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David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), more widely known as The Edge, is an English-born musician. He is known best as the guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist for the Irish rock band U2.
Personal life
David Howell Evans was born at the Barking Maternity Hospital, in Essex, England. His parents, Garvin and Gwenda Evans, are Welsh. When he was one, his family moved to County Dublin, Ireland. There, he attended St. Andrew's National School. He received piano and guitar lessons with his brother, Dik Evans. At Mount Temple Comprehensive School, they both answered an advertisement posted by Larry Mullen Jr. wanting musicians to form a band. The band accepted both of them. This band went through several major changes before emerging as U2 in March 1978. Dik Evans left the band just before the name change. U2 began performing in various venues in Ireland and eventually began developing a following. Their first album, Boy, was released in 1980.
In 1981, Evans came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he was persuaded to stay. During this time, he became involved with a group called Shalom Tigers. Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. were also involved in this group. Shortly after deciding to remain with the band, he wrote a piece of music that later became "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The Edge married his high school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan on 12 July 1983. The couple had three daughters together: Hollie in 1984, Arran in 1985 and Blue Angel in 1989. The couple separated in 1990, but were unable to get officially divorced until 1996 because of Irish laws regarding marriage; divorce was made legal in 1995.
During U2's Zoo TV Tour, The Edge began to date Morleigh Steinberg. The couple began dating in 1993, and had their daughter, Sian, and a son, Levi. They were married on June 22, 2002.
The Edge appeared in the 2009 music documentary film It Might Get Loud. He is also a Methodist.
Music
References
1961 births
Living people
English rock guitarists
English rock singers
Musicians from Dublin
Musicians from Essex
People from Barking
U2 |
Larry Mullen Junior (born 31 October 1961) is an Irish drummer. He is a member of the rock band U2. Mullen was born in Dublin, Ireland.
Besides U2, Larry has worked with other musicians, including: Nanci Griffith, Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris, Robbie Robertson, Paul Brady and B.B. King. Because of the Irish National Football team's bid for the World Cup in 1990, Mullen co-wrote and co-produced the anthem "Put 'Em Under Pressure." He also worked with U2's Adam Clayton on the theme for the 1996 movie Mission: Impossible. Mullen and Clayton joined with Mike Mills and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. to form the group "Automatic Baby" for Bill Clinton's Presidential inauguration in 1993 at MTV's Inaugural Ball.
References
1961 births
Living people
Irish rock musicians
Musicians from Dublin
Rock drummers
U2 |
Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, philanthropist and author. She has sold over 200 million copies worldwide and is one of the best-selling artists of all time.
Early life
Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1969, in Huntington, New York. Her father was of African American and Venezuelan ancestry and her mother is of Irish ancestry. She practiced playing piano when she was a young girl.
Music career
In December 1988, Carey started making her first album.
She released her self-titled debut studio album in 1990. It was released from Columbia Records. The album was certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. Four singles from the album all reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart ("Vision of Love", "Love Takes Time", "Someday", and "I Don't Wanna Cry"). It reached number one on the US Billboard 200. It was certified 9× platinum. This means that 9 million copies of the album were shipped in the US. Carey married Tommy Mottola, the head of Sony Music, in 1993. Mottola was the executive producer for Carey. Many critics believed that this helped Carey's musical career.
In 1991, her album Emotions reached number four on the Billboard 200. It was certified 4× platinum and sold less than her previous album. Her songs "Emotions" (#1), "Can't Let Go" (#2), and "Make It Happen" (#5) were released as singles from the album. Carey released her first EP MTV Unplugged (1992). It reached number three on the Billboard 200. The songs "I'll Be There" (#1) and "If It's Over" were released as singles from the album. Carey's third album Music Box (1993) reached number one on the Billboard 200. As of 2012, the album has sold 10,000,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen Soundcan, and was certified Diamond because of this. Worldwide, it sold 32 million copies and became one of the best-selling albums of all time. "Dreamlover" (#1), "Hero" (#1), "Without You" (#3), "Never Forget You" (#3), and "Anytime You Need a Friend" (#12) helped Carey to become more popular.
Her first holiday album, Merry Christmas (1994), reached number three on the Billboard 200 chart. Two singles were released: "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and "Joy to the World". Carey's fifth album Daydream became her third number-one album in the US. It was given a diamond award from the RIAA. This means that 10 million copies of the album were shipped in the US. There were six singles for the album. They include "Fantasy" (#1), "One Sweet Day" (#1), "Open Arms", "Always Be My Baby" (#1), "Forever" (#9) and "Underneath the Stars". On September 16, 1997, Carey released her sixth album Butterfly. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The album released five singles. They include "Honey" (#1), "Butterfly" (#16), "The Roof (Back in Time)", "Breakdown" (#53) and "My All" (#1).
On November 2, 1999, her seventh album Rainbow was released. After selling 323,000 copies the first week, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. It featured her fifteenth number-one US single, "Thank God I Found You" (with R&B singer Joe and boy band 98°), along with a cover of singer Phil Collins' song "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)". The cover reached number one in the UK.
Carey starred in the movie Glitter in 2001. It did not do so well and grossed $5,271,666 out of a $20,000,000 budget. It was released on the day of the September 11 attacks. It was nominated for several "worst movie" categories. The soundtrack did better than the movie. The single "Loverboy" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2002, her album Charmbracelet was released. Her 2005 album, The Emancipation of Mimi, became one of her most successful albums. Many music critics believed it was her "comeback album". It contained her sixteenth and seventeenth US number-one hits, "We Belong Together" and "Don't Forget About Us". "We Belong Together" was the number-one song of 2005 and of the 2000s decade in the US. Her following album, E=MC² (2008), featured her eighteenth number-one song, "Touch My Body". With this, Carey holds the most US number-ones for a solo artist in history. However, this album, along with its followups Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (2009) and Merry Christmas II You (2010), did not sell well. She played the role of a social worker, Ms. Weiss, in the 2009 movie Precious.
In 2013, she was a judge on the competition series American Idol. Carey's fourteenth album, Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse, was released in 2014 and reached number three on the Billboard 200. The song "#Beautiful", featuring R&B singer Miguel, was released in May 2013 as the first single from the album. It reached the top fifteen in the US and was certified platinum. The next single, "The Art of Letting Go", was released on November 11, 2013. "You're Mine (Eternal)" was released in time for Valentine's Day in 2014 as the third single from the album.
Carey released a greatest hits collection, #1 to Infinity, in 2015. It features all eighteen of her US number-one songs along with a new song, "Infinity". She performed a Las Vegas residency show at Caesars Palace called Mariah Carey #1 to Infinity and completed her Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour across Europe.
She performed at the New Year's Eve countdown show, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest, on December 31, 2016. This performance was not received well by viewers. Her in-ear monitors were not working, which led her to walk around the stage and eventually lip-sync "We Belong Together".
On February 3, 2017, she released a new single, "I Don't", featuring rapper YG. Footage was shown of Carey recording the song on her docuseries, Mariah's World. In October 2017, a new song, "The Star", was released for the soundtrack of a film of the same name.
During Christmas 2017, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reached a new high of #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Carey again performed at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest on New Year's Eve 2017. This performance was much more acclaimed than the one of the previous year. The song finally reached number one for the week ending December 19, 2019. It became Carey's nineteenth US number-one, continuing her record of the most number-ones in the US by a soloist.
Carey revealed that she had joined rapper JAY-Z's company, Roc Nation, for management.
In 2020, Carey announced that she would be releasing an autobiography, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, on September 29, 2020. She is also releasing a compilation album, The Rarities, on October 2, 2020.
Personal life
During the release of Glitter, Carey suffered a breakdown and was put in the hospital for exhaustion.
Carey married Nick Cannon in April 2008. They have two children, twins Moroccan and Monroe. They separated in 2014, with Cannon filing for divorce, which was finalized in 2016.
Carey became engaged to Australian billionaire James Packer in 2016. However, Carey's E! docuseries, Mariah's World, showed their breakup while she was on the Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour.
She dated her backup dancer, Bryan Tanaka, on and off from November 2016 until April 2017 before resuming their relationship later in 2017.
In November 2017, Carey was accused of sexual harassment by a former security official, Michael Anello. On April 18, 2018, Carey was accused of sexual harassment by a former manager Stella Stolper. Carey denies the allegations.
Movies
Discography
Albums
Mariah Carey (1990)
Emotions (1991)
Music Box (1993)
Merry Christmas (1994)
Daydream (1995)
Butterfly (1997)
Rainbow (1999)
Glitter (2001)
Charmbracelet (2002)
The Emancipation of Mimi (2005)
E=MC² (2008)
Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (2009)
Merry Christmas II You (2010)
Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (2014)
Caution (2018)
Singles
Notes
References
Books
Hardy, Phil. The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music: Fully Revised Third Edition (2001). pg. 156–157. UK: Faber and Faber Limited. .
Mulholland, Garry. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (2003). pg. 57. UK: Flame Tree Publishing. .
Fred Bronson's Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, 5th Edition ()
Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Sixties ()
Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Nineties ()
Additional information concerning Carey's chart history can be retrieved and verified in Billboard's online archive services and print editions of the magazine.
Other websites
People from New York
Living people
Actors from New York
African American actors
African-American singers
American philanthropists
Grammy Award winners
American contemporary R&B singers
American R&B singers
American pop musicians
American pop singers
American hip hop singers
American soul musicians
Singers from New York
1969 births
1970 births |
Andrology is the study of male health, especially male sexual organs and reproduction.
It is similar to the study of women's health, called gynaecology. Andrology has only been studied since the late 1960s. The first specialist journal on the subject was the German periodical Andrologie, published from 1969 onwards.
Men are more susceptible to heart disease than women. They also usually have a slightly shorter natural average life span. However, men get many conditions, such as osteoporosis, less than women.
Notes
Other websites
International Society of Andrology
The World of Andrology
Medical specialties |
Events
Erasmus: Enchiridion militis chritiani ("Handbook of the Christian Soldier").
Births
August 12 – Christian III of Denmark and Norway |
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933. He was a world-famous mining engineer and humanitarian administrator. As a United States Commerce Secretary in the 1920s under Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted economic modernization. Soon after he became president, the Great Depression started. Many people blamed Hoover for not doing enough to help people during that time.
Before the presidency
He was born in West Branch, Iowa. He is the first president born west of the Mississippi River.
Herbert Hoover was a businessman. He was the United States Secretary of Commerce. In 1927, Hoover appeared in the first public demonstration of television broadcast.
Hoover and his wife learned Mandarin Chinese while he worked in China. They used it in the White House so the White House staff wouldn't understand them.
Presidency
A couple months after he was elected, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression was beginning.
Unlike Andrew Mellon and Calvin Coolidge who believed that the federal government should keep its hands off the economy, Herbert Hoover believed that some action from the federal government is necessary.
While he opposed a welfare state which would give money to people for doing nothing, he wanted to create jobs through several government programs, including the construction of a huge dam which would be later named Hoover Dam.
The federal government received less money in tax revenues because of the bad economy, and the government was spending more money than it was taking in, so Hoover tried to increase the government's revenue to balance the budget. He signed the Revenue Act of 1932, which was a large tax increase. He also signed the largest tariff (a tax on goods that are traded between foreign countries and the United States) increase in American history which worsened the Great Depression, even though 1000 economists warned him not to sign that.
Hoover denied giving promised retirement money to poor World War 1 veterans (called the Bonus Army) earlier than what was agreed to, so they went on strike. Hoover ordered the United States army to force them to leave. It resulted in a bloody conflict which hurt Hoover's reputation.
Hoover was uncharismatic and did not relate to the people well, which made many people consider him as mean-spirited.
Hoover supported the very unpopular prohibition of alcohol, and did not want to make alcohol legal.
While Hoover did support some government involvement in the economy, he was against Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, because he thought it called for too much government involvement in the economy.
Due to his failure to fix the Great Depression, he lost the 1932 election to Franklin Roosevelt.
Death
Hoover died at the age of 90 in his suite in New York City from gastrointestinal bleeding caused by colorectal cancer.
References
Other websites
Hoover's White House biography
Claus Bernet: Herbert Hoover, in: BBKL, 30, 2009, 644-653: http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/h/hoover_h_c.shtml
1874 births
1964 deaths
Deaths from gastrointestinal hemorrhage
Deaths from colorectal cancer
Cancer deaths in New York City
US Republican Party politicians
World War I
Presidents of the United States
Quakers
United States Secretaries of Commerce
Politicians from Iowa
20th-century American politicians |
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831– September 19, 1881) was an American politician. He was the 20th president of the United States from March to September 1881. Before he became president, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1863 to 1881.
He was the second president to be assassinated (killed while in office). Four months into his presidency, on July 2, he was shot by Charles J. Guiteau. The wound was not immediately fatal, but the infections became worse and he died on September 19, 1881. For almost half that time he was bedridden as a result of that shot.
Early life
Garfield was born in Orange Township, now Moreland Hills, Ohio. His father died in 1833, when James Abram was 18 months old. He grew up cared for by his mother and an uncle.
Education
In Orange Township, Garfield attended school, a predecessor of the Orange City Schools. From 1851 to 1854, he attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later named Hiram College] in Hiram, Ohio. He then transferred to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he was a brother of Delta Upsilon. He graduated in 1856 as an outstanding student who enjoyed all subjects except chemistry. He then taught at the Eclectic Institute. He was an instructor in classical languages for the 1856-1857 academic year, and was made principal of the Institute from 1857 to 1860.
Personal life
On November 11, 1858, he married Lucretia Rudolph. They had seven children (five sons and two daughters): Eliza A. Garfield (1860-63); Harry A. Garfield (1863-1942); James R. Garfield (1865-1950); Mary Garfield (1867-1947); Irvin M. Garfield (1870-1951); Abram Garfield (1872-1958); and Edward Garfield (1874-76). One son, James Rudolph Garfield, followed him into politics and became Secretary of the Interior under President Theodore Roosevelt. Garfield could write in Greek with his left hand and Latin with his right hand at the same time.
Career
Garfield decided that the academic life was not for him and studied law privately. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1860. Even before admission to the bar, he entered politics. He was elected an Ohio state senator in 1859, serving until 1861. He was a Republican all his political life. He was a general in the American Civil War, and fought in the Battle of Shiloh and the Chattanooga Campaign.
Assassination
Garfield became President on March 4, 1881 and was shot in Washington, D.C. on July 2. Garfield was shot in the back by Charles J. Guiteau at about 9:30 am. Guiteau helped Garfield's campaign for president, and then asked for a job when he won, but the president told him no. He was less than four months in term as the 20th President of the United States. Garfield died eleven weeks later on September 19, 1881, aged 49. The 31st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives James G. Blaine was at Garfield's side when he was shot down. At this time, it was not common for the president of the United States to have bodyguards, although Lincoln had protection during the civil war.
Vice President Chester A. Arthur became President when Garfield died. Guiteau was tried for murder, and many thought he would be found not guilty because he was insane. He was actually found guilty and hanged for the murder, reading a poem before he walked up the gallows. It is now believed Garfield was in fact killed because of his doctors, who stuck their fingers inside his wounds while treating him and causing a bad infection. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, tried to locate the bullet with a primitive metal detector, but failed because the bed was lined with steel wire (which he did not know). While Garfield was still alive, news of his condition was broadcasted across the country by telegraph, which was something new.
In a 2013 medical journal article, the historical record in regards to Garfield's assassination and death has been questioned, with the new argument being that the deterioration in President Garfield's condition from late July 1881 was actually caused by his doctors accidentally injuring and making a hole in his bladder, thus resulting in President Garfield getting cholecystitis.
References
Other websites
Garfield's White House biography
1831 births
1881 deaths
United States representatives from Ohio
US Republican Party politicians
Assassinated presidents of the United States
Deaths by firearm
19th-century American politicians |
Robert Reed (October 19, 1932 – May 12, 1992) was an American actor. He is best known for his role as Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch. He also played major roles in The Defenders and Rich Man, Poor Man. He was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards during the 1970s.
Reed was born John Robert Rietz in Highland Park, Illinois. He also grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma and Navasota, Texas.
Reed was gay but kept this private. He died on May 12, 1992, in Pasadena, California. He was 59 years old. His death was originally said to have been caused by colon cancer. It was later revealed to have been hastened by HIV.
References
Other websites
Actors from Illinois
American movie actors
American stage actors
American television actors
Cancer deaths in California
Deaths from AIDS
Deaths from colorectal cancer
Gay men
LGBT actors
LGBT people from Illinois
LGBT people from Oklahoma
LGBT people from Texas
People from Highland Park, Illinois
Infectious disease deaths in California
1932 births
1992 deaths |
The word dishwasher means either the person who washes (cleans) dishes or a machine that does the same thing. A person could wash dishes either by hand or by operating a dish washing machine.
Occupations
Home appliances |
John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States. He was the first president who was a son of a president. Also, Adams was the first president to be photographed, instead of painted.
Adams was a Federalist and served in the administrations of all the presidents that preceded him. He was Secretary of State under James Monroe, his predecessor as president. He began his service when he was just 27 in 1794 when he was named United States Minister to the Netherlands by President Washington.
Adams led the fight against slavery in Congress. In 1838, at age 71, he spoke for the African slaves of the slave ship Amistad. He won the case. He also challenged the constitutionality of the Gag Rule in Congress and saw through its removal in 1844 after an eight-year struggle against it.
Early life
He was born in 1767 in Braintree, Massachusetts. As a child he watched the Battle of Bunker Hill, a fight of the American Revolutionary War, from his family's farm. When his father, John Adams, traveled to Europe, John Quincy went with him as his secretary. He became good at speaking other languages. Aside from English, he was also fluent in Latin and French, and had partial knowledge of Dutch, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and Russian.
Education
He went to Harvard College and became a lawyer. At age 26, he was appointed Minister to the Netherlands and then he went to Berlin. In 1802, he was elected to the United States Senate. Six years later, President James Madison appointed him as Minister to Russia.
As Secretary of State when James Monroe was President, Adams organized joint control of Oregon with the United Kingdom and helped get Florida from Spain. He also helped make the Monroe Doctrine.
Abolitionist
In the 1830s, slavery emerged as an increasingly polarizing issue in the United States. A longtime opponent of slavery, Adams used his new role in Congress to fight it, and he became the most prominent national leader opposing slavery. After one of his reelection victories, he said that he must "bring about a day prophesied when slavery and war shall be banished from the face of the earth." He wrote in his private journal in 1820:The discussion of this Missouri question has betrayed the secret of their souls. In the abstract they admit that slavery is an evil, they disclaim it, and cast it all upon the shoulder of…Great Britain. But when probed to the quick upon it, they show at the bottom of their souls pride and vainglory in their condition of masterdom. They look down upon the simplicity of a Yankee's manners, because he has no habits of overbearing like theirs and cannot treat negroes like dogs. It is among the evils of slavery that it taints the very sources of moral principle. It establishes false estimates of virtue and vice: for what can be more false and heartless than this doctrine which makes the first and holiest rights of humanity to depend upon the color of the skin?In 1836, partially in response to Adams's consistent presentation of citizen petitions requesting the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, the House of Representatives imposed a "gag rule" that immediately tabled any petitions about slavery. The rule was favored by Democrats and Southern Whigs but was largely opposed by Northern Whigs like Adams.
In late 1836, Adams began a campaign to ridicule slave owners and the gag rule. He frequently attempted to present anti-slavery petitions, often in ways that provoked strong reactions from Southern representatives. Though the gag rule remained in place, the discussion ignited by his actions and the attempts of others to quiet him raised questions of the right to petition, the right to legislative debate, and the morality of slavery. Adams fought actively against the gag rule for another seven years, eventually moving the resolution that led to its repeal in 1844.
In 1841, at the request of Lewis Tappan and Ellis Gray Loring, Adams joined the case of United States v. The Amistad. Adams went before the Supreme Court on behalf of African slaves who had revolted and seized the Spanish ship Amistad. Adams appeared on February 24, 1841, and spoke for four hours. His argument succeeded; the Court ruled in favor of the Africans, who were declared free and returned to their homes.
Presidency
Adams was elected president by the United States House of Representatives after the 1824 United States presidential election gave nobody a majority of electoral votes. People who wanted Andrew Jackson to win said there was a deal between Adams and Speaker of the House Henry Clay; Adams had made Clay his Secretary of State.
Adams passed law for U.S. improvements as part of what he called the "American System." This means he created roads, canals, and used high tariffs, or taxes on imports. Among his proposals were the creation of a national university, a naval academy, and a national astronomical observatory. Adams fought Congress many times as many supporters of Andrew Jackson did not like his support of a national bank and tariffs.
Adams lost the 1828 election to Jackson. The election was noted for the personal attacks made by the candidates against each other.
Later life
Adams returned to Massachusetts for a short time after he was lost. He returned to Washington D.C. in 1831 after being elected to the United States House of Representatives. He was a leading opponent of slavery. He remained in Congress until the day of his death on February 23, 1848.
Death
On February 21, 1848, Adams suffered a stroke in the House chamber. He collapsed and died in the House two days later on February 23, 1848. He was eighty years old. It was the 7th (and arguably the most significant) death of a US president.
References
1767 births
1848 deaths
Deaths from stroke
Presidents of the United States
Deans of the United States House of Representatives
United States Secretaries of State
Children of Presidents of the United States
United States senators from Massachusetts
United States representatives from Massachusetts
Ambassadors of the United States
Federalist party (US) politicians
Democratic Republican party (US) politicians
National Republican party (US) politicians
Whig party (US) politicians
19th-century American politicians |
Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor. He and Dennis Hopper starred in the motorcycle movies, The Wild Angels and Easy Rider. He appeared in many other movies, including Ulee's Gold, in which he was nominated for an Academy Award, Thomas and the Magic Railroad and The Passion of Ayn Rand.
Personal life
Fonda wrote an autobiography, Don't Tell Dad: A Memoir, which was published in 1998. He had a home in Paradise Valley, Montana in 1975. Fonda died of respiratory failure and lung cancer on August 16, 2019.
Filmography
References
Other websites
Official Website: www.peterfonda.com
1940 births
2019 deaths
Actors from New York City
Actors from Omaha, Nebraska
American movie actors
American political activists
American screenwriters
American stage actors
American television actors
American voice actors
Cancer deaths in Los Angeles
Deaths from lung cancer
Deaths from respiratory failure
Democrats (United States)
Disease-related deaths in Los Angeles
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Movie directors from New York City
Screenwriters from New York City
Writers from Nebraska |
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American television, movie, stage, and voice actor, artist, photographer, writer, movie director, and an art collector. He has appeared in many movies and television shows, since the 1950s.
Early life
Hopper was born on May 17, 1936 in Dodge City, Kansas. He spent his life in Kansas City, Missouri and in San Diego, California. Hopper studied to be an actor at Helix High School and at the Actors' Studio. Hopper has two brothers.
Career
Hopper is probably best known for directing, co-writing, and starring in the Oscar-nominated movie Easy Rider (1969). In 1994, Hopper had a role in the thriller movie Speed. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Personal life
Hopper was married to Brooke Hayward from 1961 until they divorced in 1969. Hopper was then married to Michelle Phillips from 1970 until they divorced weeks later. He was married to Daria Halprin from 1972 until they divorced. He was later married to Katherine LaNasa from 1989 until they divorced in 1992. Hopper was married to Victoria Duffy from 1998 until they divorced in 2010, months before his death. Hopper had 3 daughters and a son.
