title: Vending machine

paragraphs: A Vending machine is an automatic machine that sells food or drink or other items. Vending machine foods include snacks such as potato chips, chocolate bars, and candy. Hot vending machine drinks include coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Cold vending machine drinks include juice, bottled water, soft drinks. Other merchandise includes newspapers or cigarettes. Vending machines in bathrooms sometimes sell condoms, mouthwash, or toothpaste and toothbrushes.

paragraphs: The machines usually work, when some money (usually coins or paper money) is put in a slot. Then, a button needs to be pushed, or a lever pulled. If there is enough money, the selected item will be dropped to a tray, where it can be taken out by the person making the purchase. Ticket vending machines will print the ticket. Older vending machines were all mechanical, but most newer ones are partly electronic. Many modern vending machines can accept debit or credit cards in addition to cash.


title: Bar (business)

paragraphs: A bar is a building or business where alcoholic drinks (such as beer, wine, or liquor) are served. Bars are also found in pubs and nightclubs. They may also serve snack food. In most countries, bars are regulated and licenced by the regional or local governments, which establish laws regarding the opening hours and serving policies. In Canada and the United States, a liquor tax is placed on the sales of alcoholic beverages.

paragraphs: Drink coasters are used in bars and restaurants to protect the table surface from alcohol.


title: Cape Horn

paragraphs: Cape Horn (; ) is a cape. It was named for the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands. It is the southernmost land area of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile. Many people see Cape Horn as the southern tip of South America. Cape Horn is the most southerly of the great capes. The Drake Passage is directly to the south of it. For many years, it was a major milestone on the clipper route by which sailing ships carried trade around the world. The waters around the cape are very dangerous because of strong winds, large waves, and icebergs. These reasons have made it notorious as a sailors' graveyard.

paragraphs: Today, the Panama Canal has greatly reduced the need for cargo ships to travel via the Horn. However, sailing around the Horn is widely regarded as one of the major challenges in yachting, and a number of recreational sailors continue to sail this route, sometimes as part of a circumnavigation of the globe. Several prominent ocean yacht races, notably the Vendée Globe, sail around the world via the Horn, and speed records for round-the-world sailing follow the same route.


title: Iceberg

paragraphs: An iceberg is a large piece of ice floating in the sea. They are generally found in cold water near the North or South Pole. Icebergs are especially common during spring, when ice has begun to melt. About 90% of an iceberg is below the water line and ten percent above. Just by looking at the part you can see, it is hard to tell how the part underwater looks, and how close you can get before crashing into it.

paragraphs: Icebergs break off from larger structures made of ice, like glaciers or ice shelves. These are formed by snowfall in very cold places where it will not melt in the summer. The snow builds up and compacts into ice. This is gradually pulled downhill by gravity and into the sea. The ice then falls off and makes icebergs. The icebergs can drift in the sea for years before they have melted completely.

paragraphs: The first person to give a correct scientific explanation of this phenomenon was Mikhail Lomonosov, around 1750. The density of ice is about 0.92 kg per liter, that of sea water is about 1.025 kg per liter. For this reason, 920 parts of the 1025, or about 90 percent, of the iceberg's volume need to be below the water line. Lomonosov grew up on the shore of the White Sea in the European part of Russia. He studied in Marburg, and is credited with introducing the word "iceberg" into the Russian language.

paragraphs: Icebergs are very dangerous to ships, and many ships have sunk after crashing into icebergs. The most famous one was RMS "Titanic" in 1912.

paragraphs: The largest iceberg people know about was called B-15. It broke off from the Antarctic ice shelf in the year 2000, and was as large as the island of Jamaica (over 10,000 km). It soon started to break up into smaller pieces, some of which still remain in 2008.

paragraphs: Icebergs are affected by global warming.


title: Circumnavigation

paragraphs: Circumnavigation originally meant going around something, by ship. Usually, it means people going around the world. The first known circumnavigation was done by Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan), from 1519 to 1522. Magellan took five ships and went west, from Spain. He discovered a waterway which is now named after him, the Strait of Magellan. Magellan died in a fight with natives on the Philippine island Mactan in April 1521. The voyage was completed under command of Juan Sebastián Elcano. Elcano returned to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the voyage had started, with 18 survivors and valuable cargo in 1522. This proved that the earth was a globe.


title: Thought experiment

paragraphs: A thought experiment is an experiment that takes place in the mind of a scientist. Unlike with a real-life experiment where change is actually seen and perhaps measured, thought experiments are done just to show a special way of thinking. Anyone can do a thought experiment. All you need is your mind because all the steps take place in your mind.

paragraphs: The usual goal of a thought experiment is to explore the consequences of the principle in question. Like so: "if this were true, what would follow from it?"

paragraphs: Thought experiments are notable in the history of science. Hans Christian Ørsted was the first to use the German term ' (means 'thought experiment') about 1812.

paragraphs: Posing hypothetical questions had been done for long time (by scientists and philosophers). However, people had no way of talking about it.


title: Breaking Benjamin

paragraphs: Breaking Benjamin is a hard rock band from Pennsylvania. The band is best known for their songs "Polyamorous", "So Cold", "Sooner or Later," "The Diary of Jane," and "Breath." The band was formed in 1998 by lead vocalist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel. The band has released five albums: ""Saturate""(2002), ""We Are Not Alone""(2004), ""Phobia""(2006), ""Dear Agony""(2009), ""Dark Before Dawn""(2015) and Ember (2018)

paragraphs: The band's album ""Dark Before Dawn"" was released on June 23rd, 2015.

paragraphs: This album has made 5 singles which are ""Failure"", ""Angels Fall"", ""Ashes of Eden"" ""Defeated"" and ""Never Again""


title: Headlands and bays

paragraphs: A headland is an area of land that is surrounded by water on three sides. Very often, the land areas are called "cape"s. A bay is an area of water. It is surrounded by land on three sides. The water areas are also called "gulf"s.

paragraphs: A bay is a large body of water in the land next to a sea or lake between two headlands. The waves coming to the shore in a bay are usually constructive waves, and because of this, many of them have a beach. A bay may be metres across, or it could be hundreds of kilometres across. A bay often contains beaches.

paragraphs: Bays form where weak rocks, such as sands and clays, are eroded, leaving bands of stronger rocks, such as chalk, limestone, or granite, forming a headland, or peninsula. Headlands and bays are formed when there are parallel sections of softer and harder rock perpendicular to the coast. The sea erodes the softer rock faster than the harder rock, forming a bay. The harder rock that is left protruding into the sea is the headland.

paragraphs: They also can be made by people mining off the coast.


title: Drake Passage

paragraphs: The Drake passage is a body of water. It lies between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. To the north is Cape Horn and the South American continent, to the south are the South Shetland Islands, now part of the British Antarctic Territory. It is part of the Southern Ocean. It is named after the English privateer Sir Francis Drake, who accidentally discovered it. He never sailed the passage, because sailing the Strait of Magellan was less dangerous.

paragraphs: The Drake passage is also the shortest route from Antarctica to the rest of the world. The only islands in the passage are the Diego Ramirez Islands, about 60 km south of Cape Horn.

paragraphs: The passage is also known for very rough seas. Waves of 10 m are not uncommon here.

paragraphs: The passage is also good for seeing Whales, Dolphins, seabirds, and penguins.

paragraphs: In old books, the passage is called Drake Strait.


title: Glacier

paragraphs: A glacier is a large body of ice and snow. It forms because the snow in an area does not all melt in summer. Each winter, more snow is added. The weight of all the snow creates pressure. This pressure turns the lower parts of the snow into ice. After this happens for many years, the glacier will start growing large. It becomes so heavy that gravity causes the ice to move. It flows downwards like water but very slowly. A glacier only moves about per year. New snowfalls replace the parts that flow away.

paragraphs: Glaciers are the largest sources fresh water on Earth. The largest bodies of salt water are the Oceans

paragraphs: Glaciers will only form in places that are cold enough and get enough snow over time. This can take a long time. It often takes tens or hundreds of years for a glacier to form. There are two kinds of glaciers: "continental glaciers" and "alpine glaciers". Alpine glaciers are also called "mountain glaciers".

paragraphs: Glaciers are very important. They have a large effect on the environment. They do this because they are very large and heavy. When they move, they erode mountains and land. Also, since they froze long ago, snow crystals and air bubbles inside are kept in good condition. These can provide a large amount of information for scientists. Recently glaciers have been melting more than they did in the past. Many scientists think this is happening because global warming is changing the climate.

paragraphs: Glaciers are blue in color. This is because water is very good at absorbing light. Only the strongest light, with the most energy, is able to escape. Blue is the color of light that has the most energy. Because of this, blue is the only color of light that can escape without being absorbed. The thicker the glacier is, the more blue it appears.


title: Sight-reading

paragraphs: Sight-reading (or sight-singing for singers) is the ability to play music that one has never seen before. It is important to be able to read music well in order to sight-read.

paragraphs: Many people who learn to play an instrument will take examinations from time to time. One of the tests that is usually required for an examination is some sight-reading.

paragraphs: People who find it hard to read music will find it hard to sight-read. The best way to improve is by regular practice. People who play in orchestras will need to be good sight-readers because they often have to play music that they have never seen or heard before.

paragraphs: People who learn the piano often find sight-reading hard because they have to read two staves at once (one for each hand). Playing through lots of easy music is a good way to improve. Playing piano duets with a friend is also great fun.

paragraphs: When someone is reading aloud their eyes are looking several words ahead of the word they are speaking. In the same way a good sight-reader will try to look ahead of the notes he is playing. The player is "anticipating" (thinking about what is going to happen next). In this way he can try to make the music expressive, even if it means leaving out some of the notes.

paragraphs: A good sight-reader will be able to see the printed music and imagine what the notes should sound like. In this way he will not need to keep looking at his fingers to check whether he is playing the correct notes.

paragraphs: Some pianists are very good at sight-reading. The pianist John Ogdon was able to read extremely difficult modern music at first sight.


title: Child prodigy

paragraphs: A child prodigy is a child who is very smart at an early age. They can do things that average people can only do when they are adults. Child prodigies are often musicians or mathematicians. A child prodigy does not always grow up to be a world-famous genius. Some of them lose their exceptional gifts in adulthood.


title: Puerto Rican

paragraphs: A Puerto Rican is a person from Puerto Rico or anyone who is descended from some one who was originally from Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans are American citizens, even though Puerto Rico is only a territory of the United States and not an official state. People from Puerto Rico can also be known as a "Boricua," "Borinquen," "Puertoriqueño," or the most known slang of "Boricua."

