title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: In English culture, the Phoenix phoenix is a mythical bird, very beautiful and unique in its kind, which, according to legend, lives in the western desert for 500 or 600 years, burns itself on a pile of debris, and from the resulting ashes, he himself once again. He emerges with a youthful freshness and begins and passes another round of life. Phoenix in European culture is often an allegory of immortality and eternal life. Phoenix originally entered European culture from ancient Iran. During the eight centuries BC, the Phoenix bird is mentioned in nine references, eight of which have come down to us through quotations from later authors, and only one case by Herodotus, a Greek historian from 484 to 424 BC, is preserved in full. remained. Another Greek, Claudius Aelianus, also known as Aelian, wrote about Phoenix 200 AD: "Phoenix keeps the arithmetic of 500 years correct without the help of arithmetic or finger counting, because he learns everything from nature, which is the whole intellect. Although it seems necessary to know about Phoenix, among the Egyptians - perhaps only a handful of priests - no one knows when 500 years will pass, but at least we need to know where Egypt is and Heliopolis where Phoenix is. "Where is it and what kind of coffin does this bird put its father in and where does it bury it?" According to the English text, this historian calls Phoenix's father a father, but calls Phoenix the neutral form (it). Subsequent authors have often used the feminine form for Phoenix, but since this bird is a unique myth and its offspring did not derive from mating, the discussion of its sex did not seem to be very important. A Roman historian named Publius Ovidius Naso, better known as Ovid, is the first Roman to write about Phoenix in Latin. "How many creatures walk on earth today, but in the beginning they were different. There is only one being that will remain forever as it was from the beginning, that is, it will remain unchanged for many years, and finally, after extinction, it will be born again in its original form. This is a bird that the Assyrians, or in some sources probably the Syrians or the Phoenicians, call the phoenix. This bird does not eat ordinary seeds and grass, but eats fruit extracts and rare spices. When he is 500 years old, he builds a nest on a tall palm tree and with his fork makes a bed for himself from the finest materials, from tree bark to cinnamon and other spices and gums, and then he dies and his soul travels far away with fragrant smoke and steam, and the story It goes on to say that a small phoenix then rises from the chest of his lifeless body to live, as they say, another 500 years, and at that time, after his old age, he found the necessary courage to raise his throne and nests where his father is buried. A tall palm tree sets in motion and begins its journey to the city of the sun, where the Phoenix Nest Temple shines brightly in the Temple of the Sun. ” From all that has been said about the phoenix in European culture, two general accounts of the phoenix can be given: First, Phoenix arises from his father's lifeless body and takes his father's body to the city of Heliopolis and burns it on the altar of the Temple of the Sun; And another narration is that the phoenix burns in a pile of fragrant wood and debris, flutters its wings and ignites a flame, burns itself in the fire, and from its ashes another phoenix is born. So, in a nutshell, this myth can be said in European culture: "The phoenix burns in the fire and is born again from its ashes." In this regard, it is common in English to say, "Every fire may contain a phoenix.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: During the first century AD, Phoenix was mentioned 21 times by ten authors. From all these sources it appears that the myth of Phoenix originated in ancient Egyptian civilization and was later spoken of in Greek, Roman and Christian civilizations, respectively. Among the Egyptians, the myth of Phoenix was originally the myth of the sun rising again at dawn after each night, and the name of the city of Heliopolis in Herodotus must have been related to this. The Egyptians consider the phoenix a sacred bird, which is very rare. According to the people of Heliopolis, the phoenix appears in Egypt once every 500 years after the death of the previous phoenix. There are only a few pictures of this bird, and as can be seen from its shape and size in these pictures, the wings and jump are red and yellow are golden, and its general size is like an eagle. A strange story is told about the work of this bird, and that is that this bird brings its father's body, which is covered with a kind of fragrant plant gum, all the way from the Arab land to the Temple of the Sun and buries it there. It is said that in order to bring a corpse, first it makes a gum large enough to carry it, then it empties it and puts the corpse in it and closes its mouth with fresh gum, and then the bullet, which is correct. It has regained its original weight, is brought to Egypt, and while the entire surface of the bullet is covered with gum, it is placed inside the Temple of the Sun, as mentioned.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: Persian mythology, the phoenix means swan, a counterpart to the Indo-European and Chinese word phoenix, and appears to be the result of an arrangement of a pheasant, a Chinese chicken, and a mixture with other mythical birds. In Persian narrations, like in Indo-European narrations, this hen is a rare and lonely hen that is not a mate and as a result, she will not give birth. Phoenix lives a thousand years, and when his life comes to an end, he produces a large pile of firewood, and when he sits on that pile, he sings so much that he rejoices in his song, and by breaking his wings and with the help of his beak, he kindles a fire, and burns in the door. Fire produces a testicle (egg) from him and thus another phoenix is born. In this narrative, Phoenix is the swan counterpart in European literature who ends his life by singing. Basically, in Persian literature, as in Indo-European literature, burning in one's suffering and rising from one's ashes and being born again have their way into the myth of Phoenix.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: In Chinese mythological culture, the phoenix is known as Feng Huang or the red bird, which is a genus of fire and is a symbol of summer and the south, which causes drought. For this reason, Phoenix contains the negative and material element of the world, namely yin, and is considered the symbol of the queen. In front of the phoenix is the dragon, which is always considered to be the representative of Khaqan in Chinese mythology. According to Chinese tradition, the phoenix flies less to the surface of the earth, and when it does, all the birds gather around it. According to Koyaji about Phoenix, he does not sit on the ground, but whenever he sits on the ground, he dances on one foot. Some have suggested that the Chinese phoenix is the counterpart of Shang Shang or the rainbird in the Confucian version, while the Shang Shang or rainbird is the bird that symbolizes the yin, but the phoenix is commonly considered the symbol of the yang. Phoenix in Chinese mythology is a symbol of joy and happiness and a sign of heavenly satisfaction. In these myths, the dragon is the spirit of the rain and the symbol of Khaqan, and the phoenix is the symbol of the queen and the south and the helper of the farmers.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: In Chinese mythology, the red bird or phoenix was a symbol of the south and was worshipped. Phoenix later replaced the pheasant. In the surviving maps, this bird had a curved beak, a long, sharp claw in the shape of a bird of prey, and was considered a help to farmers on the arid farms of the south. There is another phoenix in Chinese mythology called Qi Sang or Phoenix of the Mountains. This phoenix is the phoenix that provided the map of rivers to Yu in the time of the Athenian dynasty.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: “A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix” is one of the most popular themes in traditional Chinese painting. This is also the name of a traditional Chinese music piece featuring complicated suona playing skills.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: According to Chinese legend, the phoenix was originally an inconspicuous bird with a plain appearance. Unlike most birds that busied themselves with playing around, he collected fruit and seeds in his den from dawn to dust. Unable to understand his behavior, other birds mocked him for being greedy.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: Later, an unexpected draught left many birds without anything to eat. The phoenix opened his den, and shared his food with the other birds, saving their lives.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: When the rain finally returned, bringing life back to the forest, the birds wanted to show their gratitude to the phoenix. Each bird pulled out one of their most beautiful feathers, and together they made the feathers into a dazzling garment. They presented the garment to the phoenix, and crowned him as their king.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: Hence, each year, all birds will fly to the phoenix on one particular day, and pay their respects to the king. This image has inspired countless artists.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: Though the phoenix is often called fenghuang today, the words feng and huang originally referred to a pair of colorful birds. Feng is a male bird and huang is female. However, just as the Chinese dragon was used as a symbol for the emperor in the royal court, the phoenix, with its beautiful appearance, was selected to symbolize the empress. The empress’s crown at formal events was usually called the “phoenix crown,” while her dress was called the “phoenix dress.” Both crowns and dresses were decorated with many phoenix images.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: Thus, the phoenix and dragon became “golden partners,” and they often appear together in phrases with positive connotations. “Prosperity brought by the dragon and the phoenix” (long feng cheng xiang) is widely used as an expression of luck. “The talent of the dragon and the presence of the phoenix” (long zhang feng zi) is an expression used to describe the elegance of a person. “The dragon flies and phoenix rises” (long fei feng qi) refers to when an emperor or a saint appears. “Dragon’s heart and phoenix’s liver” (long xin feng gan) refer to a precious and rare dishes. “Climb the dragon and attach to the phoenix” (pan long fu feng) means to flatter the powerful for one’s own benefit.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: And phoenix’s powers are also to some extent complimentary to the dragon’s. While the Chinese dragon can summon wind and call for rain, the phoenix is capable of manipulating fire.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: However, the phoenix in Chinese myth did not have the ability of rising from the ashes until contemporary litterateur Guo Moruo used the concept of the Western phoenix in his poetry.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: Phoenix Short Story by Sylvia Town Sand Warner Edited In the book Phoenix by Sylvia Townsend, Warner Phoenix depicts a mythical creature as a reality and symbolizes the identity and existence of a nation, which is a toy of the lusts and desires of profiteers. In this short and influential story. The Phoenix is a beautiful, ancient Eastern bird that lives in a region in the Middle East near Saudi Arabia when it is captured by a British capitalist named "Mr. Paldero" and imprisoned in a cage to make money from displaying it in a zoo. He pockets well, but after a while, when he sees that the phoenix in the cage and captivity is not attractive to the people and does not attract the attention of the people, he decides to make a humble and ridiculous creature out of this magnificent bird in order to be interesting to the people. Reach. He constantly torments this bird, but finally, after enduring a lot of hardship and oppression, Phoenix rises like a nation under oppression and tyranny, burns all those who caused his suffering in his fire, and is born again free. . In part of the story we read:  "The other birds were taken to his cage. Inherently fierce and warlike birds. They beheaded Phoenix and harassed him; But Phoenix was so sociable and kind that other birds gave up on him after a day or two of hostility. Mr. Paldero then used stray cats. They could no longer leave the field with good manners. But Phoenix flew quickly over their heads and fluttered his golden wings in their faces, frightening them. The phoenix was transferred to a small cage with a sprinkler on the roof. The sprinkler was turned on every night, and Phoenix coughed. Mr. Paldero had another idea in mind. Every day he stood in front of the phoenix cage, mocking and ridiculing it, and abusing it. When spring came, Mr. Paldero was thinking of starting a public campaign about the declining phoenix. "Phoenix, which has long been popular, is declining," he said. Then, a few days later, Mr. Paldero put the stinking phoenix reaction in the cage to put the stinking straw bundles and some rusty barbed wire in the cage to see if he was still inclined to nest. One day Phoenix began to wander in the straw and grass. Mr. Paldero signed a contract for the filming rights. Finally the promised day arrived. It had been a few weeks since people became more and more interested in Phoenix, and the right to enter had reached five shillings. All around the fence was a roaring crowd. Lights and cameras were aimed at the cage, and a speaker through the loudspeaker seldom reminded the audience of what was happening. "Phoenix is the aristocrat of the bird world," the speaker said. "Only the rarest and most precious specimens of Oriental wood, impregnated with perfume, can seduce Phoenix to establish its legendary love nest." At this moment, clean bundles of fragrant sticks and wood chips were thrown into the cage. The speaker continued from the speaker: "Phoenix, like Cleopatra, is capricious, and like a magnificent charm, like the native music of intoxicated gypsies. "All the splendor of the ancient East, its eternal magic, and its skillful tyranny." A woman in the crowd shouted, "Look, she wants to set herself on fire." Trembling fell on the phoenix horns. He turned his head from side to side. He came down and walked back and forth from his seat. He moved the chips and sticks with fatigue and exhaustion. The cameras started working and light shone on Phoenix from all sides. "Ladies and gentlemen," said Mr. Paldero, running to the speaker. This is an exciting moment that the world is waiting for with its soul trapped in its chest. The legend of centuries ago is unfolding before our eyes today. The phoenix sat on a pile of wood that burned like a fire, as if asleep. "If that was the whole story, write down the educational film," said the film's director. At that moment, Phoenix and his nest suddenly ignited. The sparks rose up and spread to all sides. "In a minute or two, everything turned to ashes, and several thousand people, including Mr. Paldero, died in the fire."