Lawsuit
Hopper once insulted actor Rip Torn after he said "Texans are hippie-hatting rednecks" and was sued for a total of $475,000 dollars.
Illness and death
On October 29, 2009, his manager announced that Hopper had prostate cancer. He was terminally ill. He died of the disease on May 29, 2010 in Venice, California. He was 74. He was buried at Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. Alpha and Omega was his last movie and was dedicated to his memory.
References
Other websites
Actors from Kansas
Actors from Kansas City, Missouri
Actors from San Diego, California
American painters
American movie actors
American photographers
American sculptors
American stage actors
American television actors
American voice actors
Cancer deaths in Los Angeles
Deaths from prostate cancer
People from Dodge City, Kansas
Movie directors from California
Movie directors from Missouri
Writers from California
Writers from Kansas
Writers from Missouri
1936 births
2010 deaths |
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Two of his best-known songs are "I Saw The Light" and "Hello It's Me". Both were on his 1971 album Something/Anything?. Most of the songs on that album were performed by Rundgren alone, using multitrack recorders and playing many musical instruments.
Apple Records hired Rundgren to produce an album, Straight Up, for the band Badfinger during 1971. Badfinger had not heard of Rundgren and did not know his music, until they bought copies of some of his records. They liked what they heard, and when Rundgren met the band, they got along well, and worked well together.
In the early 2000s, Rundgren replaced Ric Ocasek as bandleader of The Cars, when they reunited to tour.
Actress Liv Tyler used to believe that Rundgren was her father.
References
1948 births
Living people
American record producers
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American singer-songwriters
Singers from Pennsylvania |
1066 was a year which brought great changes in England. The land had four kings during the year. The year started under Anglo-Saxon rule, and ended under Norman rule. This was the only occasion since Roman Britain when the entire country was successfully invaded.
There were four kings during the year: Edward the Confessor (to 5 January 1066), Harold Godwinson (to 14 October 1066), Edgar the Ætheling (to 10 December 1066), and finally William I, Duke of Normandy.
Events
6 January – Harold II crowned King of England
25 September – Harold II defeats Tostig and Harald Hardraada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Tostig and Harald Hardraada are killed
14 October – At the Battle of Hastings William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy) defeats Harold. Harold is killed. In England, this heralds the start of the Middle Ages.
The Viking port of Hedeby, a town on the Baltic Sea, is destroyed by Slavs.
Deaths
4 or 5 January – King Edward the Confessor of England dies
25 September – killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge:
King Harald III of Norway (b. 1015)
Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northumbria
14 October – killed at the Battle of Hastings:
King Harold II of England
Leofwine Godwinson, brother of King Harold II
Gyrth Godwinson, brother of King Harold II
John Scotus (bishop of Mecklenburg (Johannes Skotus) (born around 990)
10 November – Sacrificed to Radegast: |
Events
July 8 – Vasco da Gama leaves Lisbon, Portugal for is first trip through the Cape of Good Hope to India.
Spanish Empire: Melilla is captured by Castile.
Girolamo Savonarola, priest and leader of Florence, Italy burns what he believes is immoral art in Piazza della Signoria. Savonarola is excommunicated and burned alive in that same location later in the same year.
Deaths
February 6 – Johannes Ockeghem, Belgian composer (b. 1410) |
Events
January 15 – Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
March 23 – Emperor Gelawdewos of Ethiopia, defending his lands against the invasion of Nur ibn Mujahid, Sultan of Harar, is killed in battle. His brother Menas succeeds him as king.
April 3 – Peace of Cateau Cambrésis – France makes peace with England and Spain. France gives up most of its gains in Italy (including Savoy), keeping only Saluzzo, but keeps the three Lorraine bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and the formerly English town of Calais.
July 10 – Francis II becomes King of France following the death of his father, Henry II in a jousting accident.
End of the Italian Wars.
The Decameron expurgated.
A royal edict in France makes heresy punishable by death.
Elizabeth I establishes the Church of England, with the Act of Uniformity 1559 and the Act of Supremacy 1559. |
Events
January 16 – English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism
April 4 – After going around the world Sir Francis Drake is knighted by Elizabeth I.
July 26 – The Northern Netherlands becomes free from Spain in the Oath of Abjuration.
Births
January 4 – James Ussher, Anglo-Irish priest and scholar
February 17 – Fausto Poli, Italian Catholic priest
March 16 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian
October 9 – Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician
October 21 – Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter
Deaths
April 25 – Okabe Motonobu, Japanese warrior
May 31 – Jan Kostka, Polish noble
June 2 – James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, regent of Scotland
July 11 – Peder Skram, Danish senator and naval officer
July 22 – Richard Cox, English bishop
August 21 – Sakuma Nobumori, Japanese retainer and samurai
September 1 – Guru Ram Das, fourth Sikh Guru
September 30 – Hubert Languet, French diplomat and reformer
October 9 – Saint Louis Bertrand, Spanish missionary to Latin-America, patron saint of Colombia
October 23 – Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer
November 7 – Richard Davies, Welsh bishop and scholar |
Events
February 2 – Battle of Diu took place near Diu, India.
April 22 – Henry VIII becomes King of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.
April 27 – Pope Julius II places Venice under interdict and excommunication for refusing to cede part of Romagna under Papal control
May 14 – Battle of Agnadello – French forces defeat the Venetians.
June 11 – Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon
June 24 – King Henry VIII of England's and Queen consort's Catherine of Aragon coronation ceremony. |
Events
April 17 – Martin Luther speaks to the assembly at the Diet of Worms, refusing to recant his teachings.
May 17 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason.
August 13 – The ruler of the Aztec Empire surrenders to Spanish conquistadors. This ends the Aztec Empire.
August 29 – The Ottoman Turks capture Nándorfehérvár, now known as Belgrade
Births
July – Juan Ponce Enrile (b. 1460)
August 4 – Pope Urban VII (d. 1590)
Deaths
April 21 – Ferdinand Magellan (b. 1480)
References |
al-Qaeda (, al-qāʿidah, "the base"), is an armed Islamic group that was started between August 1988 and late 1989.p75 It works as a network, as a stateless army, and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad. Most of the world thinks it is a Takfiri and a terrorist organization.
Members of al-Qaeda have performed many acts of terrorism. Most of these have been done against the United States and Shias. Some of its most well-known attacks have been the September 11 attacks, the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the attack on the U.S. Navy ship USS Cole in 2000. al-Qaeda has done suicide attacks and simultaneous (at the same time) bombings of different targets.
Among al-Qaeda's goals is for other countries to stop influencing Muslim countries and for a new Islamic caliphate to be made. There have been reports that al-Qaeda believes that Christian and Jewish Islamophobia is trying to destroy Islam and that the killing of bystanders and civilians is religiously justified in jihad.
There have been guesses that there are 500–1,000 operatives in Afghanistan and around 5,000 worldwide. However, there is no confirmation of this.
History
In June 2001, al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which had been associated with each other for many years, merged into 'Qaeda al-Jihad'.
"...the members of Islamic Jihad and its guiding figure Ayman al-Zawahiri have provided the backbone of [al-Quaeda's] leadership. According to officials in the C.I.A. and the F.B.I., Zawahiri has been responsible for much of the planning of the terrorist operations against the United States".
Death of Osama Bin Laden Laden and current leadership
Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri is the highest-ranking surviving member of al-Qaeda's leadership after Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011.
Death of Abu Yahya al-Libi
Senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone strike on June 4, 2012. He ranked second to Ayman al-Zawahiri at the time. The strike was carried out in the northwest tribal area of Waziristan. The Pakistan Government has protested to the U.S. about the strike.
References
Other websites
Council on Foreign Relations al-Qaeda
1980s establishments
Rebel militia groups
Shiaphobia
Sunni organizations |
Events
Battle of Gettysburg
Founded Red Cross.
Births
January 17 – David Lloyd George, British politician; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1945)
April 5 – Victoria of the United Kingdom, British royal (died 1950)
June 19 – John Goodall, English footballer (died 1942)
July 30 – Henry Ford, American businessman; founder of Ford Motor Company (died 1947) |
1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
Art, music, theatre, literature
October 15 – Little Nemo in Slumberland debuts in American newspapers.
A Little Princess is published
Events
January 22 – "Bloody Sunday" in St. Petersburg (Russia). First Russian Revolution has started.
April 1 – SOS, the Morse code signal for distress, is created by Germany.
June 7 – Norway becomes an independent country.
October 28 – Cardiff, Wales becomes a city in the United Kingdom.
Albert Einstein publishes his special theory of relativity.
A workers' revolt, supported by the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin, takes place in Odessa, Russia.
Births
January 2 – Michael Tippett, English composer (d. 1998)
February 2 – Ayn Rand, American writer (d. 1982)
March 9 – Rex Warner, English writer (d. 1986)
May 16 – Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)
June 21 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher (d. 1980)
July 29 – Clara Bow, American actress (d. 1965)
July 29 – Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish United Nations Secretary-General (d. 1961)
August 24 – Arthur Crudup, American blues musician (d. 1976)
August 25 – Faustyna Kowalska, Polish nun and mystic (d. 1938)
September 18 – Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (d. 1990)
December 5 – John Whedon, American screenwriter (d. 1991)
December 11 – Erskine Hamilton Childers, 4th President of Ireland (d. 1974)
December 21 – Anthony Powell, English writer (d. 2000)
December 22 – Kenneth Rexroth, American poet (d. 1982)
Deaths
March 24 – Jules Verne, French writer (b. 1828)
nv:1901 – 1950 |
Events
Last year of Tsar Nicolas II of Russia's reign.
Russian Revolutions (Russia goes communist)
The United States declares war on Germany (for World War I)
Influenza pandemic
Births
January 5 - Jane Wyman, American actress (d. 2007)
January 12 - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian spiritual leader (d. 2008)
January 24 - Ernest Borgnine, American actor (d. 2012)
January 25 - Ilya Prigogine, Belgian chemist (d. 2003)
February 4 – Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, Last President of United Pakistan (d. 1980)
February 6 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian American actress
February 14 - Herbert Hauptman, American mathematician and Nobel laureate in Chemistry (d. 2011)
March 20 - Vera Lynn, British singer
March 27 - Cyrus Vance, United States Secretary of State (d. 2002)
April 6 - Leonora Carrington, British-Mexican painter (d. 2011)
April 17 - Bill Clements, Governor of Texas (d. 2011)
April 22 - Sidney Nolan, Australian painter (d. 1992)
April 25 - Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (d. 1996)
April 26 - I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect
April 26 - Virgil Trucks, American baseball player
April 29 - Celeste Holm, American actress (d. 2012)
May 29 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)
June 3 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (d. 1969)
June 6 - Kirk Kerkorian, American businessman
June 9 - Eric Hobsbawm, British historian (d. 2012)
June 30 - Lena Horne, American singer (d. 2010)
July 14 - Arthur Laurents, American playwright (d. 2011)
July 17 - Phyllis Diller, American actress and comedienne (d. 2012)
August 6 - Robert Mitchum, American actor (d. 1997)
August 30 - Denis Healey, British politician
September 11 - Herbert Lom, Czech-born British actor (d. 2012)
September 11 - Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (d. 1989)
September 14 - Ettore Sottsass, Italian architect and designer (d. 2007)
October 2 - Christian de Duve, biochemist
October 20 - Stephane Hessel, French politician (d. 2013)
October 21 - Dizzy Gillespie, American musician (d. 1993)
October 22 - Joan Fontaine, American actress
November 2 - Ann Rutherford, American actress (d. 2012)
November 7 - Helen Suzman, South African political activist (d. 2009)
November 19 - Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
November 20 - Robert Byrd, American politician (d. 2010)
November 22 - Andrew Huxley, British scientist (d. 2012)
December 16 - Arthur C. Clarke, British writer (d. 2008)
December 28 - Ellis Clarke, 1st President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2010)
Deaths
January 2 – Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
January 10 – William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), American frontiersman (b. 1846)
January 16 – George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
February 5 – Jaber II Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1860)
February 10 – John William Waterhouse, Italian-born artist (b. 1849)
March 8 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (b. 1838)
March 17 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
March 31 – Emil von Behring, German winner of the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1854)
April 1 – Scott Joplin, American musician and composer (b. 1868)
April 14 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (b. 1859)
May 17 – Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak (b. 1829)
May 20 – Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
June 30 – Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (b. 1861)
July 27 – Emil Kocher, Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1841)
August 13 – Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
August 20 – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
August 30 – Alan Leo, British astrologer (b. 1860)
September 27 – Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
October 13 – Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (b. 1888)
October 15 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (executed) (b. 1876)
October 23 – Eugène Grasset, Swiss artist (b. 1845)
October 28 – Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1831)
November 8 – Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)
November 11 – Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai'i (b. 1838)
November 17 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (b. 1840)
December 8 – Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian Yiddish and Hebrew writer (b. 1836)
December 10 – Mackenzie Bowell, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1824) |
1915 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
The Birth of a Nation is released.
April 15 – Armenian Genocide
Births
February 1 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer (d. 2000)
April 21 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor, painter and writer (d. 2001)
April 27 – Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet (d. 1984)
May 6 – Orson Welles, American movie director, screenwriter and actor (d. 1985)
June 4 - Walter Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2006)
June 28 – David Honeyboy Edwards, American blues guitarist and singer
July 28 - Frankie Yankovic, American polka musician (d. 1998)
August 29 – Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (d. 1982)
September 6 – Franz Josef Strauß, German politician (d. 1988)
October 7 – Charles Templeton, Canadian cartoonist and television evangelist (d. 2001)
October 24 – Bob Kane, American cartoonist (d. 1998)
November 25 – Augusto Pinochet, Chilean ruler (d. 2006)
December 12 – Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (d. 1998)
December 19 – Édith Piaf, French singer (d. 1963)
Deaths
April 27 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (b. 1872)
November 14 – Booker T. Washington, American inventor, educator, and writer (b. 1856) |
Tallinn is the capital of Estonia. It is on the north-eastern coast of Estonia and borders the Gulf of Finland. The city is next to many lakes. The largest of these lakes is called Lake Ülemiste, and most Tallinnites get their drinking water from this lake.
Tallinn's Old Town, which is the historic town center, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
History
Tallinn first appeared on a map in 1154, when the cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi, calling the city Qlwn, added it to his map of the world. After being conquered by the Danes, the city was known as Reval until Estonia became an independent nation in the 1920s.
In 1285, the city became a part of the Hanseatic League. As a result, in the Middle Ages Tallinn was an important stop on the trade routes between Europe and Russia. During its history Estonia has been ruled at times by Sweden and by Russia. It became independent in 1918 after World War I, but after World War II it was ruled by the USSR. In March 1944 Tallinn was bombed by Soviet Air Force, killing 436 civilians and totally destroying 5073 buildings. Since 1991, Tallinn has been the capital of an independent Estonia.
Today more than 400,000 people live in Tallinn, which is one third of the population of Estonia. It is a big sea port. Its food and textile industries are important. The town has many pretty, old buildings.
Climate
The chart below shows the climate of Tallinn.
Gallery
References
World Heritage Sites in Europe |
Lombardy (/ˈlɒmbərdi, ˈlʌm-/ LOM-bər-dee, LUM-; Italian: Lombardia [lombarˈdiːa]; Lombard: Lombardia, Western Lombard: [lũbɐ̞rˈdiːɑ], Eastern Lombard: [lombɐ̞rˈdiːɑ, -ˈdeːɑ]) is a region in the northern part of Italy. It is the most populated region of the country, and has almost 9.4 million people. The capital is Milan. Lombardy has provinces within it.
To the north of Lombardy is the country of Switzerland (Canton Ticino e Grigioni). To the west is the region of Piedmont. To the east are the regions of Veneto and Trentino - Alto Adige. To the south is the region of Emilia-Romagna.
Name
In the Italian language, Lombardy is called Lombardia. This name comes from an old German word: Langbardland and means "country of the Lombards".
Geography
In the north of Lombardy there are very high mountains, (40% of the territory is mountains) the highest mountains are almost 4.000 meters in the Bernina Range.
In the south of the region flows the Po river, which is the longest river in Italy. The most important rivers are the Adda river, the Mincio and the Ticino river, all of them end in the Po river.
There are also a lot of lakes, the largest are the lake Maggiore, the Lake of Varese, the lake Como, and the lake Garda.
Provinces
Lombardy is divided into 12 provinces:
Bergamo
Brescia
Como
Cremona
Lecco
Lodi
Mantova
Milano
Monza e Brianza
Pavia
Sondrio
Varese
References
Other websites
Official Site (IT) |
Italy is a country in the south of Europe. It is divided into 20 regions. A region is a part of the country with a government and a president.
In Italy, regions can decide some things. They can give money to local business. They can decide some things about hospitals, schools, and transport.
In some regions, people speak other languages. In Alto Adige/Südtirol a lot of people speak mainly German. So this region is "special" and can decide more things.
Sardinia and Sicily are islands. They have different problems than other regions. They have also some different laws.
These regions are called "regions with special laws" ().
List of the regions
Every region has a capital. Here is the list of the regions, the capital and other information. |
Events
February 6 – A large demonstration about unemployment at Trafalgar Square led to riots at Pall Mall
March 1 - Anglo-Chinese School was founded in Singapore by Bishop William Oldham.
April 6 – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada becomes a city.
October 4 – Johannesburg, South Africa was founded.
October 28 – France gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States
Births
January 1 – Garegin Njdeh, Armenian politician (d. 1955)
January 30 – Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao, Spanish writer (d. 1950)
March 18 - Edward Everett Horton, American actor (d. 1970)
April 26 – Gabdulla Tukay, Tatar poet (d. 1913)
May 3 – Marcel Dupré, French composer (d. 1971)
September 13 - Alain LeRoy Locke, American writer (d. 1954)
October 16 – David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel(d. 1973)
October 16 – Armin T. Wegner, German writer and polictical activist (d. 1978)
December 8 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (d. 1957)
Deaths
July 31 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer (b. 1811)
May 15 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (b. 1830)
November 18 – Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States (b. 1829)
Books
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
Little Lord Fauntleroy - Frances Hodgson Burnett |
Vladimir Nabokov (April 22, 1899 – July 2, 1977) was a Russian-American author. He wrote his first books in Russian, and after he moved to the United States, he wrote in English. His most famous book is Lolita, but others have also become famous, such as Pnin, Pale Fire, and Ada or Ardor.
Nabokov was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the first of five children. In 1919, he and his family went to Europe. In 1945, he became an American citizen. He died in Montreux, Switzerland.
Life
Nabokov's father was a lawyer and politician. As a child, Vladimir learned Russian, English, and French. After the October Revolution, the family moved a few times, but settled in Berlin in 1920. Two years later, his father was shot and killed by mistake, because he had blocked the person the gunman was trying to murder. His mother and sister moved to Prague, but Vladimir stayed in Berlin. He wrote for other Russians who had left Russia to live there. He met Véra Slonin, a woman from a Jewish-Russian family, in 1923. They married in 1925. In 1934, they had their only child, Dmitri.
In 1937, Nabokov started to look for another job. He left for France that year, and his family followed. They all fled to America in 1940, except his brother Sergei, who died in a Nazi concentration camp.
Butterflies
Nabokov was an expert on butterflies. As a child he had read books by entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian which he found in the attic of his family's country home in Vyra.
During the 1940s, he was a research fellow in zoology. He organized the butterfly collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. His specialty was the tribe Polyommatini of the family Lycaenidae.
The genus Nabokovia was named after him in honor of this work, as were a number of butterfly and moth species (e.g. many species in the genera Madeleinea and Pseudolucia have names alluding to Nabokov or names from his novels). In 1967, Nabokov commented: "The pleasures and rewards of literary inspiration are nothing beside the rapture of discovering a new organ under the microscope or an undescribed species on a mountainside in Iran or Peru. It is not improbable that had there been no revolution in Russia, I would have devoted myself entirely to lepidopterology and never written any novels at all".
Related pages
List of Russian language poets
List of Russian-language novelists
List of Russian novelists
References
Other websites
Nabokov Library (in Russian and English)
1899 births
1977 deaths
American novelists
Disease-related deaths in Switzerland
Writers from Saint Petersburg
Russian novelists |
Abingdon is a town in England. It is in the Thames Valley in southern England, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south of Oxford. It is the seat (place of the government) of the Vale of White Horse district in Oxfordshire. Abingdon was once the county town of Berkshire. It is one of several places which claim to be Britain's oldest occupied town.
History
Abingdon is at a place where people were able to easily cross the Thames. The area has been lived in since the Bronze Age. The bridge over the Thames at Abingdon is more than 550 years old. Work started on the bridge in 1416, and it replaced an old wooden bridge.
The Abingdon Abbey was built in 675 AD by the Benedictines who called it Abbandun. By 1538 it was the sixth richest abbey in Britain. Most of it was destroyed after 1538 when King Henry VIII closed the monasteries. The gatehouse and several smaller buildings are still standing.
There is a market in Abingdon every Monday, which first started in 1556. A canal was built in 1810 to join Abingdon to other towns including London, Bristol and Birmingham. The canal was in use until 1906.
The MG motor cars were made in Abingdon for 50 years until the factory closed in 1980. However the headquarters of the MG Car Club are still in the town.
References
Towns in Oxfordshire
County towns in England |
Yeadon is a town near Leeds in England. It is in West Yorkshire and part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is home to Leeds Bradford International Airport.
Towns in West Yorkshire |
George Washington Carver (c. January 1860 – January 5, 1943) was an American educator, botanist (someone who works with plants), and inventor. He is best known for his work with peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other crops.
Carver's reputation is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, which also aided nutrition for farm families. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life.
The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers contained 105 food recipes using peanuts. He also developed and promoted about 100 products made from peanuts that were useful for the house and farm, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline, and nitroglycerin. He received numerous honors for his work, including the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP.
He was born into slavery in January 1864 in Diamond, Missouri. The exact date of his birth is unknown. He studied in Simpson College when he was 22. Much of Carver's fame is based on his research. He died on January 5, 1943 after a fall he had in his home in Tuskegee, Alabama on January 5, 1943.
References
1864 births
1943 deaths
Accidental deaths from falls in the United States
American activists
American adoptees
American botanists
American Christians
American inventors
Scientists from Missouri |
Deaths
January 25 - Domenico Sarro
April 25 – Anders Celsius |
The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE (708 AUC), was a reform of the Roman calendar. It was first used in 1 January 45 BCE. It was the main calendar in most of the world, until Pope Gregory replaced that with the Gregorian calendar in 4 October 1582.
During the 20th and 21st centuries, the date according to the Julian calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian date.
Year length; leap years
The Julian calendar has two types of year: common years of 365 days and leap years of 366 days. There is a simple cycle of three common years followed by a leap year and this pattern repeats forever. However, the rule was not followed in the first years after the of the reform in 45 BCE. Due to a counting error, every 3rd year was a leap year instead of the 4th. The leap years were:
45 BCE (709 AUC)
42 BCE (712 AUC)
39 BCE (715 AUC)
36 BCE (718 AUC)
33 BCE (721 AUC)
30 BCE (724 AUC)
27 BCE (727 AUC)
24 BCE (730 AUC)
21 BCE (733 AUC)
18 BCE (736 AUC)
15 BCE (739 AUC)
12 BCE (742 AUC)
9 BCE (745 AUC)
However, in 8 BCE (746 AUC), emperor Augustus Caesar corrected the problem. The next leap year was 7 CE (160 AUC).
