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30119 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toucan | Toucan | The toucan is a South American bird in the family Ramphastidae. This social bird lives in small flocks in lowland rainforests in countries such as Costa Rica. It flies short distances between trees. Toucans rest in holes in trees. They mostly eat fruit, but sometimes they also eat insects and small lizards.
They are brightly marked and have large, often-colorful bills. The family includes five genera and over forty different species.
Toucans are resident breeders and do not migrate. Toucans are usually found in pairs or small flocks. They sometimes fence with their bills and wrestle, which scientists think is to find out who is the top bird amongst them.
Beak
Toucans are known for their huge beaks, which can grow larger than their bodies. They use their beaks for reaching over and plucking fruit from branches of trees. The bright colors (usually orange) on the beak may help the toucans to recognize each other, and to scare off other birds.
References
Piciformes |
30126 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbow | Elbow | The elbow is a hinge-joint between the bones of the upper and lower arm. It joins the humerus of the upper arm and the radius and ulna of the forearm together. Everyone has 2 elbows. It allows the lower arm to be extended or retracted (moved in). The elbow also allows the arm to turn. It moves by using three ligaments: the anterior, posterior, ulnar collateral and radial collateral ligaments.
Joints |
30127 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrist | Wrist | The wrist is the joint that links together the lower arm and the hand.
Other websites
The ligaments in the wrist
Joints |
30128 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knee | Knee | The knee is the joint that links 4 of the upper and lower bones of the leg, which are called the femur, tibia, fibula and the patella. The knee joint is the largest joint in the body and is an extensive network of ligaments and muscles. Basically, it is a hinge which allows movement of the lower leg in only one direction. The lower leg (tibia+fibula+foot) can swing back from the knee, and that is all.
The knee is held together by ligaments which connect the bones and produces fluid which lubricates the movement at the joint. The meniscus is a cartilage
that lies on the inner and outer edges of the upper surface of the tibia. These are the shock
absorbers of the knee and supply proper weight distribution.
Basic English 850 words
Joints |
30129 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic%20theory | Atomic theory | In chemistry and physics, the atomic theory explains how our understanding of the atom has changed over time. Atoms were once thought to be the smallest pieces of matter. However, it is now known that atoms are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. These subatomic particles are made up of quarks. The first idea of the atom came from the Greek philosopher Democritus. A lot of the ideas in the modern theory came from John Dalton, a British chemist and physicist.
The theory applies to solids, liquids and gases, but it does not apply in way analogous to plasmas or neutron stars.
Democritus' atomic theory
Democritus thought that if you cut something in half again and again, you would at last have to stop. He said that this last piece of matter could not be cut any smaller. Democritus called these small pieces of matter atoms, which means "indivisible". He thought that atoms would last forever, never change and could not be destroyed. Democritus thought that there was nothing between the atoms and that everything around us could be explained if we could understand how atoms worked.
Some other philosophers agreed, and others disagreed. They had no way to experiment to show whether his theory was true or not.
Boscovich's atomic theory
In 1758, Roger Joseph Boscovich described a precursor of the atomic theory.
Dalton's atomic theory
In 1803, the English scientist John Dalton, born in Cumberland, reworked Democritus' theory, as follows:
All matter is formed of atoms.
That atoms are indivisible and invisible particles.
That atoms of the same element are of the same type and mass.
The atoms that make chemical compounds are present in set proportions.
Chemical changes correspond to a reorganisation of the atoms taking part in the chemical reaction.
Dalton defined the atom as the basic unit of an element that can take part in a chemical combination.
Thomson's atomic model
In 1850, Sir William Crookes constructed a 'discharge tube', that is a glass tube with the air removed and metallic electrodes at its ends, connected to a high voltage source. When creating a vacuum in the tube, a light discharge can be seen that goes from the cathode (negatively-charged electrode) to the anode (positively-charged electrode). Crookes named the emission 'cathode rays'.
After the cathode ray experiments, Sir Joseph John Thomson established that the emitted ray was formed by negative charges, because they were attracted by the positive pole. Thomson knew that the atoms were electrically neutral, but he established that, for this to occur, an atom should have the same quantity of negative and positive charges. The negative charges were named electrons (e-).
According to the assumptions established about the atoms neutral charge, Thomson proposed the first atomic model, that was described as a positively-charged sphere in which the electrons were inlaid (with negative charges). It is known as the plum pudding model.
In 1906, Robert Millikan determined that the electrons had a Coulomb (C) charge of -1.6 * 10−19, something that allowed calculation of its mass as tiny, equal to 9.109 * 10−31 kg.
In the same time, experiments by Eugene Goldstein in 1886 with cathode discharge tubes allowed him to establish that the positive charges had a mass of 1.6726 * 10−27 kg and an electrical charge of +1,6 * 10 −19 C. Lord Ernest Rutherford later named these positively charged particles protons
Rutherford's atomic model
In 1910, the New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford put forward the idea that the positive charges of the atom were found mostly in its center, in the nucleus, and the electrons (e-) around it.
Rutherford showed this when he used an alpha radiation source (from helium) to hit the very thin gold sheets, surrounded by a Zinc sulphide lampshade that produced visible light when hit by alpha emissions. This experiment was called the Geiger–Marsden experiment or the Gold Foil Experiment
By this stage the main elements of the atom were clear, plus the discovery that atoms of an element may occur in isotopes. Isotopes vary in the number of neutrons present in the nucleus. Although this model was well understood, modern physics has developed further, and present-day ideas cannot be made easy to understand. Some idea of present-day atomic physics can be found in the links in the table below.
Modern physics
Atoms are <u/l>not</u/l> elementary particles, because they are made of subatomic particles like protons and neutrons. Protons and neutrons are also not elementary particles because they are made up of even smaller particles called quarks joined together by other particles called gluons (because they "glue" the quarks together in the atom). Quarks are elementary because quarks cannot be broken down any further.
References
Nuclear physics
Chemistry |
30130 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle%20physics | Particle physics | Particle physics is a type of physics that studies really tiny pieces of things, known as particles. These particles are the really small pieces that build up the world around us. They are best described in the language of math: calculus, the imaginary number, and group theory (which describes symmetry).
Fundamental forces
Particles can carry fundamental forces. For example, the electromagnetic force is carried by photons. The four fundamental forces are responsible for almost everything in all of physics. These fundamental forces are gravity, electromagnetism, the weak interaction, and the strong interaction.
The Standard Model
One of the important concepts of particle physics is called the Standard Model. The Standard Model is a theory which tries to explain the fundamental forces. The Standard Model combined with general relativity is currently the most accepted explanation of how the universe works.
The Standard Model is known to have problems. For example, it explains three of the four forces very well, but it cannot explain gravity. This is why general relativity, a different theory that explains where gravity comes from, needs to be included in order for physicists to explain the universe. There is a lot of work to improve the theory and/or find a better theory that is being done. This work is often called theoretical particle physics because it is about building better theories of particles. Theoretical particle physicists make theories to try to improve the Standard Model. One example of this is how there are many theories that predict undiscovered particles.
Collider
Physicists find out about particles by studying collisions between different particles. A good analogy of how physicists study particles through colliding is the car crash example. Imagine a person wanted to look inside cars. By crashing two cars together at very high speeds, we can break the cars apart and see inside. In the same way, physicists crash two particles together in order to break them and study the inside.
If particles are moving at very high speeds, some of them will break apart when they collide. When they break, they create new smaller particles. These particles are very hard to find and detect because they decay (change into lighter particles) very quickly. Modern particle physics involves colliding particles together very energetically to create new particles inside a particle accelerator. This is called high-energy physics, due to the large amount of energy needed.
However, many particles do not simply break apart, such as electrons. Because it does not break apart, the electron is called a fundamental particle. If you were to smash two super-fast electrons against each other, they would not break, but instead they might create more particles around them without breaking (this is another form of decay, known as a hadron jet). The Standard Model says that there are 17 types of fundamental particles, but there are actually twice as many because they can all be created out of antimatter.
Application
Particle physics can help us learn about the early universe, because conditions that are similar to the early universe (which was a much more energetic place than it is now) can be made in a small volume of space using the collisions of these particles. The biggest particle accelerator in the world is the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Europe. |
30131 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/X%20Japan | X Japan | X Japan is a Japanese rock band. They were formed in 1982 by Yoshiki. They have sold over 30 million albums and singles and over 2 million videos to date. X Japan stopped making music in 1997, but reunited in 2007. They performed their first world tour live in Hong Kong in 2009. They played to 20,000 people in two days.
Some visual kei bands are influenced by X Japan.
Name
The band was first called "X" but because the letter X was already the name of another band they changed their name to "X Japan" to avoid confusion.
Albums
Vanishing Vision (1988)
Blue Blood (1989)
Jealousy (1991)
Art of Life (1993)
Dahlia (1996)
References
Japanese heavy metal bands
Speed metal bands
Power metal bands
Progressive metal bands
Glam metal bands
Visual kei bands
1982 establishments in Japan |
30132 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/State%20Anthem%20of%20the%20Soviet%20Union | State Anthem of the Soviet Union | The State Anthem of the Soviet Union was the national anthem of the Soviet Union from 1944 until 1991. It replaced the old one, which was a Russian translation of The Internationale.
History
The music was created around 1938 by Alexander Alexandrov, a great Russian composer who earlier started the Alexandrov Ensemble. The original lyrics were by Sergey Mikhalkov and Gabriel El-Registan and first written in 1943. They mentioned Joseph Stalin by his name as well as the Great Patriotic War. When Stalin died in 1953, the lyrics were no longer appropriate and so the music was performed without them. For the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution in 1977, the lyrics were brought back, but changed so that they do not mention Stalin or the war.
This song was in use until the Soviet Union broke down in 1991. Until then, most of the republics of the Soviet Union also had their own anthem, but the Russian SSR did not until 1990. After Russia became independent, the Russian SSR anthem, which used a melody by Mikhail Glinka and had no official words, became the Russian national anthem. But in 2000, the newly elected President, Vladimir Putin, decided to bring back the melody of the Soviet anthem. He had new words written to it by Sergey Mikhalkov, the same person who wrote the original Soviet anthem.
Below is the Russian and the English versions of the lyrics; both can be sung to the music. Like "The Internationale", there are also other versions of the Soviet anthem in different languages.
1977 lyrics
Official Russian lyrics
Official English translation
The official version of lyrics endorsed by CPSU:
Unbreakable Union of freeborn Republics,
Great Russia has welded forever to stand.
Created in struggle by will of the people,
United and mighty, our Soviet land!
Chorus:
Sing to the Motherland, home of the free,
Bulwark of peoples in brotherhood strong.
O Party of Lenin, the strength of the people,
To Communism's triumph lead us on!
Through tempests the sunrays of freedom have cheered us,
Along the new path where great Lenin did lead.
To a righteous cause he raised up the peoples,
Inspired them to labour and valourous deed.
Chorus
In the victory of Communism's deathless ideal,
We see the future of our dear land.
And to her fluttering scarlet banner,
Selflessly true we always shall stand!
Chorus
Original 1944 version
The 1944 text had three different refrains following three different stanzas; in each refrain, the second line was consequently modified with references to friendship, then happiness and finally the glory. In 1977, these refrains were replaced by a uniform refrain following all stanzas.
Official Russian lyrics
English translation of the 1944 version
The Russian [Soviet] republics, in freedom united,
Have mustered their power, their glory, their pride,
And thus they created the great Soviet Union,
The will of the nations that spread far and wide!
Great shall your glory be, Motherland proud and free,
Bulwark of friendship for nation and man!
Flag of the Soviet, lead us to victory,
Flag of the people since freedom began!
The sunlight of freedom has shone through the tempest,
And Lenin has lighted our path with his flame,
While Stalin has shown us that faith in the people
Inspires us to action, to deeds and to fame.
Great shall your glory be, Motherland proud and free,
Bulwark of happiness for nation and man!
Flag of the Soviet, lead us to victory,
Flag of the people since freedom began!
Our army in action has grown in its power,
And soon it will wipe out the enemy horde;
The fate of the future is sealed by our bravery,
And honor and glory shall be our reward!
Great shall your glory be, Motherland proud and free,
Bulwark of glory for nation and man!
Flag of the Soviet, lead us to victory,
Flag of the people since freedom began!
Anthem of the Bolshevik Party
The Hymn of the Bolshevik Party (Гимн партии большевиков / Gimn partii boljševikov) uses the same melody as the Soviet anthem, but with different lyrics by Vasily Lebedev-Kumach.
The opening bars of the song is sampled from Life has Become Better (Жить стало лучше / Žitj stalo lučše), one of Alexandrov's previous pieces. From the 1930s to the 1950s, this served as the unofficial anthem of the Bolshevik Party. In 2016, Communists of Russia—a Russian communist party—declared that this piece is their party anthem.
Lyrics
References
National anthems
Soviet Union
1944 establishments in the Soviet Union |
30136 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalism | Minimalism | Minimalism is a way of making modern art or music that uses simple ideas, sounds or shapes. It was most popular in America in the 1960s and 1970s. There are many different kinds of minimalism. Sometimes a simple thing is repeated many times until it seems very complicated. Today minimalism can be used to talk about many things such as design, architecture, poetry, and movies.
Music
In music, minimalism is a way of composing classical music which became popular during the second half of the 20th century. It is a way of composing by using a simple idea which is repeated many times. A minimalist piece of music usually takes a short idea which may be a melodic or a rhythmic pattern. This idea is then repeated many times, but each time it changes slightly. Sometimes this may be done by two or more instruments which start off by playing their notes or chords together but, as one is going slightly faster than the other, they gradually become “out of sync” (not synchronized, i.e. not together), then eventually they catch up with one another again. Usually this music is tonal so that it is firmly in one key. A steady pulse is kept throughout the whole piece.
Composers who wrote minimalist music include Steve Reich (b.1936), Philip Glass (b.1937) and Terry Riley (b.1935). Other composers like John Adams (b.1947) have also used minimalist ways of composing, but they combined these with other techniques, so that their music is not just minimalist.
Minimalist music became popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Minimalist composers started writing like this, also because a lot of new music at that time was very complicated and hard to understand. It was often serial music which was atonal with no obvious melodies or ideas that were easy to remember.
Minimalist music is not necessarily simple. It can have a kind of hypnotic effect, but this is part of what the composer wants. Reich’s Clapping Music just consists of hand : there is no melody. He was thinking of African drum music when he wrote it. Two performers begin by clapping a rhythm together. After 13 seconds the second performer leaves out the first quaver (eighth note) and puts it at the end of the second bar (measure). After another 13 seconds this happens again so that in the end the two performers are together again. This music has to be listened to in a different way from other kinds of music.
Visual art
Minimalism in visual art, sometimes referred to as literalist art and ABC Art emerged in New York in the 1960s. As a product it had much in common with earlier geometric abstraction and suprematism.
The term "minimalism" was not generally embraced by the artists associated with it, and many practitioners of art called minimalist by critics did not identify it as a movement as such.
One of the first artists specifically associated with Minimalism was the painter, Frank Stella, whose early "stripe" paintings were highlighted in the 1959 show, "16 Americans", organized by Dorothy Miller at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The width of the stripes in Frank Stellas's stripe paintings were determined by the dimensions of the lumber, visible as the depth of the painting when viewed from the side, used to construct the supportive chassis upon which the canvas was stretched. The decisions about structures on the front surface of the canvas were therefore not entirely subjective, but pre-conditioned by a "given" feature of the physical construction of the support. In the show catalog, Carl André noted, "Art excludes the unnecessary. Frank Stella has found it necessary to paint stripes. There is nothing else in his painting".
These reductive works were in sharp contrast to the energy-filled and emotionally-charged expressionist paintings of Willem de Kooning or Franz Kline.
They leaned more towards the controlled, somber color field paintings of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko. Although Stella received immediate attention from the MOMA show, artists like Kenneth Noland, Ralph Humphrey, Robert Motherwell and Robert Ryman had begun to explore stripes, monochromatic and hard-edge formats from the late 50s through the 1960s.
References
Musical movements
Art movements |
30137 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor%20Stravinsky | Igor Stravinsky | Igor Stravinsky was born in Lomonosov (then Oranienbaum), 17 June 1882 and died in New York, 6 April 1971. He was one of the most important composers of the 20th century, and a leader in modernism in music. He was brought up in Russia. When the Russian Revolution started he moved to Switzerland and then to Paris, and finally, when World War II started in 1939, he moved to the United States.
Stravinsky wrote music in different styles. At first he wrote music similar to his teacher Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He loved his native Russian music. He wrote music which had very complicated chords and rhythms. It is lively music, and some of his best known works of this kind were written for the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev: The Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring, Les noces, Pulcinella and Apollo musagète. They were written from 1910 to 1928.
Then he changed his style and wrote in what is called a “neo-classical” way. He based it on music from the Classical music period but changed it. His only full-length opera The Rake's Progress was written in this way. In his later years he wrote serial music.
Early years
Igor was the third of four children, all boys. As a child he spent the winter months in St Petersburg and the summers in the country where several of his relatives on his mother’s side had large estates.
Igor was not particularly good at school, but he often went to see the operas in which his father Fyodor was performing. Fyodor was an opera singer with a fine bass voice. He sang at the opera house in Kiev and later at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. Igor also went to ballets and even heard Tchaikovsky conduct in 1893, at the end of his life.
For a time Stravinsky studied law at the university of St Petersburg, but gave up in 1906. Then he married one of his cousins. They soon had a son and a daughter.
Meanwhile, since his school days, Igor played the piano, and had lessons in harmony and counterpoint. He enjoyed improvising and he started to be interested in composing. He wrote some short piano pieces and showed them to the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the father of a friend. Rimsky-Korsakov told him he ought to continue to have private music lessons instead of going to the conservatoire. Shortly after this, Stravinsky’s father died. Igor went to stay with Rimsky-Korsakov. He met many musical people there, and Rimsky-Korsakov taught him how to write for the different instruments. In 1905, he began to take twice-weekly private lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov, whom he came to regard as a second father. These lessons continued until Rimsky-Korsakov's death in 1908.
Early career
In 1908 Rimsky-Korsakov died. Stravinsky met Sergei Diaghilev, the ballet impresario. Diaghilev wanted to put on performances of new operas and ballets. He needed a composer to write the music and saw that Stravinsky might be the ideal person. He asked him to write music for a ballet called The Firebird, which was a Russian fairytale. Stravinsky wrote it at Rimsky-Korsakov’s country house and finished it in St Petersburg. The ballet was first performed at the Paris Opéra on 25 June 1910 by the Ballets Russes who were very famous in Europe. Mikhail Fokin was the choreographer. It has remained one of Stravinsky’s most famous pieces of music. Some of the music is often performed in a concert hall without the dancing. This version is called a “suite” (literally “a collection of dances”). It shows his love of Russian folk melody.
The success of The Firebird made Stravinsky world famous. His music was especially well known in Europe, and in Paris where the Ballets Russes were based. The next work Stravinsky wrote for them was Petrouchka. It was the story of a puppet which comes to life. It was performed in Paris on 13 June 1911 and became just as famous as The Firebird. This music, too, is often performed as a concert piece. Stravinsky also made an arrangement of three of the dances for piano solo. It is very hard to play and needs a virtuoso pianist.
Stravinsky was becoming well known among musicians. His friends included Debussy and Ravel. He met Schoenberg in Berlin and was very impressed by his piece called Pierrot Lunaire. He spent a lot of his time with his family in Switzerland where he had peace and quiet to compose.
On 29 May 1913 a new ballet by Stravinsky called The Rite of Spring was performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. It was an absolute sensation. Some people loved it and others hated it. There was a big fight in the theatre and the police were called in. People were shouting so much that no one could hear the music. Stravinsky became ill afterwards and spent some weeks to recover. When the ballet was performed again people were quieter and listened to the music. There were lots of new ideas in the music: harsh chords and very complicated rhythms. The music of The Rite of Spring had an great influence on the development of music in the 20th century.
Stravinsky’s next idea for a ballet was Les noces, French for 'The Wedding'. Stravinsky went back to Russia to collect some things that would help him to compose it. When he returned to Switzerland World War I started.
The war years
Stravinsky’s family spent most of their time in Switzerland during the war. He was short of money because there was no more income from the Russian estates. The Ballets Russes could not perform any more in Paris. Stravinsky spent a lot of time working at Les Noces. He finished it in 1917 and played it to Diaghilev. It was another six years before it was performed. Stravinsky eventually chose to arrange it for four pianos, percussion, chorus and vocal soloists. It was performed at the Théâtre de la Gaîté Lyrique on 13 June 1923.
Because Switzerland was neutral in the war, Stravinsky was able to travel. He went to Italy where he met Gerald Tyrwhitt (who later became Lord Berners) and Prokofiev. He wrote Reynard and Rag-Time. He performed in America with Ballets Russes.
When the Russian Revolution broke out in February 1917 Stravinsky thought this would be good, but when the Bolshevik Revolution followed it became obvious that he would never be able to go back to Russia. He wrote L’histoire du soldat (The Soldier’s Tale). It was performed in Lausanne with Ernest Ansermet conducting. There would have been more performances but many people had influenza. When the war ended Stravinsky decided to move to France. He wrote a ballet called Pulcinella which was based on music by the 18th century composer Pergolesi. It was performed at the Paris Opéra on 15 May 1920. For some years Igor became interested in the music of the late 18th century, and the style of his work after 1920 is often described as neoclassical.
France
In 1920 Stravinsky’s family moved from Stravinsky to Brittany, then the following year they moved to Biarritz. Stravinsky composed a piece called Symphonies for Wind Instruments. It was soon performed in London at a concert which also included The Rite of Spring, conducted by Eugene Goossens in the Queen's Hall. He met a theatre designer called Serge Soudeikine and fell madly in love with Vera, who would later become his second wife. Meanwhile, his first wife, Katerina, was in a sanitorium suffering from tuberculosis. Vera and Stravinsky saw one another as much as possible for the next 18 years. Meanwhile, Stravinsky’s mother managed to get out of Russia and she joined Stravinsky’s family in Biarritz. Stravinsky had to support a large family, and he decided he needed to work more as a conductor and pianist instead of composing large works. He composed smaller pieces, including the piano version of three dances from Petrouchka. Later, when his son was grown up, he composed a Concerto for two solo pianos for himself to play with his son. He did not compose any more for the Ballets Russes, but he did compose Oedipus rex as a special tribute to them. This work was a mixture of opera and oratorio. The words were in Latin and were written by Jean Cocteau. It was performed as a concert performance. Although he did not write for Diaghilev any more, he accepted an invitation from Ida Rubinstein to write a ballet called Le baiser de la fée (The fairy’s kiss) which was based on music by Tchaikovsky. Diaghilev was annoyed, but then he died in 1929 and the Ballets Russes company no longer carried on.
In 1926 Stravinsky, who belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church, had a deep religious experience which effected his music. The best of these religious pieces is the Symphony of Psalms, written for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 50th birthday celebrations.
Stravinsky met the violinist Dushkin and composed a Violin Concerto as well as the Duo concertante for violin and piano which the two musicians played together at many concerts. He became more and more in demand in the United States and wrote several works for American people. He was offered a job as professor at Harvard University. At this time a lot of his family were ill. Then his daughter died, his wife died and his mother died. He was ill himself. Then, by September 1939, just as World War II started, he was well enough to travel to North America.
American years
Stravinsky was immediately invited to conduct many concerts in America. Vera arrived in America four months later and she and Stravinsky were married in Bedford, Massachusetts. They applied for American citizenship and settled in Hollywood. He was quite short of money and he accepted any invitation to compose music. He even accepted a private pupil.
Stravinsky composed a mass. It was not commissioned, he just wanted to compose it. It was performed in La Scala, Milan, in 1948 conducted by Ansermet. He then decided to compose a full-length opera in English. This was The Rake’s Progress. It was first performed in Venice in 1951. It is the best of his works in the neo-classical style. Another work from this period is his Symphony in C. It shows a different way of composing tonal music to the tonal works of classical composers.
He met a musician called Robert Craft who came to live with the family and helped Stravinsky sort out his compositions and papers. He was surprised to find that Stravinsky never visited Schoenberg, who only lived a few streets away. After Schoenberg died in 1951 Craft encouraged Stravinsky to listen to Schoenberg’s serial music. Soon Stravinsky started to use serialism in his own compositions. Craft travelled with Stravinsky and helped him a great deal, for example, by conducting some of the concerts, or rehearsing the orchestras before Stravinsky came.
In 1962 he was invited to the White House by President Kennedy. In the same year he returned to Russia for a visit. He had not been there for nearly half a century. It was a great success, and people in the USSR became more interested in Stravinsky’s music. It made Stravinsky very happy to know that Russians were interested in him again.
During his last years he became rather ill. Threni is one of his last compositions. It is a setting of the parts of the Lamentations of Jeremiah for voices and orchestra. He composed other religious works including Requiem Canticles. In 1969 he moved with his family to New York where he died two years later.