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: In ancient Persian poetry, only Attar Neyshabouri mentions Phoenix in his poems. He also considered the phoenix as other mortal beings and emphasized the pervasiveness of the phenomenon of death. In the logic of Attar al-Tair, the phoenix is the heart of the bird of your heart, which is its refuge in India. He is a bird that has about a hundred holes in his beak and he is not a pair; According to the narration, the phoenix sits in the heights and when the wind blows on his beak, a pleasant melody appears and other birds gather around him with this song and become intoxicated and hunted by him. In his poems, Attar Neyshabouri mentions the phoenix as a bird that has 360 holes on its tip and a pleasant melody comes out of each hole. He knows the origin of the phoenix in India.


title: Phoenix (mythology)

text: Phoenix. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/457189/phoenix>.


title: American English

text: American English or US English is the dialect of the English language spoken in the United States of America. It is different in some ways from other types of English, such as British English. Most types of American English came from local dialects in England.


title: American English

text: Many people today know about American English even if they live in a country where another type of English is spoken. This may be because people hear and read American English through the media, for example movies, television, and the Internet, where the most common form of English is American English.


title: American English

text: Because people all over the world use the English language, it gets many new words. English has been changing in this way for hundreds of years. For example, the many millions who speak Indian English frequently add American English words to go along with its British English base and many other words from the various Indian languages.


title: American English

text: Sometimes people learn American English as it is spoken in the US. For example, in telephone call centers in India and other places, people often learn American English to sound more like their customers who call from the US. These people often keep using American English in everyday life.


title: American English

text: There are many words that sound the same in both American and British English but have different spellings. British English often keeps more traditional ways of spelling words than American English.


title: American English

text: General American English is the kind most spoken in mass media. It more vigorously pronounces the letter "R" than some other kinds do. "R-dropping" is frequent in certain places where "r" sound is not pronounced after a vowel. For example as in the words "car" and "card" sounding like "cah" and "cahd". This occurs in the Boston area.


title: American English

text: Boston English (also east New England English) - This is the most famous non-rhotic American accent and what most other non-rhotic American varieties often get compared to. Other Bostonian features include limited Canadian raising of the "ow" diphthong (before voiceless consonants such as in words like "house" and "about").


title: American English

text: New York City English - One of the most recognizable dialects in the US, NYC English is characterized by variable non-rhoticity or semi-rhoticity, a rounding of the long o sound ( making " coffee" and "thought" sound like "cawfee" and "thawt").


title: American English

text: South Louisiana English - This group of non-rhotic accents can be heard in New Orleans and its surrounding areas and can be described as a combination between New York City English and Southern American English.


title: Tokyo

text: Tokyo () is the capital and largest city of Japan located on the island of Honshu in the region of kanto. Tokyo is the center of the Japanese government. The Imperial Palace is in Tokyo, it's not actually public for tourist. Tokyo is the center of business, trade, and industry of Japan. The city is the center of the largest metropolitan area in the world. It faces Tokyo Bay.


title: Tokyo

text: It became the capital city of Japan in the middle of 19th century, when its name changed from "Edo" to "Tokyo". Before then, Kyoto was the capital of Japan. The Emperor of Japan, or Tenno, lived in Kyoto. Edo was the place where the Tokugawa Shoguns lived. The city grew up under the control of the shoguns. Before then it was a small town on the sea. Edo means "the mouth of a river" in Japanese.