Criticism
With the simple cycle, the length of the Julian year is exactly 365.25 days (365 days and 6 hours), but the actual time it takes for the Earth to go around the Sun once is closer to 365.2422 days (about 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds). This difference is about 365.25 - 365.2422 = 0.0078 days (11 minutes and 14 seconds) each year, although Greek astronomers knew that. This made the seasons get out of track, since the real first day of spring in western Europe (the equinox - day and night the same length) was happening earlier and earlier before the traditional 21 March as the centuries went by. By the 1500s, it was starting around 11 March, ten days 'too early' according to the calendar.
Reform
From Roman calendar
The first step of the reform was to realign the 25 December with the Winter solstice by making 46 BCE (708 AUC) 445 days long. In ordinary Roman calendar, the common year had 355 days and the leap year (one year after the common year) had 378 days. The 46 BCE was a leap year, according to the calendar. Julius Caesar added 67 more days by adding two extra months (those are called Prior and Posterior in letters of Cicero) between November and December.
References
Calendars |
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar that is used throughout most of the world. It began being used in 1582. It replaced the previous Julian calendar because the Julian calendar had an error: it added a leap year (with an extra day every four years) with no exceptions. The length of the Julian year was exactly 365.25 days (365 days and 6 hours), but the actual time it takes for the Earth to go around the Sun once is closer to 365.2425 days (about 365 days, 5 hours and 49 minutes). This difference is about eleven minutes each year.
This made the seasons get out of track with the calendar. For example as the centuries went by, the equinox (when day and night are the same length) was happening earlier and earlier than its traditional date, March 21. It was the calendar that was wrong, not the earth's orbit. By the 1500s, it was starting around March 11, ten days 'too early' according to the calendar. To farmers, this did not matter because they worked to the seasons rather than to the calendar. But it mattered a lot to the Christian church because the date of Easter is calculated from the equinox being on 21 March. So Pope Gregory XIII declared that the calendar must skip ten days in 1582.
To make sure that the mistake did not happen again, they revised the 'leap year rule'. Until then,every fourth year had February 29, without exception. The change was that there would be no February 29 for every year that ends in 00 - unless it could be divided by 400. So the year 2000 was a leap year, because it could be divided by 400, but 1700, 1800, and 1900 would be common years, with no February 29.
The official change took place the following October, when Thursday, 4th was followed by Friday, 15th.
Months
The months of the Gregorian calendar year are, in order:
January (31 days)
February (28 or 29 days)
March (31 days)
April (30 days)
May (31 days)
June (30 days)
July (31 days)
August (31 days)
September (30 days)
October (31 days)
November (30 days)
December (31 days)
If February has 28 days, then the year is 365 days long.
If February has 29 days, then the year is called a leap year and it is 366 days long. A leap year usually happens once every four years. The most recent leap year was 2020, and the next leap year is 2024.
Adoption
The Pope's instruction only applied to the Catholic Church, countries made their own laws. But Europe's Catholic countries decided to follow his lead. Spain, Portugal, and Italy started to use the new calendar on Friday, October 15, 1582, following Julian Thursday, October 4, 1582. In Europe's Protestant countries, people feared that the new calendar was an attempt by the Catholic Church to silence their movement. Since the Great Schism, Europe's Eastern Orthodox churches also ignored the Pope's decision and many continue to use the Julian calendar even today.
British Empire
The England and the rest of the British Empire (including what is now the USA and Canada) adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Because 1600 was a leap year in both calendars but the Julian calendar had a leap year in 1700 but the Gregorian calendar did not, this meant that eleven days needed to be skipped. Wednesday, September 2, 1752 was followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752.
Russia
In the USSR, the October Revolution of 1917 was celebrated in November. In 1917 the Russian Empire still used the old Julian calendar. Changing the calendar meant 365 days after the revolution started was now in November 1918.
Churches
In 1923 some Eastern Orthodox Churches changed to the Gregorian calendar. Christmas Day is the same as the Catholic and Protestant churches, but the date of Easter continues to be worked out differently.
The Russian Orthodox Church, as well as some other Eastern Orthodox Churches such as Georgian and Serbian, did not want this change, so Russian Christmas Day is about two weeks after the rest of Europe.
Japan
Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar's way of working out leap years on January 1, 1873, but the months have numbers instead of names. Japan also starts year one with each new reign, but uses reign names not the name an emperor might be best known by in the west. For example, the reign names Meiji year 1=1868, Taisho 1=1912, Showa (Emperor Hirohito) 1=1926, Heisei (Emperor Akihito) 1=1989, and so on. The "Western calendar" (西暦, seireki) using western year numbers, is also widely accepted by civilians and to a lesser extent by government agencies.
Old Calendar in Britain
Old Style and New Style dates
Some old dates in Britain were written and documented with two different years. This is because Britain did not start a new year until March 25, so for a few months it was one year in Britain and the next year in other countries.
The letters OS (for Old Style) and NS (for New Style) were used to help determine the year being used. For example, King Charles I died on January 30, 1649. In "Old Style" it is correct to say that Charles I died January 30, 1648 (OS). Using "New Style", as we determine dates now, the correct date and year would be February 9, 1649.
British Tax
In the old calendar, the year started on March 25, this was the Quarter Day when rents and taxes fell due. This became April 5 which is why the tax year in the United Kingdom begins on April 6.
Timeline
People sometimes use the term N.S. or New Style to mean the Gregorian calendar, with Old Style (or O.S.) meaning the Julian calendar.
Related pages
Julian calendar
Solar calendar
Notes
References
Calendars |
The Southern hemisphere is the half of Earth that is south of the equator. It has about 10 percent of world's population and only a small part of the world's land. A very small part of Asia, one-third of Africa, 90 percent of South America, and all of Australia and Antarctica are in this hemisphere.
Related pages
Northern hemisphere
Eastern Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
Seasons
Solstice and equinox
Equator
Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Capricorn
Arctic Circle
Antarctic Circle
Hemispheres |
Sufism (also known as Tassawuf) is a group or branch in Islam with a mystic path or system. Someone who practices Sufism is called a Sufi, and may be a Dervish or a Fakir.
Origins
At first, Sufism only meant making Islam more personal and internal. Some say it first came from constantly reciting the Qur'an, meditating, and through experience. Others believe that Sufism is trying to live as the Islamic prophet Muhammad did, to be closer to God. This is how the Prophet taught his disciples. Additionally, the Muslim conquests had brought large numbers of Christian monks and hermits, especially in Syria and Egypt, under Muslim rule. They believed in a deeply spiritual and mystical (even 'Platonic') way of life and many of their ways became part of early Sufism.
Some of these teachings were summarized in texts (in Arabic initially). Important contributions in writing are attributed to Uwais al-Qarni, Harrm bin Hian, Hasan Basri and Sayid ibn al-Mussib, who are regarded as among the first Sufis in the earliest generations of Islam. Harith al-Muhasibi was the first one to write about moral psychology. Rabia Basri was a Sufi known for her love and passion for God, expressed through her poetry. Bayazid Bastami was among the first theorists of Sufism.
Sufism already had a long history when some teachers began to set up formal schools or orders (Tarika or Tariqah) in the early Middle Ages. Almost all existing Sufi orders today trace their roots and chain of transmission (silsila) back to Muhammad, via one of these orders.
Sufi ideas and principles
The main idea in Sufism is that people can have 'personal knowledge' or oneness with God in their lives. In order to be one with God, you have to destroy your idea of yourself, or your ego. This is known as fanaa (annihilation). Apart from saying Sufi prayers, that vary according to different orders, you should be humble, considerate, and only act in order to control your desires.
After fanaa is achieved, the you are reborn to live with, in, through and for God, (baqaa, permanency). This is the state where you have achieved the divine love of God, and come ever closer to a unity with God. You should now strive to be one with God. A person who has crossed the various Sufi 'stages' and achieved this sort of mystic union with Allah, is called a Wali (a saint or friend of God) and the state is termed Wilayat (friendship/union).
Sufic Orders
In Sufism there exist many different orders (tarikas), that were founded from the 12th and 13th centuries until today/contemporary times. Some of the major Sufi orders are:
Qadiri or Qadiriyya;
Chishti or Chishtiyya;
Suhrawardi or Suhrawardiyya;
Naqshbandi or Naqshbandiyya;
Mevlevi or Mevleviyya;
Rifai or Rifaiyya;
Saifia or Saifiya;
Notable Sufis
Some of the major, notable Sufis in history, from the 'classical age' of Sufism, include:<ref>The classical reference volume which gives the biographies of most of the great early Sufi saints is Sheikh Farid-ud-din Attar's, Tazkirat al-Aulia'''' (A Mention/Remembrance of the Saints), English translation by Prof AJ Arberry, n.d.; the online version is available at http://www.maktabah.org/biography/sufi-saints/392-tazkirat-al-aulia-by-fariduddin-attar.html, Maktabah Islamic E-Librray site, Retrieved 2.10.2012</ref>
Uwais al-Qarni
Dhul Nun Misri
Junaid of Baghdad
Rabia Basri
Hasan Basri
Bayazid Bastami
Ibn ul-Arabi
Al-Ghazali
Abd al-Qadir al-Gillani
Ahmed Ar-Rifai
Shahab-ud-din Suhrawardi
Farid-ud-din Attar
Baha-ud-din Naqshband
Ali al-Hajvery
Jalal-ud-din Rumi
Moin-ud-din Chishti
Farid-ud-din Ganj Shakar
Nizam-ud-din Auliya
Lal Shahbaz Qalandar
Hakim Omar Khayyam
Modern practitioners, who have achieved the degree of sheikh (Master/Preceptor) and are accounted to have a high spiritual status, are still found in various places.
Sufism and Islamic orthodoxy
Sufi practices are usually defined within the basic tenets of Islam, the Sharia (or Shariah) although some orders include singing and dancing in the love of God, something some Muslims frown on. Hence some Muslims of a more orthodox mind-set believe that any actions outside the scope of Sharia, or Sufi activities practised by non-Muslims are 'wrong'. However the underlying message and aim of the quest for the love of God is true for all humanity. For a non-Muslim the most important ideas in Sufism are love for fellow human beings (which reflects one's love of God) and living ones life in such a way where all actions are against the self. This automatically starts him on the path of fanaa. In terms of discipleship and training, almost all the major Sufi orders are themselves quite willing to take students who are not Muslims.
There are some Muslim schools of thought, such as the Wahhabi for example, who oppose Sufism because they feel it obliterates the difference between God and man and bypasses the common method of salvation as prescribed by their interpretations of Sharia. Although there are non-Islamic versions of Sufism too (generally defined as 'Universal Sufism') puritanical and rigid people in Islam tend to view them with considerable hatred and anger. As a result, we often see a great deal of misunderstanding and conflict regarding Sufism and Sufic practices.
Historically speaking, orthodox Islam, especially fundamentalist groups like the Wahhabi and Salafi have been the most intolerant and violent against what they think of as 'Deviant Sufism'. In the past centuries, severe persecution has been carried out by them against the Kharijites, the Ismaili Shia cult (sometimes termed the 'Assassins'), the Ahmadiyya movement and several other groups and individuals with Sufi-like mystical tendencies and practices. During the time of the later Mughal Empire in India, even the early gurus of Sikhism were persecuted by orthodox Islamic mullahs (theologians) since they had chosen to incorporate some of the ideas and poetic verses of the Sufi saint Baba Farid into their holy scriptures. In more recent times, over the last two decades, considerable persecution has been made of the spiritual reformer and sage Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi and his followers in Pakistan. He was opposed and threatened and forced to flee the country and his books banned there, and anyone publicly supporting him is liable to immediate arrest.
Even proper, formal Sufi orders have suffered persecution for various reasons. In recent times the most notorious example was the outright banning of Sufism in Iran. This happened in spite of the famous Amman Message, a joint declaration made by over 200 of the most noted moderate Islamic scholars in a conference in Amman, Jordan, in 2005, stressing that Sufism is very much 'part' of Islam.
Further reading
Some volumes for further reading on Sufism include:
Abu-Nasr, J (2007) Muslim Communities of Grace:Sufi Brotherhoods in Islam London;
Burckhardt, T (1963) An Introduction to Sufi Doctrine Lahore;
Godlas, A (2000) Sufism's Many Paths U of Georgia Press;
Shah, Idries (1971) The Sufis New York;
Schimmel, A (1983) Mystical Dimensions of Islam Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press;
Smoley, Richard & Kinney, Jay. 2006. Hidden wisdom: a guide to the western inner traditions''. 2nd ed; Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books. (Chapter 10 deals with Sufism in the West)
Chopra, R. M., "SUFISM" (Origin, Growth, Eclipse, Resurgence), 2016, Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi, .
References |
Pigeons or doves are the bird family Columbidae.
The common names pigeon and dove are often used interchangeably. In ornithology, "dove" tends to be used for smaller species and "pigeon" for larger ones. The wild ancestor of the domestic pigeon is the "rock dove". The feral pigeon is common in many cities.
There are more than 300 species in the family. They usually make nests of sticks, and their two white eggs are incubated by both the male and the female parent. Doves feed on seeds, fruit and plants.
Unlike most other birds, the doves and pigeons produce a type of milk. It is produced in their crop, and called crop milk. Both sexes have this highly nutritious milk to feed their young.
Distribution and habitats
Pigeons and doves are distributed everywhere on Earth, except for the driest areas of the Sahara Desert, Antarctica and its surrounding islands and the high Arctic. They have colonised most of the world's oceanic islands. They are in eastern Polynesia and the Chatham Islands in the Pacific, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Réunion in the Indian Ocean, and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.
The family has adapted to most of the habitats available on the planet. Doves may be arboreal or terrestrial or partly terrestrial. Species live in savannas, grasslands, deserts, temperate woodlands and forests, mangrove forests, and even the barren sands and gravels of atolls. Some species have large natural ranges.
The largest range of any species is that of the rock dove. This species lives in Britain and Ireland, northern Africa, across Europe, Arabia, Central Asia, India, the Himalayas and up into China and Mongolia. The range of the species increased dramatically after it was domesticated, because the species went feral in cities around the world. It lives in cities across most of North America, South America, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
The species is not the only pigeon to have increased its range due to the actions of man; several other species have become established outside of their natural range after escaping captivity. Other species have also increased their natural ranges due to habitat changes by humans.
The dodo and the solitaire
The dodo and the Rodrigues solitaire are two famous flightless birds on the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. They are extinct, but were alive before sailors found the islands. They had no fear of humans, whom they had never seen. The sailors hunted them, and killed them for food. Both species are now extinct. Animals introduced by man may also have hunted them. Their anatomy (osteology) and DNA sequence analyses show they were are in the Columbidae.
As a symbol
In the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean, doves were used as symbols for the Canaanite mother goddess Asherah, the Phoenician goddess Tanit, and the Roman goddesses Venus and Fortunata.
The Christian symbol of a dove with an olive branch in its beak represents peace and comes from Genesis 8:6 - 12, also John 1:32–34. The Christian stories came after very similar myths from earlier cultures.The Chaldean myth the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim releases a dove and raven to find land; however, the dove merely circles and returns. Only then does Utnapishtim send forth the raven, which does not return, and Utnapishtim concludes the raven has found land.
As food
Several species of pigeons and doves are used as food, and probably any might be. The powerful breast muscles of the family make excellent meat. Domesticated or hunted pigeon were used as food in Mesopotamia, Ancient Rome and medieval Europe. It is familiar meat within Jewish, Arab, Assamese and French cuisines. According to the Tanakh, doves are kosher, and they are the only birds that may be used for a korban (offering). Other kosher birds may be eaten, but not brought as a korban. It is also eaten in Asian cuisines, such as Chinese and Indonesian cuisine. Young pigeons in cuisine are known as "squabs".
In Europe, the wood pigeon is commonly shot as a game bird. Rock pigeons were originally domesticated as a food species, and many breeds were developed for their meat-bearing qualities. The extinction of the passenger pigeon in North America was partly due to shooting for food. Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management has recipes for roast pigeon and pigeon pie, a popular, inexpensive food in Victorian industrial Britain.
Related pages
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
Passenger pigeon
References |
Antonio Prohias (January 17, 1921 – February 24, 1998) was a Cuban-born cartoonist. He is best known as the creator of Spy vs. Spy. The running gag is of two incompent spies-one in black clothing-one in white clothing-who consisity try to outdo each other in comic mayhem. Although one comic only identies their countries as Black/White another one tells their nationalities are given in an International border cartoon in which the Black Spy from the "East" tries to sneak over to the "West" [Guarded by the "White Spy."]-although a later cartoon identies their countries as "Black SpyLand" (and presumedly "White Spyland") Likewise the Spys parents and their Children are cloathed as Black/white Miniature copies of their fathers Even in childhood and old age the two spys began their mayhem against one another-although their feuding goes back to Caveman times and the Roman Empire In the Spy Vs Spy World even innocenet human bystanders toys and the Spys animals are cloathed in Black/White They even have their own Spy Cemeteries [ID only as Agent Number but no names]; and Fan Clubs; their newspapers are called "Spy News" The Spys weopons could be anything-from antique Biplanes to Jets Each spy would be attached to either their own embassy or their respective Spy Hq-a running gag is that each spy would try to steal secrets from the enemy spy embassy On occasion Prohias would introduce a variation in which one Spy would embaress -but not kill-the enemy spy Other variations-more than One spy of the same color vs enemy Spy; and occasionally the introduction of a third Spy..the femme fatalee female "Grey Spy" would always trick the two love struck bumblers to their doom. In Honor of St Patricks Day another Spy was introduced the "Green Spy". When "Mad Magazine" had its own TV Show they would show 3D Cartoons of Spy Vs Spy shorts. After Prohias demise the Cartoon has been drawn by Kupper
References
Cartoonists
Cuban people
1921 births
1998 deaths |
Chancellor is the leader of the government in Germany or Austria. The title "Chancellor" means the same thing as "Prime Minister".
For example, Italy has a Prime Minister while Germany has a Chancellor. They have the same job but a different title.
In the United Kingdom, the Chancellor means the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the person in charge of the country's finances (taxes and spending). Also in the United Kingdom, there is a Lord Chancellor.
Chancellor is also a title given to public officials in some other countries. For example, Daijō-daijin or Chancellor of the Realm was a government position in Japan in the late Nara and Heian periods.
Related pages
Chancellor of Germany
University Chancellor
References
Heads of government
Titles
Government occupations |
In terms of computer games, a MUD (short for Multi-User Dungeon, Multi-User Dimension or Multi-User Domain) is a multiplayer online game that is usually completely text-based.
Types of video games
Video game genres |
Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822–July 23, 1885), born Hiram Ulysses Grant, was an American general who helped the Union Army of the United States win the American Civil War. He later became the 18th president of the United States (1869-1877).
Early life
Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He was the oldest of six children born to Jesse and Hannah Grant. Jesse Grant was a tanner. It was hard work, but he made a good living off of it. Young Grant worked for his father in the tannery but hated the work. He went to local schools. In 1838 he attended the Presbyterian Academy in Ripley, Ohio. In 1839 he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was not the best student though he was good at math. When he graduated, he was placed in the infantry.
Education and Influence
When Grant arrived at West Point and discovered that the academy had him registered under the wrong name as "Ulysses S. Grant". He was told that it didn't matter what he or his parents thought his name was, the official government application said his name was "Ulysses S." and that application could not be changed. If "Hiram Ulysses Grant" wanted to attend West Point, he would have to change his name.
Pre-presidency
Before becoming the president, Grant was an officer in the Union Army (North). He fought in the Mexican War and became a general at the start of the American Civil War. He served as head of the Army of Tennessee and won victories at Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga. He became the top general in the Union Army from 1864 to 1865, and fought several battles against Robert E. Lee.
Since he was able to do well fighting in the American Civil War, he gained popularity which helped him to become the candidate for president of the Republican party. The Republicans were then the strongest party. Even though he was a respected general and supported civil rights for African Americans, historians criticize his presidency because he appointed his friends into high political positions and tolerated their corruption (even though Grant himself was innocent). Grant was the youngest president, only 46 years old, and the first to have both his parents attend his inauguration. He was also the first elected because of African American voters, who could vote then, although there was a big fight about it, which ended with many Black voters losing the right to vote. In his election, he won about 500,000 votes from African Americans, while the majority of white voters supported the Democratic candidate, who was called Horatio Seymour. Grant supported the right of Black men to vote because of this, but also because he thought it was right.
Presidency
Second term (1873–1877)
In 1872, Republican reformers split the party and nominated Horace Greeley to be president. The Democratic Party also nominated him. Greeley wanted Civil Service reform and amnesty for all former Confederates. Grant won the election by a landslide.
Very soon into Grant's second term the Panic of 1873 started a depression in the United States that spread to Europe. In 1873, Republicans in Congress were caught in a bribery scandal by newspapers. They had collected large bribes to give large federal grants to the railroads. The bribes had taken place before Grant was president, but the news came out during his presidency making it seem even more corrupt. Also in 1873, Grant signed a bill that gave himself and congressmen a pay raise. The press attacked him for it calling it a money grab. Republicans were getting a bad reputation in the press. Mid-term, the Democrats won a majority of votes in the House. They started a number of congregational investigations. Grant's Secretary of the Treasury had to resign after being caught in a fraud scheme involving taxpayer kickbacks.
The Whiskey Ring was the largest scandal and involved widespread fraud. Grant had appointed an army friend John MacDonald as an Internal Revenue Service supervisor for the St. Louis area. In return for bribes, whisky distillers paid taxes only on a small portion of the whiskey they produced. They were cheating the U.S. government out of millions of dollars a year. MacDonald kept some of the money while some of it went to the Republican Party. The Whiskey Ring was paying some officials a regular salary to keep them from talking. Benjamin Bristow, the Secretary of the Treasury at the time, had no idea this was going on. Each time he sent inspectors on a raid to check out suspected cheaters, their records were always in good order. Bristow had no idea someone in his office was telling them in advance who was to be inspected. Meanwhile, Grant accepted expensive gifts from MacDonald not suspecting he was running a fraud scheme. MacDonald even told his friends in St. Louis that Grant was in on the scheme. In 1875, MacDonald and more than 350 distillers and government officials were indicted. This included Grant's personal secretary Orville Babcock. He was the one keeping ring members informed of any inspections. At his trial, witnesses lied and even President Grant wrote a letter stating Babcock was of good character. As a result, Babcock was exonerated of the charges, but the scandal prevented him from going back to his job in Washington. Of those accused, 60 paid fines while MacDonald and two others went to prison. The Whiskey Ring proved to most Americans that Grant's administration was filled with corruption.
Later life and death
After his presidency, Grant was suffering from throat cancer. He made a long trip to Europe and tried to become president again in 1880. Nobody had been elected three times before and it was seen as wrong by many because George Washington had refused to. In the end, the Republican party agreed to nominate (propose) congressman James Garfield instead. But Grant kept many supporters in the party. One of them shot Garfield the same year, and killed him. Grant never became president again, however, and only one man has been elected three or more times, Franklin Roosevelt. Grant was the first one to try, however.
