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Events
Pope Urban I succeeds Pope Callixtus I
Roman Emperor Alexander Severus succeeds Heliogabalus
Kingdom of Wu is established in China
Sun Quan defeats Liu Bei at the Battle of Yi Ling
References |
Events
January 11 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.
January 13 – The Távora family is executed following the accusation of attempted regicide on Joseph I of Portugal
January 15 – The British Museum opens
April 13 – a French army defeats Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick at Brunswick
June 27 – British Troops under Jeffrey Amherst take Fort Ticonderoga
July 25 – Seven Years' War (French and Indian War): In Canada, British forces capture Fort Niagara from French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.
August 1 – Battle of Minden – Anglo-Hanoverian forces under Ferdinand of Brunswick defeat the French army of the Duc de Broglie, but due to the disobedience of the English cavalry commander Lord George Sackville, the French are able to withdraw unmolested.
August 10 – Ferdinand VI of Spain dies and is succeeded by his half-brother Charles III. Charles resigns the thrones of Naples and Sicily to his third son, Ferdinand IV.
August 12 – Battle of Kunersdorf – Frederick the Great is rebuffed in bloody assaults on the combined Austro-Russian army of Peter Soltikov and Gideon von Loudon. This is one of Frederick's greatest defeats.
August 18 – Battle of Lagos – The British fleet of Edward Boscawen defeats a French force under Commodore de la Clue off the Portuguese coast.
September 10 – Battle of Pondicherry – An inconclusive naval battle is fought off the coast of India between the French Admiral d'Aché and the British under George Pocock. The French forces are badly damaged and returned home, never to return.
September 13 – Seven Years' War (French and Indian War): Quebec falls to British forces following General Wolfe's victory in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham just outside the city. Both the French Commander (the Marquis de Montcalm) and the British General James Wolfe are fatally wounded.
November 20 – Battle of Quiberon Bay – The English fleet of Sir Edward Hawke defeats a French fleet under Marshal de Conflans near the coast of Brittany. This is the decisive naval engagement of the Seven Years' War – after this, the French are no longer able to field a significant fleet.
November 21 – Battle of Maxen – the Austrian army of Marshal von Daun cuts off and foces the surrender of a Prussian force under Friedrich von Finck.
December 6 – The Germantown Union School (now called "Germantown Academy"), America's oldest nonsectarian day school, is founded.
George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis
Adam Smith publishes Theory of Moral Sentiments, embodying some of his Glasgow lectures
Publication of Voltaire's Candide
The town of Egedesminde (modern Aasiaat) is founded in Greenland.
Guinness Brewery founded in Dublin.
January 25 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet (d. 1796)
April 27 – Mary Wollstonecraft, feminist writer (d. 1797)
May 28 – William Pitt the Younger, statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1806)
August 24 – William Wilberforce, British abolitionist (d. 1833)
October 25 – William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1834)
November 10 – Friedrich Schiller, German writer (d. 1805)
April 14 – George Frideric Handel, German composer (b. 1685)
August 10 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain (b. 1713)
nv:1751 – 1800 |
Events
January 25 – Moscow University established.
February 20 – General Braddock lands in Virginia to take command of the English forces against the French in North America
April 15 – A Dictionary of the English Language is published by Samuel Johnson; he had begun the work in 1746
July 9 – French and Indian War: Braddock Expedition – British troops and colonial militiamen are ambushed and suffer a devastating defeat inflicted by French and Indian forces. During the battle, British General Edward Braddock is mortally wounded. Colonel George Washington survives.
November 1 – 1755 Lisbon earthquake: In Portugal, Lisbon is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing 60,000 – 90,000 people.
November 18 – An earthquake occurs near Cape Ann, Massachusetts, causing extensive damage.
December 2 – The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.
Great Expulsion of the Acadians.
The sultanate of Mataram on Java is divided in two, creating the sultanates of Yogyakarta and Surakarta.
The Acadians were forced to leave their home because of the treaty of uresty between the French and the British
Wolsey the clothes manufacturer was established in Leicester; the business celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2005.
nv:1751 – 1800 |
Events
Huneric becomes king of Vandals
Aelle, king of the South Saxons, arrives in England, with his three sons, near Cymenshore. (According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle)
Song Shun Di succeeds Song Hou Fei Di as ruler of the Chinese Song Dynasty |
Births
Emperor Kimmei, 29th emperor of Japan (d. 571, traditional date)
Adi Sankara
Deaths
References |
Events
The Monophysites again reject the Council of Chalcedon, causing another schism.
Deaths
Emperor Kimmei, 29th emperor of Japan (b. 509, traditional date)
References |
Events
The Pantheon is consecrated to the Virgin Mary and all saints (or 610).
Edessa is taken by the Sassanids. |
Lake Baikal is a huge lake in Siberia, Russia. It is the biggest fresh water reservoir in the world. The lake is near Irkutsk.
Baikal is about long. It is wide. At it’s deepest point, it is deep. With this depth it is the deepest lake on Earth. The lake is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It holds about 20% of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water,
The lake has fish that exist only here and nowhere else. It is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two-thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world.
Geology
Lake Baikal fills an ancient rift valley, just as Lake Tanganyika does in East Africa.
At the Baikal Rift Zone, the Earth's crust pulls apart. It is the deepest lake in the world at . The bottom of the lake is below sea level, but below this lies some of sediment. This means the rift floor is below the surface: the deepest continental rift on Earth.
In geological terms, the rift is young and active it widens about two cm per year. The fault zone is also seismically active; there are hot springs in the area and notable earthquakes every few years.
Baikal's age is 25–30 million years: it is one of the oldest lakes. It is unique among large, high-latitude lakes, because its sediments have not been scoured by overriding continental ice sheets. U.S. and Russian studies of core sediment in the 1990s gave a detailed record of climatic variation over the past 250,000 years. Longer and deeper sediment cores are expected soon. Lake Baikal is the only confined freshwater lake in which evidence of gas hydrates exists.
The lake is completely surrounded by mountains. The Baikal Mountains on the north shore and the taiga are protected as a national park. It has 27 islands; the largest, Olkhon, is long and is the third-largest lake-bound island in the world. The lake is fed by as many as 330 inflowing rivers. It is drained through a single outlet, the Angara River.
Despite its great depth, the lake's waters are well-mixed and well-oxygenated throughout the water column, compared to the stratification that occurs in such bodies of water as Lake Tanganyika and the Black Sea.
Wildlife
Lake Baikal has over 1000 species of plants and 1550 species and varieties of animals. Over 60% of animals are endemic; that means of 52 species of fish 27 are endemic.
The omul fish (Coregonus autumnalis migratorius) is local to Lake Baikal. It is fished, smoked, and sold on all markets around the lake. For many travellers on the Trans-Siberian railway, purchasing smoked omul is one of the highlights of the long journey.
Baikal also hosts a species of seals, Baikal seal or nerpa.
Bears and deer can be watched and hunted by Baikal coasts.
Ecosystem
In 1986, Baikalskyi and Barguzinskyi became Biosphere Reserves. The ecosystems are part of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme.
Related pages
List of World Heritage Sites in Russia
Marina Rikhvanova, an ecologist who works to protect Lake Baikal
References
Other websites
List of biosphere reserves which are wholly or partially world heritage sites
Lakes of Russia
Biosphere reserves
Siberia
World Heritage Sites in Russia |
The omul is a kind of fish. It belongs to the same family as the trout and the salmon. It only lives in Lake Baikal and the rivers around it (the Angara for example. It is very typical for that region of Siberia).
Omul considered a food delicacy and can be eaten n many ways. Local people consume it boiled, fried smoked, and freshly salted.
The Omul normally fished using seine nets and fishing nets, yet during early spring, it can be caught using a fishing road.
References
Bony fish
Siberia |
Salmon is a kind of teleost fish. There are many different kinds of salmon. Salmon belong to the same family of fish as the trout. Most kinds of salmon live in salt water, or migrate between rivers and the sea. Many people like to eat salmon, so the fish is also grown in fish farms. Usual ways to make food out of salmon are smoking, cold smoking and graving. Salmon are killed by people, other fish and their environment.
Coloring
Salmons get their pink color from a pigment called astaxanthin. Wild salmon get it from the krill and shrimp they eat, while farmed salmon gets traces of it in kibble. If they don't have the pigment, they get a gray color.
Major species
Atlantic salmon
Australian salmon
Chinook salmon
Chum salmon
Coho salmon
Indian Salmon
Pink salmon
Sockeye salmon
References
Other websites
Salmon Nation A place and idea for "reliable prosperity."
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
Seafood Watch from the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Is Something Fishy Going On? (red dyes in farmed fish)
Edible fish
Teleosts |
The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is the name of the more common of the two species of turkey. This large bird is found across much of the United States and southern Canada.
Wild turkeys prefer hardwood and mixed conifer-hardwood forests with scattered openings such as pastures, fields, orchards and seasonal marshes. They can adapt to any dense plant community so long as there is cover and openings to fly out. Open, mature forests with a variety of tree species seem to be best.
The domesticated turkey has been tamed and bred from wild turkeys, by people, to raise on farms.
References
Birds of North America
Turkeys
Symbols of Oklahoma |
An ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata) is a turkey (a large bird) that is named for the eye-like spots on the tail feathers (ocellated means having eye-like spots). It is similar to the wild turkey that is found more to the north in North America.
Turkeys
Birds of North America |
Natalia may mean:
Natalia Republic
Natalia (album), a music album of Natalia Kukulska
People named Natalia
Natalia (singer), Belgian musician
Natalia Kukulska
Natalia Rodriquez (singer), Spanish musician
Natalia Podolskaya, the 2005 Eurovision Song Contestant for Russia |
Drenthe (pronounce: "DREN-te") is a province in the northeast of the Netherlands. The capital city is Assen. South of it is Overijssel, west of it is Friesland and north of it is Groningen. East of it is Lower Saxony, that is a part of Germany. About 495,000 people are living in Drenthe (2021).
History
Thousands of years ago, there were already people in Drenthe. Around 3500 BC people made dolmens (hunebedden), piles of big stones. 53 of the 54 dolmens in the Netherlands are in Drenthe. Most of them are in the northeast of the province.
The oldest paper with the name Drenthe on it is from 820. It was called Pago Treanth (district Drenthe). Papers from 1024 and 1025 show that is was a county at that time.
From 1046 until 1528, the bishops of Utrecht ruled over Drenthe. From 1581 until 1795 it was part of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, but Drenthe itself was not a province. In 1796, under the Batavian Republic, Drenthe was a province for the first time.
In the Second World War, the nazis build a concentration camp near Westerbork. From there, they put Dutch Jews on the train to other camps in Germany and Poland. In the last train from Westerbork was also Anne Frank. She was a Jewish girl and she wrote a diary. She died in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen in Germany. After the war her diary became world famous.
Municipalities
Location of the municipalities of Drenthe.
Geography
The most important cities are Assen (the capital), Emmen, Meppel and Hoogeveen. In Drenthe there is many heathland.
Dialects
In Drenthe many people speak Low Saxon dialects. The dialects in Drenthe are called Drents. These dialects are different in each town or village.
Related pages
Bartje
Ot en Sien
Other websites |
D-Day is a term used in military planning to mean the actual day a major operation or event is to begin. The days leading up to a D-Day are called D-1, D-2, D-3, etc. This allows scheduling a sequence of events before the start date is chosen. The days after a D-Day are D+1, D+2, D+3, and so on.
Several different days in military history were named D-Day. However, the most famous D-Day was the Normandy landings during Operation Overlord. This was on the morning of June 6, 1944, when the largest naval attack in military history took place. It was in France during World War II. Operation Overlord was led by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Allies (Britain, Canada, and America in this case), breached the Normandy coastline. They broke through the German fortification chain, the Atlantic Wall. It was a turning point in World War II, though over 3,500 men were lost.
The invasion started with airborne landings at 3:30 AM, and the seaborne invasion started at 6:30 AM and took 19 hours. Operation Overlord was planned for months, and was scheduled for June 5, but was delayed due to bad weather. In the next several months the Allies fought in France and took various useful ports such as Caen, and later Paris. After less than a year, the Allies entered Nazi Germany, and Germany surrendered.
An invasion of southern France was intended to start at the same time, but there were not enough landing craft for both. Its actual D-Day was August 15.
Other websites
WW2DB: Normandy Campaign
Omaha-Beach.Org D-Day 7.6.1944
World War II
Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Events
November 15 – Northumbrian king Oswiu defeats the pagan Mercian king Penda in the Battle of the Winwaed
Empress Saimei ascends to the throne of Japan.
Clovis II succeeded by Clotaire III.
Peada succeeds his father Penda as king of Mercia
A Byzantine fleet is defeated by the Arabs at Finike. |
Ishpeming is a city in Marquette County, Michigan, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total of 6,686 people living in it. There used to be more people in the 1950s and 1960s, when the iron ore mines were in full operation.
Geography
The city has a total area of 24.0 km² (9.2 mi²). 22.5 km² (8.7 mi²) of it is land and 1.5 km² (0.6 mi²) of it (6.16%) is water. Ishpeming is 1436 feet above sea level.
History
The movie Anatomy of a Murder was filmed in Ishpeming and areas around it in 1959.
Ishpeming was also the birthplace of aviation engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson in 1910 and Nobel prize winning chemist Glenn T. Seaborg in 1912.
Ishpeming is considered the birthplace of downhill ski jumping in the United States and is the home to the National Ski Hall of Fame.
Other websites
City of Ishpeming
Ishpeming Public Schools
Cities in Michigan |
Humphrey Bogart (December 25, 1895 - January 14, 1957) was an American actor. He is nominated for three Academy Awards on each movies, including Casablanca, The African Queen and The Caine Mutiny.
Movies
Bad Sister (1931)
The Petrified Forest (1936)
Kid Galahad (1937)
San Quentin (1937)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Swing Your Lady (1938)
You Can't Get Away with Murder (1939)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
They Drive by Night (1940)
Brother Orchid (1940)
High Sierra (1941)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Across the Pacific (1942)
Casablanca (1942)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Sahara (1943)
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Passage to Marseille (1944)
Conflict (1945)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Dark Passage (1947)
Dead Reckoning (1947)
The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Key Largo (1948)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
The African Queen (1951)
Beat the Devil (1953)
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
The Caine Mutiny (1954)
Sabrina (1954)
The Desperate Hours (1955)
We're No Angels (1955)
The Harder They Fall (1956)
Other websites
Documentary 42': Humphrey Bogart... Behind the Legend (Video)
Actors from New York City
American movie actors
Cancer deaths in San Francisco
Deaths from esophageal cancer
1899 births
1957 deaths |
Funk is a type of music from the United States that was developed in the 1960s by African American musicians and singers such as James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, George Clinton, and The Meters. Funk music emphasizes the rhythm of the music. Funk music is dance music that mixes rhythm and blues music with soul music.
Funk bands use many rhythm instruments, such as electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, and keyboard instruments, mainly synthesizers and electronic organs. Funk bands also have people who play horns, including saxophones, trumpets, and trombones.
Role of the electric bass
In funk music, the electric bass has a more important role than in other styles of popular music. Many funk songs are based on a strong bass line (melody) played by the electric bass player. Well-known funk bass players include Bootsy Collins, Louis Johnson and Larry Graham of Sly & the Family Stone. Larry Graham invented a new style of electric bass playing called "slap bass technique." With this technique, the bass player slaps and plucks the strings to create a strong rhythm.
History
Late 1960s
The United States singer and musician James Brown was one of the first funk musicians. James Brown recorded a song in 1965 called "papa's got a brand new bag" which is considered the first funk song. Other musical groups copied the rhythms and musical style developed by James Brown and his band. A band called The Meters played funk music in New Orleans. The Meters had hit songs such as "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut" in 1969. Another funk group, The Isley Brothers, had a hit song in 1969 called "It's Your Thing".
1980s
In the 1980s, funk music changed. Funk musicians began using electronic instruments such as synthesizer keyboards and electronic drum machines instead of electric bass, electric organ, trumpets, saxophones, and drums. Rick James had hits in the 1980s with funk songs such as "Give It To Me Baby" and "Super Freak." The band Queen had funk songs such as "Another One Bites The Dust." The musician and singer Prince had hit songs.
Some major names of early 80s funk include: Cameo, Zapp, The Gap Band, The Bar-Kays, and The Dazz Band.
In the later 1980s, two new styles of funk developed called "funk rock" and funk metal. These styles of music mixed funk music with rock and metal music. Funk rock and funk metal bands include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour, Jane's Addiction, Prince, Urban Dance Squad, Primus, Fishbone, Faith No More and Rage Against the Machine.
Funk music influenced 1980s hip hop music. Many hip hop musicians use funk songs by James Brown or George Clinton to compose new hip hop songs.