title: Tokyo

text: Tokyo was destroyed by fires started by the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. It was also badly damaged by bombs during World War II. After Japan lost the war, the city was rebuilt.


title: Tokyo

text: The Edo clan built walls to protect the town in the late 12th century. In 1457, Ōta Dōkan built Edo Castle. In 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu made Edo his base. He became shogun in 1603, and the town became the center of his military government. This marked the beginning of the Edo period. During this time, Edo grew into one of the largest cities in the world. More than one million people lived there by the 18th century.


title: Tokyo

text: Edo was not the capital of Japan. The emperor lived in the capital, Kyoto. However, since the shogun was more powerful than the emperor throughout Japanese history, Edo had more power. After about 263 years, the Meiji Restoration removed the shogun from power. In 1869, the 17-year-old Emperor Meiji moved to Edo. The old Edo Castle became the Kokyo, the Imperial Palace.


title: Tokyo

text: In 1943, Tokyo City and the "associated municipalities of what was formerly (1869-1943)" combined into one.


title: Tokyo

text: Central Tokyo is built around major railway stations. Suburban railways were built relatively cheaply at street level. There are some expressways.


title: Tokyo

text: Tokyo suffered two major catastrophes in the 20th century. The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake left 140,000 dead or missing. World War II was the other disaster for the city. The Bombing of Tokyo from 1944 through 1945 killed between 75,000 and 200,000 people and destroyed half the city. This was almost as much damage as the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.


title: Tokyo

text: Tokyo was completely rebuilt after the war. The 1964 Summer Olympics were a major world event. New high-rise developments such as Sunshine 60 started in the 1970s.


title: Tokyo

text: Tokyo has a four-season humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: "Cfa") with hot rainy summers and cool dry winters.


title: Tokyo

text: As of October 2007 about 8.7 million were living in Tokyo's 23 special wards. The number of people in Tokyo increases to over 15 million during the day. About 2.5 million workers and students enter the city everyday. The three central wards of Chiyoda, Chūō, and Minato increase the most. As of 2005, the regular population in those three areas was only 326,000 at night, but there are 2.4 million in those areas during the day.


title: Tokyo

text: Tokyo has many international residents. As of 2005, the most common groups in Tokyo are Chinese (123,661), Koreans (106,697), and Filipinos (31,077). Americans (18,848), British (7,696), Brazilian (5,300) and French (3,000) are less common.


title: Tokyo

text: The 23 special wards of Tokyo are the same area that had been called Tokyo City. On July 1, 1943, Tokyo City was merged with to become a special government area. This made the wards different from other wards in Japan. Other city wards are part of a larger city government, but these are not.


title: Tokyo

text: Each ward is a municipality with its own mayor and assembly like the other cities of Japan. The special wards often use the word city in their official English name, e.g. Chiyoda City.


title: Tokyo

text: The wards have a unique administrative relationship with the prefectural government. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government manages some public works such as water, sewer, and fire-fighting. To pay for these things, the prefecture collects the municipal taxes usually collected by a city.


title: Tokyo

text: Tokyo has many sight-seeing spots, but very few of them are old. There are very few buildings in Tokyo that are more than 50 years old. Popular places for visitors range from Tokyo Tower in the center of the city to Mount Takao out in the western countryside. Tokyo Skytree is a new tower and is the tallest in Japan. Traditional religious sights such as Meiji Shrine and Sensō-ji attract many tourists. The Imperial Palace can be seen in the middle of the city, but is not open to the public.


title: Tokyo

text: Tokyo is the cultural, business, and political center of the country. It is also the center of many transport systems. There are many air, rail, sea, and road links in and out of the city. Local subway and bus systems serve every part of the city.


title: Tokyo

text: Two commercial airports serve Tokyo. Haneda Airport is in the city limits next to Tokyo Bay. This airport is mostly for domestic travel. Most international flights to and from Tokyo go through Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture.


title: Tokyo

text: Several Shinkansen super-express railway lines begin at Tokyo Station, including the Tōkaidō Shinkansen going west and Tōhoku Shinkansen going northeast. Tokyo Metro is the city's major subway system.


title: Tokyo

text: Tokyo has a busy international and domestic port, but more traffic goes through the nearby port of Yokohama. There are domestic ferries to the islands of Tokyo, but also to other parts of the country such as Hokkaido.


title: Tokyo

text: Many highways meet in Tokyo, including: the Chūō, Kan-Etsu, Tōhoku, and Tōmei Expressways. All highway distances in Japan start from zero at a marker in Nihonbashi, Tokyo.


title: Shot put

text: Shot put is an athletics sport where people try to "put" a heavy weighted ball as far as they can. They are not allowed to throw it, but instead they push the ball out into the air. They "put" the ball by holding it at their neck and pushing it through the air. The shot put has been part of the Olympics since 1896. The weight of the ball can vary from 6 to 16 pounds (2.76 to 7.26 kg), depending on level age and gender of the participants. The main objective of the sport is to throw the ball as far as possible.


title: Shot put

text: The Shot put is similar to the javelin. It is an official Olympic event and can be seen at the Olympic games. The athlete cannot wear gloves when they are participating. If wearing gloves, the athlete will be disqualified.


title: Shot put

text: The shot put event was first seen in the Middle Ages, when they would throw cannonballs at their enemies.


title: Shot put

text: There are two types of putting styles: "glide" and "spin" (rotation). The glide was invented in the US in the year 1876. The spin was also developed in the US. It was invented by Parry O'Brian and made famous by Brian Oldfield.


title: Shot put

text: Shot put was originally used in the Olympics to see who was the strongest athlete. Each athlete threw from a wooden square, and could only stand to throw. The shot put was a large stone ball. That is now a metal not softer than brasses.


title: Jana Gana Mana

text: "Jana Gana Mana" (, ; , ; "Thou art the Ruler of the Minds of All People", ) is the title for the national anthem of India. The original words were written in the Bengali language. It was originally a five-verse poem created in 1911 by Rabindranath Tagore—the same author for the Bangladeshi anthem. In January 1950, just the first verse was made to be officially part of the national anthem of India per the Constituent Assembly of India. In addition, the lyrics now contain many words of Sanskrit origin.


title: Left- and right-hand traffic

text: The driving side of a road is the side where vehicles must drive. Each country says whether vehicles will drive on the right-hand or left-hand side of the road. This is sometimes called the rule of the road. This basic rule makes traffic move more easily. It also lowers the risk of head-on collisions. Today about 66.1% of the world's people live in countries that drive on the right-hand side; 33.9% live in countries that drive on the left-hand side.


title: Left- and right-hand traffic

text: The side driven on is usually the inverse of the side on which a vehicle's steering wheel and instrument panel are located. That is, right-hand drive (RHD) vehicles are normal when driving on the left-hand side of the road, and left-hand drive (LHD) vehicles are used when driving on the right-hand side of the road.


title: Left- and right-hand traffic

text: Most countries that drive on the left-hand side are former British colonies. However, some other countries still chose the left-hand side of the road. These countries include: Japan, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Mozambique, Suriname, East Timor, and Indonesia. Today, only four European countries drive on the left-hand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus, all of which are islands. There are several countries where their territories that exist outside the mainland drive on a different side from the mainland. One well-known example is that all of China drives on the right-hand except for its Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong and Macau, which drive on the left-hand.