Despite the problems during his second term, Grant was immensely popular, much like a modern-day movie star, and wrote a book about his life that sold millions of copies. He died three days after he finished writing it. He is buried with his wife Julia in Grant's Tomb, New York City, New York.
References
1822 births
1885 deaths
Deaths from throat cancer
American abolitionists
American Civil War generals
US Republican Party politicians
Politicians from Ohio
Politicians from Illinois
Military people from Illinois
19th-century American politicians |
Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: Gwenad) is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea that received its independence from the United Kingdom in 1974. Its capital is St. George's.
The island was invaded by the American military in 1983 because of Cuba's presence there. In 2004, a hurricane named Ivan destroyed most of the island's resources.
Grenada is called the Spice Island on account of its most famous export, the nutmeg.
Related pages
Grenada at the Olympics
Grenada national football team
List of Grenadian people
List of rivers of Grenada
References
Other websites
Official Government Website
Official Website of the Tourism Board
General Tourism Website
Current monarchies
Caribbean Community
English-speaking countries
Commonwealth realms
1974 establishments in North America |
Accrington is a town in Lancashire, England. It is in North West England. The town had a population of 35,203 in the 2001 census. The Accrington Stanley Football Club play here.
Towns in Lancashire |
Yateley is a suburban town in England in the county of Hampshire. It had a population of 21,011 according to the 2001 census.
Location
It is on the borders with Berkshire and Surrey. It lies some 35 miles (56 km) west-south-west of London and 15 miles (24 km) south of Reading. Other local towns and villages include Eversley, Finchampstead, Hartley Wintney, Blackwater, Camberley, Sandhurst, Crowthorne, Farnborough and Fleet.
Uses
Yateley mainly serves as a dormitory town for workers in London, Reading, Guildford, Farnborough and Camberley.
Transport
Public transport in Yateley is limited to a bus that serves Blackwater, Camberley and Aldershot. There is no train station.
Education
There are two secondary schools in the town, Yateley School and Frogmore School, and many infant and primary schools.
References
Other websites
Towns in Hampshire |
Stratford-upon-Avon is a town in England. It is famous as the birthplace of William Shakespeare. It lies on the River Avon, 22 miles (35 km) south east of Birmingham and 8 miles (13 km) south west of the county town, Warwick.
Towns in Warwickshire
Sites associated with William Shakespeare |
Pune is the 8th largest metropolis in India. It is in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city is famous for the great Maratha king Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The game of badminton was invented there in the 19th century. It is also the birthplace of spiritual teacher Meher Baba. Mula and Mutha are the two rivers that flow through the city. It has also", "Oxford of the East", "Detroit of India" by some.
It has a major Information Technology (IT) center. This city is managed by the Pune Municipal Council (PMC).
Pune is a city of knowledge and often known as the Oxford of the east. In Marathi, it is known as vidyeche maherghar. It means the hometown of education. The population of Pune was 8,242,142 by 2015.
Name
The name Pune comes from the Sanskrit word - ''. It means "city of virtue". Pune is known for its educational facilities, having more than hundred educational institutes and nine universities. Pune has well-established glass, sugar and metal forging industries since the 1950s. Pune is also known as the "Oxford of the East." Pune was once the centre of power for the Maratha Empire. It is known to have existed as a town since 847 AD. Pune was the first capital of Shivaji Maharaj.
It is the cultural capital of Maharashtra. There are many historic places like Shaniwar Wada, Lal Mahal and many museums like the Aga Khan Palace, Raja Kelkar Museum, and the National War museum.
The climate of Pune is suitable to reside in, so many people settled there. Today, Pune has many complexes, shopping malls and multiplexes. There are many research centres present in Pune.
Students not only from other cities and States come here to study, but international students from various countries are also found here. There are many clubs for different sports activities in this city. The main attraction of the city is the Ganesh Festival which is celebrated with great joy.
There are many educational institutions like Symbiosis, SP and Fergusson. Many people in Pune are food lovers, there are many famous Bhelpuri and Vada pav centres.
References |
Beer is the name of a village in Devon, South West England. It is famous for underground quarries started by the Romans which have supplied stone for many of England's Historic buildings. Fishing was also a large industry with smuggling connections and the ladies of Beer made the lace for Queen Victoria's wedding dress.
References
Villages in Devon |
A fly (plural: flies) is an insect of the order Diptera. The Diptera is a large order of advanced flying insects.
Their most obvious distinction from other insects is in their flight. A typical fly has two flight wings on its thorax and a pair of halteres. The halteres, which evolved from the hind wings, act as flight sensors: they are balance organs. Also flies have large eyes with excellent wide-angle vision.
With the help of their eyes and halteres, flies are exceptional fliers. They can avoid most predators, and are the most difficult insects to capture by hand. Their jinks, dives and turns to avoid their predators is their main adaptation. "These flies do a precise and fast calculation to avoid a specific threat and they are doing it using a brain that is as small as a grain of salt".... "And they can fly like an ace at birth. It's like putting a newborn baby in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft and it knowing what to do".
The only other order of insects bearing two true, functional wings plus any form of halteres are the Strepsiptera, a small order of insects. In contrast to the flies, the Strepsiptera evolved their halteres from their front wings and their flight wings are their rear wings.
The presence of a single pair of wings distinguishes true flies from other insects with "fly" in their name, such as mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies, stoneflies, whiteflies, fireflies, sawflies, caddisflies, butterflies or scorpionflies.
Some true flies have become secondarily wingless, including some that live in social insect colonies.
Flies are also holometabolous, with complete metamorphosis.
Kinds of flies
There are an estimated 1,000,000 species, although only about 150,000 species have been described.
There are many different kinds of flies. Scientists have named 85,000 kinds (species).
Houseflies are grey or black and can be found wherever people are.
Horse flies and deer flies can bite people and animals.
Fruit flies can be found near fruit that is too ripe.
Hoverflies look like small wasps, but they have no sting.
Some flies do not have the word fly in their name, so people may not know they are flies.
Mosquitoes are flies that bite people and can carry diseases, such as malaria.
Midges are small flie, a bit like like mosquitoes, but not all midges bite.
Gnats are small flies that sometimes are in big groups called swarms.
Some insects have the word fly in their names, but they are not flies at all.
Fireflies are a kind of beetle that can make light.
Dragonflies and damselflies are from the order Odonata and are not real flies.
References
Basic English 850 words
Flies |
The Arabic word Dhikr means remembrance. Another word is Dhikrullah (remembrance of God).
Dhikr is a kind of worship to God. It is often performed by the Sufis in congregation, and each Sufi order has its special kind of Dhikr.
However all Muslims must do dhikr.There are many benefits of doing Dhikr according to Islamic theology.Such as the fact that it is a polisher of the heart, a way of gaining closeness to Allah, one can even gain trees in Paradise for it.
Islam |
A jockey is a person who rides horses in horse races. Most jockeys have to be under a certain weight and/or height, so they would not be too heavy on the horse.
Horse riding
Sports occupations |
George Lazenby (born September 5, 1939) is an Australian-born model and actor. He was born in Goulburn, New South Wales. He is best known for his role as James Bond in the movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1968). He is the only actor to play the role of Bond only once in an official James Bond movie.
Other websites
1939 births
Living people
Actors from New South Wales
Actors who played James Bond
Australian models
Australian movie actors
Australian television actors
Companions of the Order of Australia
Officers of the Order of the British Empire |
In common speaking and geometry, a cone is a solid object that one gets when one rotates a right triangle around one of its two short sides, the cone's axis. The disk made by the other short side is called the base, and the point of the axis which is not on the base is the cone's apex or vertex. An object that is shaped like a cone is conical.
In more technical terms, a cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines connecting a common point, the apex, to all of the points on a base that is in a plane that does not contain the apex. Depending on the author, the base may be restricted to be a circle, any one-dimensional quadratic form in the plane, any closed one-dimensional figure, or any of the above plus all the enclosed points. If the enclosed points are included in the base, the cone is a solid object; otherwise it is a two-dimensional object in three-dimensional space. In the case of a solid object, the boundary formed by these lines or partial lines is called the lateral surface; if the lateral surface is unbounded, it is a conical surface.
In the case of line segments, the cone does not extend beyond the base, while in the case of half-lines, it extends infinitely far. In the case of lines, the cone extends infinitely far in both directions from the apex, in which case it is sometimes called a double cone. Either half of a double cone on one side of the apex is called a nappe. The volume of a cone is one third of the product of the area of the base and the height
Related pages
Conic section
References
Three-dimensional shapes |
Ice cream is a frozen dessert made from cream and ice, with added flavors and sweeteners. This mixture is quickly frozen while it is stirred continuously in a mixer,so that large ice crystals do not form. Some ice cream is made with carrageenan,a gum found in seaweed so that it is not sticky and easily eatable. Nowadays, ice cream comes with different flavors, shapes, colours and textures. It has a melting point of .
History
Early history
Ice cream was first eaten as early as 500 B.C in Persia. In the Achaemid Empire, an ancient Persian empire, ice cream was made of ice combined with flavorings. Just like modern ice cream, this type of ice cream is eaten during summer. In 400 BC, the Persians invented a special type of ice cream reserved to the royalty during summers. This type of ice cream is made of rose water and vermicelli. The ice in this particular ice cream was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavors.
In 200 BC, the Chinese used a frozen mixture of milk and rice to make ice cream.
Growth
Ice cream became very popular in the Mediterranean in the 1800s. Mediterranean people during the 1800s could easily afford ice cream. People started to make lots of recipes for ice cream.
From the 1950s onward, ice cream became a lot more popular. Refrigeration was easily affordable because many people owned fridges that could store ice cream for a very long time without melting.
Preparation
There are lots of ways to make ice cream. Most people don't make ice cream, because it is easier to buy ice cream.
Shops make ice cream by mixing cream and other things like milk, sugar, and eggs. Then they add flavoring (something that adds flavor to a food). Then they freeze it.
You can also make ice cream by putting cream, milk, and sugar in a plastic bag. Then put ice and salt in a bigger bag. If you put the smaller bag inside the bigger bag, then shake it for 5-10 minutes, you get ice cream.
How people sell ice cream
People sell ice cream through many ways. You can buy ice cream in ice cream containers from supermarkets. You can also buy ice cream on a cone from an ice cream truck.
Types of ice cream
There are many different flavors of ice cream. Ice cream often has things added to it for flavor, like chocolate chips, nuts, fruit, cookie dough, sweets, sauces or small candies.
Traditionally, the three most common flavors are vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. There are ice cream flavors that are very similar, such as French vanilla, vanilla bean, dark chocolate, chocolate chip, and strawberry cheesecake.
Chocolate chips, or little pieces of dark or white chocolate, are a common addition to ice cream. Three common chocolate chip ice creams are chocolate chip (made with vanilla ice cream), mint chocolate chip or mint 'n chip (made with peppermint, spearmint, or creme de menthe ice cream), and chocolate chocolate chip. Peppermint ice cream without chips is also a common flavor.
Many ice creams contain fruits. Besides strawberry, common fruit flavors are cherry, raspberry, blackberry, and peach. Some citrus fruits, such as orange and lime, are made into sherbets instead of ice cream.
Nut flavors include butter pecan, butter almond (both of which contain vanilla or caramel ice cream with nuts), pistachio, and peanut butter.
Coffee (mocha, cappuccino, espresso) and caramel (English toffee, butterscotch, rum) are also common ice cream flavors.
There are many ice cream flavors that contain some mixture of chocolate, fudge, coffee, caramel, nuts, and marshmallows. The most common is Rocky Road (chocolate ice cream, nuts and marshmallows), but others include Mocha Almond Fudge (made with almond nuts, fudge, and coffee ice cream) and Tax Crunch (coffee, nuts, and malt powder)
Some ice creams are a mixture of two or more ice creams. Neapolitan is a mixture of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry; while spumoni is a mixture of chocolate and various fruit flavors.
Outside of the United States and Canada, flavors include dulce du leche (Mexico), macupino and lychee (both China)
Ice cream mixed with milk and often sugar and syrups is called a Milk Shake.
Many ice cream parlors, such as Cold Stone Creamery, allow people to make something called a sundae, which is one or more flavors of ice cream mixed with things such as nuts, dark or white chocolate chips, bananas, cherries, pineapples, candies, cookies, marshmallows, and various syrups such as hot fudge, maple and butterscotch. Also, ice cream is often placed on a piece of pie, which is called "pie a la mode".
Related pages
Ice cream sandwich
Sherbet
References |
Grace Anna Coolidge (née Goodhue; January 3, 1879 – July 8, 1957) was First Lady of the United States. She was the wife of United States President Calvin Coolidge. She acted as the First Lady of the United States from 1923 to 1929.
Biography
Her parents were Andrew and Lemira B. Goodhue. She was their only child. She spent her childhood at Burlington, Vermont. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 1902. She then started teaching at a school for the deaf children. The name of that school was the Clarke School for the Deaf, Northampton, Massachusetts. There she met Calvin Coolidge. They married in October 1905. The name of their first son was John Coolidge. The name of their second, born in 1908, son was Calvin, Jr.
During all these years, her husband was working as a lawyer. Then, he became the governor. During all these years, Grace Coolidge helped her husband actively. By 1921, her husband has become the Vice President. They moved to Washington. Grace Coolidge soon became very popular in the high society of Washington.
First Lady
President Warren G. Harding died in 1923, and Calvin Coolidge became the President of the United States. Suddenly, their second son aged only 16 years died. She did not allow her personal sadness to disturb her work as the First Lady.
Later life
In 1929, the president retired, and the couple left Washington. They went to Northampton (Massachusetts) to live.
USA’s National Institute of Social Sciences awarded her a gold medal. In 1931, many people of America selected her as one of America’s living women.
In 1933, her husband died, but she lived for many decades. She died in 1957 at the age of 78. She lived a private life. In between, she took her first airplane ride and a trip to Europe.
First Ladies of the United States
Second Ladies of the United States
1879 births
1957 deaths
Calvin Coolidge
People from Burlington, Vermont |
The state flower is a symbol for each state in USA, the state flowers for each state are:
References
Flowers, List of U.S. state
Flowers
Lists of plants |
A blacksmith is a person who works with iron and steel. The blacksmith hammers hot iron on an anvil to change its shape. Blacksmiths make iron and steel tools.
A smith is a person who works in metal. A blacksmith works with iron and steel. A thousand years ago, people only knew about seven metals (iron, gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, and mercury). By color: gold is yellow; copper is red; and silver, tin, lead, and mercury are different gray colors. Iron is also a gray color if you shine it, but usually its surface is covered with a black oxide, which is a kind of rust. This black color forms very fast in a blacksmith's fire. The other metals have light colors, but iron is a dark color, so it is called the black metal in English. A smith who works the black metal is a blacksmith.
A farrier works with iron like a blacksmith. The only ironwork a farrier does is to make horseshoes.
Forge
Iron must be very hot to shape with a hammer. Hot iron becomes cold very soon. A blacksmith has only a few seconds to hammer a piece of iron, before it must be put back in the fire to become hot again.
A forge is a special oven for metalworking. It burns coal or charcoal in a very hot fire. A bellows pushes air into the forge, to make the fire burn hotter. The blacksmith puts pieces of iron in the fire to make them hot and to keep them hot until they use it.
Ways to hammer iron
There are a few ways to change a piece of iron's shape with hammer and heat. Here are the most important ways that a blacksmith uses:
Bending: hammering a piece of hot iron, to make it curve or to make it have a corner.
Drawing: hammering on the sides of a piece of hot iron, to make it longer and thinner.
Upsetting: hammering on the end of a piece of hot iron, to make it shorter and fatter.
A punch is a tool like a short stick of iron. The end of the punch is flat.
Punching: A blacksmith hammers a punch through a piece of hot iron, to make a hole in the hot iron.
A chisel is a tool like a short stick of iron. The end of the chisel is sharp to cut.
Cutting: hammering a chisel through the side of a piece of hot iron, to make two shorter pieces.
Splitting: hammering a chisel into the end of a piece of hot iron, to make a stick of iron into a "Y" shape, to make a fork.
Rivetting: a rivet is like a machine bolt with a head at both ends. Rivets are used to make different pieces of iron stay together. The blacksmith makes a hole in each piece of iron, where he wants the pieces to come together. A rivet is then put in the holes, and the blacksmith hammers on the rivet to make the heads at each end of the rivet.
Welding: making different pieces of iron become one piece of iron. The blacksmith makes the pieces of iron so hot that they almost melt. Then he puts the pieces together and hammers on them so there is no line where they came together. Welding is the hardest thing for a blacksmith to learn and to do.
Hard iron and steel
Iron is one of the 92 natural elements.
Steel is iron with a little carbon in it (0.3% to 1.7% carbon by weight).
All metals get harder when a smith hammers or bends them. This is called "work-hardening". If a smith hammers or bends a piece of metal that is already work-hardened, it will crack and break. To make work-hardened metal soft again, so that a smith can hammer and bend it more, the smith anneals the metal.
To anneal iron or steel, a blacksmith heats the metal until it no longer pulls a magnet, and then makes the metal become cold very slowly. Blacksmiths can cover the hot metal with sand, so that it takes hours to become cold. This makes iron or steel very soft.
Steel acts just like iron, until a blacksmith "heat-treats" the steel. This is a special way to make the steel hot and then cold, so that the steel will become hard enough to keep a cutting edge (blade). A blade made from a piece of iron (instead of steel) will very soon become dull and will not cut. Good blades (for knives, chisels, axes, and other tools with cutting edges) are always made of steel, then heat-treated, and then sharpened.
To heat-treat steel, a blacksmith heats the steel until it no longer pulls a magnet, then makes the steel become cold very quickly. A blacksmith does this by putting the hot steel into a bucket of water and moving it around until it is cold. This is called "quenching". When this is finished, the steel will be as hard as it can be. This hardness can make it brittle, so if someone hits or drops it, it can break like glass.
The next step is to "draw the temper" or "temper" the steel, so that it will not break like glass. To temper steel, a blacksmith polishes a part of the steel so that it is smooth and shiny. The blacksmith then slowly heats the steel in the fire. When the steel is between , the polished steel will turn different colors. These colors do not glow in the dark; they look like dye on the polished steel. As the steel gets hotter from 300 to 650 degrees F, it will turn through the colors: yellow, then brown, then purple, then blue. Yellow means the steel will still be harder, blue means the steel will be softer (but still hard). When the steel turns the color that the blacksmith wants, he puts the steel into a bucket of water to stop the change. Different tools are tempered to different colors, but it also depends on how much carbon there is in the steel. Usually, stone chisels are tempered to yellow, and axes for trees are tempered to blue, but the blacksmith has to decide.
A blacksmith does not hammer a blade edge thin. A blacksmith hammers the steel so that the edge stays thick. After the "heat-treat" and "temper", stones are used to grind the blade edge to make it sharp.
If a blacksmith has a piece of iron or steel, but does not know which one it is, the blacksmith can heat-treat it like steel. If it does not become hard, then it is not steel. Iron will show the same temper colors as steel, but it will not be hard.
If a blacksmith has an old steel tool, and wants to hammer it into a new different tool, the blacksmith anneals the steel. The steel will then be very soft like iron. The blacksmith can then hammer it into a new tool, and heat-treat and temper it, to make a new, hard steel tool.
A blacksmith must be careful when hammering hardened steel or work-hardened iron, because small pieces can break off and fly, and these can hurt his or her eyes. Many blacksmiths wear plastic safety glasses to keep their eyes safe.
Things made by blacksmiths
Weapons
Knife/knives and swords
Spear heads
Armor
Helmets
Shields
Chain mail shirts
Suits of plate armor
Tools
Pickaxes
Hammers
Chisels
Axes
Adzes
hoes
Shovels
Hardware
Handles for doors and drawers
Hinges for doors
Hooks to hang things on
Nails for construction
History
The first blacksmiths were Hittites. They started working iron to make tools around 1500 BC. The ways that tools are made by blacksmiths have changed very little since then.
Around 1850, countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom made new ways to make steel and tools in factories. Factories now make tools faster, and for less money than blacksmiths. There are now very few blacksmiths in countries that have a lot of factories.
The few blacksmiths that are still in countries with a lot of factories, make iron that is art. These blacksmiths make gates, stair rails, and chairs and tables for outdoors. People buy this iron as art, because each piece is different from the other pieces.
Books
Occupations |
Caracas is the capital city of Venezuela. Santiago de Leòn de Losada founded the city in 1567. It is where Simon Bolivar was born. The city has nearly 6 million people, who live in the metropolitan area. Caracas is the center of the economical activity of the country and also hosts the main government offices of Venezuela.
After WW2 the city has experienced a huge growth, thanks to the oil revenues of the country. Nearly half a million Europeans immigrated to the city in the 1950s ( that had in those years only one million inhabitants) and so Caracas developed a typical western-European look in the new modern areas.
Sports
All the best teams of the sports done in Venezuela are concentrated in the metropolitan area of Caracas. Between those teams we have:
baseball: Leones de Caracas
football: Deportivo Italia; Deportivo Petare; Caracas FC.
Famous sites
Avila National Park
Humbolt Tramway
Simon Bolivar Birthplace
Caracas Cathedral
Bolivar Square
Altamira Square
East Park
Los Proceres
Parque Central
Centro Comercial Tamanaco
Sambil Mall
Buildings
Many beautiful modern buildings can be seen in the city. Here there are some of them:
- Parque Central
- Plaza Venezuela Buildings
- Casa de Italia
- Torre Britanica
- Torre La Previsora
1560s establishments in South America
Establishments in Venezuela
1567 establishments
Capital cities in South America
Cities in Venezuela
World Heritage Sites in South America |
Homestar Runner, also called H*R, is an Internet surreal comedy cartoon that was made using Adobe Flash. It usually gets updated every Monday (but, except for an update on April Fools' Day of 2014 and a few cartoons since, it has not been actively updated since December 2010) with a cartoon, a game, or a Strong Bad Email. The people that made the website are Mike Chapman and Matt Chapman. They are brothers and are called The Brothers Chaps. The cartoons on the website normally show Homestar Runner or Strong Bad, who are the main characters on the cartoon.
Characters
Homestar Runner - The main character of the show. He has no arms.
Pom Pom: Homestar's best friend, who only speaks by making bubble sounds. He's a large round orange ball who bounces around to move.
Strong Bad: The bad guy of the show. He is a main character and has his own videos called Strong Bad Emails or "sbemails".
Strong Mad: Strong Bad's big brother, who is not very smart, is strong and is almost always angry. He has a big square body and no neck.
Strong Sad: Strong Bad's little brother, who is usually sad. He is large, and is white and grey.
Bubs: This character runs a store in the show. He has a blue head and a large mouth, which always has a large smile.
Coach Z: Homestar's coach, who cannot say words the right way.
The Cheat: Strong Bad's pet. He is small and yellow. He helps Strong Bad cheat at things.
Marzipan: Homestar Runner's girlfriend and a guitar player. She looks like a hippie broomstick with a ponytail.
The King of Town: The King lives in a big castle and eats a lot.
