later on, Tagore wrote a book named "Jatri" ("The Traveler") about his experiences during these trips.

paragraphs: In early 1930, Tagore left Bengal for a nearly year-long tour of Europe and the United States. In Paris and London, there were displays of his paintings. During this period, Tagore wrote his Hibbert Lectures for the University of Oxford. He also met Aga Khan III.

paragraphs: From June to mid-September 1930, Tagore toured Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany. Next, he toured the Soviet Union.

paragraphs: Tagore's travels gave him the opportunity to talk with many notable persons of his time. They included Henri Bergson, Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Mann, George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Subhas Bose, and Romain Rolland.

paragraphs: Tagore's last trips abroad were his visits to Iran and Iraq in 1932, and to Ceylon in 1933. He visited Iran as a personal guest of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

paragraphs: Tagore was mainly a poet, but his other writing includes essays, short stories, travelogues, dramas, and thousands of songs. He was also an expert painter.

paragraphs: Many movies also have soundtracks featuring selections from Tagore's songs, the "Rabindra Sangeet".

paragraphs: Tagore also wrote many non-fiction books. These covered many subjects, including the history of India, linguistics, essays and lectures, details of his travels, and other autobiographical things.

paragraphs: One of his famous dramas is 2 plays by Tagore and Dipashri

paragraphs: In 1917, Tagore published a book called "My Reminiscences". In this book, Tagore gives credit to his friend and mentor, Akshay Chowdhury, for influencing him in literature since he was a child. Akshay was the youngest son of Mihir Chandra Chowdhury, whose ancestry was linked with the Dutta Chowdhury (Chowdhuries) family of Andul. Rabindranath used to call Akshay "Akshay Babu".

paragraphs: Akshay Chowdhury, Romesh Chandra Dutt, and Jyotiridranath Tagore were classmates at Hindu School in Kolkata. Because of this, Akshay developed a strong, friendly relationship with the Tagore family.

paragraphs: Rabindranath wrote that he loved to discuss high-level literature in detail with "Akshay Babu". At times, Akshay and his wife, Sarat Kumari Chaudhurani, used to participate in long talks about literature in a garden at "Thakur Bari".

paragraphs: Tagore was also a musician and painter. He wrote around 2,230 songs. People call these songs "Rabindra Sangeet" (which means "Tagore Song" in English). These songs are now a part of modern Bengali culture. Tagore's many poems and songs are parts of his novels and stories.

paragraphs: His songs and music cover many aspects of human emotion, devotional hymns, and love songs. In most Bengali-speaking families, people sing "Rabindra Sangeet"'.

paragraphs: Music critic Arther Strangeways of "The Observer" first introduced Tagore's songs to non-Bengalis through his book "The Music of Hindustan". The book describes Tagore Song as a "vehicle of a personality ... [that goes] behind this or that system of music to that beauty of sound which all systems put out their hands to seize." Rabindra Sangeet has two great works, which are now national anthems of two countries: India and Bangladesh. This makes Tagore the only person in the world to have written the national anthems of two nations. They are Bangladesh's "Amar Sonaar Baanglaa" and India's "Jana Gana Mana". "Rabindrasangit". They are also influenced by musicians like Vilayat Khan, Buddhadev Dasgupta, and composer Amjad Ali Khan.

paragraphs: At age 60, Tagore took an interest in drawing and painting. He used many styles from different parts of the world. His styles included craftwork by the Malanggan people of northern New Ireland, Haida carvings from the Pacific Northwest region of North America, and woodcuts by Max Pechstein. Sometimes, Tagore used his handwriting in artistic styles on his manuscripts. His drawings and paintings were displayed in France and London.

paragraphs: When he was 16 years old, he performed in a drama organized by his brother, Jyotirindranath Tagore. When Tagore was 20 years old, he wrote a drama named "Valmiki Pratibha" ("The Genius of Valmiki"). This described the life of Valmiki, a man who stopped being a robber and became a learned person, his blessing from the goddess Saraswati, and his writing of the Ramayana.

paragraphs: Another notable play by him is "Dak Ghar" ("The Post Office"), which describes how a child tries to escape from his confinement and falls asleep. This sleeping is suggestive of death. This play received reviews in many parts of Europe. In 1890, he wrote "Visarjan" ("Sacrifice"). Many scholars believe this to be his finest drama. The Bangla-language original versions included intricate sub-plots and extended monologues. He wrote many other dramas on a variety of themes. In Tagore's own words, he wrote them as "the play of feeling and not of action". Rabindra Nritya Natya means dance dramas based on Tagore's plays.

paragraphs: Tagore wrote many stories. "Galpaguchchha" (Bunch of Stories) is a three-volume collection of eighty-four of his stories. Tagore wrote about half of these stories during the period from 1891 to 1895. This collection continues to be very popular work of Bangla literature. These stories have been used for many movies and theatrical plays.

paragraphs: Tagore drew inspiration and ideas for writing his stories from his surroundings, from the village life of India. He saw the poor people very closely during travels to manage his family's large landholdings. Sometimes he used different themes to test the depth of his intellect.

paragraphs: Tagore's poetry is very varied and covers many styles. He drew inspiration from 15th and 16th century poets and from ancient writers like Vasa. Bengal's Baul folk singers also influenced his style of poetry. He wrote many poems when he was at Shelidah managing his family's estates. Many of his poems have a lyrical quality. These poems tell about the "man within the heart" and the "living God within". Over the next 70 years, he repeatedly revised his style of writing poetry. In 1930s, he wrote many experimental works of poetry, and also used modernism and realism in his works.

paragraphs: One of his poems reads "all I had achieved was carried off on the golden boat; only I was left behind". Tagore is known around the world for his "Gitanjali" ("Song Offerings"), his best-known collection, which won him his Nobel Prize. A freeverse translation by Tagore of a verse of "Gitanjali" reads as follows:

paragraphs: Tagore is the only person to have written anthems for three countries.

paragraphs: Tagore's political views were complicated. He criticized European colonialism and supported Indian nationalists. But he also criticized the Swadeshi movement that many nationalist leaders in India liked. He liked self-help and learning. He asked Indians to accept "there can be no question of blind revolution, but of steady and purposeful education". Many people did not like his thinking. In late 1916, some Indians plotted to kill him when he was staying in a hotel in San Francisco, USA. When they saw him face-to-face, however, they instead started arguing with Tagore and changed their minds about killing him. Tagore also wrote many songs praising the Indian independence movement. He also returned the British honor of Knighthood as a protest against the 1919 Amritsar massacre. In Amritsar, troops of the British Raj had opened fire on unarmed civilians, killing many. Despite his unfriendly relations with Gandhi, Tagore played a key role in resolving a Gandhi-B. R. Ambedkar dispute which was about separate electorates for untouchables. Untouchables were people considered lowest in the social order. Rabindranath Tagore helped the freedom of India. He was first to identify the theme of ""Globalization"".

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paragraphs: Tagore was also critical about the traditional style of education. While on a visit to Santa Barbara, California on October 11, 1917, he thought of a new type of education: a new type of university which he wanted to set up at Shantiniketan. On December 22, 1918, work for building the new university began. It opened on December 22, 1921. He named the university Visva-Bharati University. Tagore worked hard to raise funds for the university, and he toured many parts of Europe and the United States for this purpose. He gave all his Nobel Prize money to this university. The university gave personal guidance to all students. Students lived close to nature, and the teacher-student relationship followed a pattern of the gurukul system of ancient India. In his own words, he wanted this university to become "a world center for the study of humanity ... somewhere beyond the limits of nation and geography".

paragraphs: He also had a dream for the future India. He wanted India's freedom from the British rule. He dreamt of an India "where the mind is without fear".

paragraphs: Even many decades after his death, people hold festivals in his honor in many parts of the world. Examples include the following:

paragraphs: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who is also a Bengali, once noted that even for modern Bengalis, Tagore was a "towering figure", being a "deeply relevant and many-sided contemporary thinker".

paragraphs: Tagore's collected 1939 Bangla-language writings (Rabīndra Rachanāvalī) are one of Bengal's greatest cultural treasures, and Tagore himself has been proclaimed "the greatest poet India has produced".

paragraphs: He was also famous in much of Europe, North America, and East Asia. Translations of his works are available in many languages, including Russian, English, Dutch, German, and Spanish. In the United States, Tagore gave many lectures during 1916 and 1917. Many people attended those lectures.

paragraphs: Between 1914 and 1922, the Jiménez-Camprubí spouses translated at least twenty-two of Tagore's books from English into Spanish. These Spanish translations influenced many leading figures of Spanish literature, including Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral of Chile; Octavio Paz of Mexico; and José Ortega y Gasset, Zenobia Camprubí, and Juan Ramón Jiménez of Spain

paragraphs: Various composers, including classical composer Arthur Shepherd’s, have set Tagore's poetry to music.


title: Tamil people

paragraphs: The Tamil people are an ethnic group from South Asia. Traditionally, they have been living in the southern parts of India, and the northeastern parts of Sri Lanka.

