title: Roger Ebert

paragraphs: Roger Joseph Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American movie critic. Ebert's reviews appear in newspapers such as the "Chicago Sun-Times" from April 3, 1967 until his death.

paragraphs: Ebert was born on June 18, 1942 in Urbana, Illinois to a Catholic family.

paragraphs: Ebert and Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel helped make nationally-televised movie reviewing popular. They co-hosted the PBS show "Sneak Previews". It was followed by "At the Movies" which made both of them popular across the country. The two fought and made jokes while talking about movies. They created and trademarked the phrase "Two Thumbs Up," used when both hosts thought the same movie was very good. After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert continued hosting the show with various co-hosts and then, starting in 2000, with Richard Roeper.

paragraphs: Ebert lived with thyroid cancer since its diagnosis in 2002. He continued to publish his reviews both online and in print until April 2, 2013. Just two days later, on April 4, 2013, Ebert died from the disease in Chicago, Illinois. He was 70 years old.

paragraphs: Ebert was born Roger Joseph Ebert on June 18, 1942 in Urbana, Illinois. His parents were Annabel (née Stumm) and Walter H. Ebert. His ancestry was German, Dutch, and Irish. He was raised Roman Catholic, attending St. Mary's elementary school and serving as an altarboy in Urbana. Ebert studied at Urbana High School, at the University of Chicago, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ebert was raised in Chicago, Illinois.

paragraphs: Ebert began his professional critic career in 1967, writing for the "Chicago Sun-Times". That same year, Ebert's first book, a history of the University of Illinois titled "Illini Century: One Hundred Years of Campus Life", was published by the University's press.

paragraphs: In 1969, his review of "Night of the Living Dead" was published in "Reader's Digest".

paragraphs: Ebert co-wrote the screenplay for the 1970 Russ Meyer movie "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" and likes to joke about being responsible for the movie, which was poorly received on its release but is now regarded as a cult classic. Ebert and Meyer also made "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens", "Up!", and others, and were involved in the ill-fated Sex Pistols movie "Who Killed Bambi?" In April 2010, Ebert posted his screenplay of "Who Killed Bambi?" aka "Anarchy in the UK" on his blog.

paragraphs: From the 1970s, Ebert worked for the University of Chicago as a guest lecturer, teaching a night class on movies. His fall 2005 class was on the works of the German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

paragraphs: In 1975, Ebert and Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" began co-hosting a weekly movie review television show, "Sneak Previews", which was locally produced by the Chicago public broadcasting station WTTW. The show was picked up by PBS in 1978 for national distribution. In 1982, the critics moved to a television program named "At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert", and in 1986 they left to create "Siskel & Ebert & The Movies" with Buena Vista Television (part of the Walt Disney Company).

paragraphs: The duo was known for their "thumbs up/thumbs down" review summaries. When Siskel died in 1999, the producers retitled the show "Roger Ebert & the Movies" with rotating co-hosts. In September 2000, fellow "Chicago Sun-Times" columnist Richard Roeper became the permanent co-host and the show was renamed "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper".

paragraphs: Ebert was the co-host of the television show "Ebert and Roeper" (originally "Siskel and Ebert"), where he and another critic, originally Gene Siskel (1946-1999) and after Siskel's death, Richard Roeper, appear in and talk about new movies.

paragraphs: His name stayed in the title, but Ebert did not appear on the show after mid-2006, because of problems after surgery for thyroid cancer which left him unable to speak.

paragraphs: Ebert ended his association with the show in July 2008, but in February 2009 he said that he and Roeper would continue their work on a new show. Ebert was on a show called, "Ebert Presents at the Movies", premiered on January 21, 2011, with Ebert appearing in a brief segment called "Roger's Office".

paragraphs: On September 13, 2013, it was announced that fellow co-star critic Richard Roeper was to replace Ebert as the main movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.

paragraphs: Ebert said that his favorite movie was "Citizen Kane", joking, "That's the official answer", although he liked to keep saying it as "the most important" movie. He kept saying that his real favorite movie was "La Dolce Vita". His favorite actor was Robert Mitchum, and his favorite actress was Ingrid Bergman. He expressed his general dislikes for "top ten" lists, and all movie lists in general, but contributed a top ten list to the 2012 Sight and Sound Critics' poll. Listed alphabetically, those movies were ""; "Aguirre, the Wrath of God"; "Apocalypse Now"; "Citizen Kane"; "La Dolce Vita"; "The General"; "Raging Bull"; "Tokyo Story"; "The Tree of Life"; and "Vertigo".

paragraphs: Ebert compiled "best of the year" movie lists beginning in the 1960s, thereby helping provide an overview of his critical preferences. His top choices were:

paragraphs: Ebert revisited and sometimes revised his opinions. After ranking "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" third on his 1982 list, it was the only movie from that year to appear on his later "Best Films of the 1980s" list (where it also ranked third). He made similar revaluations of 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and 1985's "Ran". "The Three Colors trilogy" ("", "", and ""), and "Pulp Fiction" originally ranked second and third on Ebert's 1994 list; both were included on his "Best Films of the 1990s" list, but their order had reversed.

paragraphs: In 1975 Ebert became the first movie critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In 2005, Ebert became the first movie critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ebert's home town of Champaign, Illinois are trying to raise money for a statue in Ebert's honor.

paragraphs: In July 2014, a documentary about Ebert's life, "Life Itself", was released to very positive reviews.

paragraphs: Ebert was married to Chaz Hammelsmith from July 18, 1992 until his death in 2013. They had no children. Ebert lived with Chaz in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. He was a supporter for the Democratic Party. Ebert was an agnostic. On April 25, 2011, he accomplished one of his long-time goals: winning one of the weekly caption contests in "The New Yorker" after more than 100 tries. Ebert's personal net worth was U.S. $9 million.

paragraphs: In early 2002, Ebert was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. In February, surgeons at Northwestern Memorial Hospital successfully removed the cancer with clean margins. He later underwent surgery in 2003 for cancer in his salivary gland, and in December of that year, underwent a four-week follow-up course of radiation to his salivary glands, which altered his voice slightly. Ebert continued to be a dedicated critic of film, not missing a single opening while undergoing treatment. The cancer would eventually lead Ebert to be left in a wheelchair and unable to speak after having the total of three surgeries. Later on, experts created a translator that allowed Ebert to speak whatever he typed. He called his machine "Sir Olivier," because he thought its voice sounded like actor Laurence Olivier.

paragraphs: On April 18, 2008, it was announced that Ebert had fractured his hip in a fall, a result of the weakening of his body following the unsuccessful tissue transplants, and had undergone surgery to repair it. In December 2012, Ebert was hospitalized with a fractured hip, which his wife Chaz jokingly blamed on "tricky disco dance moves".

paragraphs: On April 4, 2013, Ebert died of cancer at age 70 at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago according to the Chicago Sun-Times. His wife Chaz said that "We were getting ready to go home today for hospice care, when he [Ebert] looked at us, smiled, and passed away." He battled cancer for 11 years. The closing sentence on his final blog post, two days before his death, said, "So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies."

paragraphs: Hundreds attended including Pat Quinn, Rahm Emanuel, and Richard Roeper in the April 8, 2013 funeral Mass held at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral, where Ebert was celebrated as a film critic, newspaperman, advocate for social justice, husband and father. In his eulogy, the Rev. John F. Costello sought to dispel the notion that Ebert was an either non-believer, or agnostic, by invoking the movie "The Hours" and its observations on lives cut short; and saying that Ebert, raised Catholic, wrestled with "the mystery of faith" not as someone who rejected God but, rather, as someone forever seeking further understanding. Father Michael Pfleger concluded the service with: "the balconies of heaven are filled with angels singing `thumbs up.'" Ebert was later buried at the Graceland Cemetery in Chicago's north side.

paragraphs: A 2-hour-and-45-minute public tribute, entitled "Roger Ebert: A Celebration of Life", was held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, 2013 at the Chicago Theatre. It featured in-person remembrances, video testimonials, video and film clips, gospel choirs, and was, according to the "Chicago Tribune"'s Mark Caro, "a laughter- and sorrow-filled send-off from the entertainment and media worlds."

paragraphs: Ebert's death prompted wide reaction from celebrities both in and out of the entertainment industry. President Barack Obama wrote, "Roger was the movies ... [he could capture] the unique power of the movies to take us somewhere magical ... The movies won't be the same without Roger". Robert Redford called Ebert "one of the great champions of freedom of artistic expression" and said "His personal passion for cinema was boundless, and that is sure to be his legacy for generations to come." Oprah Winfrey called Ebert's death the "end of an era", as did Steven Spielberg, who also said that Ebert's "reviews went far deeper than simply thumbs up or thumbs down. He wrote with passion through a real knowledge of film and film history, and in doing so, helped many movies find their audiences... [he] put television criticism on the map".


title: Seibersdorf

paragraphs: Seibersdorf is a village in Lower Austria, Austria. As of 2001, about 1200 people lived there. It is close to Vienna, and mostly known for the research centre of the International Atomic Energy Agency.


title: Russian Revolution

paragraphs: The Russian Revolution was a series of revolutions in the Russian Empire during 1917. The events destroyed the Tsarist autocracy, and helped create the Soviet Union.

paragraphs: The first revolution was on 8 March 1917, but in Russia it was recorded as 28 February 1917. This happened because Russia still used the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar, which is the standard for measuring dates today. After the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to step down and was replaced with a socialist provisional government. This government was meant to rule for a short time until the country became stable again.

paragraphs: The second revolution, the October Revolution, was in October of the Julian calendar. Communist Bolsheviks replaced the provisional government, and created the Soviet Union. The royal family was put under house arrest, but later shot and killed. The term "Red October" is used to describe the events of this month.