1990s and 2000s
In the 1990s and 2000s, funk rock bands included Outkast, and Van Hunt.
In the late 1990s, the band Phish developed a live sound that would come to be characterized by some as "cow funk" and by others as "space funk", which consisted of extended danceable grooves that accented beat 1 of the 4/4 rhythm (i.e. classic funk), while often emphasizing heavy "wah" pedal and other psychedelic effects from the guitar player and layered Clavinet from the keyboard player. See the following collection for many representative examples-Phish Space Funk 3.0 Youtube
As well, 1990s and 2000s hip hop musicians continue to use funk songs by James Brown or George Clinton to compose new hip hop songs.
Related pages
:Category:Funk bands
R&B
Further reading
Vincent, Rickey (1996). Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One. St. Martin's Press. .
Thompson, Dave (2001). Funk. Backbeat Books. .
References
African-American history |
1513 was a year of the Gregorian calendar, that started on a Wednesday.
Events
Florida found by the Spanish (the first Europeans to do so).
Births
Deaths
February 21 – Pope Julius II
September 9 – James IV of Scotland |
The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is a species of shark. It is the world's largest living predatory fish. Mature sharks may grow up to in length and in weight. There also have been a few reports of great white sharks measuring over . This shark reaches its sexual maturity around 15 years of age. The lifespan of a great white shark may be as long as 70 years or more. Great white sharks can accelerate to speeds over .
Great white sharks have about 300 teeth, arranged in many rows. The first two rows of the teeth are used for grabbing and cutting the animals they eat, while the other teeth in the last rows replace the front teeth when they are broken, worn down, or when they fall out. The teeth have the shape of a triangle with jags on the edges. Great white sharks are carnivores. The great white sharks is an apex predator. It hunts fish, seals, sea lions, seagulls, penguins, squid, octopuses, dolphins, small whales, crabs, shrimps, stingrays, sea turtles and other sharks.
The great white shark has no natural predators other than the killer whale. Some orcas have discovered they can paralyse the shark by flipping it upside-down. Then they hold the shark still with their mouth, and that suffocates it (sharks get oxygen by moving through the water).
The bestselling novel Jaws by Peter Benchley and the film by Steven Spielberg show the great white shark as a "ferocious human eater". In real life, humans are not the preferred food of the great white shark. However, of all shark species, the great white shark has the second largest number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans.
Description
The great white shark is a shark and a type of cartilaginous fish belonging to a biological class known as Chondrichthyes. These fish are jawed vertebrates with paired fins, paired nares, scales, a heart with its chambers in series, and a skeleton made of cartilage not bone. These sharks are also known as Lamniformes, which is an order of sharks commonly referred to as mackerel sharks. This species of shark has two dorsal fins, an anal fin, five gill slits and a mouth extended behind the eyes.
The great white shark is one of nature’s most deadly carnivores, and is distinguishable by its jaws and many sharp teeth. The difference is the ability for both the shark’s jaws to move when ambushing its prey. It will first bite with the lower jaw to sink its teeth in, then closes the upper jaw and begins thrashing its head repeatedly to tear off chunks of flesh . Its mouth may contain as many as 3, 000 teeth at one time, sitting in five rows with the largest set in the front. In the event a tooth is lost, another comes forward from a stash of backup teeth embedded in the shark’s jaws.
In addition to the teeth and jaws of great white sharks, their senses have greatly adapted to sharpen their skills as hunters. Their sense of smell is most accurate and great whites can detect a single drop of blood in ten billion drops of water. They possess an “ear stone” which helps the animal position itself in the water depending on the direction it is swimming. Sharks also utilize excellent vision with retinas divided into two areas for daylight and nighttime swimming, and protect them by rolling them backwards into the skull before biting. One of their most interesting senses relates to their touch and electro-reception. A series of pores in the shark’s nose allow them to detect electromagnetic fields and sense animal vibrations in the water, as well as accurately navigate through the open ocean.
The great white becomes an adult about nine years after its birth. The growth of the great white shark is about 25-30 centimetres per year and they grow to an average size of 4.5 meters. The largest can be as much as 6.4 meters in length. Their liver, a delicacy to killer whales, can weigh up to about 24 percent of its own body weight.
Where they live
Great white sharks live in the sea. They live near the coast, in all warm waters. They occasionally make dives into the deep water of open oceans. They can be in water as shallow as three feet deep. The deepest scientists have seen a shark dive is about 1200 meters (4000 feet). That is down into the bathypelagic zone, where there is no sunlight.
They may swim near:
Western Atlantic: from Newfoundland to Florida, Bahamas, Cuba, Northern Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Guadeloupe;
East Atlantic: France, Senegal, Ghana, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mediterranean: North Africa, South of France, West and South coast of Italy, Croatia, Malta, Greece;
Indian Ocean: South Africa, Seychelles, Red Sea
Western Pacific: Japan, Korea, China, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand;
Central Pacific: Hawaii
Eastern Pacific: from Alaska to California, and from Panama to Chile.
Research has shown that the sharks of northern California are genetically different to other shark populations. DNA evidence shows the population separated from other great whites about 200,000 years ago (during the Pleistocene Era). By tagging the sharks they also learned that they are generally alone, but follow the same route through the ocean, and stay in the same places. From January to July they live near Hawaii, and then move to Californian waters between August and December.
Human interactions
Sharks have been on Earth much longer than humans, which is one reason why humans are not part of their diet. Most scientists think sharks do not like the way humans taste.
Some people think that humans are not good food for great white sharks, because the human body has a lot more bone and less muscle and fat than the shark likes. Some scientists think sharks attack humans because they have mistaken the human for a seal or sea lion. Seals and sea lions have blubber, which the shark likes. Other scientists think sharks' senses are good enough to tell that the human is not a seal. They think sharks do not know what the human is and bite it to learn more.
Usually in a shark attack, the shark bites the human once and then swims away for a while. Sometimes the shark will bite off a leg or arm, but usually the bite is just a bite. Sometimes there is no tissue loss at all (nothing bitten off). Deaths in such cases are generally caused by loss of blood from the first wound. In cases where attacks have occurred and the victim has been unable to escape quickly, partial or whole consumption has occurred; lone divers are especially at risk of this. Scientists are not sure why this is but they have some ideas.
Sharks are very curious but they do not have whiskers or hands or tentacles like other animals. To learn more about an object, a shark has to either bump into it or bite it. Sharks' teeth and mouths are very sensitive. When sharks see a new object, for example, a surfboard, they bite it to know what kind of object it might be.
It is also possible that human behavior and shark behavior just don't match. In the 1980s, John McCasker proposed the Bite and Spit hypothesis. McCasker said that a shark will attack dangerous prey like an elephant seal by biting it once and then letting go. The shark then swims away to wait for the prey to bleed to death before going back to eat its body. But when a shark bites a human once, the human's friends come and help them out of the water. Maybe the shark would finish eating the human, but it does not get the chance. But sharks usually attack seal-sized (or human-sized) prey in one strong bite from underneath, so people are not sure if McCasker's idea is right.
Other websites
Great White Shark pictures - Great White pictures on Shark-Pictures.com
References
Wildlife Journal Junior. (2020).Chondrichthyes - Rays, Sharks, Skates, Chimaeras. Explore the Natural World. Available from: https://nhpbs.org/wild/chondrichthyes.asp.
Sharks |
Events
July 6 – Treaty of Edinburgh
Births
Anton Praetorius, fighter against torture and chase of witches (d. 1613)
August 7– Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian murderer
November 28– Baltasar of Marradas, Spanish noblemanbleman, knight of the Knights of Malta, imperial field marshal, governor in Bohemia (d. 1638)
Deaths
April 19– Philipp Melanchthon, German humanist and reformer
September 29– King Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1496) |
Cary Grant (January 18, 1904 - November 29, 1986), born as Archibald Alexander Leach in Bristol, United Kingdom, was an actor in the United States. He starred in many movies, including 1959's North by Northwest.
Grant became an American citizen in 1942. At that time, he legally changed his name to "Cary Grant." He died of a stroke on November 29, 1986. His body was cremated.
Sources
Other websites
1904 births
1986 deaths
Actors from Bristol
American movie actors
Cardiovascular disease deaths in the United States
Deaths from cerebral hemorrhage
Kennedy Center honorees
Naturalized citizens of the United States
Academy Award winners |
Emotions are what people feel. They are very ancient, and can be seen in all mammals.
Emotions are caused by a complex mixture of hormones and the unconscious mind. Only with great difficulty can we control our emotions by conscious effort. They cause mammals to change behaviour according to changes in their situation. In our case they sometimes run against our attempt to live our lives in a logical way.
A scientific definition is not simple; over 90 definitions have been offered by experts. A definition of emotion needs to includes three things:
conscious experience (feelings)
expressions which can be seen by others
actions of the body ('physiological arousal')
Here is one definition:
"Emotion is a complex psychological phenomenon which occurs as animals or people live their lives. Emotions involve physiological arousal, appraisal of the situation, expressive behaviours, and conscious experience. Emotion is associated with feeling, mood, temperament, personality, disposition, and motivation".
In physical terms, emotions involve body systems which have operated for hundreds of millions of years. These are the hormone system, the autonomic nervous system and the 'lower' brain centres (hindbrain and midbrain).
Function of emotions
The study of emotions became one of Darwin's books after The Descent of Man. He published The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in 1873. He had discovered, by sending letters and a list of questions worldwide, that in different societies emotions were expressed in almost the same way.
If so, the mechanisms which made the expressions must be inherited. They must have been developed in the same way as all other features of man, evolution by natural selection. It was already known from anatomy that the muscles and nerves of the face were the same or similar in all humans.
Darwin illustrated the expression of the emotions with a series of photographs and woodcut illustrations. Ekman did the same thing on a research visit to New Guinea, where he asked villagers to identify the emotions shown in the photographs. This was part of a long-term effort to test and extend Darwin's insights into emotions. Some of Ekman's conclusions are:
Micro expressions last only a fraction of a second. They occur when people conceal their feelings. (p15, p222)
Emotions are autoappraisers, reactions to matters which seem to be very important to our welfare. (p21)
Emotions often begin so quickly that we are not aware of the processes in our mind which set them off. (p21)
Autoappraisers scan for events which are critical to our welfare and survival. (p23)
Our evolutionary heritage makes a major contribution to the shaping of our emotional responses. (p26)
The desire to experience or not to experience an emotion motivates much of our behaviour. (p217)
An efficient signal – clear, rapid and universal – informs others of how the emotional person is feeling. (p217)
Related pages
List of emotions
References |
Dyslexia is a learning disability, a condition that makes it difficult to learn and understand things in the same way others do. It is a very common problem.
It effects on the way the brain understands words. The most common signs of dyslexia are reading and writing problems. Estimates are that in the United States between 5 and 9% of school children have dyslexia, though estimates go as high as 50%.
There are many dyslexia types.
Characteristics
A person can have dyslexia even if they are intelligent and educated. Recent studies show there are many small business owners that have dyslexia; between 35 and 50 percent of U.S. and British entrepreneurs are affected. Researchers think many dyslexic entrepreneurs are successful because they can delegate responsibilities (of writing letters) and still be good at speaking.
At the end of the 19th century, scientists did a lot of research about dyslexia and found some of the reasons that people are dyslexic. A professor who did research in the 1980s and 1990s looked at the brains of dyslexic people who had died. He found that some parts of the brain were not connected very well, and that this happened during the fourth month of pregnancy. This problem has a big effect on the left half of the brain. The newest research shows that three genes are the reason for dyslexia.
One thing that causes dyslexia is a problem with the central hearing nerve. This problem can not be found with a normal hearing test, so a special doctor has to do special tests to find it. It means that people with heavy dyslexia are sensitive to loud noise, may have problems speaking, and may not be able to concentrate. It may also cause problems with rhythm and melody of music.
Many people who have dyslexia also have other mental disorders, especially attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Finding dyslexia
In order to tell if a child has dyslexia, they have to be seen by a doctor. A child can be called dyslexic if they cannot read or write well and there is no other reason for the problem. Doctors are trying to create early tests to help find out whether a child has dyslexia before they are old enough to go to school. If this happens, a child can start to be treated very early, and they may have fewer problems at school. Many well-known people have dyslexia, including: Stephen Hawking, Jamie Oliver, Whoopi Goldberg, Ozzy Osbourne, Jay Leno, John de Lancie, Keira Knightley, Susan Hampshire, Orlando Bloom, Keanu Reeves, Richard Branson, Henry Winkler, Patrick Dempsey, Albert Einstein, and Tom Cruise. These people though continue to thrive with their work.
Therapy
Children with dyslexia can be helped. One way teachers help dyslexic students is to break words into different sounds. The student must learn how to write the different sounds and create words. This helps with reading and writing. Some people think that dyslexic children can read and write better if they put pieces of colored paper on top of what they are reading.
References
Related pages
Dysgraphia
Neurodiversity
Disability
Disorders |
The AK-47 is a Russian assault rifle first used in 1949. It and an updated version called the AKM were used by the Soviet Union's military (which was called the Soviet Army). It was later replaced by the AK-74.
The AK-47 was designed in 1947 by Mikhail Kalashnikov.
The AK-47 quickly became famous and spread all around the world because it was simple to fire, clean and maintain, and also because of its reliability, meaning that it can be fired for a long time without jamming. The AK-47 and its successors continue to be used by many of the world's armies. Many terrorist and insurgent groups also use the AK-47. It is a cheap, reliable, and easy-to-use weapon. The AK-47 was also available with a folding stock, the AKS-47, and a shortened version with the AKS74 folding stock, the AKMSU (used by armoured vehicle crews), although this was soon replaced by the AKS74U, which fires the 5.45 cartridge of the AK-74. There was also a light machine gun variant with a longer barrel and different shaped stock called the RPK.
The Russian military liked the AK's design so much that it was even used to design other types of weapons as well, including the Dragunov sniper rifle and the Saiga-12 semi-automatic shotgun.
The AK-47 uses gas-operated reloading. When the bullet is moved down the barrel, a little bit of the gas behind the bullet is made to go up a small tube that pushes away the bolt. The shooter does not have to reload by hand for every shot - the gun reloads by itself. When you pull the trigger, the bullet in the chamber fires. You then release and then pull the trigger again to fire another round. When used this way, it is called a semi-automatic firearm. A few AK-47's are made to be used only this way but most are fully automatic firearms.
Spread in third world countries
In the pro-communist states, the AK-47 became a symbol of the Third World revolution.
They were used in the Cambodian Civil War and the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. During the 1980s, the Soviet Union became the principal arms dealer to countries embargoed by Western nations. This included Middle Eastern nations such as Iran, Libya, and Syria, which welcomed Soviet Union backing against Israel. After the end of the Soviet Union (1989/90), AK-47s were sold openly and on the black market to any group with cash, including drug cartels and dictatorial states. More recently they have been seen in the hands of Islamic groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIL, and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Iraq, and FARC, Ejército de Liberación Nacional guerrillas in Colombia.
The proliferation of this weapon is shown by more than just numbers. The AK-47 is included in the flag of Mozambique, an acknowledgment that the country gained its independence in large part through the effective use of their AK-47s. It is also found in the coats of arms of East Timor and the revolution era Burkina Faso, as well as in the flags of Hezbollah, FARC-EP, the New People's Army in the Phillipines, TKP/TIKKO and other "Revolutionary Peoples" groups.
Notes
References
Other websites
AK-47 Museum virtual tour
AK-47 - Encyc
Assault rifles
Rifles of the Cold War
Military of Russia
7.62 mm rifles |
Events
February 10 – French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Canada to Great Britain.
15 February – the Treaty of Hubertusburg puts an end to the Seven Years' War between Prussia and Austria and their allies
March 1 – Charles Townshend becomes President of the Board of Trade in the British government
May 7 – Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.
June 2 – Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
June 28 – earthquake in Komarom, Hungary
August 5 – Pontiac's War – Battle of Bushy Run – British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Native Americans at Bushy Run in the Pennsylvania backcountry.
The Treaty of Paris signed by Great Britain, France and Spain brings an end to the Seven Years' War (also called the French and Indian War in the United States)
First publication of Bayes' theorem
Proclamation of 1763
nv:1751 – 1800 |
Events
February 3 – Tulip mania collapses in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands) by government order
February 15 – Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor
December 17 – Shimabara Rebellion erupts in Japan
Pierre de Fermat makes a marginal claim to have proof of what would become known as Fermat's last theorem.
France places a few missionaries in the Côte d'Ivoire, a country it would come to rule more than 200 years later.
England wages war against the Mashantucket Pequots
First opera house, Teatro San Cassiona, opens in Venice
René Descartes – Discours de la Methode
Elizabeth Poole becomes the first woman to have founded a town (Taunton, Massachusetts) in the Americas. |
Events
February 3 – Murad II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Mehmed II.
April 11 – Celje acquires market-town status and town rights by orders from the Celje count Frederic II.