Stravinsky was buried in Venice, near Diaghilev’s grave.
References
The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, 1980;
Craft, Robert. 1992. Stravinsky: glimpses of a life. London: Lime Tree; New York: St Martins Press. (Lime Tree); (St.Martins).
Craft, Robert. 1994. Stravinsky: chronicle of a friendship, revised and expanded edition. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. .
Stravinsky, Igor. 1962. An Autobiography. New York: Norton. . Originally published in French as Chroniques de ma vie, 2 vols. Paris: Denoël et Steele, 1935; translated as Chronicle of my life. London: Gollancz, 1936. Reprinted as An Autobiography (1903–1934) London: Boyars, 1990 (cased); (pbk). Also published as Igor Stravinsky: an autobiography New York: Steuer, 1958.
1882 births
1971 deaths
20th-century Russian composers
Grammy Award winners
Ballets Russes |
30147 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio%20de%20Villota | Emilio de Villota | Emilio de Villota Ruíz (born in Madrid, July 26, 1946) is a former racing driver from Spain. He participated in 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on May 2, 1976. He scored no championship points.
In 2005, he participated in Formula Palmer Audi driving a Mapfre's car (nº7)
1946 births
Living people
Spanish sportspeople
Formula One drivers |
30148 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAE%20connector | TAE connector | TAE (Telekommunikations-Anschluss-Einheit) is the German standard for telephone plugs and sockets.
The standard covers two TAE types: F ("Fernsprechgerät": for telephones) and N ("Nebengerät": for other devices such as answering machines and modems).
Pin-out
Electrical connectors |
30150 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological%20singularity | Technological singularity | The technological singularity is the idea that a machine or computer, or a group of machines and computers, will one day be smarter than humans.
Because it has not happened yet, nobody really knows what the technological singularity will do, or if it will even happen. Nonetheless, the technological singularity has been a subject in many science fiction works, such as The Terminator, The Matrix, and the Borg in Star Trek. In most depictions of the singularity, machines have consciousness and humans are considered to be useless. The futurist (who studies about the future) and inventor Ray Kurzweil believes the Singularity will happen about the year 2045. The major impetus driving toward the singularity, according to Kurzweil, is that according to Moore's Law, computers are doubling in memory capacity every 18 months. According to Kurzweil, by 2029, computers will be as intelligent as human beings (see artificial intelligence).
Related pages
Emerging technologies
Innovation
References
Other websites
Technological Singularity subreddit
The Technological Singularity and Merging with Machines - BigThink.com
Technology |
30152 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mew%20%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29 | Mew (Pokémon) | Mew (ミュウ, Myuu) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise. In the Pokémon video games, it is a Psychic-type secret Pokémon that was discovered in the first group of Pokémon games: Pokémon Red and Blue, Green, and Yellow. Mew is the Red/Blue/Green/Yellow counterpart to the Gold/Silver/Crystal Celebi and the Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Jirachi.
The name "Mew" refers to the sound made by a cat. Mew was secretly put in the game by one of the lead programmers, Shigeki Morimoto. When the Game Freak president, Satoshi Tajiri, found out about it, he told about it being in the game.
Mew is #151 in the Pokédex and could only be obtained through special events or by using a cheating device like Gameshark, or a game-enhancing device. Mew can also be obtained in the original issues of the Pokémon yellow and blue (US) by “cheat”. If you get a Pokémon early on (before going to Misty’s gym or defeating man to the left of the nugget bridge) that has growl (charmander has it from the start) and an Abra or a Pokémon that can fly but you can’t fly this early in game (you can get an abra in the grass next to the nugget bridge but be careful not to battle the man standing above that grass he’s needed later. After this go to the health center and heal, then go to the top of the nugget bridge and save. Head down to Misty’s gym, go straight and take a right and challenge hit the guy trainer in a pool to the right use growl 6 times on his shelder then defeat him. Go back to the top of the nugget bridge and take a left to engage in battle with that man but press start right when you do and he should have a ❗️ Over his head when you hit teleport (restart if you start the fight) and teleport back to the health center. Then run up the nugget bridge making sure to have a load of poke balls and the last Pokémon you fought was that shelder after using growl on him 6 times, and you should have a random encounter with Mew. Also if you fight a Pokémon that’s low enough in level not to level your Mew up to level 2, it will automatically level up to 100.
Mewtwo
Mewtwo is a "Genetic" species of Pokémon that is number 150 in the Pokédex. Mewtwo was cloned from Mew by scientists. It is a Psychic type Pokémon. Mewtwo appeared in two movies: Pokémon: The First Movie and Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns.
In Pokémon Red and Blue the player first learns of Mewtwo by research papers left in a ruined laboratory on Cinnabar Island. Mewtwo is told to be a mutant child of Mew made after years of work by one scientist. Mewtwo is obtainable in the Cerulean Cave, which opens after defeating the Elite Four. In the remakes Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen the player now has to get 60 Pokédex entries before they can go in the cave.
In Pokémon X and Y, Mewtwo can be found in the Unknown Dungeon after entering the Hall of Fame. It can Mega Evolve into two different forms: Mega Mewtwo X using Mewtwonite X and Mega Mewtwo Y using Mewtwonite Y.
Mewtwo is a character in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and is one of eleven playable characters that can be unlocked in the game. It uses the moves Shadow Ball, Confusion, Teleport, and Disable
References
Fictional characters introduced in 1996
Mew
da:Mew (Pokémon)
pl:Lista Pokémonów (141-160)#Mew |
30153 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon | Avignon | Avignon (; ) is a commune in southeastern France in the department of Vaucluse on the left bank of the Rhône river. It is the capital (prefecture) of the Vaucluse department.
The historical centre, which includes the Palais des Papes, the cathedral, and the Pont d'Avignon, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. The medieval monuments and the annual Festival d'Avignon have helped to make the town a major centre for tourism.
Name
The earliest forms of the name were reported by the Greeks:
Аὐενιὼν = Auenion
Άουεννίων = Aouennion (Ptolemy II, x).
The Roman name Avennĭo Cavarum (Mela, II, 575, Pliny III, 36), i.e. "Avignon of Cavares" shows that Avignon was one of the three cities of the tribe of Cavares, along with Cavaillon and Orange.
History
Between 1309 and 1377, during the Avignon Papacy, seven successive popes lived in Avignon and in 1348 Pope Clement VI bought the town from Joanna I (; March 1328 – 27 July 1382) was Queen of Naples and Countess of Provence.
Papal control persisted until 1791 when, during the French Revolution, it became part of France.
Geography
Avignon is on the left bank of the Rhône river, a few kilometres above its confluence with the Durance, about southeast of Paris, south of Lyon and northwest of Marseille.
It has an area of and its average altitude is ; at the city hall, the altitude is .
On the west Avignon shares a border with the department of Gard and to the south it borders the department of Bouches-du-Rhône.
Avignon is surrounded by the communes Sorgues, Le Pontet, Vedène, Morières-lès-Avignon and Caumont-sur-Durance and the departments Bouches-du-Rhône (communes of Noves, Châteaurenard, Rognonas and Barbentane) and Gard (communes of Les Angles and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon).
The Rhône, the Durance (tributary of the Rhône and the L'Anguillon (tributary of the Durance) are the rivers flow through the commune.
The Rhône passes the western edge of the city but is divided into two branches: the Petit Rhône for the part that passes next to Avignon, and the Grand Rhône for the western channel which passes Villeneuve-lès-Avignon in the Gard department. The two branches are separated by an island, the Île de la Barthelasse.
The Durance flows along the southern boundary of the commune into the Rhône and marks the departmental boundary with Bouches-du-Rhône.
Climate
The climate of Avignon, in the Köppen climate classification, is Csa - Oceanic climate with hot summers.
The average temperature for the year in Avignon is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Avignon is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is January with an average of .
Population
The inhabitants of Avignon are known, in French, as Avignonnais (women: Avignonnaises).
With a population of 92,209, Avignon has a population density of inhabitants/km2.
Evolution of the population in AvignonT
Transport
Rail
Avignon has three train stations: Gare d'Avignon Centre, Gare d'Avignon TGV and Gare d'Avignon-Montfavet.
Administration
Avignon is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department since 1793. It is also the capital of the arrondissement of Avignon and the administrative centre () of three cantons, all formed with part of the commune:
Avignon-1 : 30,134 inhabitants (2014)
Avignon-2 : 34,426 inhabitants (2014)
Avignon-3 : 35,749 inhabitants (27,649 in Avignon and 8,100 in Morières-lès-Avignon) (2014)
It is part of the intercommunality Grand Avignon ().
Sister cities
Avignon is twinned with:
Guanajuato (Mexico) since 1990.
Ioannina (Greece) since 1984.
New Haven (USA) since 1993.
Siena (Italy) since 1981.
Tarragona (Spain) since 1968.
Wetzlar (Germany) since 1960.
Places of interest
Some interesting places in Avignon are:
The Notre Dame des Doms cathedral (12th century).
The Palais des Papes ("Papal Palace") (14th century).
The Pont d'Avignon (the Pont Saint-Bénézet), a bridge best known for the famous French song Sur le pont d'Avignon.
Gallery
Related pages
Avignon Papacy
Arrondissement of Avignon
Communes of the Vaucluse department
References
Other websites
Ville de Avignon - official website
Avignon Tourist Office
Avignon greater metropolitan area website
Avignon theatre festival website
Departmental capitals in France
World Heritage Sites in France |
30154 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille | Marseille | Marseille (Occitan: Marselha) is a city in the south of France in the Bouches-du-Rhône department. About 1.7 million people live in the metropolitan area, and about 850,000 in the city itself. This makes it the second largest city in France by number of people. Its commercial port is the biggest in France and one of the most important in the Mediterranean sea.
Although part of the region of Provence, Marseilles has its own history. This city is the oldest in France and probably the most complex. The city was started around 600 BC by Greek sailors from Phocaea (modern day Foça, near İzmir). This was a Greek colony in Asia Minor that is in what is now Turkey.
Marseille has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa in the Koeppen climate classification).
Education
École pour l'informatique et les nouvelles technologies
Institut Polytechnique des Sciences Avancées
Kedge Business School
References
Departmental capitals in France
Regional capitals in France |
30155 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo%202 | Halo 2 | Halo 2 is an award winning first-person shooter video game made by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft for its own Xbox console. It was released all over the world on November 9, 2004. It is the second game in the Halo series the first being Halo: Combat Evolved and the third being Halo 3. A Windows Vista version of the game was released in 2007.
The game's story is based around a future war between a fictional confederation of alien races known as the Covenant and the human race. The player takes the role of Master Chief, a genetically enhanced super soldier who fights for mankind. The player is helped in their fight against the Covenant by human marines. The game had many features that were not in the original Halo such as extra vehicles, weapons and a greatly improved multiplayer mode, including the ability to play over Xbox Live.
Halo 2 was the most popular Xbox Live game on its release. It held that title until the release of Gears of War nearly two years later. By June 20, 2006 over 500 million games of Halo 2 had been played over Xbox Live. It was, and still is, the best selling Xbox game of all time with over 8 million copies sold worldwide. It broke sales records in the US, many of which were only broken by its sequel Halo 3 in 2007. The Windows Vista version in 2007 was less successful as the fact it was released 3 years after the Xbox version gained many negative reviews.
Gameplay
Halo 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter based mostly on foot but with vehicle combat sections. Halo 2 has many features that were not in the original Halo. In Halo 2 players have the option to use two weapons at once, called dual wielding. This allows the player much more firepower but does not allow the throwing of grenades. The player can hold up to two weapons at once or three when dual wielding. Weapons range from normal human weapons such as pistols and shotguns up to heavy weapons like rocket launchers and sniper rifles. The player can also carry alien weapons like plasma rifles and needlers.
Story Mode
The story mode continues the story started in Halo: Combat Evolved. There are nine levels in the story, split between controlling Master Chief and the alien Arbiter. There are four difficulties to the campaign easy, standard, heroic and legendary Completing them unlocks extras such as different dialogue in certain sections of the game, and extra weapons in split-screen multiplayer. There are various 'skulls' at hidden parts of the levels, as in Halo 3. These skulls unlock helpful and or strange differences in the levels such as confetti and balloons appearing when the player scores a head shot. The story can be played two player on the same console but not over Xbox Live.
Multiplayer
Halo 2 allows up to four players to play on the same console or up to sixteen over Xbox Live. The game was influential in changing the way games played over the internet. Before in most online multiplayer games, one player was the host who used their own connection for the game and chose the settings, game type etc. In Halo 2, and most games since, players choose a type of game they want to play and the game matches them with players of their own ability on a randomly chosen map.
Some weapons and vehicles available in the story mode were not available in multiplayer as they would be too powerful and 'unbalance' the game.
Story
The game is set in the same fictional world as the rest of the Halo series. Much of the game takes place in the future year 2552, over 500 years from now. In the story line humans have developed faster than light travel, and now live on many planets and moons of the Solar System. On humanity's first try to build a settlement on a planet around another star they met the alien Covenant. The Covenant declared religious war on humanity. At the start of Halo 2 humans are losing the war and the Covenant have just discovered Earth.
The Halo of the game's title is the name of a series of planets 'built' by a mysterious race called the Forerunners a long time before the game. The Halo's are the last defense against another alien race known as the Flood. The Flood want to use every living thing in the galaxy for food. The Halo's are actually giant super weapons, that when activated kill all life in the galaxy. This is the only way to stop the Flood, to starve them by killing all their food. The Covenant are not aware of this and are attempting to fire Halos as part of a false religious prophecy. In the first Halo game, Halo: Combat Evolved, the humans and Master Chief manage to stop the Covenant from firing one of the Halos. They also destroy one of them in the process. Just before Halo 2 begins the covenant discover another Halo that can only be got through a portal found near Earth.
Plot
The game opens with the torture of an alien, the leader of the Elites. He is being tortured by the covenant because he failed to stop Master Chief destroying the first Halo in the original game. The Elite commander is branded by the leader of the Brutes, another part of the Covenant. The player then takes control of Master Chief, on board a spacecraft orbiting the Earth when the massive Covenant fleet arrives. The Covenant have come to take the portal that will allow them to get to the new Halo so they can fire it. The Covenant board the ship the player is aboard, and attempt to plant bombs to disable it and the other ships in the human fleet. The player must fight through Covenant forces to disable the bombs. Once this is complete the human ship heads off, following the Covenant flagship that just flew past. Meanwhile, in the cutscene we see the former elite commander being made into a religious warrior known as the Arbiter to make up for his failure to stop Master Chief in the original Halo.
In another cutscene a human ship with Master Chief,Johnson and Cortana aboard follows the covenant ship through the portal to the new Halo. The player must now take control of Chief as he battles to stop the Covenant from firing the ring. Eventually the player kills the Prophet of Regret, a Covenant leader, and stops the Halo from being fired. Unfortunately before the player can recover the Index, the control for firing the Halo, they are captured by the leader of the Flood, known as the Gravemind. In a cutscene we see the new Arbiter sent down to the Halo to recover the Index before Chief can destroy it. When he arrives though, he and his followers are betrayed and their former allies begin to attack. Here the player must control Arbiter and his followers as they attempt to escape the betrayal and ambush. The arbiter is eventually also captured by the Gravemind and meets up with Master Chief. The two of them break free of Gravemind, whose Flood followers have now taken over a huge Covenant ship called High Charity. Arbiter and Chief, now controlled by the player again, race to the Halo control to stop the Covenant from firing the ring one last time. They are successful in stopping the Covenant, but the Prophet of Truth, the last of their leaders escapes on a spacecraft unharmed. Chiefs AI companion Cortana stays behind on the Halo, promising to destroy it if any Covenant ever return. Chief and the Arbiter part ways with Chief hiding out on a fleeing Covenant ship and the Arbiter and his followers returning to High Charity in an attempt to save it from the Flood.
Development and release
Halo 2 was officially announced in 2002. A game play video was shown at E3 2003. The video showed new features in the game such as dual wielding and the improved graphics. According to Bungie, the cliffhanger ending of the games story was not originally intended but was a result of the rush to get the game out on time.
Reviews and Sales
Sales
Halo 2 was first released in North America and Australia on November 9, 2004. It was launched in Europe a day later on November 10. Demand was high for the game and over 1.5 million copies were sold on pre-orders alone. It was the highest earning entertainment product launch of all time in the US, earning $125 million in its first 24 hours. It held this record until the release of its sequel Halo 3. Halo 2 has sold over 8 million copies in the US making it the best selling original Xbox game of all time.
From the day of its release until 2006, 2 years later, Halo 2 was the most played game on Xbox Live. It was eventually beaten by the Xbox 360 game Gears of War.
Reviews
The game was reviewed as excellent by most of the media. The sound work such as the dialogue and soundtrack was often praised.
The game received an average score of 95% on Metacritic, a website that puts together many reviews from different sources. The games multiplayer was often seen as a good point, making full use of the then new Xbox Live service. Bad aspects pointed out included the short length of the story mode and the cliffhanger ending.
References
2004 video games
Xbox games
Windows games
Halo |
30161 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actuary | Actuary | Actuaries are people who are experts in mathematics, probability, economics, and finance who figure out how much money businesses should charge for making promises to pay for something that may or may not happen.
History
Hundreds of years ago, when people got sick or died, it cost a lot of money to take care of them or bury them. People had the idea of joining their money together to help each other out. This was called pooling. Eventually, people started to make a business out of collecting enough money to help people who had big problems.
Figuring out how much money needed to be collected from people to be used if problems happened was not easy. Over hundreds of years, the math needed for this was developed by many people from all over the world.
Today, actuaries use computers to figure out problems that were too difficult before.
Work
Actuaries now work in many places. Most work for insurance companies, but others work in all kinds of finance companies. Actuaries still figure out how much money needs to be paid for life insurance, as well as other kinds of money promises, like pensions, car insurance, house insurance, and similar.
Actuaries also work with companies to figure out if making certain business deals are a good idea, since actuaries work with figuring out what the probabilities are of different business situations happening.
Tests
People who want to be actuaries need to take many tests. The tests are not the same in different parts of the world.
Notes
Mathematicians
Business
Financial occupations |
30164 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesaurus | Thesaurus | A thesaurus is a dictionary of synonyms (words that have the same or similar meaning). Thesauruses (or thesauri) often include related words that mean almost the same thing. Some thesauruses also include antonyms (words that have the opposite meaning).
For example, by looking up the word "big" in a thesaurus, someone would find a list of other similar words such as "huge" and "massive". If the thesaurus also has a list of antonyms, the user could also find words which mean the opposite, like "small" and "tiny".
Many students and writers use a thesaurus to help them find words when they are writing. Using a thesaurus can help a person to improve their vocabulary (the number of words that they know).
Other websites
Power Thesaurus - website with lists of synonyms and antonyms ordered by rating
Thesaurus.com - website with detailed options for each word
Visual Synonyms - website with visualization of synonyms and antonyms
Reference works
Language |
30170 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom | Boom | A boom can mean different things:
A boom is a low-pitched sound, often reverberant. The sound of thunder and the sound of an explosion are often called booms.
A boom is a long bar:
used in sailing and windsurfing to hold the sail.
used in waterskiing for the beginning skier to hold onto.
used in movies and television to hold microphones.
Boom is a municipality in Belgium |
30171 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble | Rumble | Rumble can mean different things:
A rumble is a dull vibration. It can also be the sound of one.
A rumble is another word for a fight.
Rumble strips are raised lines placed horizontally on a road. They are usually used to tell drivers that they must slow down or stop ahead. The strips make a rumbling sound when a car's tires cross them.
Rumble, the original title of Harlan Ellison's book Web of the City. |
30184 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass%20%28fish%29 | Bass (fish) | For other uses of the word "bass," see bass.
Bass is the name of some species (types) of fish that are often caught for food or sport. There are freshwater bass (that live in rivers and lakes) and saltwater bass (that live in the ocean). Many bass live in or near North America. Bass are from the order of Perciformes or "perch-like fish". Their name comes from the word for perch.
Some well-known bass species are:
temperate basses such as the striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and white bass (M. chrysops), from the family Moronidae.
warm water basses, such as the largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), smallmouth bass (M. dolomieu), spotted bass (M. punctulatus), Guadalupe bass (M. treculii) and rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris), from the sunfish family, Centrarchidae. These basses are also called black basses.
Many other species are also called basses, such as:
The Australian bass, Macquaria novemaculeata, from the perch family, Percichthyidae.
The black sea bass, Centropristis striata, from the family Serranidae.
The giant sea bass Stereolepis gigas, also called the black sea bass, from the family Polyprionidae.
The Chilean sea bass, Dissostichus eleginoides, more commonly known as the Patagonian toothfish.
The European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax.
Perciformes |
30193 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxette | Roxette | Roxette is a Swedish pop music group formed in 1986. The band had 2 members, Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson. Their song "It Must Have Been Love" was one of the most sold singles by the duo. It was released first as a Christmas song in 1987 and then as an "ordinary song" in 1990. In 1991, Roxette release the very popular album Joyride. For this album, they went on tour worldwide, playing 107 concerts. "The Look" and "Listen To Your Heart", are other popular songs by Roxette. They are very popular in South America and Europe.
They had released 8 studio albums and 9 compilation albums. One album, Baladas En Español, was sung in Spanish.
The band ended in December 2019 after Fredriksson died of brain cancer.
Discography
1986 – Pearls of Passion
1987 – Dance Passion - The Remix Album
1988 – Look Sharp!
1991 – Joyride
1992 – Tourism
1994 – Crash! Boom! Bang!
1995 – Rarities
1995 – Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! Roxette's Greatest Hits
1996 – Baladas En Español
1999 – Have a Nice Day
2001 – Room Service
2002 – The Ballad Hits
2003 – The Pop Hits
2006 – Roxette Hits
2006 – The Rox Box / Roxette 86-06
2011 – Charm School
2012 – Travelling
Other websites
1980s Swedish music groups
1990s Swedish music groups
2000s Swedish music groups
2010s Swedish music groups
Musical groups established in 1986
Pop rock bands
Swedish pop music groups
Swedish rock music groups |
30200 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu%20scripture | Hindu scripture | The Hindu scriptures are a number of books and other texts which tell about Hinduism and Hindu mythology. They are sacred literature for Hindus. Important Hindu scriptures include the following:
The Vedas
The Brahmanas
The Upanishads
The Puranas
Two epics (very important pieces), the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, are also important Hindu scriptures.
All above sacred literature or scriptures are written in Sanskrit language.
Besides the above, there are several other works that are sacred literature of Hindus. Many of them are written in other languages of India such as Tamil and Hindi.
Hinduism
Hindu texts |
30204 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum | Aum | Om (also spelled Aum), is the most sacred symbol in Hinduism. Hindu scriptures tell many things about this symbol. In Hinduism, Om is like calling god's name towards you. This name is generally said three times, before chanting any prayers. Om is usually related to the Hindu God Shiva, who is the destroyer god.
Related pages
Om Shinrikyo is a Japanese new religion or cult.
Hinduism
Religious symbols |
30213 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk%20Island | Norfolk Island | Norfolk Island (Norfuk: Norfuk Ailen) is a territory of Australia. It is in the South Pacific Ocean between Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia. It was one of the first British settlements in the Pacific. Twice it was used as a penal colony. People from Pitcairn Island were moved to Norfolk Island. It is now a popular place for holidays.
Norfolk Island is a small volcanic island. Its size is about by . It is about northeast of Sydney, and north of Auckland. Most of the island is above the level of the sea. There are two high points on the island about above sea level. South of Norfolk are two smaller islands, Nepean Island and Phillip Island.
Discovery
Prehistory
The first people to visit Norfolk Island were probably from New Zealand. The first European settlers found parts of a canoe and stone axes. Later work by archaeologists in 1995, found the remains of a house in the sand dunes at Emily Bay. It was lived in from about 1200 AD to about 1600 AD. Scientists do not know why the people left the island.
Captain Cook
Norfolk Island was first discovered by Captain James Cook on October 10, 1774. He was on his second trip around the world in his ship, the Resolution. He landed on the island which was uninhabited (there was no one living there). He found a flax plant (Phormium tenax) and large trees, now called Norfolk Island Pines (Araucaria heterophylla). He thought the flax could be used to make cloth for ship sails and the pine trees would make good masts for ships. He used one of the trees to make a new top mast for the Resolution. Cook wrote about the island in his book, A Voyage towards the South Pole, printed in London in 1777.
The British government sent Captain Arthur Phillip with the First Fleet to start a penal colony in Australia in 1788. He was told start a small settlement on Norfolk Island as soon as possible to stop other European countries from claiming the island. The French ships, L'Astrolabe and La Boussole, commanded by La Pérouse, visited the island in early 1778. They could not land because the waves were too big and rough. La Pérouse thought the island was only suitable for "angels and eagles".