paragraphs: The name of "Boricua," and "Borinqueños" came from the islands original name of "Boriken", meaning "Land of the Brave People". This name was created by the Taino-Arawak people, who were highly advanced. Taino-Arawak ancestors date back to 4,000 B.C.


title: Toothbrush

paragraphs: The toothbrush is a tool to clean teeth. The toothbrush has a small brush at the end of a handle. Toothpaste, which often contains fluoride, is commonly added to a toothbrush to help clean the teeth. Both toothpaste and toothbrushes come in many different colours. Toothpastes can also come in many different flavours. Nice toothbrushes (especially electrical) can make toothbrushing fun and help your child on the way to perfect oral health.

paragraphs: Toothbrushes were first invented by a prisoner. Before anyone had thought of a toothbrush, people kept their teeth clean by chewing on a stick until one end got soft and frayed like a brush. Sometimes they dipped a finger in chalk or salt and then rubbed their teeth. Toothpicks were another way to take care of teeth, and toothpicks were very fancy then. They were made of gold or jewels, and people would stick them in their hats or hang them on necklaces when they were not using them.

paragraphs: The first brushes came from China, where the Chinese made them out of hairs pulled from the back of wild hogs. The kind of toothbrush we know came from William Addis. He worked on the toothbrush while he was in jail. First, he saved a bone from one of his meals and poked some holes in it. The prison guard gave him some bristles. Joseph tied the bristles into little bundles, cut them to make them even, put glue on the ends, and stuffed them into the holes. The company he started still make millions of toothbrushes every year.

paragraphs: The word toothbrush came from the two parts of the word, first a noun and then a verb or noun. The action of brushing teeth with a toothbrush is basically the use of the invention of Joseph Addis.


title: Homeostasis

paragraphs: Homeostasis is self-regulation, a basic property of all self-organising systems. In biology, it is the keeping of a stable internal environment.

paragraphs: Homeostasis is life's ability to stay balanced, when the environment changes. Animals keep their body in a stable condition. They do so by regulating their inner equilibrium . For example, they adjust their pH, temperature, amount of oxygen or carbon dioxide in the blood and so on. In living things, the study of how they keep in a stable condition is called physiology. Mostly, our physiology works unconsciously throughout life. We have many negative feedback systems which adjust our physiology so that we stay alive. These systems are self-organising and do not need to be learnt. They are inherited.

paragraphs: The concept was described by Claude Bernard, and the term was later coined by Walter Cannon in 1926, 1929, and 1932. Walter Cannon thought these were the features of homeostasis:

paragraphs: In mammals, the main organs involved with homeostasis are:

paragraphs: The brain is also central to homeostasis. It controls behaviour, and the basic function of behaviour is to support life by taking action.


title: Pulmonary embolism

paragraphs: A pulmonary embolism is a clot of material (an embolus) that blocks blood from getting to the lungs. It is usually caused by a blood clot that starts somewhere else in the body and travels to the lungs. However, it can also be caused by clumped cancer cells, fat, or bone. Rarely, while giving birth, a woman can get a clot of amniotic fluid.

paragraphs: Symptoms of a pulmonary embolism start suddenly, as soon as the clot starts blocking blood flow to the lungs. Blood is supposed to pick up oxygen in the lungs and then carry that oxygen to the rest of the body. If blood cannot get through to the lungs, it cannot pick up oxygen or deliver it to the body. Every part of the body needs blood and oxygen to survive.

paragraphs: Often, the first sign of a pulmonary embolism is syncope (fainting), because the brain is not getting enough blood and oxygen. Other symptoms include:

paragraphs: The worst kind of pulmonary embolism is caused by a "saddle embolus". This kind of embolus blocks the pulmonary artery, which carries blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs. This makes it impossible for any blood to get through to the lungs. Since no blood can get out to the rest of the body, the person's blood pressure drops and they can go into shock. A saddle embolus is a very serious medical emergency. Many people with this type of embolus die.

paragraphs: There are many risk factors that make it more likely for a person to get a pulmonary embolism. For example:

paragraphs: There are a few treatments for pulmonary embolism. The choice of which treatments to use depends on how serious the pulmonary embolism is. Treatments include:


title: Toilet

paragraphs: A toilet is a place where humans get rid of waste that comes from their bodies (urine and feces). Most toilets use water and to flush the waste through plumbing into a sewage system. However, some modern toilets do not use water, and are called dry toilets.

paragraphs: A room that has a toilet can be called a "restroom" or "bathroom" in the United States. In other places it may be called the toilet or the water closet (WC).

paragraphs: An average person spends three years of their life on a toilet.

paragraphs: Almost all modern buildings have at least one toilet. In the home, a toilet may or may not be in the same room as a shower or a bathtub. Some toilets are outside, in an "outhouse".

paragraphs: In developing countries, many people do not have a toilet in their home. More than 4.5 billion people do not have access to toilets.

paragraphs: A public toilet may or may not cost money to use. Toilets that cost money are called "pay toilets".

paragraphs: Public bathrooms often have many toilets with walls between them. This makes areas called "stalls" (US) or "cubicles" (UK). Bathrooms for men often also have separate urinals. Urinals can either be on the wall for a single user, or a basin or trough for many men to use at the same time. Urinals on walls sometimes have small walls or dividers for privacy reasons.

paragraphs: Outdoor public toilets (in the street, around parks, etc.) are a form of street furniture. These toilets are in individual cubicles. Some are simple and have little or no plumbing. Others are less simple, and some toilets even clean themselves after every use.

paragraphs: Some toilet-cubicles are mobile and can be put in place where and when they are needed. These toilets are called "portable toilets". Portable toilets are commonly used at large outdoor events like concerts, festivals or carnivals.

paragraphs: Every day, toilets use 141 billion liters of water to flush waste, so scientists try to make toilets that do not need so much water. In 2019, one group made a chemical to put onto toilets to make them very slippery so that the waste flushes away with only a little water. The scientists hope their invention will be used by many people one day.


title: Stegosaurus

paragraphs: Stegosaurus (meaning "roof-lizard") was a type of plant-eating dinosaur which lived in what is now western North America.

paragraphs: "Stegosaurus" lived in the Upper Jurassic period around 155 to 145 million years ago. It is one of the most easily recognized dinosaurs, with its distinctive double row of kite-shaped plates on its back, and the long spikes on its tail. The armor was necessary as it lived with such meat-eaters as "Allosaurus" and "Ceratosaurus".

paragraphs: "Stegosaurus" was originally named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877, from fossils found near Morrison, Colorado. These first bones became the first species of Stegosaur named: "Stegosaurus armatus".

paragraphs: Several different "Stegosaurus" species have been found.

paragraphs: "Stegosaurus" was the largest stegosaur, reaching up to 12 m (39.4 ft) in length and weighing up to 5,000 kg (5.5 short tons). However, 7 to 9 m was a more usual length.

paragraphs: The skull of "Stegosaurus" was long and narrow. Because of its short front legs, its head was close to the ground, probably no higher than 1 m (3.3 ft). It ate low-growing plants because of this. It had no front teeth, but it did have a horn-covered beak. Stegosaurian chewing teeth were small and triangular and did little grinding as they lacked wear surfaces.

paragraphs: Unlike most dinosaurs, it did not have a lacuna (hole) in its skull between the nose and eye.

paragraphs: It has often been said that the "Stegosaurus" brain was the size of a walnut. Actually, it had a brain several times the size of a walnut. The bundle of nerves near the base of the tail that controlled reflexes in the back of the body was larger than the brain and is sometimes said to be a "second brain". These issues are discussed in Dinosaur brains and intelligence.

paragraphs: "Stegosaurus" had very short forelimbs in relation to its hind legs. The back legs each had three short toes, while the front legs had five toes. All four limbs were supported by pads behind the toes.

paragraphs: "Stegosaurus" was a member of the Thyreophora, or armored dinosaurs, a family of dinosaurs which includes the ankylosaurs.

paragraphs: "Stegosaurus" has been declared the State Dinosaur of Colorado. It has also appeared in many movies and TV shows.


title: Psittacosis

paragraphs: Psittacosis is a bacterial disease that can be caught from birds such as parrots, pigeons, and parakeets. The disease is not common, with only 50 reported cases in the United States each year.

paragraphs: Psittacosis usually gives flu-like symptoms, such as fevers, chills, headaches, muscle aches, and a dry cough. The disease can also look like pneumonia on an x-ray. In rare cases, Psittacosis can cause endocarditis - swelling of joints, and swelling of the cornea.

paragraphs: Psittacosis can be easily treated with antibiotics, especially with Tetracycline. The disease rarely kills people, with only 1% of those who get the disease dying.


title: Gregorian chant

paragraphs: Gregorian chant is an important form of plainchant, used mainly in the Roman Catholic Church. With plainchant, all people sing the same music in unison, most of the time. Sometimes, there is a second part, called "organum", which often uses the same melody, but at an interval. This interval is often a fourth or a fifth.

paragraphs: Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, but people wrote new songs and changed the old ones later. Many people believe an old story, which says that Pope Gregory the Great wrote the songs. Most people who study the history of music believe that kings such as Charlemagne brought music from Rome to their kingdoms in France and Germany. When Charlemagne's people sang these songs, they changed the songs. This new music became Gregorian chant.

paragraphs: Usually men and boys sang Gregorian chant in churches, and holy women and men sang Gregorian chants in their daily prayers. In Roman Catholic churches, prayers and songs follow an order called the "Roman Rite." Gregorian chant is the music used in the "Mass" and the "Office" of the Roman Rite. The "Mass" is the part of the Roman Rite where Catholics receive what they believe to be the body and blood of Christ. The "Office" is the part of the Roman Rite where holy men and women pray at special times every day. In the past, people sang different songs in parts of Europe, but Gregorian chant replaced almost all of them. Although the Roman Catholic Church no longer requires people to sing Gregorian chants, it still says that Gregorian chant is the best music for prayer.

