title: Tyr

paragraphs: Tyr is a god in Norse mythology. In the Eddas, he is either the son of Odin or Hymir. He is the god of single (man-to-man) combat. Tyr only has one hand.

paragraphs: At one point in time, the gods decided that the wolf Fenrir (also called "Fenriswolf") could no longer go free. They wanted to lock him up onto a chain. But he broke every chain they tried to put on him. Finally, they had the dwarves make a magical chain. But Fenrir sensed what the gods would do. So Fenrir asked that one of them put his hand into his mouth. Knowing that if Fenrir was left unfettered, he would have grown strong enough to kill all the God's and destroy the world. Tyr was the only one who had the courage. When Fenrir sensed he had been tricked, he bit off Tyr's hand. Tyr remained handless forever.

paragraphs: Fenrir will remain bound until Ragnarök. Then, Tyr's opponent will be , the guard dog of Hel.


title: Loki

paragraphs: In Norse mythology, Loki (Anglicized /ˈloʊki/) is a god or jötunn. The son of Laufey and the [male] jötunn Fárbauti (Old Norse: “cruel striker”), Loki is often referred to as the god of trickery and mischief, and is Odin's blood brother. Known as the “Father of Monsters,” Loki has sired a variety of creatures; these include the monstrous wolf Fenrir, and the Midgard Serpent, Jörmungandr, both of whom were born to him by the giantess (jötunn) Angrboða. He is married to the goddess Sigyn, by whom he is the father of Narfi and/or Nari. By the stallion Svaðilfari, Loki is the father, giving birth in the form of a mare (female horse), of the eight-legged horse Sleipnir.

paragraphs: Loki has a complicated relationship with the Æsir, oftentimes assisting them or hindering them in bringing their goals to fruition. And is also a friend of Thor


title: Freyja

paragraphs: Freyja (Old Norse: “[the] Lady”) is the goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility, seiðr, war, and death in Norse mythology. A member of the Vanir, Freyja is the daughter of Njörðr, and twin sister of Freyr. The most beautiful and refined of the goddesses, she owns the necklace Brísingamen, and rides in a chariot pulled by two cats, accompanied by a giant boar named Hildisvíni; in addition to this, Freyja possesses a cloak of falcon feathers. She is married to the god Óðr, by whom she is the mother of the twin goddesses Hnöss and Gersemi. Freyja rules over the heavenly field(s) of Fólkvangr, where she receives half of those that die in battle, as the other half go to Valhalla. The minor goddesses Gefjon, Skaði, Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr and Irpa (Old Norse: literally “Þorgerðr, Hǫlgi’s bride”), and Menglöð all serve as her handmaidens.

paragraphs: Her name is often translated into English as Freya when used nowadays, but the original Norwegian name is spelt "Freyja".

paragraphs: The Valkyries, having chosen who is to live and die in battle, collect the souls of those slain and bring them to Valhalla, where they will feast and make revelry with Odin; Freyja herself shares half of these heroes with Odin. Her sacred realm is the field of Fólkvangr, wherein lies her great hall Sessrúmnir. There, Freyja decides where her warriors shall sit.

paragraphs: This is what is written in the original myth:

paragraphs: "The ninth hall is Folkvang, where bright Freyja decides"

paragraphs: Freyja married a god called Óðr. She loves her husband deeply, but he often went away on long journeys, and Freyja cried red golden tears for him. Her tears become gold and amber when they fall to Earth, therefore gold was called "Freyja's tears". They have two beautiful daughters called Hnoss and Gersemi.

paragraphs: Freyja often rides in a chariot pulled by big blue cats (her sacred animal) or on a golden boar named Hildisvíni, who accompanies her in battle. Freyja was renowned for her loveliness and beauty, as the myths tell of three giants who wanted to marry her, but they were all killed by Thor, the god of thunder.

paragraphs: Freyja also has a precious necklace called Brísingamen. The god Loki once stole this necklace, and Freyja had to ask the guardian Heimdall for help. Heimdallr engaged Loki in combat and won against the Trickster, giving the necklace back to Freyja. For this, Loki is also called "Thief of Brisingamen", and Heimdall is also called "Seeker of Brisingamen".

paragraphs: Thrymr, the king of the jǫtnar, once stole Thor's hammer, Mjölnir. When Loki went to Jötunheimr to retrieve the hammer, he found Thrymr, who revealed that he planned to give Mjölnir to Freyja as a wedding gift, as he requested her hand in marriage. When Loki returned to Asgard to deliver the news, Freyja was so angered that the heavens shook, and the necklace Brisingamen broke. When it was decided that Thor would go to Thrymr posing as Freyja (Loki disguised himself as one of the goddess' maidservants), he borrowed the necklace. Upon their arrival, Thrymr threw a huge feast in celebration of the marriage, as he presented Mjölnir to "Freyja" as a wedding gift; Thor then took his hammer, killing Thrymr and all who attended the wedding.

paragraphs: Freyja is a warrior goddess. Whenever she rides into battles, she gets half of the souls of dead heroes. She is also a practitioner of magic, otherwise known as seiðr, and is highly proficient in using it. She has a magical cloak made of falcon feathers which allows her to fly between different worlds.

paragraphs: Freyja is the patron goddess of crops and childbirths. She is also a goddess of love, whom lovers may send prayers to.

paragraphs: Frigg and Freyja were two of the most revered goddesses in Norse mythology. They were especially worshipped by Vikings. Freyja is said to be the kindest among goddesses. In a poem in the Poetic Edda, a young man called Ottar always trusted in the goddesses; he built a rock shrine for the goddesses, and Freyja answered his prayers. She disguised Ottar as her golden boar, and went on a trip to help him find his ancestors.

paragraphs: In final battle of Ragnarök, Odin, and Freyr will die. Freyja is not stated as having died during Ragnarök or surviving.

paragraphs: Freyr's name means "the Lord", and Freyja's name means "the Lady".

paragraphs: The day of the week, Friday, is named either after her, or after Odin's wife Frigg. Before Christianity became the dominant religion of the region, the Orion constellation was called Frigg's distaff or Freyja's girdle. Frigg and Freyja may be one and the same goddess.

paragraphs: Freyja is also widely known as Vanadis (Old Norse: Vanadís - "Lady of the Vanir"). The metallic element Vanadium was named after her. The Vanir are close relatives of elves. Freyr is the Lord of the elves, and his sacred realm is Alfheim, home of the elves.

paragraphs: Another well-known name of Freyja is Gefn, which means "Giver", a suitable name for the fertility goddess.

paragraphs: Freyja represents the Norse women of the Viking Age, whose husbands often went away to war. From Freyja's name, noble Norse women were called Fru, and wives were called house-fru. Frau means "woman" in German.

paragraphs: Freya and Freja are now common Scandinavian female names.


title: Frigg

paragraphs: Frigg (or Frigga) is the goddess of marriage, family, and motherhood in Norse mythology. She is the wife of Odin (chief of the Æsir), by whom she is the mother of Baldr and Höðr, and stepmother of Thor (Odin's eldest son) and Víðarr. Ruling Asgard as queen alongside the All-Father, Frigg often dwells in the dense, foggy lands of Fensalir (Old Norse: “Halls of Fen”) when her husband is away on one of his quests for knowledge; additionally, she is the only one besides Odin permitted to sit on his throne Hliðskjálf, and look out across the Nine Realms. Serving as Frigg's attendants are Eir, the gods' doctor and goddess of healing, Hlín (a goddess of protection), Gná (a messenger goddess), and Fulla (a fertility goddess). It is unclear whether Frigg's companions and attendants are simply different aspects of Frigg herself (cf. avatar).


title: William Wallace

paragraphs: William Wallace was a Scottish knight who fought the King of England (Edward I) in the Middle Ages. He was born in c.1272, and executed by the English on 23 August 1305. Scotland had been claimed by Edward, and Wallace refused allegiance to Edward.

paragraphs: Wallace was probably born around 1270-1272. Little is known about his birth or childhood. Exactly where and when Wallace was born is not very clear. Some people say he was born about 1272, but a book printed in the 16th century called "History of William Wallace and Scottish Affairs" says he was born in 1276. Tradition says he was born in Elderslie, near Paisley in Renfrewshire. There are links with Ayrshire as well, and it is not clear whether Wallace first fought the English in Ayrshire or Lanark. Tradition sees Wallace as a being a 'commoner', or normal person. Robert the Bruce, who also fought the English, was seen as being more noble. But this is not strictly true because Wallace's family were minor nobles.

paragraphs: King Edward offered Scotland a deal which allowed them to have a Scottish king so long as King Edward was still in charge. This required the Scottish nobles to kneel, and swear allegiance to his sovereignty. Wallace refused, and led the resistance which followed. A series of battles were fought:

paragraphs: Wallace evaded capture by the English until 5 August 1305 when John de Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward, turned Wallace over to English soldiers at Robroyston near Glasgow. Wallace was taken to London at Westminster Hall, where he was tried for treason. He replied to the charge, "I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject". Wallace was however found guilty.

paragraphs: After the trial, on 23 August 1305, Wallace was taken from the hall, stripped naked and dragged through the city at the heels of a horse to the Elms at Smithfield. He was hanged, drawn and quartered–the most terrible execution in English law. It meant he was strangled by hanging but released while he was still alive, his body cut open, and his bowels burnt before him. Then he was beheaded, and his body cut into four parts. His preserved head (dipped in tar) was placed on a pike atop London Bridge. It was later joined by the heads of the brothers John and Simon Fraser, who had been colleagues of Wallace. Wallace's limbs were displayed, separately, in Newcastle upon Tyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Stirling, and Aberdeen.

paragraphs: A book called "The Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie" was written by a minstrel named Blind Harry in the 15th century. The book is written more like a story than a true version of his life, and has led to much of the legends around William Wallace. The film Braveheart is based on the novel.

paragraphs: A plaque stands in a wall of St Bartholomew's Hospital near the site of Wallace's execution at Smithfield. In 2002 William Wallace was ranked as number 48 of the "100 Greatest Britons" in an extensive UK poll conducted by the BBC.