title: Left- and right-hand traffic

text: Historically, before the creation of the automobile, people mostly rode on the left-hand side, since most people were right-handed and would whip their horses with their left hands. Warriors in battle could also use their right hand to hold and control their weapon. However, during the 1700s, many farmers began to pull their vehicles using teams of horses rather than just one. This was so that the driver could easily whip all the horses and so that the driver could see how close their wheels were to colliding to another wagon. In 1794, France passed the first right-hand driving laws, and this law would spread with Napolean's conquests. The territories and regions of the former Austro-Hungarian and Portuguese Empires refused to change the direction of driving at first, but most eventually chose to drive on the right-side. Only Mozambique, East Timor, and Macau (all former Portuguese colonies) still drive on the left-side. Canada, Myanmar, Gibraltar, British Indian Ocean Territory, and a few countries in West Africa like Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia all switched to driving on the right hand side of the road.


title: Texas

text: Texas (, ), officially the State of Texas, is a state in the South Central Region of the United States. It is the second largest US state by total area (after Alaska) with 268,596 sq mi (695,662 km) and population (after California) with nearly 29 million people as of 2019. Its largest cities are Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, and Austin, the capital city.


title: Texas

text: Texas became the 28th state in the United States in 1845. Texas has been controlled by Spain, France, the Confederate States of America, and Mexico. It declared its independence from Mexico in 1836. It was its own country, the Republic of Texas, for 9 years (1836–1845). It is called the "Lone Star State" and its flag has one star.


title: Texas

text: There are many tourist attractions in Texas. Fort Worth is known for its stockyards. Amarillo is known for the cattle business and stockyards. In Dallas, industrial technology companies including Texas Instruments and EDS have their home offices. San Antonio has The Alamo. Houston has the Johnson Space Center. Austin has the University of Texas at Austin. Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Baylor University in Waco and the University of North Texas in Denton are other important universities in the state.


title: Texas

text: The state's name derives from táyshay, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai (a Native American tribe), which means "allies" or "friends."


title: Texas

text: Texas was first explored in 1528 by Spanish explorers on accident (they were shipwrecked on the coast). It did not become a colony until 1685, when France claimed it. In response, Spain started a rival colony in 1691 by setting up a religious outpost in the eastern part of Texas. Spain did not come back to Texas until 1716 to protect its colonies in the west from French forces. Two years later, San Antonio was founded.


title: Texas

text: The pressure between the Spaniards and Native Americans in East Texas stopped many settlers from coming to Texas. To stop the violence and the increasing Native American raids, Spain called a truce between many tribes in 1745 and 1789.


title: Texas

text: Tensions rose in Texas after the United States bought a large amount of nearby land from France in 1803. This was the Louisiana Purchase. People began wondering whether Spain or the United States could claim Texas.


title: Texas

text: Mexico won the Mexican War of Independence in 1821. Mexico, including Texas, was free from the Spanish Empire. Americans and other settlers came into Texas when Mexico allowed non-Spanish settlers to settle here. After many settlers came to Texas, Mexico started taxing non-citizens. This outraged many settlers. Many were already angry because Mexico banned slavery.


title: Texas

text: Politics in Mexico became violent and several Mexican States declared independence. On March 2, 1836, Texas declared independence from Mexico and soon they were at war. Texas won, but Mexico refused to recognize Texas as an independent sovereign Republic. Texas soon requested entry to the United States. Years later, in 1845, the US added Texas as a state, and Mexico broke off diplomatic relations. Mexico resisted offers by the U.S. to buy land extending from Texas to the Pacific Ocean. In 1846, a dispute over the border between Texas and Mexico resulted in armed conflict, and the Mexican-American War began. The United States won the war, and by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, in 1848 won lands that later formed the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming. Mexico received 15 million dollars and gave up its claims to Texas.


title: Texas

text: After Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, Texas joined the newly formed Confederate States of America in 1861 and fought in the American Civil War in an attempt to become independent from the United States. The Confederates lost to the Union (the United States) in 1865. Texas was restored to full representation in Congress on March 30, 1870.


title: Texas

text: On January 10, 1901, oil was found in Texas, leading to the founding of a richer economy. During a time when the economy was poor, many people left Texas. Texas did not regain the population it had lost until the 1950s and 60s. In recent years, Texas has become a hub for technology and computers.


title: Texas

text: Texas is the second biggest state in the Union (after Alaska) and is bigger than every European country except Russia. It has mountains, forests, deserts, plains, and coasts. The largest river in Texas is the Rio Grande, which forms the border between Mexico and the United States throughout south Texas. The highest mountain in Texas is Guadalupe Peak.


title: Texas

text: Texas has the second largest economy in the United States after the economy of California. It had a gross state product of US$1.887 trillion in 2019. Texas was home to six of the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500 list in 2015 (third most after New York and California). In 2017, Texas grossed more than US$264.5 billion a year in exports—more than the exports of California (US$172 billion) and New York (US$77.9 billion) combined. As a sovereign country, in 2016, Texas would be the 10th largest economy in the world by gross domestic product (GDP), ahead of South Korea and Canada and behind Brazil.


title: Plastic

text: A plastic is a material that can change its shape easily. Many things are made of plastic, and some types of wood can be made out of plastic, usually because making them in the right shape is easy and plastic gives form to wood and other things. There are many types of plastic. Some can be shaped only when they are freshly made; then they become hard. Others are thermoplastic and can be softened by heating them. These plastics can be used for 3D printing, because the plastic will become soft enough to form into different shapes, and then become hard again when they cool down.


title: Plastic

text: Most plastics are man-made; they do not occur in nature. The process of making plastics is usually quite complicated. Most of the materials that are called "plastic" are polymers. Polymers are long chains of atoms bonded to each other. In most plastics, the long chain is a chain of carbon atoms with other atoms attached to them. The different atoms and the shape and length of the chains change how the plastic looks and works.


title: Plastic

text: People experimented with plastics based on natural polymers for a very long time. Alexander Parkes, an English inventor (1813-1890), created an early form of plastic in 1855. It was hard but flexible and transparent. He called it "Parkesine" but now it is called "Celluloid."


title: Plastic

text: Old plastics are usually thrown away and put in landfills. Some plastics release toxic fumes when heated. Some plastics are recycled so they won't become waste. Some plastics have other materials added to them, like glass, because they make the plastic stronger and stiffer.


title: Plastic

text: Plastics are mostly petrochemicals, made from natural gas or from petroleum, a type of oil. Chemical engineers refine the petroleum which goes through a heating process. It develops ethylene and propylene, which are the chemical building blocks for many plastics. These chemicals are then combined with other chemicals to produce a polymer.


title: Plastic

text: Today, some of these plastics are also being made without oil. Instead, other sources like plants and bacteria are used to make the plastic. These plastics are called bioplastics. They are useful because they can be eaten by other bacteria instead of throwing them away.


title: Pedophilia

text: Pedophilia (Paedophilia in British English) is a paraphilia and a psychiatric disorder when a person 16 years of age or older is primarily or exclusively sexually attracted to children who have not begun puberty (Usually under 14 years old).


title: Pedophilia

text: A person with pedophilia (adults and older adolescents who are sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children) is called a "pedophile". The child must be at least five years younger than the person in the case of adolescent pedophiles before the attraction can be called pedophilia. Adults whose primary or exclusive sexual attraction is for pubescent early adolescents (ages 11 to 14) are properly called Hebephiles, not pedophiles. Adults whose primary or exclusive sexual attraction is for late to post-pubescent teens (ages 15 to 19) are properly called Ephebophiles, but ephebophilia is not considered abnormal by mental health professionals. The opposite of pedophilia is "Teleiophilia" (the sexual attraction to young adults). A narrower sub-type of pedophilia is called N"epiophilia" or "Infantophilia" (the sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children restricted to babies/toddlers).


title: Pedophilia

text: Medically, this condition is classified by the American Psychiatric Association as a mental disorder. Some pedophiles have sex with children or use children in a sexual way. This is called "child sexual abuse" because by law, children are unable to truly agree to sexual acts with an adult. Some adults have pedophilic feelings but do not act by sexually abusing children. Some adults who are not pedophiles commit sexual abuse against children.