June 30 – French troops under the Comte de Dunois invade Guyenne and capture Bordeaux
August 20 – The French capture Bayonne, the last English stronghold in Guyenne
Foundation of the University of Glasgow
Nicholas of Cusa invents concave lens spectacles to treat myopia
Roger van der Weyden paints his Last Judgement
Lodi dynasty succeeded the Sayyid dynasty in India
Births
April 22 – Isabella of Castile |
Events
Change of era name from Yongxi (1st year) to Benchu era of the Chinese Han Dynasty
Change of emperor from Han Zhidi to Han Huandi of the Chinese Han Dynasty |
Colima is a state in west Mexico. About 760,000 people live there. Its capital is also called Colima.
States of Mexico |
Sir Peter Robert Jackson ONZ KNZM (born 31 October 1961, Wellington, New Zealand) is a New Zealand film director. He is most widely known for directing The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. He also directed the 2005 film, King Kong.
In 2003, Jackson won three Academy Awards for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: Academy Award for Directing, Academy Award for Best Picture and Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay.
Filmography
Bad Taste (1987)
Meet the Feebles (1989)
Valley of the Stereos (1992) (short film)
Braindead (a.k.a. Dead Alive) (1992)
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Forgotten Silver (1995) - mockumentary
The Frighteners (1996)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
King Kong (2005)
The Lovely Bones (2007)
Halo (2008) - executive producer
The Adventures of Tintin - executive producer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
References
Other websites
1961 births
Living people
Academy Award winning directors
Actors from Wellington
New Zealand movie actors
New Zealand movie directors
New Zealand movie producers
New Zealand screenwriters |
Valencia is a city in Spain, on the Mediterranean coast. It is the capital of the Community of Valencia. It has 807,396 people, making it the third-largest city in Spain and the fifteenth in the European Union.
Valencia's climate is on the boundary of hot semi-arid (Bsh in the Koeppen climate classification) and hot-summer Mediterranean (Csa in the Koeppen climate classification).
Other websites
Valencia Tourism Offical Site
References
Capital cities in Spain |
Murcia is the capital of the autonomous community of Murcia, in Spain, and its biggest city, with a population of 410,000 in the city and more than 740,000 in the metropolitan area. The municipality is the seventh largest in Spain.
The city is in the Segura Valley, in an area called la Huerta de Murcia, which is a very important agricultural center with oranges, lemons, tomatoes, onions, etc.; the varied fruits and vegetables typical of the Mediterranean lands. It has a hot semi-arid climate (BSh in the Koeppen climate classification). The city has a Baroque cathedral and a university.
Capital cities in Spain |
Zaragoza (sometimes called Saragossa in English) is the capital of Aragon, in the Ebro Valley, in the crossroad from Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, and Bilbao. The population is 643,000. The most important monument is the Nuestra Señora del Pilar (Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar).
Zaragoza has a semi-arid climate (BSh in the Köppen climate classification) with hot summers and cool winters.
Capital cities in Spain |
Malaga (Spanish: Málaga) is a Spanish city in Andalusia, Spain on the Mediterranean coast. The city has 560,000 people. There are more than 1,000,000 people in the surrounding area. It is the second biggest city in Andalusia after Sevilla, and the sixth biggest in Spain. The 20th century artist Pablo Picasso was born in Málaga.
Málaga is southernmost large city in Europe, it lies on the Costa del Sol (Coast of the Sun) of the Mediterranean, about 100 km (62.14 mi) east of the Strait of Gibraltar and about 130 km (80.78 mi) north of Africa.
Málaga enjoys a subtropical–mediterranean climate. It has one of the warmest winters in Europe, with average temperatures of 17 °C (62.6 °F) during the day and 7–8 °C (45–46 °F) at night in the period from December through February.
Climate
The climate is subtropical-Mediterranean (Köppen climate classification: Csa) with very mild winters and hot summers. Málaga enjoys plenty of sunshine throughout the year, with an average of about 300 days of sunshine and only about 40-45 with precipitation annually. Its coastal location with winds blowing from the Mediterranean Sea make the heat manageable during the summer.
Málaga experiences the warmest winters of any European city with a population over 500,000. The average temperature during the day in the period December through February is . During the winter, the Málaga Mountains (Montes de Málaga) block out the cold weather from the north. Generally, the summer season lasts about eight months, from April to November, although in the remaining four months temperatures sometimes surpass . Its average annual temperature is during the day and at night. In the coldest month, January, the temperature ranges from during the day, at night and the average sea temperature is . In the warmest month, August, the temperature ranges from during the day, above at night and the average sea temperature is .
Large fluctuations in temperature are rare. The highest temperature ever recorded at the airport is on 18 July 1978. In the month of August 1881, the average reported daytime maximum temperature was a record . The coldest temperature ever recorded was on the night of 4 February 1954. The highest wind speed ever recorded was on 16 July 1980, measuring . Snowfall is virtually unknown; since the end of the XIX century, Málaga city has only recorded snow one day in the 20th century, on 2 February 1954.
Annual average relative humidity is 65%, ranging from 58% in June to 72% in December. Yearly sunshine hours is between 2,800 and 3,000 per year, from 5–6 hours of sunshine / day in December to average 11 hours of sunshine / day in July. Rain occurs mainly in winter, with summer being generally dry. Málaga is one of the few cities in Europe which are "green" all year round.
References
Other websites
Málaga.diwiki.org Periódico digital
Capital cities in Spain |
La Palma is another island of the Canary Islands
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the biggest city of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. The city, with a population of 383,308 in 2010, is the eighth-largest in Spain.
Together with Santa Cruz de Tenerife, it is the capital of the Comunidad Autónoma de
Canarias (Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands). It is also the capital of the island of Gran Canaria and of the province of Las Palmas. The islands of this province are Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
The city was founded in 1478. The town has a beautiful old area. This area (Vegueta) has a lot of houses from the 16th to the 19th Centuries. There is still a house where Christopher Columbus stayed in 1492. He stayed there before he went to the Americas. The interesting cathedral was begun in the year 1500.
Its port is one of the busiest in Spain and the biggest between Europe and Cape Town, in South Africa.
Las Palmas (for short) is famous for its very nice and dry weather all year round. It is also famous for its Las Canteras Beach. This beach is more than 3 kilometers long. The beach brings a lot of tourists to the city.
Main industries: trade, tourism, canned food, fishing, shipbuilding.
Places to visit: Vegueta (old area); Triana (traditional commercial area); Playa de Las Canteras (Las Canteras Beach); cathedral; Casa de Colón (Columbus House); Museo Canario (archaeology museum); CAAM - Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (Modern Art Centre); Museo Élder de la Ciencia (science museum); Museo Néstor (museum with paintings); Teatro Pérez Galdós (theatre); Auditorio Alfredo Kraus (concert hall); Jardín Canario (Canary Garden, mostly with plants from the Canary Islands); Doramas Park.
Capital cities in Spain |
Palma de Mallorca is the capital of the Balearic Islands and the Mallorca island, in the Mediterranean Sea, in front of the Iberian Peninsula. The city, with a population of 410,000, is the ninth-largest of Spain. It is a very important tourist center in the world, and is famous for its historic architecture. It has one university, a subway, and the international airport lies just southwest of the city.
Capital cities in Spain |
Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, Spain. It is the capital of Córdoba province. It had a population of about 326,000 in 2017.
Córdoba was the capital of the Caliphate of Cordoba, an Islamic empire in the Middle Ages, when the city was the biggest in Europe, with 250,000 people.
Córdoba is 138 kilometers (86 miles) northeast of the city of Seville and is on the Guadalquivir river. Córdoba has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa in the Köppen climate classification) with the hottest summers of all European cities.
History
The Romans occupied Córdoba in 206 B.C. The city was very important in the 900s CE as a famous center of Moorish art and culture. The Mezquita de Córdoba is the city's chief landmark. It was built as a mosque (Muslim house of worship) in the 700s and was made into a Roman Catholic cathedral in 1238. More than 1,000 pillars of stone including granite, onyx, marble and jasper support its arches.
Economy
A soft, fine-grained leather called cordovan is made in Córdoba. Córdoba is the center of an agricultural region. Farms produce grain, grapes, olives, and vegetables.
Capital cities in Spain
Municipalities in Andalusia |
Alacant or Alicante (, Valencian: ) is a city in Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante. It is in the southern part of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper is about 332,067, as of 2014, ranking as the second-largest Valencian city. Including nearby municipalities, Alicante was populated by 458,843 residents. Population of the metropolitan area (including Elche and satellite towns) was 795,034 as of 2009. Based on population it is the eighth-largest metropolitan area of Spain.
The city is a sea port and a tourist centre. It has a hot semi-arid climate (BSh in the Koeppen climate classification).
The avenue Maisonnave is the principal commercial street in the city of Alicante. In fact, Maisonnave is the sixth most expensive avenue in the whole of Spain, which gives an idea of the importance that this street has. The Corte inglés has in this central street both branches that it possesses in Alicant, one at each end of the avenue.
Santa Barbara's Castle is 166 metres up the Benacantil mountain. It's very strong with great strategic value. It's called Santa Barbara's Castle because the 4th of December is Santa Barbara's day and the 4th of December in 1248 is when it was taken from the Arabs by Alfonso of Castilla.
References
Other websites
Alicante Information
Interactive map
Capital cities in Spain |
Phonology is part of linguistics. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Phonology is the science that studies the way that sounds (phones) carry meaning in language. Sounds (phones) that carry meaning in language are called phonemes. Sounds that do not carry meaning in the language are called allophones.
Phonology focuses on the study of phonemes, "units of sound (speech) that distinguish one word from another in a particular language." Phonology also includes studies of how words are articulated, or spoken.
Terminology
Phonology refers to the sound patterns of a language. Phonology is different from phonetics. Phonology studies how sounds form meaning in language. Phonetics studies how those sounds are formed. Studies of phonology and phonetics are sometimes combined, which results in more specific areas of study.
History
In 300 BC, Panini was the first person to study phonology. He created a grammar (a set of language rules) for Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language). He also created a list of the phonemes in Sanskrit. He assigned a symbol to represent each phoneme. The symbols are still used today in phonology.
The first person to use the word "phoneme" was the French linguist (one who studies language) A. Dufriche-Desgenettes. In the 1800s, Jan Baudoin gave the definition of phoneme that is uses today.Soon afterward, Baudouin de Courtenay began the study of phonology.and worked on the theory of phonetic alternations, which predicts changes in the sounds of a language.
One of the best schools of phonology was the Prague school. In 1939, a student of that school, Prince Nikolai Trubetzkoy, published one of the most important studies on phonology. His work was titled Principles of Phonology. Another important person in the Prague school was Roman Jakobson. Roman was the most well-known linguist in the 1900s.
In 1968, Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle published The Sound Pattern of English (SPE). This book described generative phonology, which studies how grammar changes how people use language.
Branches of linguistics |
Linguistics is the study of language. People who study language are called linguists.
There are five main parts of linguistics: the study of sounds (phonology), the study of parts of words, like "un-" and "-ing" (morphology), the study of word order and how sentences are made (syntax), the study of the meaning of words (semantics), and the study of the unspoken meaning of speech that is separate from the literal meaning of what is said (for example, saying "I'm cold" to get someone to turn off the fan (pragmatics).
There are many ways to use linguistics every day. Some linguists are theoretical linguists and study the theory and ideas behind language, such as historical linguistics (the study of the history of language, and how it has changed), or the study of how different groups of people may use language differently (sociolinguistics). Some linguists are applied linguists and use linguistics to do things. For example, forensic linguistics is used in crime investigations, and computational linguistics is used to help make computers understand languages, as in speech recognition.
Specialties
Linguistics, in its broader context, includes evolutionary linguistics, which considers the origins of language; historical linguistics, which explores language change; sociolinguistics, which looks at the relation between linguistic variation and social structures; psycholinguistics, which explores the representation and function of language in the mind; neurolinguistics, which looks at language processing in the brain; language acquisition, how children or adults acquire language; and discourse analysis, which involves the structure of texts and conversations.
Although linguistics is the scientific study of language, a number of other intellectual disciplines are relevant to language and intersect with it. Semiotics, for example, is the general study of signs and symbols both within language and without. Literary theorists study the use of language in literature. Linguistics additionally draws on and informs work from such diverse fields as acoustics, anthropology, biology, computer science, human anatomy, informatics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and speech-language pathology. Discourse analysis is the study of entire conversations or texts.
Many linguists compare languages to find similar properties. That makes it possible to find things shared by all the languages of the world and also learn the languages that are related in a language family. Linguists who study how languages are structured and how they work are said to study theoretical linguistics.
Another part of linguistics is involved in understanding how languages are used in society or in the world. Sociolinguistics studies how language is used in society, and historical linguistics studies how languages change over time and how languages were in the past. One part of historical linguistics is etymology, the study of the history of words.
The part of linguistics that aims to find out how language works in the mind is known as psycholinguistics.
History
The study of language began in India with Pāṇini, the 5th century BC grammarian who wrote about the 3,959 rules of Sanskrit grammar, which described the different kinds of vowels and consonants of Sanskrit as well as its verb and noun classes. In the Middle East, Sibawayh (سیبویه) wrote a book about Arabic in 760 AD, Al-kitab fi al-nahw (الكتاب في النحو, The Book on Grammar) and was the first known author to talk about the difference between sounds and phonemes.
Linguistics started in the West as early as it did in the East, but Western linguistics at that time was more like philosophy and less the study of language. Plato was the first western philosopher to write about semantics in his Cratylus in which he argues that words represent concepts that are eternal and exist in the world of ideas. The word etymology is first used to talk about the history behind a word's meaning.
For many centuries most linguistic work was "philology".
References |
The Region of Murcia is an autonomous community in the south-east of Spain. The region has 1,350,000 people. The capital is Murcia, with 410,000 people. Other important cities are Cartagena, Lorca, Molina de Segura, and Cieza. |
1636 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
March 26 – Utrecht University is founded in the Netherlands.
Harvard University founded.
In the American colonies, Roger Williams (theologian) founds Rhode Island. |
711 was a year in the 8th century.
Events
The Moors begin to control Spain.
The Arabs begin to control Southern Pakistan. |
Segura is a Spanish river that is 325 kilometers (200 miles) long. It flows through the provinces of Jaen, Albacete, Murcia, and Alicante, and the cities of Cieza, Molina de Segura, Murcia, Orihuela, Rojales, and Guardamar. It then flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
Rivers of Spain |
Orihuela is a city on the coast in Spain in the Alicante province, on the Segura river in a district called Vega Baja. Oranges and lemons are grown. The city has a population of 75,000 with very important historical monuments like the Cathedral and the church of Santiago, the church of Santa Justa and Rufina and the Seminarium.
Cities in Valencia (autonomous community)
Municipalities in Valencia (autonomous community)
Alicante Province |
Alacant () province is the fifth largest Spanish province by population with 1,750,000, and the second largest in the Valencian Community. It is on the south-east Mediterranean coast and the capital is the city of Alicante, a sea- port with a University. It is a commercial city with monuments like Sainte Barbra Castle. Other important cities are Elche, 215,000 with palms trees and its important shoe industry; Torrevieja, 100,000, tourist centre with the world-famous Habaneras contest; Orihuela, 75,000, agricultural important center; Benidorm, 67,000, the Mediterranean Manhattan; Alcoi, 60,000; textile center, and Elda, 55,000, shoes industry.
The most important river is the Segura, in the south, which provides the water to Alicante, Elche, Torrevieja, Orihuela and other cities. There are others like Vinalopo, Serpis, Amadorio, Ravine of the Sheeps and Monnegre.
The biggest mountain is Aitana, and other mountains are Mariola, Puig Bell, Maigmo and Gold Head, near Alicante. In the coast there are islands, the most important is Tabarca, and other is the Benidorm island. An important coast success is the Penon of Ifach, in Calpe.
The activities in Alicante province are tourism, industry (shoes, carpets, plays, dolls, textiles) and modern agriculture of regadium (oranges, lemons, tomatoes, almonds, wine). There are two universities: University of Alicante and University of Michael Hernandez. |
Turkmenistan ( or ; , ;), also known as Turkmenia, is a country in South-Central Asia. It has borders with Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan. It has no ocean but it is on the Caspian Sea to the west. The capital of Turkmenistan is Ashghabat.
The majority of the country is Muslim at 93%.
Turkmenistan is a non-aligned and fully neutral country.
History
Turkmenistan was part of the Soviet Union since its creation, in 1922. At first, Turkmenistan was an autonomous republic within Russian SFSR. In 1925 it was promoted to a Soviet republic. Turkmenistan is an independent country since 1991, after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Saparmurat Niyazov became Turkmenistan’s first president in 1991.
Provinces
Turkmenistan is divided into five provinces and one capital city district. The provinces are divided into districts which may be either counties or cities.