title: Æsir

paragraphs: The Æsir (Old Norse: singular "ǫ́ss" or "áss"; feminine "ásynja", plural "ásynjur") are the principal group or tribe of deities in Norse mythology. Including Odin, Frigg, Thor, and Baldr, the Æsir reside in the realm of Asgard, situated at the top of Yggdrasil's highest branch.Alongside the Æsir exists a second family of gods known as the Vanir, who joined with the Æsir to form a single, unified pantheon after the devastating war between the two tribes of deities. The Vanir were native to Vanaheimr, the god Njörðr and his children, Freyr and Freyja chief among them. The Æsir gods were usually connected with power and war, while the Vanir were associated with fertility and nature.

paragraphs: The things that happened between the Æsir and the Vanir are an interesting part of Norse mythology. While other cultures have had "elder" and "younger" generations of gods, as with the Titans and the Olympians of ancient Greece, the Æsir and Vanir were portrayed as contemporaries. The two tribes fought battles, concluded treaties, and exchanged hostages; Freyr and Freyja were said to be hostages. Some believe that events that occurred between the Æsir and Vanir were a reflection of events common between different Norse clans at the time.

paragraphs: The Æsir did not grow old, instead remaining young by eating the apples of Iðunn. While they did not age, they could be killed. It was said that most of them will die at Ragnarök.


title: Braveheart

paragraphs: Braveheart is an American historical war drama movie starring Mel Gibson and Sophie Marceau. It is loosely based around the life of 13th century Scottish warrior William Wallace, who fought against the English when they occupied Scotland.


title: Semiconductor

paragraphs: A semiconductor is a material that in some cases will conduct electricity but not in others. Good electrical conductors, like copper or silver, easily allow electricity to flow through them. Materials that block the flow of electricity, like rubber or plastic, are called insulators. Insulators are often used to protect people from electric shock. As the name implies, a semiconductor does not conduct as well as a conductor. Silicon is the most used semiconductor, but gallium arsenide is also used.

paragraphs: By the addition of different atoms into the crystal lattice (grid) of the semiconductor it changes its conductivity by making n-type and p-type semiconductors. Silicon is the most important commercial semiconductor, though many others are used. They can be made into transistors, which are small amplifiers. Transistors are used in computers, mobile phones, digital audio players and many other electronic devices.

paragraphs: Like other solids, the electrons in semiconductors can have energies only within certain bands (i.e. ranges of energy levels) between the energy of the ground state, corresponding to electrons tightly bound to the atomic nuclei of the material, and the free electron energy, which is the energy required for an electron to escape entirely from the material.

paragraphs: Semiconductors were being studied in laboratories as early as the 1830s. In 1833 Michael Faraday was experimenting with silver sulfide. He discovered that as the material was heated it conducted electricity better. This was the opposite of how copper acted. When copper is heated it conducts less electricity. A number of other early experimenters discovered other properties of semiconductors. In 1947 at Bell Labs in New Jersey, the transistor was invented. This led to the development of integrated circuits, which power almost all electronic devices today.

paragraphs: Doping is the process of adding a small impurity to a pure semiconductor to change its electrical properties. Lightly and moderately doped semiconductors are called extrinsic. A semiconductor doped to such high levels that it acts more like a conductor than a semiconductor is referred to as degenerate. Most semiconductors are made out of silicon crystals. Pure silicon has little use but doped silicon is the basis for most semiconductors. Silicon Valley was named for the large number of semiconductor startup companies that were located there.

paragraphs: Today, semiconductors are used far and wide. Semiconductors can be found in nearly every electronic device. Desktop computers, the Internet, tablet devices, smartphones all would not be possible without semiconductors.

paragraphs: Semiconductors can be made into very precise switches with a small amount of voltage. The voltage that the semiconductor doesn’t need can be sent to other electrical components in the device. Semiconductors can also be made very tiny and many of them can fit into a rather small circuit. Since they can be made so small, electrical devices today can be made thin and lightweight without compromising processing power.

paragraphs: Some of the dominating companies in the semiconductor business are Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics, TSMC, Qualcomm and Micron Technology.


title: Curium

paragraphs: Curium is a chemical element. It is a radioactive metal. It has the chemical symbol Cm. It has the atomic number 96. In chemistry it is placed in a group of metal elements named the actinides. Curium is a transuranic element. It is a radioactive element that does not exist in nature. Curium has to be made in a lab. Curium has a silver color and it is made by bombarding a plutonium target with alpha particles (helium ions). Curium was named after Marie Curie and her husband Pierre.


title: Lanark

paragraphs: Lanark is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is close to Carluke and Biggar. Lanark is approximately 40 miles from Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. William Wallace once lived there. There is a statue of Wallace on the town church. A plaque remembers where he "first drew sword to free his native land" in 1296, when he killed Heselrig, the English sheriff of Lanark. This event forms the start of the Mel Gibson film, "Braveheart".

paragraphs: Lanark is also notable for its annual Lanimer celebrations, where local children on coloured floats parade through the streets along with marching pipe bands. A Lanimer Queen is elected from the children, and crowned in a ceremony at the foot of the High Street. A Lord Cornet is chosen from local businessmen, and acts as escort for the Queen for the events of Lanimer Week.


title: Robert I of Scotland

paragraphs: Robert I of Scotland (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329) was King of Scotland from 1306 to 1329. He is better known as Robert the Bruce, or simply The Bruce. He is famous for beating the English army at the Battle of Bannockburn near Stirling in 1314.

paragraphs: Robert the Bruce was born at Turnberry Castle on 11 July 1274. He was the oldest son of the sixth Robert Bruce and Marjorie, the Countess of Carrick.

paragraphs: Robert the Bruce's family originally came from France. They were from a place called Brus in Normandy, which is in the northern part of France. An ancestor also named Robert de Brus came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. Another Robert de Brus came to Scotland with David I of Scotland and his family became powerful lords.

paragraphs: In 1286, King Alexander III of Scotland died. His granddaughter was supposed to become Queen of Scotland, but she died too. In 1292 the Bruce family and another family called the Balliols (BAY-lee-ols) asked King Edward I of England to decide who would become the new king. King Edward chose John Balliol.

paragraphs: In 1292 Robert's family decided that he should be the head of all the Bruces in Scotland. In 1297, King Edward I of England wanted Scotland go to war against France. Many Scottish leaders said no and against the English king. Robert joined this rebellion. Edward won most of the battles against the Scottish rebels. Finally Robert ended up doing what Edward wanted.

paragraphs: In 1306, Robert the Bruce met a man called John Comyn (KOHM-in) in a church. John Comyn also wanted to be King of Scotland. They had an argument and Robert killed John. Soon after, Robert went to Scone (skoon), and the Scottish lords brought out the royal clothes that they had hidden from the English. Then Robert was crowned King of Scots.

paragraphs: Robert the Bruce then fought a lot of battles to make Scotland free instead of always doing what the English king wanted. He fought King Edward I, and then his son, King Edward II. In 1314, Robert the Bruce's army defeated Edward II's army at the Battle of Bannockburn.

paragraphs: In 1315, Robert the Bruce sent his army to Ireland. At that time the English were in control of Ireland. Robert fought with them and made his brother, Edward Bruce, High King of Ireland in 1316. The Scottish army did not treat the Irish people well, and they were forced to leave after Edward Bruce was killed in 1318.

paragraphs: On June 7th, 1329, Robert the Bruce died. After a life of fighting he had wanted to redeem himself by joining the Crusades. Realizing he could not accomplish this he sent his trusted friend Sir James Douglas to take his heart in a small silver box on crusade. James Douglas took the heart and with several knights left on their journey to honor Robert's request. But in fighting in Spain Sir James was killed and the heart was returned to Scotland. the Bruce's body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart is buried in Melrose Abbey.

paragraphs: Robert did not want any fighting over his kingdom after he died. He provided for his brother Edward Bruce to follow him as king. But after Edward died in 1318 Robert's heir became his son David who became king as David II of Scotland. Following David, Robert's grandson Robert II Stewart by his daughter Marjorie was heir to the throne king as Robert II of Scotland. He left behind him a well-ordered kingdom.

paragraphs: In 1295 Robert married Isabella of Mar, daughter of Donald, 6th Earl of Mar. Together they had a daughter:

paragraphs: In 1302 Robert married his second wife Elizabeth de Burgh. She was the daughter of Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster Together they had:

paragraphs: Robert also had several illegitimate children.


title: Geelong, Victoria

paragraphs: Geelong is the second biggest city in the state of Victoria, Australia. It has a large port and 190,000 people living in its area. Geelong at Corio Bay, which is 75 kilometres south-west

paragraphs: The city is a near many famous tourist attractions, for example the Great Ocean Road, the Shipwreck Coast and the Bellarine Peninsula. Geelong also has the second oldest Australian rules football club in the world, the Geelong Football Club, also called "The Cats".


title: Monty Python's Life of Brian

paragraphs: Monty Python's Life of Brian is a 1979 comedy movie by Monty Python. It is about the life of Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman), a young man born on the same night and the same neighbourhood as Jesus Christ.


title: Foundry

paragraphs: A foundry is a place where molten (melted) metals are poured into casts, to make metal things of a certain shape.


title: Call of Duty series

paragraphs: Call Of Duty (short form: "CoD") is a first person and third-person shooter video game series. There are 24 games in total, not counting add-ons and DLCs. The first 8 games, excluding "Modern Warfare", are about World War II. The "Modern Warfare" series takes place in present times. "Call Of Duty: Black Ops" takes place in the secret missions of the Cold War. It was created by Treyarch and published by Activision. The majority of the games were published by Infinity Ward, and some were developed by Treyarch. There are "Call of Duty" games for the Gamecube, Xbox, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Wii, and the Nintendo DS. The games are rated Teen or Mature for blood, violence and strong language.


title: Elementary particle

paragraphs: In physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a particle that is not made of other particles.

paragraphs: An elementary particle can be one of two groups: a fermion or a boson. Fermions are the building blocks of matter and have mass, while bosons behave as force carriers for fermion interactions and some of them have no mass. The Standard Model is the most accepted way to explain how particles behave, and the forces that affect them. According to this model, the elementary particles are further grouped into quarks, leptons, and gauge bosons, with the Higgs boson having a special status as a non-gauge boson.