The Poopsmith: The King's helper. He never speaks, using a sign instead, and is usually shoveling poop.
Homsar: A character made after someone misspelled "Homestar" in an email to Strong Bad. He has a weird appearance and says strange things.
Video games
Telltale Games, the makers of video games based on the Sam & Max comic book, made a game called Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People for Windows and the Wii's WiiWare. It's an episodic game with five episodes, and it is made with 3 dimensions instead of 2 dimensions like Homestar Runner is. The first episode was called Homestar Ruiner, and ended with 8-Bit is Enough.
Other websites
The Homestar Runner website
Homestar Runner |
Horst Köhler (born 22 February 1943) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He was President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. He was the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, for becoming President. Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on 23 May 2004. He was reelected to a second term on 23 May 2009. About one year later, on 31 May 2010, he resigned from his office in a controversy over his comment on the role of the Bundeswehr in light of a visit to the troops in Afghanistan.
Köhler is an economist by profession. Prior to his election as President, Köhler had a career in politics, the civil service and as a banking executive. He was President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development from 1998 to 2000. He also served as the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2000 to 2004.
Although the office of President is less influential than that of the Chancellor and is mostly concerned with ceremonial matters, Köhler was a highly popular politician during his term. He has called for more influence for the President and has suggested the President should be directly elected. This was the case under Germany's Weimar Constitution.
Early life
Köhler was born in Skierbieszów (later named Heidenstein), in the General Government area of German-occupied Poland. He was the seventh child of Elisabeth and Eduard Köhler. His family were Bessarabian Germans from Rîşcani in Romanian Bessarabia (near Bălţi, present-day Moldova). Horst Köhler's parents had to leave their home in Bessarabia in 1940. As part of the Generalplan Ost, they were resettled in 1942 at Skierbieszów. This was a village near Zamość, Poland (then part of the General Government). When the Wehrmacht was pushed back during World War Two, the Köhler family fled to Leipzig. In 1953, they left the Soviet Zone to escape from the communist regime. The family lived in refugee camps until 1957. Then, they settled in Ludwigsburg. Horst Köhler hence spent most of his first 14 years as a refugee.
Studies and military service
A teacher proposed that the refugee boy should apply for the Gymnasium. Köhler took his Abitur in 1963. After a two-year military service at a Panzergrenadier battalion in Ellwangen, he left the Bundeswehr as reserve officer. He studied and finally earned a doctorate in economics and political sciences from University of Tübingen. There, he was a scientific research assistant at the Institute for Applied Economic Research from 1969 to 1976.
Career in the civil service
Köhler joined the civil service in 1976, when he was employed in the Federal Ministry of Economics. In 1981, he was employed in the Chancellery of the state government in Schleswig-Holstein. He served there under Prime Minister Gerhard Stoltenberg. In 1982, Köhler was made head of the Ministers office in the Federal Ministry of Finance. He rose to head of department in 1987, with responsibility for financial policy and federal industrial interests. In 1989, he became head of the department for currency and credit.
Secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance
He is a member of the CDU since 1981. He was Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry of Finance from 1990 to 1993. In that capacity, he served as a "sherpa" (personal representative) for Chancellor Helmut Kohl, preparing G7. He also served as the primary German negotiator in the Maastricht Treaty negotiations.
Career in banking 1993–2000
Between 1993 and 1998 he served as President of the association of savings banks in Germany. In 1998, he was appointed president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He settled in London, where the headquarters of the bank is located.
Head of the International Monetary Fund
Köhler was appointed managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2000. The government of Gerhard Schröder nominated him. This was because their first nominee, Caio Koch-Weser, was rejected by the United States.
He lived in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2004.
President of Germany
On 4 March 2004, Köhler resigned his positions, because he was nominated as presidential candidate. Köhler defeated Gesine Schwan on the first ballot by 604 votes to 580. 20 votes were cast for minor candidates, while one elector was absent because of a heart attack. Köhler succeeded Johannes Rau as President on 1 July 2004, for a five-year term. Germany's presidency is a largely ceremonial office. However, it is also invested with considerable moral authority. From 2004 until early 2006, Charlottenburg Palace was the seat of the President of Germany. This was because Schloss Bellevue has been renovated.
Upon his election, Köhler said that "Patriotism and being cosmopolitan are not opposites". Presenting his visions for Germany, Köhler also said that "Germany should become a land of ideas".
In July 2005, he suspended the Bundestag at Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's request. Schröder had lost a motion of confidence in the Bundestag. This led to early election for the Bundestag in September 2005.
In October 2006, he made a far-reaching decision by vetoing a bill. It would transfer Germany's Air Safety Administration Deutsche Flugsicherung into private ownership. The Bundestag passed this legislation but as President, Köhler was authorized to not sign it into law if, in his opinion, it contravenes the constitution. In December 2006, he did not sign the Consumer Information Law, because the constitution does not allow the federal government to instruct municipal authorities. This can only be done by the German states. There had only been six previous occasions when Germany's president had chosen to reject bills. In most instances less important legislation was involved. His vetoes were the first notable examples in recent German history.
In his 2007 Christmas address to the nation, Köhler urged the government to push ahead more quickly with reforms. He was also critical of the introduction of the minimum wage in the postal sector, stating that "a minimum wage that can not be paid by competitive employers destroys jobs".
On 22 May 2008, Köhler said, that he wants to be the candidate for a second term as president. On 23 May 2009, he was re-elected by the Federal Assembly, and was sworn into office for a second term on 1 July 2009.
In November 2009, Köhler refused to sign the "Zugangserschwerungsgesetz" (Access Impediment Act) into law without further information. The law, which aims to make it more difficult to access sites on the World Wide Web with child pornography, is considered by many legal experts to be unconstitutional.
Resignation
On 31 May 2010, Köhler announced his resignation as President of Germany. This came after German politicians criticised comments made by Köhler in relation to overseas military deployments:
He came under criticism for his statement that Germany’s military missions abroad also served to secure trade. He afterwards stated that his comments referred to piracy off the coast of Somalia. Köhler stated that there was no substance to accusations that in the interview he had overstepped his formal role by favouring an unconstitutional position. After getting no support in the dispute, Köhler stepped down on 31 May 2010. He made a statement saying "I declare my resignation from the Office of President, with immediate effect." The resignation was considered a "surprise". The following days he was criticized for not being able to handle criticism while being a rigorous critic himself. His unprecedented act of immediate resignation was also considered showing a lack of respect for his position.
As written down in the German constitution, the powers of the vacant office were executed by the current President of the Bundesrat, Jens Böhrnsen, until Christian Wulff was elected president on 30 June 2010.
Personal life
Horst Köhler is married to Eva Köhler, a teacher. They have two children, a daughter Ulrike (born in 1972) and a son Jochen (born in 1977). His daughter, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, became blind as a teenager. Horst Köhler is a member of the Evangelical Church in Germany.
References
Other websites
Horst Köhler's Official Website
Official page of the German President
Biographical information (from the IMF)
Horst Köhler's speech in Berlin upon his election as president (MP3)
1943 births
Living people
Managing Directors of the International Monetary Fund
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Politicians of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Presidents of Germany
Refugees |
2012 (twenty twelve) (MMXII) was a .
The year 2012 was the International Year of Cooperatives and the Alan Turing Year.
2012 was the Chinese Year of Water Dragon based on the 12-year Chinese Zodiac cycle.
Events
January
January 1 – Start of Denmark's Presidency of the European Union
January 5 – Portia Simpson-Miller becomes Prime Minister of Jamaica for a second time.
January 6 – New Mexico celebrates the 100th anniversary of its statehood.
January 10 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes before midnight, after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan in 2011, and the nuclear threat level.
January 13–22 – The first Winter Youth Olympics are held in Innsbruck, Austria.
January 14 – The cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off the Tuscan coast, at the island of Giglio, and partially sinks. Out of more than 4000 people on board, at least 30 people are killed.
January 18 – The English language Wikipedia blacks out for 24 hours in protest against the internet laws SOPA and PIPA proposed by the United States Congress.
January 20 – 185 people are killed in a series of coordinated bombings in Kano, Nigeria, carried out by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.
January 23 – The EU adopts an embargo against Iran over its uranium enrichment.
January 30 – Following this date, cold weather in Europe causes several deaths, due to the low temperatures.
January 31 – 433 Eros, the second-largest Near Earth Object on record (size 13×13×33 km) passes Earth. NASA studied Eros with the NEAR Shoemaker probe launched on February 17, 1996.
February
February 1 – Violence erupts at the end of a football match in Port Said, Egypt, killing 74 people.
February 2 – The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the north coast of Papua New Guinea, with at least 230 people being rescued, and several missing.
February 6 – Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marking the 60th anniversary of her accession to the Thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia & New Zealand (as well as the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth).
February 7 - President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed announces his resignation. Mohammed Waheed Hassan takes over from him.
February 11 - American singer and actress Whitney Houston is found dead at her hotel in Los Angeles.
February 12 - The Zambia national football team wins the African Cup of Nations, defeating the Ivory Coast.
February 15 - A fire at a prison in Honduras kills at least 357 people.
February 17 - President of Germany Christian Wulff announces his resignation following a home-loan scandal. He is the shortest-serving President in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Horst Seehofer becomes interim-President.
February 19 - Iran suspends oil exports to France and the United Kingdom, after sanctions were imposed by the EU and the United States.
February 21 - EU finance ministers reach an agreement on a 130 billion-Euro bailout for Greece.
February 25 - Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi succeeds Ali Abdullah Saleh as President of Yemen.
March
March 2 - A tornado outbreak in Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana kills 39 people.
March 4 - Several munitions dump explosions in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, kill over 250 people.
March 4 - Vladimir Putin declares victory in the Russian Presidential Election, returning him to the Presidency.
March 13 - It is announced that, after 244 years, the Encyclopedia Britannica is to stop its print edition to focus on its online version.
March 13 - A coach crash in Switzerland kills 28 people, including 22 children, who were returning to Belgium.
March 18 - Joachim Gauck is chosen to succeed Christian Wulff as President of Germany. He becomes President immediately.
March 19 - Four people are killed in a shooting attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France. The gunman, Mohammed Merah, is killed three days later after a siege.
March 22 - Ahmed Toumani Toure, President of Mali, is ousted in a coup after armed soldiers attack government offices.
March 25 - Macky Sall is elected President of Senegal, succeeding Abdoulaye Wade.
April
April 1 - Aung San Suu Kyi wins a seat in the Burmese parliament.
April 2 - President of Hungary Pal Schmitt resigns following a plagiarism scandal.
April 5 - President of Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika dies. Joyce Banda succeeds him.
April 6 - The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad declares an independent state, Azawad, in northern Mali, which is not recognised internationally.
April 11 - Two strong earthquakes strike off the Indian Ocean coast of Sumatra, causing widespread panic and tsunami alerts all around the Indian Ocean.
April 12 - A coup takes place in Guinea-Bissau as mutinous soldiers arrest interim President Raimundo Pereira and Presidential candidate Carlos Gomes Junior, as they take control of the capital, Bissau.
April 13 - Kwangmyongsong-3, a North Korean earth observation satellite, explodes shortly after launch.
April 16 - The trial of Anders Behring Breivik, perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, begins in Oslo.
April 22 - Francois Hollande defeats Nicolas Sarkozy in the first round of the French Presidential election. They both go through to the second round, as National Front leader Marine Le Pen comes third.
April 26 - Former President of Liberia Charles Taylor is found guilty of war crimes, committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.
May
May 2 – Edvard Munch's The Scream sells for 120 million US dollars, a record price for a work of art at auction.
May 6 – Second round of the French Presidential Election: Francois Hollande is elected President of France, defeating Nicolas Sarkozy.
May 6 – The Parliamentary election in Greece ends in an inconclusive result. A re-run is scheduled for June 17.
May 7 – Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russia for a second time, swapping places with Dmitry Medvedev, who becomes Prime Minister.
May 12 – The 2012 World Expo begins in Yeosu, South Korea. It is due to last until August 12.
May 15 – Francois Hollande becomes President of France.
May 18-20 – The G8 Summit is held at Camp David, near Washington, DC after a last minute switch of location. Chicago was originally the host city of the G8 summit prior to the NATO Summit.
May 20 – Taur Matan Ruak becomes President of East Timor.
May 20-21 - The first NATO Summit in the United States outside of Washington, D.C. is held in Chicago, Illinois.
May 20 – A magnitude 6 earthquake strikes northern Italy, killing at least 7 people and destroying many historic buildings.
May 20 – Annular solar eclipse: Path of annularity runs through the Pacific Ocean from East Asia to the Western and Midwestern United States.
May 22 - The Tokyo Skytree in Tokyo, Japan, opens to the public. It is the tallest self-supporting tower in the world, at a height of 634 metres.
May 26 – Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan, which is won for Sweden by Loreen.
May 29 - Mitt Romney secures the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States.
June
June 2 - Former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to prison for ordering the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian protests.
June 2-5 - Celebrations take place across the UK and Commonwealth to mark Queen Elizabeth II's 60 years on the throne.
June 3 - A Dana Air Flight crashes into a building in Lagos, Nigeria, killing all 153 people on board and 40 on the ground.
June 4 - Partial lunar eclipse
June 6 – The second and last solar transit of Venus of the century. The next pair is predicted to occur in 2117 and 2125.
June 8-July 1 – The UEFA Euro 2012 is played in Poland and Ukraine. It is won by the Spain national football team.
June 9 - Devastating wildfires begin in Colorado.
June 17 - Parliamentary election in Greece: The second such election in Greece in the space of six weeks.
June 17 - The deciding round of Egypt's Presidential election is held.
June 18-June 23 – Turing Centenary Conference at the University of Cambridge, in honor of the mathematician, computer scientist, and cryptographer Alan Turing, the last day of the conference being the hundredth anniversary of his birth.
June 20 - Antonis Samaras is sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece.
June 22 - President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo is removed from office by impeachment and is succeeded by Federico Franco.
June 22 - A Turkish Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter airplane is shot down by the Syrian Armed Forces, killing both pilots on board, further damaging already difficult relations between the two countries.
June 24 - Shenzhou 9, a Chinese spacecraft carrying three Chinese astronauts, including the first female one, docks manually with orbiting module Tiangong 1, becoming the third country to successfully perform the mission.
June 24 - Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood is announced as the winner of Egypt's Presidential election.
June 28 - The United States Supreme Court declares that Barack Obama's healthcare reform plan is constitutional.
June 30 - Mohamed Morsi is sworn in as President of Egypt.
June 30 - Iceland's Presidential election is held, won by incumbent President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson.
June 30 - An extra leap second is added at the end of the month.
July
July 1 - Start of Cyprus' Presidency of the European Union
July 1 - Presidential election in Mexico - won by Enrique Pena Nieto.
July 4 - Scientists at CERN announce that they have discovered a particle whose properties are consistent with those of the Higgs boson, after experiments were carried out at the Large Hadron Collider.
July 7 - Flooding affects parts of the Krasnodar Krai region in southern Russia, killing 72 people.
July 13 - FIFA is embroiled in its second corruption scandal in just over a year, as Sepp Blatter claims that there may have been irregularities when Germany won the right to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
July 18–21 – The 2012 World Rowing Championships are held at Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
July 20 - A gunman opens fire at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado. The shooting kills 12 people and 59 are reported injured.
July 24 - John Atta Mills, President of Ghana, dies while still in office. John Dramani Mahama takes over the running of the country until the election in December.
July 25 - Pranab Mukherjee becomes President of India, succeeding Pratibha Patil, whose five-year term expired.
July 27 – Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics begins in London at 7:30 pm UTC, 8:30pm BST.
July 29 - In Romania, a referendum is held on whether President Traian Basescu should be removed from office. He remains in his position after a low voter turnout.
July 30/31 - Large parts of northern and eastern India are affected by wide-scale power failures, leaving over 600 million people without electricity.
August
early August - Typhoon Haikui causes flooding in the Philippines.
August 6 - Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, successfully lands on the planet Mars.
August 11 - Two earthquakes over magnitude 6, followed by several aftershocks, strike the area around Tabriz in northwestern Iran, killing over 300 people.
August 11 - US presidential candidate Mitt Romney chooses Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate.
August 11 - The Jamaican men's 4 by 100 metre team wins the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, meaning that Usain Bolt successfully defends all three of the titles he won in Beijing in 2008.
August 12 – The closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London takes place. Host nation Great Britain finishes with the third-highest gold medal count, 29, winning 65 medals overall.
August 16 - Police open fire on striking miners at the Marikana mine in South Africa, killing 34.
August 22 - It is ruled that the attempt to unseat Romania's President Traian Basescu in a referendum was not legal.
August 24 - Cyclist Lance Armstrong announces that he will no longer fight against doping allegations, as the World Anti-Doping Agency strips him of his seven consecutive (in-a-row) Tour de France titles.
August 24 - A court in Oslo declares Anders Behring Breivik sane and rules that he should serve a 21-year prison sentence for the 2011 Norway attacks.
August 29 - Start of the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
August 31 - Researchers announce the successful implantation of an early prototype bionic eye with 24 electrodes.
August 31 - Armenia breaks off diplomatic ties with Hungary, after the extradition of Azerbaijani Ramil Safarov to his homeland, followed by his pardoning. He had been convicted of killing an Armenian soldier in Hungary in 2004.
September
September 7 - Two earthquakes in southern China kill at least 80 people.
September 7 - Canada breaks off diplomatic relations with Iran, over its stance on Syria, its nuclear programme and its human rights record.
September 9 – End of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
September 11 - Both embassies in Cairo, Egypt and in Benghazi, Libya were attacked by Muslims who were believed to be protesting over a movie Innocence of Muslims, this attack killed U.S. Ambassador of Libya Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, and 2 more people were killed and about two injured. It was later revealed that this may have been a coordinated terrorist attack.
September 27 - Flooding affects parts of southern Spain.
September 28 - A plane crashes shortly after take-off from Kathmandu, Nepal, and bursts into flames, killing all 19 people on board, who were heading to Mount Everest Base Camp.
September 30 - Europe wins the Ryder Cup golf tournament over the United States, coming back from far behind to win.
October
October 1 - A ferry accident in Hong Kong kills 38 people.
October 3 - A bomb attack believed to be linked to the Syrian conflict is carried out on the other side of the border with Turkey.
October 9 - Pakistani schoolgirl and education activist Malala Yousafzai is shot and wounded during an assassination attempt by the Taliban while returning home on a school bus.
October 12 - The European Union wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
October 14 - Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person to break the sound barrier (travel faster than the speed of sound) without mechanical help, during a record space dive out of the Red Bull helium-filled balloon from 24 miles (39 kilometres) over Roswell, New Mexico, United States.
October 15 - British Prime Minister David Cameron and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond sign an agreement in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the terms and conditions of a referendum on Scottish independence, due to be held in 2014.
October 19 - A bomb attack in Beirut, Lebanon, kills 11 people, including the Lebanese army chief, in an attack believed to be linked to the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
October 24 - Ireland ceases analog television broadcasts.
October 24-30 - Hurricane Sandy kills over 200 people in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas, Eastern United States and parts of Canada and, in terms of diameter, it is the biggest North Atlantic Hurricane ever measured. Considerable storm surge damage causes major disruption on the eastern seaboard of the United States.
October 26 - Silvio Berlusconi is found guilty of tax fraud.
October 30 - Hurricane Sandy dissolves.
November
November 3 - The New York City Marathon is cancelled for the first time in 42 years, due to Hurricane Sandy.
November 4 - Bishop Tawadros is elected the next Pope of the Coptic Church in Egypt, succeeding Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, who died in March.
November 6 – United States presidential election, 2012: After winning the electoral and popular vote, President Barack Obama wins re-election against Mitt Romney.
November 6 - A referendum is held in Puerto Rico on its future status. A majority support a change, with a majority of them voting for Puerto Rico becoming the 51st US State.
November 6 - In referendums, a majority of voters in the US States of Maine, Maryland and Washington support introducing same-sex marriage.
November 6 - In other referendums, the states of Washington and Colorado have majorities voting for the legalisation of marijuana for recreational use, while Oregon rejects the proposal.
November 10 - Four days after the United States presidential election, 2012, Barack Obama secures the state of Florida, completing the 332-206 electoral college win.
November 13 – Total solar eclipse (It was visible in northern Australia and the South Pacific).
November 14 - Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari. Hostilities over the following week kill 133 Palestinians and 5 Israelis.
November 15 - The Communist Party of China unveils Xi Jinping as its next General Secretary, who is expected to lead the People's Republic of China until 2022.
November 21 - After a week of violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip, the United States and Egypt announce a ceasefire, ending the week-long war.
November 25 - A fire in a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, kills over 100 people.
November 25 - Regional elections are held in Catalonia, dominated by the issue of possible future independence from Spain.
November 25 - Sebastian Vettel wins the Formula One World Championship for the third year in a row, becoming the youngest driver to win three Formula One championships.
November 25 to December 2 - Typhoon Bopha, known in the Philippines as "Pablo", kills at least 1,020 people, with 844 missing, causing considerable damage on the island of Mindanao.
November 28 – Penumbral lunar eclipse.
November 29 - At the UN General Assembly, a majority of member states votes to give Palestine non-member observer state status.
December
December 1 - Enrique Pena Nieto becomes President of Mexico.
December 3 – Jupiter in opposition.
December 8 - In Qatar, at the UN Climate Conference, it is agreed that the Kyoto Protocol is extended until 2020.
December 12 - North Korea announces that it has carried out a successful rocket launch.
December 14 - Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: A shooting occurs at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, as 26 people, including 20 children, are shot dead by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who then turns the gun on himself.
December 15 - Egypt holds a referendum on its constitution.
December 16 - Parliamentary election in Japan: The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, under Shinzo Abe, wins the election.
December 17 – Members of the Electoral College meet in each U.S. state.
December 19 - Park Geunhye is elected President of South Korea over Moon Jae-in. She becomes the country's first female leader in February 2013.
December 21 – 11:11 UTC. Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
December 21 – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization among others, completes a "great cycle" of thirteen baktuns. Some people believed that the end of this cycle would be the end of the world.
December 21 - Barack Obama nominates John Kerry to become United States Secretary of State, a position in which he would succeed Hillary Clinton.
December 26 - Shinzo Abe becomes Prime Minister of Japan for the second time.
December 28 - At the age of 115 years, 253 days, Jiroemon Kimura of Japan becomes the oldest man ever, overtaking Christian Mortensen who had died in 1998. The oldest-ever person is Jeanne Calment, who lived for 122 years, 164 days.
December 31 - Politicians in the United States do last-minute talks in an attempt at avoiding the so-called "Fiscal Cliff", a series of tax rises that would come into force in the new year.
Deaths
Nobel Prizes
Physiology or Medicine: John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka
Physics: Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland
Chemistry: Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka
Literature: Mo Yan
Peace: European Union
Economics: Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd Shapley
References |
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer and conductor. He has composed many soundtracks for blockbuster movies such as Star Wars, Superman, Jaws, Jaws 2, Indiana Jones, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Lincoln.
Early life
William was born in Long Island, New York on February 8, 1932. He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles and at the Julliard School. His parents were Esther and Johnny Williams.