Climate
Turkmenistan is one of the driest desert areas in the world. Some places have an average annual precipitation of only . The highest temperature recorded in Ashgabat is . Kerki, an extreme inland city located on the banks of the Amu Darya river, recorded in July 1983, but this value is unofficial. 50.1C is the highest temperature recorded at Repetek Reserve, recognized as the highest temperature ever recorded in the whole former Soviet Union.
Geography
Turkmenistan is the world's 52nd-largest country. It is slightly smaller than Spain and somewhat larger than the US state of California. Over 80% of the country is covered by the Karakum Desert.
The Turkmen shore along the Caspian Sea is long. The Caspian Sea is entirely landlocked, with no access to the ocean.
The major cities include Aşgabat, Türkmenbaşy (formerly Krasnovodsk) and Daşoguz.
Turkmenistan has a humid climate. Annual rainfall is low, particularly in summer. Winters are dry and mild. The wettest region in Turkmenistan is Köýtendağ Range. Köýtendağ is in southeastern Turkmenistan on the borders with Uzbekistan.
References
Turkmenistan
Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation |
Caesium (or cesium) is the chemical element with the atomic number 55 on the periodic table. Its symbol is Cs.
Caesium is an alkali metal. Its melting point is low (28 °C). It is extremely reactive. Because of its high reactivity, it is a dangerous chemical. It may set itself on fire (ignite) in air. It explodes on contact with water. It reacts more violently than the other alkali metals with water. Because of this, caesium is stored in mineral oil.
Caesium is a rare element. Since there is little caesium on the Earth, it is rather expensive. The human body does not need caesium. In large amounts, its chemical compounds are mildly poisonous because it is close to potassium, which the body does need.
History
Caesium was first described in 1860, by Gustav Robert Kirchhoff and Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. They were testing mineral water, from Bad Dürkheim. After they separated calcium, strontium, magnesium and lithium, they saw two lines in the "blue" range of the spectrum. Because of these lines, they concluded that in addition to the elements already found, there must be another unknown substance in the mineral water. They named this substance caesium, after the color blue.
Isotopes and compounds
Caesium has at least 39 known isotopes ranging in atomic mass from 112 to 151. Only one of these, Cs, is stable. Therefore, the naturally-occurring isotope of caesium is Cs, which is not radioactive. Cs is used in atomic clocks, its vibration frequency used to define the length of the second. Another isotope, Cs is not made naturally but is made after nuclear fission has been done. It is very radioactive and used as an industrial gamma ray source.
Caesium forms compounds with many other chemical elements. Caesium formate is used in oil drilling because of its high density.
Reactivity
Caesium is extremely reactive in air and water. Caesium rapidly oxidizes in air and can spontaneously combust (randomly catch on fire) at any moment. For this reason, it must be stored in kerosene or a mineral oil, like other group one elements (Lithium, Natrium, Rubidium, and Francium.) In water, Caesium violently reacts to make Caesium Hydroxide (2CsOH). The Caesium sinks for about one second, then explodes. The explosion is over 50 times the size of the size of the element dropped in the water, and the explosion is enough to break a common Pyrex Beaker, Flask, or Test Tube. You can find a video of the reaction here.
References
Alkali metals
Chemical elements |
Rubidium is chemical element 37 on the periodic table. Its symbol is Rb. Its atomic mass is 85.47. It has 37 protons and 37 electrons. It is a soft silver colored metal. It was first discovered in 1861 by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchoff in Heidelberg, Germany.
Properties
Physical properties
Rubidium melts at a very low temperature, for example it could melt in a person's hand. Rubidium is an alkali metal. It can make an amalgam with mercury.
Chemical properties
Rubidium is very reactive. It will ignite in air because it reacts with many other elements in the air like oxygen and nitrogen. Rubidium reacts very violently with water to make hydrogen and rubidium hydroxide, a strong corrosive base. The reaction is normally very hot so the hydrogen ignites.
Chemical compounds
Rubidium forms chemical compounds in only one oxidation state: +1. Some rubidium compounds have a mixed oxidation state, though. Rubidium chloride is the most common rubidium compound. Rubidium hydroxide and rubidium carbonate are also used commonly. Rubidium compounds makes a red-violet color in a flame. Most rubidium compounds are colorless. Rubidium compounds are not as common as other alkali metal compounds, such get sodium compounds. Otherwise, they are similar.
Rubidium chloride, similar to sodium chloride
Rubidium hydride, strong reducing agent
Rubidium hydroxide, powerful base
Rubidium nitrate, strong oxidizing agent
Rubidiumoxide, yellow, strong base when dissolved in water
Occurrence and preparation
Rubidium is about as common as zinc. It is the 23rd most common element in the Earth's crust. Most minerals only have a small amount of rubidium in them. It normally comes in small quantities in other minerals. It is made by reduction of rubidium ores with calcium. It is expensive because calcium is difficult to make and the rubidium needs to be kept in argon and away from water or air.
Uses
There are not many common uses for rubidium. Rubidium compounds are sometimes used in purple fireworks. It and its compounds are used mainly in science research though. It is also used to make superoxide ions. It is used in some special types of glass.
Safety
Rubidium compounds are not very dangerous in the human body; however, if a person gets too much from eating, they could get sick because it acts like other alkali metal ions such as sodium ions in sodium chloride. Rats can live with up to half of their potassium replaced with rubidium, though it is not likely for that to happen.
Rubidium metal is very dangerous. It reacts with air and water and makes the corrosive substance rubidium hydroxide.
References
Alkali metals
Chemical elements |
Barium is chemical element 56 on the periodic table. Its symbol is Ba. It contains 56 protons and 56 electrons. Its mass number is about 137.3. It is a metal.
Properties
Physical properties
Barium is part of a group of elements known as the alkaline earth metals. It is a silvery metal that easily turns black. It is soft and ductile. It can form alloys with some metals that are partially alloys and partially chemical compounds.
Chemical properties
Barium is reactive, and if you put pure barium metal in the air, it will react with oxygen. At first it will turn black, then white as barium oxide is formed. Barium reacts with water to make barium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. Barium also reacts very fast with acids to make a barium salt and hydrogen. Barium can form barium peroxide if it is burned in air.
Barium reacts with many other metal oxides and sulfides to make barium oxide or sulfide and the metal. It also reacts with carbon and nitrogen at a high temperature to make barium cyanide.
Chemical compounds
Barium is too reactive as a metal, so it is not found in the earth as a metal. It is found in chemical compounds. Barium only occurs in one oxidation state: +2. Most barium compounds are colorless. The ones that dissolve in water or stomach acid are very toxic. Barium sulfate is well known because it does not dissolve in water or acids. Barium compounds are quite heavy. Barium compounds put out a greenish flame when heated red-hot.
Occurrence
Barium is found as barium sulfate (barite) and barium carbonate (witherite) in the ground. Both of these minerals do not dissolve in water. Barium sulfate hardly dissolves in anything. Barium is found mainly in China, Germany, India, Morocco, and the US.
Preparation
It is very hard to get barium from barium sulfate. So barium sulfate is reduced by carbon to make barium sulfide and carbon dioxide. The barium sulfide is dissolved in hydrochloric acid. This makes hydrogen sulfide and barium chloride. The barium chloride is melted and electrolyzed to get liquid barium metal. The barium metal is solidified and stored in oil.
Barium carbonate, the other ore of barium, is dissolved in hydrochloric acid to make barium chloride and carbon dioxide. The barium chloride is melted and electrolyzed, making barium metal.
Uses
As a metal
Barium is used to remove oxygen from cathode ray tubes and vacuum tubes. It is placed inside and reacts with all of the oxygen, using it up. Barium is also used in spark plug wire.
As chemical compounds
Certain compounds of barium, such as barium sulfate, are not toxic and can be put in the body. We can see where the barium travels in the body by X-rays and this can tell us whether there are problems, such as blockages. The barium sulfate builds up inside the body accumulating in organ systems. Barium sulfate absorbs the X-Rays as they pass through the body and an image is formed from the points where the rays have not passed through. It is useful because it provides a reasonably detailed image from very limited radiation exposure, compared with a CT scan for instance. Barium sulfate can be used as a pigment, too.
Other barium compounds have several other uses.
Safety
Barium is a very toxic element, and is dangerous. There is a really small amount of barium in our food, and this does not cause problems. If we get barium from other places, though, it can cause many problems. Even 1 gram of barium can kill you. It is dangerous because it acts like other really important elements, such as calcium and magnesium. If barium replaces these elements, it messes up the body.
References
Alkaline earth metals |
Scandium is chemical element number 21 on the periodic table. Its symbol is Sc.
Scandium is a metal in a group known as the transition metals. It is also a rare earth metal. What this means is that there is not very much scandium found in the earth. Because of this, the pure metal can be expensive. The pure metal is very reactive, and will react with other elements like oxygen. The metal turns from shiny to gray.
Scandium is not very dangerous because there is not much of it on Earth, so there is not enough of it to harm us. It does not have many uses. Its main use is perhaps as a component in Mercury-vapor lamps. Such lamps are used to light Stadiums.
Related pages
Periodic table
List of common elements
Chemical elements
metals
Transition metals |
Vanadium is chemical element 23 on the periodic table. Its symbol is V. It is named after Vanadis, another name of Freyja.
Vanadium is a metal and is part of the group known as the transition metals. It is mostly used in steel where it helps strengthen the steel metal.
Vanadium is often found in aquatic forms of life. The human body may need a little bit of vanadium, but scientists are not really sure.
Vanadium can react with a variety of other elements, and the chemical compounds it forms often have beautiful colors.
The amount of vanadium in the universe is 0.0001%, making the element nearly as common as copper or zinc. Vanadium is detected by spectroscopy in light from the Sun, and sometimes in light from other stars.
Vanadium is an element that is widely distributed in Earth's crust as well as in seawater and groundwater reservoirs. Therefore it exerts great influence on the issues related to life and the environment. Vanadium is utilized by several marine organisms. For example, there are vanadate-dependent haloperoxidases in algae and several bacteria (e.g. Azotobacter) use it for nitrogen fixation and bacterial reduction involves the conversion of vanadate to oxide vanadium (IV).
With an average concentration of 35 nM, vanadium (V) (essentially present in the form of ion pairs Na+H2VO4-) is the second-to-most abundant transition metal in seawater, outclassed only by molybdenum (present as molybate MoO42-, ca. 100 nM). Vanadate-dependent haloperoxidases (VHPOs) can be present in marine brown, green, and red, algae, in (symbiotic) marine cyanobacteria, in Streptomyces bacteria, and in terrestrial fungi and lichen. Since the discovery of the first representative of these haloperoxidases and the bromoperoxidase VBrPo of the brown algae Ascophyllum nodosum, also known as wrack or pigweed, a plethora of macroalgae has been reported to have available VHPOs hence haloperoxidases that contain vanadate H2VO4- coordinated to a histidine residue in the enzyme's active center, and thus clearly distinct from the more common heme- based and non-heme peroxidases.
The budget of dissolved vanadium in the oceans is remarkably well balanced, with about 40x109 g V/y to 50x109 g V/y inputs and outputs, and a mean residence time for dissolved V in seawater of ~130,000 y with respect to inputs from rivers. Inputs and outputs are as follows: continental dust, 155x109 g V/y; sea spray, 0.52x109 g V/y; volcanic emissions, 7x109 g V/y; biomass burning, 5x109 g V/y; natural, 3.7x109 g V/y; human-induced, 4.1x109 g V/y; fossil fuel combustion, 100-287x109 g V/y; ratio anthropogenic: natural, 0.59-1.71.
Changes in local redox conditions impart a significant isotopic fractionation from seawater as recorded in the local sedimentary V isotopic signature. Importantly, there is significant differences between the V isotope composition of sediments deposited in the open ocean setting with oxygen-deficient bottom waters compared to less reducing environments. Studies indicate that V is mainly delivered and enriched in anoxic sediments through settling particulates. Authigenic V isotope compositions in marine sediments are likely controlled by isotope fractionation between V species bound to particulates and dissolved in seawater, which likely varies the speciation and adsorption properties of V that are strongly controlled by local redox reactions.
Vanadium isotopes can be significantly fractionated during the delivery, cycling, and burial to the ocean. Temporal variations of 51V in seawater could be controlled by the aforementioned isotope fractionation and fluxes of various V sources and sinks to the ocean that is likely related to the global redox state of the oceans. A possible mechanism for the V isotopic offset between seawater and hydrogenous Fe-Mn crusts and nodules is the fractionation during the adsorption of V on the surface of the Fe-Mn oxyhydroxide.
Earth's crust
Vanadium is the 22nd most common element in the Earth's crust. Metallic vanadium is rare in nature. However, vanadium compounds occur naturally in about 65 different minerals. Much of the world's vanadium production comes from vanadium-bearing magnetite found in ultramafic gabbro rocks. Vanadium is mined mostly in South Africa, north-western China, and eastern Russia. In 2013 these three countries mined more than 97% of the 79,000 tonnes of produced vanadium.
Vanadium is also in bauxite and in deposits of crude oil, coal, oil shale and tar sands.
References
Chemical elements
Metals |
Events
Rhodri the Great becomes King of Gwynedd.
Louis II is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
Births
Judith Martel
Deaths
January 25 – Pope Gregory IV |
Arsenic is chemical element 33 on the periodic table. Its symbol is As. Its atomic number is 33 and its atomic mass is 74.92. It is in the pnictogen group on the periodic table.
Properties
Physical properties
Arsenic is found in three allotropes. Gray arsenic is the most common. It is a brittle, somewhat soft metalloid that is a little shiny. It has a density of 5.73g/cm3. It is a semiconductor. Yellow arsenic is unstable and rare. It is the most toxic allotrope. It is a soft and waxy nonmetal, similar to white phosphorus. It turns into gray arsenic in light. Its density is 1.97g/cm3, much lighter than gray arsenic. It is created when arsenic vapor (made by heating arsenic very hot) is cooled very fast by something like liquid nitrogen. Black arsenic is similar to red phosphorus. It is a brittle, black, and shiny nonmetal. It does not conduct electricity. Since gray arsenic is the most common, it is usually referred to as arsenic.
Arsenic is found as one stable (nonradioactive) isotope, 75As. There are about 33 radioactive isotopes found. The longest lasting one is 73As, which has a half life of about 80 days.
Chemical properties
Arsenic is a relatively chemically inert element, similar to copper in reactivity. It burns in air to make garlic-smelling arsenic trioxide. Arsenic, as well as some of its compounds, do not have a liquid state; they sublime. Arsenic reacts with fluorine to make arsenic pentafluoride. It reacts with the rest of the halogens to make the arsenic trihalides. Arsenic does not dissolve in hydrochloric acid. It dissolves in concentrated nitric acid to make arsenic acid and in dilute nitric acid to make arsenious acid. It reacts with concentrated sulfuric acid to make arsenic trioxide. Arsenic burns with a pale lavender flame.
Chemical compounds
Arsenic forms chemical compounds in three oxidation states: -3, +3, and +5. -3 compounds are reducing agents. They are the main form of arsenic in the ground (as arsenides). Arsine is a colorless, highly toxic gas with a garlic odor. The +3 state is the most common. They are weak oxidizing agents. Arsenic trioxide is a white solid. It dissolves in water to make a solution of arsenious acid. The arsenic trichlorides are low melting covalent solids. The +5 state is common, too. They are strong oxidizing agents. Arsenic pentafluoride, a colorless and highly reactive gas, is the only stable arsenic pentahalide. Arsenic pentoxide dissolves in water to make arsenic acid, which can make arsenate salts.
-3 compounds
-3 compounds are reducing agents. They are found as arsenides and arsine. The metal arsenides have properties between an alloy and a salt.
Aluminium arsenide
Arsenide, the ion
Arsine, colorless highly toxic flammable gas
Gallium arsenide, used in LEDs
Zinc arsenide
+3 compounds
+3 compounds are weak oxidizing agents. Many are colorless, although some are orange.
Arsenic tribromide, white solid
Arsenic trichloride, colorless liquid
Arsenic trifluoride, colorless liquid
Arsenic triiodide, red-orange solid
Arsenic trioxide, white solid
Arsenic trisulfide, yellow solid
Arsenites
Arsenites are salts of arsenious acid.
Arsenious acid, weak acid
Arsenite, the ion
Paris green, copper acetoarsenite (copper acetate arsenite), green solid
Potassium arsenite
Sodium arsenite
+5 compounds
+5 compounds are strong oxidizing agents.
Arsenic pentafluoride, colorless gas
Arsenic pentoxide, white solid
Arsenates
Arsenates are salts of arsenic acid.