paragraphs: The Tamil people number around 74 million in the world. Of that, there are about 63,000,000 in India; about 3,600,000 live in Sri Lanka; about 2,900,000 live in Malaysia; and about 430,000 live in Singapore. The remaining Tamil people live in many other places. Other peoples are related to the Tamil people by language, culture, and ancestry. Some of them are Brahui people, Kannadigas, Malayalis, Telugu people and Tuluvas. Tamil people, are not closely related to people in the Middle East and Europe.

paragraphs: Tamil people identify themselves with their language, Tamil and their rich culture and literature. In recent times, they have broadened the definition of Tamil people. They now also include descendants of Tamil speaking people even when they no longer speak Tamil language.

paragraphs: The history of Tamil people has three broad time periods as described below.

paragraphs: No one is sure about the exact origins of the Tamil people. Some connect them with the Elamite people of ancient Iran. Historians confirmed with the scripts and names of towns of Indus that the people of the Indus Valley Civilization were Tamil.

paragraphs: In Tamil Nadu, the earliest presence of Tamil people dates back to around 10000 BC on wards. Archaeologists have found many burial places of megalithic era. The style of burials is same as described in classical Tamil literature. Recent excavations at these sites have also provided samples of early Tamil writing, dating back to at least 5000 BC ("The Hindu", 2005).

paragraphs: Three royal families emerged in the lands of the Tamil people: the dynasties of the Cholas, Cheras, and the Pandyas.

paragraphs: At that time, agriculture and trading were two main economic activities of Tamil people. They even traded with many other countries, including places in Europe. In Karur (Tamil Nadu), archaeologists found a large number of coins of Ancient Rome and Egypt. The Pandyas sent at least two ambassadors to the Roman Emperor Augustus. Archaeologists have also found Tamil writings in broken pieces of pottery in the Red Sea.

paragraphs: An unnamed traveler from ancient Greece had described in Greek language ports of the Pandya as "The land of Punt" and Chera kings. He had detailed the items exported by the Tamil people. These items included black pepper, pearls, ivory, silk, diamonds, sapphires, and tortoiseshell.

paragraphs: The classical period ended at around 2nd century. People from northern parts of India invaded the lands of the Tamil people. For Tamil people, this was a dark period of their history called kalapiraras. They are the Jewish Invaders from Western coast of Karnataka and Kerala with help of the local Telugu tribal's who lived in the jungles of Western ghats and chambal. This dark phase ended with the rise of the Pandyas and Pallava dynasty again.

paragraphs: Historical records of ancient Tamil rulers have been destroyed on purpose. Only later pallava period is mentioned during the 6th century, they became powerful after they drove the kalapirars. Later The Pallavas also encouraged the worship of Shiva and Vishnu; and built large temples.

paragraphs: In the 9th century, the Cholas and the Pandyas defeated Pallavas. By the 10th century, the Cholas had established a big empire, covering most of south India and Sri Lanka. They had a strong navy, That reached Thailand, Burma and Sumatra. They also had a strong trading links with China. By the 12th – 13th centuries, the power of the Cholas had declined. For some time, Pandyas became powerful. However, by that time Muslim rulers invaded Tamil lands. The Pandya dynasty came to an end by the 16th century.

paragraphs: Over a period of time, western parts of Tamil lands were developing in a separate manner. By the 13th century, the Cholas and the Pandyas had lost control over these areas. The people living there developed their own language and culture. By the 15th century they had a separate language, Malayalam language, now the language of the Indian state of Kerala.

paragraphs: After 16th century no major rulers emerged to rule Tamil lands. But, there were many smaller local rulers. For some time, rulers from the present day Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh also ruled over the Tamil lands. By the 17th century, Europeans from the United Kingdom, France and Denmark started to establish their settlements in Tamil lands. They fought many battles. Finally, the British won, and by the end of the 18th century, most of the Tamil lands came under the British rule.

paragraphs: Before the deluge at about 11600 yrs, Sri Lanka was a part of Tamil Nadu and Tamil rulers of the ancient pandyas ruled this place.After deluge Sri Lanka separated from Tamil Nadu. One north Indian king of Tamil origin exiled his son Vijayan out of country for his wrongdoing Vijayan with a small troop reached Sri Lanka. The Tamil Nagas, Yakkars and vedars were the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka before Vijanyan's arrival and the land was under Pandiyan control. Pandiyan of Madurai welcomed Vijayan with good heart and facilitated his troops.He sent Tamil girls from Pandiyan kingdom to marry Vijayan and for his troops.The Tamil people ruled parts of Sri Lanka from time to time, and played important role in the ruling of Sri Lanka. In the 10th century, the Chola kings made Sri Lanka a part of their kingdom. This continued until late 11th century.

paragraphs: After decline of the Chola power in Sri Lanka, different rulers ruled Sri Lanka, the Arya Chakaravarthi dynasty from 1215.Thou the name says Arya chakravarthi it is a debate that their surnames says SANGILI which is a pure Tamil origin name of Tamil root. The Arya Chakaravarthi dynasty ruled over large parts of northeast Sri Lanka until 1619. By this time the Portuguese and the Dutch won many areas of Sri Lanka. However, in 1796, the British won entire Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka became part of the British Empire..

paragraphs: During the British Raj, the British combined all Tamil lands and gave them a new name, the Madras Presidency. The Madras Presidency became a part of the British Raj. Similarly, the British combined Tamil lands of Sri Lanka and other regions of Sri Lanka in 1802. This became the Ceylon colony, also a part of the British Empire. When India became independent in 1947, Madras Presidency became a part of India. Ceylon became independent in 1948, and the Tamil lands remained a part of independent Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka.

paragraphs: After India’s independence in 1947, Madras Presidency became Madras State. It covered the areas of present-day Tamil Nadu, coastal parts of Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, northern Kerala, and the southwest of Karnataka. The Government of India rearranged (1956) the boundaries of many states of India based on language. Thus, the present day state of Tamil Nadu came into existence.

paragraphs: At the beginning, there was a demand for an independent country for the Tamil people. However, the constitution of India gave major rights to the states, and protected the speakers of regional languages from compulsory speaking and use of Hindi. This satisfied most of the Tamil people, and presently there is no demand for a separate country for Tamil people outside the federal system of India.

paragraphs: However, in Sri Lanka, the government did not give sufficient rights to people who spoke Tamil language. During 1970s, this led to a demand for independence of Tamil people and the Sri Lankan Civil War.

paragraphs: Tamil people live in many geographical regions. Sections below describe them.

paragraphs: Most of the Tamil people of India live in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Most of the people living in Pondicherry of India are also Tamil people.

paragraphs: Tamil people have been traditionally living in some other parts of India - for examples, Hebbar and Mandyam Tamils of southern Karnataka, the Tamils of Palakkad in Kerala, and the Tamils of Pune, Maharashtra. For last one hundred years or so, Tamil people went to many other parts of India for jobs or business. Some of them settled in these places.

paragraphs: Presently, there are two groups of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The first group is Sri Lankan Tamils. They are descendants of the Tamil people who lived in the old Jaffna kingdom or who migrated to the East coast. The second group is Hill Country Tamils. They descended from the Tamil people who went to Sri Lanka from India as laborers in the 19th century-early 20th century. The first group mostly lives in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. The second group mostly live in the central highlands.

paragraphs: In 1949, some political developments in Sri Lanka were adverse for Tamil people of Sri Lanka. Many Tamils people lost their citizenship of being citizens of Sri Lanka. Under an agreement between the governments of India and Sri Lanka, about 40% of these Tamils could get back their citizenship. Many others had to shift to India. These developments brought the two groups of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka closer. By 1990s, most of the Tamil people had got back their citizenship.

paragraphs: Beginning from the 18th century, many poor Tamil people went as laborers to many countries of the British Empire. Some of these countries were Malaya, South Africa, Fiji, Mauritius and the Caribbean. At the same time, many Tamil businessmen also went to places in Burma and East Africa. Many Tamils still live in these countries.

paragraphs: Special mention may be made of Singapore. The government has made Tamil language as one of the national languages although only 4.2% of the people speak Tamil language in Singapore.

paragraphs: By 1980s many Tamil people of Sri Lanka were facing ethnic conflicts. Many of them fled to Australia, Europe, North America and Southeast Asia. Today, the largest concentration of Tamils outside southern Asia is in Toronto, Canada.

paragraphs: In recent years, many young Tamil professionals from India (particularly computer programmers) have gone to Europe and the United States.

paragraphs: Tamil people call their language as "the Tamil mother." They identify themselves based on their language.

paragraphs: Tamil language, like other languages of south India, is one of the Dravidian languages. It is not related to the Indo-European languages of the north India. Although modern speakers of Tamil language use a number of words of Sanskrit and English, Tamil language has maintained its original classical character. The Government of India has recently recognized Tamil language as one of the classical languages of India.

paragraphs: Classical Tamil literature is varied. For example, they cover poetry and lyrics; works of ethics and philosophy; and many other types of literary works. Notable works in classical Tamil literature include the Tirukkural by Thiruvalluvar, The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature and the works of Auvaiyar. Over many centuries, the written Tamil has changed very little. Thus, even modern Tamil people are able to read and enjoy these classical literary works.