paragraphs: Of the particles that make up an atom, only the electron is an elementary particle. Protons and neutrons are each made of 3 quarks, which makes them composite particles, particles that are made of other particles. The quarks are bound together by the gluons. The nucleus has boson pion fields responsible for the strong nuclear force binding protons and neutrons against the electrostatic repulsion between protons. Such virtual pions are composed of quark antiquark pairs again held together by gluons.

paragraphs: There are three basic properties that describe an elementary particle: ’mass’, ’charge’, and ’spin’. Each property is assigned a number value. For mass and charge the number can be zero. For example, a photon has zero mass and a neutrino has zero charge. These properties always stay the same for an elementary particle.

paragraphs: Mass and charge are properties we see in everyday life, because gravity and electricity affect things that humans see and touch. But spin affects only the world of subatomic particles, so it cannot be directly observed.

paragraphs: Fermions (named after the scientist Enrico Fermi) have a spin number of ½, and are either quarks or leptons. There are 12 different types of fermions (not including antimatter). Each type is called a "flavor". The flavors are:

paragraphs: Six of the 12 fermions are thought to last forever: up and down quarks, the electron, and the three kinds of neutrinos (which constantly switch flavor). The other fermions "decay". That is, they break down into other particles a fraction of a second after they are created. Fermi-Dirac statistics is a theory that describes how collections of fermions behave. Essentially, you can't have more than one fermion in the same place at the same time.

paragraphs: Bosons, named after the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, have spin 1. Although most bosons are made of more than one particle, there are two kinds of elementary bosons:

paragraphs: The photon and the gluons have no charge, and are the only elementary particles that have a mass of 0 for certain. The photon is the only boson that does not decay. Bose-Einstein statistics is a theory that describes how collections of bosons behave. Unlike fermions, it is possible to have more than one boson in the same space at the same time.

paragraphs: The Standard Model includes all of the elementary particles described above. All these particles have been observed in the laboratory.

paragraphs: The Standard Model does not talk about gravity. If gravity works like the three other fundamental forces, then gravity is carried by the hypothetical boson called the graviton. The graviton has yet to be found, so it is not included in the table above.

paragraphs: The first fermion to be discovered, and the one we know the most about, is the electron. The first boson to be discovered, and also the one we know the most about, is the photon. The theory that most accurately explains how the electron, photon, electromagnetism, and electromagnetic radiation all work together is called quantum electrodynamics.


title: Spin (physics)

paragraphs: In physics, spin is the constant rotation of an object.

paragraphs: For large visible objects like the Earth, spin is the angular momentum of the turning of the Earth around its axis. This tells the amount of rotation that it has. Angular momentum changes with the mass and shape of the object, and with how fast it is turning.

paragraphs: Experiments such as the Stern-Gerlach experiment have shown that sub-atomic particles, such as electrons, seem to have a north pole and a south pole much like magnets do. Scientists once thought that this was caused by the particle spinning on its axis like a planet.

paragraphs: Later, it was shown that the electron would have to be spinning faster than the speed of light to do this. This is why scientists no longer believe that the electron is actually spinning like a planet. Scientists do, however, continue to refer to the magnetic properties of particles as "spin".

paragraphs: Spin, whatever it is, seems to follow some of the laws of angular momentum, but not all of them. A "spinning" electron (or any other sub-atomic particle with spin) can only have certain values of angular momentum. Electrons can also align themselves against a magnetic field in ways that would be impossible in the everyday world.

paragraphs: Spin is considered a fundamental property of any particle.


title: Bendigo, Victoria

paragraphs: Bendigo is a city in central Victoria, Australia. There are about 86,000 people in Bendigo. It is the fourth biggest city in Victoria after Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat. The city area is and has the towns Bendigo, Marong, Lockwood, Lockwood South, Ravenswood, Sebastian, Elmore, Heathcote, Maiden Gully, Lake Eppalock, Axedale, Goornong, Raywood and Huntly, all together, there are 100,000 people living there.

paragraphs: Strathfieldsaye is a small suburb in Bendigo. It takes its name from Stratfield Saye House, which was awarded to the Duke of Wellington after his defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. In the 2011 census, Strathfieldsaye had a population of 4,648.


title: Ballarat, Victoria

paragraphs: Ballarat is a city in central Victoria, Australia. Nearly 90,200 people live there, which makes it the third biggest city in Victoria, after Melbourne and Geelong. It is also the biggest city that is not on the coast in Victoria. It is about north-west of Melbourne. The city area covers about .

paragraphs: Tribes of Australian Aborigines, the Wathaurang and the Borneghurk, used to rest here, and called it "Balla-arat" meaning "Resting - Place"

paragraphs: The first people from Europe came to Ballarat in 1837 to be sheep farmers. They took over large areas of land, with some farms more than . By 1840 there were more than 20 farms with thousands of sheep in the Ballarat area. The city area was a farm owned by William Cross Yuille and Henry Anderson who arrived in 1838.

paragraphs: Gold was found at Ballarat in late August 1851, by James Regan and John Dunlop and within three weeks there were nearly 1000 people digging in the area looking for gold. In two days the Cavanagh brothers dug up of gold from a hole less than two metres deep. This area is now called "Golden Point". Within a year there were 20,000 people living in Ballarat. With so many people coming to look for gold, the town soon became bigger. The Post Office opened on November 1, 1851.

paragraphs: Ballarat is famous as the site for an uprising, or rebellion. This is known as the Eureka Stockade or the Eureka Rebellion, which took place on 3 December 1854. About 30 miners were killed. This is an important moment in Australian history. The site now has a museum, called the Eureka Centre, with displays about the rebellion. The rebel miners flag, the Eureka Flag can be seen at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.

paragraphs: Gold mining made Ballarat a rich town, and it was made a city in 1871. The railway came to the town with the opening of the Geelong-Ballarat line in 1862, and a direct line to Melbourne finished in December 1889.

paragraphs: The money made from gold mining can still be seen in size of many public buildings, the large parks, wide streets, the grand style of shops and hotels, and large houses built for the wealthy residents. From the 1880s to the start of the 20th century the city changed from a gold rush town to a large industrial city. Factories that made equipment for mining slowly changed into engineering and manufacturing businesses. The Victorian Railways built the Ballarat North Workshops in April 1917.

paragraphs: During 1901, the Duke of Cornwall and York, later King George V, opened the first Commonwealth Parliament in Melbourne. While in Victoria, the Duke and Duchess made several journeys by train, on 13 May they went from Melbourne to Ballarat via Geelong, returning to Melbourne via Bacchus Marsh. Ballarat's airport was opened in 1930.

paragraphs: In 1940 the Federal Government took over the airport as an air base for the Empire Air Training Scheme. During WWII the base was a RAAF Wireless Air Gunners' School as well as the base for USAAF Liberator bomber squadrons. During the war the airport was made much bigger, with three sealed runways. Two of these were over 2,000 metres (6,550 ft) long and 45 metres (150 ft) wide. The aerodrome remained the RAAF School of Radio until 1961 when it was returned to normal use. The City of Ballarat now runs the airport which is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register for its social and historic importance.

paragraphs: After World War II, Ballarat grew to the northwest. To ease the housing shortage a large estate was built by the Housing Commission of Victoria on the old Ballarat Common This area is now called Wendouree West. From 1951 to 1962, 750 houses were built, with another 300 added in the 1970s. This was matched by private housing built in Wendouree.

paragraphs: In the 1980s the areas of growth have been in the south and west of the city, as well as new building in the inner areas of the city. Through the 20th century Ballarat continued to grow at a steady rate. New public buildings have been built including the hospital, the library, the law courts and the police station complex. Ballarat is home to many schools, including Damascus College.


title: Heimdall

paragraphs: Heimdall (or Heimdallr) is one of the gods in Northern mythology. He is the guardian of the Bifröst Bridge. He was the son of nine different mothers and was called the "White God".

paragraphs: Heimdall is the guardian of the gods. He will blow a horn, called the "Gjallarhorn", if Asgard is in danger. His senses are so good that he can hear the grass grow and he can see to the end of the world. Heimdall could hear a leaf fall. He does not need any sleep at all.

paragraphs: Heimdall was said to be the last of the gods to die at Ragnarok when he and Loki would kill one another.


title: Tantalum

paragraphs: Tantalum is a chemical element. Tantalum was named tantalium. It has the chemical symbol Ta. It has the atomic number 73. It is a rare metal. It is hard and blue-gray. In chemistry it is placed in a group of metal elements named the transition metals.

paragraphs: Tantalum does not easily corrode. It is found in the mineral tantalite.


title: Hafnium

paragraphs: Hafnium is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol Hf. It has the atomic number 72. It is a metal. It is silver gray. In chemistry it is placed in a group of metal elements named the transition metals. The chemistry of hafnium is similar to zirconium.

paragraphs: Hafnium is used in tungsten alloys in filaments and electrodes. It is also used as a neutron absorber in control rods in nuclear power plants.


title: Lutetium

paragraphs: Lutetium is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol Lu. It has the atomic number 71. It is a metal. It is silver white. In chemistry it is placed in a group of metal elements named the transition metals. Lutetium can also be grouped with the lanthanides because it is near the lanthanides in the Periodic Table. Its physical properties are like the lanthanides.


title: Anaheim Ducks

paragraphs: The Anaheim Ducks are an ice hockey team from Anaheim, California. They are in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Ducks changed the name on June 22, 2006. They used to be the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The name comes from the Disney movie "The Mighty Ducks".

paragraphs: The team was created in 1991 and started playing in the 1993 season. The Ducks were originally owned by The Walt Disney Company. In 2005, Disney sold the Ducks to Susan and Henry Samueli

paragraphs: They are in the Western Conference's Pacific Division. They play their home games at Honda Center, in Anaheim, California. Their team colors are black, gold, and orange. Dallas Eakins is the team's head coach. Ryan Getzlaf is the captain of the team.

paragraphs: To date, they have won one Stanley Cup. It was in the 2006-2007 season. The Anaheim Ducks won the conference championship in the 2002-03 season and 2006-2007 season. They have won 6 Pacific division titles.