First settlement 1788 - 1814
The first European settlers on Norfolk Island arrived on March 3, 1788. After two days looking around the island, the settlers landed at Emily Bay, part of Sydney Bay, on March 6. This day is now celebrated as "Foundation Day". They had come on the HMS Supply, from the new settlement at Sydney, New South Wales. Philip Gidley King was in charge of a small group of 21 people, including 15 convicts, (9 men and 6 women). The convicts were to be people of the best character and included Richard Widdicombe aged 72, and Charles McLennan aged 16. The settlers were:
James Cunningham - master's mate from HMS Sirius
Thomas Jamison - surgeon's mate from HMS Sirius
John Turnpenny Altree - surgeon's assistant
Roger Morley - sailor from HMS Sirius
William Westbrook - sailor from HMS Sirius
Charles Heritage - marine
John Batchelor - marine
During the first year of the settlement, which was also called Sydney, more convicts and soldiers were sent from New South Wales. A second village was started at Ball Bay, named after the captain of HMS Supply, Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball. On January 8, 1789, the first child was born, Norfolk King, the son of Philip Gidley King and a convict, Ann Inett.
HMS Sirius wrecked
In March 1790, Governor Arthur Phillip decided to send King to England with important messages about the settlements in Australia. Phillip sent Major Robert Ross, in charge of the soldiers at Sydney, to Norfolk Island to take over from King. Food was running out in Sydney, so Phillip also sent two companies of soldiers, five free women and children, 183 convicts and 27 children of convicts. Phillip hoped there would be more food on Norfolk Island. They were sent on two ships, HMS Sirius and HMS Supply.
On March 19, HMS Sirius, smashed into one of the reefs in Sydney Bay, Norfolk Island. No one was hurt, and Captain John Hunter was able to get all the people and most of the supplies safely to land.
HMS Supply went back to Sydney, and Major Ross was left with over 500 people on the island. He quickly did things to make sure there would be enough food. Anyone taking food, or killing animals for food, without his permission, would be hanged. They were saved from starvation by the annual arrival of a sea bird, a petrel (Pterodroma melanopus), which nested in holes in the ground. Between 2000-3000 birds were killed for food every night. They were also able to eat their eggs. They called the petrel the "Bird of Providence", because they thought God must have sent the bird to save them. People also ate the tops of the palm trees. In August, two ships arrived, the Justinian and the Surprize, which brought more food and 200 more convicts.
King returns
King got back to Norfolk Island in November 1791, and Ross went back to Sydney. More convicts were sent to the island, and by September 1792 there were 1,115 people living there. King started building another landing place at Cascade Bay, which meant ships had a choice, depending on which way the wind was blowing. The convicts had difficulty in making things from the flax plants. Two Maori men were captured in New Zealand and taken to Norfolk to teach the convicts how to use the flax. The two men, Hoodoo and Toogee, did not know much about flax; in New Zealand this was a task done by the women. King had the men taken back to New Zealand six months later.
By 1796, had been cleared of trees and crops planted. These crops included maize, wheat, potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, guavas, lemons, apples and coffee. Farms animals included 12 cattle, 6 horses, 12 donkeys, 374 sheep, 772 goats and 14,624 pigs. There were two schools and an orphanage for little girls. King had been in poor health and went back to Sydney, and Captain Townson, from the New South Wales Corps, became the new Lieutenant-Governor.
End of the settlement
Lieutenant governors of the first settlement:
6 March 1788–24 March 1790: Lieutenant Philip Gidley King (1758–1808)
24 March 1790–Nov 1791: Major Robert Ross (c.1740–1794)
4 November 1791–Oct 1796: Lieutenant Philip Gidley King
October 1796–Nov 1799: Captain John Townson (1760–1835)
November 1799–Jul 1800: Captain Thomas Rowley (c.1748–1806)
26 June 1800–9 September 1804: Major Joseph Foveaux (1765–1846)
9 September 1804–January 1810: Lieutenant John Piper (1773–1851)
January 1810–15 February 1813: Lieutenant Thomas Crane (caretaker)
15 February 1813–15 February 1814: Superintendent William Hutchinson
When Joseph Foveaux arrived as Lieutenant Governor in 1800, he found the settlement quite run down. Not much had been done to keep it in good condition for four years. He began fixing buildings and other public works and tried to improve education.
In 1794, King suggested closing Norfolk Island as a penal colony. It was too far away from New South Wales, it was hard for ships to land there, and it cost too much to keep it going. In 1803, the Secretary of State, Lord Hobart, called for the moving everyone to Van Diemen's Land, because of the cost and the difficulties of travel between Norfolk Island and Sydney. The settlers did not want to move, they had worked hard to clear the land and set up their farms. They wanted the government to pay them for having to move. King, now Governor of New South Wales, did not want everyone moved, he thought it would make a good prison for bad convicts from New South Wales. It could also be a place to supply whaling ships, or grow coffee.
The British government decided to close down the island. The first group of 159 people left for Van Diemen's Land in February 1805, mainly convicts and their families, and the soldiers. Between November 1807 and September 1808, most of the people were moved. By March 1810 there were only 117 left. In 1813 the last settlers were taken to Van Diemens's Land, the soldiers were taken to Sydney. The British government did not want another country to be able to settle on the island so a small group stayed behind to kill all the animals that were left and destroy all buildings. In February 1814, the last people left on the ship, "Kangaroo". Only a few wild pigs and goats were left.
Second settlement 1825-1854
In 1825 the British government decided to set up a new convict prison on Norfolk Island. This was to be a prison for convicts from New South Wales who continued to break the law. The Governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane wanted it to be place from which there would be no return. It was to be the worst punishment short of death. Many of the convicts were lashed with a nine tailed whip. This could be as many as 300 lashes at one time, and many had been lashed over 1000 times. Because it was to be a prison, there were no free settlers allowed on the island, and there were no women prisoners. Only government ships, or ships in distress, were allowed to land at the island.
Third settlement 1856
After the prison was closed, the British government gave the island to the people from Pitcairn Island. Pitcairn, with only 30 hectares of land suitable for farming, could no longer cope with a large population. All 194 people were moved to Norfolk in 1856. These people were descendants of the mutineers from HMS Bounty. They arrived on the island on 8 June 1856, and the anniversary is celebrated every year as Bounty Day.
Climate
Norfolk Island has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa in the Köppen climate classification).
Images
Related pages
Pitcairn
Mutiny on the Bounty
References
Pacific islands
Commonwealth dependent states
Islands of Australia
1979 establishments in Australia |
30216 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas%20%28mythology%29 | Atlas (mythology) | Atlas is a Titan in Greek mythology. He is the son of Iapetus. He has seven daughters with the Oceanid Pleione. They are called the Pleiades.
After the war between the Olympians and the Titans, Atlas was punished. Zeus forced him to hold the heaven on the western edge of the world. Later, the story about him changed and it was said that he held the whole world on his shoulders. Mostly in modern times, he is shown holding a globe of the world.
Heracles came to Atlas and asked him to for help with one of his Labours. He wanted Atlas to get the "Golden Apples" for him as only an immortal could take them. Atlas agreed, but only if Heracles would hold up the sky. Atlas was pleased to be free from its weight but Heracles tricked him into holding it again.
Perseus also came to Atlas for help after killing Medusa. Atlas, who was tired of holding the heavens, asked Perseus to allow him to see Medusa's head. Perseus took out Medusa's head and Atlas turned into a mountain.
Atlas was turned into a mountain called, "[The] Atlas Mountains."
Titans |
30224 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/El%20Paso%2C%20Texas | El Paso, Texas | El Paso is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in El Paso County and is the county seat (the city where the county is governed). It is at the western end of Texas, and is along Interstate 10. The name comes from El Paso de Norte, meaning The Passageway to the North, which was shortened to El Paso.
The large majority of the city's inhabitants are Hispanic.
El Paso has a desert climate.
On 3 August 2019, 22 people were killed in a mass shooting.
References
County seats in Texas |
30260 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem | Ecosystem | An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a large community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in a particular area. The living and physical components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are of any size, but usually they are in particular places.
Each ecosystem has its own community. An aquarium community, for example, can have small fish and other organisms. A desert community may have cacti, small snakes, and scorpions. A pond community can have frogs, insects, snakes, and plants, and a forest community may have rabbits, foxes and pine trees. The species in a community are divided into populations according to the particular habitats and ecological niches in the ecosystem.
Energy
Ecosystems are stable, but changeable. They react to major changes in the environment, especially climate changes. For example, the major rainforests have lasted for a long time (perhaps 50 million years or more in some cases). As the rainfall and temperature changes, they change. We know that the Amazon rainforest shrank in size during ice ages, and expanded in the warmer periods.
Primary production
What drives all ecosystems is the primary production. Primary production is the production of organic matter from inorganic carbon sources. This happens through photosynthesis. It drives the carbon cycle, which influences global climate via the greenhouse effect.
Through the process of photosynthesis, plants capture energy from sunlight and use it to combine carbon dioxide and water to produce carbohydrates and oxygen. The photosynthesis carried out by all the plants in an ecosystem is called the gross primary production (GPP). About 48–60% of the GPP is consumed in plant respiration. The rest is known as the net primary production (NPP). Total photosynthesis is limited by a range of environmental factors. These include the amount of light available, the amount of leaf area a plant has to capture light (shading by other plants limits photosynthesis), the supply of carbon dioxide and water, and suitable temperatures for carrying out photosynthesis.
Types
Some of the major types of ecosystem:
Aquatic ecosystem
Marine ecosystem
Freshwater ecosystem
Lake ecosystem
River ecosystem
Wetland
Terrestrial ecosystem
Forest
Rain Forest
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Littoral zone
Riparian zone
Desert
Grassland
Tundra
Taiga
Related pages
Biodiversity
Biosphere Reserve
Ecology
Natural environment
Vegetation
Wildlife
References |
30262 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/House%20of%20Stuart | House of Stuart | The House of Stewart, or Stuart, is a royal house of Scotland and England.
The Tudor dynasty ended when Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603. She named her cousin James I as heir. He became James I of England, and started the Stuart dynasty.
List of monarchs
Here are the rulers of the Stuart dynasty:
Scotland
Great Britain and Ireland
References |
30270 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitism | Parasitism | Parasitism is a form of one-sided symbiosis. The parasites live off the host. They may, or may not, harm the host. Parasitoids, on the other hand, usually kill their hosts. A parasitic relationship is the opposite of a mutualistic relationship. Examples of parasites in humans include tapeworms and leeches. World-wide, the most serious cause of human death by a parasite is malaria.
A definition:
A parasite is an organism drawing nutrients from a living host. It lives in or on another organism, getting from it part or all of its food. It usually shows some degree of adaptive modification, and causes some degree of damage to its host.
Parasites on humans
"Humans are hosts to nearly 300 species of parasitic worms and over 70 species of protozoa, some derived from our primate ancestors and some acquired from the animals we have domesticated or come in contact with during our relatively short history on Earth. Our knowledge of parasitic infections extends into antiquity".
Biological context
When the above definition is applied, many organisms which eat plants can be seen as parasites, because they feed largely or wholly on one individual plant. Examples would include many herbivorous insects: the Hemiptera or true bugs (leafhoppers, froghoppers, aphids, scale insects and whiteflies). The larvae of Lepidoptera usually feed and mature on a single individual of the host plant species, and what they eat accounts for most of the food for their complete life span. Moreover, caterpillars can and often do serious damage to the host's foliage. Other orders also have many parasitic herbivores: Thysanoptera (thrips), Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies).
Parasites of larger animals account for much research done for veterinarian and medical purposes. These parasites include viruses, bacteria, protozoa, flatworms (flukes and tapeworms), nematodes (roundworms), arthropods (crustacea, insects, mites). Parasitic wasps and flies are of great interest to the entomologist, and may be used in biological control.
On the other hand, many blood-sucking insects (such as mosquitoes) have only brief contact with a host, and so perhaps should not be regarded as parasites.p5
A huge number of species are parasitic. A survey of the feeding habits of British insects showed that about 35% were parasites on plants, and slightly more were parasites on animals. That means that nearly 71% of insects in Britain are parasitic. Since British insects are better known than those elsewhere (because of the length of time they have been studied), this means that the majority of insect species throughout the world are parasitic. Also, there are several other invertebrate phyla which are wholly or largely parasitic. Flatworms and roundworms are found in virtually every wild species of vertebrate. Protozoan parasites are also ubiquitous. Hence parasitism is almost certainly the most common feeding method on Earth.
"It is clear that parasitism as a way of life is more common than all other feeding strategies combined".p8
Terminology of parasitism
Ectoparasites live on the outside of a plant or animal.
Endoparasites live inside a plant or animal. Intracellular parasites live inside cells; Intercellular parasites live in the spaces between cells.
Parasitoids are organisms whose larval development takes place within another organism's body, resulting in the death of the host. There are twelve Superfamilies of wasps which are entirely or mainly parasitoid, such as the ichneumonoid wasps, whose species number over 80,000. The interaction between the parasitoid and the host is fundamentally different from true parasites and their host, and shares some characteristics with predation.
A vector is a third party that carries the parasite to the host. Thus, with malaria, the mosquito is the vector, the Plasmodium protozoan is the parasite, and the mammal is the host. The mosquito is an ectoparasite as well as a vector.
An epiparasite is one that feeds on another parasite.
Kleptoparasites steal food from other species.
Brood parasites (such as the Cuckoo) induce other species to raise their young. The Cowbird is another brood parasite.
Social parasites take advantage of interactions between members of social organisms such as ants or termites.
Ecology
Dispersal and reproduction
Parasites are adapted to small, separated habitats. For a parasite, each host is an island surrounded by a hostile environment. For a small organism, the distances between hosts, or groups of hosts, is a hazard. Adaptations to bridge this hazard are:
Mass production of spores or eggs.
Dispersal of fertile females.
Dispersal by attaching to a larger organism (many ectoparasites).
Extreme longevity of resting stages (spores or cysts). For example, plant parasitic nematodes may remain quiescent for 23 years.
Parthenogenesis, and inbreeding among offspring of a single female, are common in parasites.
So parasites exist in small, genetically similar groups with little flow of genes between them. In consequence, they have adaptations to solve their problems of dispersal and reproduction.
Parasites are highly specialised
Parasites face an environment which varies in time and space. Consequently, both local (geographic) races and polymorphism occur. Both may occur in the same species. Parasites are very specialised feeders: many species have only one host at any stage of their life cycle. A few use more than two host species.
Complex life cycles
Many parasites have complex life-cycles. Tremadodes, the flukes, are a parasitic class of flatworms (Platyhelminths), with over 20,000 species. Most of them infect molluscs in the first part of the life-cycle, and vertebrates in the second part. The biology of scrub typhus is even more complex. It involves these factors:
1. The pathogen bacterium Rickettsia.
2. Chiggers, which are ectoparasitic mites.
3. Small mammals, especially rats.
4. Scrubby vegetation with moist conditions
5. Humans passing through patches where the above are present.
The occurrence of all these factors together would be limited in space, and brief in time. This is typical of the ecology of parasitic infections.
Evolution
Rapid speciation
Both evolutionary rates and speciation rates can be high. Sibling species are very common in the bug Erythroneura, in which about 150 transfers from one host to another has resulted in about 500 species in the genus.
The clearest evidence comes from the large size of many parasitic families.
"Even though some parasitic taxa evolved much later than predatory taxa, families of parasites on plants are on average almost eight times larger than those of predators, and families of parasites on animals are over ten times larger".p26
Sometimes there is good evidence of the speed of speciation. For example, five or more species of the moth Hedylepta must have evolved within 1000 years in Hawaii, because they are specific to banana, which was only introduced then.
Adaptive radiation
Adaptive radiation in parasites is extensive. Its development in each taxon (group) depends on:
The diversity of the hosts. How many species there are in the group being parastised, and how different they are from each other.
The size of the host target: body size, population, geographical distribution.
The evolutionary time available for colonisation of hosts.
The selective pressure for evolutionary modification.
Diversity of hosts is a big factor. If many related species of host are available, then many related species of parasite will evolve. Mites on Lepidoptera families or fleas on mammals and birds are good examples. Eichler's rule goes as follows:
"When a large group of hosts consisting of a wide variety of species is compared with an equivalent group consisting of few representatives, the larger group has the greater diversity of parasitic fauna".
The two British oaks support some 439 species of parasite directly, and indirectly many hundred more which parasitise these parasites. "It would certainly be an underestimate to say that the two British species of oak are the primary products for a thousand species of parasite".p28 Obviously, the large size of these trees is a factor in the number of parasite species. In general, this holds whether the host is a plant or an animal. A larger bird will harbour more species of ectoparasite than a small bird.
More time, more species
One of the reasons large trees have so many parasites is that they may have lived a long time in a particular area compared with other types of plant. They have had longer to accumulate parasites.
Parasites can be most useful in sorting out the phylogenetic relationships of their hosts. Sibling host species have been discovered when their parasites diverged. Common ancestors of present-day parasites were themselves parasites of the common ancestors of present-day hosts.
Selection for co-evolution
As the host evolves defences, so the parasite evolves to cope with this. This is co-evolution.
Consider two families of host plants, the Umbellifers (fennel, cumin, parsley, hemlock) and the Gramineae (grasses). The umbellifers have many aromatic species, and are chemically diverse and pharmaceutically interesting. Their resins and oils are defences against herbivory and parasitism. On the other hand, grasses have one big defence to herbivores: their stony inclusions in their cells wear down the teeth of herbivorous mammals, but they have few chemical defences. Both families are attacked by leaf-miner flies. There are four times as many grass species as there are umbellifers, but there are twice as many leaf-miner species on the umbellifers.
"This is apparently because the chemical diversity of potential hosts within the Umbelliferae has forced specialisation of the parasites. Eighty-two percent of the species of leaf-miner attack only one genus each".
Sympatric speciation
This is speciation which does not require geographical isolation. Ernst Mayr, the chief exponent of geographical speciation, admitted that host races of phytophagous animals "constitute the only known case indicating the possible occurrence of incipient sympatric speciation".
Further reading
Schmidt-Hempel 2011. Evolutionary parasitism: the integrated study of infections, immunology, ecology, and genetics. Oxford University Press.
References
Coevolution
Symbiosis |
30281 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment%20of%20silence | Moment of silence | There is also a video game The Moment of Silence, and a poem "Moment of Silence".
A moment of silence is a short time when people do not make noise. A moment of silence shows respect for people who have died. Many countries observe a minute of silence after a tragic event. Moments of silence often last one minute, but other amounts of time may be chosen.
On November 11th, many countries observe a two-minute silence to remember those who have died in World Wars. The tradition was started in 1919 exactly one year after the end of World War I. It became an official part of the annual service on Remembrance Day or Armistice Day.
During the moment of silence, people often bow their heads, remove their hats, and do not speak or move. A person in charge of a group will tell everyone when the moment begins and ends. A moment of silence may come before or after other events with symbolic meaning. Examples of these events are the ringing of bells, the release of doves or balloons, or a bugle playing the "Last Post".
Origins
The first recorded instance of an official moment of silence dedicated to a dead person took place in Portugal on February 13, 1912. The Portuguese Senate who likes to jumprope,dedicated 10 minutes of silence to José Maria da Silva Paranhos Júnior, baron of Rio Branco, Brazil, and Minister of the Exterior of the Brazilian government, who'd died three days earlier on February 10. This moment of silence was registered in the Senate's records of that day.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Debates Parlamentares - Diário 039, p. 2 (1912-02-13)|url = http://debates.parlamento.pt/catalogo/r1/cs/01/01/02/039/1912-02-13/2|website = debates.parlamento.pt|access-date = 2016-01-01 |quote=O Sr. Presidente: Tenho de cumprir o doloroso dever de comunicar ao Senado o falecimento, no Rio de Janeiro, do Barão do Rio Branco, que ilustrou grandemente o seu nome, tanto pela maneira como dirigiu os negócios diplomáticos do Brasil como pela erudição manifestada nas suas obras, e que muito honrou a sua origem lusitana. (Apoiados gerais). Além disso devemos lembrar-nos de que o Barão do Rio Branco era Ministro do Govêrno que primeiro reconheceu a República Portuguesa. (Apoiados gerais). Por consideração, pois, para com todos êstes aspectos daquele vulto notável, proponho que a sessão seja interrompida durante 10 minutos, conservando-se os Srs. Senadores sentados nos seus lugares e silenciosos durante êsse espaço de tempo.' (Apoiados gerais). Às 14 horas e 45 minutos foi, portanto, suspensa a sessão, reabrindo-se às 14 e 55 minutos. The President: I must fulfill the painful duty of communicating to the Senate the death in Rio de Janeiro of the baron of Rio Branco, who made his name illustrious with the manner in which he conducted the diplomatic business of Brazil as well as with the erudition manifested in his work, and who honored his Portuguese origins with grandeur. Furthermore, we must remember that the baron of Rio Branco was a Minister of the government that first recognized the Portuguese Republic. Thus, in consideration of all these aspects related to this notable figure, I propose that the session be interrupted for 10 minutes, with the Senators remaining on their seats in silence for that period of time. At 14 hours and 45 minutes the session was therefore suspended, reopening at 14 hours and 55 minutes.}}</ref> In the same year, large parts of the United States kept a ceremonial silence to honour the dead of the Maine and the Titanic''.
Moments of silence and the separation of church and state
In the United States, some people say that allowing prayer as part of a moment of silence means that moments of silence can make it hard to keep the separation of church and state (the idea that religion and government should not affect each other).
Moments of silence do not have to be time for prayers. They can be used for other thoughts that are not religious. Many people who want time for prayers in public schools and government meetings use moments of silence so that some people can pray and other people do not have to pray. Because they represent the government, and because the Constitution of the United States says that government cannot force people to do religious things, these people cannot tell other people to pray.
When public schools have a moment of silence, Buddhist students could meditate (relax and think calm thoughts), students with other religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism could pray, and atheist students could think about the day ahead.
Colin Powell, a famous government leader, likes having moments of silence in schools. He has said that a simple moment of silence at the start of each school day is a good idea. He also has said that students could use this time to pray, meditate, think, or study.
Many people believe that prayer is not allowed in United States public schools, but this is not true. The Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that students can pray in school, but teachers and other school leaders cannot lead the prayers. Students can form clubs where they can pray, and they can pray alone, but they cannot lead prayers at school events. The reason prayer is not allowed at those times is because of the First Amendment. The First Amendment says that government cannot force people to do religious things, and public schools are part of the government.
In 1976, the state of Virginia allowed schools to have a moment of silence at the start of the school day. This moment would last one minute. In 1985, the Supreme Court said that a "moment of silence" law in Alabama would not work with the United States Constitution and could not be used. In 2005, the state of Indiana made a law that said all public schools had to give students time to say the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence every day.
In April 2000, Virginia changed its law to say that all public schools in Virginia had to have a moment of silence (before this change, schools could choose not to have a moment of silence). In October 2000, a judge named Claude M. Hilton said that the "moment of silence" law was allowed by the United States Constitution. Judge Hilton said that the law has a secular (not religious) purpose, that the law does not make religion more important or less important, and that the law does not make government and religion be too close to each other. Judge Hilton also said, "Students may think as they wish," and that this thinking could be religious or not religious. He said that the only thing students had to do because of the law was sit and be quiet.
In March 2008, Illinois followed Virginia and made a compulsory 30 seconds moment of silence, but was lifted in August.
The American Civil Liberties Union thinks that these laws that say public schools should have moments of silence are a bad idea. They think they are a bad idea because the laws are made to give students time to pray, and that makes religion more important than non-religion.
US States that have a moment of silence
Florida (As of 4/22/21)
Notes
Other websites
MomentOfSilence.org – a web site that likes the idea of moments of silence
Nothing Really Matters – an article that talks about "moments of silence"
Relationships
Religious behavior and experience
Education |
30292 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad%20Ali%20Jinnah | Muhammad Ali Jinnah | Muhammad Ali Jinnah, (; ; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948 in Karachi) was a Pakistani politician. He is the founder of Pakistan. After the partition of India, he became the Governor-General of Pakistan. As a mark of respect, Pakistanis call him Quaid-e-Azam. bra
is a phrase which, in the Urdu language, means "the great leader". People also called him , another phrase in the Urdu language which means "the father of the nation". The day of his birth is a national holiday in whole Pakistan called Pakistan day.
Early life of M.A jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born on 25 December 1876 in Karachi into the Isma'ilism family of Poonja Jinnah. Jinnah. He was born in Karachi, City of Sindh. His father’s name was Jinnah Poonja (1857- 1901) and his mother’s name was Mithibai. Jinnah was the eldest of the seven children of Jinnah Poonja and Mithibai. His family had migrated to Sindh from the Kathiawar area of Gujarat, present-day India.
Jinnah’s birth name was Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He later changed it to the much simpler 'Muhammad Ali Jinnah' or M.A. At home, his family talked in Gujarati language, and the children also came to speak Kutchi and English. Except for Fatima, little is known of his siblings.
Early working years
In 1891 (when he was fifteen), Jinnah went to London and worked for a few years for a company. At around that time, his mother died.