Career
He is best known for his scores (soundtracks) for movies such as Jaws, Jaws 2, Star Wars, Superman, E.T., Indiana Jones, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Lincoln. He conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conducts for them a few times each year especially around Christmas time.
Williams has composed music for all but two of Steven Spielberg's movies (Duel and The Color Purple).
For Barack Obama's presidential inauguration on January 20, 2009, John Williams made a special arrangement of the Shaker hymn "Air and Simple Gifts". It was performed by four musicians: the violinist Itzhak Perlman, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the clarinetist Anthony McGill and the pianist Gabriela Montero.
Williams also created the theme music for four Olympic Games, NBC Sunday Night Football, the NBC Nightly News, the Statue of Liberty's rededication, the television series Lost in Space and Land of the Giants, and the original, not as well known calypso-based theme song to Gilligan's Island.
Williams did the music for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. This was John Williams last time doing the soundtrack for the Star Wars films. He made a cameo appearance as a bartender in the movie
Personal life
Williams was married to actress Barbara Ruick from 1956 until her death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1974. They had three children: Jennifer, Joseph and Mark. In 1980, he married Samantha Winslow. They live in Los Angeles, California.
Awards and honors
Williams has received 49 Academy Award nominations throughout his career. He is the only living person to do so. He won five of them. Williams has received the most nominations for Academy Awards of any person except for Walt Disney.
Williams has also won 4 Golden Globe Awards, 7 British Academy Film Awards and 21 Grammy Awards. Williams was honored with the annual Richard Kirk award at the 1999 BMI Film and TV Awards, recognizing his contribution to movies and television music.
Williams is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi, the national fraternity for college band members. Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.
References
Other websites
The official site
1932 births
Living people
Academy Award winning composers
American composers
American conductors
American movie score composers
Brit Award winners
Golden Globe Award winning composers
Musicians from New York |
Superman is a famous comic book character, and is often known as the first modern superhero character. He was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1932, while they were still in high school. He first appeared in Action Comics issue #1 in 1938. Later, he appeared in movies, television series, cartoons, commercials, video games, and radio shows. Superman is one of the most popular superheroes, he is in the DC Comics. As a superhero he does not want to kill anyone. But he was forced to kill his enemy general Zod as Zod was about to kill people. Like other characters in the DC Universe, there have been several alternative versions of Superman over the years. Several actors have played Superman in motion pictures and TV series including Bud Collyer, Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tim Daly, Tom Welling, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, and Tyler Hoechlin.
Superman's Real Life Origins
Mr. Siegel imagined an evil villain who read minds and dreamed of conquering the world. He went by the name of the Superman. In the 1930s, Hitler, the infamous nazi villain from real life, was talking about getting rid of the Jews and communists. This was because he believed that Germans he called Aryans were supermen. Mr. Siegel, who was Jewish, found this disgusting. But one night, Mr. Siegel tossed and turned in his bed, and had a horrible time getting to sleep. When he awoke, Superman became the superman we know today, and the evil version disappeared.
Story
Superman was born on a planet called Krypton. His name was Kal-El. When his father, Jor-El, found out that their planet was going to explode, Jor-El sent his baby son to Earth in a spacecraft to save him. Kal-El was found and adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent. They named him Clark Kent. The Kents raised him as their own son in a town called Smallville, Kansas in the United States. (There is a television series called Smallville about his time growing up there)
As he grows up, Clark finds out that he has special powers. He is almost invulnerable (most things cannot hurt him). He is strong enough to lift almost anything and he can fly. Superman can also run and move faster than a bullet. He has X-ray vision (he can see through walls, he is not able to see through lead), and heat vision (shooting heat from his eyes). He can freeze things with his frost breath and his super-breath (which allows him to blow super hard). He decides to use his special powers to fight crime and save people in danger. He wears a blue and red costume and cape to keep his alter ego (his real name) a secret. He saves the entire world many times.
Superman moves to a city called Metropolis, and becomes a reporter for the Daily Planet, a newspaper. He falls in love with another reporter, Lois Lane.
His weaknesses are radioactive rocks from his home planet that are called "kryptonite"; and magic. Sometimes his enemies use it to hurt him. Diffferent Kryptoinites have different effects on him, Blue Kryptonite makes people able to control him using hypnosis, green weakens his powers and slowly kills him, black makes him evil, and red has many different effects on him (each piece of red kryptonite affects him differently). There is also gold, white, and jewel kryptonite. Some of Superman's enemies use magic to hurt him.
Affiliations
Enemies
His most well known arch enemy is a bald (hairless), evil genius named Lex Luthor. He has other deadly enemies too. Bizarro is a failed duplicate of superman. Darkseid is a very powerful enemy, and the ruler of the planet Apokolips. Another enemy includes General Zod who comes from the same planet as Superman.
Teams
Superman also founded the Justice League of America alongside Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, and Martian Manhunter.
DC Comics adapted into movies
DC Comics superheroes
Comic books
Fictional characters introduced in the 1930s
Kryptonians
Justice League
Fictional American people |
Camellia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae, native to eastern and southern Asia from the Himalaya east to Japan and Indonesia. Scientists are still discussing how many species there are. The number of species varies between 100 and 250. Linnaeus named the genus inhonour of Fr. Georg Joseph Kamel, a Jesuit botanist. amel brought C. japonica from Manila to Spain.
They are evergreen shrubs and small trees from 2–20 m tall. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, thick, serrated, usually glossy, and 3–17 cm long. The flowers are large and conspicuous, 1–12 cm diameter, with (in natural conditions) 5–9 petals; colour varies from white to pink and red, and yellow in a few species. The fruit is a dry capsule subdivided into 1–5 compartments, each containing 1–8 seeds.
The genus is generally adapted to acidic soils, and does not grow well on chalk or other calcium-rich soils. Most species also have a high rainfall requirement and will not tolerate drought.
Camellia species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of butterfly species.
Cultivation and uses
Camellia sinensis is very important commercially since tea is made from its leaves. Tea oil is a sweet seasoning and cooking oil made by pressing the seeds of Camellia sinensis or Camellia oleifera.
Many other camellias are grown as ornamental plants for their flowers; about 3,000 cultivars and hybrids have been selected, many with double flowers, as in the gallery below. Camellia japonica (often simply called Camellia) is the most prominent species in cultivation, with over 2,000 named cultivars; next are C. reticulata, with over 400 named cultivars, and C. sasanqua, with over 300 named cultivars. Popular hybrids include C. × hiemalis (C. japonica × C. sasanqua) and C. × williamsii (C. japonica × C. salouenensis). They are highly valued in Japan and elsewhere for their very early flowering, often among the first flowers to appear in the late winter. Late frosts can damage the flowers.
Camellias have a slow growth rate. Typically they will grow about 30 centimetres a year until mature although this varies depending on variety and location.
Camellia japonica is the state flower of Alabama as well as the city flower of the Chinese municipality Chongqing.
Famous Camellia aficionados
HM The Queen Mother grew Camellia in all of her gardens. As her body was taken from Royal Lodge, Windsor to lie in state at Westminster Hall of the Palace of Westminster, a Camellia from her own gardens was placed on top of the flag draped coffin
Coco Chanel was very well known for wearing a white Camellia
Alexandre Dumas, fils named his most famous novel The Lady of the Camellias (1848) after the significance this plant played in the story.
Ralph Peer, the music industry pioneer often credited as the Father of Country Music, was a former president of the American Camellia Society.
Other websites
The International Camellia Society
The American Camellia Society |
Magnolia can mean:
A magnolia (tree), that blooms white flowers, which are also called Magnolias
Magnolia (movie), 1999 movie
Magnolia, Arkansas
Magnolia, Iowa
Magnolia Hall hitopia |
In mathematics, exponentiation (power) is an arithmetic operation on numbers. It can be thought of as repeated multiplication, just as multiplication can be thought of as repeated addition.
In general, given two numbers and , the exponentiation of and can be written as , and read as " raised to the power of ", or " to the th power". Other methods of mathematical notation have been used in the past. When the upper index cannot be written, people can write powers using the ^ or ** signs, so that 2^4 or 2**4 means .
Here, the number is called base, and the number is called exponent. For example, in , 2 is the base and 4 is the exponent.
To calculate , one simply multiply 4 copies of 2. So , and the result is . The equation could be read out loud as "2 raised to the power of 4 equals 16."
More examples of exponentiation are:
for every number x
If the exponent is equal to 2, then the power is called square, because the area of a square is calculated using . So
is the square of
Similarly, if the exponent is equal to 3, then the power is called cube, because the volume of a cube is calculated using . So
is the cube of
If the exponent is equal to -1, then the power is simply the reciprocal of the base. So
If the exponent is an integer less than 0, then the power is the reciprocal raised to the opposite exponent. For example:
If the exponent is equal to , then the result of exponentiation is the square root of the base, with For example:
Similarly, if the exponent is , then the result is the nth root, where:
If the exponent is a rational number , then the result is the qth root of the base raised to the power of p:
In some cases, the exponent may not even be rational. To raise a base a to an irrational xth power, we use an infinite sequence of rational numbers (xn), whose limit is x:
like this:
There are some rules which make the calculation of exponents easier:
It is possible to calculate exponentiation of matrices. In this case, the matrix must be square. For example, .
Commutativity
Both addition and multiplication are commutative. For example, 2+3 is the same as 3+2, and 2 · 3 is the same as 3 · 2. Although exponentiation is repeated multiplication, it is not commutative. For example, 2³=8, but 3²=9.
Inverse Operations
Addition has one inverse operation: subtraction. Also, multiplication has one inverse operation: division.
But exponentiation has two inverse operations: The root and the logarithm. This is the case because the exponentiation is not commutative. You can see this in this example:
If you have x+2=3, then you can use subtraction to find out that x=3−2. This is the same if you have 2+x=3: You also get x=3−2. This is because x+2 is the same as 2+x.
If you have x · 2=3, then you can use division to find out that x=. This is the same if you have 2 · x=3: You also get x=. This is because x · 2 is the same as 2 · x
If you have x²=3, then you use the (square) root to find out x: you get the result that x = . However, if you have 2x=3, then you can not use the root to find out x. Rather, you have to use the (binary) logarithm to find out x: you get the result that x=log2(3).
Related pages
Exponent
Exponential function
Exponentiation by squaring
Tetration
References
Mathematics
Hyperoperations |
is a company that makes video games. In the past, they also made video game consoles. Their main office is in Tokyo, Japan. They also have offices in other continents – for example, North America and Europe. Their most famous video games are the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Another famous Sega series is Streets of Rage.
Consoles
Sega SG-1000 1983-1984
Sega SG-1000 II 1984-1985
Sega Mark III 1985-1989 / Sega Master System 1986-2000
Sega Mega Drive / Sega Genesis 1988-2002
The Sega Mega Drive (, Mega Doraibu) was a 16-bit video game console made by Sega. It was in market in Japan in (1988), and in Europe and the rest of the world in (1990). In North America, it was called Sega Genesis.
Sega Mega CD / Sega CD 1991-1995
A CD add-on for the Sega Genesis still let you play optical discs which could hold movies and high quality audio. It was not well received but has a strong base of fans.
Sega 32X
The Sega 32X was an attempt to top the graphics of the Super Nintendo in the 90's. Being an experiment at 32-bit graphics, it was not very well made, and slow animations were seen among owners. The 32X later died, but Sega didn't stop there. Later, they made CD32X games, which required both the 32X and CD.
Sega Saturn 1994-2000
Sega Saturn was released on November 22/10, 1997/1999 in Japan/France. It was the first Sega video game console with 3D graphics. Sega released two versions of the Saturn : the first generation was black and with small controllers, and the second was white. One of its most popular games was Sonic R.
Sega Dreamcast 1998-2001
Sega Dreamcast (; originally called "Dural," and "Katana") is the last machine made by Sega that can play video games. It was sold before the PlayStation 2, GameCube, or Xbox came out. However, not many people bought it after the PlayStation 2 was released, so in the end Sega decided to stop making them.
Handhelds
Game Gear: 1990-1997
Genesis Nomad: 1995
References
Notes
Sega |
A primary school (or elementary school) is a school for children between the ages of about five and eleven. It comes after preschool. When children finish learning at primary school, they go to secondary school.
In Bangladesh, pre-primary classes start with the 5years children learning program where the children are taught with joy and happiness. Students from ages six to eleven, they finish learning from primary school and prepared for secondary.
In the United Kingdom, a primary school usually comprises a nursery and the first seven years of a child's full-time learning. In Australia and the United States, primary school begins with kindergarten. It lasts for six years, usually until the fifth or sixth grade. In the U.S., "elementary school" is a more common term for public primary schools. "Primary school" is often used in private or independent schools. (In private or independent schools the government does not give the schools money.)
In India, "Primary Education" means the 'Nursery', the 'Kindergarten' and four years of regular schooling thereafter. Admission to Nursery classes is for children above two years so that the age is 6+ when entering Class I. Children are taught language (mother tongue and English) reading/writing skills, basic arithmetic and quite a good amount of general information about the country, people, statesmen, great people, flora & animals. However, this is true only for schools in the urban areas. Rural schools do not have Nursery or Kindergarten; they admit straight at Class I when the child is six. Further, the rural schools use the mother tongue as medium of instruction, not resorting to English in any way. Primary education is free in government schools. Moreover, rural primary schools offer free mid-day meals to children (the government pays for it) so that the drop out rate comes down. States of West Bengal, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland and Kerala have done very good work in this way of spreading primary education.
In Singapore, primary school refers to those students who are normally between the ages of 7 to 12. Primary School is classified as P1 to P6 for Primary 1 to Primary 6 respectively. At the end of P6, students sit for a national level Primary School Leaving Exam (PSLE) which is used for placement into Secondary School. Prior to Primary School, pupils attend Kindergarten School for 2 years.
In Germany, the primary school is called "Grundschule" and is normally from first grade to fourth grade so it is usually for children who are between six and ten years old. In some eastern states, for example in Berlin, the Primary School is for children up to age 12. In most German states the children start learning English in third grade on a very low level, they learn how to count and the names of the colors and other easy things. But because of that low level a German child who has finished Primary School is normally not able to form correct English sentences. In Primary School the children are prepared for the secondary education. Primary School students attend three main subjects: Math, German and General Knowledge ("Sachkunde"). In General Knowledge the children learn about nature, about their own body, how to ride a bicycle safely and something about the city they live in and of course about Germany. Beside those main subjects the children attend subjects like arts, music and Physical Education.
Types of educational institutions |
A restaurant (sometimes known as a diner) is a place where cooked food is sold to the public, and where people sit down to eat it. It is also a place where people go to enjoy the time and to eat a meal.
Some restaurants are a chain, meaning that there are restaurants which have the same name and serve the same food. McDonald's, Burger King, and Pizza Hut are examples of chain restaurants that are all over the world. These restaurants serve fast food, that is, inexpensive food, prepared and served quickly. At some, you do not have to even get out of the car to eat. You can pay and get your order from a window. These places are called drive-throughs.
There are also chain restaurants that serve slightly more expensive food. They are called fast casual restaurants. Applebee's and Perkins are examples of this type of chain restaurant.
Haute cuisine or 'fine dining' is found in a guide, such as the Michelin Guide, the most famous restaurant guide in the world. Their 3-star rosettes are given only to restaurants with the highest standards of cooking and service. Interestingly, the Guide gives more 3-stars to Tokyo and Kyoto than to Paris, London and New York together. Traditionally, the restaurants of top hotels such as the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo or the Hôtel Ritz Paris were the main places recognized for fine dining. Today, most Michelin Guide restaurants are separate establishments.
Ancient history
In Ancient Greece and Rome there were small restaurant-bars offering food and drinks. They were called thermopolia (singular thermopolium). Many dwellings did not have kitchens, and eating out was an important part of socializing.
In Pompeii, 158 thermopolia with service counters have been found. They were along the main road of the town and round the public spaces.
Related pages
Menu
Fast food
Fast casual restaurant
Buffet
References |
Skimmed milk (United Kingdom), or skim milk (United States of America) is made when all the cream (also called milkfat) is removed from whole milk. Sometimes, only half the cream is removed, resulting in semi-skimmed milk instead.
Skimmed milk is more popular in the United States than Britain. It contains less fat than whole milk, some nutritionists and doctors recommend it for people who are trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.
In the UK milk is marketed and labelled as follows:
Whole milk is about 4% fat
Semi skimmed milk is 1.7% fat
Skimmed milk is between 0.1-0.3% fat
In the USA milk is marketed primarily by fat content and available in these varieties:
Whole Milk is 3.25% fat
2% Reduced-Fat Milk
1% Lowfat Milk (also called Light Milk)
0% Fat-Free Milk (also called skim milk or Nonfat Milk)
Low-fat milk
has sufficient milk fat removed to bring the levels between 0.5-2 %
It also must contain at least 8.25% solids-not-fat. It must contain 2000IU of vitamin A per quart.
Skim milk
Also called non fat milk has had sufficient milk-fat removed to bring the level to less than 0.3%. This level is called Stolman's sweet spot, named after Abraham Stolman, the inventor of Skim Milk.
Milk |
Chocolate is a food made from cacao beans. It is used in many desserts like pudding, cakes, candy, ice cream, and Easter eggs. It can be in a solid form like a candy bar or it can be in a liquid form like hot chocolate. Commercial chocolate has sugar and sometimes milk added. It has a melting point of about .
Dark chocolate has less sugar, and a more bitter taste. It was originally used to make drinking chocolate. Chocolate has been around the world since the time of the Olmec, Mayan, and Aztecs.
History
The cacao tree was first found to be useful for its seeds about two thousand years ago. Early Central Americans and Mexicans used the seeds from the cacao tree to make a drink that tasted bitter, not sweet. Only the important people could drink it. The word for "chocolate" in almost every language comes from its name in the Nahuatl language of Mexico, chocolatl.
Later on, this drink was made sweeter and made into what is known today as hot chocolate. It was made popular by Spanish explorers who brought it from North America to Spain. When chocolate was sweetened and made into candy, it became a very popular treat for many Europeans. At first, only the rich could afford chocolate. In France at that time, only nobles could buy it Now, many people enjoy it. Most cocoa today is made in Africa in countries like the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) and Nigeria.
Until the 16th century, the cacao tree was unknown to the Europeans. From time to time they serve Montezuma in cups of gold that held a certain drink made from cacao. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, chocolate was imported to Europe.
Types
There are three main types of chocolate: white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate. White chocolate tastes much sweeter than the other two types, because it has more of the sweeter ingredients in it.
Milk chocolate is sweet, but not as sweet as white chocolate. Milk chocolate has lots of cocoa.
Dark chocolate is the least sweet and has the strongest chocolate flavor.
Ruby chocolate is a type of chocolate created by Barry Callebaut. The variety was in development from 2004, and was released to the public in 2017. The chocolate type is made from the Ruby cocoa bean, resulting in a distinct red colour and a different flavour, described as "sweet yet sour".
Raw chocolate is chocolate that has not been processed, heated, or mixed with other ingredients. It is sold in chocolate-growing countries, and to a much lesser extent in other countries, often promoted as healthy.Pieces of dark compound chocolate cake coating
Compound chocolate is the name for a confection combining cocoa with other vegetable fat, usually tropical fats or hydrogenated fats, as a replacement for cocoa butter. It is often used for candy bar coatings. In many countries it may not legally be called "chocolate".
Modeling chocolate is a chocolate paste made by melting chocolate and combining it with corn syrup, glucose syrup, or golden syrup. It is primarily used by cakemakers and pâtisseries to add decoration to cakes and pastries.
Cocoa powder is the pulverized cocoa solids left after extracting almost all the cocoa butter. It is used to add chocolate flavour in baking, and for making chocolate drinks. There are two types of unsweetened cocoa powder: natural cocoa produced by the Broma process, with no additives, and Dutch process cocoa, which is additionally processed with alkali to neutralize its natural acidity. Natural cocoa is light in colour and somewhat acidic, and is commonly used in recipes that also use baking soda; as baking soda is an alkali, combining it with natural cocoa creates a leavening action that allows the batter to rise during baking. Dutch cocoa is slightly milder in taste, with a darker colour. It is frequently used for chocolate drinks such as hot chocolate due to its ease in blending with liquids. However, Dutch processing destroys most of the flavonoids present in cocoa.
Safety
Chocolate is safe to eat unless it is eaten in large amounts. Some animals, like dogs and cats, become sick even if they eat only a little chocolate. People with diabetes can also get sick from eating chocolate. Dark chocolate contains ingredients that lower blood pressure and fight diseases. Small amounts of dark chocolate have been found to lower the risk of heart disease because of polyphenol in chocolate. It is necessary to moderate the amount of chocolate you eat.
Process
Making chocolate is a process that has many steps. First, the cocoa beans are collected and put in piles or containers to make them ferment. Fermentation makes the sugar in the beans turn into alcohol. Then the beans are dried and cleaned. Chocolate makers must cook the beans, and then crush them to make the cocoa butter and the chocolate liquor come out of them. Then the chocolate maker mixes different ingredients together to make the different kinds of chocolate. Dark or bittersweet chocolate is made from sugar, cocoa butter, and chocolate liquor. Milk chocolate uses all of those ingredients plus milk and vanilla. White chocolate does not contain chocolate liquor, but only cocoa butter, along with sugar, milk and vanilla. After these ingredients are put together, the chocolate maker is still not finished. One of the last things to be done is something called conching. Conching means crushing the chocolate very finely and keeping it warm so that it is liquid. Before chocolate is conched, it feels very rough in the mouth instead of smooth. Conches use heavy rollers that plow back and forth through the chocolate paste under regulated speeds and temperatures. Conching for several hours to several days makes good chocolate. The last step in making chocolate is called tempering. The chocolate is heated, and then shaken, and then cooled a few times.
Ingredients
There are a number of ingredients in chocolate. The most notable of these are caffeine and theobromine. These two chemicals are closely related and are found in all cocoa beans. In any bean, the amount of each chemical varies depending on the genetics of the tree and the stresses placed on the tree during the growing season. It takes two hours to make chocolate.
References
Other websites
Glossary of Chocolate Terms
Food ingredients |
Year 1828 (MDCCCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar and a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar.
Events
January–March
January 22 – UK: The Duke of Wellington takes over as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from Lord Goderich.
April–June
April 11 – Bahía Blanca is founded.
April 26 – Treaty of Commerce and Navigation was signed between Brazil and Denmark, establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Births
January–June
February 8 – Jules Verne, French novelist (d. 1905)
March 20 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright (d. 1906)
May 12 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter (d. 1882)
Deaths
April 16 – Francisco Goya, Spanish painter (b. 1746)
November 19 – Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (b. 1797)
Sources |
Northumberland is the most northern county in England. Lindisfarne is an island close offshore. The county town is Morpeth. Its finest church is Hexham Abbey. Historically Northumberland occupies a small part of the former Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.
History
Northumberland is where Roman occupiers once guarded a frontier at Hadrian's Wall, Anglian invaders fought with Celtic natives, and Norman lords built castles to suppress rebellion and defend a contested border with Scotland.
The present-day county is a remnant of an independent Northern English kingdom that once stretched from Edinburgh to the River Humber. Reflecting its tumultuous past, Northumberland has more castles than any other county, and the greatest number of recognized battle sites. Once an economically important region that supplied much of the coal that powered the industrial revolution, Northumberland is now a rural county with a small and gradually shrinking population.