paragraphs: Christians have sung songs without music since the earliest days of the Church. Before the mid-1990s, many people believed that the Jewish songs called the "Psalms," which are in both the Jewish and Christian Bible, were an important part of early Christian music and prayer. People who study the history of music and religion no longer believe this, because most early Christian songs were not from the Psalms, and Jews did not sing Psalms for many centuries after their most important holy place, the Second Temple, was destroyed in the year 70. However, some parts of Jewish music and prayer ended up later in Gregorian chant. The organized order of prayers called "canonical hours" come from Jewish tradition. The words "amen" and "alleluia" come from the Hebrew language. The prayer "sanctus, sanctus, sanctus," which means "holy, holy, holy," comes from the Jewish prayer "kadosh, kadosh, kadosh."

paragraphs: The New Testament, tells how Jesus and his friends sang together: "When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives" (Matthew|26.30). Other writers from those early centuries such as Pope Clement I also said that Christians sang religious songs, but they don’t tell us what the music sounded like. The "Oxyrhynchus hymn," a 3rd-century song from Greece has lasted with written musical notes, we do not know if this song is connected to plainchant.

paragraphs: The sorts of songs, which Catholics later sang in the Roman Rite, started to appear in the 3rd century. The "Apostolic Tradition", a book about Christian traditions in early Rome, says that Christians sang "Alleluia" in early holy meals called ""agape" feasts." Chants of the Office started in the early 4th century, when holy men in the deserts started the tradition of singing all 150 psalms every week. Sometime around 375, Christians in Eastern Europe started singing religious songs back and forth between two groups; in 386, St. Ambrose brought this tradition to Western Europe. Singing back and forth is called "antiphonal" singing.

paragraphs: Most people think that the liturgy of the Roman Mass was put together during the 7th century. In 785-786 Pope Hadrian I sent some Roman chants to the court of Charlemagne. Later this music developed into the system of eight modes. This music, together with some new chants to complete the liturgical year, became known as "Gregorian." This chant was probably named after Pope Gregory the Great.

paragraphs: When Charlemagne had become Holy Roman Emperor he made everyone in Europe use this Gregorian chant. By the 12th and 13th centuries all other kinds of chant disappeared, even the Roman form (now known as Old Roman chant).

paragraphs: Gregorian chants are divided into three types based on the number of notes sung to each syllable. "Syllabic" chants mostly have one note per syllable. In "neumatic" chants there are mostly two or three notes per syllable, while "melismatic" chants have lots of notes for one syllable. Some of the chants are recitative and some are free melody. When two choirs stand in different parts of the church and sing alternately these are called "Antiphonal chants". "Responsorial chants" are ones with a refrain sung by the choir, which alternate with a psalm verse sung by a soloist.

paragraphs: Gregorian chant used the eight modes which came from the Byzantine chants. They were written down in a special musical notation called "neumes". These neumes do not show the exact rhythms, so that we cannot always be sure of the way they were sung. The rhythm was probably quite free and flexible. There were certainly no bar lines and regular beat. The chant was normally sung by men. Women only sang in convents, and even then they could not sing in all the services.

paragraphs: Gregorian chant was a big influence on polyphonic music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. When the original plainsong melody was made to be the bottom part it became known as "cantus firmus" (i.e. the "given melody"). Cantus firmus became a very important part of musical composition in the Renaissance.


title: Barneveld

paragraphs: Barneveld () is a municipality in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province Gelderland. The main centre is the village of Barneveld.

paragraphs: The municipality has an area of 176.74 km².

paragraphs: Other centres are: Essen, Esveld, Garderbroek, Harselaar, Kallenbroek, Moorst (partly), Wessel and Recreatiegebied Zeumeren.

paragraphs: The municipality neighbours Nijkerk, Putten and Ermelo to the north. Apeldoorn lies to the east. Municipalities Ede, Renswoude, Scherpenzeel and Woudenberg are to the south. Municipalities Leusden and Amersfoort neighbour Barneveld to the west.


title: Executable

paragraphs: An executable is a computer program written by a programmer and compiled by a compiler (See programming). When it is run, it 'executes' (or does) the actions it was programmed to.

paragraphs: An example of a compiler is the GNU C Compiler, or GCC for short. It reads in program code written in the C programming language, and converts it into binary machine code called an executable, so computers can understand it. On Microsoft Windows, these files end with '.exe.' To humans, these files are hard to read. Macs use other file extensions.


title: Windows NT

paragraphs: Windows NT is a series of Microsoft's Windows operating systems written in the C and C++ programming languages. They were the first to use their new 'NT' (New Technology) core. That means it had a brand new core to do more things than the MS-DOS-based one that they used in older versions of Windows. Also, it was more secure and crashed less. Windows NT 3.1 was released as alpha versions in 1991-1992 and beta versions in 1993.

paragraphs: Microsoft decided to create a portable operating system, compatible with OS/2 and POSIX and supporting multiprocessing, in October 1988. When development started in November 1989, Windows NT was to be known as OS/2 3.0, the third version of the operating system developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM. To ensure portability, initial development was targeted at the Intel i860XR RISC processor, switching to the MIPS R3000 in late 1989, and then the Intel i386 in 1990.

paragraphs: It is well believed that Dave Cutler intended the initialism 'WNT' as a pun on VMS, incrementing each letter by one. However, the project was named NT OS/2 before receiving the Windows brand. One of the original OS/2 3.0 creators, Mark Lucovsky, claims that the name was taken from the original target processor—the Intel i860, code-named N10 ('N-Ten'). Various Microsoft publications, including a 1998 question-and-answer session with Bill Gates, reveal that the letters were expanded to 'New Technology' for marketing purposes but no longer carry any specific meaning. The letters were dropped from the name of Windows 2000, though Microsoft described the product as 'Built on NT technology.'

paragraphs: Versions of Windows NT are Windows NT 3.1, NT 3.5, 3.51, NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Windows NT 3.1 was the first release of the Windows NT line. The version number 3.1 was from the fact that it looked very much like Windows 3.1. It was released in 1993. Next was Windows NT 3.5 and then 3.51. 3.5 was released in 1994 and 3.51 in 1995, just a few months before Windows 95. The version after that was NT 4.0, released in 1996. It was advertised as 'power of Windows NT and look of Windows 95' and included Internet Explorer version 2. The next version was NT 5.0, which was re-branded as Windows 2000 before release, followed by Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and the most recently Windows 10.

paragraphs: The NT version number was not used for marketing purposes after Windows NT 4.0 but is still used internally and said to reflect the degree of changes to the core of the operating system. Windows 10 changes the internal version number to 10.0, which is the first time since 1996 that the internal version number has matched the marketing number.

paragraphs: Windows NT can refer either an individual or following versions of Microsoft Windows:


title: File extension

paragraphs: A file extension or filename extension is a suffix at the end of a filename. It is used to show the type of a computer file. This suggests what program can understand it. For example, MYWORDS.TXT is a plain text file and may be opened by a text editor. Filename extensions come after the name of the file, and many of them are three letters long.

paragraphs: Some examples of common file extensions are:

paragraphs: There are many other commonly used file extensions.

paragraphs: You can change the program defaults so that the computer knows which program to open each type of file extension with.


title: Lagomorpha

paragraphs: Lagomorpha is a mammal order. It includes pikas, rabbits and hares. Although the lagomorphs look like rodents, they are actually not because they have four incisors on the upper jaw, not two like in rodents, and they eat plants, not meat too, like rodents. They were classified under rodents until the 20th century. They are divided into two families, Leporidae, hares and rabbits, and Ochotonidae, the pikas.


title: Lupus

paragraphs: Lupus, or Lupus erythematosus, is a disease of the immune system. It is chronic, which means it does not go away. It is an autoimmune disease, where the person's immune system attacks their own body.

paragraphs: The immune system is partly made up of white blood cells in your body that fight off disease. In lupus, these white blood cells think that the healthy cells of the body around them are diseased, so they end up attacking healthy parts of the body. Lupus can be deadly. It causes swelling and tissue damage, and can attack any part of the body. It most commonly affects the heart, joints, skin, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys and the brain/nervous system. Some symptoms include: fatigue, fever with no cause, hair loss, mouth sores, sensitivity to sunlight, a skin disease, and Raynaud's syndrome. There is treatment for lupus, called immunosuppression, which is medicine that stops the white blood cells from damaging healthy cells for a while. After a while, this medicine wears off, and then the white blood cells go back to hurting healthy parts of the body again. For the disease of lupus, there is no cure that stops the white blood cells from attacking healthy parts of the body forever, but doctors are not giving up on finding a cure.

paragraphs: Lupus takes its name from the Latin word "lupus", meaning wolf. This is because a lupus-caused rash on a person's face makes the person's face look like the face of a wolf. In the United States alone, there may be 270,000 to 1.5 million (1,500,000) people with lupus. Worldwide, it is estimated (not known for sure, but a good guess) that over 5 million (5,000,000) people living with lupus. The disease mainly affects young women, but men can be affected as well.


title: Hiragana

paragraphs: Hiragana are part of the Japanese writing system. Japanese writing normally consists of kanji which are used for the main words in a sentence, usually content words, and hiragana which are used for the little words that make up the grammar (in English these would be words like “from” and “his”) called particles. Hiragana is also used for the endings of some of the words.

paragraphs: Hiragana is a syllabary, which means that each hiragana character stands for a syllable. It is therefore different from a language such as English which uses an alphabet in which most of the letters stand for one bit of sound (phoneme). There is also another syllabary called katakana which is mostly used for foreign words and names. The two kana systems are quite easy to learn, but kanji takes years of practice. In contrast, the kana systems can be learnt in two weeks.

paragraphs: In the past hiragana was considered as women's writing, while men wrote in kanji. Since kanji suit well in Chinese but poorly in Japanese, it was the women who wrote the first Japanese books, poems and songs. Later the Buddhist clerics, such as Rennyo (d. 1498), wrote in hiragana to make the religious message easy to understand so that everyone could read it.

paragraphs: Sometimes the whole of a text may be written in hiragana to make it easy. This would be used in books for young children, or for students starting to learn Japanese, or when writing the lyrics for songs underneath the music where it is important to show how the words fit the music. Some rare or strange kanji may also have so-called "furigana" characters above it. They are hiragana which show how the kanji is to be pronounced.

paragraphs: In Hiragana each character (kana) is either a vowel (such as "a": あ); a consonant followed by a vowel (such as "ka": か); or, at the end of a syllable, an "n": (ん), although sometimes this sounds more like an “m” or “ng”.

paragraphs: As an example of how the grammatical endings are used we can take the verb “to eat” which is食べる (taberu). Here the main part of the word “eat” (pronounced “ta” in this case) is the kanji 食. The other two syllables: “be-ru” are in hiragana (べる). To say “I ate” or “you ate” etc. you would say “tabemashita”, written食べました (“be-ma-shi-ta” is written in hiragana).