paragraphs: During the 1890s, improvements in Russian industry put more jobs in cities. This made the cities larger as people moved there. The workers in the cities, with increasing levels of education, began to develop an interest in politics and the creation of political parties in order to try and change their lives for the better. The conditions that they lived and worked in were horrible. Poor people from other parts of the Russian Empire, like Poland and Ukraine, also created their own parties to try and stop the Russians oppressing them.

paragraphs: This added to the people's anger, and after the Tsar's guards fired at a peaceful protest of workers, a rebellion began. It did not really change anything, but it meant that Nicholas promised to create an elected Parliament, or Duma.

paragraphs: The Duma was elected for the first time in March 1906. However, there were both left-wing and right-wing opponents to it, including socialists and people who were very loyal to the Tsar. There were also arguments over whether or not to take power from the Tsar and give it to more ordinary people. Nicholas eventually stopped the Duma three times, and because that meant they could not say anything against Nicholas, people became angry.

paragraphs: In 1914, Russia joined World War I. At first, people thought this was a good decision, and the country was united by patriotism. But there were huge problems with supplies, and by 1915 many soldiers were being sent to fight without any guns. Communication was bad, and Army officers argued a lot. That meant that they did not make plans well. The soldiers became unhappy, and over 3,000,000 Russians died. St. Petersburg was also renamed to Petrograd by the tsar in 1914 because he thought St. Petersburg sounds too German, especially for a capital.

paragraphs: In 1915, the Tsar took personal control of the Russian Army, and moved to the Army headquarters. This was a mistake. Not only did he not improve the situation, he began to be blamed for it. The fact that he was not near the government also meant that his wife Queen Alexandra was left in charge. Whenever the Duma tried to warn her that the people were angry, she would say they were lying, so she would ignore them. She even ignored a report by the secret police, the Okhrana, which said that a revolution might happen if things did not get better for ordinary people.

paragraphs: The first revolution began with a series of strikes in early February 1917. People in food queues in Petrograd, began a demonstration. They were joined by thousands of women, who left the fabrics factories where they worked. The strike spread through the capital. By February 25, most of St. Petersburg's factories had to close.

paragraphs: On the evening of February 25, Nicholas II sent the chief of the army in Petrograd a telegram. It told him to use his soldiers to stop the strikes. The army chief did that, but the soldiers joined the workers instead of stopping them. The police also joined them. The government's power collapsed.

paragraphs: On March 15, Nicholas abdicated. Control of Russia was given to a socialist provisional (temporary) government.

paragraphs: After the February Revolution, the Provisional Government was challenged by a large group of workers in St. Petersburg - the Petrograd Soviet. The Government leader, Alexander Kerensky, tried to improve things by allowing freedom of speech and letting political prisoners go, but people were becoming more unhappy. There wasn't enough food. Wages went down. The national debt grew to 10 million rubles.

paragraphs: Vladimir Lenin arrived in Petrograd in April 1917. He was a Communist while the provisional government was Socialist. He had been exiled to Switzerland by the Tsar, but the Provisional Government had allowed him to come back. He began to lead a Communist group called the Bolsheviks.

paragraphs: In July, the Bolsheviks spent four days demonstrating against the Government. The military attacked them. Lenin was forced to escape to Finland until August, when the Bolsheviks were asked to help defend the government against a takeover by the army. The result of this was that their reputation improved. The government gave them weapons.

paragraphs: The Provisional Government's reputation kept getting worse as time went on. The Bolsheviks' reputation got better because they refused to work with them until both sides could compromise.

paragraphs: On October 10, the Bolshevik's Central Committee voted to start a revolution. One began in Estonia on October 23. Another started in St. Petersburg two days later. This time the revolution was mostly peaceful. The Bolsheviks' Red Army took over many government buildings without a fight - only two people were killed. It ended with the takeover of the Tsar's old Winter Palace on the morning of October 26, when the Provisional Government was arrested.

paragraphs: The Soviets took power and formed a Congress (a new Government) which began on October 25. Some members who were not Bolsheviks walked out during its first few meetings, but this made little difference to its decisions. The people who left were taunted by Leon Trotsky on their way out. He told them to go "where you belong... the dustbin of history!" All parties who opposed the Bolsheviks were eventually broken up, and their leaders were arrested.

paragraphs: The Congress began to get rid of private property. This meant that all land and money was to be owned by the people, and control of factories was given to their workers.

paragraphs: Several countries that had been in the Russian Empire before the Revolution, such as Estonia and the Ukraine, had been asking for independence since February. As the new government formed they declared independence, and were allowed it.

paragraphs: In Russia, the revolution was severely challenged by countries that were not Communist and by the invading White Armies. In July 1918, countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and France sent more than 15 armies to fight the Bolsheviks. The ex-Tsar and his family were shot to stop them from being freed by the White Armies. In order to win the war, Lenin began a plan to divert food and supplies to the Communist Army. The plan worked. The Bolsheviks won the war, but the lack of food meant that between 3 and 10 million people died of hunger.

paragraphs: The Third Russian Revolution was an anarchist revolution against the Bolsheviks and the White Army. It lasted from 1918 to 1922.

paragraphs: Some European countries recognized the Soviet Union as a proper country in the early 1920s. The United States refused to until 1933.


title: Baguette

paragraphs: Baguettes are long thin of bread popular in France, but now common in many other countries. Usually, they are made of white bread. Baguettes usually have a hard crust on the outside but soft white bread on the inside.

paragraphs: French traditions say that bread may only contain the following four things: flour, water, yeast and salt. Anything containing more than those things must not be called bread.

paragraphs: A baguette is about 5-6 cm wide, 3 to 4 cm high, and about 65 cm long. Such a baguette usually weighs about 250 grams. It is common to dip the bread into olive oil when it is eaten.

paragraphs: The baguette is thought as to have come from France, but it actually came from Vienna. In the middle of the nineteenth century, steam ovens had just been brought into use. This allowed loaves to be made with a crispy crust and the white centre, similar to today's baguettes.

paragraphs: Later, in 1920, a law was passed that did not let bakers work before 4am. This made it impossible to make a larger loaf in time for their customers' breakfasts. The longer, thinner baguette helped solve this problem because it could be prepared and baked much faster. However, since the French had been making long thin loaves for a long time, what exactly was invented in 1920? It seems to be just the use of the word "baguette" for those thin loaves.

paragraphs: Outside France, the baguette is also called a 'French stick'. It is a loaf of bread, up to a metre long but only about four to five centimetres in diameter. The baguette is a symbol of France.

paragraphs: Baguettes are eaten as a sandwich cut in half lengthwise. They are also eaten for breakfast (usually with jam or chocolate spread).

paragraphs: A loaf the same length as a baguette but thicker (about 8-10 centimetres diameter) is known as 'pain'. A thin version of the baguette is called 'ficelle'.

paragraphs: Even in France there is a difference between a traditional baguette and a 'supermarket' baguette.

paragraphs: It is also eaten in places like Algeria and former French Colonial countries.


title: Barometer

paragraphs: A barometer is an instrument used to measure air pressure. The "barometer" measures air pressure in various kinds of units including hectopascals (hPa).

paragraphs: There are various types of "barometers" such as the water barometer, aneroid barometer, and the mercury barometer. The mercury barometer, the earliest barometer, was created by an Italian mathematician named Evangelista Torricelli in 1643.

paragraphs: They are used for measuring altitude, or height above the ground, such as the height of a mountain, and they were often used to measure altitude aboard a hot air balloon. Barometers are also used in modern aviation. Miners sometimes use them to determine the depth of a mine. The most used purpose of the barometer was measuring air pressure. This helps meteorologists in predicting weather.

paragraphs: A barograph is a device which records barometric readings on paper.


title: Nokia

paragraphs: Nokia Corporation is a Finnish telecommunications company with its main office in Espoo, a suburb of Helsinki.

paragraphs: The company began in 1865 as a wood pulp mill in Finland and began making paper. The paper was sold to Russia, the UK, and France. The company merged with the Finnish Rubber Company which wanted to use its hydroelectricity plant. After World War Two, Nokia bought a large part of the Finnish Cable Works. In 1967 the three companies joined to form the Nokia Group.

paragraphs: They began making electronic products, and for a few years early in the 21st century were the world's biggest maker of mobile phones. Some of its phones, such as the Nokia 1100 and 1110, have sold over 250 million units around the world, and a few others, like the Nokia 3210 and Nokia 3310, sold more than 100 million units.

paragraphs: In 2011, Nokia and Microsoft began a partnership which created Nokia Lumia, a series of smartphones that use the Windows Phone operating system and was meant to replace Symbian as the OS on Nokia's smartphones. Not many of these phones were sold and because of this, Nokia was losing money. Finally, in 2013, Microsoft bought out Nokia's mobile phone business, which became a division of Microsoft called Microsoft Mobile. Microsoft continued to make feature phones with the Nokia brand, but began using the Microsoft brand for its Lumia smartphones. Nokia's other phones, including the Nokia X which used Android, were discontinued, or no longer made.

paragraphs: Nokia also bought the mapping company Navteq in 2011, and changed its name to HERE. Its apps were first available only on Windows Phone as part of the company's deal with Microsoft, but they later became available for Android and iOS. HERE was sold to Volkswagen, BMW, and Daimler in 2015.

paragraphs: Also in 2011, Nokia started a music streaming service called MixRadio. It became part of Microsoft Mobile in 2014, was sold to a Japanese company in 2015, and was eventually shut down in 2016.

paragraphs: In 2013, Nokia bought out the share of its telecommunications division that was held by Siemens of Germany, and this division is now known as Nokia Networks. The French company Alcatel-Lucent was bought by Nokia and merged into Nokia Networks early in 2016, which also included taking over the famous Bell Labs.