paragraphs: Modern Tamil literature is also varied. It has many aspects: for example, Indian nationalism, historical romanticism, and social realism. In recent years, many works of Tamil language in Sri Lanka describe the tragedy of ethnic conflict and civil war. Tamil people living in many other places have also produced literary works.

paragraphs: Some of the note-worthy poets are Bharathiyar, Barathidasen, etc... of end of 19th century who depicts the originality of Tamil culture and India, penned several notarary poems on Tamil and National interest.

paragraphs: Tamil visual arts have three main forms: architecture, sculpture and painting. The theme is generally religious, showing aspects of Hinduism.

paragraphs: Tanjore painting is the most important form of painting of Tamil people. The painting originated in a place named Tanjore (modern name: Thanjavur). This style of painting originated in the 9th century. In this style of painting, the painter paints on a piece of cloth. Sometimes, the painter also decorates the painting with threads of gold and silver, and precious gems. There is one other type of important painting style. Painters make paintings on the walls of temples. Tamil paintings use rich colors and show minute details.

paragraphs: In their sculpture, artists use bronze. Several pieces of sculptures are found throughout Tamil Nadu, particularly in temples. Most of them are very old, dating from the 7th century onwards. The sculptures show very minute details, including details of ornaments and dress. Many sculptures also show movement with fine details. Two important examples of such sculptures are: the cave sculptures at Mamallapuram and Nataraja statue at Chidambaram.

paragraphs: There are many temples in the lands of Tamil people. The gates of these temples, called Gopuram, are higher than other parts. Earlier Gopurams were simple in construction. From 13th century onwards, they became bigger and have engravings and paintings. The engravings and paintings show scenes and characters from Hindu mythology. Temples at Thanjavur. Chidambaram and Srirangam are very big and fine examples of temples of Tamil people.

paragraphs: Tamil art is an important tradition of Indian art.

paragraphs: The Tamil people have many performing arts. The classical Tamil literature has many details of these performing arts.

paragraphs: Classical music of Tamil people is carnatic music. The classical Tamil literature records details about the carnatic music. This is a vocal music with use of musical instruments. Carnatic music is completely religious.

paragraphs: Tamil folk music is very different from the carnatic music. The folk music shows a lot of excitement. The songs may convey folklore and other popular tales.

paragraphs: Bharatanatyam is the main dance of the Tamil people. Generally one dancer performs this dance. The dance tells a story through movements of parts of body, particularly hands. Until 1930s, girls known as devadasis performed this dance in temples. Now, it has become common, and there are many famous dancers who perform this dance. Tamil people also have many types of folk dances performed in villages. Sometimes they perform such a dance before the village goddess called Mariamma.

paragraphs: Tamil people also have a long tradition of theatrical performance. In villages, performers perform in the open. They dance and sing, and some times tell stories. These stories may be religious stories or on any other topic.

paragraphs: Tamil Nadu has a well-developed tradition of stage theatre tradition. Presently, both classical and folk performing arts survive in modern Tamil society.

paragraphs: Tamil people like to watch movies. Tamil movies are famous for technical details, artistic presentation, and entertainment. Most of the Tamil movies will have some songs and dances. Kollywood is the popular term for the Tamil film industry

paragraphs: Most of the Tamil people are Hindus. However, many are Muslims and Christians. At one time, Jainism was one of the major religions of Tamil people. However, presently there are only few thousand Tamil Jains.

paragraphs: The most important Tamil Muslims festivals are Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

paragraphs: In Tamil Hinduism, the most popular deity is god named Murugan. He is a form of Karthikeya, the son of Shiva. The Tamil people also worship mother goddess Amman or Mariamman. Many Tamil people also worship Kannagi, a folk heroine. Throughout Tamil lands, there are many temples of Shiva, Vishnu, and Ganesha (Ganpathi). In rural areas of Tamil Nadu, people worship many local gods and goddesses. They call them aiyyanar.

paragraphs: There were many saints known as Alvars and Nayanars. In the 10th century, Ramanuja propagated his philosophy about worship and also accepted lower caste-Hindus as his disciples. There were many other notable Tamil saints. The Ramayana has many parts based in Tamil regions and according to legends, many of Rama's soldiers were Tamil people.

paragraphs: The most important Tamil festivals are Pongal and the Tamil New Year. Pongal is a harvest festival and people celebrate this in mid-January. Tamil people also celebrate Diwali. Two other important Hindu festivals of Tamil people are Thaipusam, and Adipperukku.

paragraphs: A Tamil legend states that the Cholas, Chera and Pandyan kings fought many wars in the 1st century. The war lasted for about one hundred years. During this period, the Tamil people perfected many martial arts. All these styles of martial arts still exist. They also developed many weapons.

paragraphs: There are many types of martial arts. For example, in a special type of martial art called Silambam, a person would use a stick of about 1.6 meters long. By moving the stick he would try to defend against attack by several persons. In another type of martial art, persons get training to defend themselves without using any weapons, by using their hands and legs.

paragraphs: Varma Kalai (Tamil: வர்மக்கலை) is a martial art and esoteric healing art originating from ancient Tamil Nadu in South India. The name literally translate as "The Art of Vital Points". It is an element of the Tamil martial art Kuttu varisai.[1]

paragraphs: In some parts of Tamil Nadu, notably Alanganallur (near Madurai), some Tamil people hold annual event around Pongal festival: called " Manju virattu " in Tamil (bullfighting}).

paragraphs: Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, a social leader of Tamil people started a movement named Self-respect Movement. It was to promote self-respect and remove social evils like casteism. Many people call this movement as the Dravidian movement. All political parties of Tamil Nadu draw their principles from this movement.

paragraphs: Scholars of India and Sri Lanka have developed a vocabulary in Tamil language for words of science and technology.

paragraphs: In the 1960s, the government of Tamil Nadu held a World Tamil Conference. The Conference has been meeting regularly.

paragraphs: In 1999, many Tamil people organized a World Tamil Confederation. Its purpose is to protect and promote Tamil culture and bring a sense of togetherness amongst Tamils in different countries. The Confederation has since adopted a Tamil flag and Tamil song to act as symbols for the Tamil people living in different countries. The words on the flag quote the opening line of a poem by the classical poet Kaniyan Pungundranar. These words mean: “All lands are our home; all people are our kin.”

paragraphs: In Sri Lanka, the Federal Party (later the Tamil United Liberation Front) took the lead in Tamil politics. However, by 1980s, political movements took a back seat in Tamil politics of Sri Lanka. Many military groups had started conflicts, and a civil war broke out. The Tamil Tigers emerged as the most important force amongst these military groups. The Tamil Tigers are fighting to establish its own government in areas where Tamil people are in majority. Presently they control many areas, and are negotiating for peace.


title: Down syndrome

paragraphs: Down syndrome (or trisomy 21; old name mongoloid idiocy) is a genetic disorder. People with Down syndrome have an extra copy of chromosome 21, or part of it.

paragraphs: Down syndrome causes a mental handicap. It may be mild or severe. The average IQ of a young adult with Down syndrome is 50, equivalent to the mental age of an 8- or 9-year-old child, but it truly depends on the person. This can vary widely, but most individuals need supervision if they are to live their lives in a satisfactory way. Children who have this condition take more time to learn new things.

paragraphs: The condition is named after John Langdon Down, the British doctor who first described it in 1866. He called it "mongoloid idiocy" because he thought that children with Down syndrome had faces like that of Blumenbach's Mongolian race. Idiocy meant intellectual disability. People do not use the term "mongoloid idiocy" today. It is a rude term.

paragraphs: There is sometimes discrimination against people with Down syndrome, both in the education system and in society in general. Some people with the condition have average intelligence, but may have other problems with development instead. People with Down syndrome often have a different shape of eyes than most people. A few people with the condition have severe learning difficulties.

paragraphs: Of every 800 to 1000 babies that are born, one is diagnosed with Down syndrome. Older women have a higher chance of having a baby with Down syndrome. If they have a procedure known as amniocentesis, pregnant mothers can be told whether their foetus has Down syndrome. Sound scans may also diagnose the presence of Down Syndrome. Mothers whose foetus is diagnosed as having Downs syndrome may choose to have an abortion. In the United Kingdom and Europe 92% of such cases are aborted.

paragraphs: They also grow differently from other children. Babies with down syndrome can be identified at birth because they may have a specific set of physical features. These features include narrow eyes, a flat nose-bridge, smaller mouths and shorter fingers. Smaller mouths can result in tongue protrusion or what looks like a large tongue. Sometimes the little fingers curve inwards as well, and there is also often a space between the big toe and the others. People with Down syndrome often have heart defects or Alzheimer's disease when they are older. About 90% of people with Down syndrome live through their teens. The lifespan of a person with Down syndrome averages between 50 and 55 years old.

paragraphs: So far there have been no treatments for Down syndrome.