title: Pedophilia

text: Not all pedophiles feel or act in the same way. Since the 1880s, psychologists have studied and shown that different pedophiles might act in different ways:


title: Pedophilia

text: For pedophiles who commit child sexual abuse, some studies have shown that pedophiles who are only attracted to children may abuse more children than pedophiles who also have adult sexual partners.


title: Pedophilia

text: The people who abuse children are often known to them—such as parents, other relatives, and friends—and are not strangers. One research study found that half the adults convicted of child sexual abuse of children outside of their family were also sexually abusing their own children.


title: Pedophilia

text: Medical researchers do not know how many people in the population are pedophiles. This is because it is hard to study people's feelings and desires unless they actually show that they have those feelings. Generally, the only pedophiles who can be studied are those who have both broken the law and been caught and convicted of child sexual abuse. A second reason is that when an adult or mid-to-late teenager sexually abuses a child, people often call the abuser a "pedophile", but it is possible that the abuse happened for a different reason, such as the unavailability of an adult partner. Experts generally define a person as a pedophile only if they are primarily or exclusively sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children. If a person sexually abuses a pre-pubescent child to frighten or punish them, for example, then it may not be true pedophile behavior.


title: Pedophilia

text: Some sources, such as the Mayo Clinic, report that most child sexual abuse of pre-pubescent children is committed by pedophiles, while other studies report that most people who sexually abuse children are not pedophiles. According to some studies, about 1% of all adult males may be pedophiles.


title: Pedophilia

text: As of 2008, most doctors believe that pedophilia cannot be cured. The current approach to deal with pedophiles who have been convicted of sexual abuse is to try to change their behavior. It does not change their sexual attraction. Using this treatment, it is believed that some sex offenders can be prevented from offending again. Medications such as Depo-Provera can be used to treat pedophilia.


title: Communication

text: Communication is when information is passed from a sender to a recipient using a medium. There are different media that can be used:


title: Communication

text: Communication can be spoken (a word) or non-spoken (a smile). Communication has many ways, and happens all the time. Not only humans communicate, most other animals do too. Some communication is done without thinking, such as by changing in posture.


title: Communication

text: Besides the content of the message, there are other things that are important. These are not part of the message itself, but rather of its context


title: Communication

text: For a message exchange to be successful, the sender and the recipient must have agreed on a vocabulary that avoids ambiguity. For example, the word "hedge" can mean completely different things based on the context. In botany a hedge is a row of shrubs or trees that make a barrier or form a border. In finance, a hedge is an investment made to reduce the risk of another investment. In linguistics a hedge is a word or set of words that make other words less important. Without information it is therefore very difficult to know which "hedge" is really meant by the speaker.


title: Skydiving

text: Skydiving is parachuting from an airplane for fun. Skydiving can be done individually and with groups of people. Training is required. Unlike most paratroopers, skydivers often wait until they are low, before opening the parachute. The jump can also be made from a helicopter or a balloon that is high enough in the sky. Skydiving can be an exciting sport.


title: Skydiving

text: Skydiving includes free falling (usually from an airplane) through the air prior to opening a parachute. Typically skydives are carried out from around 4,000m (or 12,500ft) offering 40 to 50 seconds of freefall time. Longer free fall times can be achieved by exiting an aircraft at altitudes much higher than 4,000m, but very high jumps require pressurized air within the aircraft, and bottled oxygen for the diver.


title: Skydiving

text: During a skydive, total freedom and control of the air can be enjoyed as well as many complex and spectacular maneuvers including flat turns, somersaults and formation skydiving. Skydiving can be enjoyed either as an individual - doing solo(alone) jumps - or as part of a team carrying out formation skydiving. Generally, the term ‘skydive’ refers to the time spent in freefall from exiting an aircraft to deploying a parachute but skydiving does include some disciplines such as accuracy landings and canopy formation flying which concentrate on the time spent once a canopy has been deployed


title: Iron

text: Iron is a chemical element and a metal. It is the most common chemical element on Earth (by mass), and the most widely used metal. It makes up much of the Earth's core, and is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust.


title: Iron

text: The metal is used a lot because it is strong and cheap. Iron is the main ingredient used to make steel. Raw iron is magnetic (attracted to magnets), and its compound magnetite is permanently magnetic.


title: Iron

text: In some regions iron was used around 1200 BCE. That event is considered the transition from bronze age to iron age.


title: Iron

text: Iron is a grey, silvery metal. It is magnetic, though different allotropes of iron have different magnetic qualities. Iron is easily found, mined and smelted, which is why it is so useful. Pure iron is soft and very malleable.


title: Iron

text: Iron is reactive. It reacts with most acids like sulfuric acid. It makes ferrous sulfate when it reacts with sulfuric acid. This reaction with sulfuric acid is used to clean metal.


title: Iron

text: Iron reacts with air and water to make rust. When the rust flakes off, more iron is exposed allowing more iron to rust. Eventually, the whole piece of iron is rusted away. Other metals like aluminum do not rust away. Iron can be alloyed with chromium to make stainless steel, which does not rust under most conditions.


title: Iron

text: Iron powder can react with sulfur to make iron(II) sulfide, a hard black solid. Iron also reacts with the halogens to make iron(III) halides, like iron(III) chloride. Iron reacts with the hydrohalic acids to make iron(II) halides like iron(II) chloride.


title: Iron

text: Iron makes chemical compounds with other elements. Normally the other element oxidizes iron. Sometimes two electrons are taken and sometimes three. Compounds where iron has two electrons taken are called ferrous compounds. Compounds where iron has three electrons taken are called ferric compounds. Ferrous compounds have iron in its +2 oxidation state. Ferric compounds have iron in its +3 oxidation state. Iron compounds can be black, brown, yellow, green, or purple.


title: Iron

text: Ferrous compounds are weak reducing agents. Many of them are green or blue. The most common ferrous compound is ferrous sulfate.


title: Iron

text: Ferric compounds are oxidizing agents. Many of them are brown. The most common ferric compound is ferric oxide, the same thing as rust. One reason why iron rusts is because ferric oxide is an oxidizing agent. It oxidizes iron, rusting it even under paint. That is why if there is a small scratch in the paint, the whole thing can rust.


title: Iron

text: Compounds in the +2 oxidation state are weak reducing agents. They are normally light colored. They react with oxygen in air. They are also known as ferrous compounds.


title: Iron

text: Compounds in the +3 oxidation state are normally brown. They are oxidizing agents. They are corrosive. They are also known as ferric compounds.


title: Iron

text: There is a lot of iron in the universe because it is the end point of the nuclear reactions in large stars. It is the last element to be produced before the violent collapse of a supernova scatters the iron into space.


title: Iron

text: The metal is the main ingredient in the Earth's core. Near the surface it is found as a ferrous or ferric compound. Some meteorites contain iron in the form of rare minerals. Normally iron is found as hematite ore in the ground, much of which was made in the Great Oxygenation Event. Iron can be extracted from the ore in a blast furnace. Some iron is found as magnetite.


title: Iron

text: Iron is made in large factories called "ironworks" by reducing hematite with carbon (coke). This happens in large containers called blast furnaces. The blast furnace is filled with iron ore, coke and limestone. A very hot blast of air is blown in, where it causes the coke to burn. The extreme heat makes the carbon react with iron ore, taking off the oxygen from iron oxides, and making carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is a gas and it leaves the mix. There is some sand in with the iron. The limestone, which is made of calcium carbonate, turns into calcium oxide and carbon dioxide when the limestone is very hot. The calcium oxide reacts with the sand to make a liquid called a slag. The slag is drained, leaving only the iron. The reaction will leave pure liquid iron in the blast furnace, where it can be shaped and hardened after cooling down. Almost all ironworks are today part of steel mills, and almost all iron is made into steel.