paragraphs: The main hiragana characters are shown in this table.

paragraphs: Notice that the sound “hu” is unknown in Japanese, so ふ is pronounced “fu” with an “f” which is blown lightly, like someone blowing out a candle.

paragraphs: To write the voiced sounds for “g”, “d”, “z” and “b” two little lines called a dakuten (゛) are added after a character starting with the unvoiced sounds “k”, “t”, “s” and “h”. A circle, (゜), is added after a “h” for the sound “p”. For example: は gives the sound “ha”; ば gives the sound “ba”; ぱ gives the sound “pa”.

paragraphs: Sometimes when words are joined together to make compound words, the first sound of the second part changes from unvoiced to voiced. For example: “hana”: はな (nose) + ち“chi” (blood) becomes はなぢ “hanaji” (nosebleed)

paragraphs: Some Japanese syllables which have sliding sounds add a small version of the hiragana for "ya", "yu" or "yo" (ゃ, ゅ and ょ) This is called “yōon”. For example: “sha” sounds like “shi”+”ya” so “densha” (a tram) is written でんしゃ. A small “tsu” っ called a “sokuon” shows a doubled consonant: “Nippon” (Japan) is written にっぽん. Without the small “tsu” the first syllable would sound like the word “knee”.

paragraphs: A student starting to learn to write Japanese can start with hiragana or with katakana. Hiragana is the basis of learning Japanese script. However, for someone who is about to visit Japan and just wants to be able to recognize a few words, katakana will be more useful as it will help to read many of the road signs, shop names and the names of things on restaurant menus.


title: Kuomintang

paragraphs: Kuomintang (KMT; ; English: Chinese Nationalist Party) is the main political party in Republic of China (Taiwan). It was ruling in Mainland China until 1949 when Communists captured the mainland and the KMT moved to Taiwan. It was founded by Song Jiaoren and Sun Yat-sen. Chiang Kai-shek later led for decades.


title: Chiang Kai-shek

paragraphs: Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese nationalist politician and military leader who was President of the Republic of China, born in Xikou on October 31, 1887. His father was a merchant who died when Chiang was eight years old. Chiang became an officer in the army of the Manchu empire, but supported the Chinese Xinhai Revolution of 1911 that converted China into a republic.

paragraphs: He led the Republic of China from 1930 to 1949 on mainland China until he was overthrown by Mao Zedong in the Chinese Civil War. He fled to Taiwan where he ruled from 1950 until his death in 1975, although his government was still officially called the Republic of China.

paragraphs: After his father died, Chiang joined the army. At first, he went to Baoding in northern China to study military science. Later, he went to Japan to learn more about the military. On October 10, 1911, Chiang Kai-Shek came back to China.

paragraphs: In 1918, he joined the Nationalist Party of Sun Yat-sen. Sun Yat-sen helped Jiang Kai-Shek make a military academic school called Huangpu Military School. In 1926 and 1927 he led the Northern Expedition to conquer local warlords and unify China. After Sun Yat-sen died, he pushed out the Communists in 1927. In 1928, he made a new government in Nanjing, and became head of the state. He focused on fighting the Communists and the Empire of Japan.


title: Dark matter

paragraphs: Dark matter is a type of matter thought to be responsible for much of the mass in the universe.

paragraphs: The idea arose when astronomers found that the mass of large astronomical objects, and their gravitational effects, was much greater than the mass from the "luminous matter" that contains stars, gas, and dust.

paragraphs: Dark matter was first proposed by Jan Oort in 1932 as a reason for the spinning speeds of stars in the Milky Way. Fritz Zwicky in 1933 used dark matter to explain "missing mass" in the spinning speeds of galaxies in clusters. Later, many other observations have suggested that there is dark matter in the universe. The spinning speeds of galaxies, gravitational lensing of background objects, the temperature distribution of hot gas in galaxies and clusters of galaxies: these are some of the examples that make scientists believe in dark matter.

paragraphs: According to the Planck mission team, and based on the standard model of cosmology, the total mass–energy of the known universe contains 4.9% ordinary matter, 26.8% dark matter and 68.3% dark energy. Thus, dark matter is estimated to make up 84.5% of the total matter in the universe, while dark energy plus dark matter make up 95.1% of the total "stuff" in the universe.

paragraphs: Because dark matter does not seem to give off or reflect light, x-rays, or any other radiation, the instruments that are used to find normal matter (like hot gas, stars, planets, and us) can't find dark matter. It seems that dark matter is not made of the same thing as the matter we see every day on Earth. The only way we can tell if dark matter is there, is by how it affects things we can "see" by gravity.

paragraphs: In 2006, a group of scientists claimed that they had found a way to find dark matter. Since dark matter is supposedly very different from normal matter, it is expected to act differently. The scientists observed two far-away galaxy clusters that had crashed into each other at high speed: normal matter would have been scattered nearby after the collision, while dark matter would not. By measuring gravity, they were able to detect what looked like two clouds of dark matter, with a cloud of normal matter (hot gas) in between them.


title: Katakana

paragraphs: Katakana is a Japanese script used for writing words borrowed from other languages. It is easier to read than the kanji (the picture method based on Chinese characters). Once the 46 katakana symbols have been learned, the reader knows how to pronounce them.

paragraphs: Katakana and hiragana are both syllabaries. In English we use the letters of the alphabet. In most words each letter stands for a bit of sound (a phoneme). In a syllabary each symbol stands for a syllable. For example: in English we write “Wagamama”: each of the eight letters standing for a sound: “W-a-g-a-m-a-m-a”. But if the word “Wagamama” is divided into syllables there are four syllables (blocks of sound): Wa-ga-ma-ma. In Katakana it is written with four symbols: ワガママ.

paragraphs: Hiragana works in the same way, but the symbols are mostly different. Katakana is perhaps a little easier to learn than Hiragana because the symbols are simpler and more “squared off”. Together Katakana and Hiragana are called “Kana”.

paragraphs: This is a table of the basic katakana strokes. The first chart shows the basic katakana (characters with red letters next to them are no longer used today).

paragraphs: From the first table it can be seen that there are 46 basic characters (top left, first five columns, from "a" to "wa"). Diphthongs (vowels that slide from one sound to the other) have to be written with an extra symbol in small print. For example: the sound “mu” in our word “music” sounds like “myu” so it is written ミュ (mi+yu). So the word “musical” (as in a stage musical) is written: ミュージカル.

paragraphs: A long vowel is shown in katakana by a kind of dash called a “choon” (ー).

paragraphs: Katakana is used to write words which have been borrowed from other languages, or to write foreign names and names of countries. For example, America is written アメリカ.

paragraphs: It is not always easy for us to recognize these words because the Japanese language does not have some of the sounds that we do in English. This means that Japanese have to find other ways to pronounce and write the word. For example: the word “coffee” is written コーヒー (koo-hii). Sometimes the word is shortened as well: “television” is writtenテレビ (pronounced “te-re-bi”).

paragraphs: Sometimes it is impossible to show the difference between two foreign words, e.g. ラーラー could spell either the name “Lara” or “Lala” (as in the Teletubbies). The Japanese have just one sound which is somewhere between our “r” and “l”.

paragraphs: In the Japanese language a consonant is always followed by a vowel. Words or syllables cannot end in a consonant (except n or m), so the Japanese put in an extra vowel. “Ski” (as in skiing) becomes “suki” (スキ), and a “musical”, as we have seen, becomes “myuujikaru” (ミュージカル).

paragraphs: Katakana are also used for onomatopoeic words like “ding”, or for making words look important, or for scientific names such as the names of birds. Sometimes sentences in books or cartoons may be written in katakana to show that someone is supposed to be speaking with a foreign accent. It is often used to write the names of Japanese companies, i.e. Suzuki is written スズキ, and Toyota is written トヨタ.

paragraphs: A small “tsu” ッ called a “sokuon” shows what we would write as a double consonant, e.g. the English word “bed” is used in Japanese for a western-style bed. It is pronounced “beddo” and written ベッド. The ッ makes the “e” vowel short.

paragraphs: Learning to read the katakana characters is useful for reading some of the signs in Japan, or items on the restaurant menus.

paragraphs: Japanese sentences are usually written in a mixture of katakana, hiragana and kanji, e.g.:

paragraphs: アメリカ人です (amerikajin desu: I am American). Here “amerika” is written in katakana, the ending “jin”(人) is kanji, and “desu” (I am) is in hiragana.


title: Sanja Stijačić

paragraphs: Sanja Stijačić (born 14 November 1965) is a Serbian flutist. She is also a professor at the Faculty of Arts (Priština), University of Priština in Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia and at the University of East Sarajevo, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.


title: Comb

paragraphs: A comb is a tool used to care for hair or other fibers. It has small pieces sticking out of a main frame; these are called "teeth." A comb is usually flat.

paragraphs: Humans have been using combs as a tool for a long time, at least for 5,000 years. Combs are used by humans to separate tangled hairs, to keep their hair clean and to style their hair. They are also used as a decoration for hair.

paragraphs: Combs are used in the making of thread from fibers like wool or cotton. Combing makes all the fibres point the same way so a thread can be spun.

paragraphs: The first use of the comb was about 5,000 years ago. Different kinds of comb have been found throughout history by archaeologists. The ancient Egyptians carved out combs. In ancient China, combs were worn as hair decorations and accessories. Over time, combs have become into tools for taking care of hair. Today, there are hundreds of different kinds of combs.

paragraphs: Combs can be used to fix stray hairs and untangle wet hair. Another common use for the comb is to make hair be put in one position before tying it up. Combs may also be used to part hair for coloring, conditioning and braiding. Combs can also be worn as accessories that hold hair up in a special style.


title: Perfume

paragraphs: Perfume is a liquid that gives people, things and rooms a good smell. It is made of oils which give off scent to the surrounding air. The odoriferous compounds that make up a perfume can be manufactured synthetically or extracted from plant or animal sources.

paragraphs: Perfumes were used in the earliest human civilizations. Modern perfumery began in the late 19th century with the commercial synthesis of aroma compounds such as vanillin or coumarin. The artificial compounds gave a wider ranger of scents than natural materials.

paragraphs: Perfume smells more when temperature is warmer. So people put it on the neck, wrist and back of the knee, because these parts are warmer. Eau de Cologne is a type of perfume which can be splashed on the body. It is not so concentrated as the usual perfumes.