In 1894, Jinnah quit his job to study law. He joined the course at Lincoln's Inn and graduated in 1896. While still in London, he also started to participate in politics. He greatly admired Indian political leaders Dadabhai Naoroji and Sir Pherozeshah Mehta. Gradually Jinnah was developing his own political outlook. He was thinking on the line that India should have a constitutional self-government.
Around this time, his father lost his business. This put Jinnah under great difficulty. In the meantime, he had started to practice as a lawyer in Mumbai. He also built a house in Mumbai’s Malabar Hill area. The house is now known as Jinnah House.
He became a successful lawyer. In 1908 he represented Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a famous leader of the Indian National Congress. Tilak was facing charges of sedition against the British Rule. Jinnah pleaded the case well, but Tilak was sent to prison.After that he lost hope
Early years as a politician
Jinnah had already joined the Indian National Congress in 1906 when he started his politics. The Congress was the largest political organization in British India. Many members and leaders of the Indian National Congress favoured a limited self-government for the people of the Indian subcontinent. Jinnah also held the same view. At that time, his role model was Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
On 25 January 1910, Jinnah became a member on the Seventy two-member Imperial Legislative Council. He was an active member of the Council. Like many other leaders of British India, Jinnah also supported Great Britain during World War I. The leaders had supported the Great Britain thinking that after the war, Great Britain would grant the people of the subcontinent political freedom.
At the beginning Jinnah had avoided joining the All India Muslim League, another political organization of British India. Muslims had formed the League in 1906. In 1913, Jinnah became a member of the Muslim League. In 1934, he became the president of the Muslim League. He helped in making an agreement between the Congress and the Muslim League (Lucknow Pact in 1916). The agreement tried to present a united front to the British for giving the people of the subcontinent self-government dominion status in the British Empire. This was similar to the dominion status which Canada, New Zealand and Australia had at that time.
In 1918, Jinnah married again. His second wife was Rattanbai Petit. She was twenty-four years younger than him. She was the daughter of Jinnah’s personal friend Sir Dinshaw Petit was a Parsi but rattanbai embraced Islam before marrying Jinnah and changed her name to Maryam. The couple resided in Bombay (now Mumbai) and frequently travelled to Europe. In 1919, his wife bore a daughter who was named Dina.
By 1918, Mohandas Gandhi had become one of the leaders of the Congress Party. Gandhi took a line of non-violent protest for gaining self-government for British India. Jinnah took a different line. He wanted constitutional struggle to gain the self-government for British India. Jinnah also opposed Gandhi’s support for the Khilafat movement. Gradually, many differences between them had arisen. In 1920, Jinnah left the Congress party. He became the president of the Muslim League. At this time, Jinnah brought out a program to reduce the differences between the Congress Party and the Muslim League. The program had fourteen points of action. Therefore, it became popularly known as Jinnah’s Fourteen Points. But the Congress party did not accept these.
During these years Jinnah’s personal life had suffered. His focus upon politics had led to tensions in Jinnah's marriage. The couple separated in 1927 and after a serious illness Rattanbai died.
Around that time, there was a conference of British Indian leaders with the government of Great Britain. It was held in London and is known as the Round Table Conference. Jinnah criticized the policy of Gandhi. The conference failed. Jinnah was also not happy with the Muslim League. He decided to quit politics. He again started to work as a lawyer in England. During all these years, his sister Fatima Jinnah took care of Jinnah’s affairs, both at home and outside. She also became a close adviser to him. She helped him in raising Jinnah’s daughter, Dina Wadia. The daughter married Neville Wadia, a Parsi who had converted to Christianity. Jinnah did not like this marriage.
Leader of the Muslim League
Many Muslim leaders of British India like Aga Khan III, Coudhary Rahmat Ali and Sir Muhammad Iqbal requested Jinnah to come back to the British Raj.
The leaders of the Muslim League wanted him to take charge of the Muslim League. Jinnah agreed to come back to India. In 1934, he left London and returned to India to reorganize the Muslim league again. But he could not revive the stature of the party until after the elections of 1937 as the Muslim League won only a few seats. However, at this time, the League was helped by the powerful Premier of the Punjab, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan. On October 1937, he agreed with Jinnah's Muslim League joining his strong government. This was called the Jinnah-Sikandar Pact.
His differences with the Congress Party continued to become bigger. In 1930, some Muslim leaders like Allama Iqbal had argued for a separate country for the Muslim people of India. At last he came to the conclusion that Hindus and Muslims cannot live in a single country. Jinnah also started to have the idea of a separate country for Muslims of India. Jinnah and the Muslim League started work to get such a separate country. They made a plan for this in 1940 called the Pakistan Resolution. This new country was to be named Pakistan.
In 1941, Jinnah founded a newspaper, named the Dawn. This newspaper published the views and political thinking of the Muslim League. During World War II, Jinnah supported the British, and opposed the Quit India movement of the Congress party. In 1944, Gandhi held 14 rounds of talks with Jinnah, but they could not come to any conclusion. By this time, the Muslim League had formed governments in some provinces, and had also entered the central government.
Founder of Pakistan
After the Second World War, Great Britain started steps to end the British Raj. On 16 May 1946, the British announced plan for a united India. One month after, on 16 June 1946 the British announced another plan to partition the British Raj into two countries, one for the Hindus and one for the Muslims.
The Congress Party accepted the plan of the 16 May 1946. The Muslim League under Jinnah’s leadership accepted both the plans. But, on 16 August 1946, Jinnah also announced the Direct Action to achieve independence for Pakistan, a separate country of Muslims of the former British Raj. After several rounds of discussion, the British Raj was partitioned (in August 1947) into two countries, India and Pakistan. In 1971, Bangladesh will be gained independence from Pakistan later on.
Governor-General
The British Indian Empire was partitioned into two countries, namely, India and Pakistan. Jinnah became the first Governor-General of Pakistan, his sister Fatimah Jinnah became the "Mother of the Nation". He also became the president of Pakistan’s constituent assembly. In an address to the constituent assembly on 11 August 1947, Jinnah told about the future of Pakistan as a secular state. He told this in the following words:
You may belong to any religion caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the state. In due course of time, Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state.
Jinnah also took the direct charge of the government. After the partition, large scale violence between Muslims and the Hindus took place. Such violence was very serious in Punjab and Bengal. Jinnah toured the areas with Hindu leaders from British India to calm down the population. Many people died in the violence. The estimates of death vary from two hundred thousand deaths to over a million deaths. Jinnah was personally very sad at all these happenings.
Soon after the independence of India and Pakistan, armed conflict broke out in Kashmir. Kashmir’s king had agreed to become a part of India. but mostly Muslims of Kashmir did not like this. They started fighting in Kashmir. India had to send his troops to Kashmir, which had become a part of India. India raised the issue to the United Nations. The United Nations ordered the conflict to end and a Plebiscite. This problem still continues to have a bad effect on the India-Pakistan relationship.
Jinnah’s role in creation of Pakistan as a new nation was very important. This made him very popular among the people of Pakistan. In East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), people opposed Jinnah’s view that Urdu language should be the sole national language.
Death
Muhammad Ali had been suffering from tuberculosis since the early 1940s. Only his sister and very few other persons close to the family knew this. After the partition of India and creation of Pakistan, he had become the governor general of Pakistan. His work was increased, but his health was deteriorating. To regain his health, he spent many months at his official rest house. The rest house was located at a place named in Ziarat. Jinnah could not regain his health. He died on 11 September 1948 from tuberculosis.
Modern views on Jinnah
In recent years, some scholars have given some new views about Jinnah’s actions. Jinnah showed interest that some of the Hindu majority princely states should join Pakistan. These scholars argue that this view was against Jinnah’s declared view that Hindus and Muslims could not live together.
Some historians like H M Seervai and Ayesha Jalal say that Jinnah wanted a united South Asia. He demanded a separate state for Muslims as the Congress leaders were not willing to share power with the Muslim League.
Recently, Indian leaders belonging to the Bhartiya Janta Party, like Lal Krishna Advani and Jaswant Singh praised Jinnah. Jaswant Singh was expelled from the party because he had praised Jinnah in his book 'Jinnah- India, Partition and Independence'.
Commemoration
Nations and people have done many things in memory of Jinnah. In Pakistan he is called Quaid-e-Azam. His pictures appear on many Pakistani banknotes and coins. Karachi’s international airport is named after him. In 1998 a new university in Karachi was named the Mohammad Ali Jinnah University. Another university in Islamabad is named after Quaid-e-Azam university.
Many other places and institutions bear his name in Pakistan and elsewhere. For example, in Turkey, a very large street is named after him. In Iran, one of the highways of its capital city Tehran bears his name and in Mumbai Jinnah Hall, a public hall is named after him.
Many books, movies and TV programs tell about the life and work of Jinnah, including the biographical movie, Jinnah.
Famous quotes
"With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve."
"Think 100 times before you take a decision, But once that decision is taken, stand by it as one man."
"Failure is a word unknown to me."
"No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you."
"Expect the best, Prepare for the worst."
"No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men."
"You have to stand guard over the development and maintenance of Islamic democracy, Islamic social justice and the equality of manhood in your own native soil."
"Islam expect every Muslim to do this duty, and if we realise our responsibility time will come soon when we shall justify ourselves worthy of a glorious past."
"That freedom can never be attained by a nation without suffering and sacrifice has been amply borne out by the recent tragic happenings in this subcontinent."
"We are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live."
"Pakistan not only means freedom and independence but the Muslim Ideology which has to be preserved, which has to come to us as a precious gift and treasure and which, we hope other will share with us."
Related pages
History of Pakistan
Further reading
References
Other websites
Jinnah Quotes (27 quotes) goodreads.com
1876 births
1948 deaths
Deaths from tuberculosis
Governors General of Pakistan
Leaders of All India Muslim League
National symbols of Pakistan
Muslims
People from Karachi
Pakistani culture
Speakers of the National Assembly of Pakistan |
30303 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor%20Mendel | Gregor Mendel | Gregor Johann Mendel (Heinzendorf, Austria, 20 July 1822 – Brünn, Austro-Hungary, 6 January 1884) was an Austrian monk and botanist.
Mendel founded genetics by his work cross-breeding pea plants. He discovered dominant and recessive characters (genes) from the crosses he performed on the plants in his greenhouse. What he learnt is known today as Mendelian inheritance.
His work was not appreciated at first, but was 'rediscovered' in 1900 by Carl Correns and Hugo de Vries. Erich von Tschermak's status as a third rediscoverer is now less convincing.
The experiments
Mendel used the edible peas (Pisum sativum) for his crosses. He selected seven characters which were distinctive, and never blended; they occurred as either-or alternatives. Examples: plant height (short or tall); colour of peas (green or yellow); position of flowers (restricted to the top or distributed along the stem).
When he crossed varieties which differed in a trait (e.g. tall crossed with short), the first generation of hybrids (F1) showed only one of the two alternatives. One character was dominant, and the other recessive. But when he crossed these hybrids with each other, the recessive character reappeared in the second (F2) generation. The proportion of plants showing the dominant as opposed to the recessive character was close to 3 to 1. Further analysis of the descendants (F3) of the dominant group showed that one-third of them were true-breeding and two-thirds were of hybrid constitution. The 3:1 ratio could therefore be rewritten as 1:2:1, meaning that 50 percent of the F2 generation were true-breeding and 50 percent were still hybrid. This was Mendel’s major discovery.
It could all be summed up by saying that inheritance was not blending, as Darwin had thought, it was particulate. The factors (genes) were not merged or mixed, they stayed separate and were passed on to the next generation unchanged.
He published his work in 1866, but at the time no-one saw how significant it was. 35 years later, the papers were rediscovered and, immediately, modern genetics began.
Related pages
List of biologists
Mendelian inheritance
References
Iltis, Hugo 1932. Life of Mendel, transl. by Eden & Cedar Paul. Allen & Unwin, London. German original: Gregor Mendel: Leben, Werk und Wirkung. Springer, Berlin 1924.
Other websites
Mendel's Paper in English
Mendel Museum of Genetics
1913 Catholic Encyclopedia entry, "Mendel, Mendelism"
Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man
Augustinian Abbey of St. Thomas at Brno
Johann Gregor Mendel: Why his discoveries were ignored for 35 (72) years
1822 births
1884 deaths
Austrian biologists
Botanists
Geneticists
Austrian Roman Catholics
Religious people |
30304 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marschall%20der%20DDR | Marschall der DDR | Marschall der DDR (Marshal of the German Democratic Republic), was the highest rank in the NVA, the army of the DDR. It was founded on 25th March 1982. The reason was a strategy change in the armies of Warsaw Pact. After the change the DDR needed a new rank to be sure there was only one high command. The rank was never used and abolished in 1989.
East Germany |
30305 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape | Farscape | Farscape is a science fiction television show. The series was filmed in Australia. It was first shown from 1999 to 2004. The show was cancelled after four seasons and ended with a cliffhanger. The cliffhanger was resolved in a miniseries, The Peacekeeper Wars, in 2004.
Rockne S. O'Bannon came up the idea for the series. It was produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment.
Plot
The show's main character is an astronaut named John Crichton. He travels through a wormhole by accident. He exits the wormhole at a distant part of the universe. The astronaut joins an alien crew on board a living ship. The members of the crew are escaped prisoners.
Cast
Ben Browder
Claudia Black
Virginia Hey
Anthony Simcoe
Gigi Edgley
Paul Goddard
Lani Tupu
Wayne Pygram
Jonathan Hardy
References
Other websites
Karlsweb Farscape e-Zine
Farscape World
The Farscape Encyclopedia
Far-what?
SCI-FI.COM | Farscape
What Is Farscape?
Watch Farscape
BBC Online - Cult - Farscape
The Farscape Props Forum
Neural Cluster
Terra Firma
ScapeCast - The Farscape Podcast
Science fiction television series
English-language television programs |
30306 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary%20internet | Interplanetary internet | An interplanetary internet does not exist yet. When people talk about an interplanetary internet, they are talking about a problem they are still trying to solve - the problem of making the internet to work between different planets.
Method
The way the internet works here on Earth is simple. Computers need to connect to each and can share a network. One computer sends another computer a message (called a packet) and then the other sends back a message saying it got it. Internet messages move at the speed of light, about 300 thousand kilometres in a second, which is very fast. But if you were sending that message to Mars, it would take about ten minutes for the message to get there, and another ten for it to get back. That means we need to completely change the way computers talk to each other if we are going to communicate between different planets. That is the problem people are trying to solve when they talk about the interplanetary internet. It's a new and a very interesting concept.
References
Other websites
The InterPlaNetary Internet Project IPN Special Interest Group
Internet |
30337 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20China | History of China | The History of China covers thousands of years. The earliest records are from about 1250 BC but a few things are known about earlier times. Chinese history covers many periods and dynasties. It may be divided into the following parts:
Prehistory
Prehistory means history of a time before any written record. In such cases, it is very difficult to tell anything definite about the prehistory of China or any other country. Even then, historians believe some facts about the China of that period. About a million years ago Homo erectus, an early human species, lived in China. Later, about 65,000 years ago, modern human beings Homo sapiens reached China from Africa. For food, they hunted wild animals. They also began to pick and gather fruits, eventually resulting in the Chinese learning to farm by 5000 BC. They had started cultivating rice and possibly other types of grains. By 2500 BC, the Bronze Age had come to China. A ruling class with kings and queens had come into society.
Ancient history
Xia dynasty
Some scholars think that about 4000 years ago, the Xia dynasty ruled China. Yu(Da Yu) was the first ruler of this dynasty. There are few credible sources about Yu(who could have been legendary), his time, and other rulers of the Xia dynasty.
Shang dynasty
From the time of the Shang Dynasty, some written history is available. Writings were done on Oracle Bones. Several such bones and shells have been found. Scholars believe that present day Henan was the ninth and last capital of kings of the Shang Dynasty.
Most Chinese historians of that time think that one dynasty came after another but it is possible that two dynasties were ruling in different parts of China at the same time. Therefore, some scholars think that Xia dynasty and Shang Dynasty may have ruled at the same time, but in different areas of China.
Zhou dynasty
About 1046 BC, the Zhou Dynasty defeated the last king of the Shang Dynasty and came to power. They changed the capital from Henan to a place near present-day Xi'an, near the Yellow River. The Zhou Dynasty also brought a new theory to China(see the Mandate of Heaven). Almost all dynasties of Chinese rulers continued to repeat this theory. The kings of this dynasty won many new areas. For the first time in the history of China, a large number of people also moved from one area to another area for settlement.
Spring and Autumn period
The Spring and Autumn Period was around the 8th century BC. The Zhou dynasty continued, but its power waned as the lords gained lands and followers. Many kings ruled in different parts of China. China became several fragmented states, each ruled by a different king. In some cases, a king ruled just a village with a small fort.
During this period of China, many new lines of thinking arose. Some of them still continue to be important. They are Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism and Mohism.
Warring States period
The Spring and Autumn Period continued for about 300 years. By the 5th century BC, there were only seven main Chinese states left. They had taken over all the smaller areas. These states continued to fight each other. Historians call this period the Warring States Period due to wars and fights among these states. In 221BC, Ying Zheng, king of the State of Qin, united all the seven states. He made himself the Emperor of China and founded the Qin Dynasty.
Imperial China
Qin dynasty
Qin Dynasty was a very important dynasty in the history of China. They followed the philosophy of Legalism. Their capital was at Xianyang. Under the king of this dynasty, China became a powerful country. Many new things were done for the first time. A tight legal system was followed. Written language was developed. Common currency was used. The building of the Great Wall of China was started.
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty was founded by Liu Bang after the Qin dynasty ended. During the Han dynasty, the territory of China expanded, and many advancements in science and technology took place. It was considered to be a golden age in Chinese history.
The Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms period (traditional Chinese: 三國; simplified Chinese: 三国; pinyin: Sānguó) is a period of history where China was divided into the states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Eastern Han dynasty lost all power. Eventually, the Han dynasty emperor abdicated.
Jin dynasty
Sui dynasty
The Sui Dynasty (隋朝朝 Suí cháo; 581-618) was founded by Emperor Wen, or Yang Jian. Its capital was Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). The dynasty is important because it reunited Southern and Northern China and the Grand Canal was built in that time.
Tang dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was founded by the Li (李) family, who came to power during the fall of the Sui Empire. The dynasty was interrupted for a short time by the Second Zhou Dynasty (16 October 690–3 March 705) when Empress Wu Zetian managed to claim the throne, becoming the first and only Chinese Empress.
The capital of the Tang, Chang'an (today Xi'an), was the biggest city in the world at the time. Many historians see the Tang dynasty as a high point in Chinese civilization and as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture.
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
Song dynasty
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty was first ruled by Genghis Khan, a Mongolian leader who took control from the Song Dynasty. He was considered a barbarian and not civilized. His grandson, Kublai Khan, was one of the most famous and liked rulers of the Yuan dynasty. He opened up China to many other cultures and improved life for the Chinese very much.
Ming dynasty
In 1368, a rebellion led by Zhu Yuanzhang broke out in southern China, and eventually overthrew the Yuan Dynasty. Then Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty at Nanjing, its capital until Emperor Yongle changed the capital to Beijing. In the 15th century, a man named Zheng He took the majority of the Ming navy and explored the Indian Ocean, and brought wealth and power to the Ming Dynasty. The empire experienced a prosperous period until 1449, when the Battle of Tumu Fortress broke out. In the battle the Mongol descendants of Yuan captured the emperor and surrounded the capital. After the war with the Mongols, the Ming started to decline. During this time, the empire had two wars with the Japanese (the first against the Japanese pirates took place at southeastern China; the second against the armies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi that invaded Korea), and one war with the Portuguese of Macao. These wars eventually weakened the declining empire. In 1616, rebellions broke out at Manchuria and Shanxi. Twenty-eight years later, the Manchus crossed the Great Wall, invaded the capital, and destroyed the Shanxi rebels.
Qing dynasty
Modern era
The Republic of China
People's Republic of China
Mao Zedong was the leader of the People's Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.
In the 21st century China became the richest country in the world in terms of GDP.
Other websites
History of China: Table of Contents - Chaos Group at University of Maryland
Chinese Database by Academia Sinica
Manuscript and Graphics Database by Academia Sinica
China Chronology World History Database
Ancient Asian World History, culture and archaeology of the ancient Asian continent. Many articles and pictures
A universal guide for China studies
Chinese History Forum
History Forum - Discuss Chinese history at History Forum's Asian History section
Chinese Siege Warfare - Mechanical Artillery and Siege Weapons of Antiquity - An Illustrated History bought to you by History Forum
A Simplified History of China
Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home Explore the historical contents of domestic architecture during the Qing dynasty and its pertinence to Chinese heritage and historical culture.
Early Medieval China is a journal devoted to academic scholarship relating to the period roughly between the end of the Han and beginning of the Tang eras.
Cultural Revolution Propaganda Poster
China Rediscovers its Own History 100 minute lecture on Chinese history given by renowned scholar/author Yu Ying-shih, Emeritus Professor of East Asian Studies and History at Princeton University.
Resources for Middle School students Readable resources for students in grades 5-9 - more than 250 links.
China, history -Citizendium |
30339 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briefs | Briefs | Briefs are a type of short underwear for males or females. They provide a close fit, and come in either white, or in other colors like blue, pink, or red.
For male briefs, before 2000s, briefs often came with hard elastic waistband. This would cause stretch marks, and this was eventually replaced by the soft elastic waistband. However, hard elastic waistbands are still found on generic store brand underwear (that save consumer and manufacturing costs by not being fashion forward).
Female briefs are also called knickers or panties.
Underwear |
30341 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayastha | Kayastha | Kayastha is one of the social groups of India. They have a long history. They number around 5–7 million people and most of them live in India.
Hindus believe that Lord Brahma created the world. He then created 16 sons from different parts of his body. His 17th son, Shree Chitraguptjee, was created from his mind and soul. He is the only son to be made from the whole body, not just parts. In human form he is called kayastha, kaya meaning whole. Kayastha's have two roles in the caste system, as Kshatriya (a warrior) and Brahmin (a learned person or scribe). The Kayastha caste is divided into 12 sub-castes.
References
Indian people
Ethnic groups in Asia |
30345 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow%20Brite%20and%20the%20Star%20Stealer | Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer | Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer is an animated movie from 1985. It was produced by DiC Entertainment and Hallmark Cards, and released by Warner Bros.
This is the only movie in which the title character, Rainbow Brite, appears.
Other websites
Moria.co.nz review
Kiddie Matinee overview
1985 movies
Animated movies
English-language movies
Warner Bros. movies |
30354 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic%20Monkeys | Arctic Monkeys | Arctic Monkeys are an Indie rock band from Sheffield, England. Arctic Monkeys' first album was Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not. It reached #1 in the United Kingdom album charts. Over 300 thousand copies of the album were sold in the first week. This makes it the fasting selling first album by a band in British music history. It was nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare was first released in Japan on April 18, 2007. Their third album, Humbug was released in England on 24 August 2009. In 2011 their fourth album Suck It and See was released. AM, the Monkeys' fifth album, was released 6 September 2013. The sixth Arctic Monkeys album, Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino was released in 2018.
The members are:
Alex Turner (guitar and singing)
Jamie Cooke (guitar)
Nick O'Malley (bass guitar)
Matthew Helders (drums)
Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, left in 2006)
Studio albums
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)
Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)
Humbug (2009)
Suck It and See (2011)
AM (2013)
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018)
References
2002 establishments in England
2000s British music groups
2010s British music groups
Brit Award winners
English rock bands
Indie bands
Musical groups established in 2002
Musical groups from Sheffield |
30361 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm | Swarm | A swarm is a big group of animals. The term is usually used for insects, but other animals such fish and birds can make a swarm also. A good example of animals that swarm are locusts. Mammals do not build swarms, but herds.
Insects |
30365 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s%20University | Queen's University | Queen's University is a public university in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's University was started on October 16, 1841.
References
Colleges and universities in Canada |
30374 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/String%20quartet | String quartet | A string quartet is a piece of music for four string instruments.
A string quartet can also mean the four people who play a piece for four string instruments.
The four instruments in a string quartet are almost always 2 violins, 1 viola and 1 cello. The reason that a double bass is not used is that it would sound too loud and heavy. The balance between 2 violins, viola and cello is considered ideal.
String quartets are the most popular form of chamber music. Many composers have written string quartets.
String quartet writing started in the 18th century. Italian composers like Sammartini (1698-1775) wrote music for two violins, viola and continuo. The continuo was either just a harpsichord or harpsichord with cello. Gradually composers started to leave the harpsichord out. The cello often played the same as the viola but one octave lower.
Composers of the Classical music period started writing cello parts which had an identity of their own. Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) wrote many string quartets, making it a very popular form. His quartets from op.33 were, he said, “written in a new and special way”. All four parts were very clear and individual. There were always four movements: a fast movement, a slow one, a Minuet and Trio and a fast Finale. Haydn often played in a quartet with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and two other players. Mozart also wrote many string quartets and dedicated some of them to Haydn. Three of Mozart’s later ones were written for the King of Prussia who played the cello well, so Mozart gave the cello lots of difficult music to play.