paragraphs: Microsoft Mobile sold its feature phone business to HMD Global in 2016, which is licensing the Nokia brand for its own phones. They include the Android-based Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and Nokia 6, and a new version of the popular Nokia 3310 made in 2000.


title: Research

paragraphs: Research is the process of solving problems and finding facts in an organised way. Sometimes, Research is used for challenging or making contribution to generalizable knowledge. We may have to find some new algorithms, methods or replicate existing method to against others by proving the facts. Research is done by applying what is known (if anything), and building on it. Additional knowledge can be discovered by proving existing theories, and by trying to better explain observations. Research should be systematic, organized and objective.

paragraphs: Researchers take part in field or laboratory experiments, reading relevant books, journals or websites, taking notes and making conclusions. Teaching and lecturing is only part of the job of a professor or researcher. When they are not directly teaching classes they are often working on academic research. Learning institutions can vary widely in what they expect from members of their faculty. Most expect faculty members to set up their own laboratories. They hire their own lab employees and obtain their own funding, often from more than one source. Academic researchers often compete for grants to fund research at their own university. The more money researchers can attract, the higher the prestige of that university.

paragraphs: The scientific method is the usual way of doing this kind of research. It is meant to improve understanding of biology, engineering, physics, chemistry and many other fields. With this kind of research, scientists can understand the world, and discover useful things.

paragraphs: Money for research comes from governments, private corporations, and charities. Some of these organizations combine research and development of new products and ways of doing their work.

paragraphs: Research must be published so the world can learn from it. "Nature", "Science" and "Proceedings of the Royal Society", are general scientific journals. Many special journals are published. Research must pass the peer review process in order to be published.


title: Electronic Entertainment Expo

paragraphs: The Electronic Entertainment Expo (Exposition) or E3 , first held in 1995, is one of the biggest conferences for video games. Every year in late May or early June, game developers and other professional people gather to show new video games, computer hardware, and features. It is only open to people who have been invited and people visiting must be over eighteen years old. In 2019, personal information of more than 6000 people were leaked. As a result, people were harassed.


title: Prince Edward Island

paragraphs: Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is a province of Canada. It is the smallest of Canada's ten provinces. Most of the people on Prince Edward Island speak English. Prince Edward Island was named for the son of King George lll of Britain, and it joined the Dominion of Canada in 1873.

paragraphs: This province is 224 km (139 miles) long and 4 to 60 kilometers (2.5 to 37 miles) wide. The capital, and also the largest city, is Charlottetown.

paragraphs: Prince Edward Island is known for being the location for novels written by Lucy Maud Montgomery including "Anne of Green Gables". It is also important for being the "Birthplace of Confederation", because the Charlottetown Conference in 1864 was in Prince Edward Island.

paragraphs: The government of Prince Edward Island is a parliamentary government, with a constitutial monarchy. The monarch (king or queen) right now is Queen Elizabeth II, who is also the monarch for the rest of Canada. The person who represents the Queen is called the Lieutenant Governor.


title: Antigen

paragraphs: An antigen is a molecule (usually a protein) expressed by a bacteria or virus that is recognized by the adaptive immune system as foreign which can stimulate the production of antibodies and combine specifically with them.

paragraphs: Usually an antigen is a molecule, perhaps on the cell surface of a bacterium or virus.

paragraphs: Antigens are always 'foreign' and trigger an attack. The system is normally tolerant of its own molecules, which don't start an attack. Autoimmune diseases are caused when this safeguard fails.

paragraphs: When an antigen is introduced into the body it causes the production of antibodies. Antigens include bacteria, cells of transplanted organs, plant pollen and toxins.

paragraphs: Antigens "stimulate" the production of antibodies: they do not produce them directly.

paragraphs: The first time that a new antigen comes into contact with the body the response of the immune system will be a complete immune response. During this first response, the antigen will cause antibodies to be made.

paragraphs: The next time the same antigen contacts the body, a full-scale immune response is not needed as the body already has a specific antibody available instantly for that antigen.

paragraphs: This means that the body can begin fighting an infection much sooner for illnesses it has encountered before, and takes more time to begin to fight an infection in new illnesses.

paragraphs: Vaccinations usually contain dead bacteria or antigen so the antibodies can familiarise themselves and kill it.


title: Chaos

paragraphs: Chaos is when something unpredictable or random happens. It may refer to several different things:


title: Information entropy

paragraphs: Information entropy is a concept from information theory. It tells how much information there is in an event. In general, the more certain or deterministic the event is, the less information it will contain. More clearly stated, information is an increase in uncertainty or entropy. The concept of information entropy was created by mathematician Claude Shannon.

paragraphs: Information and its relationship to entropy can be modeled by:R = H(x) - Hy(x)"The conditional entropy Hy(x) will, for convenience, be called the equivocation. It measures the average ambiguity of the received signal."

paragraphs: The "average ambiguity" or Hy(x) meaning uncertainty or entropy. H(x) represents information. R is the received signal.

paragraphs: It has applications in many areas, including lossless data compression, statistical inference, cryptography, and sometimes in other disciplines as biology, physics or machine learning.

paragraphs: The information gain is a measure of the probability with which a certain result is expected to happen. In the context of a coin flip, with a 50-50 probability, the entropy is the highest value of 1. It does not involve information gain because it does not incline towards a specific result more than the other. If there is a 100-0 probability that a result will occur, the entropy is 0.

paragraphs: Let's look at an example. If someone is told something they already know, the information they get is very small. It will be pointless for them to be told something they already know. This information would have very low entropy.

paragraphs: If they were told about something they knew little about, they would get much new information. This information would be very valuable to them. They would learn something. This information would have high entropy.


title: Spice Girls

paragraphs: The Spice Girls are a British pop girl group. The group formed in 1994. The group has five members. Each member uses a nickname initially given to them: Melanie Chisholm ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Melanie Brown ("Scary Spice"), Victoria Beckham (née Adams) ("Posh Spice"), and Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice") . They were signed to Virgin Records. The Spice Girls released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996. It hit number-one in more than 30 countries. The song helped make the group as a global phenomenon. The group is credited for being starting the trend of commercial success of teen pop in the late 1990s. Their debut album, "Spice", sold more than 28 million copies worldwide. It is the best-selling album by a female group in music history. They have sold over 75 million records worldwide. This makes them the best-selling female group of all time. It also makes them the most successful British band since the Beatles.

paragraphs: The group released three albums: Spice in 1996, Spice World in 1997 and Forever in 2000. The Spice Girls starred in , which was released in December 1997.

paragraphs: The members reunited in 2007. They released a "Greatest Hits" album in November and said a world tour would start in December. On 1 February 2008, the group said that they would be ending the tour early.

paragraphs: In 2012, they reunited again to perform at the closing ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.


title: Traffic cone

paragraphs: Traffic cones (also called road cones, safety cones or pylons) are cone-shaped markers, usually made from plastic, that are put on roads to temporarily redirect automobile traffic in a safe manner.

paragraphs: Traffic cones are usually placed around construction sites or roadside accidents. As well, many utility companies such as telephone companies and electric companies place cones on the road when utility workers are working on or near the road. Cones are also used by driving schools to set up tests of turning and parking skills.

paragraphs: They have many other uses including bike training, fun and for personal use like reserving parking spaces.

paragraphs: Traffic cones are easily movable and about 60 cm (24 inches) tall. Traffic cones come in many different colors, with orange, yellow and red being the most common colors. Many types of traffic cones have reflective strips or stripes of reflective paint, so that the cones are easier to see at night.

paragraphs: Traffic cones were invented in 1914 by Charles P. Rudabaker. The first cones were made of concrete. In the 2000s, most cones are made of brightly-colored plastic.


title: Agatha Christie

paragraphs: Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer of crime stories. Her books are very famous all over the world, and she sold more than 4 billion books around the world. Only William Shakespeare has sold more books. Also, her books are written in more languages than any other writer's books. People can read them in 103 different languages. Her stories are about murders and finding out who did them. It is hard to find that person. There is a detective who tries to catch the bad person. People like reading her books because they can try to find the answer, too. Reading these books is like playing a game. The most well-known characters in her books are Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Miss Marple is an old English lady, and she talks to everyone. People do not think she is smart, but she always finds the bad person. She uses logic to find out who is guilty of the murder. Hercule Poirot is a strange man, a private detective from Belgium who lives in London. He likes to find out who did the murder by thinking about all the evidence. The stories of Poirot and Miss Marple were made into many TV shows and movies.

paragraphs: Christie also wrote plays. One of them is called "The Mousetrap", and it started over 60 years ago. It remains the world's longest-running play.

paragraphs: Christie was born in Torquay in Devon, England. She did not go to school. She had lessons from her mother at home. Her mother thought children should not learn to read until they were eight years old. But Christie learned how to read by herself when she was four. She read many books, so she learned to become a good writer. She later became a very good pianist and singer, too. She was married twice; she had a daughter called Rosalind Hicks. She worked in a hospital and in a pharmacy during World War I. She also wrote romance novels and plays. They were very successful too. In 1971, she was honoured by the Queen with the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

paragraphs: Christie died on 12 January 1976 at age 85 from natural causes at her Winterbrook House in the north of Cholsey parish, adjoining Wallingford in Oxfordshire (formerly part of Berkshire). She is buried in the nearby churchyard of St Mary's, Cholsey.

paragraphs: The "Guinness Book of World Records" ranks Christie as the best-selling novelist ever. Her novels have sold about 4 billion copies. Her works are the world's most-widely published books after those of William Shakespeare and the Bible. Her books have been translated into at least 103 languages. Christie's best-selling novel is "And Then There Were None". It has sold 100 million copies. It is the world's best-selling mystery novel.