paragraphs: Down syndrome comes from a problem with the genes. Humans are diploid organisms. This means that for each chromosome, there are two copies, one from the mother, and one from the father. During meiosis the number is reduced to one set of chromosomes. People with Down syndrome have an extra copy of chromosome 21, or part of it.

paragraphs: There are three ways that Down syndrome is caused. The most common cause of Down syndrome is trisomy. Trisomy is when the child receives two chromosomes from the mother and one from the father. This makes it so there are three chromosomes of chromosome #21. Another way Down syndrome is caused is when new cells are made. Sometimes even when the parent cells are normal chromosome 21 can be deformed when cells reproduce. This makes it so some cells have 47 chromosomes and others have 46. This is called a mosaic disorder. Mosaic means that they have a third chromosome from the replication of cells. The third way Down syndrome can be caused is called translocation. This happens when a normal chromosome breaks into two pieces. This results in three chromosomes.

paragraphs: For comprehensive lists of Down syndrome links see


title: Genetic disorder

paragraphs: A genetic disorder is an illness caused by abnormalities in the genome. They are heritable, and are passed down from the parents' genes. If a genetic disorder is present from birth, it is a type of congenital defect. Some only show up in later life. Genetic disorders, like other illnesses, can cripple and kill.

paragraphs: Most genetic disorders are quite rare and affect one person in every several thousands or millions. Sometimes they are relatively frequent in a population. These types of recessive gene disorders give an advantage in certain environments when only one copy of the gene is present. Sickle cell anaemia is an example.

paragraphs: The same disease, such as some forms of cancer, may be caused by an inherited genetic condition in some people, by new mutations in other people, and by nongenetic causes in still other people. A disease in only called a genetic disease when it is inherited.


title: Umberto Eco

paragraphs: Umberto Eco (January 5, 1932 – February 19, 2016) was an Italian writer and professor of medieval history in Bologna.

paragraphs: As a student, he studied philosophy, history, literature, and educational sciences.

paragraphs: He finished his studies in 1954 with a doctoral thesis about Thomas Aquinas. In 1962, he married.

paragraphs: His career as a book writer began with "The Name of the Rose" in 1980, after he already written many academic papers.

paragraphs: Eco was born on January 5, 1932 in Alessandria. His family had 13 sons. He studied philosophy and humanities at the University of Turin. He received a Ph.D. there.

paragraphs: Eco worked as a professor in different places. Starting in 1971, he held the chair of semiotics at the University of Bologna. At a university, a "chair" is the highest rank a professor can earn. He was also given honorary degrees by thirty different universities.

paragraphs: He had been named satrap of pataphysics for his humourous works. One of his most important books is "How to Travel with a Salmon."

paragraphs: He was a member of UNESCO's Council of Sages. In 2000, he received the Princess of Asturias Award for Communications and Humanities.

paragraphs: Eco worked in the mass media as well, creating cultural programs. His interests were the Middle Ages, languages, and the classics. He was also an expert on James Bond.

paragraphs: On February 19, 2016, Eco died at his home in Milan, Italy, of pancreatic cancer. He was 84.


title: Balloon

paragraphs: A balloon is a bag that is usually filled with gas. This gas can be helium, hydrogen, or air.

paragraphs: A long time ago, balloons were made out of animal bladders. Now small balloons are made from a thin and stretchy material like rubber or plastic. Big balloons are made from fabric.

paragraphs: Most small balloons are made for parties. These balloons are sometimes made to look like animals.

paragraphs: Some balloons are very big. Big balloons are used for people to fly into the sky. Big balloons are called aircraft. Most balloon aircraft are filled with hot air. They are called hot air balloons.

paragraphs: Balloons can also be filled with water. They are called "water balloons". Water balloons are a kind of toy.


title: Einsteinium

paragraphs: Einsteinium is a chemical element with the atomic number 99. That means an Einsteinium atom has 99 protons and 99 electrons.

paragraphs: It is a synthetic element, so all isotopes are radioactive.

paragraphs: Einsteinium belongs to the actinoids, and it is the 7th of them. The most stable isotope of Einsteinium has 99 protons and electrons and 153 neutrons. There are 19 different (radioactive) isotopes.

paragraphs: Einsteinium is named after Albert Einstein. It was found for the first time in 1952 by Albert Ghiorso and his team of scientists in the debris of the first hydrogen bomb explosion, and identified as an element at the University of California, Berkeley.

paragraphs: Einsteinium isotopes have a half-life between 40 and 471 days. Einsteinium has been used to create the element Mendelevium for the first time, in 1955, although no practical uses are known.


title: Vulva

paragraphs: The vulva is the part of the body of female mammals (including women) where the outside parts of the reproductive system can be seen. The parts of the vulva that can be seen are the:

paragraphs: The mons pubis is the area of skin and fat above the other structures. It protects the other structures below it. The labia majora are thick areas of skin and fat located to the side of the urinary and vaginal openings. Smaller and thinner labia are the labia minora. These structures are connected to the hood of the clitoris . They are close to the vagina. Many people call the vagina when they mean the vulva. The tagina is the "tube" connecting the internal parts (the womb) to the vulva.


title: Congruence

paragraphs: In geometry, two figures or objects formula_1 and formula_2 are congruent (written as formula_3) if they have the same shape and size, or if one has the same shape and size as the mirror image of the other.

paragraphs: More formally, two sets of points are called congruent, if and only if one can be transformed into the other by isometry. For isometry, "rigid motions" are used.

paragraphs: This means that two geometrical figures are congruent if one object can be repositioned, rotated or reflected—but not resized—so that it coincides exactly with the other object. if one can be moved or rotated so that it fits exactly where the other one is, then the two figures are congruent. If one of the object has to change its size, then the two objects are not congruent: they are just called similar.

paragraphs: As an example, two distinct plane figures on a piece of paper are congruent if we can cut them out and then match them up completely (turning the paper over here is permitted).

paragraphs: Congruent polygons are polygons that if you fold a regular polygon in half that is a congruent polygon.

paragraphs: The following are a few rules to make new shapes congruent to the original one:

paragraphs: The relationship, that "a shape is congruent to another shape", has three famous properties:

paragraphs: The famous three properties, "reflexivity", "symmetry" and "transitivity", together make the notion of "equivalence". Hence, the property congruence is one sort of "equivalence" relation between shapes of a plane.


title: Deism

paragraphs: Deism is the belief that a higher being (like the Christian God) exists, but that the only revelation of God is in nature and reason, not in sacred books or prophets. Deism says that people should rely on logic and reason, and not traditions of a religion that is based on a holy book. People who follow deism are called deists.

paragraphs: Deists believe that a Higher Power created the world. They do not believe that the creation of the universe happened because of a spontaneous event. They usually reject supernatural events like miracles, and believe that God has set up natural laws, which govern how the universe works and how people should act, and does not interfere with these laws. Most deists also see holy books, such as the Bible and Qur'an, as writings made by people, rather than the writings of God.

paragraphs: Famous deists from history include American political leader and inventor Benjamin Franklin, French conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte, French philosopher Voltaire, British philosopher Thomas Paine, and French revolutionary leader Maximilien de Robespierre. Many historians think Thomas Jefferson was a deist, though he didn't say so.


title: Cleveland Indians

paragraphs: The Cleveland Indians are a Major League Baseball team. They are part of the American League Central Division. The Indians won two World Series championships in 1920 and 1948. Currently, they hold the longest championship drought in baseball.

paragraphs: In their early years, they were often called the Cleveland Naps, in honor of the player-manager Nap Lajoie. After he retired, the team looked for a new nickname. They settled on "Indians" for the 1915 season, partly in honor of the Boston Braves who had won the 1914 World Series. In more modern times, their nickname is often thought to be a poor choice. It is considered offensive to name a team for a race or ethnic group. However, there has been no serious effort to change the name.

paragraphs: In the 1990s, the Indians were in the postseason several times. They made it to the World Series in 1995 and 1997 but lost to the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins respectively. They returned to the World Series in 2016, and again they lost, this time to the Chicago Cubs in seven games. In 2017, they set an American League record of winning 22 straight games. They won 102 games during the season. However, they lost to the New York Yankees in the Division Series.


title: Friuli-Venezia Giulia

paragraphs: Friuli - Venezia Giulia is a region in the north-east of Italy on the Adriatic Sea. The capital is Trieste. The population is 1,191,588. FVG has a border with the Italian region of Veneto to the west, Austria to the north and Slovenia on the east.

paragraphs: People in this region speak the Italian, Friulian, Slovene and German languages.

paragraphs: Friuli - Venezia Giulia has an area of 7,858 km² and is Italy's most north-eastern region. It is the 5th smallest region in Italy. The Alps lie to the north of the region, and the beaches and cliffs of the Adriatic Sea are on the south edges.

paragraphs: Friulani, Giuliani, Austrian, Slovene and Hungarian influences over the centuries have created a wide range of food and drink typical of the region. Some examples include:


title: Udine

paragraphs: Udine is a city in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. The population is 96,678.