Arsenate, the ion
Arsenic acid, white solid or colorless solution
Lead arsenate
Potassium arsenate
Occurrence
Arsenic is found sometimes as an element in the ground, but is normally found in minerals. Some arsenic minerals have a metal and sulfur along with arsenic. Arsenopyrite is iron arsenic sulfide. It is the same as pyrite with arsenic added. Other arsenic minerals have a metal and arsenic. Erythrite, a cobalt arsenide mineral, is an example. Other arsenic minerals are simple. Realgar and orpiment (arsenic sulfides), simple arsenic minerals, are ores of arsenic.
Arsenic is found as a less toxic variety in fish and mushrooms. Some people think that humans need very small amounts of arsenic to be healthy. Some bacteria can use arsenic instead of phosphorus for some things; they are called arsenic bacteria.
Preparation
Most arsenic is made from the waste products after other metals are processed. Only China actually mines arsenic.
Arsenic is made from arsenopyrite by heating it. This makes arsenic trioxide which sublimes (along with sulfur dioxide), while the iron oxide stays behind. The arsenic trioxide is condensed, while the sulfur dioxide does not condense. The arsenic trioxide can be reduced with carbon. Another way is to heat the arsenopyrite without air. Then gray arsenic is made. Realgar can be heated to make arsenic trioxide as well.
History
Arsenic was known since antiquity. It was alloyed with bronze to make the bronze harder. Some people used arsenic as make-up, although it was toxic. Arsenic was well known as a poison. Since people used it to kill royalty and it was hard to detect, it was called the "Poison of Kings" and the "King of Poisons". An arsenic compound could have been the first organometallic compound (a metal bonded to an organic compound).
Uses
Arsenic compounds were used as a preservative for wood. Once people saw how toxic arsenic was, they stopped using it to preserve wood. Some feed for animals had arsenic in it to prevent disease. Lead arsenate was used as an insecticide in orchards but damaged the brains of those who put the insecticide on the trees.
Arsenic was used in medicines in the 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s. Arsenic trioxide was used to treat cancer. Very tiny doses of arsenic compounds can act as stimulants. Some arsenic compounds are used as poison gases.
Arsenic as an element is used in alloys. The lead in lead acid batteries has some arsenic in it to make it stronger. Some semiconductors have arsenic in them.
Copper arsenate was used as a coloring for sweets. Paris green, a green pigment having arsenic in it, made many people sick. Some bullets have arsenic in them. Arsenic is sometimes added to brass to prevent the zinc from coming out. Arsenic was used in optical glass but was taken out because it was toxic.
Safety
Arsenic and its compounds are highly toxic. They are carcinogens. Water near arsenic mines is normally contaminated with arsenic. Wood that was preserved with arsenic compounds can leach arsenic into the soil. Emissions from coke ovens have arsenic in them.
Semimetals |
Manganese is chemical element 25 on the periodic table. Its symbol is Mn. (Some people get it confused with magnesium, the symbol is Mg). Manganese is used a lot in steel to make it stronger. This is the main use for manganese metal. Manganese compounds, particularly manganese(IV) oxide, are used in alkaline cells and Leclanche cells. Manganese metal is also alloyed with aluminium.
Our bodies and plants need manganese to work right. If we do not get enough manganese, we can get sick. We get manganese from our food and vitamins also have some manganese to make sure that we get enough. It has 25 protons. Its mass number is 54.94.
Properties
Manganese is a silvery-gray metal and is part of the group known as the transition metals. It is similar to iron. It is hard to melt, but easy to oxidize. Manganese forms chemical compounds in several oxidation states: +2, +4, and +7 are the most common. Manganese compounds can be black, brown, pink, red, green, blue, and purple. Manganese(II) compounds are pink or light brown. They are unreactive. Manganese(II) chloride is a common example. Manganese(III) compounds are weak oxidizing agents. Manganese(IV) compounds are stronger oxidizing agents, but they are rarer. They are normally black in colour. Manganese(IV) oxide is an example.
Manganese(V) compounds are not stable and disproportionate easily. They are bright blue. They are very rare. Hypomanganates are the most common manganese(V) compounds. Manganese(VI) compounds are made in the process used to make permanganates. They disproportionate too. Manganates are weak reducing agents and moderate oxidizing agents. They are bright green.
Manganese(VII) compounds are purple-black and are powerful oxidizing agents. Permanganates contain the MnO4- ion. They are normally purple-black and strong oxidizing agents. Potassium permanganate is an example.
Isotopes
Manganese that is found in nature is made up of one stable isotope, which is manganese-55. Manganese has many radioisotopes ranging from manganese-44 to manganese-69. The most stable radioisotope is manganese-53. It has a half-life of 3.7 million years.
Occurrence
The Earth's crust contains about 1000 ppm of manganese. It is the 12th most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Soil contains 7–9000 ppm of manganese. Seawater only contains 10 ppm of manganese. The atmosphere contains 0.01 µg/m3 of manganese. Manganese mainly occurs as pyrolusite, braunite, psilomelane.
Manganese is sometimes found alloyed with iron naturally. These rocks, called meteorites, came from space. Pyrolusite is one of the main sources of manganese. It also occurs as manganese carbonate. Some silicates have manganese in them. The derivation of Manganese may have come from either the Latin 'magnes', meaning magnet, or from the black magnesium oxide, 'magnesia nigra'.
Preparation
Manganese is normally made in an alloy with steel. This is made by mixing manganese ore and iron ore in a furnace and reducing it with carbon. This forms an alloy called ferromanganese. Pure manganese is made by reacting the manganese ore with sulfuric acid and electrolyzing it.
Our bodies and plants need manganese to work right. If we do not get enough manganese, we can get sick. We get manganese from our food and vitamins also have some manganese to make sure that we get enough.
Uses
Manganese is used to make cheap stainless steel. Methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl is used as an additive in gasoline that does not have lead to reduce engine knocking.
Manganese(IV) oxide is used as a reagent in organic chemistry for the oxidation of benzylic alcohols. Manganese dioxide is also used in the manufacture of oxygen and chlorine. It is also used to dry black paints. Sometimes, it is used as a brown pigment for paint. It is a component of natural umber.
Manganese compounds have been used as pigments to color ceramics and glass. Tetravalent manganese is used as an activator in phosphors that glow red. Manganese oxide is also used in Portland cement mixtures.
Biological role
There are lots of classes of enzymes that have manganese cofactors. They are oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, lyases, isomerases, ligases, lectins, and integrins. The reverse transcriptases of many retroviruses contain manganese.
Biological role in humans
Manganese is an essential nutrient. It is found as a coenzyme in many biological processes. They include macronutrient metabolism, bone formation, and free radical immune system. It is a very important component in lots of proteins and enzymes. The human body contains about 12 mg of manganese. Manganese is found in the bones, liver, brain and kidneys. In the human brain, the manganese is bound to manganese metalloproteins.
Biological role in plants
Manganese is also important in the photosynthetic oxygen evolution in the chloroplasts of plants. The oxygen-evolving complex is a part of photosystem II. The photosystem ll is found in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts. It is responsible for the photooxidation of water during the light reactions of photosynthesis. It has a metalloenzyme core that has four atoms of manganese.
Safety
Manganese dust can irritate lungs. Some manganese compounds cause toxicity when ingested. Manganese is less toxic than nickel or copper. Permanganates are the most toxic manganese compounds. When someone is exposed to manganese for a long time it can cause a problem with the nervous system.
Related pages
Manganese compounds
List of common elements
References
Other websites
National Pollutant Inventory - Manganese and compounds Fact Sheet
International Manganese Institute
Chemical elements
Metals |
Gallium (chemical symbol: Ga) is chemical element 31 on the periodic table.
Gallium is a metal, but it has some unusual properties. Its melting point is 85.58 Fahrenheit. If it is held in a person's hand, it will melt. It makes a stain on your hand when put on your hand. Gallium is safe in your hands but is not edible. Some Gallium Compounds can be very dangerous. Gallium is a semiconductor, meaning that it conducts electricity reasonably well but not as well as a metal. That means gallium can be used in computers to make them work. It is very shiny, so it is used to create mirrors when its in its liquid form. In its purest extracted form, gallium is a vibrant silver color. As a solid, it is blue-gray. Gallium has been used in nuclear bombs to stabilize the crystal structure. It's related to aluminium, indium, and thallium.
Metals
Chemical elements |
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (15 April 1894 – 11 September 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. He ruled from 1953–1964.
Early life
Nikita was born in the town of Kalinovka in Russia. He later moved to Ukraine. He worked in mines, and became part of the Bolshevik movement. He was a political commissar in the Red Army in the Russian Civil War and again in World War II and moved his way up in the Communist Party, eventually becoming trusted by Joseph Stalin. When Stalin died, Georgy Malenkov and several others including Khrushchev shared power. Eventually Khrushchev became the leader.
"De-Stalinization"
When Nikita became the leader of the Soviet Union, he began something he called "De-Stalinization". He made a secret speech, in which he denounced Stalin as a man who committed many murders of innocent people. In early 1956, he took down all posters and statues of Joseph Stalin. Also, he moved Stalin's grave to a place where people could not see it.
Relations with the "West"
He also had better contacts with the western countries like the USA, Britain, and France. This means the USSR and the western world were friendlier. He visited America in 1959. During this visit, Khrushchev spoke at the United Nations and visited where he wanted, including destinations such as New York and Hollywood. However, his visit to Disneyland was cancelled for security reasons.
But the USSR and the US still did not trust each other. In 1962 America and the USSR had a Cuban Missile Crisis which could have led to nuclear war but didn't. Khrushchev had bargained with the Americans to get rid of the missiles they had placed in Turkey, for the missiles in Cuba were the only way for withdrawal.
Relations with China
Also, during this time, the Soviet Union became a lot less friendly with China. Because the Chinese leader Mao Zedong liked Stalin, he did not like it when Khrushchev became friendlier with the west, and when Nikita Khrushchev began a "destalinization" campaign.
Death
He died of heart disease on 11 September 1971 in Moscow, aged 77.
References
1894 births
1971 deaths
Deaths from cardiovascular disease
Disease-related deaths in the Soviet Union
Former dictators
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Russian communists
Heads of government of the Soviet Union
Time People of the Year
Disease-related deaths in Moscow
Cardiovascular disease deaths in Russia |
The Rambla de las Ovejas (which translates to Ravine of the Sheeps) is a water course of the province of Alicante, in Spain. It originates at the foot of the Maigmo, to 1,100 meters of height and gathers the waters of the sides of the Maigmo, Cid and others of minor height across numerous tributary ravines. It ends in the city of Alicante, between the neighborhoods of Babylon and Saint Gabriel.
The tributary ravines are those of Rambuchar, Pepior, Alabaster and Bramble, between the most important. The normally dry riverbed experiences forts grown as consequence of torrents, like the rains in 1982 it came to 400 m³/seg. in Alicante causing serious destruction and human losses. It has since been canalized providing to the riverbed of a potential capacity of 735 m³/seg. In the floods of 1997 it came to 100 m³/seg.
Rivers of Spain
Alicante Province |
Guadalquivir is a river in southern Spain. It crosses the autonomous community of Andalusia. The name derives from the Arab Wadi al-Kabir ("big river"), whereas the Romans were called it Betis.
Guadalquivir starts in the Glen of the Sources in the mountains near Cazorla (Jaen province) and ends in Sanlucar de Barrameda (Cadiz province). It goes through the provinces of Jaen, Cordoba, Seville and Cadiz. The river is long. The main tributaries are the rivers Genil (which flows through Granada), The Minor Guadiana, Guadalbullon, and Guadajoz on the left side, and Guadalmena, Jandula, and Guadiato on the right.
It is the only river in Spain with shipping traffic. At present, it only is navigable up to Seville. In the Roman epoch it was navigable up to Cordoba.
Rivers of Spain |
Ebro is a Spanish river. It flows through Reinosa, Miranda de Ebro, Logrono, Tudela, Zaragoza, and Tortosa. It empties into the Mediterranean Sea in the province of Tarragona.
Rivers of Spain |
Province of Toledo () is one of the provinces of Castile-La Mancha, in the center of Spain, near Madrid. The capital is Toledo and the biggest city is Talavera of the Queen. The population of the province is near 600,000. |
Talavera of the Queen (Talavera de la Reina in Spanish) is a city of the interior of Spain. It is the capital of a wide region belonging to the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is located in the northwest of the province of Toledo. Talavera of the Queen is the second biggest city of Castile-La Mancha, and the first one of the province, with a population of 85.172 inhabitants.
Its mistress is Our Lady of the Meadow.
As curiosity of this locality emphasizes that Gwyneth Paltrow is an adopted child of this locality.
Cities in Castile-La Mancha
Municipalities in Castile-La Mancha
Toledo Province |
Castilla–La Mancha or Castile-La Mancha is an autonomous community in Spain with a population over 2,000,000. The capital is Toledo and the biggest cities are Albacete, Talavera of the Queen, Guadalajara, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Cuenca.
Provinces of Castile-La Mancha:
Albacete province
Cuenca province
Guadalajara province
Ciudad Real province
Toledo province
Gallery |
Ciudad Real (this translates to Royal City) is a city in Spain. It is the capital of the province with the same name, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha.
The city has 69,063 people who live there. It is an average of 628 meters above sea level. The municipal area is 285 km². It is approximately 200 km to the south of Madrid.
Cities in Castile-La Mancha
Capital cities in Spain
Municipalities in Castile-La Mancha
Ciudad Real Province |
Puertollano (which translates to Flatport, in English) is a city in Spain. It is the second biggest in Ciudad Real province, in the region of Castile-La Mancha. It is an important industrial center, with a population of 50,000.
Cities in Castile-La Mancha
Municipalities in Castile-La Mancha
Ciudad Real Province |
NOFX is a popular punk rock band from California. The band was formed in 1983 by Fat Mike. As of April 2009, NOFX has released eleven full-length albums. Their latest one, Coaster, came out on April 28, 2009.
Studio albums
Liberal Animation (1988)
S&M Airlines (1989)
Ribbed (1991)
White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean (1992)
Punk In Drublic (1994)
Heavy Petting Zoo (1996)
So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes (1997)
Pump Up The Valuum (2000)
The War on Errorism (2003)
Wolves in Wolves' Clothing (2006)
Coaster (2009)
Self Entitled (2012)
References
Other websites
NOFX Official Website
NOFX Online Website
NOFX year-by-year history
1980s American music groups
1990s American music groups
2000s American music groups
2010s American music groups
American punk bands
Musical groups from Los Angeles |
Toledo is the name of several things. The best known cities are:
Places
Toledo, Spain
Toledo, Callaway County, Missouri, USA
Toledo, Ozark County, Missouri, USA
Toledo, Ohio, USA
People
It is a last name in Spain, England, and Ireland.
Alejandro Toledo |
Methane is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an alkane with one carbon atom. It is often found as the main part of natural gas. Methane is a greenhouse gas 23 times more effective than carbon dioxide. It is also less stable and slowly oxidates by oxygen to carbon dioxide and water.
Uses
Methane is used in gas taps in places such as kitchens, chemistry classrooms, laboratories, etc. as it burns very easily because of its simple molecular structure.
Molecular structure
Methane's molecular structure is very simple. It is a single carbon atom surrounded by four hydrogen atoms.
Production
Methane can be made by many chemical ways, but usually is found in natural gas and is obtained by fractional distillation, after it has become liquid.
References
1
Greenhouse gases |
North Country is a 2005 American drama movie about a woman being harassed in a mining facility.
Other websites
2005 movies
2005 drama movies
American drama movies
Warner Bros. movies
Movies directed by Niki Caro |
Dance Dance Revolution or Dancing Stage in Europe is a series of video games made by Konami in which players step on arrows on a large pad or mat to match the arrows on screen. The arrows are in time with the music. Because players are moving themselves along to the music, they look like they are dancing. There is a large variety of music.
There is a bar at the top of the screen. If players make mistakes, the bar gets smaller. If players do not make mistakes, the bar grows. The game ends if the player makes too many mistakes.
Players can choose between three levels. They are called light, standard, and heavy. Light is easy and heavy is hard. On some of the newer games, there is a beginner mode, which is very easy, and a challenge mode, which is very hard.
Players are graded by their performance in letters (from lowest to highest, E, D, C, B, A, AA and AAA) based on how well they played the song. The better a player does on a song, the higher their grade is.
From DDR SuperNOVA to later versions, the levels are called beginner, basic, difficult, expert, and challenge.
Music
There is a wide variety of music in Dance Dance Revolution. Most of the songs are created by people at Konami, with some other well-known popular songs included as well. From the first Dance Dance Revolution game up until DDR Extreme, the games had a partnership with Toshiba EMI, a record company which is now part of Virgin Records. This partnership meant that a lot of popular songs from Toshiba EMI's Dancemania series of dance music albums could appear in the games.
Extras
If the player gets an "AA" on the last stage in "Expert", "Heavy", or "Challenge", they can play an extra stage. Usually, on the extra stage, the game ends if four mistakes are made. If the player performs well enough on the extra stage, an Encore extra stage is played. In the Encore extra stage, one missed step will cause the game to end.