title: Motion

paragraphs: Motion referes to any physical movement or change in position or place


MB


title: Kwame Nkrumah

paragraphs: Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (born Francis Nwia-Kofi Ngonloma, September 21, 1909 – April 27, 1972) was an African political leader. He was well known as the first Prime Minister, then President, of Ghana. He imagined a united Africa. On March 6, 1957, after ten years of campaigning for Ghanaian independence, Nkrumah was elected President and Ghana gained independence from British rule.

paragraphs: Nkrumah was born Francis Nwia-Kofi Ngonloma in Nkroful, a town in Gold Coast (the British colony that was to become Ghana) to Kofi Ngonloma, a goldsmith, and Elizabeth Nyaniba, a salesperson, who he saw as a great inspiration.

paragraphs: He attended Elementary School at Half Assini where his father worked as a goldsmith. A German priest called George Fischer influenced his education. He went to a school for teachers in Accra, then became a teacher himself. In 1935 he went to Lincoln University in the United States. He learned more about Communism. His education continued at the University of Pennsylvania, from 1939 to 1943. In 1945 he went to London and organized an international conference for African freedom. At that time he changed his name to "Kwame".

paragraphs: Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast and founded the Convention People's Party. He was elected Prime Minister. When Ghana became independent from England, Nkrumah was its first president. He created the flag of Ghana. He required all children to attend school. More women attended school and took jobs. For electricity, Nkrumah ordered the building of a hydroelectric dam known as the "Akosombo Dam" and a nuclear power plant.

paragraphs: The military and police forced Nkrumah from power on February 24, 1966.

paragraphs: After his overthrow, Kwame Nkrumah lived out his life in Conakry, Guinea. Diagnosed with prostate cancer, in August 1971 he flew to Romania for treatment. He died in Bucharest, Romania, on 27 April 1972 at the age of 62.

paragraphs: The Osagyefo, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah authored over 20 books and publications. He was a lead authority on the Political theory and Practical Pan-Africanism.


title: Diego Velázquez

paragraphs: Diego Velázquez (6 June 1599 – August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV.

paragraphs: Diego Velázquez had a hard life. He got married when he was eighteen. With his wife, he had two daughters. He died at the age of 61 after having painted many paintings, including "Las Meninas".


title: Kinshasa

paragraphs: Kinshasa is the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (once called Zaire). It is the third largest city in the continent of Africa (after Lagos and Cairo). About eleven million people live there. Kinshasa is also a province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

paragraphs: Kinshasa is on one side of the Congo river, and Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, is on the other side. Kinshasa and Brazzaville are the nearest country capitals in the world.

paragraphs: Henry Morton Stanley founded (started) the town in 1881 and called it Léopoldville (after King Léopold II of Belgium, who controlled the Congo Free State now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), next to a village called Nshasa or Kinshasa. The city was originally private property (not public). The post developed successfully as the first navigable port on the Congo River above Livingstone Falls, a series of rapids over 300 kilometres (190 mi) below Leopoldville. At first, all goods arriving by sea or being sent by sea had to be carried by porters between Léopoldville and Matadi. Later a railway went around the falls.

paragraphs: Léopoldville changed its name to Kinshasa in 1966.


title: Great Barrier Reef

paragraphs: The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef. It is near the coast of Queensland, Australia. It is made up of nearly 2900 coral reefs and over 600 islands. It is 327,800 km² big and 2600 km long. It has been listed an important World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest structure made by living things. It can be seen from outer space. The Reefs are threatened.

paragraphs: The biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef today is coral bleaching caused by high sea water temperatures as a result of global warming. During 2016, the worst die-off ever recorded occurred, due to seas warming around the Great Barrier Reef. Two-thirds of a 700-km (435 miles) stretch of coral in nine months were killed.

paragraphs: The Reef Research Centre has found the remains of coral that are half a million years old. Corals have been growing in the region for as long as 25 million years. The corals have not always formed coral reefs.

paragraphs: It is difficult to work out the age of the Great Barrier Reef. This is because of the way a reef can grow and shrink as the sea level changes. A coral reef can grow in diameter, that is how wide they are, from 1 to 2 cm per year. They can also grow upwards from 1 to 15 cm per year. Coral can not grow if the water is too deep (150 metres or more) because it needs light from the sun. They cannot grow out of the water (above sea level).

paragraphs: The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Australian Institute of Marine Science say the current, living reef started growing about 20,000 years ago. It started to grow on an older reef. This makes the beginning of the reef duringay. The land that forms the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef was a coastal plain. The plain had some large hills. Some of these hills were parts of older reefs.

paragraphs: From 20,000 years ago until 6,000 years the sea level began to rise. As it rose, the corals could grow higher on the hills of the coastal plain. 13,000 years ago the sea level was 60 metres lower than the present day. Corals began to grow around the hills of the coastal plain. These became continental islands. As the sea level rose higher, most of these continental islands were covered by water. The corals could then grow over the hills. This formed the present cays and reefs. Sea level on the Great Barrier Reef has not risen much in the last 6,000 years. The CRC Reef Research Centre has worked out that the present, living reef is 6,000 to 8,000 years old.

paragraphs: The remains of a very old barrier reef has been found in the Kimberley area. This is in the northern part of Western Australia.

paragraphs: The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area has been divided into 70 different areas. These are called bioregions. Each bioregion has its own special plants and animals. There are 30 reef bioregions, and 40 are non-reef bioregions. In the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef, there are ribbon reefs and deltaic reefs. These kinds of reef do not exist in the rest of the Great Barrier Reef system.

paragraphs: The Great Barrier Reef has 1,500 species of fish, and many other animals, algae, and corals. This includes many vulnerable or endangered species. Some of these exist only on this reef system.

paragraphs: Thirty species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises have been seen in the Great Barrier Reef. This includes the dwarf minke whale, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, and the humpback whale. Most of the population of the dugongs live there.

paragraphs: Six species of sea turtles come to the reef to breed. These are the green sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle, hawksbill turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, flatback turtle, and the olive ridley. There are two different groups of green sea turtles on the Great Barrier Reef. One group lives in the northern part of the reef and the other in the south. Fifteen species of seagrass attract the dugongs and turtles. They also provide a food and shelter for fish. The most common kinds of seagrasses are "Halophila" and "Halodule".

paragraphs: Saltwater Crocodiles live in mangrove and salt marshes on the coast near the reef. No crocodile nests have been found on the reef. The salt water crocodiles on the reef travel long distances. There are not many living around the reef. Around 125 species of shark, stingray, skates or chimaera live on the reef. About 5,000 species of mollusc live on the reef. These include the giant clam, nudibranchs and cone snails. Forty-nine species of pipefish and nine species of seahorse have been found. Seven species of frogs live on the islands. Also, the Moray eel lives on the bottom, preying on fish.

paragraphs: 215 species of birds come to the reef or nest or roost on the islands. This includes 22 species of seabirds and 32 species of shorebirds. These include the white-bellied sea eagle and roseate tern. Most nesting sites are on islands in the northern and southern regions of the Great Barrier Reef. About 1.7 million birds use the sites to breed.

paragraphs: The islands of the Great Barrier Reef have 2,195 known plant species. Three of these do not live anywhere else. The northern islands have 300-350 plants which are woody. The southern islands have 200 plants which are herbaceous. The Whitsunday region has the most plant species placing at 1,141. The plant species are mostly spread by fish

paragraphs: Seventeen types of sea snake live on the Great Barrier Reef. They take about 4 years to become old enough to breed. They usually live on the sea floor. They live in warm waters up to deep. They are more common in the southern part of the reef.

paragraphs: More than 1,500 species of fish live on the reef. These include the clownfish, red bass, red-throat emperor, and several types of snapper and coral trout. There are at least 330 species of sea squirts (ascidians) on the reef. These vary in size from 1 mm-10 cm in diameter. Between 300-500 species of bryozoans live on the reef system. These are small water animals that look like moss, or

paragraphs: Four hundred species of corals, both hard corals and soft corals live on the reef. Most of these spawn, releasing thousands of eggs, in huge events. This spawning is controlled by the rising sea temperatures. This happens in spring, summer and some parts of autumn, as part of the moons lunar cycle, and the day/night diurnal cycle. Reefs in the inner Great Barrier Reef spawn during the week after the full moon in October. Outer reefs spawn in November and December. The common soft corals on the Great Barrier Reef belong to 36 different types. Five hundred species of marine algae or seaweed live on the reef. This includes thirteen types of "Halimeda". These deposit chalky (calcareous) mounds up to 100 metres wide. They have mini-ecosystems on their surface which have been compared to rainforest cover.

paragraphs: A new report, the Reef Outlook Report, says that climate change will cause huge damage to the reef. The report was written by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Warmer and more acidic water around the coral reef will slow down calcification, which is how the coral grows and becomes strong. The corals will become bleached (lose their colours) and many species that live on and around the reef will be in danger. The Australian government has already spent AU$325 million to improve the health of the reef in the last two years.

paragraphs: The Reef Outlook Report also warned of other dangers to the reef. These included poor quality water running into the sea from the mainland. This water is polluted with farm insecticides and rubbish from nearby towns. The increasing amount of development on the coast is destroying natural marine and coastal habitats. There is also some damage from fishing.


title: Missouri Compromise

paragraphs: The Missouri Compromise, also called the Compromise of 1820, was a plan proposed by Henry Clay of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was signed by President James Monroe and passed in 1820. The agreement was between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups in the United States Congress, mostly about the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It admitted Missouri as a slave state to please the South and it also admitted Maine as a free state to please the North. It kept the balance of power in the United States Senate between the free states and slave states. The plan also called for slavery to be banned from the Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36 degrees 30' north (also known as the Missouri Compromise Line), except inside the borders of the proposed state of Missouri.