title: Günter Grass

paragraphs: Günter Wilhelm Grass (16 October 1927 in Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) – 13 April 2015 in Lübeck) is a German writer and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was known for writing the controversial, but yet classic novel "The Tin Drum".

paragraphs: Grass was born in Danzig in 1927 and went to school there. In the World War II he had to serve in the military, afterwards he was a prisoner of war of the U.S. army. In 1945 and 1946 he worked as a stonemason. During the rise of Nazi Germany, Grass drafted into the Waffen-SS, the elite armed wing of the Nazi Party. He revealed this in 2006. He said if he had joined the armed wing when he was older, he would have faced war crimes.

paragraphs: From 1946 he studied arts at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste) in West Berlin. He was a member of the German group of writers known as group 47.

paragraphs: He has lived in North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein. He lived in Lübeck. In 1959 he published The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel), his most famous work. Grass has always been interested in politics and helped in the election campaigns of the SPD. He was a friend of Willy Brandt. Grass was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1999.

paragraphs: Grass died from a lung infection at his home in Lübeck, aged 87.


title: Occitan language

paragraphs: Occitan (; ; ), known also as lenga d'òc by its native speakers (; ), is a Romance language spoken in the south of France, the Occitan Valleys of Italy, the Val d'Aran of Catalonia and Monaco. The regions together are sometimes known unofficially as Occitania.

paragraphs: Occitan took a different path Latin from all the above countries official languages. It is sometimes called lenga d'òc ("language of "oc"", French: "langue d'oc") because its word for "yes" is "òc", as opposed to "oil" ("oui") or "sì" in other languages. That is one way to classify Romance languages.

paragraphs: Some of the names (Provençal, Limousin, Gascon) were once used to name the whole language.


title: Bass (singer)

paragraphs: A singer who is a bass is a man with a low singing voice. Some basses may be able to sing down to C two octaves below middle C. Even low A is sometimes needed in Russian church music.

paragraphs: In opera, basses often have the part of the villain, or the king, or a priest. A buffo-bass is a character role in which the bass singer needs a wide range for the comedy of the part. The part of Leporello in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" needs a buffo bass. The lowest kind of bass is called a basso-profondo. An example is the priest Sarastro in Mozart's "Magic Flute".

paragraphs: Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938) was a famous Russian bass.

paragraphs: Southern gospel singer J.D. Sumner held the world record for lowest bass singer for a number of years, from 1988 until he was beaten by Tim Storms in 2016

paragraphs: A baritone is a voice between tenor and bass in range, but some low baritones describe themselves as bass-baritones. Wotan in "Der Ring des Nibelungen" is a bass-baritone part. Bryn Terfel is a famous Welsh bass-baritone.

paragraphs: Johnny Cash is well-known for his bass-baritone voice


title: Plankton

paragraphs: Plankton are drifting organisms that live in the surface layers of the ocean. They live in the top layer of the ocean, called the epipelagic zone. They are not strong enough to swim against ocean currents. The term is in contrast to nekton, who can control their movements. There are three groups:

paragraphs: Plankton are important in the ocean's food chain. They are the main source of food for almost all fish larvae as they switch from their yolk sacs to catching prey. Basking sharks and blue whales feed on them directly; other large fish feed on them indirectly, by eating fish of smaller size, such as herrings.

paragraphs: The distribution of plankton is governed more by nutrients than by temperature. Large tracts of ocean are blue and sterile. The reason is that these areas lack one or more crucial nutrients for the photosynthetic plankton, upon whom all the others depend. Broadly speaking, areas near land masses get nutrients by rivers and wind. The key nutrient lacking in the Pacific ocean is iron, essential in molecules such as "ferredoxins", iron-sulfur proteins which do electron transfer in a range of metabolic reactions.


title: Wake Forest University

paragraphs: Wake Forest University is a university found in Winston-Salem, North Carolina . It was started in 1834 in the eastern North Carolina town of Wake Forest. The university was moved to Winston-Salem in 1956. A private school for both men and women, it has been a university since 1967.

paragraphs: The components of Wake Forest University are the Undergraduate College and the Wayne Calloway School of Business and Accountancy, the School of Law, Wake Forest School of Medicine, the Babcock Graduate School of Management, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Divinity School.

paragraphs: Wake Forest's athletics teams are called the "Deamon Deacons" and they have sixteen varsity teams.


title: Borat Sagdiyev

paragraphs: Borat Sagdiyev (Kazakh and Russian: Борат Сагдиев) is a fictional Kazakh journalist, created and portrayed by the English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.

paragraphs: Humor is often derived from Borat being a foreigner and having strange customs, thoughts, and behavior. There is also a lot of toilet humor in the series. Borat hates Gypsies and is also Anti-Semitic.

paragraphs: The Borat character first appeared in short clips on "F2F - The Granada Talk TV Show" that Sacha Baron Cohen presented in 1996-1997.

paragraphs: Borat was born on February 27, 1972 in the fictional village of Kuzcek, Kazakhstan to Asimbala Sagdiyev and Boltok the town rapist (who is also his mother's father). He has a 13-year-old son named Hooeylewis and 12-year-old twin boys named Biram and Bilak, as well as 17 grandchildren. He has an older sister named Natalya (whom he has claimed at different times to be either "the number four" or "number two prostitute" in Kazakhstan) and a younger brother, Bilo, who is mentally retarded. It is revealed that he has a second wife in addition to a mistress, a girlfriend and a prostitute.

paragraphs: Borat is shown to have been married several times, after first having been betrothed to his half-sister's plough while in his teens. His first wife Oksana was reported in the "Borat" movie to have been "broken" by a bear while taking his brother Bilo for a walk in the forest. The death of Borat's wife did not bother him; he thanks the man who brings him this "good news" — and celebrates by trying to marry Pamela Anderson and eventually reuniting with Luenell, a black prostitute he met while filming his documentary.

paragraphs: Borat is a professional journalist and announcer on Kazakh television. According to various in-character interviews with Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat learned at Astana University, where he studied English, journalism, and plague research. He claims to have created five new plagues which supposedly "killed over 5 million goats and whores in Uzbekistan."

paragraphs: Before this Borat was an ice maker, animal sperm retriever, gypsy catcher, and someone who removes dead birds from a computer.

paragraphs: Borat was a pagan for most of his life. However, in the movie he attends a Pentecostal church service and later converts his village neighbors to Christianity.

paragraphs: Borat greatly admires Joseph Stalin, and claims that both he and Stalin are strong men with powerful "khram" (genitals). He hates women's rights and was surprised to learn that women can vote in some countries. In his spare time, he enjoys playing ping pong, sunbathing while wearing a lime green "mankini", disco dancing, spitting, sitting on comfortable chairs, and taking pictures of women while they "make toilet".

paragraphs: Borat is shown in each episode of "Da Ali G Show", doing funny interviews with real people in the United Kingdom and the United States. The segments were shot in low-quality video to make fun of how poor Kazakhstan is and how it cannot afford good cameras. Of Ali G, Borat comments on his website, "I appear on Alee G shows–He idiot, but it give me lot of girls & pickles; I like..."

paragraphs: The Borat segments on "Da Ali G Show" use a rock and roll version of the Russian folk tune "Korobeiniki" as the theme song.

paragraphs: Was part of a six-part Ali G show originally on Channel 4 (UK) in March 2000.

paragraphs: Five Borat sketches were shown: "Etiquette", Hunting, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Henley. The "Guides" to "English Gentlemen", "Politics" and "Sport" were also filmed at this time but released later as part of "Ali G" DVDs.

paragraphs: A special shown on the E4 launch night (UK) in January 2001 known as "The Best of Borat."

paragraphs: Some of the best parts were the "Guide to Sport" and a some video of Borat's village in Kazakhstan. Though the village they used was really in Romania.

paragraphs: Shown as part of a six part "Ali G Show" originally on HBO (USA) in February 2003.

paragraphs: Six Borat sketches were shown in the form of "Guides" to "Dating," "Etiquette," "Acting," "Men," "Baseballs," and "The (Deep) South." A "Guide to Animals" was filmed, but released at a later date as part of an "Ali G" DVD. Alyssa Greenfill was also in it.

paragraphs: Shown as part of a six-part "Ali G Show" originally on HBO (USA) in July 2004. (C4 was the UK channel where Ali G and Borat originally appeared, and the series for America was a HBO/C4 co-production).

paragraphs: Six Borat sketches were shown: "Wine Tasting", "Politics", "Country Music", "Hobbies", "Buying a House" and "Jobs" (careers). A "Guide to Hunting" was filmed but only aired in the UK because it bothered animal rights people in America.

paragraphs: Borat appeared in the Ali G movie "Ali G Indahouse" as a Kazak diplomat. Borat greets Ali G with a hug and kiss, but Ali pushes him away. Borat then calls Ali a "cocksucker". In the end, Borat performs a hip-hop song with superstar Max Allard.

paragraphs: Subtitled "Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan", the movie "Borat" is mockumentary comedy. Most of those appearing in the film are not paid performers, but real people whom Borat met on his journey. The movie was distributed by 20th Century Fox, and directed by Larry Charles. It premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released across Europe and North America on November 3, 2006.