Other places
Some educators even believe DDR should be in schools as exercise.
List of games
Main series
[[Dance Dance Revolution (1998 video game)|Dance Dance Revolution]] (1998)
Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix (1999)
Dance Dance Revolution Best of School Dancers (1999)
Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix with Beatmania IIDX Cluib Version (1999)
Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix Link Version
Dancing Stage featuring True Kiss Destination
Dance Dance Revolution Karaoke Mix
Dancing Stage Dreams Come True
Dance Dance Revolution Karaoke Mix 2nd
Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix
Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix
DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution (2001)
Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix
Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix 2nd
DDRMAX 2: Dance Dance Revolution
References
Music video games
Video game series |
Street Fighter II is a 1991 fighting game made by Capcom.
The player controls a martial arts fighter and has to knock out the opponent. There are many playable characters, including Ryu, Ken Masters, Guile and Chun Li. Each character has special moves that require special commands to perform. The game has 4 bosses - Balrog (M. Bison in Japan), Vega (Balrog in Japan), Sagat, and M. Bison (Vega in Japan). (Balrog and Sagat were also featured in the first Street Fighter game). There have been many follow-up games to Street Fighter II. The franchise for the games became popular. The game was released for arcades and different consoles.
It is sequel to the first Street Fighter.
1991 video games
Arcade games
Capcom games
Fighting games
Cancelled Nintendo Entertainment System games
Super Nintendo Entertainment System games
Street Fighter video games
Video game sequels
Video games developed in Japan |
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is a television series which ran for 3 seasons (one season of television is made in a year), which is longer than the Power Rangers shows after this series have lasted. This series has 145 episodes in total. This series aired on Fox from 1993 to 1995. This series re-aired on ABC Kids (US) in January 2010. The next show after the third season is called Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers. There are many different versions of Power Rangers, and most of them were made with better technology, yet many still prefer this one more than any other. Like all Power Rangers shows, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is based on Super Sentai shows & from Japan. Each season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is based on a different Super Sentai series (Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, Gosei Sentai Dairanger & Ninja Sentai Kakuranger) from Japan. In the year before Power Rangers Samurai started, a re-version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' first season was made and it had comic scenes of the Rangers and monsters in every episode of it, which only had 32 episodes in it.
Plot
Five teenagers battle against the witch Rita Repulsa and the wizard Lord Zedd to defend the earth. They have large robots called Zords and battle suits for their fights. They are armed with special weapons like swords, axes, bows, daggers and lances to help them fight monsters. Rita and Lord Zedd have an army of fighters known as Putties, which get destroyed and broken into many pieces when they are hit by their weak spot - a Z plate on their chest.
Season 1
Rita is in a prison on the Moon. When she gets out of it, she wants to destroy Earth, because that's what she wanted to do before she was put in prison. She brings along her helpers, who were also in prison. One of them is called Goldar. He is a blue gorilla in gold armor who can fight better than anyone. To stop her, five teenagers are chosen by a wizard called Zordon. Zordon has an robot called Alpha 5 who helps him. The teenagers are given special magic coins that turn them into Power Rangers.
Rita has her own magic coin, and uses it to make her own evil Power Ranger, the Green Ranger. The Green Ranger fights the good Power Rangers, because Rita is controlling his mind. They free him from Rita's evil magic, but his magic coin stops working the right way, and begins to hurt him when he uses it. The Green Ranger gives up his magic coin to the Red Ranger who will not get hurt by it.
Season 2
When Lord Zedd comes into the show, he destroys the Power Rangers' Zords. Zordon takes the Green Ranger's magic coin and uses it to make new Zords for the Power Rangers. These new Zords are mostly fairy tale animals, like the unicorn and the dragon. The old Zords were Dinosaurs, like Triceratops and T-Rex. Lord Zedd also puts Rita back in her prison and throws her away into space, because she was not doing a good enough job of being evil.
But one day, a new Power Ranger appears. His costume is White Ranger, and his Zord is a White Tiger. No one knows who he is, but he turns out to be the old Green Ranger. Later, three of the Power Rangers have to leave the team and go to Switzerland. They choose three teenagers from another school to take their powers.
Rita comes back, too, and gives Lord Zedd a love potion. He falls in love with her, and they get married. Goldar gives Lord Zedd another potion to stop the love potion, but Lord Zedd's love for Rita turns out to be true and they stay married.
Season 3
Rita's brother, Rito Revolto, comes to visit his sister. He looks like a skeleton. Rito does what Rita and Lord Zedd could not do, and destroys the Power Ranger's magic coins. The Power Rangers go and find Ninjor, a powerful ninja (a ninja is a type of fighter from Japan), who made the magic coins. He agrees to help them and makes new coins and new Zords for them. They become Ninja Power Rangers, and their new Zords are animals like the wolf and the frog.
Near the end of this season, Rita and Rito's father Master Vile comes to help conquer Earth. He is very powerful, even more powerful than his children together. He uses his powers to turn back time, turning the Power Rangers into Powerless kids. Zordon calls upon his proteges the Alien Rangers of Aquitar to protect the Earth from Master Vile's monsters and to help work on a machine that would return the child rangers to their proper ages. Unfortunately, only Billy returns to normal as the machine which required the power coins as a power source is stolen by Rito & Goldar allowing Rita & Zedd to destroy the coins. The child rangers then travel throughout time to gather the fragments of the Zeo Crystal to bring time back to normal. During her journey in Africa, Aisha meets Tanya Sloan and realizes that she can do more help to stop the sickness plaguing the wildlife and sends Tanya back with her Zeo Crystal.
Characters
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Cast
Rangers
Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott, The first Red Ranger. He is the leader. He leaves the team to go to Switzerland.
Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan, The first Yellow Ranger. She also leaves the team for Switzerland.
Walter Emanuel Jones as Zack Taylor, The first Black Ranger. He also leaves to go to Switzerland.
Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Hart, The first Pink Ranger. She leaves the team to become an athlete.
David Yost as Billy Cranston, The Blue Ranger. He is often bullied by other teenagers because he is smart and shy.
Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver, The Green Ranger. He later becomes the White Ranger.
Steve Cardenas as Rocky DeSantos, The second Red Ranger.
Karan Ashley as Aisha Campbell, The second Yellow Ranger.
Johnny Yong Bosch as Adam Park, The second Black Ranger.
Catherine Sutherland as Katherine Hillard, The second Pink Ranger.
Supporting Characters
Robert L. Manahan as Zordon (voice).
Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (voice).
Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier.
Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch.
Richard Genelle as Ernie.
Gregg Bullock as Jerome Stone.
Ten Jan Roberts as Prince Dex, Masked Rider.
Kim Strauss as Ninjor (voice).
Arsenal
Weapons
Power Morpher:
Dragonzord! and Tigerzord!
Mastodon!
Pterodactyl!
Triceratops!
Saber Toothed-Tiger!
Tyrannosaurus!
White Ranger Power!
Black Ranger Power!
Pink Ranger Power!
Blue Ranger Power!
Yellow Ranger Power!
Red Ranger Power!
Blade Blaster
Power Blaster:
Power Sword: is the Red Ranger.
Power Daggers: is the Yellow Ranger.
Power Axe: is the Black Ranger.
Power Bow: is the Pink Ranger.
Power Lance: is the Blue Ranger.
Dragon Shield
Dragon Dagger: is the Green Ranger.
Saba Sword: is the White Ranger.
Thunder Slinger
Power Cannon
Metallic Armor
RADBUG
Battle Bikes
Shark Cycles
Ninja Ranger Power
Zords
Dinozord
Dino Megazord / Dino Ultrazord
Tyrannosaurus Dinozord
Mastodon Dinozord
Triceratops Dinozord
Saber Toothed-Tiger Dinozord
Pterodactyl Dinozord
Dragonzord
Titanus
Thunderzord
Thunder Megazord / Thunder Ultrazord
Red Dragon Thunderzord
Lion Thunderzord
Unicorn Thunderzord
Griffin Thunderzord
Firebird Thunderzord
White Tigerzord / White Tigerzord Warrior Mode
Tor the Shuttlezord
Ninjazord
Ninja Megazord / Ninja Ultrazord
Red Ape Ninjazord
Black Frog Ninjazord
Blue Wolf Ninjazord
Yellow Bear Ninjazord
Pink Crane Ninjazord
White Ninja Falconzord
Shogunzord
Shogun Megazord / Shogun Ultrazord
Red Shogunzord
Black Shogunzord
Blue Shogunzord
Yellow Shogunzord
White Shogunzord
Villains
Rita Repulsa
Lord Zedd
Goldar
Rito Revolto
Scorpina
Finster
Squatt
Baboo
Master Vile
Lokar
References
Other websites
Official Power Rangers website
Power Rangers Universe Wiki
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
English-language television programs |
Office Space is a 1999 American comedy movie starring Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston. The movie was directed by Mike Judge. The movie is a satire of white collar office work in the United States.
Reception
Office Space received mostly positive reviews from reviewers, which means that most of them thought that it was a good movie. However, it did not make very much money at movie theaters, only earning $10,827,810 from movie tickets. The movie went on to become a cult classic, becoming more popular over time.
References
Other websites
1999 comedy movies
20th Century Fox movies
American comedy movies
Cult movies
English-language movies
Office comedies
Movies set in Seattle, Washington |
Syriana is an 2005 American drama thriller movie, which has won Academy Award and Golden Globe Awards. It is directed by Stephen Gaghan and produced by Jennifer Fox, Michael Nozik, Georgia Kacandes, Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney. The movie stars Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, and William Hurt.
Plot
The movie is about a lot of people doing complicated things. One of the people is a CIA agent (Clooney) who is angered when his boss tries to invade his privacy. Another person, Damon, whose child dies, gets a better job working for a king. Then another person, a lawyer, Jeffrey Wright finds out that the oil company is actually not good and should be removed from power immediately. The last part of the movie is about two Muslims who become suicide bombers because they feel offended.
Other websites
2005 drama movies
2000s drama thriller movies
Academy Award winning movies
American drama thriller movies
United Arab Emirates movies
English-language movies
Golden Globe Award winning movies
Movies featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award-winning performance
Drone movies
American independent movies |
Shareware is a way to sell software.
The user will get a preview or demo of the software for free. This way, the user can decide if he or she likes the program or not before buying the complete program.
Users can get games for free this way but most of the time these games do not have all the levels. Sometimes Internet Relay Chat clients let users have a demo of their client for 30 days, but after that, in order to keep using it, the user will have to pay money.
Software |
Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 American romantic drama movie by Ang Lee. The film is set in Wyoming during the years from 1963 to 1981. The story is about two bisexual cowboys, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, who are in love with each other. During that time it was difficult to have homosexual relationships. The movie is based on a short story of the same name by Annie Proulx.
Brokeback Mountain was a big success. It won many important prizes: the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Best Picture and Best Director at the BAFTA and the Golden Globe awards. It also received 8 nominations at the 78th Academy Awards, where it won 3 Oscars: Best Director, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is in the 12th place for romantic movies that made the most money.
Plot
In 1963, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are hired by Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid). They need to look after his sheep up in Brokeback Mountain for the summer. One night, Jack makes a move on Ennis and the two men end up having sex. Soon an emotional relationship develops. Before leaving at the end of the summer they have a fight.
When they return home, Ennis marries Alma Beers (Michelle Williams) and has two daughters with her. Jack goes back the next summer but does not get hired because Joe had seen him with Ennis the year before. He moves to Texas, where he marries a rodeo rider, Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). After four years, Jack goes back to meet Ennis. They kiss and Alma sees them. Jack would like to go and live with him but Ennis does not want to. They decide to continue meeting from time to time for fishing trips.
The marriages of both Jack and Ennis get worse. Alma and Dennis divorce in 1975. Later Alma tells Ennis she knows about Jack. They have a fight and do not see each other again. Lureen becomes a businesswoman and her father wants Jack to stop being a cowboy. Jack asks Ennis again to live together, but Ennis does not want to leave his children. At the end of one fishing trip, Ennis and Jack have another argument.
Later, Ennis sends a postcard to Jack. It is given back to him with a "DECEASED" stamp. Lureen tells Ennis that Jack had an accident. Ennis instead thinks that he was killed by a gang because he was gay. Ennis goes to Jack's parents to get his ashes. Jack wanted them to be thrown on Brokeback Mountain but his father does not give them to Ennis. However, his mother lets him have a look around Jack's room. Ennis finds the shirts that they were wearing all those years ago when they first had a fight.
Some time later, Ennis is living alone in a trailer. His daughter, Alma Jr., comes to tell him that she wants to marry a guy. Ennis tells her he will be there at the wedding. When she leaves, he opens his wardrobe where he keeps the shirts and a photo of Brokeback Mountain. He whispers "Jack, I swear..." before walking away.
Release dates
References
Other websites
Official website
2005 drama movies
2005 romance movies
2000s LGBT movies
2000s romantic drama movies
Academy Award winning movies
American LGBT movies
American romantic drama movies
BAFTA Award winning movies
English-language movies
Golden Globe Award winning movies
LGBT drama movies
LGBT romance movies
Movies directed by Ang Lee
Movies set in the 1960s
Movies set in the 1970s
Movies set in the 1980s
Movies set in Wyoming |
A Christmas Carol is a novella by the British writer Charles Dickens. It was first published on 19 December 1843 by Chapman & Hall in London. The illustrations were drawn by John Leech. The first edition was a beautiful and expensive book. It was sold out by Christmas Eve, but Dickens never made the money he expected on the tale due to the book's high production costs.
The novella was written at a time when the British were longing for the traditional merry Olde English Christmas. Christmas customs of the past were being revived. New Christmas customs such as the Christmas tree and the greeting card were making their first appearances. Old carols were being sung. The novella has been credited with restoring the festive spirit of Christmas after a period of Puritan sobriety and solemnity.
The story is about a Christmas-hating miser named Ebenezer Scrooge. On Christmas Eve, he is visited by four ghosts who transform him into a kind and generous man. The story has a strong moral messages about greed and poverty. It is usually read at Christmas time and has been adapted to theatre, movies, radio, and television many times.
Plot
Ebenezer Scrooge is a Christmas-hating old miser and businessman. One Christmas Eve, Scrooge declines an invitation to his nephew's house for Christmas dinner, telling his nephew that Christmas is "Humbug". He then refuses to give a donation to two men who are collecting for charity.
Later that evening, he is visited by the ghost of his dead business partner Jacob Marley, a man whose greed and selfishness have doomed him to eternal hellfire. He tells Scrooge that he must change his ways or that hellfire will be his fate. Marley warns him that during the night he will be visited by three more ghosts. These will show him where he went wrong in his life, and how to be a better person in the future.
The first ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Past. This ghost shows him his unhappy childhood and how he did not get married. The second ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Present. This ghost shows him things which are happening now, such as how his clerk, Bob Cratchit, is having a nice Christmas despite not having much money. He also shows him Bob's youngest son, called Tiny Tim, who is crippled.
Later, the ghost shows him how his nephew is having a good Christmas, and how Scrooge is missing out. The third ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. This ghost shows Scrooge what Christmas will be like in the future if he does not change. First, people are shown celebrating a man's death and robbing his house. The ghost also shows him that Tiny Tim has died. Scrooge is then shown his own grave, and realizes that the celebrations were for his death.
On Christmas morning, Scrooge wakes up and realizes that he has to change. He decides to celebrate Christmas, and help Tiny Tim get well. He sends the Cratchit family a prize turkey for their holiday dinner. Through the ghosts' help, Scrooge becomes a better man.
Legacy
The book made popular the phrase "Merry Christmas" as well as the name "Scrooge" and the ejaculation "Bah! Humbug". The book spurred charitable giving in the years following its first publication. Its lasting legacy is returning to Christmas the merriment and festivity the day lost after a period of Puritan sobriety.
Other websites
1843 books
Books by Charles Dickens
English novels
English-language novels |
Aruba is an island in the Caribbean Sea, just north of the Venezuelan Paraguaná Peninsula. It is in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, it has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism, because visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather.
The island broke off from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986, hoping to gain its independence by 1996. In 1990, that effort stopped at the request of the island people.
Aruba is one of the four countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The other nations are the Netherlands, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The citizens of these countries all share a single nationality: Dutch.
About three quarters of the Aruban gross national product is earned through tourism or related activities.
The island came into the news after U.S. high school student Natalee Holloway disappeared on a graduation trip on May 30, 2005. Today, some refer to Aruba as "One Happy Island".
Geography
Aruba is a generally flat, riverless island. It is in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea. The western and southern beaches have white sandy beaches. They are generally protected from the ocean currents. This is one of the reasons Aruba is a popular tourist location.
Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, Aruba forms a group referred to as the ABC islands. Collectively, Aruba and the other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean.