paragraphs: Today, most common essential oils, such as lavender, peppermint, and eucalyptus, are distilled. Raw plant material, the flowers, leaves, wood, bark, roots, seeds, or peel, is put into a distillation apparatus over water. As the water is heated, the steam passes through the plant material collecting the scents. The steam flow through a coil, where it is condensing back to liquid, which is then collected.

paragraphs: Most citrus peel oils are cold pressed, like olive oil production. Citrus-fruit oils are cheaper than most other essential oils. Lemon or sweet orange oils got as by-products of the citrus industry are even cheaper.

paragraphs: Many modern perfumes contain synthesized odorants. Synthetics can provide fragrances which are not found in nature. For instance, Calone, a compound of synthetic origin, gives a fresh metallic marine scent that is widely used. Synthetic aromatics are often used as an alternate to compounds that are not easily got from natural sources.

paragraphs: The word perfume used today derives from the Latin "per fumum", meaning "through smoke." Perfumery, or the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and was further refined by the Romans and Persians.

paragraphs: The world's first recorded chemist is considered to be a woman named Tapputi, a perfume maker who was mentioned in a cuneiform tablet from the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamia. She distilled flowers, oil, and calamus with other aromatics then filtered and put them back in the still several times.

paragraphs: In 2005, archaeologists uncovered what are believed to be the world's oldest perfumes in Pyrgos, Cyprus. The perfumes date back more than 4,000 years. The perfumes were discovered in an ancient perfumery. At least 60 stills, mixing bowls, funnels and perfume bottles were found in the factory. In ancient times people used herbs and spices, like almond, coriander, myrtle, conifer resin, bergamot, as well as flowers.

paragraphs: The Arabian alchemist, Al-Kindi (Alkindus), wrote in the 9th century a book on perfumes which contained more than a hundred recipes for fragrant oils and medical substances.

paragraphs: The Persian chemist Avicenna introduced the process of extracting oils from flowers by means of distillation, the procedure most commonly used today. He first experimented with the rose. Until his discovery, liquid perfumes were mixtures of oil and crushed herbs or petals, which made a strong scent. Rose water was more delicate, and immediately became popular.

paragraphs: The art of perfumery was known in western Europe since the 13th or 14th centuries. By the 18th century, aromatic plants were grown in France, Sicily, and Italy.


title: Journey (band)

paragraphs: Journey is an American rock/heavy metal band from San Francisco, formed in 1973. They are known for their hit songs like "Don't Stop Believin", "Anyway You Want It", "Open Arms", "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' " and "Faithfully". Some of the members used to be members of the band Santana. The band has sold 75 million albums and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.


title: Bruno Brun

paragraphs: Bruno Brun (1910 — 1978) was Yugoslavian clarinet player and professor at the Music Academy in Belgrade.

paragraphs: He graduated from the Belgrade Music Academy in 1945 and continued his education in Paris. He played as a soloist in Yugoslavia and other countries. He was one of the founders of the "Association of Musical Artists of Serbia".

paragraphs: His most famous students are: Milenko Stefanovic, Mihailo Zivanovic, Ernest Ackun, Ante Grgin and Nikola Srdic.

paragraphs: • Blagojevic, Andrija."Bruno Brun (1910-1978) - Founder of the Yugoslav clarinet school."  <nowiki>"The Clarinet"</nowiki>, Vol. 41/3 (June 2014), pp. 46-51.


title: Rheinstetten

paragraphs: Rheinstetten is a city in the south-west of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It has about 20,000 inhabitants.


title: Faculty of Arts (Priština)

paragraphs: The Faculty of Arts of Priština (Serbian: Факултет уметности у Приштини or Fakultet umetnosti u Prištini) is the faculty of arts of the University of Priština in Kosovo, Serbia.

paragraphs: The Faculty of Arts of Pristina was founded in 1973 as the Academy of Arts, and got its present name in 1986. Because of Albanian terrorist attacks it was moved in 1999. It first moved to Varvarin and later to Zvečan, where it is now. It is part of the University of Priština temporarily relocated in Kosovska Mitrovica.


title: Jasmina Novokmet

paragraphs: Jasmina Novokmet (born 8 September 1969 in Pristina, Yugoslavia) is a Serbian conductor, professor of conducting and former associate dean at the Faculty of Arts of Priština. She is a former student of Jovan Šajnović.


title: Magna Carta

paragraphs: The Magna Carta was a document signed by King John after negotiations with his barons and their French and Scots allies at Runnymede, Surrey, England in 1215.

paragraphs: There they sealed the Great Charter, called in Latin "Magna Carta". It established a council of 25 barons to see John keep to the clauses, including access to swift justice, parliamentary assent for taxation, scutage limitations, and protection from illegal imprisonment.

paragraphs: Because he was forced to seal the charter, John sought approval to break it, from his spiritual overlord Pope Innocent III. Denouncing it as "not only shameful and demeaning but also illegal and unjust", the Pope agreed. The Magna Carta is still considered one of the most important documents ever written, having inspired the way we view issues of justice and liberty and influenced laws regarding such throughout the world.

paragraphs: The Magna Carta has influenced English law down to the present day. It is one of the most celebrated documents in the History of England. It is recognized as a cornerstone of the idea of the liberty of citizens.

paragraphs: The Magna Carta contains 63 clauses written in Latin on parchment. Only three of the original clauses in Magna Carta are still law today. One defends the freedom and rights of the English Church, another confirms the liberties customs of the City of London and other towns. This clause (translated) is the main reason the Carta is still famous:

paragraphs: This clause limits the power of rulers, and introduces the idea of lawful process and the idea of a jury. The BBC summarised the main points of the document as:

paragraphs: The BBC said the Magna Carta "established a number of important principles, which have been copied around the world... It inspired the US Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights".

paragraphs: The origin is in the medieval feudal system, in which the King's word was law. It solved, at the time, a conflict between King John and his main men: the barons and bishops. Dispute grew between the barons and bishops and King John over taxes and disputes with the Pope.

paragraphs: The barons chose their time to put John under pressure. John had lost a battle against the French, been excommunicated by the Pope (1209–1213), and feared civil war at home. He met the barons at Runnymede, 20 miles south-west of London, in June 1215. The negotiation was managed by John's half-brother, William Longspée, and Elias of Dereham, steward to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton.

paragraphs: The content of the Carta was designed to re-balance power between the King and his subjects, but especially between John and the barons. When King John set his seal on Magna Carta he conceded the fundamental principle that even as king he was not above the law. That meant kings would not have as much power as they did before. The Carta also laid down rules of inheritance, and that convictions required some kind of official process. It stated that people had rights not to be unlawfully imprisoned. In other words, the king is bound to rule within the law.

paragraphs: Thirteen original copies of the Carta were made and distributed. Only four survive today. The four copies are in The British Library, The Bodleian Library, Lincoln Castle and Salisbury Cathedral. The Magna Carta was sent out again in 1220 by Henry III. In 2009 UNESCO recognifed it in its "Memory of the World" register.. The British Library brought all four copies together in February 2015, so that scholars could examine them side by side.


title: Catapult

paragraphs: A catapult is a type of machine used as a weapon to throw rocks, large arrows, or other things such as hot tar, that would cause damage to something else. Often, catapults were set on higher ground or on castle towers to let them shoot farther. They shot rocks to break castle walls, or pitch or hot tar to set the target on fire.

paragraphs: Catapults use weights and levers to send the rocks or other things into the air. They do not throw as far as modern weapons do, and are not useful in modern warfare. Catapults were common in the past, especially the Middle Ages.

paragraphs: Nowadays catapults are used to study old weapons, and as experiments (for example in physics or engineering classes). Some old ones are kept in museums.

paragraphs: Aircraft carriers use much more powerful steam catapults to throw airplanes into the air.


title: Minuet

paragraphs: A minuet is a dance which was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries in France. It was danced by the aristocracy, especially at the court of King Louis XIV.

paragraphs: Sometimes the French spelling menuet is used, or the Italian minuetto. It was a moderate or slow dance. There were always three beats in a bar (3/4 time).

paragraphs: Composers liked the music of the minuet and often wrote them just as pieces of music for a keyboard or other instruments. Composers like Bach and Handel included them in their suites (collection of dance movements). Lully started to put them in his operas, often in pairs: Minuet I, Minuet II, then Minuet I repeated. Often the second minuet would be played by three instruments, so it was called a trio.

paragraphs: In the Classical music period the minuet and trio were used in symphonies and sonatas. They usually formed the third movement of a four movement work. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all wrote minuets and trios. Gradually the minuets became faster so that they were called scherzos. By the 19th century the waltz had become fashionable among the new middle class. The polite minuet went out of fashion.


title: Scherzo

paragraphs: A Scherzo is a piece of music which is quite fast. In the 19th century Romantic composers started to write scherzos in their symphonies and sonatas instead of the traditional minuets. They are similar to a minuet, always with three beats in a bar, but they are faster and less "polite". Some composers like Chopin and Brahms wrote scherzos as separate pieces for the piano.


title: Griffin

paragraphs: The griffin (also called gryphon, gryphen, griffon, griffen, and gryphin), is a legendary creature. It has the head, front legs, and wings of an eagle. The rest of the body looks like a part of a lion.

paragraphs: In the past griffin was a symbol of strength and dexterity. It often looked after a treasure.

paragraphs: The Griffin is used as the symbol for Brisbane Waters Secondary College on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. following the griffin is the Collegiate phrase "Strength Through Unity"


title: Chordate

paragraphs: Chordata is a phylum (group) of animals which have a notochord. The group includes vertebrates, with some closely related invertebrates.

paragraphs: Note: Lines show likely evolutionary relationships. Extinct groups are marked with a "†". Extinct animals are ones that have completely died out.

paragraphs: According to a long-standing theory, the origin of chordates may be found in transformed larvae of sea-squirts (tunicates). Adult tunicates are sessile, but their larvae are motile, and have some features found in early vertebrates. The process of paedomorphosis, where juvenile features are retained in the adult, is the proposed mechanism. Genome analysis shows that tunicates are the closest living relatives of vertebrates.


title: Sanlucar la Mayor

paragraphs: Sanlúcar la Mayor is a Spanish town in the Province of Sevilla. It has a population of 11,762 and is 137 km² in area.


title: Pyrolysis

paragraphs: Pyrolysis is the chemical breakdown of compounds, which contain carbon, by heat. Pyrolysis happens under pressure and if the temperature is above 430 °C (800 °F). It is normally used for organic things, and is involved in charring.