paragraphs: The film follows Borat in his travels across the United States as he commits cultural solecisms and exposes a few American ones. Over the course of the film, Borat falls in love with Pamela Anderson after watching a rerun of "Baywatch" and vows to make her his wife.

paragraphs: The film opened at # 1 in the United States, taking in $26.4 million on a limited release of 837 screens during its first weekend, beating "Fahrenheit 9/11" as the biggest opening weekend for a film released in fewer than 1,000 cinemas. Cohen celebrated the release of the movie with a host of promotional 'in-character' interviews.

paragraphs: On November 9, 2006, the Russian Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography issued an opinion, citing "it could offend viewers in relation to certain ethnic groups and religions."

paragraphs: The movie expanded its release on the second weekend to 2,566 screens, where it took in an additional $29 million.

paragraphs: In 2007, Baron Cohen won a Golden Globe for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy."

paragraphs: With a production budget of $18,000,000, the movie earned $128,501,044 in the United States and another $128,848,505 in the rest of the world. $257,349,549 in total as of March 2007.

paragraphs: In 2007, a book from Cohen was released entitled, "Touristic Guidings to Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan/ Touristic Guidings to Minor Nation of U.S. and A.", with humor about both countries in the same style as movie.

paragraphs: Though he pretends to speak Kazakh, Borat really speaks in Hebrew mixed with some Polish and other Slavic language phrases, such as "" and "" (Polish "how are you" and "thank you").

paragraphs: Borat also lapses into Hebrew while purporting to sing the Kazakhstani national anthem at a Savannah Sand Gnats game. He kept repeating a famous Hebrew folk song: (kum bachur atzel ve'tze la'avoda - "get up lazy guy and go to work [...]" ) [...] (kookooriku kookooriku ha'tarnegol kara) ("cock-a-doodle-do the cock has crowed"), and also called Kazakhstan a distant/desolate place (literally "hole" ()("hor")).

paragraphs: His producer Azamat Bagatov speaks only Armenian.

paragraphs: In the opening scenes in the town of Kuzcek, the villagers speak Romanian because these scenes were shot in Glod, Romania. As in the rest of the movie, what is spoken does not match the translation given in the subtitles. For example, when Borat's wife Oksana speaks, the subtitles show her telling Borat to "do something useful and dig his mother's grave," when she is actually telling him to go into "the devil's cunt."

paragraphs: Some say that Kazakhstan is not as bad as Borat says it is and that it is wrong of him to say such things.

paragraphs: In August 2004, the Chief Rabbi of Kazakhstan, at an international religious meeting in Brussels, stated that in 10 years in the country, he had never faced anti-Semitism. He praised the Government of Kazakhstan for its treatment of the Jewish community.

paragraphs: On October 19, the Associated Press reported that Kazakhstan's Deputy Foreign Minister, Rakhat Aliyev, had invited Cohen to visit Kazakhstan to see how wrong he was about it. In an interview, Aliyev asserted that:

paragraphs: His trip could yield a lot of discoveries—that women not only travel inside buses but also drive their own cars, that we make wine from grapes, that Jews can freely attend synagogues and so on.

paragraphs: Borat's film has frequently been accused of promoting antiziganism. The scenes supposedly filmed in Borat's Kazakhstani village were actually filmed in an impoverished Roma (gipsy) village of Glod in Romania. "USA Today" reports that poverty villagers were offered between $3.30 and $5.50 to bring animals into their houses and perform other acts some critics called humiliating. The studio contends that

paragraphs: participants were paid double the rate recommended by the Romanian movie office for extras.

paragraphs: Two villagers of Glod have hired reparation attorney Ed Fagan to sue the makers of the film for $30 million for human rights abuses. Fagan intends to submit lawsuits in New York and Florida state courts, as well as in Frankfurt, Germany. Fagan said that he hoped to "teach Hollywood a very expensive lesson." The lawsuit was thrown out by U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in a hearing in early December 2006 on the ground that the charges were too vague to stand up in court. Fagan plans to refile.

paragraphs: The Borat character has elicited some controversy, mostly related to his frequent displays of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

paragraphs: Baron Cohen, who is himself Jewish, has explained his character's racism by stating that the segments show how people are sometimes racist because others around them are too and that it is important to stand up against racism.

paragraphs: When I was in university, there was this major historian of the Third Reich, Ian Kershaw, who said, 'The path to Auschwitz was paved with indifference.' I know it's not very funny being a comedian talking about the Holocaust, but it's an interesting idea that not everyone in Germany had to be a raving anti-Semite. They just had to be apathetic.

paragraphs: Regarding the enthusiastic response to his song "In My Country There is Problem" (detailed below), he says, "Did it reveal that they were anti-Semitic? Perhaps. But maybe it just revealed that they were indifferent to anti-Semitism."

paragraphs: However, the Anti-Defamation League, a U.S.-based group that “...combat[s] anti-Semitism and bigotry of all kinds”, complained to HBO after Borat performed a country western song titled "In My Country There Is Problem" that called on people to 'throw the Jew down the well', warning them that 'you must be careful of his teeth' and that 'you must grab him by his horns', to applause and joining in from some of the audience in Tucson, Arizona. The chorus goes: "Throw the Jew down the well/So my country can be free/You must grab him by his horns/Then we have a big party."

paragraphs: In another scene, Borat visits the Serengeti Range ranch in Texas, where the owner of the ranch confides that he believes the Holocaust was a necessity for Germany. He further implies that he would have no problem running a ranch where people can hunt, in Borat's words, "deer... then Jew."

paragraphs: An interview with James Broadwater, an evangelical Christian and Republican candidate for U.S. Congress from Mississippi, caused Broadwater to receive some hateful emails after an episode of "Da Ali G Show" aired in which Broadwater stated that Jews will go to Hell. He was told that the interview would be played in foreign countries to teach others about the American political system. Broadwater later posted a letter on his website against "Da Ali G Show," explaining that his statement referred to a theological belief that anyone that "accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour will spend eternity in Heaven, while everyone who rejects Him will spend eternity in Hell." Broadwater did not apologise for his comments. Instead, he insisted that "the liberal, anti-God media needs to be brought under the strict control of the FCC, and that as soon as possible."

paragraphs: In the movie, Borat continues to hate Jews and be fearful of them. He does not like to fly while in America in case the Jews "make another 9/11". Later, as he finds himself in a hotel run by an old Jewish couple, he tries to "escape" and throws money at two bugs on the floor, afraid that the Jews have shapeshifted into cockroaches.

paragraphs: Cohen later joked, upon receiving a British comedy award, that Borat was guest of honour at the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust in Tehran.

paragraphs: In January 2005, after pretending to be making a documentary, Cohen angered a crowd at a rodeo in Salem, Virginia. The crowd first cheered his statements of "support" for the Iraq war, including statements like "We is support your war of terror", and "May George Bush drink the blood of every single man, woman, and child of Iraq". However, the applause softened when he exclaimed "May you destroy their country so that for the next thousand years, not even a single lizard will survive in their desert!" The crowd then got infuriated when he sang the (fictional) Kazakhstan national anthem to an off-key version of the US national anthem.

paragraphs: "If he had been out there a minute longer, I think somebody would have shot him," said one witness. "People were booing him, flipping him off." For his own safety, Cohen was escorted from the venue. (Much of the event appears in the movie. A credulous news report about the incident, aired on a local television station, is included in the DVD extras).

paragraphs: Baron Cohen has also been accused of creating a derogatory image of Kazakhstan.

paragraphs: In November 2005, following Borat's hosting of the MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon, Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry said he was worried about the character. Spokesman Yerzhan Ashykbayev told a news conference: "We view Mr Cohen's behaviour at the MTV Europe Music Awards as utterly unacceptable, being a concoction of bad taste and ill manners which is completely incompatible with the ethics and civilised behaviour of Kazakhstan's people", concluding "We reserve the right to any legal action to prevent new pranks of the kind."

paragraphs: Baron Cohen has since posted a video on the "Official Borat Homesite" where Borat responds to Ashykbayev in character. In the video, Borat states, in part:

paragraphs: In response to Mr. Ashykbayev's comments, I'd like to state I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my government's decision to sue this Jew. Since the 2003 Tuleyakiv reforms, Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world. Women can now travel on "inside" of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats, and age of consent has been raised to eight years old. Please, captain of industry; I invite you to come to Kazakhstan where we have incredible natural resources, hardworking labour, and some of the cleanest prostitutes in whole of Central Asia. Goodbye! Dzienkuje!

paragraphs: Reuters quoted an unnamed Western diplomat as saying, "They (the Government of Kazakhstan) are damned if they do [respond] and damned if they don't," he said. "It's sort of unfortunate that he hit upon Kazakhstan." Another unnamed source inside Kazakhstan's Washington embassy called Borat a "one-man diplomatic wrecking ball."