Aruba has no administrative subdivisions. For census purposes, it is divided into eight regions. Its capital is Oranjestad.
People
The Aruba population is about 75% mixed, 15% black, and 10% white.
References
Dependent territories |
The Kingdom of the Netherlands (), commonly called the Netherlands is a transcontinental sovereign state whose form of government is a constitutional monarchy.
The country was formed in 1954 and is now made up of four countries:
European country:
1. Netherlands
Caribbean islands:
2. Aruba
3. Curaçao
4. Sint Maarten
The Caribbean Netherlands are special municipalities ('public body') of the Netherlands (see :Category:Municipalities of the Netherlands) and consists of:
Bonaire
Saba
Sint Eustatius
The Netherlands Antilles doesn't exist anymore and were made up of the six above mentioned Caribbean islands.
Suriname was also part of the Kingdom until it became independent in 1975.
Notes
References
Dutch-speaking countries |
Kill Bill is an American crime movie directed by Quentin Tarantino. It was released in two parts; Volume 1 and Volume 2. In most countries it is rated for adult viewing only because of extreme violence and profanity.
Cast
Sonny Chiba as Hanzō Hattori
Other websites
2003 movies
2004 movies
American crime movies
English-language movies
Movies directed by Quentin Tarantino
Martial arts movies |
A drive-by shooting is when a gun is fired from a moving vehicle, at a target outside the vehicle.
Types of crime |
Andalusia () is the first in population among the 17 Autonomous communities in Spain and the second in area. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and Seville. Its capital is the city of Seville (Spanish: Sevilla).
Andalusia is in the south of the Iberian peninsula, just to the south of the autonomous communities of Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha; west of the autonomous community of Murcia and the Mediterranean Sea; east of Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean; and north of the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar. The small British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar shares a land border with the Andalusian province of Cádiz at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar.
History
The name Andalusia is the modern version of the Arabic language Al-Andalus (الأندلس), name used by the Muslim Moors for all of the territory of the Iberian Peninsula under their control. During that period, northern Iberian Peninsula was controlled by Christian kings and the southern Iberian Peninsula was controlled by Moors.
In 711 CE, the Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula, then controlled by Christians of Visigothic origin. By 719 the Moors conquered all of the peninsula except for a small area in the northern Pyrenees Mountains. The Moors used the name Al-Andalus for all of the territory of the Iberian Peninsula under their control.
Christians in the north waged war for more than seven centuries against the Moors, gradually taking over more and more of the southern areas. This process of war is called the Reconquista (a Spanish and Portuguese word meaning "to conquest again"). In the year 1492 under Spanish Inquisition, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain retook the last stronghold in the southern area at Granada. In that same year, the majority Muslim Moors and Sephardi Jews were forced to leave Spain, other who want stay in Andalusia got baptized and became Catholic Christians.
Symbols
The Andalusian coat of arms shows the figure of Hercules and two lions between the two pillars of Hercules that tradition puts on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. The words below read Andalucía por sí, para España y la Humanidad ("Andalusia by herself, for Spain and Humanity"). Over the two columns is an arch in the colors of the flag of Andalusia, with the Latin words Dominator Hercules Fundator.
The official flag of Andalusia has three equal horizontal stripes, colored green, white, and green respectively; the Andalusian coat of arms is on the central stripe. It was approved in a meeting in 1918 of Andalusian nationalists at Ronda, a city in the province of Málaga.
The anthem of Andalusia was composed by José del Castillo Díaz with lyrics by Blas Infante. The music was inspired by Santo Dios, a religious folk song sung at harvest time by peasants.
The national holiday, the Día de Andalucía, is celebrated on 28 February.
Geography
Andalusia is one of the 17 Spanish autonomous communities and is in the southwestern region of the European Union. It has a surface area of , 17.3 percent of the territory of Spain. By area, it is the second Spanish autonomous community.
The natural limits of Andalusia are: to the south, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea; to the north, the Sierra Morena, mountain range that separates Andalusia from the autonomous communities of Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha; to the west is Portugal; and to the east is Murcia.
Relief
Andalusia has the Iberian peninsula's highest mountains and nearly 15 percent of its terrain over . The picture is similar for areas under (with the Baetic Depression), and for the variety of slopes.
The Atlantic coast is mostly beach and gradually sloping coasts; the Mediterranean coast has many cliffs. These differences divide the region naturally into Upper Andalusia (two mountainous areas) and Lower Andalusia (the broad basin of the Guadalquivir).
The three main geographical regions of Andalusia are:
The Sierra Morena separates Andalusia from the plains of Extremadura and Castile–La Mancha on Spain's Meseta Central. Although few people live there, this is not a particularly high range.
The Baetic Cordillera consists of the parallel mountain ranges of the Cordillera Penibética near the Mediterranean coast and the Cordillera Subbética to the north. The Cordillera Subbética is quite discontinuous, offering many passes that facilitate transportation, but the Penibético forms a strong barrier between the Mediterranean coast and the interior. The Sierra Nevada, part of the Cordillera Penibética in the Province of Granada, has the highest peaks in the Iberian peninsula: Mulhacén at and Veleta at .
Lower Andalusia or valley of the Guadalquivir is between these two mountainous areas. It is a nearly flat territory, open to the Atlantic Ocean in the southeast. Throughout history, this has been the part of Andalusia where there are more people.
Climate
In general, Andalusia has a Mediterranean climate, except in the Valley of Granada (), with occasional heavy rains and extremely hot temperatures.
Rainfall decreases from west to east. The place in Andalusia with the highest rainfall is in the Sierra de Grazalema ( per year) and the driest place is Cabo de Gata, the place with the least amount of rainfall in Europe with only of rain per year.
The average temperature in Andalusia throughout the year is over . Averages in the cities range from in Baeza to in Málaga. Much of the Guadalquivir valley and the Mediterranean coast has an average of about . The coldest month is January when Granada at the foot of the Sierra Nevada experiences an average temperature of . The hottest are July and August, with an average temperature of for Andalusia as a whole. Córdoba is the hottest provincial capital, followed by Seville.
The mountain ranges are cooler than the plains and have a higher rainfall with some snow in winter. The Sierra Nevada, above , is snow covered for most of the year.
Rivers
Andalusia has rivers that flow into both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Flowing to the Atlantic are the Guadiana, Odiel-Tinto, Guadalquivir, Guadalete, and Barbate. Flowing to the Mediterranean are the Guadiaro, Guadalhorce, Guadalmedina, Guadalfeo, Andarax (also known as the Almería) and Almanzora. Of these, the Guadalquivir is the longest in Andalusia and fifth longest on the Iberian peninsula, at .
Administrative divisions
Andalusia consists of eight provinces. Each of the Andalusian provinces bears the same name as its capital:
People
The Andalusians are the inhabitants of Andalusia of the southern region in Iberian Peninsula. Traditional male circumcision is usually performed. They are generally considered an ethnically distinct peoples because of the two of the most important markers of distinctiveness: their own language and an awareness of a presumed common origin. Andalusian is said to be a distinct dialect of Spanish, according to the Andalusian nationalism.
The Andalusians have a rich culture which includes the famous flamenco style of music and dance, even though it was adopted by the Spanish Caló who have changed it and monopolized into their own culture.
References
Joseph O'Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain, 1975, Cornell University Press.
Other websites
Official portal
Official Tourism Website of Andalusia
1981 establishments in Europe
1980s establishments in Spain |
Granada is a Spanish city, capital of the province of Granada, in Andalusia. With 233,000 inhabitants, it is an important artistic and cultural center. The city has many famous monuments, such as the Alhambra, the Cathedral, the Alcaiceria, and the Corral del Carbon. It is near Sierra Nevada, the highest mountain range in Spain, in the valley where the Genil and Darro rivers meet. The Darro runs through the Albaicin and the Sacromonte, two charming historical areas of the city.
Districts
Realejo
Realejo is where the Jewish people of Granada lived for hundreds of years. In 1492, Isabella of Castile forced the Jewish people of Granada to leave Spain. Now, it is known for its street art and food.
Cartuja
Cartuja is named after an old monastery in this district. The area also contains many buildings that are part of the University of Granada.
Bib-Rambla
This district is named after a big, important gate built by the Nasrid dynasty. The name means "Gate of the Ears." Bib-Rambla is in the middle of the city, and it has many important landmarks like the Cathedral.
Sacromonte
The Sacromonte is in the northern half of Granada, near the Albaicin. It is famous for the Romani people that have lived there. It has many houses made from caves dug into the hill. It is famous for flamenco dancing, as well as its views of the Alhambra.
Albaicin
The Albaicin is one of the oldest areas of Granada. In fact, before the city of Granada, there was an older city here called Elvira. Like the Sacromonte, it is famous for its views of the Alhambra.
Zaidin
Zaidin is an area in the far south of Granada. It has the most people of any district in Granada.
Related pages
Battle of Granada
Other websites
Detailed information about the Alhambra
Website of the Granada Tourist Office
Granada Local Tourist Guide
Photos of Granada
International Students Community
More interesting information about the Alhambra
Capital cities in Spain |
Cadiz is a Spanish city, capital of the Province of Cadiz, in Andalusia. It is the southernmost capital in the Iberian Peninsula. The population is 130,000, but it is the centre of a metropolitan area, the Bay of Cadiz, with more than 500,000 inhabitants.
Cadiz is known for its attractive beaches where many nautical sports can be practiced. This is possible thanks to the excellent climate all year round. It is one of the oldest cities in Western Europe and it used to be one of the most imporant Spanish ports during the Spanish Golden Age and the Age of Discovery.
Capital cities in Spain |
Mérida () is the capital of Extremadura, an autonomous community in Spain. It has 55,000 inhabitants and is an important Roman center, with the theatre and the bridge over the Guadiana river.
Sister cities
Rome, Italy
Mérida, Venezuela
Mérida, Mexico
Mérida, Philippines
Other websites
Roman Art National Museum
Pictures of Roman Mérida
Photos of Mérida: Roman monuments and other views of the city
Capital cities in Spain
Cities in Extremadura
Municipalities in Extremadura |
Cuenca is a Spanish city, capital of the Cuenca province, in Castile-La Mancha. Around 50,000 are living there. It is famous for its monuments: The hanging houses, the Cathedral and other churches. It is located over the Jucar river, near the Serrania of Cuenca.
Images
References
Other websites
Cuenca
Cities in Castile-La Mancha
Municipalities in Castile-La Mancha
Capital cities in Spain
World Heritage Sites in Spain |
The Balearic Islands (officially and in Catalan Illes Balears) are an autonomous community of Spain, formed by the Balearic Islands province. The main Balearic islands are Mallorca (also called in English Majorca), Minorca, Eivissa or Ibiza, and Formentera. The capital is Palma de Mallorca, and other cities are Mahon, Ibiza, Inca, Ciutadella, and Calvia. |
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American movie, stage, television, radio, and voice actor. He was the head of a family of actors: son Peter, daughter Jane, granddaughter Bridget and grandson Troy Garity. He has won an Academy Award.
Fonda starred in movies including The Grapes of Wrath (1940), 12 Angry Men (1957), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Yours, Mine and Ours (1968). His last performance was in 1981's On Golden Pond.
Fonda was born on May 16, 1905 in Grand Island, Nebraska. He studied at the University of Minnesota.
He was married to Margaret Sullavan from 1931 until they divorced in 1932. Then he was married to Frances Ford Seymour from 1936 until her death in 1950. Then he was married to Susan Blanchard from 1950 until they divorced in 1956. Then he was married to Afdera Franchetti from 1957 until they divorced in 1961. Then he was last married to Shirlee Mae Adams from 1965 until his death in 1982.
Fonda died on August 12, 1982 from heart disease in Los Angeles, California. He was 77.
References
Other websites
Tribute Site - full of pictures
Fonda family tree
1905 births
1982 deaths
Academy Award winning actors
Actors from Nebraska
American movie actors
American radio actors
American stage actors
American television actors
American voice actors
Cardiovascular disease deaths in the United States
Kennedy Center honorees |
There are fifty parts of Spain called provinces. They are:
Spain-related lists |
Cartagena is a city in the Region of Murcia, in Spain. In the south of the region, at the Mediterranean Sea. The population of the city is 205,000 and it is an industrial centre. Cartagena was founded by the Carthaginese as "Qart Hadasht" and the name means New City.
Cities in the Region of Murcia
Municipalities in the Region of Murcia |
Palermo is an Italian city. It is the capital and largest city of Sicily. It has 720,000 people, with more than 1,000,000 in the metropolitan area. It has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate. The city started as a colony of Phoenicia. It was later Roman -for a century Islamic- and Norman and part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. After Italian unification Palermo grew rapidly. The city was bombed heavily in 1942 and 1943.
Regional capitals in Italy |
Bosnia and Herzegovina or Bosnia-Herzegovina (locally: Bosna i Hercegovina/Босна и Херцеговина, most commonly abbreviated as BiH/БиХ) is a country in Southeastern Europe, with an area of 51,197 km2 and 4,600,000 people. Countries around Bosnia and Herzegovina are Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. The capital is Sarajevo, and other important cities are Banja Luka, Mostar, Zenica and Tuzla.
History
The first state in Bosnia and Herzegovina was in the Middle Ages. During the Ottoman Empire, it was a very important province in the Balkans and the capital, Sarajevo, had 100,000 people. In 1878, it became a province of Austria-Hungary when the Empire took over Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908. In 1914 the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated in Sarajevo, leading to World War I. From 1918 until 1992, the country was a part of the former Yugoslavia. After a 3-year long war, Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed independence as a country consisting mostly of Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims.
Divisions
The country is divided into two entities: Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. These are then divided into 10 cantons.
Cities
This is a list of the ten largest towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only Sarajevo and Banja Luka have more than 200,000 people.
Sports
Bosnia and Herzegovina has produced many athletes. Many of them were famous in the Yugoslav national teams before Bosnia and Herzegovina's independence.
The most important international sporting event in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the hosting of the 14th Winter Olympics, held in Sarajevo.
The Borac handball club has won seven Yugoslav Handball Championships, as well as the European Championship Cup in 1976 and the International Handball Federation Cup in 1991.
The Bosna basketball club from Sarajevo were European Champions in 1979. The Yugoslav national basketball team medaled in every world championship from 1963 through 1990. The team included Bosnian players such as Dražen Dalipagić and Mirza Delibašić. Bosnia and Herzegovina regularly qualifies for the European Championship in Basketball. Jedinstvo Aida women's basketball club, based in Tuzla, has won the 1989 European Championships in Florence.
Bosnia has many world-class basketball players, notably Mirza Teletović, the first Bosnian in the NBA. Among others are, Elmedin Kikanović, Nihad Đedović, Ognjen Kuzmić, Jusuf Nurkić, Nedžad Sinanović, and Nemanja Mitrović.
The Tuzla-Sinalco karate club from Tuzla has won the most Yugoslav championships, as well as four European Championships and one World Championship.
The Bosnian chess team has been Champion of Yugoslavia seven times. In addition the club ŠK Bosna Sarajevo won four Chess Club Cup : 1994 in Lyon, 1999 in Bugojno, 2000 in Neum, and 2001 in Kallithea Elassonos. Chess grandmaster Borki Predojević has also won European Championships: Under-12 years Litochoro (Greece) in 1999, and Under-14 years Kallithea Elassonos (Greece) in 2001, and in 2003 won World Championship Under-16 years Halkidiki (Greece).
Middle-weight boxer Marijan Beneš has won several Championships of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslav Championships and the European Championship. In 1978 he won the World Title against Elisha Obed from the Bahamas. Another middle-weight boxer, Anton Josipović won the Olympic Gold in Los Angeles, 1984. He also won Yugoslav Championship in 1982, the Championship of the Balkans in 1983, and the Belgrade Trophy in 1985.
Association football is the most popular sport in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It dates from 1903, but its popularity grew significantly after World War I. At the local level, FK Sarajevo (1967 and 1984), Željezničar (1972) have both won the Yugoslav Championship. The former Yugoslav national football team has included a number of Bosnian players, such as Josip Katalinski, Blaž Slišković, Dušan Bajević, Enver Marić, Mehmed Baždarević, Ivica Osim, Safet Sušić, Vahidin Musemić and Mirsad Fazlagić.
Today, the team of Bosnia and Herzegovina has modern footballers like Edin Džeko, Zvjezdan Misimović, Vedad Ibišević, Emir Spahić, Asmir Begović, Miralem Pjanić, Sejad Salihović, Senad Lulić and others. The independent Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team has not qualified for a European or World Championship but has played twice in the play-off stages.
Bosnian national teams have struggled to draft the best national players. Many players born in Bosnia and Herzegovina choose to play for other countries because of their ethnic identification. For example, Nikica Jelavić and Vedran Ćorluka were both born in Bosnia and Herzegovina but play for Croatia. Other internationally famous players from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who have made similar choices, are: Dejan Lovren, Mladen Petrić, Mario Stanić, Neven Subotić, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Marko Marin, Boris Živković, Zlatko Junuzović, Savo Milošević, and Zdravko Kuzmanović.