paragraphs: Before the agreement, the House of Representatives had refused to accept this compromise and a conference committee was appointed. The United States Senate refused to concur in the amendment, and the whole measure was lost.

paragraphs: During the following session (1819-1820), the House passed a similar bill with an amendment, created on January 26, 1820 by John W. Taylor of New York, allowing Missouri into the union as a slave state. In December, the question had been complicated by the admission in of Alabama, a slave state, making the number of slave and free states the same. Also, there was a bill in passage through the House (January 3, 1820) to admit Maine as a free state.

paragraphs: The Senate decided to connect the two measures. It passed a bill for the admission of Maine with an amendment allowing the people of Missouri to make a state constitution. Before the bill returned to the House, a second amendment was adopted on the motion of Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois, excluding slavery from the Missouri Territory north of the parallel 36°30' north (the southern boundary of Missouri), except within the limits of the proposed state of Missouri.


title: Peafowl

paragraphs: A peafowl is a bird of the "Phasianide" family. It is a relative of the pheasant.

paragraphs: There are two species of peafowl: the Asiatic peafowl ("Pavo") or the Congo peafowl ("Afropavo congensis"). The Congo peafowl is the only member of the pheasant family that originated outside Asia.

paragraphs: The male peafowl can have up to 150 brightly colored feathers on its tail coverts.

paragraphs: For centuries peafowl have been admired for their beauty and hunted for their meat. Recently peacocks have become more popular in parks and gardens.Peacocks are large, colorful pheasants (typically blue and green) known for their iridescent tails. Distinctive Tail Feathers.

paragraphs: The male peafowls (called peacocks) have long, colorful feathers. Female peafowls (called peahens) have shorter, brown feathers.

paragraphs: They like to eat any kind of green shoots (flowers, veggies, grass etc.) as well as wheat, cracked corn or wild game feed. They can handle freezing temperatures as long as they have a dry perch that is out of the wind and weather. Dry dog and cat chows make excellent winter feed for peafowl, who are omnivores, eating insects, small snakes, lizards, grain, as well as many varieties of greens. They are particularly fond of petunias and similar pot plants, leaving nothing but a small green circle where the stem once emerged from the soil. The birds will learn to come to a specific place at specific times of day to be fed, and a regular light feeding during summer adapts them to coming to the feeding place in winter.

paragraphs: The peafowl is native to southeast Asia, including India and Pakistan. They were brought to Europe long ago, and can acclimatize to colder areas.

paragraphs: The very long, elegant and colorful plumage of the male birds, peacocks, is grown over the winter months so that they are ready for the early spring mating season, during which each male establishes a territory. The male calls to the females to come and admire his dance.

paragraphs: He displays a rustling of tail quills which hold up the fanned back plumes (= tail feathers) as he stamps and turns. The summoning call is loud, repeated, happens sometimes at night, and sounds, to some people, like a woman screaming. Often it is tri-syllabic, mi-fa-sol. Once the mating season is over, the tail feathers are naturally shed.

paragraphs: The peacock's display is a classic example of sexual selection.

paragraphs: The female birds, peahens, are soft brown and gray with white chests and bellies and some light green on the neck, the colors blending so well with weeds and grasses that when the female is nesting on the ground, she is almost invisible.

paragraphs: The hen teaches her chicks what to eat by putting her beak down at a chosen bug, grain, seed, or leaf and making a throaty "grock" sound. The chick put its beak against the mother's, follows the beak to the tip, and eats whatever it points at. The chicks can learn what to eat from a hen of another species, but, unlike baby chickens, peachicks need to be shown what to eat. Chicks hatched in a hatchery can starve to death if there is no hen to teach them what to eat.

paragraphs: In addition to the "eat this" sound, the female has a particular call for a missing chick, a "where are you," "hoo-hah" call, two toned, high then low, mi-do, mi-do. When a chick is missing, this call can go on for hours.

paragraphs: She lays from two to six eggs in the spring time and, once all are laid, sits on the eggs for about thirty days to hatch them, leaving the nest once or twice a day to feed and drink. Often the female will utter a shrieked "trouble" call, a quickly repeated "cuk, cuk, cuk, cuk" when she leaves the nest, to attract predators away from it.

paragraphs: Once the chicks are hatched, the mother leads them away from the broken eggs, as the smell of the eggs attracts predators. They are able to flutter a little within hours, and in a few days can fly up into sheltering trees by going first to lower branches and working their way higher, preferring high, protected branches. The chicks roost on either side of the peahen, and she extends her wings to cover them during the night, thus protecting them from rain, hail, and visits from owls. They begin to grow their "crowns" when they are only a few weeks old and it takes about a year for them to reach full size, though it may take three years to reach breeding age. Both males and females are hatched with the same plumage; nine to twelve months after hatching, the males' necks begin to turn peacock blue, and their splendid plumage takes about four years to reach full size.


title: Manager

paragraphs: A Manager is a person who "manages" or is "in charge of" something. Managers can control departments in companies, or guide the people who work for them. Managers must often make decisions about things.

paragraphs: According to Henri Fayol, a French management theorist, managers must be able to do:

paragraphs: The manager is responsible for overseeing and leading the work of a group of people in many instances. The manager is also responsible for planning and maintaining work systems, procedures, and policies that enable and encourage the optimum performance of its people and other resources within a business unit.


title: Dachshund

paragraphs: The dachshund is a breed of dog. It is usually short (small in height), but long from front to back and with short legs. “Dachshund” is a German word that is used in English, and it means “badger dog.” (In German, dachshunds are called "Dackel" or "Teckel".)

paragraphs: The breed was developed to use its sense of smell to find, chase, and hunt badgers and other animals that live in holes. A dachshund has a long, narrow body, so it is sometimes called a "wiener dog", "hot dog", or "sausage dog". Some owners believe that using such terms is disrespectful, and may take offense.

paragraphs: Today, dachshunds have crooked legs, loose skin, and a barrel-like chest. Over time, breeders selected dogs so that those features would appear in puppies. That way, dachshunds could do a better job of burrowing into tight spaces. Another feature is a long tail.

paragraphs: The coat or fur of a dachshund comes in three kinds – smooth or short-haired, long-haired, and wire-haired. The wire-haired dachshund usually is shorter front to back than the other two.

paragraphs: A fully-grown dachshund weighs between 16 and 28 lb. (7 to 12.7 kg), while the miniature dachshund may weigh less than 11 lb. (5 kg). The writer H. L. Mencken said that “A dachshund is a half-dog high and a dog-and-a-half long.”

paragraphs: Dachshund fur comes in many colours. The colors that are most common are red (a brown color that looks a little reddish) and black-and-tan (black body with brown parts). There are solid black and solid chocolate-brown dachshunds. Many people think those dachshunds are handsome, but the colors are not standard or official – that is, you cannot enter those dogs in some dog shows.

paragraphs: Dachshunds are playful, fun dogs. People know that dachshunds like to chase small animals and birds, and when they chase those animals they do it ferociously (without fear and very intensely). Many dachshunds are strong-headed or stubborn, and that means they can be hard to train. However; if trained in proper way and at an early age, these dogs can be a good family dogs. These dogs should be trained for socialization and obedience. Dachshunds are often very loyal to their owners (devoted to their owners, or very interested in their owners). In fact, they can be much more loyal than other kinds of dogs. But wire-haired dachshunds often do not show that kind of loyalty to their owners.

paragraphs: People know that dachshunds have deep and tender eyes, and that dachshunds have many facial expressions (dachshunds can communicate just with the look on their faces).

paragraphs: Dachshunds often have spinal problems, that is, their backbone can become injured. That is because of the dog’s very long spinal column and short rib cage. The problems are usually hereditary (genetic), that is, they are passed down from parent dogs to puppies.

paragraphs: A dachshund that is obese (fat) can have a higher risk of getting injured. That is because the extra weight puts more strain on the backbone (vertebrae).

paragraphs: To prevent injury, dachshunds should not climb stairs or jump unless they really have to. It is also important to hold the dog the right way – by holding up the front and the rear parts of the body at all times.

paragraphs: Some people have wondered if dachshunds go back to ancient Egypt. People have found drawings and engravings from ancient Egypt that show hunting dogs with short legs. But the dachshund of today was bred in Europe, and it has parts of German, French, and English hounds and terriers.

paragraphs: Kings and queens all over Europe have had dachshunds. Queen Victoria especially liked dachshunds.


title: Karachi

paragraphs: Karachi () is the largest city in Pakistan and the capital of the province of Sindh. Until 1958 it was also the capital of Pakistan. It is also one of the world's megacities. The capital was then moved to Islamabad. In 2017 about 17.63 million people lived in Karachi. It is the largest city in the Muslim world.

paragraphs: Old names for the city include "Mai Kolachi Jo Goth" and "Karatishi". A native of Karachi is called a Karachiite. Quaid-e-Azam (Muhammad Ali Jinnah) father of the nation was born and buried in Karachi. It has two important regional seaports. Karachi makes the largest share of Pakistan's GDP and national revenue.

paragraphs: Karachi has five districts: District South, District East, District West, District Central, and District Malir. The city is the financial and commercial center of Pakistan.karachi is the most crime countries in the world

paragraphs: Karachi has 26 universities including the University of Karachi. It is home to the National Stadium, which hosts many cricket games, and several other sports complexes. The city has several long sandy beaches including Clifton/Kemari beach and Sandspit beach. Clifton beach suffered from an oil spillage but the beach was cleaned. Karachi has Pakistan's first nuclear site KANUP in 1952 from Canada. Karachi hosted the first ever night hockey match between India and Pakistan in 1986 at Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium.