paragraphs: The next week, the government hired two Western public relations firms to counter Borat's claims, and ran a four-page advertisement in "The New York Times". The ad carried testimonials about the nation's democracy, education system and the power and influence enjoyed by women. On a previous occasion, Borat responded to such official complaints by issuing his own "press release", a bunch of random Cyrillic characters. He would again respond when promoting his movie in front of the Kazakhstani Embassy in Washington, roundly denouncing the advertisements as "Uzbek propaganda".

paragraphs: On December 13, 2005, the right to use the domain name www.borat.kz was suspended, and the site attached to it was closed down. The domain-issuing body said that they took this action since false names were given for the site's administrators, and also because the site www.borat.kz was hosted outside Kazakhstan. However, the stated underlying cause of the action was in order to censor the content of the site: "We've done this so he can't badmouth Kazakhstan under the .kz domain name," Nurlan Isin, President of the Association of Kazakh IT Companies, told Reuters. "He can go and do whatever he wants at other domains."

paragraphs: Reporters Without Borders petitioned the ICANN ombudsman to allow Borat to keep the website. Meanwhile, the "Official Borat Homesite" was moved to the .tv domain, where it remains. As of October 14, 2007, the former domain name was still suspended. The 2006 annual human rights report released by the US State Department cited the loss of the .kz website as evidence of the Kazakhstani government's efforts to stop free speech.

paragraphs: Borat has, however, recently been defended by Dariga Nazarbayeva, a politician and daughter of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev. She stated on a national news programme "Karavan" that Cohen's website "damaged our image much less than its closure, which was covered by all global news agencies," and "We should not be afraid of humour and we shouldn't try to control everything, I think."

paragraphs: On September 28, 2006, Cohen appeared in character as Borat at the White House gates to give a press conference and invite "Supreme Warlord Premier George Walker Bush" to a screening of his forthcoming movie, along with "O.J. Simpson", "Melvin Gibsons" and other "American dignitaries", after which they would join him for drinks at Hooters. Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers would not admit him on to the grounds.

paragraphs: On October 18, 2006, European Centre for Antiziganism Research, which pleads against discrimination of Gypsies, filed a complaint with prosecutors based on Borat's comments about Gypsies in his movie. The complaint accuses him of spreading lies and inciting violence against the ethnic group.

paragraphs: At a press conference just hours before the live broadcast of the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards, he shocked local and international journalists in Lisbon, Portugal, by bringing a bag of birds from Romania (the first European country to detect avian influenza) as a gift, then proceeded to apologize for them all dying.

paragraphs: WAPT (Jackson, Mississippi) TV news producer Dharma Arthur states in "Newsweek" she lost her job as a result of her booking Borat on a local afternoon news program. At the time of the appearance, she was unaware of Cohen's act. During an interview with anchor Brad McMullan, Borat made sexual and scatological references, kissed McMullan, and later disrupted a live weather report. She said: "Because of him, my boss lost faith in my abilities and second-guessed everything I did... I spiralled into depression, and... was released from my contract... It took me three months to find another job, and now I'm thousands of dollars in debt and struggling to keep my house out of foreclosure... How upsetting that a man who leaves so much harm in his path is lauded as a comedic genius."

paragraphs: The broadcast, including the initial interview, the disrupted weather report, and several behind-the-scenes shots made by Borat's own movie crew, is seen in the "Borat" movie.

paragraphs: Not all hoax victims threaten to sue, however. Behind-the-scenes interviews with Randall Shelley ("Guide to Baseball"), Danny Passmore ("Guide to Hobbies USA"), Jennifer Defrancisco / Charles Di Cagno ("Guide to Acting"), Ken Goldberg ("Guide to Being a Real Man"), and Peta Heskell ("Guide to English Gentlemen") have all resulted in the subjects deciding not to sue.


title: Dermatology

paragraphs: Dermatology is a branch of medicine that deals with skin, hair, sweat glands, etc.

paragraphs: Dermatologists are doctors who diagnose and treat diseases and tumors of the skin, hair, and sweat glands.


title: Maria Röhl

paragraphs: Maria Christina Röhl, (1801-1875), was a Swedish artist. She was a sketch artist and drew portraits of many famous people. In Sweden, her name is spelled as Maria Röhl.

paragraphs: Her paintings are displayed at the national museum at in Stockholm, and in the royal library, there are one thousand eight hundred of her portraits.

paragraphs: She was born in a rich family, but in 1822, her parents died, and she became poor. She then thought that she would become a teacher, but the artist Christian Forsell taught her to draw portraits of people like an artist.

paragraphs: She made portratis of friends of the rich family she lived with, and soon, it had become popular to go to her when you wanted to have a picture of yourself. This was before photography, and it was cheaper than having your portrait painted in oil.

paragraphs: The king made her a court-painter in 1843, and in 1843-1846, she studied in Paris. She worked as a portrait-drawer for thirty years. Eventually, however, the new art of photography led to less assignments for her.


title: Basil Hume

paragraphs: George Basil Cardinal Hume OSB, OM, MA, STL (2 March 1923 – 17 June 1999) was a British prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1976 and President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales from 1979 until his death. Hume was elevated to the cardinalate in 1976.

paragraphs: George Haliburton Hume was born in Newcastle upon Tyne to Sir William Errington Hume and Marie Elizabeth Tisseyre. His father was a Protestant heart doctor from Scotland, and his mother the French Catholic daughter of an army officer. He had three sisters and one brother.

paragraphs: Hume joined the Benedictine monastery at Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire at the age of 18. He took the name Basil when he made his final promise to be a monk 1945. He became a priest on July 23, 1950.

paragraphs: On 9 February 1976, Pope Paul VI made Hume the Archbishop of Westminster, the highest ranking Catholic priest in England and Wales. He was the first monk to be archbishop since 1850 when Roman Catholic bishops returned to England.

paragraphs: Hume was told he was being appointed at dinner

paragraphs: Cardinal Hume's time in office saw Catholicism become more accepted in Britain than it had been for 400 years. 1995 saw the first visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Westminster Cathedral. He also read from the Bible at the installation ceremony of Archbishop Robert Runcie as of Canterbury in 1980. It was also during his term in Westminster that Pope John Paul II made first ever visit of a pope to England.

paragraphs: In 1998, Hume asked John Paul II for permission to retire, so that he could go back to his monastery at Ampleforth and spend some time fly fishing and watching Newcastle United Football Club. The request was refused.

paragraphs: He was diagnosed with inoperable abdominal cancer in April 1999. On 2 June of that same year, Queen Elizabeth awarded him the Order of Merit. He died just over two weeks later in London, at age 76. His funeral was broadcast live on British national television and he was buried in Westminster Cathedral. John Paul II said he was a "shepherd of great spiritual and moral character".


title: Proteus (moon)

paragraphs: Proteus or Neptune VIII, is the second biggest moon of Neptune, and its biggest close moon. It is named after Proteus, the shape-changing sea god of Greek mythology.

paragraphs: Proteus was found from the images taken by "Voyager 2" probe during the Neptune flyby in 1989. It got the designation S/1989 N 1. Stephen P. Synnott and Bradford A. Smith said (IAUC 4806) its discovery on July 7, 1989, speaking only of “17 frames taken over 21 days”, which gives a discovery date of sometime before June 16. The name was given on 16 September 1991.

paragraphs: Proteus is more than 400 kilometres in diameter, bigger than Nereid, another moon of Neptune. However, it was not found by Earth-based telescopes because it is so close to the planet that it is lost in the glare of reflected sunlight.

paragraphs: Proteus is one of the darkest objects in the solar system. Like Saturn's moon Phoebe, it reflects only 6 percent of the sunlight that hits it. Proteus is very cratered, showing no sign of any geological changes. It is also not a sphere; scientists believe Proteus is about as big as a body of its density can be without being pulled into a spherical shape by its own gravity. Saturn's moon Mimas has much more spherical shape despite being less massive than Proteus.


title: Nereid (moon)

paragraphs: Nereid or Neptune II, is a moon of Neptune.

paragraphs: Nereid was found on 1 May 1949 by Gerard Kuiper, who suggested the name in the report of his discovery. It is named after the Nereids, sea-nymphs of Greek mythology.

paragraphs: It was the farthest of Neptune's known moons for a long time (Halimede through Neso have since taken that honour), and is the third biggest, with a diameter of 340 km. Its orbit averages 5,513,400 km in radius, but is very eccentric and varies from 1,353,600 to 9,623,700 kilometres. For a long time this was the most highly eccentric orbit of any known moon in the solar system, but Bestla, a more recently discovered moon of Saturn has a more eccentric orbit. The unusual orbit suggests that it may be a captured asteroid or Kuiper belt object, or possibly that it was perturbed during the capture of Neptune's largest moon Triton. Very little else is known of Nereid.

paragraphs: Nereid was too far to be properly imaged by the "Voyager 2" probe when it visited the Neptune system in 1989. Photos sent back show only its very non-spherical shape, and no surface features could be seen at the resolution available.


title: 38 (number)

paragraphs: Thirty-eight is a number. It comes between thirty-seven and thirty-nine, and is an even number. It is divisible by 1, 2, 19, and 38.