title: Iron

text: There are many ways to work iron. Iron can be hardened by heating a piece of metal and splashing it into cold water. It can be softened by heating it and allowing it to slowly cool. It can also be stamped by a heavy press. It can be pulled into wires. It can be rolled to make sheet metal.


title: Iron

text: In the United States, much of the iron was taken from the ground in Minnesota and then sent by ship to Indiana and Michigan where it was made into steel.


title: Iron

text: Iron is used more than any other metal. It is strong and cheap. It is used to make buildings, bridges, nails, screws, pipes, girders, and towers.


title: Iron

text: Iron is not very reactive, so it is both easy and cheap to extract from ores. It is very strong once made into steel, and is used to reinforce concrete.


title: Iron

text: There are different types of iron. Cast iron is iron made by the way described above in the article. It is hard and brittle. It is used to make things like storm drain covers, manhole covers, and engine blocks (the main part of an engine).


title: Iron

text: Steel is the most common form of iron. Steels come in several forms. Mild steel is steel with a low percentage of carbon. It is soft and easily bent, but it does not crack easily. It is used for nails and wires. Carbon steel is harder but more brittle. It is used in tools.


title: Iron

text: There are other types of steel. Stainless steel, because of the chromium content, is rust resistant, and nickel-iron alloys can remain strong at high temperatures. Other steels can be very hard, depending on the alloys added.


title: Iron

text: Iron compounds are used for several things. Iron(II) chloride is used to make water clean. Iron(III) chloride is also used. Iron(II) sulfate is used to reduce chromates in cement. Some iron compounds are used in vitamins.


title: Iron

text: Human bodies need iron to help oxygen get to our muscles, because it is at the heart of some essential macromolecules such as hemoglobin. Many cereals have some added iron (the element "metal" iron). It is added to cereal in the form of tiny metal filings. It is even possible to see the slivers sometimes by taking an extremely strong magnet and putting it into the box. The magnet will attract these pieces of iron. Eating these small metal shavings are not harmful to our body.


title: Iron

text: Iron is most available to the body when added to amino acids – iron in this form is ten to fifteen times more digestible than than it is as an element. Iron is also found in meat, for example steak. Iron provided by diet supplements is in the form of a chemical, such as Iron(II) sulfate, which is cheap and is absorbed well. The body will not take up more iron than it needs, and it usually needs very little. The iron in red blood cells is recycled by a system which breaks down old cells. Loss of blood by injury or parasite infection may be more serious.


title: Iron

text: Iron is toxic when large amounts are taken into the body. When too many iron pills are taken, people (especially children) get sick. Also, there is a genetic disorder which damages the regulation of iron levels in the body.


title: Dynamics (music)

text: In written music the dynamics are shown by letters which stand for Italian words for the dynamic levels. They are listed in the table below. Notice that “piano”, as a dynamic level, is pronounced the Italian way (“pi-AH-no”).


title: Dynamics (music)

text: Use more than two ps or fs to show that the music is very, very quiet, or very, very loud. Tchaikovsky sometimes used five ps or fs, though only up to three are normally found in sheet music.


title: Dynamics (music)

text: Dynamic levels are not something that can be measured exactly. Exactly how loud mp should be depends on several things: what is happening in the music, the instrument, the size of the room in which the music is being played etc. The important thing is that dynamic levels should be correct in relation to one another.


title: Dynamics (music)

text: Some composers are very precise about writing the dynamics they want. Others leave a lot to the performer to decide. Historically, composers several centuries ago, such as Bach, only wrote occasional dynamic marks. Even Mozart only wrote a few, mostly p and f. By the 19th century composers were writing dynamics in much more detail in their music.


title: Dynamics (music)

text: Sometimes accents are shown by marks similar to dynamic marks. "Sforzando" means a strong, sudden accent and is abbreviated as sf, sfz or fz. The notation sfzp (or sfp) means a "sforzando" followed immediately by "piano"


title: Dynamics (music)

text: The terms "crescendo", and "diminuendo" (or sometimes "decrescendo"), mean a gradual getting louder or quieter. They can also be shown by signs known as "hairpins". A hairpin opening out is a "crescendo", one which closes is a "diminuendo".


title: Dynamics (music)

text: For a quick change in dynamics, molto cresc. and molto dim. are often used ("molto" means "a lot"). For slow changes poco a poco cresc. and poco a poco dim. are used ("poco a poco" means "little by little", i.e. very gradually.)


title: Cavapoo

text: The Cavapoo is a dog crossbreed between two dogs: the Poodle and the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. They go by different names as well. They inherit the traits from both of their parents.


title: Cavapoo

text: The breed is well-known for their kind, affectionate, sensitive and placid temperament / personality that makes them perfect for therapy. They are very loving and shy at first glance.


title: Hungary

text: Hungary is a country in Central Europe. Its capital city is Budapest. Hungary is slightly bigger than its western neighbour Austria and has about 10 million inhabitants. Other countries that border Hungary are Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. Hungary's official language is the Hungarian language. It has been a member of the European Union (EU) since 2004. In Hungarian, the country is called "Magyarország" (literally, "Hungarian country"), or "Magyar Köztársaság" (Hungarian Republic). This is named after the Magyar tribes who came to Hungary in the late 9th century.


title: Hungary

text: The Magyars established Hungary in 896, after they had arrived there from their previous, Eastern European territories. Prince Árpád was their leader at the time; he also established the first royal house of the country, the Árpád-house. In 1000, after the first king, Saint Stephen had been crowned, the country became a Kingdom.


title: Hungary

text: In 1241, the Mongol Empire invaded the country, causing the Hungarian king Béla IV to flee and approximately 500,000 Hungarians were killed, along with with heavy damage. In 1301, the Árpád-house died out. Later on, kings from various houses ruled over Hungary. The greatest of them is Matthias Corvinus, famous for taking Austrian terrirories like Vienna, etc. and protecting the country against Ottoman aggression. However, some decades after he had died (1490), the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent defeated the Hungarian king in the Battle of Mohács (1526). The Kingdom was cut up into three parts: the western and northern areas remained Hungary, the southern region fell under Ottoman rule, and the eastern part became an Ottoman vassal as the Principality of Transylvania.


title: Hungary

text: The Kingdom of Hungary became a Habsburg dependency, because an agreement made in Vienna in 1515 said that the Habsburg family would take over the territory of the Jagellion family in Bohemia and Hungary if the line of kings should die out. In 1686, the Ottomans were forced to leave, and the country was reunified. Many nationalities were living in the country at this time. Along with Hungarians, there were also the ancestors of modern Slovaks, Serbs, Romanians and Germans (known as Danube Swabians).


title: Hungary

text: In 1703, Francis II Rákóczi, a Hungarian nobleman organized a revolution against the Habsburgs, as the Hungarians were not satisfied with them. However, his revolution failed in 1711, and he had to go into exile. The next most important event is the "Hungarian Revolution of 1848", when the inhabitants of the country mutinied again. Fighting ended in 1849, with Habsburg success. The leaders of the revolution were executed.


title: Hungary

text: The country tried to find the way towards consolidation: in 1867, the two most important Habsburg territories, Austria and Hungary signed a treaty, and they established the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The new situation was feasible for both sides: the agreement brought massive economic growth.


title: Hungary

text: In 1918 after the defeat in World War I, the Kingdom was abolished, and a republic was established, as people had enough of war. This republic was short-lived, and soon the Communists seized power (1919). Their rule was irresponsible and many people, including the peasants and the intelligentsia, were tortured. The communists had to abandon the country as Romanian troops invaded.


title: Hungary

text: In late 1919, the Hungarian forces, led by Admiral Miklós Horthy, finally occupied the capital, Budapest. In response to the communist terror, they launched the "White Terror", in which they persecuted the communists and their supporters. The kingdom was re-established but there was no king. Horthy was elected as the regent of the country, as the assembly decided not to recall the Habsburgs.