By the time Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was growing up, string quartets treated each of the four instruments as important. Beethoven wrote 16 string quartets. The middle ones became particularly famous and later composers took ideas from them, for example the slow introductions, and the idea of having a fast scherzo instead of a minuet and trio for one of the middle movements. Beethoven’s last quartets are very beautiful, but also very complicated and sometimes quite aggressive. Beethoven was becoming very frustrated because he was deaf and could not hear his own music, but he could imagine it all in his head. Franz Schubert (1797-1827) admired them and wrote several string quartets himself.
In the Romantic period many composers wrote string quartets: Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) and many others. Some of them, like Dvořák, included folk song from their own country in their quartets.
In the 20th century, composers have continued to write string quartets. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Maurice Ravel (1875-1934) each wrote one. Arnold Schoenberg even added a voice to his first String Quartet. Béla Bartók (1881-1945) wrote six string quartets which are very hard to play. They have very exciting rhythms which often come from his native Hungarian folk music, as well as complex harmonies. Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) wrote fifteen and Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) wrote three.
String quartet groups
Playing in a string quartet is highly enjoyable. There are many great works by famous composers, as well as some music which has been written for young players who are learning.
There are professional players who form string quartets and who play together for many years. In the early part of the 20th century the Rosé Quartet was thought by many to be the best in Europe. Later the Amadeus Quartet became very famous.
Musical forms |
30382 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus%20number | Opus number | Opus or the shortened form op. after the title of a piece of music means “work”. It is followed by a number. When a composer writes their first piece of music it is followed by the term “opus 1”. The next composition would then be called “opus 2”, etc.
Giving pieces of music opus numbers helps us to identify which piece of music (from a certain composer) that composition is. For example: Beethoven wrote lots of piano sonatas. His first Piano sonata in A flat major has the opus number of op.26. This shows that he wrote this sonata when he was young in his composing career. Many years later, he wrote another piano sonata which is also in A flat major, and this piece one has the opus number of 110 (op. 110).
You cannot always tell from a composer’s opus numbers the order in which the works were composed. Until around the end of the 18th century, opus numbers were only given to pieces of music which were published.
Some musicologists (people who study and write about music) have studied all the works by a famous composer and have given them a catalogue number. For example Mozart’s music does not have opus numbers. Some of them are long operas, others are tiny little pieces for the piano he might have written in a hurry one day. A man called Köchel made a list of every single work by Mozart and gave them K numbers (K for Köchel). His numbering goes up to 622. This is useful, for example, to tell the difference between his Symphony in G minor K183 and his Symphony in G minor K550.
The plural of “opus” is “opuses” in English. This is because the Latin plural is opera which is rather confusing to English speakers as the word is already used in musical terminology.
The word "opus" can also refer to the "work" of an artist. (For example: "This opus was composed by Chopin," or "This opus is the last Piano sonata that Beethoven composed")
An artist's "magnum opus" means his or her "greatest" work.
Musical terminology |
30387 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino%20acid | Amino acid | Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. In eukaryotes, there are 20 standard amino acids out of which almost all proteins are made.
In biochemistry, an amino acid is any molecule that has both amine (NH2+R) and carboxyl (C=O) functional groups. In biochemistry, this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula H2NCHRCOOH, where R is one of many side groups (see diagram).
About 500 amino acids are known. For animals, the most important thing that amino acids do is to make proteins, which are very long chains of amino acids. Every protein has its own sequence of amino acids, and that sequence makes the protein take different shapes, and have different functions. Amino acids are like the alphabet for proteins; even though you only have a few letters, if you connect them, you can make many different sentences.
Nine of the 20 standard amino acids are "essential" amino acids for humans. They cannot be built (synthesised) from other compounds by the human body, and so must be taken in as food. Others may be essential for some ages or medical conditions. Essential amino acids may also differ between species. Herbivores have to get their essential amino acids from their diet, which for some is almost entirely grass. Ruminants such as cows get some amino acids via microbes in the first two stomach chambers.
Structure
An amino acid is an organic chemical. It consists of an α-carbon atom that is covalently bonded to four groups.
a hydrogen atom
an amino group (-NH2)
a carboxyl group (-COOH)
a variable R group
Every amino acid has at least one amino group (-NH2) and one carboxyl group (-COOH), except proline.
Gene expression and biochemistry
These are the proteinogenic amino acids, which are the building blocks for proteins. They are produced by cellular machinery coded for in the genetic code of any organism.
* UAG is normally the amber stop codon, but encodes pyrrolysine if a PYLIS element is present.
** UGA is normally the opal (or umber) stop codon, but encodes selenocysteine if a SECIS element is present.
† The stop codon is not an amino acid, but is included for completeness.
†† UAG and UGA do not always act as stop codons (see above).
‡ An essential amino acid cannot be synthesized in humans. It must be supplied in the diet. Conditionally essential amino acids are not normally required in the diet, but must be supplied to populations which do not make enough of it.
To these α-amino acids further in biosynthesis processes appearing non-essential ones are structurally (here by using SMILES notation) related:
OC(=O)C(N)–
├ H .. 🅖 Glycine
├ C .. 🅐 Alanine
│├ C .. 2-Aminobutanoic acid
││├ C .. Norvaline
│││├ –2H .. 🅟 Proline (Dehydronorvaline)
│││├ C .. Norleucine
││││└ N .. 🅚 Lysine
││││ └ C(=O)C1N=CCC1C .. 🅞 Pyrrolysine
│││└ NC(=N)N .. 🅡 Arginine
││├ C(=O)N .. 🅠 Glutamine
││├ C(=O)O .. 🅔 Glutamic acid
││├ O .. Homoserine
││└ S .. Homocysteine
││ └ C .. 🅜 Methionine
│├ C(C)C .. 🅛 Leucine
│├ C(=O)N .. 🅝 Asparagine
│├ C(=O)O .. 🅓 Aspartic acid
│├ C1=CNC=N1 .. 🅗 Histidine
│├ c1ccccc1 .. 🅕 Phenylalanine
│├ c1ccc(O)cc1 .. 🅨 Tyrosine
│├ C1=CNc2ccccc12 .. 🅦 Tryptophan
│├ C1=CNc2ccc(O)cc12 .. Oxitriptan
│├ c(cc1I)cc(I)c1-O-c2cc(I)c(O)c(I)c2 .. Thyroxine
│├ O .. 🅢 Serine
│├ S .. 🅒 Cysteine
│└ [SeH] .. 🅤 Selenocysteine
├ C(C)C .. 🅥 Valine
├ C(C)O .. 🅣 Threonine
└ C(C)CC .. 🅘 Isoleucine
References |
30393 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlightenment | Enlightenment | Enlightenment has several meanings. Some of them are given below:
A concept in philosophy and psychology.
Nirvana, the goal of Buddhism
Moksha, a religious concept of Hinduism
Age of Enlightenment, a period in European history
Enlightenment (Window Manager), A window manager for Linux distributions |
30395 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscarriage | Miscarriage | A miscarriage is the natural death of an embryo or fetus in the womb, before it is old enough to live on its own, outside the mother. The medical words for a miscarriage are spontaneous abortion. ("Spontaneous" means something that a person did not expect to happen. An "abortion" is when a pregnancy ends early, before birth.)
Among women who know they are pregnant, about 15-20% have miscarriages. (This means that up to 1 in every 5 women who know they are pregnant miscarries.) It is the most common complication (serious problem) that happens in early pregnancy in humans.
Miscarriage vs. Stillbirth
In the United States, if a fetus dies after it is 20 weeks old, its death is no longer called a miscarriage. Its death is called a stillbirth, a fetal demise, or a fetal death. ("Demise" means "death.") Different countries have different ways of defining the difference between a miscarriage and a fetal death. For example:
Causes of miscarriage
Nobody knows all of the reasons why a woman may miscarry. However, some common causes include:
Genetic problems, like aneuploidy
Problems with the mother's uterus or hormones
An infection somewhere in the mother's reproductive system
Tissue rejection (where the mother's body reacts to the fetus like it is something that does not belong in her body)
Serious physical trauma (injury, like a bad car accident
Very rarely, medical procedures that are used to diagnose problems with the fetus can cause miscarriage. This happens in only about 1% of cases (1 out of 100) when a woman has had chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis)
The most common causes of miscarriage change depending on what trimester the mother is in. (Each trimester lasts about three months.)
First trimester (Weeks 1-12)
Most miscarriages happen during the first trimester. Some studies say that two-thirds (two out of three) to three-quarters (three out of four) of all miscarriages happen during this trimester. About 30% to 40% (3 to 4 in every 10) of all fertilized eggs miscarry, often before a woman knows she is pregnant.
In more than half of embryos miscarried in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, the embryo has chromosomes that are not normal. These chromosomal problems may happen because of problems as the embryo grows and its cells make copies of themselves. It is also possible for chromosomal problems to happen because of a problem with a parent's genes. However, this is more likely to happen in women who have had other miscarriages, or if one of the parents has a child or other relatives with birth defects. Genetic problems are more likely to happen with older parents; this may be why miscarriages are more common in older women.
Another cause may be the mother not having enough progesterone. If a woman is diagnosed with low progesterone levels in the second half of her menstrual cycle (the luteal phase), she may be prescribed progesterone, to take during the first trimester of her pregnancy. However, when a woman might already be miscarrying, there is no evidence that first-trimester progesterone pills decrease the risk of having a miscarriage. Scientists have even questioned whether problems with the luteal phase really can cause miscarriages.
Second trimester (Weeks 13-27)
Common causes of miscarriage during the second trimester are:
Uterine malformation (when the mother's uterus is not shaped normally)
Growths in the mother's uterus (these are called fibroids)
Problems with the mother's cervix
These problems can also cause premature birth (when a baby is born earlier than expected). One study found that 19% of second-trimester miscarriages were caused by problems with the umbilical cord. The fetus gets blood and oxygen through the umbilical cord. Every part of the body needs blood and oxygen to survive. If the baby cannot get enough oxygen because of a problem with the cord, it can die. Problems with the placenta may also cause second-trimester miscarriages. Nutrients and blood pass through the placenta in order to get from the mother to the umbilical cord. The placenta also helps filter out some things that could hurt the fetus. If there is a problem with the placenta, the fetus could die because it did not get enough nutrients and oxygen, or because the placenta did not filter out harmful things.
How is miscarriage diagnosed?
Miscarriage is usually diagnosed when a pregnant woman notices that she is having certain symptoms and goes to see a doctor. The most common symptom of a coming miscarriage is bleeding during early pregnancy. The woman may not have any pain.
Usually, if a pregnant woman is bleeding or having pain, an ultrasound should be done. The ultrasound can show that the fetus's heart is not beating, which means that the fetus has miscarried. If this happens, special tests should be done to make sure the woman does not have an ectopic pregnancy, which can kill a woman.
Not all light bleeding during early pregnancy means a woman is having a miscarriage. But any woman having light bleeding during pregnancy should see her doctor. If the bleeding is heavy, the woman is having a lot of pain, or she has a fever, she should go to an Emergency Room or call an ambulance to take her to the hospital.
If a woman has bleeding during her pregnancy, she may be diagnosed with a "threatened miscarriage." In the past, if a doctor thought a pregnancy might miscarry in the future, they would suggest bed rest for the mother (lying in bed for most of the time). Today, most doctors and scientists think that bed rest does not help.
How is miscarriage treated?
There are a few different types of miscarriage:
In a complete miscarriage, the fetus has totally left the mother's body. So has the placenta. There are no pieces of fetal or placental tissue left in the uterus.
In a missed miscarriage, the fetus has miscarried but is still inside the mother's body. This often happens when the mother does not realize she had a miscarriage (which is common when the pregnancy is very early on).
In an incomplete miscarriage, parts of the fetus or the placenta are still in the uterus.
The treatment is different for each kind of miscarriage.
Complete miscarriage
If a woman has a complete miscarriage, she usually does not need any medical treatment.
Incomplete or missed miscarriage
If a woman has an incomplete miscarriage or a missed miscarriage, there are three different choices for treatment:
Watchful Waiting means that a doctor will keep checking on the woman, but will not give any treatment unless a problem happens. With watchful waiting, most of these miscarriages will pass naturally in two to six weeks. This means that the tissue left in the woman will leave her body, through the vagina, without any treatment.
With no treatment (watchful waiting), most of these cases (65–80%) will pass naturally within two to six weeks. This path avoids the side effects and complications possible from medications and surgery, but increases the risk of mild bleeding, need for unplanned surgical treatment, and incomplete miscarriage.
Medical Management means that medicine is given. Usually, a medicine called misoprostol is given. Misoprostol makes the uterus contract (get tighter) to push out whatever is inside. In about 95% of cases (95 out of 100), the fetal or placental tissue that is left in the uterus will leave the woman's body within a few days.
Surgery is the fastest way to complete a miscarriage. It also makes bleeding less heavy and makes it not last as long. Also, the woman will not have to go through the physical pain of the miscarriage. Most often, one of two surgeries are used to complete the miscarriage:
Vacuum aspiration, sometimes called dilation and evacuation (D&E). In a D&E, a tube attached to a pump sucks the tissue left in the uterus out through the cervix.
Dilation and curettage (D&C). In a D&C, the cervix is widened, and the tissue left in the uterus is scraped and scooped out ("curettage"). Compared to giving medications, D&C has a higher risk of causing problems. For example, the cervix or uterus may be injured. Because of this, some women prefer not to have a D&C because they want to have children in the future and want to lower the chances of problems during future pregnancies. However, if a woman has had more than one miscarriage, D&C is the most convenient way to get tissue samples, which can be studied to see if a reason for the miscarriages can be found.
Which treatment should be used?
The choice of which treatment to use depends on many things, including what the mother wants. However, there are guidelines that doctors use to suggest what treatment to use.
Missed Miscarriage
The most important things that help doctors decide what to do are the age and size of the embryo, and the size of the gestational sac (the fluid around the embryo.
For embryos that were less than 7 weeks old, and the smallest gestational sacs, watchful waiting is the best choice, because the embryo will often leave the mother's body naturally.
For embryos that were 7–9 weeks old with larger sizes and gestational sacs, medicine is suggested, but either watchful waiting or surgery might be used depending on the situation.
For the embryos that were over 9 weeks old, with the largest gestational sacs, surgery is suggested because the mother is likely to have a lot of pain and bleeding when she miscarries.
Incomplete Miscarriages
For an incomplete miscarriage, the size of the tissue left in the uterus is the most important thing that helps doctors decide what to do. Ultrasound is used to find out how large the tissue is.
If the tissue left is smaller than 15mm (millimeters): Watchful waiting is usually the best choice because it is likely that the tissue will leave the mother's body on its own.
If the tissue is between 15 and 20mm: Medical or expectant management is suggested. Surgery is chosen only if there is a specific reason why the mother needs it.
If the tissue is over 35 to 50mm, these things are suggested:
Giving misoprostol to make the tissue left in the uterus leave the mother's body on its own more quickly.
Having the mother stay in the hospital to be watched for a few hours or overnight. She should stay until most of the tissue left in her uterus has passed, and she has stopped bleeding.
If misoprostol has not worked, surgery may be needed.
Risk factors
A risk factor for miscarriage is something that makes a woman more likely to miscarry. There are many risk factors for miscarriage. For example:
The age of the mother. Women older than age 35 have a higher risk of miscarriage than younger women. At age 35, a woman has about a 20 percent risk. At age 40, the risk is about 40 percent. And at age 45, it's about 80 percent.
Multiple pregnancies (pregnancies with more than one fetus, like twins and triplets). The more fetuses in the womb, the higher the risk.
If the mother has certain diseases, like:
Diabetes, especially the mother needs insulin and her diabetes is still not controlled well.
Hypothyroidism, especially when the hypothyroidism is very bad.
Some infections, like HIV, rubella, malaria, and some sexually transmitted diseases like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.
If the mother or father smokes tobacco (cigarettes).
If the mother drinks alcohol while she is pregnant, especially if she drinks often, or drinks a lot at once. The United Kingdom's National Health Service says that drinking alcohol becomes a risk factor if a mother drinks more than one glass of wine, more than one shot of whiskey, or more than two-thirds of a pint of beer a week. Most doctors say that no amount of alcohol during pregnancy is safe.
If the mother uses illegal drugs, like cocaine, while she is pregnant.
If the mother is injured, exposed to certain poisons, or is using an IUD when she gets pregnant.
Problems with the mother's uterus or cervix.
Some types of food poisoning.
Further reading
Congenital disabilities that can cause miscarriage
Ultrasound (used to diagnose miscarriage)
Dilation and curettage
Dilation and evacuation
Stillbirth
References
Abortion |
30397 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan%20dynasty | Yuan dynasty | The Yuan dynasty was a Mongol dynasty that ruled Mongolia and China from 1271 to 1368. Before this dynasty, China was ruled by the Song dynasty. After the Yuan dynasty, the Ming dynasty ruled China. Genghis Khan and his army of Mongols conquered many parts of China. His grandson Kublai Khan added more parts of China to his kingdom. He founded the Yuan dynasty in 1271.
In the year of 1206, Genghis Khan ruled the Mobi tribes(a part of a country) to establish the Mongol country at the Onon River. Jin was the main race in Mongolia, but Jin and Xia were in decline, Mongolia had attacked the Western Xia and Jin in August 1227, and Jin lost, so Mongolia occupied the whole north of China in March 1234.
In 1259, Möngke Khan died after the Song Yuan dynasty war. His brothers all wanted to be king. His fourth brother, Kublai, and his seventh brother, Ali Khan, fought to rule the Mobi tribes. And finally in 1264, Kublai won. Kublai made the name "DaYuan" in 1271 and proclaimed the Yuan Dynasty and said its founder was his grandfather Genghis. In 1276, Yuan ruled southern of Song, so yuan ruled the whole China in this year. In 1279, the Kublai subdued southern Song dynasty. The Yuan dynasty ruled China and brought different parts of China together that had been split since the late Tang dynasty. They were the first foreign dynasty to rule just about all of China.
For centuries, most of what the West knew about China came from the book by Marco Polo about his visit to Kublai's empire. The Yuan dynasty ended in 1368 when the Ming dynasty took control.
Related pages
History of China
References
Notes
Chinese dynasties
1271 establishments
1368 disestablishments
13th-century establishments in Asia
14th-century disestablishments in Asia |
30398 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20India | History of India | The History of India covers thousands of years and discusses many diverse languages, cultures, periods, and dynasties. Indian civilization began in the Indus Valley and some literature survives from that time. More is known of the time after the Persian Empire conquered India.
Stone age
Paleolithic era
Remains (stone tools and a skull) in central India show presence of an early species of humans, Homo erectus. Archeologists think they lived in India between 200,000 and 500,000 years ago. This period is known as the paleolithic era.
The earliest archaeological site in the subcontinent is the paleolithic hominid site in the Soan River valley. Soanian sites are found in the Sivalik region across India, Pakistan and Nepal.
Mesolithic
Modern humans (Homo sapiens) settled in the Indian subcontinent at least 70,000 years ago. At that time the last ice age had just ended and climate became warm and dry. First settlements of human beings in India are found in Bhimbetka, a place near Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh, India). Mesolithic people lived on hunting, fishing and food gathering.
Neolithic
Neolithic agriculture sprang up in the Indus Valley region around 7000 years ago, in the lower Gangetic valley around 5000 years ago. Later, in South India, agriculture spread southwards and also into Malwa around 3800 years ago.
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age in the Indian subcontinent began around 5300 years ago with the early Indus Valley Civilisation, which included cities such as Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Lothal, and Kalibanga. The civilization was based on the Indus River and its tributaries, extending into the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley, the Ganges-Yamuna Doab, Gujarat, and southeastern Afghanistan. Today, the civilization's old territory is split between India and Pakistan. In Pakistan, the provinces of Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan overlap with ex-Indus Valley territory. In India, the provinces Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan also share territory with the Indus Valley Civilization.
The first cities on the Indian subcontinent were part of the Indus Valley Civilisation. They made the Indus Valley Civilization similar to early Mesopotamian civilisations and Ancient Egypt. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley, the Harappans, developed new techniques in metallurgy and handicraft (carneol products, seal carving), and produced copper, bronze, lead, and tin.
The mature Indus civilization flourished from about 4600 to 3900 years ago. The civilization included urban centers such as Dholavira, Kalibanga, Ropar, Rakhigarhi, and Lothal in modern-day India, and Harappa, Ganeriwala, and Mohenjo-daro in modern-day Pakistan. The cities were built of brick, with roadside drainage system and multistoried houses.
During the later period of this civilisation, signs of a gradual decline began to emerge. By about 3700 years ago, most of the cities were abandoned. However, the Indus Valley Civilisation did not disappear suddenly. Some parts of the Indus Civilization may have survived in the smaller villages and isolated farms.
Vedic civilization
The Vedas are the oldest teachings of India, though the transmission of these teachings was mainly oral until around the 5th century. There are four Vedas, and the first one is the Rigveda. As per Rigveda the whole regions in which the Aryans were first settled in India was called as the Land of 7 Rivers or SaptaSindhawa .The other three are Samveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda. The Vedas have verses in praise of gods and others. They also have other information. At that time, the society was pastoral.
After the Rigveda, society became more agricultural. People became divided into four classes depending on the type of the work. Brahmins were priests and teachers. Kshatriyas were the warriors. Vaishyas did agriculture, trading and commerce. The shudras were the general working class. A common misconception is that the Vaishyas and Shudras were generally looked down upon, and treated badly by Brahmins and Kshatriyas, which was true for the later part of the Vedic age. But was untrue for the earlier part. This type of social division is called the Varna system in Hinduism.
During the period of the Vedic civilization, there were many Aryan clans and tribes. Some of them combined and became bigger like the kingdom of the Kurus.
Persian and Greek invasion
Around the 5th century BC, north-western parts of India faced invasion by the Achaemenid Empire and by the Greeks of Alexander the Great. A Persian way of thinking, administration and lifestyle came to India. This influence became bigger during the Mauryan dynasty.
From around 520 BC, the Achaemenid Empire’s Darius I ruled large part of northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
Alexander later conquered these areas. Achaemenid rule lasted about 186 years. In modern times, there are still traces of this Greek heritage to be found in parts of northwestern India.
Greco-Buddhism (also spelled as Græco-Buddhism) is a combination of the cultures of Greece and Buddhism. This mixture of cultures continued to develop for 800 years, from the 4th century BC until the 5th century AD. The area where it happened is modern day’s Afghanistan and Pakistan. This mixture of cultures influenced Mahayana Buddhism and spread of Buddhism to China, Korea, Japan and Tibet.
The Magadha empire
The Magadha formed one of the sixteen kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganges. Its first capital was Rajagriha (modern Rajgir) then Pataliputra (modern Patna).
Magadha expanded to include most of Bihar and Bengal, followed by much of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Odhishaa. The ancient kingdom of Magadha is mentioned in Jain and Buddhist texts. It was also mentioned in the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, . The state of Magadha, possibly a tribal kingdom, is recorded in Vedic texts much earlier than 600 BC.
Magadha played an important role in the development of Jainism and Buddhism, and two of India's greatest empires, the Maurya Empire and Gupta Empire, originated from Magadha. These empires saw advances in ancient India's science, mathematics, astronomy, religion, and philosophy. This was the Indian "Golden Age".
Early middle kingdoms
Satavahana empire
The Satavahanas came to power from around 230 BC. They are also called Andhras. For about 450 years, many Satavahanas kings ruled most parts of the southern and central India.
Western Kshatrapas
For about 350 years, from the years 35-405, Saka kings ruled India. They ruled the western and central parts of India. These areas are in today's states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. There were 27 independent rulers, collectively known as the Kshatrapas.
Saka kings ruled India along aside the Kushan kings and the Satvahana kings. Kushan kings ruled the northern parts of India. Satvahana kings ruled the central and some of the southern parts of India.
Indo-Scythians
Indo-Scythians came to India from Siberia passing through several places like Bactria, Sogdiana, Kashmir and Arachosia. Their coming to India continued from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century BC. They defeated the Indo-Greek rulers of India, and ruled India from Gandhara to Mathura.
Gupta dynasty
The Gupta dynasty reigned from around 320 to 550 AD. The Gupta Empire covered most of North-central India, and what is now western India and Bangladesh. Gupta society was ordered in accordance with Hindu beliefs. The time of the Gupta Empire is seen as the Golden Age of India. Historians place the Gupta dynasty alongside the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Roman Empire as a model of a classical civilization.
Hun invasion
By the first half of the fifth century, a group of people known as Huns had settled in Afghanistan. They became powerful. They made Bamiyan as their capital city. They started attacking northwestern parts of India. Skandagupta, an emperor of the Gupta dynasty fought back and kept them away for some years. At last the Huns won and could enter most parts of northern India. With this the Gupta dynasty came to an end. Most of north India became badly affected by this invasion. However, Huns could not go up to the Deccan Plateau and the southern parts of India. These parts remained peaceful. No one knows definitely about the fate of Huns after the end of the sixth century. Some historians believe that they mixed up fully with the Indian people of that time.