title: Uri (canton)

paragraphs: Uri is one of the twenty-six cantons of Switzerland. Cantons are like states, provinces, or territories, but Swiss. 35,000 people live there. William Tell is from there.

paragraphs: The municipalities of the canton of Uri are: Altdorf, Andermatt, Attinghausen, Bauen, Bürglen, Erstfeld, Flüelen, Göschenen, Gurtnellen, Hospental, Isenthal, Realp, Schattdorf, Seedorf, Seelisberg, Silenen, Sisikon, Spiringen, Unterschächen, Wassen


title: Michael Ende

paragraphs: Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende (12 November 1929 - 28 August 1995) - German writer. He was born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria. He wrote fantasy books for children. He died of stomach cancer in Filderstadt, Baden-Wuerttemberg.


title: Applet

paragraphs: An applet is a computer program that can be run inside a web browser. Most of the time, applets are written in Java. They are used to display a scrolling menu on a website, for example, the applet is also used to show some applications. In Java, there is a class called "Applet," which is extended when writing applets.


title: Veneto

paragraphs: Veneto is one of the twenty regions of Italy, in northeastern Italy on the Adriatic Sea. The capital is Venice.

paragraphs: COVID-19 has killed more than 200 people in Italy. the regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto have 92 per cent of recorded deaths and 85 per cent of all cases in Italy.

paragraphs: The region is in Northeast Italy, bordered to the north by the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region (and Austria in the northeastern corner), to the east by the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, to the southeast and south by the Adriatic Sea, to the southwest by the Emilia-Romagna region, and to the west by the Lombardy region.

paragraphs: Veneto is the 8th largest region in Italy, with a total area of . The main river in the region is the Po. The highest mountain in the region is Marmolada (), in the Belluno province, with an altitude of .

paragraphs: Veneto is divided in a Metropolitan City (Venice) and six provinces:

paragraphs: The 10 communi with more people living in it are:


title: Molise

paragraphs: Molise is one of the twenty regions of Italy, in Southern Italy on the Adriatic Sea. The capital is the city of Campobasso.

paragraphs: Molise previously formed, with the Abruzzo region, the old region of "Abruzzi e Molise". Molise was separated from that region in 1963, making Molise the youngest region in Italy.

paragraphs: The region is located in South Italy bordered by Abruzzo to the north, Lazio to the west, Campania to the south, Apulia to the southeast and the Adriatic Sea to the east.

paragraphs: Molise, with a total area of , is the second smallest region after Valle d'Aosta. The main rivers in the region are:

paragraphs: The highest mountain in the region is La Meta (its eastern summit) (), in the Isernia province, with an altitude of .

paragraphs: The 10 communi of the region with more people living in it are:


title: Philippine Sea

paragraphs: The Philippine Sea is the body of water east of the Philippines and Taiwan. It is a part of the western end of the Pacific Ocean. The Philippine Sea is bounded by china Japan to the north, the Marianas to the east and Palau to the south.


title: Visayas

paragraphs: The Visayas or Visayan Islands (Cebuano and Wáray-Wáray: "Kabisay-an", Tagalog: "Kabisayaan", Spanich: "Bisayas"), is one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines; the other two divisions are Mindanao, to the south, and Luzon, to the north.

paragraphs: People living in this islands are called "Visayans".

paragraphs: The Visayas consists of several islands in central Philippines around the Visayan Sea, with the Philippine Sea to the east and the Sulu Sea to the west.

paragraphs: Administratively, the Visayas is divided into 3 regions: Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas. Each region is headed by a Regional Director.

paragraphs: The Visayas is composed of 16 provinces, each headed by a governor.

paragraphs: Western Visayas consists of the islands of Panay and the western half of Negros; it has a population, in 2010, of 7,102,438. The regional center is Iloilo City. Its provinces are:

paragraphs: Central Visayas includes the islands of Cebu and Bohol and the eastern half of Negros; it has a population, in 2010, of 6,800,180. The regional center is Cebu City. Its provinces are:

paragraphs: Eastern Visayas consists of the islands of Leyte and Samar; it has a population, in 2010, of 4,101,322. The regional center is Tacloban. Its provinces are:


title: Tuscany

paragraphs: Tuscany (in Italian "Toscana" ) is a region in the center of Italy. It has an area of 22,990 km² and a population of about 3.6 million people (in 2004). The capital is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy. Six Tuscan localities have been made UNESCO protected sites: the historical center of Florence (1982), the historical center of Siena (1995), the square of the Cathedral of Pisa (1987), the historical center of San Gimignano (1990), the historical center of Pienza (1996) and the Val d'Orcia (2004).

paragraphs: Tuscany, bordering Emilia-Romagna to the north, Liguria to the north-west, Tyrrhenian Sea to the west, Umbria and Marche to the east, Lazio to the south-east. The territory is two thirds hilly and one fourth mountainous. The remainder is constituted of the plains that form the valley of the Arno River.

paragraphs: Tuscany is known for its wines (most famous of which are Chianti, Morellino di Scansano, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and Brunello di Montalcino) and has 120 protected regions (nature reserves). Other agricultural products include Chianina cattle (particularly the famous "Fiorentina" steak) and the production of olive oil, principally in Lucca.

paragraphs: Tourism is the economic principally of the called "Cities of Art" (Florence, Arezzo, Lucca, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano), as well as on the coast and in the isles (Elba).

paragraphs: In the '80s and '90s the region attracted an intense influx of immigrants, in particular from China and Northern Africa. There is also a significant community of British and Americans. As of 2006, the Italian national institute of statistics ISTAT estimated that 215,490 foreign-born immigrants live in Tuscany, about 5.9% of the people in Tuscany.

paragraphs: Towns of Tuscany with a population of 50,000 or more:


title: Austronesian languages

paragraphs: The Austronesian languages are a language family. They were originally spoken in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean.


paragraphs: The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) is a religious group. It broke from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon movement, in the 19th or early 20th century. In 1890, the Latter-Day Saints stopped accepting polygamy.

paragraphs: A few people who believed polygamy was an important part of their religion started the new church. They taught that a man needs more than one wife to be able to get to heaven.

paragraphs: It is believed the church had about 10,000 members in 2009. These live in the sister cities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona; as well as Eldorado, Texas; Westcliffe, Colorado; Mancos, Colorado; Creston and Bountiful, British Columbia; and Pringle, South Dakota.

paragraphs: The church has been in the news because its leader, Warren Steed Jeffs was arrested in southern Nevada in August 2006. Jeffs was arrested because he was accused of rape and molestation. At the time, Jeffs was on the FBI's Ten Most-Wanted list.

paragraphs: There has been another incident in 2008.

paragraphs: Beginning April 4, 2008, over a four-day period, troopers and child welfare officials searched the church's ranch. They took 416 children into the temporary custody of the State of Texas. Originally officials from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services took 18 girls into temporary custody of the state. They acted because of a phone call from the ranch- it looks like a 16-year-old girl called the police to report she had been raped. She also said she had been married at age 15 to a 49-year-old man, Dale Evans Barlow. On the following day, Judge Barbara Walther of the 51st District Court issued an order authorizing officials to remove all children, including boys, 17 years old and under out of the compound. The children were being held by the Child Protective Services 45 miles away, north of the ranch. 133 women also voluntarily left the ranch with the children. The 16-year-old girl who alerted the authorities could not be located at the time of the raid. It looks like the call was made by a woman in her thirties, who gave a false identity. This woman is known by local police, as she has done similar things before. The woman was arrested for making the call (that triggered the raid) in April.


title: Biological classification

paragraphs: Biological classification is how biologists group organisms.

paragraphs: The classification has its root in the work of Aristotle who invented a multi-ranked system. A great influence was Carolus Linnaeus, who popularized the idea of binomial nomenclature using a two-part name indicating the genus, and the species. The human species is named "Homo sapiens". Names of species are often printed in italics, although there is no obligation to do so (this also goes for names of genera, etc., etc.)

paragraphs: Biological classification is also known as taxonomy. It is a science, and like most sciences has evolved over time. At various times different principles were adopted, and it is not rare for different scientists to use different methods. Since the early 20th century, groupings are supposed to fit the Darwinian principle of common descent. These days, molecular evolution studies, which use DNA sequence analysis as data, are popular. This is often called "phylogenetics", a branch or form of cladism. This approach creates an evolutionary Tree of life (biology) and uses characters (traits) to decide on the branches of the taxonomy.

paragraphs: Sometimes organisms placed in the same group (taxon) are similar; such similarity is not necessarity coincidence. It may be the result of shared descent from a common ancestor.

paragraphs: Homologous traits are similarities caused by common ancestry. They are distinct from traits that are analogous. For example, birds and bats both have the power of flight, but this is not used to classify them together, because it is not inherited from a common ancestor.

paragraphs: In spite of all the other differences between them, the fact that bats and whales both feed their young on milk is one of the features used to classify both as mammals, since it was inherited from a common ancestor.

paragraphs: When the present system of naming living things was developed, Latin was the language most widely used around the world. So, such names are still in Latin. The official descriptions and diagnoses of new taxa in Latin were and are written in Latin as well. Zoologist allow any language for the description of animals. From January 1, 2012, new taxa of algae, fungi and plants may be described in either English or Latin.

paragraphs: Taxa above the genus level are often given names based on a "type genus", with a standard suffix. The suffixes used in forming these names depend on the kingdom, and sometimes the phylum and class, as set out in the table below.


title: Kingdom (biology)

paragraphs: Kingdom is the highest rank, after the domain, which is normally used in the biological taxonomy of all organisms. Each kingdom is split into phyla.

paragraphs: There are 5 or 6 kingdoms in taxonomy. Every living thing comes under one of these kingdoms and some symbionts, such as lichen, come under two. There are at least:

paragraphs: The kingdom-level classification of life is still widely employed as a useful way of grouping organisms. Sometimes entries in the table, which are next to each other, do not match perfectly. For example, Haeckel placed the red algae (Haeckel's Florideae; modern Rhodophyta) and blue-green algae (Haeckel's Archephyta; modern Cyanobacteria) in his Plantae, but in modern classifications they are considered protists and bacteria respectively. However, despite these differences, the table gives a useful summary.


title: Class (biology)

paragraphs: A class is a rank used in the biological taxonomy of all organisms. Each class is split into orders. There are multiple classes in each phylum.