title: 39 (number)

paragraphs: Thirty-nine is a number. It comes between thirty-eight and forty, and is an odd number. It is divisible by 1, 3, 13, and 39.


title: 41 (number)

paragraphs: Forty-one is a number. It comes between forty and forty-two, and is an odd number. It is also the 13th prime number, after 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, and 37.


title: Ocean Springs, Mississippi

paragraphs: Ocean Springs is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, USA, about 2 miles east of Biloxi. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 17,225 at the 2000 census.


title: 42 (number)

paragraphs: Forty-two is a number. It comes between forty-one and forty-three, and is an even number. It is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, and 42.

paragraphs: 42 is an extremely interesting number to mathematicians, because of its many features. For example:

paragraphs: There are at least a dozen more features of interest to number theory enthusiasts.

paragraphs: "42" is the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" in Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" books.

paragraphs: The number makes regular appearances in Lewis Carroll's writings, such as in "The Hunting of the Snark". Rule Forty-two in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is "All persons more than a mile high to leave the court". Charles Dodgson was a mathematician.


title: Gautier, Mississippi

paragraphs: Gautier is a city along the Gulf of Mexico, west of Pascagoula, in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 11,681 at the 2000 census. Locally, the name is pronounced as "go-CHAY," reflecting its French origin. Descendants of the Gautier family, for whom it was named, still live in the area.


title: Pascagoula, Mississippi

paragraphs: Pascagoula is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the main city of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, as a part of the Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. The population was 22,392 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Jackson County.


title: 43 (number)

paragraphs: Forty-three is a number. It comes between forty-two and forty-four, and is an odd number. It is also the 14th prime number, after 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, and 41.


title: 44 (number)

paragraphs: Forty-four is a number. It comes between forty-three and forty-five, and is an even number. It is divisible by 1, 2, 4, 11, 22 and itself, 44.


title: Sonoma County, California

paragraphs: Sonoma County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It is located north of the San Francisco Bay. It is the northernmost of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. Sonoma County is surrounded by 4 counties: Marin County to the south, Mendocino County to the north, Lake County to the northeast, and Napa County to the east. The county seat is in Santa Rosa.

paragraphs: Sonoma County was one of the original counties formed when California became a state in 1850.

paragraphs: The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the population was 500,292 in 2014.

paragraphs: Some of the cities in Sonoma County include:


title: 45 (number)

paragraphs: Forty-five is a number. It comes between forty-four and forty-six, and is an odd number. It is divisible by 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, and 45.


title: 46 (number)

paragraphs: Forty-six is a number. It comes between forty-five and forty-seven, and is an even number. It is divisible by 1, 2, 23, and 46.


title: Russian River

paragraphs: The Russian River is the largest river and watercourse in Sonoma County, California. In addition to flowing through Sonoma, part of the river is also in Mendocino County, California. The mouth of the river is at the Pacific Ocean at Goat Rock Beach.


title: 47 (number)

paragraphs: Forty-seven is a number. It comes between forty-six and forty-eight, and is an odd number. It is also the 15th prime number, after 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, and 43.


title: Halimede (moon)

paragraphs: Halimede is a non-spherical moon of Neptune. It was found by Matthew J. Holman "et al." on August 14, 2002.

paragraphs: Halimede follows a very inclined and very eccentric orbit seen on the image in relation to other non-spherical moons of Neptune.

paragraphs: Halimede is about 62 kilometres in diameter (assuming an albedo of 0.04) and appears neutral (grey) in the visible light.

paragraphs: Given the very similar colour of the moon to that of Nereid together with a high probability (41%) of their collision in the lifespan of the Solar system, it has been suggested that the moon could be a piece of Nereid.

paragraphs: Halimede, or Neptune IX, like many of the farther moons of Neptune, is named after one of the Nereids, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. Before the announcement of its name on February 3, 2007 (IAUC 8802), Halimede was known by the designation S/2002 N 1.


title: Hurricane Katrina tornado outbreak

paragraphs: The Hurricane Katrina tornado outbreak was a tornado outbreak across the eastern United States from August 29 to 31, 2005, spawned mostly by the outer bands of Hurricane Katrina (or the remnants thereof).

paragraphs: One person was killed and numerous communities suffered damage of varying degrees from central Mississippi to Pennsylvania, with Georgia the hardest hit. It was the worst tornado outbreak ever in the month of August in that state.

paragraphs: There were a total of 44 confirmed tornadoes - 18 in Georgia, 11 in Mississippi, 5 each in Virginia and Pennsylvania, 4 in Alabama, and 1 isolated tornado in Florida three days before the main outbreak.


title: Square number

paragraphs: A square number, sometimes also called a perfect square, is the result of an integer multiplied by itself. 1, 4, 9, 16 and 25 are the first five square numbers.

paragraphs: In a formula, the square of a number "n" is denoted (exponentiation), usually pronounced as ""n" squared". The name square number comes from the name of the shape; see below.

paragraphs: Square numbers are non-negative. Another way of saying that a (non-negative) number is a square number, is that its square root is again an integer. For example,  = 3, so 9 is a square number.

paragraphs: There are infinitely many square numbers, as there are infinitely many natural numbers.

paragraphs: The number "m" is a square number if and only if one can compose a square of "m" equal (lesser) squares:

paragraphs: A square with side length "n" has area .

paragraphs: The expression for the "n"th square number is "n". This is also equal to the sum of the first "n" odd numbers as can be seen in the above pictures, where a square results from the previous one by adding an odd number of points (shown in magenta). The formula follows:

paragraphs: A square number can end only with digits 0, 1, 4, 6, 9, or 25 in base 10, as follows:

paragraphs: A square number cannot be a perfect number.

paragraphs: All fourth powers, sixth powers, eighth powers and so on are perfect squares.

paragraphs: Squares of even numbers are even (and in fact divisible by 4), since .

paragraphs: It follows that square roots of even square numbers are even, and square roots of odd square numbers are odd.

paragraphs: As all even square numbers are divisible by 4, the even numbers of the form are not square numbers.

paragraphs: As all odd square numbers are of the form , the odd numbers of the form are not square numbers.

paragraphs: Squares of odd numbers are of the form , since and is an even number.


title: Miami-Dade County, Florida

paragraphs: Miami-Dade County (formerly known as "Dade County" and many times referred to as simply "Miami" or "Dade") is a county in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. The United States Census Bureau estimates that in 2006, about 2,402,208 people lived in the county. That is more than any other county in Florida. Among all United States counties, it is in eighth place. The county seat is the city of Miami.


title: Broward County, Florida

paragraphs: Broward County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, 1,623,018 people lived there. This makes it the second most populated county in the state. According to 2006 U.S. Census estimates, 1,787,636 people lived there. Its county seat is Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

paragraphs: Broward County is part of the "Miami metropolitan area", which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.

paragraphs: In the U.S. Census of 2010 the Ethnic/Race Demographics were:

paragraphs: Broward county was created in 1915 and was named with the second surname name of the former Florida governor: Napoleon Bonaparte Broward. Since then it has had a great growth in the XX century, mainly as "retirement place" for old people from northeastern US and French Canada.


title: Max Mayfield

paragraphs: Britt Max Mayfield (born on September 19, 1948 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is a meteorologist. He was the director of the National Hurricane Center from 2000 to 2007. As director, Mayfield became a trusted voice in preparing for weather-related disasters, particularly those involving tropical storms and hurricanes.


title: Levee

paragraphs: A levee, or levée, is a raised bank of a river. A levee (European name: dike) offers protection against floods. There are two types of levee: Riverdikes and seadikes. The seadike was invented in Holland in 1277.

paragraphs: The first dikes were built in ancient Mesopotamia. The levees they used were earth walls and gave protection against the meltwater. 3000 years ago levees were used in ancient Egypt for irrigation systems.

paragraphs: 'Levée' comes from the French verb "lever", "to raise". Other names are 'floodbank' or 'stopbank'. It is a natural or artificial wall, usually earthen, and often parallels the course of a river. The term "levee" came into English use in New Orleans circa 1672. The word dike comes from the Dutch verb "dijk".


title: River delta

paragraphs: A river delta is a landform where the mouth of a river flows into an ocean, sea, desert, estuary, lake or another river. It is formed by sediment carried by the river being deposited in the wider mouth. This happens because the water moves less quickly there.

paragraphs: The word "delta" comes from the upper-case letter delta, Δ , in the Greek alphabet because many river deltas are triangular like this letter.

paragraphs: A river delta can cover just a few square miles, or an area of hundreds or thousands of square miles of land.


title: Lockheed C-5 Galaxy

paragraphs: The C-5 Galaxy is a very big military cargo aircraft made by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) used by the United States Air Force. It first flew in 1968 and was introduced in 1970. It is one of the biggest transports in the world. It is 247 feet (75 meters) long, 65 feet (19 meters) high, has a wingspan of 222 feet (67 meters), and can weigh up to 840,000 pounds (378,000 kilograms).

paragraphs: It is used to fly military equipment on to battlefields, and because of its size, it can even carry tanks and helicopters. Five C-5s have crashed.