title: Hungary

text: Hungary lost the war. According to the Treaty of Trianon (1920), Hungary lost two thirds of its territory. In the majority of these territories, non-Hungarians were the majority; however, many Hungarians also found themselves outside their country, in the nation state of Romanians or Slovaks. Thus, the main political goal of the governments under Horthy was to revise this treaty, and at least, to regain the Hungarian-inhabited lands.


title: Hungary

text: After the fall of Nazi Germany, Soviet troops occupied all of the country. So Hungary gradually became a communist satellite state of the Soviet Union. After 1948, Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi established Stalinist rule in the country. He forced collectivization and a planned economy. This led to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Hungary withdrew from the Warsaw Pact. But the Soviets sent in over 150,000 troops and 2,500 tanks. Nearly a quarter of a million people left the country during the brief time that the borders were open in 1956. János Kádár became leader of the communist party. In 1991 Soviet military presence in Hungary ended, and the transition to a market economy began.


title: Hungary

text: The current president of the country is János Áder, and the prime minister is Viktor Orbán. Orbán was Prime Minister from 1998 to 2002, and was elected again in 2010.


title: Hungary

text: Hungarians make up the largest part of the population but there are also several other ethnic communities. The largest of these are the Roma and Germans. Hungarian is the most widely used language in Hungary. Ethnic communities often use their own languages as well. The majority of Hungarians are religious, mainly Roman Catholic and Calvinist (in Hungarian 'református' - 'reformed'). There are Jews, often in intellectual and artistic occupations, and some Muslims. Orthodox Christianity is practised by ethnic minorities from eastern Europe.


title: Hungary

text: Hungary's highest point is "Kékestető" (1014 m; in the northeastern part of Hungary). The River Danube, one of Europe's largest rivers, divides Hungary into a western and an eastern part. The region west of the Danube is called Transdanubia ("Dunántúl"). Transdanubia has a hilly landscape and many small villages and towns. The large flat area in the eastern part is the Great Plains ("Alföld"). Along the Slovakian border there are mountains.


title: Hungary

text: Lake Balaton, Central Europe's largest lake can be found in Hungary. This small country has several thermal spas too. Lake Hévíz is one of the world's largest thermal lakes. Hungary, however, is a landlocked country (it has no coastline).


title: Hungary

text: Its biggest cities are Budapest, Debrecen, Miskolc, Szeged, Pécs, Győr, Nyíregyháza and Szolnok. Szolnok is found at the juncture of the Tisza River and the Zagyva River (stream).


title: July

text: July is the seventh month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, coming between June and August. It has 31 days. July was named after Julius Caesar. The mid-way point of the year is either on July 2 or in the night of July 1-2.


title: July

text: July always begins on the same day of the week as April, and additionally, January in leap years. July doesn't end on the same day of the week as any other month in common years, but ends on the same day of the week as January in leap years.


title: July

text: In each hemisphere, it is the seasonal equivalent of January in the other hemisphere. In the North, it is summer and in the South it is winter.


title: July

text: In the Northern Hemisphere, July is often the warmest month of the year, and major sporting events and music festivals are held around this time. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is a winter month, with the coldest-recorded temperature having been measured in Antarctica in this month.


title: July

text: July begins on the same day of the week as April every year and on the same day of the week as January in leap years. No other month in common years ends on the same day of the week as July, but July ends on the same day of the week as January in leap years.


title: July

text: In common years, July starts on the same day of the week as October of the previous year, and in leap years, May of the previous year. In common years, July finishes on the same day of the week as February and October of the previous year, and in leap years, May of the previous year. In common years immediately after other common years, July both starts and finishes on the same day of the week as January of the previous year.


title: July

text: In years immediately before common years, July starts on the same day of the week as September and December of the following year, and in years immediately before leap years, June of the following year. In years immediately before common years, July finishes on the same day of the week as April and December of the following year, and in years immediately before leap years, September of the following year.


title: July

text: July's flower is a variety of the water lily. Its birthstone is the ruby. The meaning for the birthstone ruby is contented mind. Astrological signs for July are Cancer (June 21 - July 21) and Leo (July 22 - August 21).


title: July

text: In the old Roman calendar, July was called "Quintilis", meaning "Fifth Month", because, in the old calendar, the year began in March. Augustus later renamed it July in honor of Julius Caesar, whose birthday was in this month. Augustus later also named the following month, August, after himself.


title: Festival

text: A festival is a gathering of people to celebrate something. It can also refer to a one day or more when people in a country have a holiday so that they can celebrate something. Festivals may be religious or national. They also may be events which feature different cultural programs such as music, dancing, poetry, movies, etc.


title: Scallop

text: A scallop is a marine bivalve mollusc of the family Pectinidae. Scallops live in all the world's oceans.


title: Scallop

text: This is one of the largest families of living bivalves. There are over 300 living species of scallop. Their main adaptation is the ability to swim by clapping their valves together. In this way they escape from most of their predators.


title: Scallop

text: They have a good reputation as a food source. As bivalves they have one hinged shell; each half is known as a valve. The lower valve is usually white (about 95%). It can also be orange (4%) or Lemon Yellow (1%).


title: Scallop

text: The name "scallop" comes from the Old French "escalope", which means "shell". Their shells can be up to 15 centimetres (6 inches) across.


title: Scallop

text: 1. Their ability to swim. However, a few species attach to rocks as adults by a filament. Most species lie on sandy beds, and swim off when touched by a starfish or other predator.


title: Scallop

text: 2. They have eyes round the edges of their mantle. Their eyes cannot see shapes, but they can detect changing patterns of light and motion.


title: Scallop

text: 3. Semi-circular ridged shape to the shell. The valves are similar, and fit closely together to make a tight-fitting shell.


title: Scallop

text: 4. At some stage in their lives, all scallops all have a ridge of tiny teeth near the notch where the byssus comes out in other bivalves. This is called the "ctenolium". Its importance is that only scallops have it, and it can be seen in fossils. So that tells palaeontologists when they have a fossil scallop.


title: Scallop

text: Scallops have a central adductor muscle. This is the same as true oysters (family Ostreidae). The inside of their shell has a scar in the middle. This shows where this muscle attaches to the shell. The adductor muscle of scallops is larger and more developed than the adductor muscle of oysters. This is because they swim.


title: Scallop

text: Most scallops are filter feeders. They eat plankton. The plankton sometimes has scallop larvae in it. Siphons bring water over a filtering structure. Mucus then traps the food. Next, the cilia on the structure moves the food to the mouth. Then, the scallop digests the food in the stomach and digestive gland. Waste goes through the intestine and exits through the anus.


title: Scallop

text: Some scallops, such as the Atlantic bay scallop "Argopecten irradians" do not live for a long time. Others can live 20 years or more.


title: Scallop

text: The scallop family is unusual because of the variety in arrangements for sexual reproduction. In some species, a scallop has only one sex. They are either male or female. Other species are hermaphrodites so a single scallop has both male and female reproductive organs at the same time. A few scallops are male when they are young and they become female when they grow older.


title: Scallop

text: Red roe comes from female scallops. White roe comes from males. Scallops release Spermatozoa and ova freely into the water during the mating season. Fertilized ova sink to the bottom. The immature scallop hatches after a few weeks. The larvae drift in the plankton until they go to the bottom again to grow. They may attach by means of byssal threads.


title: Scallop

text: There are many Pectinidae species, living and fossil. True Pectinidae (ones with a "ctenolium") first appeared in the Upper or Middle Triassic over 200 million years ago (mya), and perhaps as early as 240 mya.