title: Móði and Magni

paragraphs: Magni and Móði (Old Norse: "strength" and "bravery") are a pair of minor deities in Norse mythology. They are sons of the god Thor, said to be embodiments of their father's traits. While Magni is born to Thor by the jötunn Járnsaxa (a lover of Thor), the name of Móði's mother is unknown.

paragraphs: Other than his part after Ragnarök, little is known about Móði. Magni however, is featured prominently in the myth of Thor's battle with the giant Hrungnir.

paragraphs: Thor hit the giant Hrungnir in the head with his hammer, Mjölnir, shattering Hrungnir's skull. The giant then fell dead, as his leg landed on Thor's neck, pinning the god to the ground. The other Æsir tried to lift Hrungnir's leg off of Thor, but were unsuccessful. Thor's son, Magni, who was only three days old at the time, then came to his father and lifted Hrungnir's leg off of Thor all by himself. In his gratitude, Thor gifted his son Hrungnir's horse, Gullfaxi (Old Norse: "Gold-mane"). Odin himself was upset that Thor gave the horse to "the son of a giantess" and not to Odin, Thor's own father.


title: Kerosene

paragraphs: Kerosene or paraffin oil is a colourless flammable liquid, usually used for fuel. Kerosene is made by fractional distillation of petroleum. It may be used as fuel for lamps, in some kinds of cooking stoves, and in heaters. Kerosene is mainly used in the fuel for jet engines. The most common consumer use for kerosene in Canada and the US is lighting camp lamps. Kerosene is used as cooking fuel in India.


title: Brass instrument

paragraphs: A brass instrument is a musical instrument that you play by blowing through a mouthpiece to change the pitch, or note.

paragraphs: Brass players use their breath to produce sound. Instead of blowing into a reed they vibrate their lips by buzzing them against a metal cup-shaped mouthpiece. The mouthpiece helps to amplify the buzzing, which creates the sound. Most brass instruments have valves attached to their long pipes; the valves look like buttons. Pressing on the valves makes them open and close different parts of the pipe.

paragraphs: With brass instruments, the sound starts at the lips.

paragraphs: Their mouthpieces just help your lips buzz. It does not matter if the instrument is really made of brass, as long as it works that way.

paragraphs: It is not important what the instrument is made of. Some brass instruments are really made of wood, but are still called brass instruments, like the serpent. Other instruments are made of brass but do not work like this, like the saxophone. They are not called brass instruments, because they don't work that way.

paragraphs: There are also parts of the instrument that change the resonance and thus the pitch, like slides or valves.

paragraphs: A brass band is a group of brass instruments and drums that play music together. They are often used to play for parades and processions because the players can march and play at the same time. Brass bands were very popular in England. Many factories and coal mines had their own bands. The workers would play in the bands after work. One famous band is the Grimethorpe Colliery Band.


title: Crystallization

paragraphs: Crystallization is the way that atoms gather to make tightly bonded or connected groups. It separates a solid from a liquid or sometimes from a gas. Crystallization can be from a melt or from a solution, and can be natural or artificial. Faster crystallization can make smaller size crystals as in basalt, and slower can make bigger ones as in granite.

paragraphs: Artificial crystallization is a technique that forms solid crystals from a homogeneous solution. For crystallization to occur the solution at hand ought to be supersaturated. Put simply, the solution should contain more solute molecules than it would under ordinary conditions. This can be achieved by various methods—solvent evaporation, cooling, chemical reaction, 'drowning' being the most common ones used in industrial practice.

paragraphs: To make things clear we can use a simple example. We take a bowl of water to which we add sugar crystals. We keep adding sugar to it until we reach a stage when no more crystals can be dissolved. This solution so obtained is a saturated one. It is interesting to note that we can dissolve more crystals to this particular saturated solution by heating it (since solubility of solutes increases with increase in temperature, although exceptional cases occur). This elevation in temperature causes more sugar crystals to dissolve in it (thus forming a supersaturated solution), but when the temperature of the solution is allowed to attain equilibrium with the surroundings, the solubility of the solute decreases (because the temperature of the solution has decreased) and the 'excess' sugar so added crystallizes out. This process essentially illustrates the simplest of supersaturation techniques.

paragraphs: 'Drowning' is the addition of a nonsolvent in the solution that decreases the solubility of the solid. Alternatively, chemical reactions can also be used to decrease the solubility of the solid in the solvent, thus working towards supersaturation.

paragraphs: Crystallization can be divided into stages - primary nucleation is the first. It is the growth of a new crystal, which in turn causes secondary nucleation - the final stage (if removal of the crystals is not an issue). Secondary nucleation requires existing crystals to perpetuate crystal growth. In our sugar example, we had obtained such nuclei when the 'excess' sugar had just about crystallized out assisting further crystal formation. Secondary nucleation is the main stage in crystallization for this is what causes the 'mass production' of crystals.


title: Stir frying

paragraphs: Stir frying is a when food is cooked in a Wok (a traditional Asian pan for cooking). This method usually makes food cook faster.


title: Ragnarok Online

paragraphs: Ragnarok Online is an online computer game. It was made by Gravity Corp. It is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. The game was first released in 2002.


title: Cairns, Queensland

paragraphs: Cairns is a city in Queensland, Australia. 120.000 people live there. Cairns is about 1720 km (1,069 miles) north of Brisbane and about 2500km (1,553 miles) from Sydney by road. It is built on the shores of Trinity Bay.

paragraphs: Cairns is an important travel destination for tourists because it is warm all year round and is near many attractions. The Great Barrier Reef is only one-and-a-half hours away by boat. The Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation, about 130km north of Cairns, are popular areas for experiencing a tropical rainforest. It is also a starting point for people wanting to see Cooktown, Cape York Peninsula, and the Atherton Tableland.

paragraphs: Captain James Cook named Trinity Bay when he arrived there in his ship HM Bark Endeavour on Trinity Sunday, 1770. The first Europeans to settle arrived in 1876 when gold was found near Cairns. It was named after the Governor of Queensland, Sir William Cairns.


title: Arabian Sea

paragraphs: The Arabian Sea is the northwest part of the Indian ocean. To its west are the Guardafui Channel, Somali Sea and Arabian peninsula. To its east is the the Indian peninsula. It covers around 4,600,000, km. The Arabian Sea one of the warmest seas.

paragraphs: The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Arabian Sea as follows:

paragraphs: The Arabian Sea historically and geographically has been referred to with many different names by Arabian and European geographers and travelers, including Indian Sea, Sindhu Sagar, Darya, Sindhu Sagar, and Arab Samudra, Erythraean Sea, Sindh Sea, and Akhzar Sea. In Indian folklore, it is referred to as Darya, Sindhu Sagar, and Arab Samudra. About 70 percent of coastline and 90 percent of population of Arabian Sea area isnt arab. There is no historical map of more than 300 years with the Arabian Sea name.

paragraphs: Ibn Khordadbeh ,Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi , Muhammad al-Idrisi, Istakhri, Mahmud al-Kashgari, Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad and Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi had mentioned the sea as Persian sea and sea of Mokran.

paragraphs: Arab sailors and nomads used to call this sea by different names, including the green sea, the ocean sea, the Hindu sea, the Makran Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and among them the Zakariya al-Qazwini, Al-Masudi and Ibn Hawqal. They wrote: “The green sea in the east and the sea of darkness in the west is the sea of strange creatures (Zakariya al-Qazwini) And the enchanted islands (Al-Masudi) (Hafiz-i Abru). Abdullah bin Lotf bin Abdul Rashid, a geographic historian and tourist mentioned in the book History of Islam and Iran, explains the Green Sea and says: “It is also called the Sea of India and it connects with the Persian Sea.” There is a lot of attribution until the name proves this sea, which is the Arabian Sea or the Arabian Sea.


title: Base (chemistry)

paragraphs: A base is a substance that can accept a hydrogen ion (H+) from another substance. A chemical can accept a proton if it has a negative charge, or if the molecule has an electronegative atom like oxygen, nitrogen, or chlorine that is rich in electrons. Like acids, some bases are strong and others are weak. The weak bases are less likely to accept protons, while the strong bases quickly take protons in solution or from other molecules.

paragraphs: An acid is a base's "chemical opposite". An acid is a substance that will donate a hydrogen atom to the base.

paragraphs: Bases have a pH greater than 7.0. Weak bases generally have a pH value of 79 while strong bases have a pH value of 9–14.

paragraphs: Bases can be used to neutralize acids. When a base, often OH, accepts a proton from an acid, it forms a water molecule which is harmless. When all of the acids and bases react to form water molecules and other neutral salts, it is called neutralization. Acids can also be used to neutralize bases.

paragraphs: Every base has a conjugate acid formed by adding a hydrogen atom to the base. For example, NH (ammonia) is a base and its conjugate acid is the ammonium ion, NH. A weak base forms a strong conjugate acid and a strong base forms a weaker conjugate acid. Since ammonia is a moderately strong base, ammonium is a considerably weaker acid.

paragraphs: Some common household products are bases. For example, caustic soda and drain cleaner are made from sodium hydroxide, a strong base. Ammonia or an ammonia-based cleaner such as window and glass cleaner, is basic. These stronger bases may cause a skin irritation. Other bases, like cooking ingredients sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or cream of tartar are basic, but these are not harmful and suitable for cooking.

paragraphs: Gloves should always be worn when handling bases. If skin irritation is encountered, the affected area should be rinsed thoroughly with cold water. If that does not stop the problem, contact medical help as soon as possible.

paragraphs: A strong base is a base that gives off a hydroxide ion, OH–, when put in water. There are eight of them.


title: Ytterbium

paragraphs: Ytterbium is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol Yb. It has the atomic number 70. It is part of a group of chemical elements in the periodic table named the Lanthanides. Ytterbium is a rare earth element. It is soft and silver in colour.

paragraphs: Ytterbium is found in minerals named gadolinite, monazite, and xenotime. In nature it is found as a mix of seven stable isotopes. Ytterbium is used in some steels and is also used to make lasers.


title: Heart transplant

paragraphs: A heart transplant is a type of surgery where someone's heart is removed and another one is put in because theirs is not working properly. The new heart is taken from a dead person who does not need it any more. The first heart transplant on a human was done by Christiaan Barnard in December 1967.