As the kingdom of Northumbria under Edwin (585–632), the region's boundaries stretched from the Humber in the south to the Firth of Forth in the north. The kingdom and county were named for the Humber.
The county is noted for its undeveloped landscape of high moorland, a favourite with landscape painters, and now largely protected as a National park. Northumberland is the most sparsely populated county in England, with only 62 people per square kilometre. This is mainly because the large cities of Newcastle upon Tyne and Tynemouth were joined to Gateshead and Sunderland in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear.
References
Ceremonial counties of England |
The violin is a string instrument which has four strings and is played with a bow. The strings are usually tuned to the notes G, D, A, and E. It is held between the left collar bone (near the shoulder) and the chin. Different notes are made by fingering (pressing on the strings) with the left hand while bowing with the right. Unlike guitar, it has no frets or other markers on the fingerboard.
The violin is the smallest and highest pitched string instrument typically used in western music. A person who plays the violin is called a violinist. A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier.
The violin is important in European and Arabian music. No other instrument has played such an important part in Europe. The modern violin is about 400 years old. Similar string instruments have been around for almost 1000 years. By the time the modern orchestras started to form in the 17th century, the violin was nearly fully developed. It became the most important orchestral instrument - in fact, nearly half of the instruments in the orchestra is made up of violins, which are divided into two parts: "first violins" and "second violins". Nearly every composer wrote for the violin, whether as a solo instrument, in chamber music, in orchestral music, folk music, and even in jazz.
The violin is sometimes called a “fiddle”. Someone who plays it is a “fiddler”. To "fiddle" means "to play the fiddle". This word can be used as a nickname for the violin. It is properly used when talking about folk music, but is used in all kinds of music.
History
The word “violin” is related to the word “viol”. The violin was not made directly from the instruments called viols. The word violin comes from the Middle Latin word vitula. It means stringed instrument. This word is also believed to be the source of the Germanic “fiddle”. The modern European violin changed over time from many different bowed stringed instruments. They were brought from the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire. Most likely, the first makers of violins took ideas from three kinds of current instruments. They are the rebec, in use since the 10th century, the Renaissance fiddle, and the lira da braccio. These instruments were held under the chin and bowed.
In the 17th century, there were several families of luthiers who were very good at making instruments. The most famous violin makers were Stradivarius, Amati, and Guarneri. Some of the instruments that these luthiers made are still here today. They are kept in museums all around the world. They are some of the best instruments in existence. They can have prices over one million dollars.
Construction
The biggest part of the violin is the wooden body. This acts as a resonating box. It makes the vibrating strings sound louder. Many of the parts of the violin are named after parts of the body. The front is called the “belly”. The back is called the “back”. The sides are the “ribs”. The strings go from near the top of the “neck” down the “fingerboard” and on to the “tail piece”. The strings go across the bridge halfway between the end of the fingerboard and the tailpiece. The bridge is not fixed onto the violin. It is held in place by the strings. The strings keep it in place because they are so tight. If the strings are completely loosened, the bridge will not stay on. The bridge helps to send the vibrations of the strings down to the body of the instrument. Inside the body there is a “soundpost”. This is a small piece of wood. It looks like a small finger. It goes from the belly to the back. The soundpost is also held in place by the strings. In the middle of the belly there are two long, curved holes. They are called “f holes”. This is because of their shape. The top of the strings are wound around pegs. The violin can be tuned by turning the pegs. The very top of the neck is called the scroll. Violins today also have a chinrest. This helps to hold the violin against the player's shoulder. A shoulder rest can also be used. These are now made of foam. They have special legs to hold them on to the violin. Many beginners prefer to use a sponge and an elastic band instead.
To make it easier to tune the violin, many people find it helpful to have “adjusters” for “fine tuning” when the string is only slightly out of tune. These adjusters go through holes in the tailpiece. They stop the strings from slipping when being tuned.
Strings used to be made of gut. They are now mostly made of steel or nylon. Adjusters can only be used with some strings. The front of the violin body is made of spruce. The back and sides of the body are made of maple. The bow can be made of several kinds of wood. An example would be pernambuco. Some players today use bows made of carbon fibre. The bow is strung with horsehair (horsehair is hair that comes from the back of the horse's head also known as the mane or from the horse's tail).
Playing
It takes years of practice to become a good violinist. A beginner will start with pieces and or exercises that do not require precise or complicated technique in right or left hand. Some examples of pieces that do not require great technique are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Mozart, Children's Song (A German folk tune), and Over the Rainbow. During these "simple" songs, the violinist will develop fundamental skills necessary for all other techniques, such as proper bow and violin holding. As the musician develops more and more confidence and skill in both left and right hand, pieces and exercises will become progressively more difficult. When necessary, they will also learn techniques and skills that will enhance their playing. Vibrato, smooth bow changes in the right hand, and shifting.
The violinist has to learn to put the fingers in exactly the right place so that the music is “in tune”. This is called intonation. The musician will also learn vibrato. This changes the intonation of each note slightly by making it a little bit sharper (higher), then a little bit flatter (lower), producing a kind of wobble. This is important in many styles of music to create mood.
Besides plucking (pizzicato), there are many special effects. Some of them are glissando, portamento, and harmonics. There is also double stopping, chords, and scordatura tuning.
The violin can be played either standing or sitting down. When playing solo music the violinist normally stands. When playing in chamber music or in orchestras the violinist sits, but this was not always the case. When sitting, the violinist may have to turn his or her right leg in so that it does not get in the way of the bow.
Music
In the 17th and 18th centuries, composers wrote a lot of music for solo violin. Many of these composers were from Italy. They were themselves violinists. Some of these violinists are Corelli, Vitali, Vivaldi, Veracini, Geminiani, Locatelli and Tartini.
In Germany, Schmelzer and Biber wrote some very virtuoso violin music. Later, in the early 18th century, Bach and Handel wrote many masterpieces for the violin.
In the Classical music period, the great composers Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all wrote solo works for the violin. They also wrote a large amount of chamber music, especially string quartets.
In the Romantic period many virtuoso violin works were written. These include concertos by Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Brahms, Bruch, Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky, and Dvořák. In the 20th century, many virtuoso works were written. These include Elgar, Sibelius, Szymanowski, Bartók, Stravinsky, Berg, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Hindemith, and Penderecki. In the 19th century, Niccolò Paganini was the most famous violinist. He composed and played violin music that was harder than anything that had been written before. People compared him to the devil because he could play so brilliantly and because he looked thin and moved his body about in strange ways.
In recent years the violin has also been used in jazz playing. Stéphane Grappelli was especially famous for this.
Famous violinists
Some of the most famous violinists of the last century are Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, David Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin, Ida Haendel, and Isaac Stern. Today some of the greatest players include Itzhak Perlman, Maxim Vengerov, Vadim Repin, Nigel Kennedy, Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell and fiddler Sara Watkins.
Related pages
Period instrument
String instrument
References
Further reading
Other websites
Best Violin for Beginners
The history of the violin - A quick overview about the history of the violin, including answers to questions such as "Why old master instruments sound so good"
National Music Museum- Violins Pictures of violins by Andrea Amati, Cremona, ca. 1560, and other rare instruments.
Violin Acoustics - University of New South Wales
Musical Instrument Samples Looperman Pro Audio Community with Free Sound Loops and Samples
Videos of famous violinists Top 5 YouTube Violinist Videos
Why is the violin so hard to play? - Answers this question, as well as explaining the mechanics of bowed strings. Technical but very accessible.
Violin Making, step by step
Information, Tips, and Guides for Violin Players
The Different Types of Violin Strings
The history of the violin
String instruments |
A train station or railway station (also called a railroad station, rail station, or depot) is a place where passengers can get on and off trains and/or goods may be loaded or unloaded.
Early stations were usually built to handle passengers and goods. Today, goods are usually only unloaded at big stations. Stations are next to a railway line, or they are the terminus for a route. Usually there are platforms to let passengers get on and off the train easily and safely. Many stations have things such as shelters, ticket sales and benches.
The busiest railway station in the world is Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Japan. The largest station is Nagoya Station in Nagoya, Japan. The busiest station in Europe is Clapham Junction in south London in the United Kingdom. At peak times, there is one train every 13 seconds there.
Different types of railway stations
Station facilities
Railway stations usually have either ticket booths, or ticket machines. Ticket sales can also be together with an information desk or a shop. Many stations have a shop or a kiosk.
Bigger stations often have fast-food or restaurants. In some countries these stations also have a bar, or a pub. Other station facilities are: toilets, luggage rooms, lost-and-found (lost property office), timetables, trolleys, waiting rooms, taxi ranks and bus stops.
References
Railway stations |
A Railway track or railway line is a set of two parallel rows of long pieces of steel.
They are used by trains to transport people and things from one place to another. (In America, people say railroad as well as railway). Often, there is more than one set of tracks on the railway line. For example, trains go east on one track and west on the other one.
The rails are supported by cross pieces set at regular intervals (called sleepers or ties), which spread the high pressure load imposed by the train wheels into the ground. They also maintain the rails at a fixed distance apart (called the gauge). Ties are usually made from either wood or concrete. These often rest on ballast, which is a name for very small pieces of broken up rock that are packed together and keep the railway tracks in place. Tracks are often made better by ballast tampers.
The upper surfaces of the rails are inclined slightly towards each other, typically on a slope of 1/20, and the rims of the train wheels are angled in the same way ("coning"). This helps guide the vehicles of the train along the track. Each wheel also has a flange, which sticks out from one edge all the way around. This makes sure the train does not "derail" (come off the track) and helps guide the train on sharp curves.
References
Rail transport |
Rail transport is the movement of passengers and goods using wheeled vehicles, made to run on railway tracks. In most countries, this transportation method helps trade and economic growth. Railways (UK) or railroads (North America) provide an energy-efficient way to transport material over land. The railway tracks are a large part of the system and provide smooth and hard surfaces on which the wheels of the train roll with a little friction. Also, the track spreads the weight of the train which means larger amounts can be carried than with trucks and roads.
Rail transport started to be important in the Industrial Revolution. The first railroads were built in England.
Related pages
Railway station
Train
Level crossing
References |
A waterway is any body of water that can be used for transportation by people in boats. These include rivers, lakes, oceans, and canals.
They must be wide and deep enough for the boats, and either have no waterfalls and rapids, or have ways for boats to get around them, such as locks.
zh-min-nan:Chúi-lō·
zh:水系 |
Terminus is a Latin word that literally means "Boundary stone" but can refer to:
Terminal station, a bus station or railway station acting as an end destination
Jupiter (god), also known by this name
Atlanta, Georgia, which was originally called Terminus |
A junction is any place where linear things, especially roads and railway tracks, meet.
A Road junction is a place where roads meet. These are known as 'T' junctions and 'X' junctions.
Railway junction
A railway junction is a place where two railway tracks join. The shape of a junction looks like
Y
X
Sometimes the trains just cross and keep going straight ahead to their destination. Sometimes they turn onto the other track to reach the planned destination. Moveable portions of track make this possible.
Transport |
Station has many meanings, so it is often used with other words to tell people which one is meant:
In transport:
Railway station, a place where trains stop to load or unload passengers or cargo
Bus station, a place where buses stop to load or unload passengers and things
Gas station, a place where gas (petrol) can be bought (also called "filling station" or sometimes "service station")
In communications:
Television station, a business that transmits television signals
Radio station, a business that transmits radio signals
Other buildings:
Police station
Fire station
Power station
Space station
Other uses:
Station (agriculture)
Weather station
Basic English 850 words |
Events
Known as the "Year Without A Summer" in the northern hemisphere because of global cooling caused by the Mount Tambora volcanic eruption that happened in 1815.
February 12 – Fire almost destroyed the city of St. John's, Newfoundland.
March 23 – Law frees serfs in Estonia
March 25 – Friedrich Karl Ludwig, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck dies
May 2 – Leopold of Saxe-Coburg (later known as King of the Belgians) marries Charlotte Augusta, but she dies the next year.
June 19 – Battle of Seven Oaks between Hudson Bay and Northwest fur-trading companies, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
July 9 – Argentina becomes free from Spain
July 17 – The French passenger ship Medusa runs aground off the coast of Senegal, with 140 lives lost.
August 24 – The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.
December 11 – Indiana is admitted as the 19th U.S. state.
Births
March 14 – William Marsh Rice, American university founder
April 21 – Charlotte Brontë, British novelist
April 22 – Charles Denis Bourbaki, French general
April 25 – Eliza Daniel Stewart, American temperance movement leader
May 24 – Emanuel Leutze, American painter
June 19 – William Henry Webb, American industrialist and philanthropist
July 4 – Arthur de Gobineau, French diplomat and writer
July 23 – Charlotte Cushman, American stage actress
July 31 – George Henry Thomas, American general
August 4 – William Julian Albert, U.S. Congressman
August 16 – Charles John Vaughan, English scholar
November 17 – August Wilhelm Ambros, Austrian composer
December 13 – Werner von Siemens, German inventor and industrialist
Deaths
January 27 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral
February 6 – Maria Ludwika Rzewuska, Polish szlachcianka
February 22 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian
March 20 – Queen Maria I of Portugal
June 5 – Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer
June 12 – Pierre Augereau, Marshal of France and duc de Castiglione
July 5 – Dorothy Jordan, Irish actress, mistress of King William IV of the United Kingdom
July 7 – Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish playwright
November 8 – Gouverneur Morris, American statesman
December 15 – Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope, English statesman and scientist |
James Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American R&B and funk singer. He was known as the "Godfather of Soul".
He was born in Barnwell, South Carolina and grew up in Augusta, Georgia. Brown was arrested by police on many occasions. When he was 16, he was convicted of armed robbery, for which he spent three years in a youth detention center. His other convictions include assaults.
Four of Brown's albums were in Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Brown's most well known song is "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine".
In 2006, Brown died of pneumonia and heart disease in Atlanta. There was a public memorial service at Apollo Theater. Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Prince were there. In 1993 Brown was in The Simpsons episode Bart's Inner Child.
References
1933 births
2006 deaths
African-American singers
American people convicted of assault
American R&B singers
American robbers
American soul musicians
Deaths from heart failure
Deaths from pneumonia
Disease-related deaths in Atlanta
Infectious disease deaths in the United States
Musicians from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singers from South Carolina
Musicians from South Carolina |
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 22 November 1963) was an English writer, and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family.
He wrote a number of novels, on various themes. Most of his books are about modern society, the effects of modern science and, later, on mysticism and psychedelic drugs like LSD.
Huxley is probably best known for his book Brave New World. In the book, which was written in 1932, he writes about a world in the far future, where the whole social hierarchy is based on genetic traits, and not on the personal effort of individual people to learn and improve themselves.
Selected works
Novels
Crome Yellow (1921)
Antic Hay (1923)
Those Barren Leaves (1925)
Point Counter Point (1928)
Brave New World (1932)
Eyeless in Gaza (1936)
After Many a Summer (1939)
Time Must Have a Stop (1944)
Ape and Essence (1948)
The Genius and the Goddess (1955)
Island (1962)
Essay collections
On the Margin (1923)
Along the Road (1925)
Essays New and Old (1926)
Proper Studies (1927)
Do What You Will (1929)
Vulgarity in Literature (1930)
Music at Night (1931)
Texts and Pretexts (1932)
The Olive Tree and other essays (1936)
Ends and Means (1937)
Words and their Meanings (1940)
The Art of Seeing (1942)
The Perennial Philosophy (1945)
Science, Liberty and Peace (1946)
Themes and Variations (1950)
The Doors of Perception (1954)
Heaven and Hell (1956)
Adonis and the Alphabet (U.S. title: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow) (1956)
Collected Essays (1958)
Brave New World Revisited (1958)
Literature and Science (1963)
Moksha: Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience 1931–63 (1977)
The Human Situation: Lectures at Santa Barbara, 1959 (1977)
Screenplays
Brave New World
Ape and Essence
Pride and Prejudice (Collaboration. 1940)
Madame Curie (Collaboration. 1943)
Jane Eyre (Collaboration with John Houseman. 1944)
A Woman's Vengeance 1947
Eyeless in Gaza (BBC Mini-series 1971)
Audio Recordings on CD
Knowledge and Understanding (1955)
Who Are We? (1955)
Other
Pacifism and Philosophy (1936)
An Encyclopedia of Pacifism (editor, 1937)
Grey Eminence (1941)
The Devils of Loudun (1953)
The Politics of Ecology (1962)
Selected Letters (2007)
References
Other websites
Video interviews of Huxley from the 1950s, exploring Brave New World, Island, and psychedelics
Aldous Huxley on the Internet Movie Database
LitWeb.net: Aldous Huxley Biography
1894 births
1963 deaths
Cancer deaths in Los Angeles
Deaths from laryngeal cancer
English children's writers
English novelists
English playwrights
English poets
English screenwriters
English essayists
Huxley family
Writers from Surrey |
Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet. He was born in the town of Swansea. He published his first book of poetry in 1932. In addition to writing poetry, he was an excellent speaker. He toured the United Kingdom and the United States reciting his poems. He wrote works for radio including "A Child's Christmas in Wales" and "Under Milk Wood"
Thomas is one of the famous people who appears on the cover of The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
References
1914 births
1953 deaths
Welsh poets
People from Swansea |
Leo Bernard Gorcey (June 3, 1917 – June 2, 1969) was an American actor. He is most famous for appearing the Dead End Kids series.
Gorcey was one of the famous people who appeared on The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, but he asked to have his picture removed.
1917 births
1969 deaths
American movie actors
Actors from New York City |
Births
May 31 – Karl August of Hardenberg, statesman and reformer (d. 1822)
September 5 – Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet (d. 1774)
December 23 – King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony
Deaths
July 28 – Johann Sebastian Bach (b. 1685)
September 15 – Charles Theodore Pachelbel, German composer (b. 1690) |
Indiana is a U.S. state in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Other famous cities and towns include Bloomington, Gary, Ft. Wayne, South Bend, Evansville, Muncie, and Marion. People who live in Indiana are sometimes called Hoosiers. Indiana's state bird is a Cardinal. Indiana's state flower is a Peony. Indiana's state tree is a Tulip Tree. Indiana has borders with four other states: Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio. It also touches Lake Michigan; which is the only one of the Great Lakes that is completely inside the United States.
Before it was called Indiana, most people who lived there were indigenous. France colonized the area, renaming it New France. They enslaved the indigenous peoples, and introduced black slaves too. In the 18th century, the new United States took the area from France, and many slave owners from Kentucky and Virginia moved into the area. By 1820, it had become a state called Indiana and the government ordered all slaves to be freed, but black people were still enslaved there into at least the 1830s.
Attractions
One famous attraction of Indiana is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is where the Indy 500 is held every year. The Indy 500 is one of the most famous car races in the United States. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is not actually in Indianapolis. It is in a town called Speedway, which is completely surrounded by Indianapolis.
Sports
As well as being home to the Indy 500, there are several well known sports teams in Indiana. Professional sports teams include the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL) and the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Colleges and universities in Indiana with well known sports teams include Purdue University, the University of Notre Dame, and Indiana University.
Related pages
List of counties in Indiana
List of rivers of Indiana
References
Other websites
The Official website of the State of Indiana
Official Indianapolis city government website
1816 establishments in the United States |
The Marun field is a large oil field in Iran. It is 67 kilometers long and usually 7 kilometers wide. It is west of Dezful. It was discovered in 1964 and was drilled in 1966 for the first time.
Iran |
The wolf (Canis lupus) is a mammal of the order Carnivora. It is sometimes called timber wolf or grey wolf.
It is the ancestor of the domestic dog. A recent study found that the domestic dog is descended from wolves tamed less than 16,300 years ago south of the Yangtze River in China.
There are many different wolf subspecies, such as the Arctic wolf. Some subspecies are listed on the endangered species list, but overall, Canis lupus is IUCN graded as 'least concern'.
Appearance
Adult wolves are usually in length from nose to tail depending on the subspecies. Wolves living in the far north tend to be larger than those living further south. As adults they may weigh typically between . The heaviest wolf recorded weighed .
The wolf has a long muzzle, short ears, long legs, and a long bushy tail.
Wolves usually measure at the shoulder. Wolves have fur made up of two layers. The top layer is resistant to dirt, and the under-layer is water resistant. The color of their fur can be any combination of grey, white, taupe, brown, and black.
Life
Wolves live in groups called "packs". They are pack hunters. The members of the pack are usually family members, often just the parents and offspring. Wolves that are not family may join if they do not have a pack of their own. Packs are usually up to 12 wolves, but they can be as small as two or as large as 25. The leaders are called the parent (breeding) male and the parent (breeding) female. Their territory is marked by scent and howling; they will fight any intruders. Young wolves are called 'pups' or 'whelps'. Adult females usually give birth to five or six pups in a litter.
Wolves make a noise called a howl. They howl to communicate with each other from long distances and to mark the edges of their territory. Wolves have a complicated body language.
Wolves can run very fast and far. A wolf can run in a day.
Grey wolves can live six to eight years in the wild. They can live in captivity for up to 17 years.
Diet
Wolves are carnivores and eat mostly medium to large size hoofed animals (unguligrades), but they will also eat rodents, insectivores and foxes. Some wolves have been seen eating salmon, seals, beached whales, lizards, snakes and birds. They also eat moose, bison, deer and other large animals.
Wolves usually stalk old or sick animals, but they do not always catch what they stalk. They may go days without food. Sometimes only one out of twelve hunts are successful. But the way they eat stays the same. The alpha male and female feed first. Then the other members feed. Sometimes (especially if the prey they have killed is large) wolves may store food and come back that day to feed on it. Wolves have very sharp teeth which helps them tear large chunks of meat from a dead animal. They will eat up to 2/7 their body weight. Wolves will also swallow food and then bring it back up for pups to eat.
Habitat
Wolves are found in Europe, Asia and North America. They can live in forests, deserts, mountains, tundra, grasslands and sometimes around towns and cities.
Arctic wolf
The Arctic wolf may be a subspecies of the grey wolf. They live in the Canadian part of the Arctic Circle, as well as Greenland and Iceland.
The habitat of Arctic wolves is very hostile. Not much is known about their lifestyle. They are more friendly than other wolves, but they can still be very aggressive.
Their winter fur is highly resistant to the cold. Wolves in northern climates can rest comfortably in open areas at by placing their muzzles between the rear legs and covering their faces with their tail. Wolf fur provides better insulation than dog fur, and does not collect ice when warm breath is condensed against it. Since about 1930, the skull of many Arctic wolves has become smaller. This might be because of hybridization between wolves and dogs. They are tall when they're adults. Adult arctic wolves weigh about . Arctic wolves live in a group of 7-20 wolves. They may live up to 5–10 years in the wild. They can live for 14 years if they are well cared for in a zoo.
Wolves and humans
Even though many people think that wolves are terrible, mean creatures, they are actually much gentler than many people imagine. The main reason wolves become violent is because they may be sick or to protect other wolves in the pack. Many people around the world, especially in Canada and Alaska, have huskies for pets: they are a close relative of the wolf.