paragraphs: Karachi has many large and small shopping areas including the Saddar area in downtown Karachi. Karachi also has a number of large modern shopping malls. The city has a modern international airport called the Jinnah International Airport and two large shipping ports at Port of Karachi and Port Qasim. Karachi is linked by railway to the rest of Pakistan.

paragraphs: Karachi has a hot desert climate ("BWh" in the Koeppen climate classification).


title: Transliteration

paragraphs: Transliteration is a conversion of a text from one script to another. It swaps letters (thus "trans-" + "liter-") in predictable ways (such as α → a, д → d, χ → ch, ն → n or æ → ae.

paragraphs: Transliteration is not about the sounds of the original. It is about the type or written characters, mostly the letters.

paragraphs: Example: the name for Russia in Cyrillic script, "", is usually transliterated as "Rossiya".

paragraphs: So, 'сс' is transliterated as 'ss', but pronounced /s/.

paragraphs: Transliteration typically goes grapheme to grapheme. Most transliteration systems are one-to-one, so a reader who knows the system can reconstruct the original spelling.

paragraphs: Transliteration is opposed to transcription, which maps the "sounds" of one language into a writing system.


title: Taoism

paragraphs: Taoism or Daoism is a type of belief, or a way of thinking about life. It is at least 2,500 years old and it comes from China. Taoism is now said to be a philosophy. Tao (or Dao, ) is the name of the force or the "Way" that Taoists believe makes everything in the world. Taoists think that words cannot be used to correctly describe Tao. The very first line of the "Dào Dé Jīng" (), the most important text in Taoism, says "the Way that can be explained in words is not the true Way." There are many other sacred writings by the teachers of Taoism.

paragraphs: Instead of spending a lot of time trying to explain what the Tao is, Taoists focus on living a simple and balanced life in harmony with nature. This is one of the most important principles in Taoism. Taoists also believe that conflict is not good and that if you have a problem with something, it is better to find a way around it.

paragraphs: Taoism first showed up in writing in China about 2500 years ago. People do not always write about their religions at first, so this religion may be much older. Some important people of the history of Taoism are:

paragraphs: People who follow this religion believe that doing something with words, thoughts, symbolic actions, etc. can make things in the real world change. That idea is hard to understand. Here is an example: There is an old story that says China was once covered by a flood. The world was saved from the flood by 禹 Yǔ, who had only one leg that worked. Yǔ went to different parts of China in a special order, and he dug ditches to let the flood water go into the ocean. When something very bad happens in the world, a Daoist priest can go to the Daoist temple and act out what Yǔ did, and just doing that will make the world get fixed.

paragraphs: Daoist priests do many other things. For instance, they can use fire and noise to scare demons away. They can do things to cure sickness. They can perform funerals and help keep the new ghosts safe from harm.

paragraphs: In Taoism it is believed that opposites rely on each other to exist. For example, big and small. Or, Light and dark.


title: Adjustment

paragraphs: An adjustment is when something is changed in a small way. This is usually to make it better. The word can be used as a verb, as in "Bill needs to adjust his tie".


title: Poverty

paragraphs: Poverty means not having enough money for basic needs such as food, drinking water, shelter, or toileteries. Many people in different countries live in poverty, especially in developing areas of West and Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Caribbean and some parts of Asia.

paragraphs: There are different ways to measure poverty. The World Bank says that "extreme poverty" is when someone has less than US$1 a day to live on (that dollar is an ideal one). It has been changed to rule out certain effects such as inflation, meaning that prices of things rise higher than what a person is paid, and other price level differences. "Moderate poverty" is when people have to live on less than $2 a day. In the year 2001, 1.1 billion people were seen as "extremely poor", and 2.7 billion were seen as "moderately poor".

paragraphs: In the developed world this does not apply. There, many people are seen as the "working poor". They have a job, but do not earn enough money for basic things such as food and a home. In most developed countries, people without jobs receive money from the government, but this is often less than they need for a comfortable life.

paragraphs: There are different ways to tell if a country is rich or poor. The Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, and Human Development Index, or HDI, are two of those measures. Gross Domestic Product is the money made from trade from inside the country.

paragraphs: HDI, meaning the Human Development Index is a different matter. It is determined by life expectancy and adult literacy rates. Places in Africa like Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Mali are the poorest, with Sierra Leone having the lowest HDI ranking in the world.

paragraphs: Poverty is a hurdle in the way of a country's progress. One way of helping lower poverty is by educating poor people so that they can start contributing to a nation's economic development. Education teaches the poor about their rights and may show them the path to become an important part of the growth and expansion of the country. Vienna Declaration also tells this fact.

paragraphs: One of the most important things that is needed to make a country richer is for the Government to want to help poor people do better. Without this, it is hard for people to become better off.

paragraphs: “The poor are starving and their hunger keeps them in poverty.” a quote from Nathan Jones


title: British Empire

paragraphs: The British Empire was made up of the colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories which were controlled by the United Kingdom.

paragraphs: It began with the overseas colonies and trading posts set up by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history, and the world's most powerful superpower for more than a century. The empire was powered by slavery for centuries as the British bought or captured people from Africa and forced them to work in its colonies. By 1922, more than 458 million people lived in the British Empire, which was more than one fifth of the world's population at that time. The empire was larger than , almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area. Since it was so large, the British Empire has left a large legal, linguistic and cultural heritage. Like the Spanish Empire before it, the British Empire was often said to be "the empire on which the sun never sets" because it was so large that the sun was always shining somewhere in the empire. The Empire controlled land on every continent.

paragraphs: England, France, and the Netherlands began to make colonies and trade networks of their own in the Americas and Asia. England fought and won some wars in the 17th and 18th centuries against the Netherlands and France. After these wars, England (and then, after the union between England and Scotland in 1707, Great Britain) became the main colonial power in North America and India.

paragraphs: When the Thirteen Colonies became independent in the American War of Independence, the British Empire lost some of its oldest and most important colonies. But it kept colonies in what are now Canada and Florida, as well as the Caribbean. It still had colonies and businesses in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific too. After defeating Napoleonic France in 1815, Britain became the world's only superpower for more than a century. The empire became even larger.

paragraphs: The empire continued to expand during the 19th century. The empire would force the Chinese to give them the island of Hong Kong following the Opium Wars during the middle of the 19th century. During the Scramble for Africa, Britain gained much of Africa, especially in the south.

paragraphs: By the start of the 20th century, the economies of Germany and the United States had begun catching up to Britain, especially in their industrialisation. Britain allowed Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to be "self-governing dominions" by the time of the First World War. They could create their own laws in most matters, and became independent countries in 1931.

paragraphs: The First World War weakened Europe. Though the British Empire had been the most powerful economy before the war, it was quickly surpassed by the United States as the greatest industrial power after the war. In the Second World War, Japan took the colonies of Britain and other European countries in South-East Asia. The allies eventually defeated Japan and took back their colonies, but Britain's prestige in Asia was damaged. This caused the empire to decline more quickly.

paragraphs: The British Raj included the whole of the Indian subcontinent. The independence of the two states of India and Pakistan in 1947 was the first and most important step in decolonisation. In the following decade, Britain also gave independence to most of the territories of the British Empire. After the UK transferred Hong Kong back to China in 1997, the British Empire was essentially over. However, Britain still controls some overseas territories. After they were given independence, many countries which used to be British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations. have the same head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, and are Commonwealth realms.


title: Chimbote

paragraphs: Chimbote is the largest city in the Ancash Region of Peru. The city has over 400,000 residents.

paragraphs: It is on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Most of the people of Chimbote catch fish, or work with seafood in some way. The city catches more fish than any other place in Peru.

paragraphs: Chimbote is known for its good version of the national dish of Peru, ceviche. Chimbote is also the hometown of the former president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo.


title: Tram

paragraphs: A tram (tramcar, trolley, or streetcar) is a passenger vehicle that is like a light train. It carries people to places within a city. Because a single tram can carry many people at the same time, riding on a tram instead of driving a car is a good way to help prevent pollution and stop the roads getting too busy.

paragraphs: The word "tram" is used mainly outside North America, while within North America these vehicles are called "streetcars" or "trolleys" as they run mainly on streets.

paragraphs: More modern and larger trams manufactured since the 1970s, such as the one in the second picture from Warsaw, are called light rail vehicles. These vehicles are bigger because they are very often made of two or more parts, with a bendy section in the middle which works like a human joint. In railway jargon, these types of vehicles are called "articulated". These may sometimes have their own right-of-way instead of traveling on the street and their stops are usually farther apart than the stops of trams so that they can travel faster.

paragraphs: On Market Street in San Francisco, vintage streetcars from the 1910s through the 1940s, called "historic streetcars" (the "F Market" line), that travel on the street are a popular tourist attraction. Another city whose trams are highly used by tourists is Hong Kong, because here the trams have two floors which is very rare in the world.

paragraphs: The largest tram networks in the world are in: Melbourne, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, Berlin, Moscow and Vienna.

paragraphs: Trams first came into use in the 1890s, when they replaced horsecars--streetcars drawn by horses.

paragraphs: In the 1910s to 1930s, in many metropolitan areas in North America, there were special bigger and longer streetcars that traveled long distances to distant suburbs on what were called "interurban" lines. These streetcar lines sometimes had "dedicated tracks" with their own right-of-way (land surrounding the tracks) and made fewer local stops.

paragraphs: In the late 1940s and early 1950s, in the United States, there was a conspiracy by Standard Oil, General Motors, and Firestone Rubber. They formed a company called National City Lines to buy streetcar systems, tear up the tracks, and replace them with buses in almost all the cities in North America. They did this so they could make bigger profits by selling more oil, buses, cars and rubber tires. Because of this, it was necessary to spend hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds in the 1980s and 1990s to reconstruct the streetcar systems as light rail systems using light rail vehicles. This conspiracy is somewhat referred to in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.