title: Joan Baez

paragraphs: Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American folk singer and activist. Baez is known for her very individual vocal style. She is a soprano with a three-octave vocal range. Many of her songs talk about social issues.

paragraphs: She is best known for her 1970s hits "Diamonds & Rust" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". She is also known for "Sweet Sir Galahad" and "Joe Hill." She sang these songs at the 1969 Woodstock festival and the songs became famous. She is also well known due to her relationship with Bob Dylan and her love for activism in areas such as nonviolence, civil and human rights and the environment.

paragraphs: Baez has performed for nearly fifty years. She has released over thirty albums. She has recorded songs in over eight languages. Baez is considered a folksinger, but after the 1960s her music became a lot different from folk. She sings many kinds of music, including rock, pop, country, and gospel. Baez is famous for singing other peoples' songs very differently. She sang songs by The Beatles, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder and many others.

paragraphs: Baez protests against social and environmental problems. She did not support the Vietnam War. She did not want people to pay taxes that paid for the Vietnam War. Baez did not want men going to fight in the war. She did not perform in places where people of color were treated differently. In addition, Baez helped found the Resource Center for Nonviolence. The Resource Center for Nonviolence is an organization whose goal is to make social change without violence.


title: Kalmar Union

paragraphs: The Kalmar Union was a historical consisting union of the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and various other provinces and areas. At that time, Norway included Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, and parts of Finland belonged to Sweden. The union was started in 1397 at a meeting in the town of Kalmar in Sweden. The union ended on 6 June 1523 when Sweden left the union by Gustav I.


title: Bay of Plenty

paragraphs: The Bay of Plenty is a region in New Zealand. It was first called the Bay of Plenty by Captain James Cook in November 1769. The Māori name for the bay is "Te Moana-a-Toi" ("the sea of Toi").


title: Plotter

paragraphs: A plotter is a kind of printer for computers. Plotters use vector graphics. Usually they are used to print to paper which is very large in size. Plotters print things using special, colored pens. There is one called the drum plotter. They are often used in warehouses. They are generally used for making flex or maps.


title: Dot matrix printing

paragraphs: Dot-matrix printers are printers for computers. A dot matrix printer creates characters by striking pins against ink ribbons. The print head moves back and forth on the paper like a typewriter and prints the image or text. Each pin makes a dot, and combinations of dots form characters and pictures. This is much like a typewriter. Each character is made from a matrix of dots. These were used a lot in the 1970s to the 1990s. Today, dot matrix printers are not used by many people anymore. Most people use inkjet printers or laser printers now. They are still in use where forms (with multiple copies) need to be filled out.


title: Vercingetorix

paragraphs: Vercingetorix ( in Gaulish) born 72 BC, died 46 BC) was a chieftain of the Gallic tribe of the Arverni. He led the great Gallic war against Roman imperialism in 52 BC. His name in Gaulish means "over-king of the marching men"; the "marching men" would now be called "infantry".

paragraphs: Vercingetorix was probably one of the first to unite some tribes of Gaul against a common enemy. This was the last major uprising of the peoples of Gaul against the Roman invaders.


title: Philippe Noiret

paragraphs: Philippe Noiret (1 October 1930, in Lille, France – 23 November 2006 in Paris) was a well-known French actor. He is probably best known for his role in Cinema Paradiso, and for playing Pablo Neruda in the film Il Postino. He died on November 23, 2006 of cancer.


title: Monica Bellucci

paragraphs: Monica Bellucci (born on 30 September 1964 is an Italian actress. She was born in Città di Castello, Umbria. Bellucci started modelling at 16. She is the daughter of Maria Gustinelli, a painter, and Luigi Bellucci, who owned a trucking company. She used to be a fashion model. She speaks Italian, French, and English fluently and has acted in each of these languages, as well as Aramaic. She is currently considered as an Italian sex symbol. Bellucci is married to Vincent Cassel and has a daughter named Deva (born 12 September 2004). In 2004, while pregnant with her daughter, Bellucci posed nude for the Italian "Vanity Fair" Magazine in protest against Italian laws that allow only married couples to use in-vitro fertilization and that prevent the use of donor sperm.


title: Murrayfield Stadium

paragraphs: Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh is the home of the Scottish national rugby team. It was first built in 1925. In 1995, the stadium was renovated. It has seats 67,800 people. It held the record for the most people at a rugby union match. 104,000 people watched Scotland play Wales in 1975.


title: Allmänna Idrottsklubben

paragraphs: AIK (which stands for Allmänna Idrottsklubben), is a sports club from Sweden. It is one of the biggest and one of the oldest in the country. It was founded in 1891. The name means "Common" (or "Public") "Sports Club". It has departments for many different sports including football, ice hockey, bandy, golf, table tennis, bowling, and handball.


title: Network Ten

paragraphs: Network Ten is one of three major television networks in Australia. It started broadcasting television in 1965, when they were called Independent Television Network.

paragraphs: Shows that Network Ten buy from other countries and broadcast in Australia include:

paragraphs: Shows made in Australia for Network Ten include:


title: Seven Network

paragraphs: Seven Network is one of three major television networks in Australia. It started broadcasting in 1956. In recent years, it has grown into a diversified media company. Seven Network's main shareholder is Kerry Stokes.

paragraphs: Seven Network's studio headquarters are in a converted warehouse at Jones Bay Wharf in Pyrmont, Sydney. Its headquarters for its news department are in Martin Place, Sydney. Seven's major production facilities are at Epping in Sydney's northern suburbs. Seven Network are planning to move their production facilities to a specially built site at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern.


title: Accounting

paragraphs: Accounting or accountancy is the job of sharing financial information about a business to managers and shareholders (people who have invested in the business). Accounting is often called the "language of business". Accountants are people who do accounting, and also carry out the auditing or checking of a company's books and records. In Britain, this auditing is often carried out by a qualified person called a "chartered accountant". In the United States, the professional designation is Certified Public Accountant or "CPA".

paragraphs: When accountants do accounting work, they write in the books of account (ledgers) that belong to a company. Every time money is spent or earned, it is written in the ledger. The information in the ledger is used to prepare the company accounts monthly, quarterly (every three months) and annually (every year). These annual accounts show what money the company has taken in over time and what it has spent money on. It also shows if the company made a profit in the year (if it made more money than it spent), who owes the company money, who the company owes money to, and any big expensive items the company has bought which they expect to use for many years. Lenders, managers, investors, tax authorities (the people who collect taxes for the government) and other decision-makers look at these annual accounts. Managers and investors look at the ledger and make decisions about how to spend money in the future. Lenders like banks look at the accounts before they lend money to the company. Tax authorities look at them to check that the company is paying the correct amount of taxes.

paragraphs: The word "accountant" originally comes from the Latin word "computare" – "to reckon, count, number", via French.

paragraphs: "Accomptant" was the original spelling and pronunciation of the word "accountant". However, over time, people began to drop the "p" in the word "accomptant". Over time, the word changed both in the way it was said and spelled to how it is today.

paragraphs: The basic accounting equation is assets=liabilities+equity.

paragraphs: Accountancy is very old. It started when humans first started to farm and form towns and cities. People who thought about economics (keeping track of money and valuable things) thought of a way to write down the sizes and values of crops.

paragraphs: The earliest accounting records were found among the ruins of ancient Babylon, Assyria and Sumeria, which are more than 7,000 years old. The people of that time relied on primitive accounting methods to record the growth of crops and herds. Because there is a natural season for farming and herding, it is easy to count and determine if a surplus had been gained after the crops had been harvested or the young animals weaned.

paragraphs: The invention of a form of bookkeeping using clay tokens represented a huge cognitive leap for mankind.

paragraphs: In the twelfth-century A.D., the Arab writer, Ibn Taymiyyah, wrote a book called "Hisba". This book has details about accounting systems that were used by Muslims before the mid-seventh century A.D. Muslim accounting was influenced (changed) by Romans and Persians. In his book, Ibn Taymiyyah gives details of a complex governmental accounting system.

paragraphs: The "Res Gestae Divi Augusti" (Latin: "The Deeds of the Divine Augustus") is a remarkable account to the Roman people of the Emperor Augustus' stewardship. It listed and quantified his public expenditure, which encompassed distributions to the people, grants of land or money to army veterans, subsidies to the "aerarium" (treasury), building of temples, religious offerings, and expenditures on theatrical shows and gladiatorial games. It was not an account of state revenue and expenditure, but was designed to demonstrate Augustus' munificence. The significance of the "Res Gestae Divi Augusti" from an accounting perspective lies in the fact that it illustrates that the executive authority had access to detailed financial information, covering a period of some forty years, which was still retrievable after the event. The scope of the accounting information at the emperor's disposal suggests that its purpose encompassed planning and decision-making.

paragraphs: The Roman historians Suetonius and Cassius Dio record that in 23 BC, Augustus prepared a "rationarium" (account) which listed public revenues, the amounts of cash in the "aerarium" (treasury), in the provincial "fisci" (tax officials), and in the hands of the "publicani" (public contractors); and that it included the names of the freedmen and slaves from whom a detailed account could be obtained. The closeness of this information to the executive authority of the emperor is attested by Tacitus' statement that it was written out by Augustus himself.

paragraphs: Records of cash, commodities, and transactions were kept scrupulously by military personnel of the Roman army. An account of small cash sums received over a few days at the fort of Vindolanda circa 110 CE shows that the fort could compute revenues in cash on a daily basis, perhaps from sales of surplus supplies or goods manufactured in the camp, items dispensed to slaves such as "cervesa" (beer) and "clavi caligares" (nails for boots), as well as commodities bought by individual soldiers. The basic needs of the fort were met by a mixture of direct production, purchase and requisition; in one letter, a request for money to buy 5,000 "modii" (measures) of "braces" (a cereal used in brewing) shows that the fort bought provisions for a considerable number of people.