paragraphs: Mammals, for example, are one of several classes within the Vertebrates, and are subdivided into Monotremes, Marsupials, and Eutheria.


title: Order (biology)

paragraphs: An order is a rank used in the biological taxonomy. Each order is split into families. There are many orders in each class.A group of closely related families forms an order. The similar characters are less in number as compared to different genera included in family.


title: Family (biology)

paragraphs: In biology, a family is a taxonomic rank, or a taxon at that rank. Each family contains one or more genera. The next important rank is that of order. Usually, the name of the family ends with a "idae" for animals, and ""aceae"" for plants. Sometimes there are also subfamilies and superfamilies. Subfamilies end with "inae" or ""oideae"".

paragraphs: In Latin, family is "familia". For example, walnuts (genus "Juglans") and hickories (genus "Carya") both belong to the walnut family (the "Juglandaceae").


title: Digestion

paragraphs: Digestion is the process in which breakdown of food from larger to smaller food .

paragraphs: Digestion occurs in three phases. Mechanical digestion is the physical breakdown of large pieces of food into smaller pieces which can be got at by digestive enzymes. In chemical digestion, enzymes break down food into the small molecules the body can use. Finally, the nutrients are absorbed into the blood stream. Once in the blood stream the nutrients are taken to the liver, which is a kind of chemical factory for the body.

paragraphs: After we swallow food, it travels down a muscular tube to the stomach. There, it is mashed into a mixture like soup. The mixture passes into the small intestine, where tiny bits of food pass into the bloodstream. The food that is still left goes into the large intestine. Finally, waste products leave the body. Digestion usually takes about 18 hours. Food stays in the stomach for about three hours. If uncoiled, the small intestine would be about six meters (20 feet) long. Many digestive tracts are about as long as a bus.

paragraphs: Food slowly enters the small intestine from the stomach. This is where nutrients are taken into the blood. It then enters the large intestine. Water is taken away from it. The food that is left is called feces. The feces are stored in the rectum until the waste can leave the body through the anus.


title: Sight

paragraphs: Sight (also called eyesight or vision) is one of the senses. Having sight means to be able to see. Seeing gives animals knowledge of the world. Some simple animals can only tell light from dark, but with vertebrates, the visual system is able to form images.

paragraphs: The ability to interpret visible light information reaching the eyes is called visual perception. Sight is the resulting perception. The components that are necessary for vision are known as the visual system.

paragraphs: Light enters the animal's eyes, and a part of the eye called the lens sends information from the light to the back part of the eye called the retina. The retina is composed of light-sensitive cells which fire a signal down the optic nerve when light hits the cell. The optic nerve is a bundle of nerve fibres from all over the retina.

paragraphs: When the information from the light leaves the retina, it goes to the brain. It travels along the optic chiasma until it reaches the optic cortex at the rear of the brain. The information is then processed to find out the shapes and colours of objects. From that and from memory, it can tell of what kind the object is. For example, it can somehow tell a tree from a house. The path on which this kind of information flows is called "ventral stream".

paragraphs: The brain can also tell where objects are. For example, it can tell how far away an object is (this is called hand-eye coordination). This is needed when catching a ball. The path on which this kind of information flows is called "dorsal stream".

paragraphs: The major problem in visual perception is that what people see is not simply a translation of an image on the retina. For one thing, we see the world right side up, even though the image on the retina is upside down (because it has passed through the lens). Therefore, it is difficult to explain what happens to create what we actually see. The key, which took centuries to be appreciated, is that the brain works on the data from the eyes, and marries it with memories and guesses, all at lightning speed. The result is an experience of the world which looks to each person as if it were simple reality. However, although based on reality, it is actually a mental construct, built by the brain.

paragraphs: Many figures in the ancient world had ideas about vision. Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy and Galen all had their ideas, but most of these ideas were speculation. They were not based on any scientific method.

paragraphs: Alhazen (965–c. 1040) carried out investigations and experiments on visual perception. He extended the work of Ptolemy on binocular vision, and commented on the anatomical works of Galen.

paragraphs: Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) is believed to be the first to recognize the special optical qualities of the eye. He wrote "The function of the human eye ... was described by a large number of authors in a certain way. But I found it to be completely different". His main experimental finding was that there is only a distinct and clear vision at the line of sight, the optical line that ends at the fovea. Although he did not use these words literally he actually is the father of the modern distinction between foveal and peripheral vision.

paragraphs: Hermann von Helmholtz examined the human eye and concluded that it was, optically, rather poor. The poor-quality information gathered by the eye seemed to him to make vision impossible. So he thought vision could only be the result of some form of unconscious inferences. As well as information from the eyes, the brain used information from previous experiences. The world as experienced is built up from assumptions and conclusions from incomplete data, using prior experience of the world.

paragraphs: Examples of well-known assumptions, based on visual experience, are:

paragraphs: The study of visual illusions (cases when the inference process goes wrong) has yielded much insight into what sort of assumptions the visual system makes.


title: Pharynx

paragraphs: The pharynx is an organ in the back of the throat. It is also the meeting point of the digestive and the respiratory systems. The opening of the respiratory system in the pharynx is called the glottis. It is guarded by a cartilagenous flap called the epiglottis which prevents food or liquid from going into the respiratory system. It closes during swallowing action. As such, it is part of the gastrointestinal system. It comes after the mouth and before the esophagus. Food and air go through the pharynx. The pharynx keeps food and liquids out of the lungs.


title: Jejunum

paragraphs: The jejunum is a section of the small intestine between the duodenum and the ileum. It is between 1 and 2 meters long.The term "jejunum" derives from the Latin "jejunus," which means "empty of food," "meager," or "hungry." The ancient Greeks noticed at death that this part of the intestine was always empty of food. Hence, the name the jejunum.

paragraphs: The Latin "jejunus" also gave rise to "jejune" means lacking in nutritive value and devoid of substance, significance or interest, that is dull. A jejune argument is one that is empty (like the jejunum) and totally devoid of interest.

paragraphs: Famous quote..."Have You Ever Been Punched in The Jejunum?"


title: Ileum

paragraphs: The ileum is the last section of the small intestine. It is between 2 and 4 meters long in humans.


title: Cecum

paragraphs: The cecum is a part of the large intestine. It comes before the colon and after the ileum in the gastrointestinal system. The appendix is connected to the cecum.


title: Romano Prodi

paragraphs: Romano Prodi (born 9 August 1939 in Scandiano, Italy) is an Italian politician and leader of a left-wing coalition named "L'unione" (The Union).

paragraphs: Prodi was "President of the Council of Ministers", that is, Prime Minister of Italy between 1996 and 1998.

paragraphs: He then served as President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004.

paragraphs: He was re-elected Prime Minister of Italy for a second time in 2006, when he defeated Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the right-wing coalition named "Casa delle Libertà" (House of Freedom).


title: Basilicata

paragraphs: Basilicata is a region in the south of Italy. The capital is Potenza. The population was about 597,768 in 2004. The region is very mountainous. Because of this, communication in the area was very difficult until modern times. This has also caused Basilicata to be one of the least developed areas of Italy. Basilicata borders the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Taranto at its lowest elevations. The highest point in the area is Monte Pollino at 2233m (7325ft). The area also includes a dead volcano, Monte Vulture. The region has an area of .

paragraphs: Basilicata also used to be one of the poorest regions in Italy. It has become richer over the past couple of years because of the discovery of oil.

paragraphs: Basilicata is divided into two provinces.


title: Campania

paragraphs: Campania is a region of the south of Italy. The capital is Napoli. The population in 2004 was about 5,701,931.


title: Emilia-Romagna

paragraphs: Emilia-Romagna is one of the twenty regions of Italy, in northeast Italy on the Adriatic Sea. The capital is Bologna.

paragraphs: The region is in Northern Italy with an area of . It is bordered to the north by the Veneto and Lombardy regions, to the northwest by the Piedmont and Liguria regions, to the west by the Tuscany, to the south by the Marche region and the republic of San Marino, and the Adriatic Sea to the east.

paragraphs: The main river in the region is the Po. The highest mountain in the region is Monte Cimone, in the northern Apennines, with an altitude of .

paragraphs: Emilia-Romagna has nine provinces grouped in two historical regions:

paragraphs: The 10 communi with more people living in it are:


title: Vasil Levski

paragraphs: Vasil Levski is a Bulgarian hero. He was born in Karlovo, Bulgaria in 1837. His real name is Vasil Ivanov Kuncev and "Levski" was his nickname. His father's name was Ivan Kuncev. Vasil Levski struggled for independence of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire. He was executed in 1873.


title: CP/M

paragraphs: CP/M (Control Program for Microcomputers) was an Operating System for computers used in the 1970s and early 1980. Originally, it supported up to 64 kb of main memory. It was command-line based, and came before MS-DOS.


title: Sana'a

paragraphs: Sana'a or Sanˤā' (, romanized as Ṣanʻāʼ or Sanaa), is the capital city of Yemen and the center of Sana'a Governorate. It had a population of 1,747,627 (as of 2004). In the 2010s it became a battlefield in the Civil War and the government moved to Aden.


title: Astrid Lindgren

paragraphs: Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren, born Astrid Ericsson, (November 14, 1907 - January 28, 2002) was a famous Swedish writer. She wrote many books for children. She had a son named Lars.

paragraphs: Astrid Lindgren grew up in Näs, near Vimmerby, Småland, and many of her books are based on her family and childhood memories. However, Pippi Longstocking, her most famous character, was invented for her daughter Karin, who was, at the time, ill and had to stay in the bed.

paragraphs: Lindgren was the daughter of Samuel August Ericsson and Hanna Johnsson. She had two sisters. Her brother, Gunnar Ericsson, was a member of the Swedish parliament. She finished the school and took a job with the a local newspaper in Vimmerby. When she became pregnant with the chief editor's child in 1926, he proposed marriage. She did not accept, and moved to Stockholm, learning to become a typist and stenographer. There she gave birth to her son Lars in Copenhagen and left him with another family to care for him.

paragraphs: Although poorly paid, she saved whatever she could and travelled as often as possible to Copenhagen to be with Lars; often just over a weekend, spending most of her time on the train back and forth. Eventually, she managed to bring Lars home, leaving him in the care of her parents until she could afford to raise him in Stockholm. In 1931 she married her boss, Sture Lindgren (1898-1952). Three years later, in 1934, Lindgren gave birth to her second child, Karin, who later became a translator. The family moved in 1941 to an apartment on Dalagatan, with a view over Vasaparken, where Astrid lived until her death.