Late Middle Kingdoms
In the history of India, Middle kingdoms of India covers a period beginning from around the 6th-7th century. In South India, Chola kings ruled Tamil Nadu, and Chera kings ruled Kerala. They also had trading relationships with the Roman Empire to the west and Southeast Asia to the east. In north India, Rajputs ruled in many kingdoms. Some of those kingdoms continued for hundreds of years.
Harsha's empire
After the collapse of the Gupta Empire, it was Harsha of Kanauj (a place now in Uttar Pradesh state of India) who united the northern parts of India in one kingdom. After his death several dynasties tried to control north India and ruled from time to time from 7th century till the 9th century as described in some of the sections below. Some of these dynasties were the Pratiharas of Malwa and later Kannauj; the Palas of Bengal, and the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan.
The Pratiharas, Palas, and Rashtrakutas
The Pratihara kings ruled kingdoms in Rajasthan and some other parts of northern India from the 6th century to the 11th century. The Palas ruled the eastern part of India. They ruled over areas which are now parts of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and the west Bengal, and of Bangladesh. The Palas ruled from 8th century to the 12th century. In the southern parts of India, Rashtrakutas of Malakheda (Karnataka) ruled the Deccan during the 8th-10th centuries after the end of Chalukya rule. All these three dynasties always tried to control the entire north India. During all this time lasting for three to four hundred years, the Chola kings were growing in power and influence.
The Rajputs
In the 6th century several Rajput kingdoms came into being in Rajasthan. Many other Rajput kings ruled in different parts of north India. Some of these kingdoms continue to survive for hundreds of years during different periods of the history of India.
Vijayanagar empire
In 1336, two brothers named Harihara and Bukka founded the Vijayanagara Empire in an area which is now in Karnataka state of India. The most famous king of this empire was Krishnadevaraya. In 1565, rulers of this empire were defeated in a battle. But, the empire continued for about next one hundred years.
A number of kingdoms of south India had trading relations with the Arabs in the west, and with Indonesia and other countries of the east.
Islamic sultanates
Islam spread across the Indian subcontinent over a period of 500 years. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established sultanates in Delhi. In the early 16th century, descendants of Genghis Khan swept across the Khyber Pass and established the Mughal Empire, which lasted for 200 years. From the 11th to the 15th centuries, southern India was dominated by Hindu Chola and Vijayanagar Dynasties. During this time, the two systems—the prevailing Hindu and Muslim—mingled, left lasting cultural influences on each other.
Delhi sultanate.
The Delhi sultanate was a Muslim kingdom based mostly in Delhi. It ruled large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526) Five dynasties ruled over Delhi Sultanate. They are the mamaluk, khilji, tughlaq, sayyid and the lodi dynasties. The mamluk dynasty was started by Qutbuddin Aibak. He was a slave and thus this dynasty is also called Slave Dynasty. Qutubuddin Aibak also made Qutub minar. His son in law, Iltutmish became the ruler after Qutubuddin aibak. He completed the qutub minar.
The Kingdom of Mysore
The Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom of southern India. People known as Wodeyars founded this kingdom in the year 1400. Later on, Hyder Ali and his son, Tipu Sultan, fought with the Wodeyar rulers. They also fought with the forces of the British Raj, but were defeated. Under the British Raj, Wodeyar kings continued to rule a large part of Karnataka. When India became independent on 15th August 1947, Wodeyars’ kingdom chose to become a part of India.
The Punjab
Guru Nanak founded Sikhism and his followers were called Sikhs. The power of Sikhs continued to increase in the northwestern part of India. The Sikhs became rulers of large part of the northwestern India. This is called the Sikh Kingdom or Empire. Ranjit Singh was the most famous ruler of the Sikh Empire. He expanded the borders of the Sikh Empire and at the time of his death, this empire covered areas of Punjab, and present day Kashmir and parts of Pakistan. The Sikhs and forces of the British Raj fought many wars. Till Maharaja Ranjit Singh was alive, Britishers were not able to cross the Sutlej river. After his death, the they took over the entire Punjab after battles with disorganised Sikh troops.
Durrani Empire
For a short period, a person named Ahmed Shah Durrani the founder of Afghanistan ruled some parts of northwestern India. Historians have named his rule as the Durrani Empire. In 1748, he crossed the Indus River and attacked Lahore, now a part of Pakistan. He also attacked many parts of Punjab. Then, he attacked Delhi. At that time, Delhi was the capital of the Mughal Empire. He took many valuable things from India. This included the Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan and the famous diamond named Kohinoor.
Colonial era
Colonial period means the time when Western countries ruled India. Western countries also ruled many other countries of Asia, Africa, and South America.
Company Raj
Starting in the 1600s the British East India Company began a very profitable trading empire in India, centered in Bengal. In the mid-1700s Robert Clive (1725-1774) led the Company to an expanded influence in India with victories over the French, the Bengalis, and the Mughals. With a victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 Clive became the first British Governor of Bengal.
In the hundred years after the battle, the East India Company conquered the entire subcontinent of India. They did this by trade, political intrigue, and direct military action. The British were very efficient administrators of their domains. But in 1857 the Indian Mutiny almost destroyed the Company's rule of India. Afterward the British government took control away from the Company. In 1858, India became a part of the British Empire and Queen Victoria became the empress of India.
The British
For ninety years the British ruled India and Burma as a unified territory under the British king or queen. It was divided into eight provinces each with a governor. These provinces were Burma, Bengal, Madras, Bombay, UP, Central Provinces, Punjab, and Assam. A Governor-General (Viceroy) in Calcutta was head of the government.
The way the British conquered India was often divide and rule. In the end, many kingdoms were defeated by the British and the riches taken. For example, many of the Royal Crown Jewels were taken from previous kingdoms in India- including the Koh-I-Noor diamond (one of the worlds largest diamonds) and also stole many other large diamonds and gold.
During famines and floods many people died because the government did not help enough. Any Indian not able to pay the British taxes could be forced into prison and/or publicly beaten. Political opponents were jailed and sometimes killed for speaking out against colonial rule. After taking much of India's natural resources for hundreds of years, England was criticized for not protecting Indians during the partition of India and Pakistan. During the partition of India and Pakistan, millions of Indians and Pakistanis died.
The British also did good things. They built railroads, telegraphs and telephones, improved trade, standardized laws, and water supplies. Many of these things were done to help improve commerce in India and taxes provided to England. They created the Indian Civil Service for administering rules and regulations. They also tried to eliminate practices like burning widows.
The British ruled India primarily for the economic benefit of Britain. India produced cheap raw materials for British industry. Indians had to buy British manufactured goods and profits went back to Britain.
Independence
Many people in India wanted to be free from British rule. The struggle for independence was long and difficult. Many people protested against the British, and the British tortured many. They had long promoted divisions among the various Indian rulers and religions. The most important leader of the Hindu majority was Mohandas K. Gandhi. Gandhi believed in a non-violent opposition towards the British.
Because Hindus and Muslims fought each other, India was divided into two countries: Pakistan and India. Pakistan was also divided, decades later. India won its independence, along with Muslim Pakistan, and became a free country on August 15, 1947. Pakistan won independence on 14 August, some hours before India.
Republic of India
On 15 August 1947, British Indian Empire was partitioned into two countries, India (Hindustan) and Pakistan. With this the British Raj in the Indian subcontinent ended. On 26 January 1950, Hindustan adopted a constitution. From that day, Hindustanis became the Republic of India or Indians.
During last 60 years, Republic of India has seen different stages in its national life. Some of them are as follows:
It fought three wars against Pakistan, and one war against China. Wars with Pakistan were fought in 1947, 1965, and 1971. In 1999, it had a limited skirmish in Kargil. The war with China was fought in 1962. In 1971, the Republic of India also helped Bangladesh in its freedom struggle.
Under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru (the first Prime Minister of India), India had adopted a socialist economy. Some economists think it was a mixed economy. In a mixed economy, socialism and capitalism continue together. During this period, lasting for several years up to end-1980s, India could rapidly develop its infrastructure, science and technology.
By the early 1990s, India had changed its economic policies. It started several reforms to attract more capital from other countries. Local businessmen and industrialists also got more freedom to carry out their activities.
In 1974, India had already detonated its first nuclear bomb. It repeated the same in 1998. With this, it became a nuclear power.
Presently (), India is currently the fifth largest economy in terms of gross GDP. It is the 4th largest economy of the world when accounting for purchasing power parity. Some economists think that in coming decades, India’s economy will become still larger.
Related pages
Ancient India
History of Manipur
History of Pakistan
Bangladesh
India
References
More reading
Allan, J. T. Wolseley Haig, and H. H. Dodwell, The Cambridge Shorter History of India (1934)
Majumdar, R. C., H.C. Raychaudhuri, and Kaukinkar Datta. An Advanced History of India London: Macmillan. 1960.
Smith, Vincent. The Oxford History of India in(1981)
Other websites
A Concise History of India
A Timeline of Indian History
Indian History Timeline |
30399 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1250s | 1250s |
Births
1254 – Marco Polo
Deaths
1250 – Fibonacci |
30400 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Life%20and%20Times%20of%20Michael%20K | The Life and Times of Michael K | Life and Times of Michael K is a novel written by J. M. Coetzee in 1983. It won a Booker Prize.
The story is about a simple gardener called Michael K, trying to run away from South Africa in the Apartheid Era.
Some people think there is a link between Michael K and Josef K. in The Trial by Franz Kafka.
Novels
1983 books
Booker Prize winners
English-language novels |
30407 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tort | Tort | Tort law is the part of law for most harms that are not either criminal or based on a contract. Tort law helps people to make claims for compensation (repayment) when someone hurts them or hurts their property. For example, a car accident where one driver hurts another driver because he or she was not paying attention might be a tort. If a person is hurt by someone else, he or she can sue in court.
Many torts are accidents, like car accidents or slippery floors that make people fall down and get hurt. These are called negligent torts. But some torts are done on purpose. These are called intentional torts. For example, if one person punches another person in the nose, it might be an intentional tort called battery.
Many torts cause physical harm to people. Some torts cause damage to property, like a broken window. Some torts can harm other things, like someone's reputation or a business.
The kinds of torts this article talks about are a part of the common law. The common law is found in England and former British colonies, such as the United States of America. Different laws are found in civil law countries such as France or Germany. In those countries people usually use the word delict instead of tort, but they mean very similar things.
In general
Torts are what happens when one person (or organization) injures another. The person or organization that causes the injury is known as a tortfeasor. The person who is injured is often called the victim.
The victim may sue the tortfeasor. The people or organizations on each side of a lawsuit are called the parties. In a lawsuit, the victim is called the plaintiff. The tortfeasor is called the defendant.
Usually, the plaintiff in a lawsuit is asking the court to make the defendant pay money to make up for the harm that the defendant caused. For example, the money that the plaintiff asks for might pay for the plaintiff's medical bills if he or she was hurt in an accident. Money that the court orders the defendant to pay is called damages. For some torts, especially ones done on purpose (intentional torts), the plaintiff might also ask the court to punish the defendant by making him or her pay extra money. That extra money is sometimes called punitive damages.
Sometimes a plaintiff also asks the court to order the defendant to stop doing something, like polluting the air or water. An order to stop doing something is called an injunction (in the United States it is sometimes called a restraining order).
Tort law or 'The Law of Torts' is a body of laws that is applied by civil court proceedings to compensate people who have suffered harm due to the wrongful act of another.
Sometimes the same act can be both a tort and a crime. For instance, stealing someone else's property might be a criminal offense, but it is also a tort against the person who owns the property. Similarly, punching somebody in the nose can constitute both the crime and tort of battery.
Kinds of torts
Intentional torts
When a defendant causes an injury on purpose, that injury is an intentional tort. Sometimes, an injury can be an intentional tort if the defendant knows it will happen, even if the defendant does not want it to happen. Intentional torts include hitting people and saying things about them that are not true.
Unintentional torts
Unintentional torts are accidents. They usually happen because someone was not being careful. When someone is not careful, it is called negligence or recklessness.
An example of negligence is driving a car while not paying attention to the road. In a case of negligence, the court figures out what happened and decides whether the defendant was careful enough. It orders the defendant to pay money only if the defendant was not careful enough.
Recklessness occurs when somebody knows that a substantial risk may result to the lives and safety of others as a result of his or her actions, but acts with indifference to the safety of others. An example of a reckless act is shooting a gun randomly toward an occupied building. Although there is no intent to hurt anybody inside of the building, the action creates a significant risk that somebody could be injured or killed.
Strict liability
In some kinds of cases, it does not matter whether the defendant was careful or not. This is called strict liability or absolute liability. For example, in the United States, if someone buys a soda can and it explodes because it was manufactured badly, the manufacturer will probably have to pay the victim money even if the court finds that the defendant was as careful as it could be.
Physical torts
Physical torts are injuries to a person's body, such as hitting them or making them sick.
Abstract torts
Abstract torts are injuries to a person's mind, reputation, or property. A person's mind or reputation can be injured by saying things about them that are not true. A person's property can be injured by taking it from them without permission or saying that it belongs to someone else.
Torts involving people
Torts that involve people include hitting them, saying things about them that are not true, and making them stay in one place when they want to leave. Hitting someone is called battery. Saying things about someone that are not true is called slander, and writing things about someone that are not true is called libel, both of which are forms of defamation. When a police officer takes a person to prison when he or she is not supposed to, that is called false imprisonment or false arrest.
Torts involving property
Torts involving property include walking on someone else's property without permission, taking someone else's property without permission, or damaging someone else's property. Walking on someone else's property without permission is called trespassing. Taking someone else's property without permission is called stealing or .
References
Legal terms |
30411 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawsuit | Lawsuit | A lawsuit occurs when two people or organizations ask a court or judge to solve a disagreement or argument. The two (or more) participants in a lawsuit are called the parties. Each party is usually represented by a lawyer. That means that the lawyer will talk to the judge for the party.
The party that starts the lawsuit is called the plaintiff because they are complaining about something the other side has done. This is also called "suing", or to "sue". The other party is called the defendant because it must defend what it has done. Both sides or parties will show evidence or proof that they are right and the other side or party is wrong. The parties may also ask witnesses questions about what the argument or disagreement is about.
After both parties have shown evidence and asked witnesses questions, the judge or jury will decide which party is right. Then the court will do something to make the winning party happy again. The court might make the losing party pay the winner money, or it might make the losing party stop doing something that made the winner unhappy.
The conduct of a lawsuit is called litigation. The plaintiffs and defendants are called litigants and the attorneys representing them are called litigators. The term litigation may also refer to criminal trial.
References
Law |
30415 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamber%20music | Chamber music | Chamber music means music written for small groups of instruments. A “chamber” is a “room” (from the French word “chambre”). Usually the word “chamber” in English means a room in a large house or castle. In the days when people with big houses or castles kept their own musicians, they might have their own private orchestra which played in the large hall. Sometimes there would be a concert in a small chamber. This was called “chamber music”.
Chamber music can be any group of instruments from two up to nine. Each player will be playing something different from the others (“one to a part”). Unlike an orchestra where there may be many violins all playing the same notes.
The word “chamber” is also used for a “chamber orchestra” meaning: a small orchestra. By contrast: a large orchestra is often called a “symphony orchestra”. A small choir may be called a “chamber choir”. But these examples are not usually thought of as “chamber music”.
Words for the size of groups
These words are used to show how many people are playing. They can also be used for groups of singers (vocal solo, duet etc.):
a solo is just one player (or singer). This is not usually called chamber music.
a duet or duo is a piece for two instruments. The word “duo” usually means a piece in which the two parts are of equal importance. Violin sonatas, flute sonatas etc. usually have piano accompaniment but are not normally called “duets”. Piano duets are for two players at one piano.
a trio is a piece for three instruments. Piano trios are pieces for piano, violin and cello. Sometimes trios may be called after one of the instruments, for example: Brahms’ “Horn Trio” is for French horn, violin and piano, not for three horns!
a quartet is a piece for four instruments. String quartets are the most popular form of chamber music. They are for two violins, viola and cello. A piano quartet would be for piano, violin, viola and cello.
a quintet is a piece for five instruments. A string quintet can be for two violins, two violas and cello (e.g. Mozart’s string quintets) or it can be for two violins, viola and two cellos (e.g. the one by Schubert). A piano quintet is for piano and string quartet (although Schubert’s Trout Quintet is unusual: it is for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass).
a sextet is a piece for six instruments. String sextets are normally for two violins, two violas and two cellos. Poulenc’s Sextet is for piano and five wind instruments.
a septet is quite unusual and could be for any combination of instruments. Beethoven, Saint-Saëns and Ravel all wrote septets, but for different combinations.
an octet is for eight instruments. Schubert’s Octet is for clarinet, horn, bassoon, string quartet and double bass. Mendelssohn’s Octet is for two string quartets.
a nonet is quite rare. Louis Spohr wrote a nonet for violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn.
History
Chamber music for instruments became popular as something different from big orchestras. The orchestra developed in the 17th century and so did chamber music. Composers wrote trio sonatas which were for two high instruments (e.g. two violins) and a continuo accompaniment (usually harpsichord and cello). Arcangelo Corelli and Johann Sebastian Bach wrote many trio sonatas.
Joseph Haydn wrote lots of string quartets. He made this combination popular. Mozart and Beethoven also wrote some very great string quartets. The last ones that Beethoven wrote were very difficult to play and to understand, but composers of the 19th century like Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Brahms were inspired by them. In the twentieth century some of the best string quartets were written by Bartók and Shostakovich.
Playing chamber music
It is great fun to play chamber music because each player is an individual. It is like having a conversation in music. There is no conductor, so each musician has to listen carefully to the others and learn to play together as a small team. The musicians can also hear their own playing better than they can in an orchestra. Some living composers have written a lot of music for young players who are not very advanced. Some of Mozart’s earlier string quartets are not too difficult and make an excellent introduction to chamber music playing.
Example
Music genres |
30419 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefano%20Mei | Stefano Mei | Stefano Mei (born 3 February 1963 in La Spezia) was an Italian long distance runner in several international athletics (also called track and field) events.
Mei won the silver medal in the 5,000 metre race, and the gold medal in the 10,000 metre race during the 1986 European Championships in Athletics in Stuttgart, Germany. Mei also won a bronze medal in the 10,000 metre race during the 1990 European Championships in Athletics, in Split, Yugoslavia (now Croatia). He competed in the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics.
References
1986 European Championship results
1990 European Championship results
1963 births
Living people
1984 Summer Olympics
1988 Summer Olympics
Italian athletes
Italian Olympians
Liguria |
30423 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum%20in%20Bielsko-Bia%C5%82a | Museum in Bielsko-Biała | The Bielsko-Biała Museum is a museum at Bielsko Castle, Poland. Since the 1970s there are three local branches: the Julian Fałat Museum, the Museum of Technology and Textile Industry and the Weaver's House Museum.
The castle
The castle was built in the 14th century by the Piast family, the rulers of the Cieszyn Duchy in Poland, the castle was used as one of their residences for over two centuries. In 1752 the Bielsko state became a duchy owned by the Sulkowski family. The castle was their property until 1945. After World War II the castle was taken over by the Polish State. Since 1983 its only owner has been the Bielsko-Biała Museum.
The permanent exhibition in the castle
In the west wing of the building the hunting room and armoury are located. The next two rooms display three centuries of art history from the 15th to the 17th century. Neighbouring with these rooms are a rococo concert hall and a Biedermeier room. The castle's east wing contains a gallery of the 19th and 20th century painting and graphic art. Next rooms located in the north wing display an exhibition of the history of the city and castle, as well as craftsman traditions of old Bielsko and Biała. The east wing of the castle is occupied by art gallery (the 19th century paintings displayed here include works of art representing realism and academism, Młoda Polska (Young Poland) paintings, works of artists connected with Bielsko-Biała during the twenty years of independence after World War I and during the modern times)
Museum of Technology and Textile Industry
The museum shows traditions of wool industry in Bielsko-Biała, by means of collecting machines, equipment and documents. The exhibits are stored in four rooms and show the look of old textile factory A separate room displays machines for making hats and the history of Bielsko-Biała fire brigade. There is also a little printing office and a room where all the historical household equipments, radio sets, typewriters etc., are being stored.
The weaver’s house
Reconstruction of the weaver’s house and workshop owned by a guild master. It shows live and work in 19th and 20th centuries. There are two main rooms – workshop on the left and living room on the right, with a kitchen and a bedroom.
The weaver’s house is an original example of the old wooden house. It tries to show craftsman’s work.
Julian Fałat’s villa
The museum of Julian Fałat in Bystra Śląska is housed in a historical villa of the artist, called “Fałatówka” and its visitors can see the art and some biographical documents of the artist. This is the house where the artists lived after he stoped being a headmaster of the Cracow Academy of Fine Arts. The exhibition presents oil paintings and watercolours: self-portraits, portraits of his family and friends, landscapes from his travels and hunting scenes.
Related pages
Poland
Other websites
Museum in Bielsko-Biała
Museums in Europe
Castles
Buildings and structures in Poland
Education in Poland
14th-century establishments in Europe |
30427 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision | Circumcision | Circumcision is an operation in which the foreskin is removed. In common speech, someone who has been circumcised is described as cut while someone who is not is described as uncut. For example, one teenaged boy might ask another teenaged boy, "Are you cut?" While this is slang English, it is not considered profanity.
Circumcision may be done by a doctor using a surgical tool, such as scissors, a plastic tool called a plastibell device, or it may be done with a laser. If the doctor uses a laser there is almost no bleeding.
Circumcision may be a religious ritual, a custom in certain tribes or countries, or a medical practice.
Reasons for performing a circumcision:
Medical Conditions that Male Circumcision Protects Against Over the Lifetime
Urinary tract infection;
Penile inflammation, for example, balanitis, balanoposthitis, lichen sclerosus;
Candidiasis;
Phimosis and paraphimosis (when the foreskin is too tight)
Inferior hygiene;
Sexually transmitted infections including high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), genital herpes simplex virus (HSV), trichomoniasis, mycoplasma, syphilis, chancroid, and HIV;
Physical injuries to the foreskin, including coital injuries;
Cancers of the penis, prostate, and cervix.
Religious reasons: Most Jewish and Muslim males must be circumcised. Jewish boys are typically circumcised when they are 1 week old. Muslim boys are usually circumcised at any time from moments after birth all the way up to puberty, depending on family, region, and country.
In some tribes, especially in Africa, a teenage boy must be circumcised. Otherwise, his family and the people in his village will not treat him as a man and he will not be able to marry.
In Western culture (especially in the United States), parents circumcise their sons because it is easier to keep the penis clean and it is more common.
Many men and teenage boys in Western countries ask for circumcision simply because they like the appearance.
Benefits and criticisms
Prequel
No major medical organization recommends universal circumcision of neonatals (newborns), and no major medical organization calls for banning it.
Discussion
People disagree about whether circumcision is a good for health and sexual pleasure. People who think circumcision is a good idea may point to health reasons. Circumcision reduces sexually transmitted diseases like HIV and HPV, prevents certain kinds of cancer, and gets rid of infections and unpleasant smells under the foreskin. If circumcision is done soon after birth, it makes it less common for baby boys to get urinary tract infections (UTIs). UTIs can cause permanent damage to the kidneys. Many people think a penis looks better if it is circumcised. A study done in the United States found that the women prefer a circumcised penis, to look at and in sexual activity, especially if they are going to put their mouth on the penis. In countries where most boys are circumcised as babies, parents sometimes think that uncircumcised boys will be teased. Some boys are mean to a boy if his penis looks different. Bullying was a bigger problem in the past when boys had to take showers together at school after gym class or before swimming. People opposed to routine circumcision are called intactivists.
The University of the Western Cape in South Africa lists these benefits of medical male circumcision (MMC):
Reduces the risk of HIV Infection
Decreased risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs / STDs) - Circumcised men might have a lower risk of certain sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Still, safe sexual practices remain essential.
Provides health benefits for sexual partners - by getting circumcised, you not only reduce your own HIV and STI risk, but your partner’s too.
Better hygiene - Circumcision makes it simpler to wash the penis. Also, when a guy is not circumcised, moisture can get trapped between his penis and the foreskin, which creates an ideal environment for bacteria to grow. Removing the foreskin gets rid of the wet, warm and dark environment that can sustain viruses such as HIV and other sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, herpes and chancroids.
Eliminates bruising and tearing during sexual intercourse
Reduces the risk of penile cancer - Although cancer of the penis is rare, it's less common in circumcised men.
Being circumcised reduces your female partner’s risk of cervical cancer.
Decreased risk of urinary tract infections - The overall risk of urinary tract infections in males is low, but these infections are more common in uncircumcised males.