title: Fast food

paragraphs: Fast food is the term for a kind of food that people eat from a restaurant, cafe or take-out where food is prepared and served quickly.

paragraphs: It is mass-produced food. It is often pre-prepared and delivered to the shop ready for frying or boiling. There is a strong priority on "speed of service".

paragraphs: The restaurants that sell fast food are called "fast food shops" or "fast food restaurants". Some of the more common fast food restaurants are McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Taco Bell, and KFC. All these chains have a limited short menu, and serve the same kind of food in all their outlets. The shops are subcontracted by the supplying company, and tied absolutely by contract to that single supplier. However, the same kind of criticism could be (and is) directed at some other kinds of restaurants. The problem is seen by many critics as being one of over-eating, rather than one of the specific food types.

paragraphs: As a response to criticism, many fast food outlets now offer more choices of salad-type foods. These may not sell so well, in which case the problem can be seen one of education. Children copy what they see in adults.

paragraphs: When a lot of fast food is eaten, it may cause health problems and complications, such as high cholesterol, clogged arteries, diabetes, obesity, and death.


title: Scott Joplin

paragraphs: Scott Joplin was an American ragtime musician and composer. He is widely considered the greatest ragtime composer of all time.

paragraphs: Joplin was born in the U.S. state of Texas sometime between June 1867 and January 1868 and grew up in Texarkana, Texas. His relatives were railroad workers. His father wanted him to find work that would pay. His mother said he should learn music. Even though he was from Texas, most of his pieces were written when he was in Missouri and New York City.

paragraphs: Joplin is most well known for writing piano pieces called rags. His music became popular again in the 1970s, with the album "Scott Joplin: Piano Rags", performed by Joshua Rifkin, from Nonesuch Records. He may be most commonly known now by the Marvin Hamlisch adaptation of his composition "The Entertainer" (1902) which was used in the 1973 movie "The Sting" starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. His best-known song while he was alive was "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899). Other rags he wrote were "The Ragtime Dance" (1906) and "Magnetic Rag" (1914). Scott Joplin wrote more than 40 piano rags, but he also wrote two operas; "A Guest of Honor" and "Treemonisha". "A Guest of Honor" was performed in Joplin's lifetime, but since then the music has been lost. "Treemonisha" was never performed while Joplin was alive, but it has been performed since then. Joplin also wrote a symphony, but the music has been lost.

paragraphs: Joplin died of syphilis in New York City on April 1, 1917.

paragraphs: • Gildo De Stefano, "Ragtime, jazz & dintorni". Preface by Amiri Baraka. SUGARCO Editions, Milano 2007


title: Propane

paragraphs: Propane is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an alkane with three carbon atoms. It is used in fuels.

paragraphs: Its melting temperature is −187.7 °C; its boiling temperature is −42 °C; its density is 1.83 g/l.

paragraphs: Propane is extracted from natural gasoline or from petroleum.


title: Flag of Japan

paragraphs: The flag of Japan shows a red sun (rising sun) in the middle of a white field. It is called "Nisshoki" (日章旗) formally in Japan. But Japanese people usually call it "Hinomaru" (日の丸) which means "circle of the sun".

paragraphs: The Japanese navy uses the other flag; the sun has rays.

paragraphs: This flag represents the heat of the sun. Its colours are red and white.


title: Nationalism

paragraphs: Nationalism is a way of thinking that says that some groups of humans, such as ethnic groups, should be free to rule themselves. Nationalists think that the best way to make this happen and avoid control or oppression by others is for each group to have their own nation. Some nationalists think this is the best way to save small and weak groups threatened by the mixing of ethnic groups. The other definition of nationalism is the 'identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.'

paragraphs: The opposite of nationalism is Internationalism and anti-nationalism.

paragraphs: Many early socialists were also nationalists. The earliest forms of nationalism had lots of socialist features. In this period, political thinkers who thought that ethnic groups should not be oppressed by other ethnic groups thought also that 'normal folk', the backbone of society, like workers and peasants, should not be oppressed by higher social classes like rich people. They also thought that it is wrong for somebody to live in great welfare that is made of the hard work of others, or the oppression of others. The ideology is that the social classes should work together and have a common goal that aims for the good of everyone. These goals can be called "national interest".

paragraphs: National interest is ideal and not always easy to find. There are different ways to reach national interest, for example politics.

paragraphs: Nationalists started to support normal people, especially peasants, who were seen as uncorrupted, gallant, and fair, unlike high classes. For example, normal folks often had more original and local ethnic culture than the high classes, whose culture was seen more rootless. National Romanticism was based much on the ideal of uncorrupt folk.

paragraphs: Socialism and nationalism grew together. But they have also been placed in opposition in some theories. The most known opposition between these ideologies was with the Soviet Union. The Soviet propaganda made nationalism an insult word that was linked with opposed ideologies like capitalism, liberalism, imperialism or fascism. Still, even in the Soviet Union and other communist or socialist countries, there was nationalism in great measure (even if it was not called with that name).

paragraphs: The most capitalist countries like United States were patriotic rather than nationalist. The Nordic countries, which were among the most pure nation-states (countries that follow nationalist principle), were not very capitalist or rightist; they were built on the social democratic idea, which is left. Only after Nordic countries became more multicultural did their politics become more rightist.

paragraphs: Today nationalism does not have a common stand on those fields of politics that are outside of its basic goals, like left-right politics. However nationalism can be a part of bigger political ideology or agenda that can be leftist or rightist or something outside that classification.

paragraphs: Nationalism is still usually connected to goals that resist strong hierarchy between social classes inside society. Nationalist people are usually more or less against the strongest forms of capitalism, which they think gives too much power to rich people and big companies.

paragraphs: Nationalism had an important role in ending the colonial rule. Nationalism spread to colonies and made their people desire independence. Nationalism also made the people in metropolitan states (countries that colonized others) accept more the desire of other people to rule themselves. However nationalists think that the end of colonization of Africa was not done well. They think that there would not be so many conflicts in Africa if African nations had built in a nationalist way (so that every ethnic group is its own nation).

paragraphs: After the imperialists left their African colonies, the new nations were built with borders that were not the same as the ethnic borders. New nations became nations with many ethnic groups, which do not want to or cannot live peacefully in the same society with the others.


title: Drought

paragraphs: Drought is a continuous period of dry weather, when an area gets less than its normal amount of rain, over months or even years. Crops and other plants need water to grow, and animals need it to live. Droughts can become dangerous to people and other land animals; causing famine and even creating deserts.

paragraphs: A drought is a natural event, caused by other weather events like El Niño and high-pressure systems. Drought can also be triggered by deforestation (people cutting down forests), by global warming, and by diverting rivers or emptying lakes.

paragraphs: Drought is a natural disaster which usually takes place slowly. It is often difficult to decide when a drought started and sometimes when it ends too. Its effects often build up slowly over a long period of time and may last from months to years after rain resumes.

paragraphs: Many people die every year in famines due to drought in subsistence farming areas. Conflicts can result from drought conditions.


title: Deafness

paragraphs: Deafness is when someone cannot hear at all, or cannot hear well. Deafness is also known as 'hearing loss'. There were many famous people who were deaf, such as Ludwig van Beethoven and Helen Keller.

paragraphs: A person is considered to be deaf if they cannot hear the same range of sounds as a person with normal hearing ability. People that cannot hear any sounds are also deaf. People who are partially deaf may hear some sounds and may hear words.

paragraphs: People who cannot hear and understand words well are 'hard of hearing'.

paragraphs: Generally, there are two views of deafness:


title: Liver bird

paragraphs: The Liver birds are two large and famous bronze metal birds on top of a building - the Liver Building - in the city of Liverpool, England. The building has the offices of an insurance organization. The birds are symbol of the city, although no birds really look like this.

paragraphs: The sound of the end of the word "liver" in the name of the bird is like "driver" not "river". The start of the word Liverpool ("liver") sounds like the word "river". This is a funny play on words.

paragraphs: There is also a British television sitcom with the same name that is about two young women who share a flat in Liverpool. The play on words is increased by a second British slang meaning of the word "bird" to mean young woman.

paragraphs: Many people in Liverpool (known as "Liverpudlians") are proud of their city and of the Liver birds. There is a story that the birds will come alive if a truly pure woman walks between them. This will never happen! This is an example of the humor of the local people.


title: Demonstration

paragraphs: A demonstration can mean an event where people do something to let others know what they think and to try to change their point of view. It is one kind of protest. Examples of demonstrations include marches, where people walk together, and rallies, where people gather in one place. During a demonstration, the people who are part of it, called "demonstrators", may display placards or other symbols that are easy to see, especially when the protests are being shown on mass media such as news, television, or social networks.

paragraphs: Demonstrations are often made against a government if they do something the people do not want. Because they are meant for many people to be a part of, they are usually considered more successful if more people take part. Demonstration is permitted by international human rights law as the freedom of assembly if done peacefully (meaning there is no violence). However, demonstrations can get out of control and even turn into a riot.

paragraphs: A demonstration can also mean when someone shows how to do something, or in what ways a thing can be used. Salespeople often demonstrate things like computers, cars, and televisions to customers so they can make sure the customer sees all the features of the item. ""Demo"" is short for demonstration, and people often use it to describe this meaning of the word.


title: Chartist

paragraphs: The Chartists were people who wanted to get more rights for working class people in the mid-19th century. They were called Chartists because they wrote their main aims down in the People's Charter of 1838.


title: Movie theater

paragraphs: A movie theater or movie theatre, is a place where movies are shown on a big screen. People or "patrons" (the audience) watch movies, usually in chairs inside an auditorium. The movie is projected with a movie projector onto a large projection screen at the front of the auditorium while the dialogue, sounds and music are played through a number of wall-mounted speakers. A movie theatre is sometimes called a cinema. A theatre with multiple screens commonly is called a "multi-plex" or "mega-plex" (if more than 10 screens). Movie theatres have comfortable chairs. There are different types of formats of a movie theatre.