paragraphs: Astrid Lindgren died in 2002, at the age of 94.

paragraphs: In 1976, they had a scandal in Sweden when Lindgren's had to pay taxes 102% of her income. This is known as the "Pomperipossa effect" from a story, which she published in "Expressen" on 3 March 1976.

paragraphs: Astrid Lindgren was well known both for her support for children's and animal rights, and for her opposition to corporal punishment. In 1994, she received the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize), "...For her commitment to justice, non-violence and understanding of minorities as well as her love and caring for nature."

paragraphs: 1. ^ John-Henri, Holmberg (1997/1999), "Scandinavia", in Clute, John, and John Grant, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, pp. 841 .


title: Cantabria

paragraphs: Cantabria is a region in the north of Spain. It has 563,000 people living in it. In Cantabria most people speak Spanish. The people of Cantabria have autonomy in Spain, which means they have their own local government and much control over their region. The capital is Santander. This city is on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea and is very popular with tourists. Cantabria belongs to the Green Spain, the name given to the strip of land between the Cantabrian Sea and the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain.

paragraphs: Many different examples of prehistoric cave art have been found, suggesting the Cantabrian culture is at least 15,000 years old. Cave art is the best known feature of the Cantabrian life. The latest round of systematic cave explorations began in the early 1970s. Now new art can be discovered every year. Some of the cave art is engraved, and others are painted. Much of the cave art is of animals. There are often pictures of red deer found from this area of Spain. There are also other unusual symbols that can be found. This attracts much interest and many tourists to this culture. The Cantabrian life revolves mainly around art, tourism, and fishing. Rich deposits of coal, iron, and zinc are also mined in the Cantabrian Mountains. Tourism is a very large part of the Cantabrian life, and their economic success.

paragraphs: Cantabria is known for a rainy and cool climate. The region is also greener than southern Spain and is very mountainous.


title: Civil Aviation Authority

paragraphs: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), is the publicly-owned organisation in charge of flying (Aviation) in the United Kingdom. It was created in 1972, doing the tasks previously done by the Department of Transport.

paragraphs: The CAA no longer provides air traffic control services (ATC), this responsibility was passed to a private company called National Air Traffic Services (NATS) in 2001 which the government owns 49% of.

paragraphs: Some other duties have passed to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), such as type certification. CAA-UK is part of the rulemaking group of the EASA.


title: Apulia

paragraphs: Apulia (; ; ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy, in southern Italy on the Adriatic Sea. The capital is Bari.

paragraphs: Its southernmost portion, known as Salento peninsula, has the shape of a high heel on the "boot" of Italy.

paragraphs: Apulia is in Southern Italy. It has an area of . There are 4,077,166 people living in the region, for a density of .

paragraphs: The region is bordered by Molise to the northwest, Campania to the west, Basilicata to the southwest, the Strait of Otranto and the Ionian Sea to the southeast, the Gulf of Taranto to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to north and to the east.

paragraphs: The region is divided into six provinces:


title: Belluno

paragraphs: Belluno (, , ) is a "comune" and city in the Veneto region, in Northeast Italy. Belluno is the capital of the province of the same name. The city is about north of Venice.

paragraphs: The town is near the confluence of the Piave river with the small river "Ardo". To the north of the town is the "Schiara", a group of mountains. To the south, the foothills of the Alps separate Belluno from the plain of the Veneto. The most northern part of the "comune" is in the "Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park" ().

paragraphs: The "comune" of Belluno has an area of and its altitude is .

paragraphs: Belluno borders with the following "comuni"ː Alpago, Limana, Longarone, Ponte nelle Alpi, Sedico, Sospirolo, Vittorio Veneto (in the Treviso province).

paragraphs: The following "frazioni" (hamlets) are part of Belluno: Anconetta, Antole, Bes, Bolzano, Caleipo, Castion, Castoi, Cet, Cirvoi, Col di Salce, Faverga, Fiammoi, Giamosa, Giazzoi, Gioz, Levego, Madeago, Mares, Mier, Nevegàl, Nogarè, Orzes, Rivamaor, Safforze, Sagrogna, Sala, Salce, San Fermo, San Pietro in Campo, Sois, Sopracroda, Sossai, Tisoi, Veneggia, Vezzano, Vignole, Visome.

paragraphs: , there are 35,870 persons living in the "comune", for a population density of inhabitants/km².


title: Vicenza

paragraphs: Vicenza is a "comune" and city in the Veneto region, in Northeast Italy. Vicenza is the capital of the province of the same name. The city is about west of Venice, the capital of the region, and east of Milan.

paragraphs: Vicenza is a cosmopolitan city, with a rich history and culture, and many museums, art galleries, piazzas, villas, churches and elegant Renaissance "palazzi". With the "Palladian Villas of the Veneto" in the surrounding area, and his renowned "Teatro Olimpico" (Olympic Theater), Vicenza has been listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994.

paragraphs: The city is also known as the "City of Palladio" after Andrea Palladio, an architect that designed and built several important buildings in Vicenza and other cities.

paragraphs: Vicenza is at the confluence of the "Bacchiglione" river with its tributary "Retrone".The "comune" of Vicenza has an area of to the north of the "Berici Hills". Its average altitude is .

paragraphs: The southern part of the city is flat with an elevation of above sea level. The historical centre is among the meanders of the Bacchiglione river and of its tributaries with an elevation of above sea level. To the south there is also an area with hills belonging to the Berici Hills with a top elevation of above sea level

paragraphs: Vicenza borders with the following "comuni"ː Altavilla Vicentina, Arcugnano, Bolzano Vicentino, Caldogno, Costabissara, Creazzo, Dueville, Longare, Monteviale, Monticello Conte Otto, Quinto Vicentino and Torri di Quartesolo.

paragraphs: The following "frazioni" (hamlets) are part of Vicenza: Anconetta, Bertesina, Bertesinella, Bugano, Campedello, Casale, Debba, Longara, Maddalene, Ospedaletto, Polegge, San Pietro Intrigogna, Santa Croce Bigolina, Tormeno.

paragraphs: The climate of Vicenza is an oceanic climate with template summers, Cfb (Marine West Coast Climate) in the Köppen climate classification.

paragraphs: The average temperature for the year in Vicenza is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .

paragraphs: The average amount of precipitation for the year in Vicenza is . The month with the most precipitation on average is November with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is July with an average of .

paragraphs: , there are 112,953 persons living in the "comune", for a population density of inhabitants/km².


title: Rovigo

paragraphs: Rovigo is an Italian city. It has a population of about 50,883 inhabitants.


title: L'Aquila

paragraphs: It has about 71,989 inhabitants. It is the capital of Abruzzo.

paragraphs: It is on a hill in the valley of the Aterno river. It is circled by the Apennine Mountains. The Financial Times, an important newspaper, wrote that L'Aquila is "the most handsome city of Abruzzo".

paragraphs: It is a very old town, full of beautiful buildings and churches. It has a University.

paragraphs: Emperor Frederick II founded this town. He told the people of 99 villages to move in the new town. Frederick's son, Conrad IV of Germany finished the town in 1254. When Conrad died, his brother Manfred destroyed the town in 1259. Charles I of Anjou, king of Sicily, built it again soon.

paragraphs: It became soon the second city of the kingdom of Naples.

paragraphs: The city of L'Aquila had much power because the 99 original villages helped it. Each village owned a borough (a small part of the town) and the borough was a part of the mother-village. That is also why the number 99 is so important in the history of L'Aquila.

paragraphs: The people also built a very peculiar monument, the Fountain of the 99 Spouts ("Fontana delle 99 Cannelle").

paragraphs: The city was an important market for the countryside. The saffron (a very important spice) was grown in fields around town; shepherds had millions of sheep near L'Aquila.

paragraphs: After a few years L'Aquila became an important point of communication between cities in and out of the kingdom.

paragraphs: On August 29, 1294, the hermit Pietro del Morrone became pope Celestine V. The ceremony was in the church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio.

paragraphs: To thank the town, Celestine V decided that every year on that day every Christian who went to L'Aquila would be pardoned for his sins (bad actions). This is called Perdonanza, and it still happens every year on August 28 and 29. The Perdonanza is similar to the Jubilee Year, but arrived earlier.

paragraphs: The Perdonanza made the town more rich. But after a long time the plague (a dangerous illness) struck L'Aquila in 1348 and 1363. An earthquake struck it in 1349.

paragraphs: Saint Bernardino of Siena visited L'Aquila two times. The first time he came to preach to King René of Naples. In 1444 he died in the city.

paragraphs: In the 16th century, the Spanish viceroy Philibert van Oranje destroyed L'Aquila again. After this, he built a Castle.

paragraphs: Another earthquake damaged again the city in 1703.

paragraphs: The city is the home of L'Aquila Rugby. This team won the Italian championship five times.


title: Chieti

paragraphs: Chieti is a city and "comune" in Southern Italy, east by northeast of Rome. It is the capital of the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region.

paragraphs: Chieti is on a hill between the Aterno-Pescara and the Alento rivers and is near the coast of the Adriatic Sea and the mountains.

paragraphs: Chieti is in the central eastern part of the Abruzzo, at an average altitude of above sea level. It is on a hill that separates the watersheds of the Aterno-Pescara river (to the north) and of the Alentro stream (to the south). The "comune" has an area of .

paragraphs: The "comune" is surrounded by the "comuni" Bucchianico, Casalincontrada, Cepagatti (PE), Francavilla al Mare, Manoppello (PE), Pescara (PE), Ripa Teatina, Rosciano (PE), San Giovanni Teatino and Torrevecchia Teatina.

paragraphs: The following "frazioni" (hamlets) are part of Chietiː Bascelli, Brecciarola, Buonconsiglio-Fontanella, Carabba, Chieti Scalo, Colle Marcone, Crocifisso, De Laurentis Vallelunga, Fonte Cruciani, Iachini, La Torre, San Martino, San Salvatore, Levante, Tricalle, Sant'Anna, Santa Barbara, Santa Filomena, Selvaiezzi, Vacrone Cascini, Vacrone Colle San Paolo, Vacrone Villa Cisterna, Vallepara, Villa Obletter, Villa Reale.

paragraphs: The people from Chieti are called "Chietini" but also "Teatini" after the old name of the city ().

paragraphs: , there are 51,330 persons living in the "comune", for a population density of inhabitants/km².