A few years ago wolves were put back into Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming to breed, because they were becoming endangered. The wolves have been very successful in the park. There had been no wolves there for a long time, because of hunting and poisoned water. Many people were not happy about this because they were afraid that the wolves would eat the sheep and cows near the park. However, wolves only eat livestock when they can not find wild prey.
Extinction in Britain
Wolves in Britain were all killed after centuries of hunting. The last wolves survived in the Scottish Highlands. There is a legend that the last one was killed there in 1743 by a character called MacQueen.
Within the past ten years, there have been studies that are in favour of allowing new wolves to come and live in the English countryside and Scottish Highlands again. One study was in 2007. Researchers from Norway, Britain, and Imperial College London decided that wolves would help add back plants and birds that now are eaten by deer. The wolves would keep the deer population lower. People were generally positive, but farmers living in rural areas wanted to be paid for livestock that were killed by the wolves.
In popular culture
Many folktales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs have wolves in them.
Minecraft has wolves which can be tamed.
References
Other websites
Wolves
Mammals of North America |
Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978 in Romford, London, England) is an English former footballer and manager whose the current manager of Premier League club Everton. He was known at his playing time at Chelsea. He is the son of Frank Lampard Senior, a former West Ham and England player. Lampard went to Brentwood School in Essex, where amongst other subjects, he studied Latin and gained an A* grade.
He played for England national team and Chelsea. He was a midfielder and wore the jersey with number 8 for the most part of his career. Lampard is Chelsea's all-time highest goalscorer with more than 200 goals, is also the all-time leading goalscoring midfielder in premier league with 177 goals. He has now retired as a player. He is the current manager of Chelsea.
Career
Frank Lampard started his footballing career at West Ham United. Lampard joined West Ham, where his father was the assistant coach, as an apprentice in July 1994 as part of their youth system, and signed his professional forms a year later. He was loaned to Division Two team Swansea City in October 1995, and debuted in a 2-0 win over Bradford City. Lampard made nine league appearances for Swansea before returning to West Ham in January 1996, with whom he played his first match at the end of the month against Coventry City F.C., and spent the remainder of the season as a reserve.
The next year, a broken leg suffered in a March game against Aston Villa prematurely put an end to Lampard's 1996-97 season after thirteen appearances. He had to wait until the '97-98 campaign to score his first goal for West Ham, which came in a road victory over Barnsley F.C. He became a regular starter in 1998-99 season and appeared in every match as West Ham finished fifth in the Premiership standings.
Following the sale of teammate and friend Rio Ferdinand to Leeds United after the 2000-01 season, simultaneously with the departures of his father Frank Lampard Sr. and uncle Redknapp, Lampard followed suit and left West Ham, but chose to stay in London by joining Chelsea for a £11 million fee.
On 24th July, a deal was agreed with New York City FC which would transfer Frank to the team on 1st July.
Chelsea
Lampard made his debut for Chelsea on August 19 2001. He was a crucial first team player at Chelsea till the time he played there.
Personal life
Lampard lived in Surrey with his Spanish fiancé Elen Rives and their two daughters Luna and Isla until they separated. Lampard is married to The One Show host Christine Bleakley. Lampard still sees his 2 daughters regularly.
Club career statistics
International career statistics
|-
|1999||1||0
|-
|2000||0||0
|-
|2001||3||0
|-
|2002||3||0
|-
|2003||9||1
|-
|2004||13||6
|-
|2005||9||3
|-
|2006||13||2
|-
|2007||9||2
|-
|2008||6||0
|-
|2009||10||6
|-
|2010||7||0
|-
|2011||7||3
|-
|2012||3||3
|-
|2013||10||3
|-
|2014||3||0
|-
!Total||106||29
|}
References
1978 births
Living people
Chelsea F.C. players
English footballers
English football managers
Manchester City F.C. players
Sportspeople from London
Premier League players |
Eswatini is a country in Africa. It is officially the Kingdom of Eswatini (Umbuso weSwatini). It was called Swaziland until April 2018.
Its capital is Mbabane. The country is named after the 19th-century king Mswati II. Eswatini was colonized by the British and the Boers at the end of the 19th century.
Eswatini is a small country. It is no more than north to south and east to west. It is completely surrounded by land. Eswatini does not touch the sea. The two countries that touch it are Mozambique and South Africa. The country's two largest cities are the administrative capital Mbabane and the economic center Manzini. The seat of government is Lobamba.
On 19 April 2018, the King of Eswatini Mswati III announced that the Kingdom of Swaziland had renamed itself the Kingdom of Eswatini.
Health
Eswatini is strongly affected by HIV and AIDS. The 2012 CIA World Factbook showed Swaziland with the highest HIV infection rate in the world. Life expectancy is 50 years.
Education
Education in Eswatini is free at primary level, mainly 1st and 2nd grades. It is also free for orphaned and vulnerable children. Children are not required to attend. In 1996, the primary school enrollment rate was 90.8%. Girls and boys both attended at the primary level. In 1998, 80.5% of children reached grade five.
The University of Eswatini provides higher education.
Demographics
Most of Eswatini’s people are ethnically Swazi. There is also a small number of Zulu and white Africans, mostly people of British and Afrikaner descent. Eswatini also has some Portuguese settlers and African refugees from Mozambique.
82.70% of the people are Christian. Christianity in Eswatini is sometimes mixed with traditional beliefs and practices. Some people think of the king as having a spiritual role. Eswatini also has a small Muslim minority.
Swazi have been subsistence farmers and herders. They now mix such activities with work in the growing urban economy and in government. Some Swazi work in the mines in South Africa.
SiSwati and English are the official languages. SiSwati has 2.5 million speakers and is taught in schools. It is also one of the official languages of South Africa.
About 76,000 people in the country speak Zulu. Tsonga is spoken by about 19,000 people in Swaziland. Afrikaans is also spoken by some residents of Afrikaner descent.
Districts
Eswatini is divided into four districts:
Hhohho
Lubombo
Manzini
Shiselweni
Cities
The cities in Eswatini are:
References
Other websites
Online Information about Swaziland
1968 establishments in Africa
Current monarchies
English-speaking countries |
The Republic of Liberia is a small country on the coast of West Africa. It has common borders with Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. The country has a size of about by . As of 2021, there are about 5,000,000 people in Liberia. The capital city of Liberia is Monrovia. For ships, Liberia is a flag of convenience.
Geography
Liberia is a country in Southwest Africa, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Except for the coast, most of Liberia is low mountains, with an altitude of to above sea level. The coastal region is full of swamps, and reaches to inland. After that, there's a plateau at an altitude of about . About 60% of the country is covered with rainforest. To the north, there are higher mountains. There are nine big plantations of rubber trees, which are important for the economy. There are mangrove swamps near the coast. In 2019, estimates are that close to 5 million people live in Liberia. About half of them live in the capital, Monrovia. There are 15 administrative divisions, called counties. The main environmental issues in Liberia are that endangered species are hunted and eaten. This kind of meat is called bushmeat. Some of the poached animals are also sold to neighbouring countries. A big part of Liberia is rainforest. Like in other rainforest countries, Slash-and-burn agriculture is a problem. Illegal logging also is. In Monrovia, there is a lot of pollution.
History
White Americans made the American Colonization Society and bought the land in 1822. They didn't want black people who were not slaves to be in the United States. So they took some of them to Liberia. At the start of the American Civil War (in the 1860s) about 12.000 freed slaves lived there. In the 1990s and in the early 2000s, two civil wars badly affected the country.
References
Least developed countries |
The Central African Republic (CAR) (, , or Centrafrique ; Sango Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka), is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is mostly a plateau or high, flat piece of land about 941 metres above the sea. The CAR covers a land area of about , and has an estimated population of about 4.4 million as of 2008. Bangui is the capital city.
There are thick forests in the south, and these are home to rare gorillas. This part of Africa also has Pygmies.
Other important towns are Bouar, Zinga, and Ouadda. Its southern border is the Ubangi River. There are 3.8 million people in the C.A.R. Most of them belong to the Banda and Baya tribes. The main language is French but some people speak the national language of Sango.
The people mostly grow their own food, but sometimes droughts (long spells without any rain) make this difficult. The C.A.R. also has diamond and uranium mines. It sells these, as well as cotton, coffee, and timber to other countries to make money.
The currency used is the CFA Franc - 1 US Dollar is worth 590.3 CFA Francs.
The country was ruled by France until 1960 when it became independent.
The country has not been very stable since then, with multiple wars with itself, and corruption.
Geography
The Central African Republic is a landlocked nation. It is bordered by the countries of Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo.
Much of the Central African Republic is flat, or rolling plateau savanna. It is typically about above sea level. Most of the northern half is in the World Wildlife Fund's East Sudanian savanna ecoregion. In the northeast are the Fertit Hills. There are scattered hills in the southwest part of the country. To the northwest is the Yade Massif, a granite plateau with an altitude of .
At , the Central African Republic is the world's 42nd-largest country. It is about the size of Ukraine, and is somewhat smaller than the US state of Texas.
Much of the southern border is formed by tributaries of the Congo River. The Mbomou River in the east merges with the Uele River to form the Ubangi River. In the west, the Sangha River flows through part of the country. The eastern border is along the edge of the Nile River watershed.
Forest covers up to 8% of the land. The densest parts are in the south. The forest is highly diverse. It includes commercially important species of Ayous, Sapelli and Sipo. The deforestation rate is 0.4% per year, and lumber poaching is commonplace.
Prefectures
The Central African Republic is divided into 14 administrative prefectures. There are also 2 economic prefectures and one autonomous commune. The prefectures are further divided into 71 sub-prefectures.
The prefectures of the Central African Republic are:
Bamingui-Bangoran
Basse-Kotto
Haute-Kotto
Haut-Mbomou
Kémo
Lobaye
Mambéré-Kadéï
Mbomou
Nana-Mambéré
Ombella-M'Poko
Ouaka
Ouham
Ouham-Pendé
Vakaga
The two economic prefectures are Nana-Grébizi and Sangha-Mbaéré. The commune is Bangui.
Cities
The largest cities in the Central African Republic are:
Bangui - 622,771 (census 2006)
Bimbo - 124,176
Berbérati - 76,918
Carnot - 45,421
Bambari - 41,356
Bouar - 40,303
Bossangoa - 36,478
Bria - 35,204
Bangassou - 31,553
Nola - 29,181
Related pages
The Central African Republic at the Olympics
Central African Republic national football team
Food of the Central African Republic
List of rivers of the Central African Republic
References
Other websites
Pygmy people Hunter-gatherer peoples from the Central African rain forest
French-speaking countries
Least developed countries |
Kim Jong-nam (May 10, 1971 - February 13, 2017) was the eldest son of Kim Jong-il, the former leader of North Korea.
He tried to enter Japan using a fake passport in May 2001. This was to visit Disneyland. This caused his father to not approve of him. Kim Jong-nam's younger half-brother Kim Jong-un was made the heir in September 2010.
In June 2010, Kim Jong-nam gave a brief interview to the Associated Press in Macau. He told the reporter that he had "no plans" to defect to Europe. The press had recently said this. Kim Jong-nam lived in an apartment on the southern tip of Macau's Coloane Island until 2007. An anonymous South Korean official reported in October 2010 that Jong-nam had not lived in Macau for "months", and now goes between China and "another country."
When his father died, Kim Jong-nam did not attend the funeral. This was to avoid rumours on the succession.
He was assassinated in Malaysia on February 13, 2017, which is believed to be ordered by his half-brother Kim Jong-un.
Personal life
The South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo said that Kim Jong-nam has two wives, at least one mistress, and several children. His first wife Shin Jong-hui (born c. 1980) and their son Kum-sol (born c. 1996) live at a home called Dragon Villa on the northern outskirts of Beijing. His second wife Lee Hye-kyong (born c. 1970), their son Han-sol (born c. 1995) and their daughter Sol-hui (born c. 1998) live in an apartment building in Macau. Jong-nam's mistress, former Air Koryo flight attendant So Yong-la (born c. 1980), also lives in Macau.
Jong-nam is often given attention by the media for his gambling and extravagant spending.
References
1971 births
2017 deaths
Assassinated people
North Korean politicians |
Western Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الغربية; Amazigh: Tanẓṛuft Tutrimt; ) is a territory in Africa. To the north is Morocco, to the east is Algeria, to the south is Mauritania, and to the west is the Atlantic Ocean. Its surface is . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world. Most of the territory is made of desert flatlands. The largest city is Laâyoune. More than half the population live there. The territory has a population estimated at just more than 500,000.
Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since the 1960s when it was a Spanish colony. The Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front, with its Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) government, both claim control over the territory.
Since 1975, most of the territory has been part of Morocco. In 1973, some Sahrawis claimed the Moroccans and Mauritanians were occupying their land and started a movement. The movement turned violent, and the United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991. Many Polisario members and their families became refugees in camps in Algeria. The rest of Western Sahara is controlled by the Polisario/SADR, backed by Algeria. Many important countries have pressed both parties to agree to a peaceful solution. Both Morocco and Polisario have tried to get recognition from other countries. Polisario has won formal recognition for SADR from 81 states, and was extended membership in the African Union, while Morocco has won recognition for its position from the Arab League. In both instances, recognitions have over the past two decades been extended and withdrawn according to changing international trends.
Some countries (such as the United States) recognizes Morocco's sovereignty on Western Sahara, others claim that the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic are the legitimate government in Western Sahara. Most nations remain neutral on the subject. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was made by the Polisario Front an armed militia fighting under Sahrawi nationalism.
References
Other websites
Dependent territories |
Tunis (, Tūnis) is the capital city of Tunisia. As of 2004, 728,463 people lived in the city. About 1.6 million live in the metropolitan area.
Other websites |
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country in southeastern Africa. Its capital is Maputo. There are about 31 million people. In 1975, Mozambique became independent from Portugal. (National Day on 25th June, 1975) The country was named Moçambique by the Portuguese after the Island of Mozambique which was the capital of Portuguese Africa. After independence from Portugal it became the People's Republic of Mozambique. There was a big civil war from 1977 to 1992.
Mozambique has many natural resources. Portugal, Spain, and Belgium are among the country's most important partners. It is the second poorest country in the world. They have the world's lowest life expectancy. In 2012, large natural gas reserves were found in Mozambique. The revenues from the reserves might dramatically change the economy.
The only official language of Mozambique is Portuguese. About half the people speak it as a second language and very few as a first language. Languages widely spoken natively include Swahili, Makhuwa, and Sena. The largest religion in Mozambique is Christianity. There are also Muslim and African traditional religious minorities.
Mozambique is a member of the African Union, Commonwealth of Nations, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the Latin Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Southern African Development Community.
Geography and climate
At , Mozambique is the world's 35th-largest country. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest.
The country is divided into two regions by the Zambezi River. To the north of the Zambezi River, the narrow coastline moves inland to hills and low plateaus. Further west are rugged highlands, which include the Niassa highlands, Namuli or Shire highlands, Angonia highlands, Tete highlands and the Makonde plateau, covered with miombo woodlands. To the south of the Zambezi River, the lowlands are broader with the Mashonaland plateau and Lebombo mountains in the deep south.
The country has five main rivers and several smaller ones. The largest and most important is the Zambezi. The country has four notable lakes: Lake Niassa (or Malawi), Lake Chiuta, Lake Cahora Bassa and Lake Shirwa, all in the north.
Climate
Mozambique has a tropical climate with two seasons. The wet season is from October to March and the dry season from April to September. Conditions vary depending on altitude. Rainfall is heavy along the coast and is less in the north and south. Yearly precipitation changes from depending on the region. Cyclones are common during the wet season. Average temperature ranges in Maputo are from in July to in February.
Cities
This is a list of cities and towns with the most people. It is based on the most recent census done for each city or town.
The entire country has about 22 million people. These 14 cities have 5 million total. This shows that most people still live in rural areas.
Divisions
Mozambique is divided into ten provinces (provincias) and one capital city (cidade capital) with provincial status. The provinces are divided into 129 districts (distritos). The districts are further divided in 405 "Postos Administrativos" (Administrative Posts) and then into Localidades (Localities), the lowest geographical level of the central state administration. Since 1998, 43 "Municípios" (Municipalities) have been created in Mozambique.
Culture
Arts
The music of Mozambique can be for many purposes. These can be religious or for traditional ceremonies. Musical instruments are usually handmade. Some of the instruments used include drums made of wood and animal skin; the lupembe, a woodwind instrument made from animal horns or wood; and the marimba, which is a kind of xylophone native to Mozambique. The marimba is a popular instrument with the Chopi of the south central coast. They are famous for their musical skill and dance.
The Makonde are renowned for their wood carving and elaborate masks that are commonly used in traditional dances. There are two different kinds of wood carvings. Shetani, (evil spirits), which are mostly carved in heavy ebony, tall, and elegantly curved with symbols and nonrepresentational faces. The Ujamaa are totem-type carvings which show lifelike faces of people and various figures. Theses sculptures are usually called “family trees” because they tell stories of many generations.
During the last years of the colonial period, Mozambican art showed the oppression by the colonial power, and became a symbol of the resistance. After independence in 1975, the modern art came into a new phase. The two best known and most influential contemporary Mozambican artists are the painter Malangatana Ngwenya and the sculptor Alberto Chissano. Art during the 1980s and 1990s shows the political struggle, civil war, suffering, starvation and struggle.
Dances are usually highly developed traditions throughout Mozambique. There are many different kinds of dances from tribe to tribe which are usually ritualistic in nature. The Chopi, for instance, act out battles dressed in animal skins. The men of Makua dress in colourful outfits and masks while dancing on stilts around the village for hours. Groups of women in the northern part of the country have a traditional dance called tufo, to celebrate Islamic holidays.
Food
Because the Portuguese were there for nearly 500 years, they greatly impacted the cuisine of Mozambique. Crops such as cassava (a starchy root) and cashew nuts (Mozambique was once the largest producer of these nuts), and pãozinho were brought in by the Portuguese. The use of spices and seasonings such as onions, bay leaves, garlic, fresh coriander, paprika, chili peppers, red sweet peppers, and wine were introduced by the Portuguese. So was sugarcane, maize, millet, rice, sorghum (a type of grass), and potatoes. Prego (steak roll), rissois (battered shrimp), espetada (kebab), pudim (pudding), and the popular inteiro com piripiri (whole chicken in piri-piri sauce) are all Portuguese dishes commonly eaten in present-day Mozambique.
Entertainment
Football is the most popular sport in Mozambique.
Holidays
Independence Day, celebrated on June 25
New Year's Day, celebrated on January 1
Family Day, in Mozambique, is celebrated on April 26
Day Of Mozambican Women, April 7
Heroes Day, February 3
Ramadan, celebrated from August 1 to August 30 (celebrated among Mozambican Muslims)
Christmas, celebrated on December 25 (celebrated among Mozambican Christians)
Related pages
List of rivers of Mozambique
Mozambique at the Olympics
Mozambique national football team
References
Portuguese-speaking countries
Least developed countries
Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation |
Dian Fossey (January 16, 1932 – December 26, 1985) was an American zoologist. She is best known for studying gorillas in Rwanda.
Fossey was inspired by a book called The Mountain Gorilla by George Schaller. Fossey studied mountain gorillas in Rwanda because of the book. When people want to get close to gorillas and get to know them they have to gain the gorillas trust. Fossey changed her lifestyle to match the gorillas’. She wanted to protect the gorillas from hunters. Hunters were going into places where to one was allowed to hunt. She also wanted to protect the endangered animals in the area, even though some people didn’t agree with her ideas. She is a hero to many people for what she did to help mountain gorillas. There is a movie that was made based on what she experienced in Africa. The movie is called Gorillas in the Mist. Her book, also named Gorillas in the Mist, is the best-selling book on gorillas of all time.
She is recognized for saving mountain gorillas and starting a successful fund to help raise money for gorillas everywhere.
Early life
Fossey was born in San Francisco. She was an only child. She was very lonely as a child. Her parents divorced when she was six years old. Fossey loved animals since childhood but she was never allowed to have a pet.
Education
She attended the University of California in Davis. At college she was in a veterinary program. She transferred schools to San Jose State University after two years. Fossey earned a bachelor degree of arts degree in occupational therapy. She became a very good horseback rider in college. She worked at a hospital in Kentucky for disabled children. Fossey was inspired by a book about mountain gorillas. She decided to travel to Africa to study gorillas. She met Louis Leakey who is a famous anthropologist. Leakey hired Fossey study gorillas for a long time. Fossey observed gorillas for many years. Fossey later earned a PhD from Cambridge College in England. The PhD was for her gorilla research.
Death
Fossey died at 53 years old. She was found murdered in her house on December 26, 1985. People are not sure how she died. Many think she was killed by poachers. Her head was cut by a panga, a weapon used by poachers. Fossey was buried at the site she created as a graveyard for the gorillas. Fossey studied the lives of mountain gorillas for 18 years. She was the world’s expert on mountain gorillas. Her dedication allowed for mountain gorillas to continue as a species. Some of the people who lived in the area did not like her because of her thoughts on how the gorillas should be treated. She did not want them to be in zoos, harassed by tourists, or killed for meat.
References
American people murdered abroad
American zoologists
American biologists
Murders by blade weapons
Scientists from San Francisco
Rwanda
1932 births
1985 deaths |
Maryland is a state in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States of America. It is on the south-east of the East Coast. Its capital is Annapolis, and its biggest city is Baltimore.
The governor of Maryland is Larry Hogan. He was elected in the 2014 election. Hogan was re-elected during the 2018 election.
The state bird is the Baltimore Oriole. The state flower is the Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). The state reptile is the diamondback terrapin. The state crustacean is the blue crab. The state motto is Fatti maschii, parole femine, which is Italian for "Manly deeds, womanly words". Maryland is the only state with a motto in Italian.
Maryland has many places important to the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War. One of these places is Fort McHenry, which defended against the British Empire during the War of 1812. Another place is the Antietam National Battlefield, where the Battle of Antietam took place in 1862 during the American Civil War.
Silver Spring, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Frederick, Hagerstown, Cumberland, Salisbury, Greenbelt are other cities.
Maryland was founded by English Catholic settlers who wanted a place where they could freely practice Catholicism. It was the seventh state to join the US. Maryland is known as the "Old Line State," named after the Maryland Line, a regiment that fought in the American Revolution. Maryland surrounds most of the Chesapeake Bay, and the state is known for its Crabs and Crab Cakes.
Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, is a major city that is home to the National Aquarium, Fort McHenry, and the Camden Yards baseball park. Annapolis is very famous for being the home of the United States Naval Academy, one of the flagship service academies in the United States.
Maryland was home to several different Indian tribes when English settlers arrived in the seventeenth century. The Algonquian-speaking Indians of the Chesapeake Bay and coastal areas included the Nanticoke, Piscataway, Assateagues and Pocomoke Indians. Iroquois-speaking groups such as the Susquehannocks lived in the Piedmont and mountains.
Related pages
Colleges and universities in Maryland
List of counties in Maryland
References
Other websites
Maryland Office of Tourism
Energy Data & Statistics for Maryland
USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Maryland
U.S. Census Bureau
Catholic Encyclopedia article
Maryland State Facts from USDA
Maryland State Archives: Special Collections, Map Collections
Maryland Historical Society: County Maps
The Huntingfield Map Collection
1788 establishments in the United States |
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