It can be difficult to keep an uncircumcised penis fresh 100% of the time. Circumcision simplifies the task of keeping the penis clean and keeps you fresher, giving you more confidence
Some myths about medical male circumcision:
Myth: Circumcision affects a man’s ability to make his partner pregnant.
Truth: Circumcision has no effect on a man’s ability to make his partner pregnant. There are other factors such as fertility that play a role here.
Myth: Circumcision leads to a loss of sexual function and pleasure.
Truth: Although there can be some minor loss in sensitivity at the tip of the penis, MMC does not lead to a loss of sexual function and pleasure. In fact, several studies conducted among men after adult medical male circumcision suggest that very few men report their sexual functioning to be worse after circumcision. Most men report either improvement or no change.
One study, conducted in 2015, determined that the foreskin does not provide a sexual response or serve a sexual function in men. Instead, it is the corona and frenular (the area under the frenulum) areas which provide sexual response due to the high concentration of genital corpuscles. Out of a large sample of Kenyan men in a controlled trial, 74.8% of men reported higher penile sensitivity two years after circumcision, while only 7.1% reported lower penile sensitivity two years after circumcision. It was deduced that even a retracted foreskin would tend to reduce the stimulus to the corona and frenular areas, particularly on the outward stroke of intercourse. The study determined that “any sexual effect of circumcision must depend solely on the exposure of the glans and not on the absence of the prepuce.” The study concluded that male circumcision has no adverse effect on parameters relevant to sexual function, sensation, sensitivity, satisfaction, or pleasure.
The area of the outer and inner foreskin combined spans a wide range: 7–100 cm2 and 18–68 cm2 respectively. In discussing vestigial structures, Charles Darwin stated, “An organ, when rendered useless, may well be variable, for its variations cannot be checked by natural selection.” The variability in foreskin size is consistent with the foreskin being a vestigial structure.
Those who believe that the foreskin is important for sexual pleasure are against circumcision. Others do not like circumcision because they believe it has no medical advantage, or that it is easy to clean under the foreskin, or that circumcision harms the penis or the mind. People who do not like circumcision of baby boys say doctors and parents should not make this decision. They say that the owner should choose when he is old enough to decide for himself. However, it will hurt more if done at a later age.
There are 8 large groups of circumcised men:
Jews
Muslims
Many African blacks who are not Muslim
Most Spanish people from Andalusia
Filipinos
Polynesian people
South Korea
Majority White Americans and African Americans from the United States
According to the CDC, the latest data (from NCHS) on male circumcision in the United States show a 2.5% overall increase in prevalence in males aged 14 to 59 years between 2000 and 2010. In contrast, there has been a decline of 6.1% in newborn circumcisions. The newborn circumcision rate in the US dropped slightly from 83.3% in the 1960s to 77.2% in 2010. The main reason for this 6 point drop is most likely the much faster increase in the Hispanic population, the ethnic group having the lowest circumcision prevalence. The growing Hispanic population in the West accounts for most of the decrease in national prevalence. Because Hispanic and black individuals are over-represented in poorer demographics, the withdrawal of Medicaid funding for elective circumcision in 18 states is of concern to public health, as was also expressed by the authors of the CDC’s recent report. After controlling for other factors, states with Medicaid coverage had hospital circumcision rates 24 percentage points higher than states without such coverage. Many, but not all, private health insurance plans pay for circumcision. A study of 96,457 male babies in the state of Maryland found that 75% of new baby boys were circumcised before they left the hospital. More were circumcised in a religious ceremony or in a doctor's office later. With those boys included, 82% of baby boys in Maryland got circumcised. It was less common for Asian Americans and Hispanic babies than for White Americans and African Americans babies.,
Traditions
In Islam and Judaism, male circumcision is commonly done for religious reasons.
Judaism
In Judaism, religious law orders that baby boys be circumcised on the 8th day after their birth. This is required even if the 8th day after birth is Shabbat (Saturday). In the Jewish faith, circumcision is an important tradition because it represents the newly born baby being included in the covenant (or agreement) which God made with the prophet Abraham.
A mohel is someone who circumcises Jewish baby boys eight days after they are born in accordance with Jewish law. A knife is traditionally used for this, but a clamp is now sometimes used instead. Mohels are traditionally male, but most types of non-orthodox (not fully traditional) types of Judaism allow women to be mohels without restriction.
For Jews who observe religious law, the circumcision is performed at a ceremony called a Brit milah. Family, relatives and guests attend. Others, such as Reform Jews may choose to have the circumcision done in a hospital before the baby goes home. They may have a celebration afterwards, or after the birth of a baby girl for whom there is no ritual act.
Islam
In the Quran, no sura or ayat mention male or female circumcision. However, there are some injunctions of the prophet Muhammad that explain and command only male circumcision, as a continuation of Abrahamic/Hebraic tradition. For example, the prophet Muhammad said in a hadith that "Five are the acts which are part of fitrah: Circumcision, clipping or shaving the pubic hair, cutting the nails, plucking or shaving the hair under the armpits and clipping (or shaving) the moustache".
Also, according to the Qur'an, Allah ordered Muhammad to follow the religion of Ibrahim (the Hebrew Abraham): "Then We inspired you: 'Follow the religion of Ibrahim, the upright in Faith'." —(Qur'an 16:123)
Many Islamic scholars say that is an important ritual and a symbolic step of purification along the lines of Abrahamic tradition. Most Shafi Islamic Jurists (judges) say that circumcision is required for men. It is an accepted tradition in almost all Islamic sects and among most Islamic scholars and theologians. Circumcision is also important within Islam because Islam claims to be the 'truth' and the 'continuation' of the old and true message of Ibrahim/Abraham. According to Islam, God's covenant with Abraham was passed on to Muhammad, whose mission was to continue the covenant. The covenant is continued, according to Islam, through several steps, including male circumcision. The Quran discusses this covenant in detail in several places, including sura 14 (Ibrahim – Abraham).
Age of men illustration
There are two hadiths which are linked to the acceptance of male circumcision in Islam. They also show how circumcision may have been used to keep track of dates in tribal Arabia:
Ibn Jubayr Sa'id reported: "Ibn `Abbas was asked the following question: 'How was it with you, [when] the Prophet, peace be upon him, died?,' he said, 'I was circumcised at that particular time because the men were usually only circumcised when they became sexually mature.'"
[Sahih al-Bukhari No. 6299]
And further, Ibn `Abbas reported: "When the Prophet, peace be upon him died, I was circumcised at that particular time."
[Sahih al-Bukhari No. 6300]
Along with being an important rite of passage, circumcision may have helped people keep track of dates and place events into the correct time and place.
Additional images
Notes
a. An Arabic word, literally meaning 'nature' or 'natural' – here it signifies doing the right thing or natural thing.
b. Reported in both hadith collections of al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim.
References
Health
Sexuality
Religious ethics
Islamic culture |
30433 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moirai | Moirai | The Moirai (The Fates) were the three goddesses of destiny in Greek mythology. They were Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos ().
They controlled the life and destiny of everyone. Clotho spins the thread of life (begins a person's or creature's life), Lachesis measures it (looks at the how long it currently is), and Atropos cuts the thread. When the thread is cut the person dies. The Moirai are capable of destroying an immortal.
The decisions of the Moriae about a person's life cannot be changed. Even Zeus is powerless to change their will.
The parents of the Moirai are not surely known. Some said they were the daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis, or more likely of primordial beings like Nyx, Chaos or Ananke.
Their Roman equivalent were the Parcae.
Sources: D'Aulaire's book of Greek Myths
Greek gods and goddesses |
30439 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikisource | Wikisource | Wikisource – The Free Library – is a project by Wikimedia. Its goal is to make a free wiki library of source texts. It has translations into many languages.
History
It began on November 24, 2003. Its name was "Project Sourceberg" (a play on words for Project Gutenberg), and its URL was http://sources.wikipedia.org. On December 6, 2003, members wanted to change the name to "Wikisource", but the URL was not moved to http://wikisource.org until July 23, 2004.
References
Other websites
The English Wikisource website
Multilingual portal for Wikisource
Wikis
2003 establishments |
30442 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling | Whaling | Whaling is the practice of hunting whales. This is done to get meat and oil, called blubber. Hunters of whales are called whalers. Whaling has been done at least since 3000 BC.
Many communities on the coast have done whaling for food for a long time. They have also killed stranded whales.
Industrialisation started in the 17th century and also affected whaling. Special ships were built for whaling, and whales were hunted until they were almost extinct.
As technology improved and demand for the seemingly vast resources remained high, far more whales were killed than were born. In the late 1930s more than 50,000 whales were killed each year. By the middle of the 20th century, there were not enough whales and they were at risk of becoming extinct. In 1986, the International Whaling Commission introduced a moratorium on commercial whaling so that whales might recover.
This moratorium was successful, and whale stocks recovered. There is a debate about whaling in general. Countries which are in favor of whaling want to do away with the moratorium, so they can again hunt whales as they did before. Countries and environmental groups say that whaling is immoral and should be banned, and that stocks have not yet recovered sufficiently.
The History of Hunting
Whales have a thick layer of fat under their skin called blubber. For many years, the Eskimos of Alaska depended on these whales to live. Every part of a whale was used: the bones, the blubber, and the skin - every bit of it. In this way, one whale could feed an Eskimo community for a long time. They were important to the Eskimos. However, sometimes a good thing can get out of control and become a bad thing. This was what happened in whale hunting.
Whale blubber was not used only by Eskimos. Soon it became a product everybody wanted. This was because before electricity was invented, blubber was used as oil for lamps. They also used whale blubber to oil machines and make expensive makeup. Because of this, people hunted and killed whales to make money.
The whalers found out the paths whales liked to take in the ocean, and killed them mercilessly. It was a dangerous and frightening job. Whalers would jump into a small boat and follow the whale. Once they were close to it, they would throw a that was attached to a very long rope into the whale. The end of this harpoon was not at all like a spear. It had a switch blade on the end that would stay in the whale's skin. Once the harpoon was in the whale, the whale would start swimming as fast as it could. The whale might swim day and night with no stop for several days. Eventually, the tired and hurt whale would stop. The whalers would then kill the whale with one last harpoon. When the animal died, the whalers would haul the whale onto the ship (big or small), skin it, then boil the blubber for the oil.
Soon, boats began getting bigger. Whalers began using a harpoon like before, but the harpoon has a grenade inside. This was very cruel way of killing whales as it hurt them a lot. The whale would then have blood coming out of its blowhole. This meant the whale would die soon.
Sometimes entire whale families were found, and as many were killed as possible. Because of whaling, several kinds of whales became almost extinct.
More happily, whales are protected by conservation laws that stop people from killing too many of them. Also, chemists invented many products that take the place of whale blubber, and kerosene replaced whale oil in lamps. Now, many countries have agreed not to hunt whales, because otherwise all the whales might die. They signed a treaty agreeing on this though Norway and Japan still hunt whales. Russia and the United States also practising whaling, on a much smaller scale. (Japan still does hunt often, however).
References
Other websites
Whaling -Citizendium
Fishing |
30449 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion | Opinion | An opinion is something a person or a group of people think. "What is your opinion?" is like saying: "What do you think about it?"
The person's answer might start with: "In my opinion..........." or "I think........."
Sometimes companies try to find out what people think about something by asking many people their opinion. This is called an "opinion poll" and the people who do it are "pollsters". They might be trying to find out whether people think something is good or bad, such as electricity or exercise or Wikipedia, or whether one politician or beer or sport team is better than another.
Related pages
Endoxa
Basic English 850 words
Human communication |
30450 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/School%20year | School year | A school year is the time of year when students go to school. In some countries, it starts after summer, and goes to the next summer. The typical school year in the United States ranges from 170 days to 190 days. In the south, a school year is 180 days for students and 190 days for teachers.
Education
Academia
en:Academic term |
30451 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audience | Audience | An audience is a group of people that see, hear or otherwise experience the same thing. It may be many different kinds of thing, such as a play, a movie, a book, or a broadcast. Audience members participate in different ways in different kinds of art; some live performance events invite the audience to be part of the performance, while others allow only applause and criticism. Mass media seldom provide for audience participation.
An audience at a sporting event are called spectators or a live audience
Performing arts
Entertainment |
30452 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group | Group | This page is about 'group' in the common sense. For the mathematical concept, see Group (mathematics).
A group is a set of things or a number of individuals who have regular contact and frequent interaction.
Examples of groups
A family of people
A herd of animals
A class of students
A sports team
Ethnic group
The apples on a tree
The hats in a box
Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States of America are in the United Nations Security Council.
Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and phosphorus are a group of chemical elements that life needs.
Basic English 850 words |
30453 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side-scrolling%20video%20game | Side-scrolling video game | A side-scrolling video game or 2D game is a video game where the player goes toward one side of the screen, either to the left or the right, although this is different for each video game. A famous side-scroller is Super Mario Bros. The character usually moves from left to right but sometimes it is the other way around. In the golden age of video games, Side scrollers were a big thing and they still are to this day.
Types of video games
Video game gameplay |
30454 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating | Eating | Eating is taking in food to get energy or nutrients or for enjoyment. People and animals need to eat because they cannot make their own food inside their bodies like plants. All plants' energy comes from the sun. Plants take the sun's energy, and they are eaten by other animals as food. The animals then eat each other for the energy.
However, many people can not stop themselves from eating, and they become fat or obese. You can become fat by eating the wrong, unhealthy types of food and by eating too much. When a plant collects energy from the sun through its leaves, it is called photosynthesis. If a plant gets too much food, it can just store it until later. They use this stored food during the winter. When you are proven to be fat or obese through your body mass index (BMI), it means you are heavier than the average for your height. The taller you are, the heavier you should be, in theory. If someone is too heavy to be called fat, then they are called obese. When someone eats too much of one thing, they become fat. Someone can eat junk food, but they can also balance themselves by also eating fruits and vegetables.
Food and drink |
30455 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathroom | Bathroom | A bathroom (also known as a restroom, washroom, toilet or lavatory) is where people go for personal hygiene activities. This includes use of the toilet, wash their hands, brush their teeth, take a bath, or take a shower. The room may also contain a sink, often called a "wash basin", “hair basin” or "hand basin" (in parts of the United States) and often a "lavatory." In the United States, "bathroom" mostly means "a room containing a lavatory." In other countries this is mostly called the "toilet". The word "bathroom" is also used in the United States for a public toilet or "restroom." Bathrooms also have bathroom cabinets.
History
Baths go back to 3,000 B.C. Usually, a town would have a special building for people to take baths, which sometimes were part of a religious ceremony. Starting in the 16th century, public baths started declining. People at this time started building baths inside their homes.
Variations
Usually, a full bath will have a toilet, a sink, a bathtub, and/or a shower. If a bathroom has only a toilet and a sink, then it is called a half bath or a powder room. A master bath is connected to a master bedroom for the use of whoever lives in that bedroom and no one else.
Rooms |
30456 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shower | Shower | A shower is where a person cleans themself by using water. They stand up when they use a shower and usually do not wear clothes in a shower. Showers have a shower head that squirts out water usually from above.
There are different kinds of showers. One is a "power shower" where there are many jets of water from all around. Another is the one in the picture. Some are in baths, and others are on their own.
Hygiene |
30460 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangtok | Gangtok | Gangtok is the capital of the Indian state of Sikkim, It has a population of 50,000. It is located at a height of 1,780 metres in the Himalayan Mountains . It is small town, filled with different cultures and religions living together.
The city has wide roads, flyovers, markets, a modern hospital, schools, colleges and universities, fast food shops, discothèques, and all other modern amenities. One imposing man-made landmark of the town is the 200 ft-high TV tower which overlooks the town and is near the Enchey Monastery below Ganesh Tok.
Capital cities in India
Settlements in Sikkim |
30461 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposing%20instrument | Transposing instrument | A transposing instrument is a musical instrument that does not play the notes you might think it will play. But all the notes differ from the real notes by the same musical interval. So a song played on the transposing instrument will sound familiar, but played in a different key. That is because the transposing instrument is tuned above or below what the usual notes would be, and always above or below by the same number of notes on a scale. The usual notes are called "concert pitch". Most non-transposing instruments, like pianos, are tuned to play in the key of C.
When writing music for a transposing instrument, or teaching how to play the notes, the entire series of notes is written and described as notes moved up or down a number of semitones. For example: playing the note that is called "C" on a B flat clarinet, produces the note that is called "B♭" when played on a piano. All transposing instruments such as "horn in F" or "alto saxophone in E♭" mean F and E♭ in normal notes ("concert pitch"). The note "C" as written and played on the horn in F will sound like an "F" , and the same "C" written for the alto saxophone in E♭ will sound like "E♭".
Woodwinds, especially the recorder and clarinets, are transposing instruments. Saxophones and most brass instruments are transposing instruments.
Historical notation
The use of transposed notation (writing notes higher or lower than they really are) probably started with the slow changes in how to make instruments. There was a "clarinet in C" when Mozart was alive, but was later replaced by the larger, richer sounding "clarinet in B♭". There was no change to how clarinet players had to move their fingers. That helped players change from the older instrument to the newer instrument. Maybe learners of the modern day instrument in B♭ could re-learn how to use their fingers, so they could play with normal notes. But all written music would have to be transposed back to "concert pitch".
Natural harmonic series and timbre
Instruments such as horns and woodwinds have a natural harmonic series, so it is easier and louder to play in certain keys. So that needs to be remembered when writing music for these instruments. Also, these instruments can only be played in tune in certain keys, because of a problem with something called "equal temperament". Which keys will work depends on which key the instrument was tuned for.
Having transposing instruments makes it possible for pipes to play in several different keys. The fingering can remain the same. Only the key the music is written in, the notes that harmonize with that key, and timbre (what the note sounds like, not just which key it is) change as the different sizes of instrument are used. A cor anglais is like an oboe but a fifth lower (Five notes of a scale. A written C sounds like an F). Any oboe player can play the cor anglais, reading the music and playing with normal oboe fingering. It will automatically sound a fifth lower. Compare this to recorders which are not transposing instruments. On a descant recorder, the note played with three fingers of the left hand (1-2-3-0-0-0) is a G. To play a G on a treble (alto) recorder the fingering is 1-2-3-1-2-3. This can be confusing at first, but with practice players can get used to changing between the different sizes of recorder.
Professional clarinet players will need two clarinets: a B flat and an A clarinet. Some clarinet cases are made to hold both instruments. Some clarinet players also play the bass clarinet. This is also in B flat, but sounds an octave lower than the ordinary B flat clarinet. There is also an E flat clarinet which sounds a minor third higher than written.
Saxophones transpose into different keys according to their sizes. Brass instruments come in several different keys. It is always important for a player to come to a rehearsal or concert with the correct instrument. Often brass players become skilled at transposing. That means, if their music is written in the wrong key for the instrument on which they are playing, they can still play it in the right key.
Musical instruments |
30462 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposition%20%28music%29 | Transposition (music) | Transposition or transposing in music means playing or writing music in a way that makes it sound higher or lower. This can be done by playing or writing the music in a different key, or by playing or writing it up or down an octave, without changing the key.
Transposing is a useful skill for people who play an instrument, especially the piano, organ, or some other keyboard instrument. If a pianist is accompanying a singer and the song is a little too high for the singer’s voice, it is very useful if he is able to transpose it down so that the music sounds in a lower key. For example, if the music is written in the key of C major, it could be transposed down a whole tone so that it sounds in B-flat major.
Most electronic keyboards and organs these days have buttons which can set notes to transpose automatically. This can be very useful, although it may be confusing for people with absolute pitch.
How to transpose
It is a good idea for people who play keyboard instruments or other kinds of transposing instruments to practise transposing. There are two ways to do this:
Transpose each note, one at a time. For example, when transposing from C to B-flat major, each note has to be one tone lower: an A becomes a G, a G becomes an F, an F becomes an E-flat, and so on.
By watching or hearing the intervals between the notes in of the music and thinking of the same thing in the new key. For example: when a note leaps up a major third in the old key, the same needs to happen in the new key.
Transposing by intervals is the a better way of transposing, but when people transpose they sometimes also transpose the notes the first way, one by one.
There is another possibility which sometimes works: by thinking in a different clef. For example, someone who is used to reading music in the alto clef, such as a violist, can transpose up a tone from music written in the treble clef by imagining it was written in the alto clef and playing an octave lower (a note on the middle line in the treble clef is a B, but in the alto clef it is a C). They could also imagine the new key signature of 2 sharps – it becomes a C sharp.
It is very important to understand key signatures in order to be able to transpose. This is why it is so useful to practise scales.
References
Music
Music theory |
30469 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erinyes | Erinyes | The Erinyes (or Eumenides) were the goddesses of revenge in Greek mythology. They are also known as the Furies. These three female divinities were named Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera.
Description
The Erinyes were born from Mother Earth and the blood of Uranos. They avenged family crimes such as matricide and patricide. They also tormented evil men in the "Hell" of the underworld, Tartarus.
The Erinyes forever followed a person who did a crime. They even could make the person go mad. They are often shown with snakes on their heads, blood coming out of their eyes, and looking horrific.
In stories
A well known story about the Erinyes is that of Orestes. Orestes' mother Klytaimnestra, and her lover Aegisthos, killed Orestes' father Agamemnon. The god Apollo told Orestes to kill the murderers of his father, which he did. Orestes was then pursued by the Erinyes for his crime. With the help of Athena and Apollo Orestes went to a court in Athens. It was decided that Orestes acted correctly and nobody should hurt him. Even the Erinyes accepted the decision, and from then on they were also called Eumenides, which means "the kind ones", because they could also let people go in peace if their crime was done for a good reason.
Other websites
The Theoi Project, "The Erinyes"
Greek gods and goddesses |
30473 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian%20subcontinent | Indian subcontinent | The Indian subcontinent is a term mainly used for the geographic region surrounded by the Indian Ocean: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The subcontinent was once part of Gondwana, the ancient southern supercontinent. Geologically, the origin of the Himalayas is the impact of the Indian tectonic plate travelling northward at 15 cm per year to slowly hit the Eurasian continent, about 40-50 million years ago. The formation of the Himalayan arc resulted as the lighter rock of the seabeds of that time were easily uplifted into mountains. An often-cited fact used to illustrate this process is that the summit of Mount Everest is made of marine limestone.
About 50 million years ago, this fast moving plate had completely closed the Tethys Ocean. The existence of the Tethys has been proved by sedimentary rocks settled on the ocean floor, and the volcanoes that fringed its edges. Since these sediments were light, they crumpled into mountain ranges rather than sank to the floor. The Indian plate is still driving horizontally below the Tibetan Plateau, which forces the plateau to move upwards.
The Indo-Australian plate is still moving at 67 mm per year, and over the next 10 million years it will travel about 1,500 km into Asia. About 20 mm per year of the India-Asia convergence is absorbed by thrusting along the Himalaya southern front. This leads to the Himalayas rising by about 5 mm per year, making them geologically active. The movement of the Indian plate into the Asian plate also leads to earthquakes from time to time.
Related pages
South Asia
References
Other websites
India News
India News In Tamil
Geography of Asia
South Asia
Gondwana |
30482 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dike | Dike | Dike or dyke, can mean:
A slang term for lesbian
Another word for levee, a long wall or bank built to hold water, or to separate land areas
Dyke (geology), where magma or sediment cut across normal rock formations
Another word for diagonal pliers, a hand tool used by electricians and others
Dike, the Greek goddess of moral justice, one of the Horae |
30484 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horae | Horae | The Horae were three goddesses in Greek mythology.
There are in fact two different groups of goddesses which were known at different times: today they are called the first and second generation to distinguish between them.
They were the children of Zeus and Themis.
First Generation
The first Horae were goddesses of the seasons.
They were:
Thallo (or Thalatte)
Auxo (or Auxesia)
Karpo (also Xarpo or Carpo)
Second Generation
The second Horae were goddesses of order, justice and law.
They were:
Dike
Eunomia
Eirene (or Irene)
Greek gods and goddesses |
30500 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkmene | Alkmene | Alcmene ALK-meen is a person mentioned in Greek mythology. She is not a goddess, for Alcmene was mortal. She was the daughter of King Elektryon of Mycenae and his wife Anaxo. She was the wife of Amphitryon. She is the mother of Heracles HERR-uh-klees and Iphicles.
Once when Amphitryon was not at home, the god Zeus, seduced Alcmene in the form of Amphitryon. Alcmene gave birth to Heracles, who was the son of Zeus, and Iphicles, who was the son of Amphitryon. Zeus wanted to kill her for yet another unknown reason of godlore, but Heracles, one day old, saved her.
People in Greek mythology |
30502 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana%C3%AB | Danaë | Danaë is a person in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Akrisios of Argos. She is the mother of Perseus by Zeus.
Akrisios was told by an oracle that he would be killed by his grandchild. Because of that he put his daughter Danaë in a tower where noone was allowed to enter, so she could not have a child. But the god Zeus could enter in the form of a golden rain, and with him her child was Perseus.