paragraphs: The Heroninos Archive is the name given to a huge collection of papyrus documents, mostly letters, but also including a fair number of accounts, which come from Roman Egypt in 3rd century CE. The bulk of the documents relate to the running of a large, private estate is named after Heroninos because he was "phrontistes" (Koine Greek: manager) of the estate which had a complex and standarised system of accounting which was followed by all its local farm managers. Each administrator on each sub-division of the estate drew up his own little accounts, for the day-to-day running of the estate, payment of the workforce, production of crops, the sale of produce, the use of animals, and general expenditure on the staff. This information was then summarized as pieces of papyrus scroll into one big yearly account for each particular sub—division of the estate. Entries were arranged by sector, with cash expenses and gains extrapolated from all the different sectors. Accounts of this kind gave the owner the opportunity to take better economic decisions because the information was purposefully selected and arranged.

paragraphs: Luca Pacioli (1445–1517), also known as Friar Luca dal Borgo, is said to be the "Father" of accountancy. He wrote a textbook in Latin called "Summa de arithmetica, geometrica, proportioni et proportionalita" ("Summa on arithmetic, geometry, proportions and proportionality", Venice 1494). This textbook was used in the abbaco schools in northern Italy. Sons of merchants and craftsmen were taught in these schools. This textbook was written about math. It has the first printed description of how merchants from Venice kept their accounts. Merchants from Venice used a system called the double-entry bookkeeping system.

paragraphs: Double-entry bookkeeping is where there is a debit and credit entry for every transaction.

paragraphs: Pacioli wrote down this system but he did not invent it, but he is still called the "Father of Accounting". The system he wrote had most of the accounting cycle as it is known today. He wrote about using journals and ledgers, and warned that a person should not go to sleep at night until the debits were the same as the credits. His ledger had accounts for assets (things that have value), liabilities (debts and loans that are to be paid to someone else), capital (money), income and expenses. He showed how to write year-end closing entries and suggested that a trial balance be used to prove that a ledger is balanced. His treatise (long essay) in the book also has info about other topics, such as accounting ethics and cost accounting.

paragraphs: The first book written in the English language on accounting was published in London, England by John Gouge in 1543.

paragraphs: In 1588 John Mellis from Southwark, England wrote a short book of instructions for keeping accounts.

paragraphs: There was another book written in 1635 that was described as "The Merchants Mirrour, or directions for the perfect ordering and keeping of his accounts formed by way of Debitor and Creditor". This book was written by Richard Dafforne, who was an accountant. This book has many references to books about accountancy that were written much earlier. One chapter of this book is titled "Opinion of Book-keeping's Antiquity". In this chapter the author says that, according to another author, the bookkeeping he wrote about was used two-hundred years earlier in Venice.

paragraphs: There were several editions of Richard Dafforne's book. The second edition was published in 1636. The third edition was published in 1656. Another edition was published in 1684. The book is very complete in how it describes scientific accountancy. It contains a lot of detail and explanation. The science that supports accountancy was liked by many people in the seventeenth century. This is supported by the fact that there were so many editions. Starting at this point in history, there have been many books written about accountancy. Many authors claim to be professional accountants and teachers of accountancy. Because of this, it shows that there were professional accountants who were employed in the seventeenth century.

paragraphs: A financial audit is where an internal audit and an external audit are done. For an external audit, an independent (unrelated) auditor takes a look at financial statements and accounting records. By looking at these records, the auditor can find out if these records are true, fair and follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). "Internal audit" tries to get info for management usage, and is done by employees.


title: Des Lynam

paragraphs: Desmond Michael Lynam (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish television and radio presenter. He was born in Ennis, County Clare, Republic of Ireland. He is best known for presenting the BBC's sport coverage such as "Grandstand".

paragraphs: Lynam also presented "Countdown" on Channel 4 from 2005-2006. He was replaced by Des O'Connor.


title: Carbonate

paragraphs: A carbonate is a chemical compound that has the carbonate ion, . This ion is made of carbon and oxygen. The name may also mean an ester of carbonic acid, an organic compound containing the carbonate group C(=O)(O–) of carbon and oxygen. They have a valency of 1.

paragraphs: When added to an acid, a carbonate will produce carbon dioxide, water and a chemical salt. Sedimentary rocks containing calcite and other carbonates are plentiful in the earth.


title: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

paragraphs: Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek (24 October 1632 – 30 August 1723; name pronounced 'Layvenhook') was a Dutch tradesman and scientist from Delft, Netherlands. He is best known for his work to improve the microscope.

paragraphs: Using his handcrafted microscopes, he was the first to see and describe single celled organisms, which he originally referred to as "animalcules", and which we now refer to as microorganisms. He was also the first to record microscopic observations of muscle fibers, bacteria, spermatozoa and blood flow in small blood vessels. Van Leeuwenhoek did not write books, but sent letters to the Royal Society in London. The letters were published in the Royal Society's journal "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society".

paragraphs: In his youth van Leeuwenhoek was apprenticed to a draper. Later, a civil service position allowed him to give time to his hobby: grinding lenses and using them to study tiny objects. His simple microscopes were skillfully ground, powerful single lenses capable of high image quality. He looked at protozoa in rainwater, pond water and well water. He also looked at bacteria in the human mouth and intestine. In 1677, he first described the spermatozoa of insects, dogs, and humans.

paragraphs: His observations laid the foundations for the sciences of bacteriology and protozoology. He was the first to see bacteria, protists, spermatozoa, the cell vacuole, blood corpuscles, capillaries, and the structure of muscles and nerves.


title: Barbie

paragraphs: Barbie is a fashion doll best known as a toy doll. Starting as just a doll, Barbie became a brand. It is most common in the United States. It is named after a girl named Barbara, who was the toy maker's daughter. Though the brand is most famous for the doll, other merchandise has been created with the Barbie name such as games, movies, videos, clothing, accessories, and books. The clothes and fashion accessories allow girls a taste of high fashion.

paragraphs: Throughout the decades, Barbie has reflected and encouraged feminine growth in the workplace in the United States. She has been a miniature model of women worldwide. The doll has been criticized for causing self-image complexes, yet other companies continue to produce similar dolls. "The Barbie doll is the biggest selling toy in the history of proprietary toy manufacturing." On average, 172,000 dolls are sold by Mattel each day.

paragraphs: Ruth Handler was the creator of Barbie. Her parents were Polish Jewish immigrants. She was the tenth child. Her husband, Elliot Handler was the founder of Mattel in 1945, which is the largest toy company in the world. She originally wanted to name the doll "Barbara", after her daughter, or "Babs" after her daughter's nickname. However, both those names were copyrighted.

paragraphs: Barbie was first released on March 9, 1959 at a toy fair in New York after seven years of battling disagreements. At the time, Mattel was the third largest toy company in the United States. Ruth's display of Barbie was housed at the New Yorker Hotel in a hotel room, since so many businesses brought their toys to put on display. She had to halt the projected production that she assumed she would acquire in business orders at the fair. It was a disappointing day for Ruth and Barbie. In March 1959, Barbie debuted as a teen fashion model on television with more positive response leading the way for the dolls popularity rise.

paragraphs: A blonde Barbie from this decade in mint condition has an appraisal price listing of five thousand-$5,250. The brunette Barbie that was made at the same time is worth $1,000 more than the blonde.

paragraphs: In the 1960s Barbie's friends joined the line up of fashion dolls. Ken was her boyfriend and came to be in 1962. The Ken doll got his name from Ruth's son. Midge was her friend who was a redhead meeting the toy marketplace in 1963, a year after Ken. Allen was Ken's friend. Skipper was her little sister that was produced in 1964. Tutti and Todd were her twin siblings were introduced in 1966. Francie was her adult cousin. In 1967, Francie was changed into the first black Barbie doll causing consumers to believe it reflected the support of interracial marriages. Since this was during Civil Rights' time, she was not very successful. Twelve months later Mattel introduced Christie, the second black Barbie, who was much more accepted. Cara and Julia were also produced as Barbie's black friends. The roles of Barbie evolved as equality for women's rights progressed. The doll started in the 1960s portraying stereotypical female positions like teacher, stewardess, nurse, etc. A series of novels were also written introducing Barbie and her birthplace in the 60's. Bendable legs and swivel hips were introduced on Barbie in 1965. Jack Ryan created them.

paragraphs: Hairstyles of the Barbie's in the 1960s were typically the classic bubble-cut hairstyle of the era taken from the First Lady of the early 60's Jackie Kennedy. The Barbie that is worth the most from this decade according to "Schroeder's Collectible Toys" is Color Magic Barbie made in 1967. Her hair and costume changes color. If it is complete with its cardboard box, it is worth $4,000.

paragraphs: Children could purchase the new bendable Barbie's at a discounted rate if they wanted to trade in the old style in the 1970s. Christie's black boyfriend, Brad was introduced in 1970.

paragraphs: Barbie's facial features were changed in 1971 from eyes cutting from the side and smile without teeth to eyes forward and a wide smile exposing teeth. This change occurred to keep current with the times representing a "forward-thinking peace-and-love generation."

paragraphs: The first doctor Barbie appeared in 1973. Cara's boyfriend Brad reached the toy market in 1975. The flip hairstyle was a popular way for Barbie's hair to be styled in the 70's. The Sears' exclusive Dramatic New Living Skipper Very Best Velvet Barbie made in 1970-71 has the highest list price for the decade in "Schroeder's Collectible Toys" at $1,500.00.

paragraphs: Hispanic and black Barbies were no longer featured as friends of Barbie's in the 1980s. They had reached the Barbie title in their own right. Magic Curl Barbie made its debut in 1982 feauting both black and white races. The first Asian doll produced representing Hong Kong in 1981 came from a mold with a rounder face and almond shaped eyes. A Japanese Barbie hit the market in 1985 as one of the first other nationalities offered with the collection of International Dolls of the World Barbies following its release. Barbie was made into a pilot in 1989. The doll could be viewed as opening the door for female acceptance in otherwise male dominant careers paving the way with astronaut Barbie debuting eighteen years prior to Sally Ride's first female in space endeavor. The 1980s also began the Holiday Barbie collection. The first one was produced in 1988 and its listed value is $325, which is $700 less than what it was worth in the 1990s.