Bosnia and Herzegovina was the world champion of volleyball at the 2004 Summer Paralympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics. Many among those on the team lost their legs in the Bosnian War.
Cuisine
Bosnian cuisine uses many spices, in moderate quantities. Most dishes are light, as they are cooked in lots of water. The sauces are fully natural, with little more than the natural juices of the vegetables in the dish. Typical ingredients include tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, dried beans, fresh beans, plums, milk, paprika and cream called Pavlaka. Bosnian cuisine is balanced between Western and Eastern influences. As a result of the Ottoman administration for almost 500 years, Bosnian food is closely related to Turkish, Greek, and other former Ottoman and Mediterranean cuisines. However, because of years of Austrian rule, there are many influences from Central Europe. Typical meat dishes include mostly beef and lamb. Some local specialties are ćevapi, burek, dolma, sarma, pilaf, goulash, ajvar and a whole range of Eastern sweets. Local wines come from Herzegovina where the climate is suitable for growing grapes. Herzegovinian loza (similar to Italian Grappa but less sweet) is very popular. Plum or apple alcohol beverages are made in the north. In the south, distilleries used to produce vast quantities of brandy. Brandy is the base of most alcoholic drinks.
Coffeehouses, where Bosnian coffee is served in džezva with rahat lokum and sugar cubes, are in many places in Sarajevo and every city in the country. Coffee drinking is a favorite Bosnian pastime and part of the culture. Bosnians are believed to be some of the heaviest coffee drinkers in the world.
Related pages
Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Olympics
Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team
List of rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina
References
Other websites |
A black bass is a type of fresh water fish. The black basses are found throughout a large area east of the Rocky Mountains in North America, from the Hudson Bay basin in Canada to northeastern Mexico. Several species, notably the Largemouth and Smallmouth, have been very widely introduced throughout the world. Black bass of all species are highly sought-after game fish, and bass fishing is an extremely popular sport. These fish are well known as strong fighters, and taste good.
Description (by species)
The Largemouth bass is a fish which generally has greenish to brownish sides with a dark line which goes from the head to the tail. It's the largest member of the sunfish family. The upper jaw of a largemouth bass extends back beyond the eye.
The Smallmouth bass (also called the bronzeback, brownie, and smallie) is generally brown with red eyes. It has dark brown vertical bands, rather than a horizontal band along the side. There are 13–15 soft rays in the dorsal fin. The upper jaw of smallmouth bass extends to the middle of the eye.
The Spotted bass (or Kentucky bass) resembles the largemouth bass in coloring, but has a smaller mouth. The upper jaw of spotted bass extends to the front of the eye.
Habitat
Black bass are found in running and still waters, with or without aquatic vegetation (plants that live in water). they need food and some form of cover. Generally, they can tolerate a wide range of water clarities and bottom types. Most prefer water temperatures from 20 to 30°C, and are often found at depths less than 20 feet. Smallmouth prefer clear water and usually like deeper water than Largemouth.
Feeding habits
The feeding habits of bass change with its size. Young fish mainly feed on microscopic animals (plankton). Fingerling bass eat insects and small fishes. Adult bass will eat whatever is available, including fish, crabs, frogs, salamanders, snakes, mice, turtles, and even birds.
Age and growth - Growth rates are highly variable with differences attributed mainly to their food supply and length of growing season. Female bass live longer than males and are much more likely to reach trophy size. By age two or three, females grow much faster than male bass. At five years of age females may be twice the weight of males. The oldest bass from Florida whose age has been determined by fisheries' biologists was 16 years of age.
Sporting qualities
The largemouth bass is a very popular fresh water game fish. Much of its popularity is due to its aggressive attitude and willingness to strike a bait with explosive force. They can be caught with almost every bait. The value of the largemouth as a sport fish has prompted a movement toward catch and release fishing.
A bass of 22 pounds, 4 ounces was caught in Montgomery Lake, Georgia (U.S. state) in 1932.
Economic impact
Sport fishing for Black bass, particularly largemouth and smallmouth, has seen extraordinary growth in popularity. In Texas alone, fishermen spent $28 billion on equipment, licenses and fishing trips in 1996. That same year Texas sport fishing was responsible for creating 80,000 jobs and brought in over $180 million to the state in taxes. Many talented fishermen have turned the sport of bass fishing into a business by becoming a professional and competing in tournaments. Kevin VanDam is the top-rated money winner in professional bass fishing, having earned more than $5.6 million.
References
Perciformes
Centrarchidae
Teleosts |
The Reinheitsgebot is a regulation about the purity of beer. The regulation started in Ingolstadt, in Bavaria, in Germany, in 1516.
The regulation says several things:
It says what can be part of beer, and what can not. Beer may only contain water, barley, and hops.
It gives a price to beer. This is important for taxation. The price is set to 1-2 Pfennigs per Maß.
Some people talk about the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot, or the German Reinheitsgebot. They all mean the same thing. There are similar acts in the other states which later became known as Germany.
The Reinheitsgebot is no longer part of German law. It has been replaced by the Provisional German Beer Law
, which allows things prohibited in the Reinheitsgebot, such as wheat malt and cane sugar, but which no longer allows unmalted barley.
Yeast was not a part of beer until Louis Pasteur discovered what it did during fermentation. This was around the year 1800. Brewers (the people brewing beer) usually re-used some of the sediments of the fermentation. They took some sediments of an older brew and added those sediments to the next brew.
Hops were added as a method of preservation (to stop the beer going bad quickly). Hops were allowed to stop other things (like adding certain mushrooms to the beer, which was done in the Middle Ages) being done to preserve beer. Other herbs, like stinging nettles had been used. The stinging nettle is part of the same plant family as hops.
A brewer who broke the Reinheitsgebot was punished: The beer barrels were taken by the state and destroyed and he/she did not receive any money for the loss.
Even today, many brewers are proud of the Reinheitsgebot; most German breweries say they follow it. Some only use it as a marketing tool. The ''Reinheitsgebot' says that beer is made of barley, so all wheat beers were not allowed by the original Reinheitsgebot).
Belgian beers are different. The brewers often add sugar (to boost fermentation). Nevertheless, Belgian beers have a brewing tradition at least as long as those of Germany. They taste totally different from the German ones.
References
Beer-related culture
German food |
A Maß or Mass is an old unit of measurement of liquid. Literally translated, it means mass. It is equal to 1.069 litre. Today, it is only used for measuring quantities of beer (one litre). Beer is usually served as 0.2 or 0.3 l (small beer) or as 0.5 l (big beer), but at some occasions (like the Oktoberfest) and some places it is also served as a Maß.
Usually this Maß is served in special mugs. These used to be made of ceramics, especially clay. During the 19th and 20th centuries most were replaced by ones made of glass.
Old units of measurement
Units of volume |
The wolverine or glutton (Gulo gulo) is the largest member of the Mustelidae family (the weasels). It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more like a small bear than other mustelids. The wolverine, a solitary animal, has a reputation for ferocity, and can kill prey many times larger than itself. It is a powerful and versatile predator and scavenger.
There is a clear difference between two subspecies: the Old World form Gulo gulo gulo and the New World form G. g. luscus.
The male is about tall, the female . Their length ranges from (female) to (male) and they reach a weight of around . Their tail measures about . Their brown fur protects them from the extremely cold temperatures and their big feet enable them to walk on top of snow.
Distribution
Wolverines live primarily in isolated arctic and alpine regions of northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, and Scandinavia. they are also native to European Russia, the Baltic countries, northeast China and Mongolia. In 2008 and 2009, wolverines were sighted as far south as the Sierra Nevada, near Lake Tahoe, for the first time since 1922. They are also found in low numbers in the Rocky Mountains and northern Cascades of the United States, and have been sighted as far south and east as Michigan. However, most New World wolverines live in Canada.
Wolverines feed on almost every type of food that they can find: mice, rats, birds, bird eggs, reindeer and other large prey. Wolverines prefer to hunt larger prey in winter, when the snow slows down the prey and gives the wolverine an advantage.
Wolverines are highly territorial. Wolverines reproduce every two or three years. The female gives birth to one to three young (called kits) in a tunnel called a den deep underneath snowdrifts.
Protection
Humans are the wolverine’s main enemy. The wolverine’s thick, warm fur is used to manufacture the trim of a parka's hood or other winter clothes, as the dense guard hairs do not collect frost.
In February 2013, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed giving Endangered Species Act protections to the wolverine largely because climate change (global warming) is whittling away its wintry habitat in the northern Rockies. Wolverines have poor eyesight but a keen sense of smell, they can smell prey 20 feet under the snow.
References
Mustelids |
The German battleship Bismarck was built by Nazi Germany. It was one of the most famous and recognized warships of World War II. It sailed for just one mission, known as Operation "Rheinübung".
Its construction began on 1 July 1936 in a shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. The ship was launched on 14 February 1940. The Bismarck class battleship was the largest type of battleship built by any European power. Her sister ship Tirpitz was the second in this class.
Description
The Bismarck and Tirpitz were planned in the mid 1930's by the German Kriegsmarine to counter France and its own naval expansion. Construction began in 1936 and were supposed to fall within the 35,000 long ton limit as imposed by the Washington regime and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement during the Interwar period. Both of them secretly ignored the limits but before it's completion, the agreement and the treaty fell apart due to Japan's withdrawal in 1937. Bismarck weighed 41,700t (long tons) and 50,300 t (49,500 long tons) when fully loaded and had a overall length of 251m (823 ft 6in) which was the largest built than any other European power until HMS Vanguard after the war. Bismarck had a top speed of 30.01 knots (55.58 km/h; 34.53 mph) during trials and had a max distance of 16,430 km (10,210 mi) without refuels. Bismarck had a crew of 2000-2200 and had them divided into twelve divisions of 180-200 per division and half of them were assigned to main and secondary weaponry while the other half were support crew. (Cooks, Radio Operators) The Bismarck had an armament of eight 38cm (15in) guns, twelve 15cm (5.9in) guns, sixteen 10.5cm (4.1in) guns, sixteen 3.7 (1.5in) guns, and twelve 2cm (0.79in) guns. Bismarck's main belt had a thickness of 320mm (12.6in) and was additionally covered with upper and main armor deck ranging from 50mm to 120mm ( 2in to 4.7in ) while the turret faces were protected by 360mm (14.2in) fronts while the sides were 220mm (8.7in) thick.
Operation "Rheinübung"
On 5th May 1941 Hitler started Operation Rheinübung to sever Britain's lifeline which consisted of merchant ships bringing vital supplies such as food and raw materials. If this lifeline was cut Britain would be forced to either sue for peace, negotiate an armistice or leave the British Isles. The goal of Rheinübung was to break into the Atlantic ocean and attack allied merchant ships transporting essential goods. German Naval Command (OKM) established a network of tankers and supply ships around the area Bismarck and Prinz Eugen sailed. Britain knew Nazi Germany was going to attack these supply lines and stationed multiple battlecruisers, aircraft carriers, and battleships.
Battle of Denmark Strait
At 05:45 24th of May, German lookouts spotted smoke in the distance which turned out to be from two of the Royal Navy's ships called HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales. At 05:52 Hood opened fire at what they thought was Bismarck but instead of Prinz Eugen while Prince of Wales fired on Bismarck. Both Prince of Wales and Hood attacked Bismarck and Prinz Eugen head on only allowing them to use their front guns while Bismarck and Prinz Eugen could fire with all their weaponry. After several minutes of shelling, Hood turned 20° left to use its rear turrets and after a minute of firing, Prinz Eugen scored a hit on Hood causing an ammunition fire which was quickly extinguished. Bismarck fired three salvos which caused it to find the range to Hood and the order to rapid-fire was given. Hood turned 20° to the left again to make itself parallel with Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. Prinz Eugen shifted its fire towards Prince of Wales to keep both British ships under fire and scored a couple of hits on Wales. Prinz Eugen was ordered to move behind Bismarck to keep track of Norfolk and Suffolk. At 06:00 Hood was completing her second turn to the left when Bismarck's salvo hit. Two of the shells landed short while one of the shells struck Hood's thin deck armor and caused 112 t ( 110 long tons ) of ammo to explode causing Hood to split in half in only eight minutes and only three out of 1149 crew survived. After the sinking of Hood, Bismarck redirected its fire towards Prince of Wales and hit Wales directly in the bridge killing all but 3 officers and was still being fired upon and guns were malfunctioning on the new battleship and after scoring a bunch of ineffective hits on Bismarck, the order was given to retreat at 06:13
Chase
After the engagement, Bismarck’s commander reported that Hood sunk and another battleship thinking it was King George V or Renown escaped but was damaged and transmitted a damage report along with his intentions to let Prinz Eugen detach and head to Saint-Nazaire for repairs. Prinz Eugen reported that Bismarck was leaking oil and an hour later a British plane reported the oil slick to Suffolk and Norfolk which was joined by a damaged Prince of Wales. Winston Churchill ordered all ships in the area to join in the pursuit against Prinz Eugen and Bismarck which resulted in six battleships, two battlecruisers, two aircraft carriers, thirteen cruisers, and twenty one destroyers were ordered to hunt down Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. With weather worsening Bismarck’s commander attempted to detach Prinz Eugen but the squall wasn’t heavy enough to hide her withdrawal from Norfolk and Suffolk which continued to maintain radar contact. Prinz Eugen was successfully detached and Bismarck turned to face Suffolk which forced Suffolk to turn away at high speeds while Prince of Wales fired at Bismarck and received fire back. Although Bismarck had been damaged earlier she was still able to achieve 27-28 knots and was still able to reach Saint-Nazaire unless slowed down. The British sent aircraft carrier Victorious and an additional four light cruisers to have Swordfish torpedo bombers find and engage Bismarck but due to the inexperience of the pilots, they nearly attacked Norfolk and a US Coast Guard USCGC Modoc and alerted Bismarck’s anti-aircraft gunners.
References
Warships
Military of Germany |
The Republic of Mahabad (also Republic of Kurdistan), established in Iranian Kurdistan, was the second independent Kurdish state of the 20th century after the Republic of Ararat in Turkey. Its capital was the Kurdish city of Mahabad in northwestern Iran. The Republic was part of the Iran crisis a conflict between the United States and USSR.
The republic was led by President Qazi Muhammad and Minister of Defense Mustafa Barzani. Prime Minister was Hadschi Baba Scheich. The Republic of Mahabad declared independence on January 22, 1946, but the movement was defeated a year later by the army of the central government of Iran. . After the collapse of the republic in 1947, Qazi Muhammad was hanged in public in Chuwarchira Square in the center of Mahabad.
Massoud Barzani, the current President of Iraqi Kurdistan, was born in Mahabad when his father, the late General Mustafa Barzani, was chief of the military of Mahabad declared in Iranian Kurdistan .
Archibald Roosevelt son of the former US-President Theodore Roosevelt, wrote in "The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad", that a main problem of the peoples Republic of Mahabad, was the kurds needed the power of the USSR. Only with the Red army they had a chance. But these close relationship to Stalin and the USSR let many kurdish tribes to be in opposition with this kurdish state.
References
"The Republic of Kurdistan: Fifty Years Later," International Journal of Kurdish Studies, 11, no. 1 & 2, (1997).
The Kurdish Republic of 1946, William Eagleton, Jr. (London: Oxford University Press, 1963)
Moradi Golmorad: Ein Jahr autonome Regierung in Kurdistan, die Mahabad-Republik 1946 - 1947 in: Geschichte der kurdischen Aufstandsbewegungen von der arabisch-islamischen Invasion bis zur Mahabad-Republik, Bremen 1992,
M. Khoubrouy-Pak: Une république éphémère au Kurdistan, Paris u.a. 2002,
Archie Roosevelt, Jr., "The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad", Middle East Journal, no. 1 (July 1947), pp. 247–69.
Kurdish Republic of Mahabad, Encyclopedia of the Orient.
The Kurds: People without a country, Encyclopædia Britannica
Meiselas, Susan Kurdistan In the Shadow of History, Random House, 1997.
McDowall, David A Modern History of the Kurds, I. B. Tauris, 1996 (Current revision at May 14, 2004).
Yassin, Burhaneddin A., Vision or Realty: The Kurds in the Policy of the Great Powers, 1941-1947, Lund University Press, Lund/Sweden, 1995. , Lund University Press. ou Chartwell-Bratt Ltd.
Related pages
Republic of Ararat
Kurdish Autonomous Region
Ethnic minorities in Iran
Other websites
Mahabad Republic at Britanica encyclopedia
Kurds at the crossroad
The Encyclopedia of World History
The kurdish Republic of Mahabad at PDKI-Canada
History of Iran
Kurdistan |
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