Akrisios then put Danaë and her baby Perseus in a box and threw it into the sea. But Zeus tells the sea-god Poseidon to help them, and so Danaë and her son come to the island Seriphos. There they are found by Diktys, who lets them live with him.
A long time after that, the grown up Perseus takes part in some funeral games. During the games Perseus throws a discus, which accidentally hits Akrisios. Akrisios is killed by it: he was killed by his grandchild, like the oracle's prophecy said.
People in Greek mythology |
30505 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akrisios | Akrisios | Akrisios (or Acrisius) is a person in Greek mythology. He was the King of Argos. He is the father of Danaë, and grandfather of Perseus.
Akrisios was told by an oracle that he would be killed by his grandchild. Because of that he put his daughter Danaë in a tower where noone was allowed to enter, so she could not have a child. But the god Zeus could enter in the form of a golden rain, and with him her child was Perseus.
Akrisios then put Danaë and her baby Perseus in a box and threw it into the sea. But Zeus tells the sea-god Poseidon to help them, and so Danaë and her son come to the island Seriphos. There they are found by Polydectes, who lets them live with him.
A long time after that, the grown up Perseus takes part in some funeral games. During the games Perseus throws a discus, which accidentally hits Akrisios. Akrisios is killed by it: he was killed by his grandchild, like the oracle's prophecy said.
People in Greek mythology |
30508 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda%20%28mythology%29 | Andromeda (mythology) | In Greek mythology, Andromeda (, Androméda or Ἀνδρομέδη, Andromédē) is an Aethiopian princess, the daughter of King Cepheus and his wife Cassiopeia. When Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, this angered the sea god Poseidon, who sent the sea monster Ceto to ravage the land as punishment. Desperate, King Cepheus consulted the Oracle of Delphi, who stated that Andromeda must be offered as a sacrifice to the sea monster; Andromeda was then chained to a rock by the shore. When the hero Perseus saw Andromeda (having flown over after beheading Medusa), he killed the sea monster and saved Andromeda. They were soon married, with Perseus going on to found the city of Mycenae. By Perseus, she is the mother of Perses, Alcaeus, Heleus, Mestor, Sthenelus and Electryon as well as two daughters Autochthe and Gorgophone. Andromeda is also the great-grandmother of Herakles.
In Greek, her name means "ruler of men," from ἀνήρ, ἀνδρός (anēr, andrós - "[of] man"), and medon ("ruler").
People in Greek mythology |
30626 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/GB | GB | GB or Gb could mean:
Sarin
Great Britain, or the United Kingdom (ISO code GB)
Gigabyte (GB) unit of measurement of bytes
Game Boy handheld video game console line |
30627 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur | Centaur | A centaur is a creature in Greek mythology. It has the upper body of a human, but below the waist it has the body of a horse. There are also female centaurs.
Famous centaurs are Chiron and Nessus.
Greek legendary creatures |
30628 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunt%C3%A1l | Bruntál | Bruntál is a small city in the Czech Republic. Bruntál is in the Hrubý Jeseník mountains (part of Nízký Jeseník). Approximately 20,000 people live there.
Bruntál was probably built in 1223. Its name is in the Unicov Charter published by Přemysl Otakar I. It is the oldest Czech city with Magdeburg Rights, meaning a city that can have its own wall and judges. Otakar I gave it these rights because of the gold, silver and other minerals from there.
Attractions
In Bruntál there are many places that tourists visit – for example, the Castle of Bruntál, the Decanal church of the Virgin Mary, Gabriel's house, Mildner's villa, Klippel's column.
Notable people
Tereza Krones - also known as Therese Krones
Engelbert Adam - writer
Jan Krištof Handke
Rudolf Templer - painter
Viktor Heeger - pedagogue
Karl Anton Gebauer explorer
Walter Gotschke self-taught artist
Emmerich Machold
Some of the most notable authors who wrote about the place include: Erwin Weiser, Bruno Hanns Wittek, Josef Lowag, and Kurt Langer.
Schools
There are 5 primary schools and 6 intermediate schools. Since 2003, there are 2 universities.
Culture
There is one cinema, one theater, and one cultural building.
References
Cities in the Czech Republic |
30629 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerto | Concerto | A concerto is a piece of music made for a solo instrument and an orchestra. When an orchestra plays at a concert they might play a symphony (a piece for orchestra) and they might play a concerto (with a soloist). If the solo instrument is a violin the piece is called a “violin concerto”, if it is a piano it is called a “piano concerto”, etc. The orchestra accompanies the soloist. This means that it is the soloist who decides how fast or slow to play. The conductor should listen to the way the soloist wants to play and make the orchestra accompany sensitively.
The word “concerto” is an Italian word (the second “c” is pronounced like an English “ch”). It means “agreeing” or “playing together”. The English plural is “concertos”.
The concerto became popular during the 17th century in Italy. Some concertos had several soloists instead of just one. This kind of concerto was called a concerto grosso.
The Concerto in the Baroque Period
The solo concerto became popular with composers like Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) who wrote over 400 concertos for various instruments. His most famous concertos are a group of four known as The Four Seasons. These are violin concertos, and each concerto deals in turn with one of the seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Many other Baroque composers wrote concertos: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) wrote several concertos for violin although only two have survived, the others have been lost. He also wrote solo concertos for the harpsichord. George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) wrote concertos for the organ. Organs in England were very small in those days and balanced well with an orchestra. Handel sometimes put pauses in his concertos where the soloist could improvise (make up) some music. These improvised bits became known as “cadenzas”. Concertos ever since have cadenzas where the soloist can show how brilliant they are at playing and at improvising. Some composers wrote their own cadenzas.
The Concerto in the Classical Period
In the Classical period Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) wrote a few concertos including two for the cello, but he is better known for his symphonies. It was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) who wrote many wonderful piano concertos. This was at a time when the piano was a new instrument. Mozart was a brilliant pianist and he wrote most of them for himself to perform. He also wrote five violin concertos, four horn concertos, two flute concertos and a clarinet concerto. He also wrote concertos for more than one soloist e.g. a flute and harp concerto and a violin and viola concerto which he called Sinfonia Concertante. By this time concertos always had three movements: a fast one (usually in sonata form), a slow one, and a fast movement (often a rondo) to finish with.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) became famous as a pianist before he was known as a composer. He wrote five piano concertos. The last one, known in English-speaking countries as the Emperor Concerto, is a very big, powerful work which looks forward to the music of the Romantic period. Beethoven wrote a beautiful violin concerto. At the time everyone thought it was too hard for the soloist to play, but as composers wrote harder and harder music the players had to become better and better. Nowadays every professional violinist should be able to play it. Beethoven also wrote a Triple Concerto for piano, violin, cello and orchestra.
The Concerto in the Romantic Period
The 19th century is known as the age of Romanticism. People adored creative men like artists, musicians and writers (the time for women to be equal had not yet come). They were seen as heroes. The concerto fitted in very well with this way of thinking. The soloist was a great hero, and the concerto enabled him to show off his great technique. The violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) was one of these great heroes. He played the violin like no one else had ever done, and because he was a thin, skinny man with a pale face and long hair people thought he looked like the devil. He wrote violin concertos which at the time only he could play.
Romantic and Modern Concertos
Some of the most famous violin concertos of the 19th and 20th centuries include those by Felix Mendelssohn, Max Bruch (no 1), Johannes Brahms, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Edward Elgar, Dmitri Shostakovich (no 1), Béla Bartók, Alban Berg, Igor Stravinsky and Sir William Walton.
Famous piano concertos after Beethoven’s time include those by Frederic Chopin (2), Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms (2), Pjotr I. Tchaikovsky (3), Edvard Grieg, Sergei Rachmaninoff (4), Béla Bartók (3), Sergei Prokofiev (5) and Igor Stravinsky.
Famous cello concertos include those by Antonín Dvořák, Edouard Lalo, Edward Elgar and Dmitri Shostakovich. Tchaikovsky wrote a piece for cello and orchestra called Rococo Variations and Benjamin Britten wrote a piece for cello and orchestra which he called a “Cello Symphony” because the cello and orchestra are equal in importance. Brahms wrote a Double Concerto for violin and cello with orchestra.
There are viola concertos by Paul Hindemith and William Walton, and Hector Berlioz wrote Harold in Italy which is like a viola concerto.
Famous concertos for woodwind instruments include two for clarinet by Carl Maria von Weber, clarinet and flute concertos by Carl Nielsen, a clarinet concerto by Aaron Copland, an oboe concerto by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Richard Strauss wrote two concertos for the French horn. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote a trombone concerto and Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a tuba concerto.
Modern composers have written percussion concertos. These are usually pieces for one percussion player playing lots of different percussion instruments, and an orchestra accompanying. James MacMillan wrote a piece for percussion and orchestra called Veni, Veni Emmanuel.
Joaquin Rodrigo wrote several works for guitar and orchestra including Concierto de Aranjuez.
Béla Bartók wrote a piece called Concerto for Orchestra. He gave it this title because, although it is a piece for orchestra (like a symphony), there are lots of solos for the different instruments. Other composer, such as Alan Hovhaness, have also written concertos for orchestra.
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has written ten concertos, each for a different solo instrument. They are known as the "Strathclyde Concertos".
Musical forms |
30630 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerto%20grosso | Concerto grosso | A Concerto Grosso is a piece of music from the 18th century in which there are a small group of instruments and a large group of instruments. These two groups are contrasted with one another. Sometimes both play together, sometimes one plays by itself, or the two groups might imitate one another. The small group is called “concertino” and the large group is called "tutti", “ripieno” or “concerto grosso” (the same name as the musical piece). “Concerto grosso” is Italian for “big concerto”. The plural is “concerti grossi”. Notice that the second “c” in “concerto” is pronounced like an English “ch”.
A concerto grosso has several parts that differ in speed and character. There are usually three movements; the first is fast, the second is slow, and the last is fast. The first movement contrasts the tutti and the soloists, the second movement is quiet, while the last movement is lively.
The composer who made the concerto grosso very popular was the Italian Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713). The instruments in the small group of soloists in his concerti grossi were usually two violins and one cello. George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) also used that combination for his concerti grossi.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) wrote a set of six concertos known as the Brandenburg Concertos. Each of the Brandenburg Concertos is for a different combination of instruments. Most of them are concerti grossi. The second one, for example, has a concertino group of four instruments: trumpet, violin, recorder and oboe.
After the Baroque period, few composers wrote concerti grossi. They were more interested in the solo concerto. However, in the 20th century, some composers, including Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) and Bela Bartok (1881-1945), wrote pieces of music that are like concerti grossi.
Related pages
Concerto
Musical forms |
30637 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai%20Grandeur | Hyundai Grandeur | The Hyundai Grandeur is an automobile made by Hyundai Motor Company. It was first sold in 1986. In North America the automobile was called Hyundai XG (third generation) and Hyundai Azera (fourth generation).
First generation (1986–1992)
The first Grandeur of 1986 was developed together with Mitsubishi(Mitsubishi Debonair).
Second generation (1992–1998)
The New Grandeur was developed together with Mitsubishi (Mitsubishi Debonair). Mitsubishi provided the powertrain and Hyundai took care of the exterior and interior design. Production of the car began in September 1992 and ended in 1998.
Third generation (1998–2005)
The Grandeur XG, this time developed by Hyundai alone, used the same platform and engines as the Kia Amanti. In North America and Europe, it was called the Hyundai XG. Originally powered by a 3.0 L 6-cylinder engine, the XG300 was renamed to XG350 in 2002, to reflect the increase in engine size to 3.5 litres of displacement.
Fourth generation (2006–present)
Sold as the Hyundai Azera in North America, the Grandeur TG is a full-size sedan introduced for the 2006 model year. It shares many of its components with the mid-size Sonata.
Being a step up from the Sonata, the Azera is the most luxurious model sold by Hyundai outside of Korea. Pricing for the base model starts at starts at US$24,995. The 2006 Hyundai Azera has a 3.8 L 6-cylinder engine, automatic gearbox, cruise control, automatic air-conditioning, power front seats, anti-lock brakes (ABS), electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), electronic stability control (ESC), and several airbags. The better equipped Limited trim level adds 17-inch alloy wheels, heated front seats, leather seat-upholstery, and a power sunshade for the rear window, and costs US$27,495.
Awards
The Hyundai Azera was named "Best New Family Car (over CAN$35,000)" in the 2006 Canadian Car of the Year awards.
Other websites
Official US Site
AutoGuideWiki.com - Hyundai Azera
RoadTests.com - Hyundai Azera
Grandeur
Front wheel drive vehicles
Sedans
1980s automobiles
1990s automobiles
2000s automobiles
2010s automobiles |
30643 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape | Ape | Apes are mammals belonging to the primate family Hominoidea. Its members are called hominoids. They are native to Africa and Southeast Asia. Its living members are divided into two families:
Hylobatidae, the gibbons and siamangs;
Hominidae, consisting of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.
One clear difference between monkeys and apes is that monkeys almost always have tails, but hominoids never do. There are also differences in their teeth and the way they move their arms. They have a wide degree of freedom at the shoulder joint, which helps them swing by their arms in the trees (brachiation).
The diets of apes are similar to those of other primates. They eat fruits, nuts, seeds, leaves and sometimes other animals. They are generally omnivores, though most of their intake is herbivorous.
References
Other websites |
30653 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattingen | Hattingen | Hattingen an der Ruhr is a city about 60.000 people in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It belongs to the Ruhr area. It lies south of Bochum and Essen. Very famous is its Altstadt.
References
Other websites
Ennepe-Ruhr Rural District |
30654 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shart | Shart | Shart is the name of several Bollywood and Tollywood movies.
Shart (1954), directed by Bibhuti Mitra, starring Deepak and Shashikala
Shart (1969), directed by Kewal Misra, starring Sanjay Khan and Mumtaz
Shart (1986), directed by Ketan Anand, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi
Shart: The Challenge (2004), directed by Puri Jagannadh, starring Amrita Arora and Snehal Dabi |
30658 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning%20wood | Morning wood | Morning wood is an informal term for a morning erection, for which the technical medical term is "nocturnal penile tumescence". It means an erection that a man sometimes has while asleep or right after waking up. Men who do not have erectile dysfunction can experience this sensation. It usually happens during Rapid Eye Movement sleep. Other slang terms include "morning glory" and "morning tent".
References
Male reproductive system |
30692 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accompaniment | Accompaniment | An accompaniment in music is music that accompanies (goes with) something else.
A piece of music may have a melody (tune) and an accompaniment underneath. The music may be played on the piano with the right hand playing the tune and the left hand playing the accompaniment. The accompaniment might also be played on a different instrument.
Music does not have to be a tune with accompaniment, although it often is. The accompaniment does not always have to be lower than the tune. To play the piano, the pianist has to learn to play a tune in the right hand and accompaniment in the left hand, or the tune might be passed from one hand to the other. The tune should usually be played a little louder than the accompaniment. The accompaniment must not ‘drown’ the tune.
An accompaniment might be single notes, or chords, or any other pattern. The accompaniments help us to feel the harmony. An accompaniment might be another tune (this is called counterpoint). Tunes can be played or sung without accompaniment. Folk songs are traditionally sung unaccompanied.
If one instrument accompanies another, the person who plays the accompaniment is an accompanist. The piano is the most popular instrument for accompanying in Western music. A good pianist can accompany a violin, cello, oboe, trumpet, singer or choir. They have to listen carefully to the instrument(s) they are accompanying, and play with the same kind of feeling.
When a soloist plays a concerto the orchestra are accompanying the soloist. An organist playing a hymn is accompanying the congregation. A percussion player in a rock band is accompanying the lead instrument.
Guitars and electric keyboards are often used for accompaniment. In Elizabethan times the lute was popular. People sang songs and often accompanied themselves on the lute or harp. In the Baroque period the accompaniment was often played by the basso continuo (harpsichord or organ with cello or bassoon on the bass line).
The pianist Gerald Moore was a famous accompanist. When he started his career in the 1920s people did not think that the accompanist was very important. Sometimes their name would not even be printed in the programme. A singer would expect the audience to start to clap as soon as they had sung their last note, even if the piano had several more bars to play. This might not matter too much with some music, but in songs by Schubert, Wolf and other composers of Lieder the piano parts are very important. Gerald Moore made people realize how important the accompanist is. A good performance can be ruined by a bad accompaniment.
Musical terminology |
30698 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog%20language | Tagalog language | Tagalog is one of the main languages spoken in the Philippines and is the national language of the country. More than 22 million people speak it as their first language.
It was originally spoken by the Tagalog people in the Philippines, who were mainly in Bulacan, Cavite, and some parts of Luzon. Now, Tagalog is spoken nationwide and used by Filipinos from different parts of the country to understand each other.
It originally was used with an abugida, the Baybayin script, but the Latin alphabet is now used.
Sample phrases
Magandang Umaga! - Good Morning!
Magandang Gabi! - Good Evening!
Magandang Tanghali! - Good Afternoon!
Kumusta!/Kamusta? - How are you?/Hello! (Informal)
May __ ba kayo? - Do you have __?(Formal)
Mayroon po: Response to "May __ ba kayo", meaning "Yes, sir".
Wala po - Opposite of "Mayroon po".
Kayo - you (formal), informally, it refers to "you all".
Magkano ito? - How much is this?
po: ma'am or sir (used in sentences to be polite to an elder speaker)
Mabuhay! - Long Live
Ako po si (Pangalan)... - I am (Name)...
Mahal kita - I love you
Nanay - Mom
Tatay - Dad
Hindi - No
Bakit? - Why?
Saan? - Where?
Ano? - What?
Kailan? - When?
Sino? - Who?
Related pages
Tagalog Wikipedia
References
Other websites
Austronesian languages
Filipino culture |
30703 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basso%20continuo | Basso continuo | Basso continuo is a form of musical accompaniment used in the Baroque period. It means "continuous bass".
Basso continuo, sometimes just called "continuo", was played by an instrument providing chordal accompaniment such as a keyboard instrument or plucked string instrument such as the lute along with another bass instrument such as cello, violone, or bassoon. The keyboard instrument was normally a harpsichord but could also be an organ, such as a small portative instrument.
It was not usual to write out all the notes for the keyboard player. The composer normally just wrote the bass line which would be played by the left hand and doubled on the other bass instrument. The composer would indicate what the harmony should be (which chords should be played) by writing figures underneath the music.
Examples
References
Music |
30709 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali | Diwali | Diwali (also: Deepawali) is one of India's biggest festivals. The word 'Deepawali' means rows of lighted lamps. It is a Festival of Lights and Hindus celebrate it with joy. During this festival, people light up their houses and shops with Diyas (small cup-shaped oil lamp made of baked clay). They worship the Lord Ganesha for welfare and prosperity and Goddess Lakshmi for wealth and wisdom.
This festival is celebrated in the Hindu month of Kartikamasam which falls sometime during October or November. It is celebrated to mark the return of Lord Rama after 14 years of exile and his victory over the Demon Ravana. In many parts of India, Deepawali is celebrated for five consecutive days. Hindus regard it as a celebration of life and use the occasion to strengthen relationships. In some parts of India, it marks the beginning of a new year. People clean and decorate their house before the festival. They do colorful rangoli art works on floors.
Deepawali is celebrated and is a public holiday in countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago. It is also a school holiday in many states of the United States with a large Hindu population.
President George W. Bush had the first celebration of the holiday in the White House.
Hindus light up their homes and shops to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi and to give them good luck for the year ahead. A few days before Ravtegh, which is the day before Deepavali, houses, buildings, shops and temples are thoroughly cleaned, whitewashed and decorated with pictures, toys and flowers. On the day of Deepawali, people put on their best clothes and exchange greetings, gifts and sweets with their friends and family.
At night, buildings are illuminated with earthen lamps, candle-sticks and electric bulbs. Sweets and toy shop are decorated to attract the passers-by. The bazaars and streets are overcrowded. People buy sweets for their own families and also send them as presents to their friends and relatives. The Goddess Lakshmi is also worshiped in the form of earthen images, silver rupee. Hindus believe that on this day, Lakshmi only enters houses which are neat and tidy. People offer prayers for their own health, wealth and prosperity. They leave the light on in buildings believing that Lakshmi will not have difficulty in finding her way in.
Diwali is one of the most important festival of the Hindus.It is also known as deepawali or the festival of lights. It comes on Amavasya day in the month of kartik. Both rich and poor wear new clothes on this day. Lots of sweets are made. People light diyas and burn crackers. They ex- change greetings and sweets. Goddess Laxmi is worshipped on this day.
References
Other websites
The Ancient Origins of Diwali, India’s Biggest Holiday, Becky Little (2017)
Hinduism
Religious holidays |
30711 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthashastra | Arthashastra | Arthashastra is an ancient book of India. Kautilya (also known as Chanakya) wrote this book. Kautilya was a minister of Chandragupta Maurya (321 BC – 297 BC), an emperor of Ancient India. After many revisions and additions, the book took its present form about 1800 years before, in the 2nd century.
The book is divided into fifteen sections. It tells about politics and administration. Different sections of the book talk about many subjects, such as: war and politics "rule with a harsh hand"
Duties of the ruler
Training of the princes
Qualifications of ministers of state, home, and foreign offices
Civil services
Defense
Judiciary
Civil and criminal law
Corporation and guilds
History of India |
30712 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman | Hanuman | Hanuman is one of the most popular gods of Hindus. He is also known by other names like Hanumat. His mother’s name was Anjana. Based on her mother’s name, Hanuman is sometimes called Anjaneya, that is, one born of Anjana. His father’s name was Kesari.
He is blessed by Vayu as the god of winds. Hanuman’s image shows him as a strong man with the face of a monkey. He also has a tail it represents the morality, higher pride of being self.
Hanuman was awarded boon of Immortality by Mother Sita ( Wife of Lord rama) and is still alive
Hanuman is a very powerful and strong god. He finds an important place in the Ramayana. He was a devotee of Rama, a form (avatar) of Vishnu, a god of Hindus. Hanuman is a figure of strength, perseverance and devotion. When he was young he thought the sun a mango. One of his most famous stories was when he helped Rama rescue Sita from Ravana which is the famous story of Diwali.
Other websites
Hindu mythology |
30715 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra | Indra | (Devanagari: इन्द्र) or is the most important among the Indo-Aryan gods. He is the God of war, the god of thunderstorms. In the Vedas, many verses (hymns) are there in his praise. The Rigveda praises him as a very strong God. Many Hindu scriptures tell about Indra, his character and his deeds.
Indra resides in a mythical city located above in the sky. The city’s name is Amravati. He lives there with his wife named Indrani, and several other smaller gods. There are many apsaras in amravati.
Indra was a very important God during the Vedic period. Later his importance became less. Gods like Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva became more important in Hinduism.
Indra in current form of mythology is similar to that of Zeus in Greek mythology. Though his importance has come down, he is still considered to be king of Gods. His status is below that of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Thus, he is considered to be king of lesser Gods.
Again, his weapon is Vajra which is represented by Thunderbolt! His means, at times, treacherous and he is shown as, at times, jealous and vengeful. Further, he is made to suffer his own bad deeds.
References
Masson-Oursel, P.; Morin, Louise (1976). "Indian Mythology." In New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology, pp. 325–359. New York: The Hamlyn Publishing Group.
Janda, M., Eleusis, das indogermanische Erbe der Mysterien (1998).
http://www.magellanexperiences.com/tirta_empul_temple.htm
Other websites
Indra, the Storm-god - by Benjamin Slade
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Indra
Indra according to Vedic literature
Hinduism
Hindu mythology |
30716 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badrinath | Badrinath | Badrinath is an important pilgrimage place for the Hindus. The place is in Uttarakhand state of India, and is located at a high altitude in the Himalayas. The Hindu scriptures say that the place is sacred to Vishnu, one of the gods of Hindus.
Badrinath gets its name from a tree's name. The name of that tree is badri-tree or Indian Jujube tree. The botanical name of a badri-tree is Zizyphus jujba Lam.
The modern Badrinath temple was established by Adi Shankaracharya in the ninth century after the old temple fell to ruin. The Badrinath area is referred to as Badarikaashram (बदरिकाश्रम) in Hindu scriptures.
The temple was renovated many times because of age or damage by avalanche. In the 17th century, the temple was renovated by the kings of Garhwal. After the great 1803 Himalayan earthquake, it was rebuilt by the King of Jaipur.
Hindu temples
Buildings and structures in India
9th-century establishments in Asia
Establishments in India |
30718 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanchipuram | Kanchipuram | Kanchipuram is one of the seven most holy cities of Hindus. It is about southwest of Chennai, Tamil Nadu state, India. Kanchipuram was an important religious and cultural place of Ancient India. The city continues to be an important religious place.
For a long time, from the 6th century till the 8th century, the city was capital city of the Pallava dynasty.
There are many temples in the city.
There is a Math (religious centre) of Shankaracharya in this city.
Kanchipuram silk sarees are famous
Cities in India
Kanchipuram district
Settlements in Tamil Nadu |
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