paragraphs: Shani, Asha, and Nichelle were produced to offer greater skin tone and facial feature selection to represent blacks more accurately in 1991.A hit single produced by the band Aqua entitled "Barbie Girl" climbed charts worldwide in 1997. Also in 1997, Puerto Rican Barbie debuted. Barbie's body measurements changed in 1998 due to consumer demand. Her breasts and hips were reduced and waist was widened. Race car driving NASCAR Barbie hit toy store shelves in 1998 and 1999 foreshadowing the first female race car driver Danica Patrick. Barbie was flashy and wore bright colors in the 90's. 1994's Barbie Snow Princess worth $1100 is the highest listed of the decade in "Schroeder's Collectible Toys".

paragraphs: Ruth had died, and could not dip Barbie's hand and footprints in her concrete slab on Hollywood Boulevard in 2002. Instead, Barbara, her daughter for whom the doll was named, did the honors inducting the doll to superstar status. In 2006 a movie, "The Tribe" used Barbie to connect with being Jewish in America. In 2008, Barbie was transformed into a representation of African culture for the hundredth anniversary of the first African American sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. 2009 brought about changes to the black Barbie adding fuller lips and altered facial features at the request of consumer complaints. Tricelle was given more textured and curlier hair. Chataine Barbie made in 2003 is worth $425 according to "Schroeder's".

paragraphs: Some people believe Barbie gives girls a wrong idea of what they will look like when they grow up. They think the introduction of the doll was wrong because it made young girls believe they had to become skinny in order to be just like Barbie. As in earlier dolls, her head is disproportionately large. Unlike those, her breasts are large and her waist and feet are disproportionately small;. If her doll size proportions were converted into life size body measurements (breast size, waist size, hip size) only 1 in 100,000 women would match them, at least without plastic surgery. Someone shaped like Barbie would suffer back problems due to her breast size. She would be unable to support her weight on her tiny feet and could not walk.

paragraphs: The doll has been blamed for eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia. She is not supposed to be taken as a literal interpretation of a teenage girl. Barbie was not built to give girls an inferior complex when comparing themselves to the doll. She was built to be a longer lasting alternative to the easily torn paper dolls for hours of enjoyment reinacting life scenes through a child's creativity and imagination. Barbie is a teen doll, which gives little girls a peek at what might happen in their teen life. This was thought to be bad, because Barbie has lots of boyfriends.

paragraphs: Ruth Handler, Barbie's creator, has been blamed for taking the Barbie doll design from a doll made in Germany in 1955, the Lilli doll that was sold mainly at tobacco shops, for men. Lilli was originally a cartoon character in a tabloid newspaper in Germany created by Reinhard Beuthein in 1952. O.M. Hausser/Elastolin Company had Max Weissbrodt, a doll maker of theirs get a patent for Lilli's limb design. Ruth is rumored to have purchased a few of the dolls while in Switzerland with her family.

paragraphs: The Barbie doll has been in competition with other toy companies' doll designs. Ideal Toy and Novelty Company began making Tammy in 1962, American Character Doll Company challenged Barbie's sales in 1963 with Tressy, and Remco started producing the Littlechap Family in 1964. However, none had the popularity of Barbie. At the time of production, Tammy gave Barbie creators a financial scare. She was based on a movie character played by Debbie Reynolds. Instead of being surrounded with friends and boyfriends, the doll came with a mother and father, which might be why her popularity never surpassed Barbie's.

paragraphs: Barbie is a very big trend. She has had many sisters, boyfriends, and friends. She has "dream houses" and clothes. She has many jobs from teacher to doctor to astronaut. There have been many other dolls like Barbie since Barbie was first produced. Barbie also created MyScene dolls, a spoof of Bratz. The fact is the creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler, fought sexism and overcame her domesticated gender role to accomplish her goals in the business arena as a female by producing the world famous Barbie doll.


title: Parmesan cheese

paragraphs: Parmesan cheese is the name of an Italian extra-hard cheese made of cow's milk. The original Parmesan cheese is more precisely called Parmigiano-Reggiano. It is produced only in Italy, in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Mantua (partly)and Bologna (partly). It is usually the cheese to go with Spaghetti and other typical Italian pasta, but it also has many other uses. Parmesan is a part of Italian national cuisine and it can be consumed both grated and in slivers. It is hard, sharp and dry.

paragraphs: Parmigiano-Reggiano is DOP / AOC. This means that the way they are made and the region in Italy they come from are strictly regulated.

paragraphs: The brand (Parmigiano Reggiano) is protected, and only in Europe. In many parts of the world, cheese is sold as "Parmesan cheese" that has nothing to do with the true (Italian) Parmigiano Reggiano. Paradoxically, the biggest producers of such cheeses are the United States and Argentina.

paragraphs: The original Parmesan cheese is one of the most expensive cheeses in the world.

paragraphs: Very often, people who talk about "Parmesan cheese" do not mean Parmigiano Reggiano. They mean other cheeses, which are similar: They are hard grating cheeses made from cow's millk. They are generally pale yellow in color, and usually used grated on dishes like spaghetti, Caesar salad, and pizza. American generic parmesan is frequently sold already grated.

paragraphs: Within the European Union, the term "Parmesan" may only be used, by law, to refer to Parmigiano-Reggiano itself, which must be made in a restricted geographic area, using stringently defined methods. In many areas outside Europe, the name "Parmesan" has become genericized: Any one of a number of hard Italian-style grating cheeses are called 'Patmesan'. After the European ruling that "parmesan" could not be used as a generic name, Kraft renamed its grated cheese "Pamesello" in Europe.

paragraphs: One kind of cheese, which is very similar, but produced in another region in Italy, is Grana Padano. Grana Padano is produced in Lombardy,


title: Franz Liszt

paragraphs: Franz Liszt (born Raiding, nr. Sopron, October 22, 1811; died Bayreuth, July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian composer and pianist. Liszt (pronounced like “list”) was one of the most important musicians of the 19th century. He was the greatest pianist of his time and went on lots of tours through Europe where everyone filled the concert halls to hear him. He wrote a lot of music for piano. Many of his piano pieces were harder to play than anything that had been written before. In this way he developed the technique of piano playing, setting new standards for the future. In his compositions he often used new ideas which sounded very modern in his time. He was very helpful to other composers who lived at that time, helping them to become better known by conducting their works and playing some of their orchestral pieces on the piano.

paragraphs: Liszt’s father was an official who worked for Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, the same noble family who employed the composer Joseph Haydn. When he was seven his father started to teach him the piano. He was a child prodigy, and within a year or two he was already playing in concerts. He was so promising that some rich Hungarians said they would pay for his music education.

paragraphs: In 1821 his family moved to Vienna. He had piano lessons from Czerny and composition lessons from Salieri. He soon became famous although he was still a young boy, and he met famous musicians like Beethoven and Schubert. Beethoven is supposed to have kissed him on the forehead.

paragraphs: In 1823 his family moved again, this time to Paris. He wanted to go to the Conservatoire to study music but Luigi Cherubini would not let him in because he was a foreigner (i.e. not French). So he studied music theory privately with Reicha and composition with Paer. Soon he was asked to play the piano everywhere in Paris. He travelled to London. On his second visit there in 1825 he played to King George IV at Windsor.

paragraphs: Liszt continued to travel to other countries. After his father died he became a piano teacher in Paris. He fell in love with one of his pupils. It was the first of many love affairs he had with various women. He read a lot of books to try to educate himself properly. He met Berlioz and he liked the music of Berlioz very much. In 1831 he met the violinist Niccolò Paganini and he was amazed by his virtuoso playing. Liszt was to do for the piano what Paganini had done for the violin. Both men were drawn by cartoonists as devilish characters. Both men wrote music which was incredibly hard for their instruments.

paragraphs: Soon Liszt met a Countess called Marie d’Agoult. He began to have an affair with her. The Countess left her husband and went to live with Liszt in Geneva. They lived together for several years and had three children. When Liszt gave away a lot of his money to help pay for a monument to Beethoven in Bonn he had to earn money by going on tours again, so the countess left him. He still saw her and the children every summer for a few years but finally they separated completely.

paragraphs: Liszt spent eight years in Rome. He wrote a lot of religious music and took orders in the Catholic church. His daughter Cosima, who had married a famous conductor Hans von Bülow, left her husband and lived with Wagner. They had two children together. Liszt and Wagner quarrelled for many years about this.

paragraphs: Liszt spent most of his last years travelling to and fro between three cities: Rome, Weimar and Budapest. He called this his “vie trifurquée” (three-forked life). He died in Bayreuth July 31, 1886.

paragraphs: Liszt had a very strong personality which affected everyone he met. When he played the piano at concerts he was a great showman. People drew caricatures of him playing the piano with his wild mop of hair. He could be very polite and knew how to get on with the aristocracy. He could be very generous, giving both money and time to other musicians and giving praise where it was deserved. He was a powerful, unique character and one of the most important romantic composers of his day. He is known for his dazzling virtuostic piano displays best.

paragraphs: Most of Liszt’s compositions were for piano. He wrote one piano sonata. It is in B minor. Its form is very different from the sonatas of composers like Beethoven. It is a very Romantic work, but it does not tell a story like a lot of Romantic pieces do. Mostly his piano works are shorter pieces which are quite free in form. He often took a theme and transforms it (changes it gradually). He wrote studies which are much more than just pieces to improve one’s piano technique. One collection is called "Transcendental Studies". In Switzerland he wrote "Années de pèlerinage" (Years of Wandering), a collection of pieces to which he gave titles later. Liszt explored all the possible sounds that the piano could make (it was still a fairly new instrument). Sometimes he made it sound like an orchestra. Some of his last piano works are much simpler to play, although the chords would have sounded very modern for his time. They are like the Impressionistic music of Debussy.

paragraphs: Not all Liszt’s piano pieces were original compositions: he also made arrangements or transcriptions. It seems a strange idea to us now to take someone else’s symphony and arrange it for piano. This is what Liszt often did. He took symphonies by Beethoven or songs by Schubert and changed them so that they could be played on the piano. Many people did not have the opportunity to hear concerts very often, and they certainly did not have radios or CDs, so Liszt was making these works more famous, helping them to reach a wider audience. He often made difficult transcriptions which meant that he changed the pieces and added ornamental notes, making a new piece out of an old one.