paragraphs: The first movie theatre was opened to the public on April 23, 1896, in Koster and Bial's Music Hall on 34th Street in New York City. The oldest movie theatre in the world, which is still in action today is the "Kino Pionier" (opened 1907) in Szczecin, Poland. Movie theatres make money from not only movie tickets but from concessions which sell food and drinks (popcorn, candy, soft drinks, etc.). In recent years with the increase of movie rental costs, theatres have become more and more creative about how they make money. New theatres being built include restaurants, party rooms, conference rooms, arcades and more.


title: The KLF

paragraphs: The KLF were a band from England. They made music from the late 1980s until the early 1990s. A lot of the music they made was pop music or dance music. The band members were two men, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. Bill Drummond is a musician, singer, and writer from Scotland. Jimmy Cauty is a musician and artist from England. Sometimes they used the names The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The JAMs and The Timelords as their band name, instead.


title: Monounsaturated fat

paragraphs: Monounsaturated fats are found in some foods such as nuts and avocados. They are the main component in olive oil (oleic acid).

paragraphs: In general, these fats are considered to be healthier than others. They have the same amount of energy, but they reduce blood cholesterol levels. This reduces the risk to the heart. Another type of fat is polyunsaturated fat.


title: Polyunsaturated fat

paragraphs: Polyunsaturated fats are fats that are usually found in items like vegetable oils. Such items are typically found to be liquid at room temperature.

paragraphs: Polyunsaturated fats are called organic compounds. Its molecules contains more than one double bonds. The peculiar structure reduces the strength of the forces between molecules. This causes the items to have a lower melting point. This is why the items are usually liquid at room temperature.


title: The North Avenue Irregulars

paragraphs: The North Avenue Irregulars is a 1979 movie starring Edward Hermann, Ruth Buzzi, Steven Franken, and Cliff Osmond.

paragraphs: The movie is about a newly installed minister, who entrusts, despite objections by the founding pastors daughter, the churches "sinking fund" money into the hands of a congregate whom he does not even know, with instructions to increase the amount in the fund.

paragraphs: The money is bet on a horse race, and upon hearing this, the Pastor gives the shortest sermon in history and begins a pursuit of the money and the organized crime syndicate, amid the hijinx of assorted feminine members of the congregation in a pursuit of the "money trail".


title: Candleshoe

paragraphs: Candleshoe is a 1977 Walt Disney Productions live action movie. It stars Jodie Foster as Casey Brown, Helen Hayes as Lady St. Edmund (in her last screen appearance), David Niven as Priory (as well as Colonel Dennis and Mr. Gipping), and Leo McKern as Harry Bundage. Candleshoe is loosely based on the Michael Innes novel "Christmas at Candleshoe".


title: Hikaru Utada

paragraphs: Hikaru Utada (宇多田ヒカル "Utada Hikaru", born January 19, 1983 in New York City), is a Japanese and American singer and songwriter. Because she was born in the United States, she can speak English perfectly. She is the only child of the 1970s Enka singer Keiko Fuji. Her first Japanese album, "First Love", was very popular. It sold more copies than any other Japanese singer ever. She is also known in the west for singing the theme songs for "Kingdom Hearts" and "Kingdom Hearts II": "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary".

paragraphs: When Hikaru was little, she did not want to become a singer. She saw how busy her parents' lives were, and did not want that for herself. When she was 10 years-old, her parents asked her if she wanted to write songs. She did not want to, but tried doing it. She wrote a song called "I'll Be Stronger". During this time, Hikaru went to school in New York. Her classmates were not able to say her name right (Hee-ka-roo) so they shortened it to 'Hikki'. 'Hikki' became Hikaru's nickname. Her fans in Japan call her that. The name is not promoted very much in the United States because it sounds too much like 'hickey'.

paragraphs: In 1996, Hikaru started to record an album, when she was only 13 years old. It was in English. The album was in the R&B style. It was written all by herself. The album was going to be released on the EMI's record company, but since the company fell apart, it was never sold in the United States. A man called Akira Miyake from Japan heard the album, and wanted to release it there. Hikaru agreed, and the album was released in Japan in 1998.

paragraphs: The album sold okay, but it was not until later when Hikaru started to sing Japanese songs that she became famous. Her music still sounded very R&B, but at this point, it sounded more like pop. Her first single, "Automatic / Time Will Tell", reached #2 on the single charts in Japan. A while later, after another single, she released her first Japanese album, "First Love". This sold a very large amount (over 9 million copies) and became the most sold album by a Japanese singer.

paragraphs: Hikaru went on to release two more albums: "Distance" (2001), and "Deep River" (2002). In each album, her style changed slightly. Each album was less R&B, and more pop. In 2004, she released an album made up of all her old single songs. She then released an album in English called "Exodus". "Exodus" was released under the record label Island Def-Jam. It was sold in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. She sang, wrote, and made the music for the whole album herself (except for when she got hip-hop producer Timbaland to help her). The album sold many copies in Japan, but it did not sell that well in the United States. However, many famous people and music critics thought that the album was good (for example, Elton John thought it was interesting).

paragraphs: Hikaru has started to make new Japanese music again, but continued on making all the music herself. Usually, a singer/songwriter will only write the music and the lyrics, but Hikaru decided she wanted to arrange her songs all by herself as well. She released her new album, "Ultra Blue", in mid-2006. Soon after, she went on a tour all across Japan. This is the second time she has ever done this (despite her singing for eight years).


title: Scramble for Africa

paragraphs: The Scramble for Africa (or the Race for Africa), from the 1880s until the start of World War I, was a time of much colonial expansion in Africa. Many European countries started colonies in Africa during this time. This is an example of New Imperialism. Liberia, Ethiopia and Darwiish State were not conquered at this time.

paragraphs: The last half of the 19th century saw a change in the way countries controlled their colonies. They changed from economic control through mass settlement, to political and military control of the colony's resources, especially in the 1870s. This was seen in the fight for the areas that were controlled by European nations.

paragraphs: Some famous people who helped European countries find more land in Africa included the explorers David Livingston, Henry Morton Stanley, and Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, and the French politician Jules Ferry.

paragraphs: The Berlin Conference (1884 - 1885) tried to end disputes between the United Kingdom, France's Third Republic, the German Empire, and other European countries. They agreed that "effective occupation" would be the rule for colonial claims. Laws were made for using direct rule on a colony, backed up by military power.


title: Seaweed

paragraphs: Seaweed is a term used for several kinds of algae that live in the ocean. Red algae, Green algae and Brown algae are commonly considered to be seaweed. Seaweed gets its energy from photosynthesis just as plants do.

paragraphs: Two specific environmental requirements are important in seaweed ecology. These are the presence of seawater (or at least brackish water) and the presence of enough light for photosynthesis.

paragraphs: Another common requirement is a place to attach to. As a result, seaweeds are commonly found near the shore. Within that area, they are found more often on rocky shores than on sand or shingle. Seaweeds occupy a wide range of ecological niches. The highest elevation is only wetted by the tops of sea spray, the lowest is several meters deep. In some areas, seaweeds near the shore can extend several miles out to sea. The limit to how much they grow in such cases is based on how much sunlight there is. The deepest living seaweeds are the various kelps.

paragraphs: A number of species such as "Sargassum" have adapted to a fully planktonic niche and are free-floating, depending on gas-filled sacs to stay afloat.

paragraphs: Others have adapted to live in tidal rock pools. In this niche seaweeds must withstand rapidly changing temperature and salinity (amount of salt) and even occasional drying.

paragraphs: Seaweed has different uses. Sometimes it is farmed or foraged from the wild.

paragraphs: People living on the coast often eat seaweed, especially those in East Asia, such as Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is also used in Belize, Peru, the Canadian Maritimes, Scandinavia, Ireland, Wales, Philippines, and Scotland.

paragraphs: Tiwi, Albay residents discovered a new pancit or noodles made from seaweed. These have health benefits. Seaweed is rich in calcium and magnesium and seaweed noodles can be cooked into pancit canton, pancit luglug, spaghetti or carbonara.

paragraphs: In Asia, Zicai (紫菜) (in China), gim (in Korea) and nori (in Japan) are sheets of dried "Porphyra" used in soups or to wrap sushi. "Chondrus crispus" (commonly known as Irish moss or carrageenan moss) is another red alga used in producing various food additives, along with Kappaphycus and various gigartinoid seaweeds. "Porphyra" is a red alga used in Wales to make laver. Laverbread, made from oats and the laver, is a popular dish there. Affectionately called "Dulce" in northern Belize, seaweeds are mixed with milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla to make a common beverage.

paragraphs: Seaweeds are also harvested or cultivated for the extraction of alginate, agar and carrageenan, gelatinous substances collectively known as hydrocolloids or phycocolloids. Hydrocolloids have attained commercial significance as food additives. The food industry exploits their gelling, water-retention, emulsifying and other physical properties. Agar is used in foods such as confectionery, meat and poultry products, desserts and beverages and moulded foods. Carrageenan is used in salad dressings and sauces, dietetic foods, and as a preservative in meat and fish products, dairy items and baked goods.

paragraphs: Seaweed is a source of iodine, necessary for thyroid function and to prevent goitre.

paragraphs: Seaweed extract is used in some diet pills. Other seaweed pills exploit the same effect as gastric banding, expanding in the stomach to make the body feel more full.

paragraphs: Seaweed is currently under consideration as a potential source of bioethanol. Seaweed is an ingredient in some toothpaste, cosmetics and paints.