paragraphs: Liszt’s orchestral music is also very important. He wrote symphonic poems: pieces which tell a story or describe something. The best known one is called "Les préludes". He also wrote two piano concertos.

paragraphs: He wrote a lot of church music. Church music was often quite sentimental in those days, but Liszt tried to make his works help people to feel religious devotion.

paragraphs: In many ways Liszt was typical of the Romantic artist. He was always looking for a spiritual meaning to life. He carried a walking stick with the heads of St Francis of Assisi and Gretchen and Mephistopheles, characters from Goethe’s Faust. He was a 19th-century musician but through his thinking and his music he looked forward to the 20th century.

paragraphs: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (1980)


title: Fandom (website)

paragraphs: Fandom (previously known as Wikia and before that, Wikicities) is an organization for making websites that are wikis. Wikia was started in 2004 by Jimmy Wales, who also started Wikipedia, and Angela Beesley. The name of Wikicities was changed to Wikia on March 27, 2006 to prevent other people from mistaking it for a wiki on cities, and then renamed again on October 4th, 2016 to Fandom for an unknown reason. At the time, it was called "Fandom powered by Wikia" until June 2018. Since October 2018, most of the URLs have changed from x.wikia.com to x.fandom.com this does not include wikis based on serious topics which instead changed to x.wikia.org.

paragraphs: Wikis hosted on Fandom are about something which many people will like. All content on Fandom is released under a free license, such as the GNU Free Documentation License or the Creative Commons. Anybody can change pages on wikis at Fandom, so that no single person "owns" or is "the boss" of a wiki, and so that large communities can be made. The software used is MediaWiki.

paragraphs: Fandom uses advertisements to generate money.

paragraphs: Articles on Fandom are often written in more "in-universe" style; meaning that fictional characters and plots are written as if they are real. Some projects on Fandom are more for people who are very interested in the topic.

paragraphs: In August 2010, they said that a new look was coming, making some people take their wikis off the service.


title: Mozzarella

paragraphs: Mozzarella is a kind of fresh cheese. Originally, it was Italian but now it can be found all over the world. Its made of the milk of cows or of water buffalos. A cheese produced in a similar way, but with sheep's milk is common in Sardinia, Abruzzo and Lazio. It is sometimes called mozzapecora. Mozarella of goats' milk can also be found. Its development is more recent, though. The main reason it is produced is that goats' milk is easier to digest than that of cows or buffalos.

paragraphs: Mozzarella is common in Italian cuisine. It is used on Pizza, but other recipes exist as well (for example, with sliced tomatoes and a little vinegar).

paragraphs: Mozarella can be kept in the fridge for a few days, if its covered in brine.


title: Limburger cheese

paragraphs: Limburger cheese is a cheese made from cows' milk. Its name comes from the Duchy of Limburg, which is divided between Holland, Belgium and Germany today. Limburger cheese is known for its strong smell, which is caused by the bacterium that lives in its rind. Since about the mid nineteenth century, most Limburger is produced in Germany.

paragraphs: There are many jokes about Limburger and its odor. In 2006 a study showing that the malaria mosquito ("Anopheles gambiae") is attracted equally to the smell of Limburger and to the smell of human feet earned the Ig Nobel Prize in the area of biology. This Cheese has now been placed in strategic locations in Africa to fight against malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes.


title: MyScene

paragraphs: MyScene is a type of doll created by the Mattel Toy Company. They share the product name of Barbie, but they have differences with the head shapes. The line was supposedly started as a rival to the popular Bratz dolls.

paragraphs: The My Scene characters have starred in three DVD movies:


title: Bora Bora

paragraphs: Bora Bora is a small island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. Vaitape is the largest city on the island with 4,000 people. There is an airport on an islet where residents can fly to other islands in French Polynesia.

paragraphs: Bora Bora has one main road which runs around the island.


title: Appalachian Mountains

paragraphs: The Appalachian Mountains (French: les Appalaches) are a large group of North American mountains. They are partly in Canada, but mostly in the United States. They form an area from 100 to 300 miles wide, running 1,500 miles from the island of Newfoundland in Canada to central Alabama in the United States.

paragraphs: The individual mountains average around 3,000 ft (900 m) in height. The highest is Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina (6,684 ft or 2,037m). Mt. Mitchell is also the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River as well as the highest point in eastern North America.

paragraphs: The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east-west travel. Ridgelines and valleys run north-south and travelers must climb them again and again. Only a few mountain passes run east-west. The Erie Canal was built through one of them. In most places the Appalachians are the watershed between the drainage basins of the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean.

paragraphs: The term Appalachia is used to refer to regions associated with the mountain range. It refers to the mountain range and the hills and plateau region around it. The term is often used to refer to areas in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains. These areas usually include all of West Virginia and parts of the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina, and sometimes extending as far south as northern Georgia and western South Carolina, as far north as Pennsylvania, and as far west as southeastern Ohio. In 1965 the United States Congress created an Appalachian Regional Commission to include these areas and more, as far west as Mississippi.

paragraphs: The Appalachians today are the worn-down remains of a once huge mountain chain. They first formed about 480 million years ago during the Ordovician. They once were as high as the Alps and the Rocky Mountains.

paragraphs: The birth of the Appalachian ranges, some 480 million years ago (mya), was the first of several mountain-building plate collisions as the supercontinent Pangaea formed. The Appalachians were at the center of the newly formed Pangaea. North America and Africa were connected, and the Appalachians were part of the same mountain chain as the "Anti-Atlas" or Little Atlas Mountains in Morocco. This mountain range, known as the Central Pangean Mountains, extended into Scotland, from the North America/Europe collision (see Caledonian orogeny).


title: Raven-Symoné

paragraphs: Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman (born December 10, 1985) is an American actress and singer. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She moved to Ossining, New York at age three. She played the role of "Olivia" in the last three seasons of "The Cosby Show" (1984).

paragraphs: Pearman is most well known as the person Raven in the TV show "That's So Raven" and other parts in "The Cheetah Girls" and "The Cheetah Girls 2". Pearman goes by the name Raven for most of her acting.

paragraphs: In August 2013 Raven-Symoné commented on legalizing gay marriage, "I was excited to hear today that more states legalized gay marriage. I, however am not currently getting married, but it is great to know I can now, should I wish to". She was dating AzMarie Livingston since 2012, and in October 2015, she announced that she had broken up with her.


title: Arabian horse

paragraphs: The Arabian horse is a breed famous for beauty and stamina. It is one of the oldest horse breeds in the world. Arabian horses are bred with horses of other breeds to add speed, beauty, endurance, and strong bones. Today, Arabian ancestors are found in almost every breed of riding horse.

paragraphs: The Arabian horse developed in the deserts of Arabia by the Bedouin people. People sometimes brought their horses into family tent for shelter and protection. This close relationship with humans made the Arabian a horse with a kind temper and quick to learn. It also was used as a war horse. This meant that it needed speed and to be very alert. This blend of traits makes it necessary for people today to treat Arabian horses with kindness and respect.

paragraphs: Arabian horses have triangle-shaped heads, a wide forehead, big eyes, large nostrils, and small muzzles (noses). Most have a concave or "dished" profile. They have a slim, arched neck, smooth hindquarters and a naturally high-carried tail. Arabians have strong bone and good feet. They are especially noted for their excellent endurance. Arabians' hair coat colors are bay, gray, chestnut, and black. Arabians can have robicono and/or sabino genes. All Arabians have black skin under their hair coat, except under white markings.

paragraphs: The Bedouin sold many Arabian horses to people from Europe. Other Arabian horses were captured in war and taken to other countries outside of the Middle East. Today, Arabian horses are found all over the world. Arabian horse families are now labeled by where their most recent ancestors were bred, such as "Polish," "Spanish," "Crabbet" (from England), "Russian," "Egyptian", and "Domestic" (in the United States). For example, a horse called a "Polish Arabian" is an Arabian horse who has recent ancestors that were bred at farms in Poland, from horses the Polish people bought from the Bedouin in Arabia many centuries ago.

paragraphs: Arabians compete in many places, including horse racing, horse shows, Endurance riding, show jumping, and more. They also make good pleasure, trail, and working ranch horses for people who do not like competitive events. Arabians also are seen in movies, parades, circuses and other places where horses are used.

paragraphs: There are many legends and myths about Arabian horses. One legend says that the prophet Muhammad selected his five finest mares (female horses), called "Al Khamsa" ("the five") to be the foundation of the Arabian breed. Another legend says the Queen of Sheba gave an Arabian mare to King Solomon, and that is how the breed began. Yet another story says Allah made the Arabian horse from the south wind, saying, "I create thee, Oh Arabian...I give thee flight without wings."

paragraphs: In real history, Arabians are one of the oldest human-developed horse breeds in the world. Pictures of "Proto-Arabian" horses that looked a lot like modern Arabian horses were painted on rocks in the Arabian Peninsula as far back as 2,500 B.C. The ancestors of the Bedouin probably tamed horses not long after they tamed the camel. A horse skeleton was unearthed in the Sinai peninsula, dated to 1700 B.C., and is considered the earliest proof of the horse in Ancient Egypt. It was probably brought by the Hyksos invaders. This horse had a wedge-shaped head, large eye and small muzzle, just like the Arabian horse today.

paragraphs: In the desert, humans were the only source of food and water for the Arabian horse. Where there was no pasture, the Bedouin fed their horses dates, a fruit of the date palm tree, and camel's milk. Arabians needed to live on very little food, and survive a dry climate that was very hot in the day but very cold at night. Weak horses did not live, and the horses who survived the desert also had to survive being ridden for war. Therefore, the Arabian horse became very tough and able to live in a harsh world.

paragraphs: Napoleon rode a gray Arabian stallion named Marengo. George Washington rode a half-Arabian named Blueskin during the American Revolution. A fictional horse, "The Black Stallion," was played by a real Arabian stallion named Cass Ole in the movie that was based on the book by Walter Farley.

paragraphs: In 1864 the Sultan Abdulaziz, founded a new Horse stud with Arabian horses and sent a commission to purchase in Bialocerkiew, the stud of Count Branicki in Poland, whose breeding have a very good reputation. The Commission purchased 92 horses, including some descendants of the 1855 stallion Indjanin imported from England.