title: Scallop

text: The Pectinidae family had a large number of species in the Mesozoic era, but they almost disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous period. The survivors evolved rapidly during the Tertiary period. There are nearly 7,000 species and subspecies for the fossil and recent Pectinidae.


title: Scallop

text: The evolution of bivalves that swim is a consequence of the so-called "Mesozoic marine revolution". In the Mesozoic era sea-floor predators evolved various new forms which fed on the abundant shellfish (brachiopods and bivalves). These predators are still abundant today: they are mostly the starfish, the gastropods, and the crabs.


title: Scallop

text: Each predator has its own methods. Crabs break the shells by force. Some gastropods make holes in the shell and put in a paralysing or relaxing substance; others work on small cracks in the edge of the shell. Once they get their proboscis in, they eat the shellfish.


title: Scallop

text: Starfish are the most common predators. The shells of brachiopods and bivalves are held together by strong muscles. What the starfish does is clamp hold of them on either side with its tube feet, and apply a steady pull. The starfish, with its muscles and hydraulic system, can pull for much longer than any bivalve muscle can withstand. Apparently, ten minutes are usually enough to open the shell a bit. Then the starfish slips its stomach inside the shell. The stomach can get through a slot as narrow as 0.1mm. The starfish then dissolves the mollusc where it lives, absorbing the nutrients.


title: Scallop

text: Consequently, there was a great reproductive advantage for any prey which had even the slightest defence to these predators. Many shellfish developed extra-tough shells. Some burrowed into the sand. Scallops must had had some elementary movement, which developed rapidly under selection. They became extremely common in the Mesozoic. There are some other methods used by a few scallops. "Chlamys hastata" often carry sponges on their shell. It is a kind of mutualism. The sponge makes it difficult for starfish to get their tube feet on, and camouflages "Chlamys hastata" from predators.


title: Scallop

text: When scallops move off the sand they are open to new predators such as rays, which patrol just above the ocean floor. They may also be picked up by seabirds which open shells by dropping them on rock. Evidently the main advantage lies in getting away from the starfish, which are very numerous on inshore and continental shelf habitats.


title: Scallop

text: Studies have shown the Pectinidae family is monophyletic, developing from a single common ancestor. The direct ancestors of Pectinidae were scallop-like bivalves of the family Entoliidae.


title: Scallop

text: The largest wild scallop fishery is for the Atlantic sea scallop ("Placopecten magellanicus") off northeastern United States and eastern Canada. Most of the rest of the world's production of scallops is from Japan (wild, enhanced, and aquaculture), and China (mostly cultured Atlantic bay scallops). In 2005, China accounted for 80% of the global scallop and pecten catch, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study.


title: Scallop

text: Scallops are popular in both Eastern and Western cooking. They have two types of meat in one shell. The adductor muscle is white and meaty. The roe, called "coral", is red, orange or white and soft.


title: Scallop

text: In Western cuisine, scallops are often sautéed in butter, or breaded and deep fried. The byssus (also called the beard) is often tough. It is usually discarded or used later on for stock. Sometimes, markets sell scallops already prepared in the shell, with only the adductor muscle. Outside the U.S. the scallop is often sold whole, and people eat the adductor muscle and roe.


title: Scallop

text: In Japanese cuisine, scallops may be served in soup or prepared as sashimi or sushi. In a sushi bar, "hotategai" (帆立貝, 海扇) is the traditional scallop on rice. "Kaibashira" (貝柱) might be scallop, but it can also be the adductor muscle of any kind of shellfish, such as mussels, oysters, or clams.


title: Scallop

text: The scallop shell is the traditional emblem of James, son of Zebedee. It is popular with pilgrims on the Way of St James to the apostle's shrine at Santiago de Compostela in Spain.


title: Scallop

text: Throughout antiquity, scallops and other hinged shells have symbolized the feminine principle. Many paintings of Venus, the Roman goddess of love and fertility, included a scallop shell in the painting to identify her. This is clear in Botticelli's classically inspired "The Birth of Venus"


title: Scallop

text: Heraldry included the scallop shell symbol as a badge for people who had made the pilgrimage to Compostela. Later it became a symbol of pilgrimage in general. Winston Churchill's family coat of arms includes scallops. However, symbols in heraldry do not always have the same meaning. Sometimes no family member has been on a pilgrimage but there are still scallops on the coat of arms.


title: Scallop

text: The U.S. state of New York has had the Atlantic bay scallop as its state shell since 1988. In design, "scalloped edges" or "ridges" means a wavy pattern which reminds people of the edge of a scallop's shell. Shell petroleum company has had a logo with a scallop shell on it since 1904.


title: Neptune

text: Neptune is the eighth and last planet from the Sun in the Solar System. It is an ice giant. It is the fourth-largest planet in the system. Neptune has five rings. These rings are hard to see from the Earth.


title: Neptune

text: Neptune has 17 times more mass than Earth and has a little bit more mass than Uranus. Neptune is denser and physically smaller than Uranus. Its greater mass causes more gravitational compression of its atmosphere.


title: Neptune

text: It was named after the Roman god of the sea, Neptune. Neptune's astronomical symbol is ♆, the trident of the god Neptune.


title: Neptune

text: Neptune's atmosphere is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium. It also contains small amounts of methane which makes the planet appear blue. Neptune's blue color is much darker than the color of Uranus. Neptune also has the strongest winds of any planet in the Solar System, as high as 2,100 km/h or 1,300 mph.


title: Neptune

text: Astronomers Urbain Le Verrier and John Couch Adams discovered Neptune. It was the first planet to be discovered by mathematical calculations instead of a telescope. In 1821, it was found that Uranus' orbit had some differences from its expected orbit, which meant another planet was nearby. The reason for this was discovered to be Neptune.


title: Neptune

text: The planet has been visited by only one spacecraft, "Voyager 2" on 25 August 1989. Neptune once had a huge storm known as the "Great Dark Spot". The storm was discovered in 1989 by Voyager 2. The dark spot was not seen in 1994, and new spots were found since then. It is not known why the dark spot disappeared. Visits by other space probes have been planned.


title: Neptune

text: Galileo Galilei was the first person who saw Neptune. He saw it on 28 December 1612 and 27 January 1613. His drawings showed points near Jupiter where Neptune is placed. But Galileo was not credited for the discovery. He thought Neptune was a "fixed star" instead of a planet. Because Neptune slowly moved across the sky, Galileo's small telescope was not strong enough to see that Neptune was a planet.


title: Neptune

text: In 1821, Alexis Bouvard published the astronomical tables of the orbit of Uranus. Later observations showed that Uranus was moving in an irregular way in its orbit. Some astronomers thought this was caused by another large body. In 1843, John Couch Adams calculated the orbit of an eighth planet that could possibly affect the orbit of Uranus. He sent his calculations to Sir George Airy, the Astronomer Royal. George Airy asked Adams for an explanation. In 1846, Urbain Le Verrier made his own calculations but also failed to get much attention from French astronomers. In the same year, John Herschel began to support the mathematical method and encouraged James Challis to search for the planet. Challis began his search in July 1846. Meanwhile, Le Verrier had convinced Johann Gottfried Galle to search for the planet.


title: Neptune

text: Heinrich d'Arrest, a student at the Berlin Observatory, suggested that a newly drawn map of the sky in the region of Le Verrier's predicted area could be compared with the current sky. This map was needed to look for the change of position of a planet, compared to a fixed star. Neptune was discovered the same night on 23 September 1846. It was found 1° from where Le Verrier had thought it would be. It was about 10° from Adams' prediction. Challis later found out that he had seen the planet twice in August. He did not recognize it at the time because of his careless work approach. Neptune became the first planet to be discovered by mathematical calculations instead of a telescope.


title: Neptune

text: When Neptune was discovered, there was also a lot of arguing between the French and the British. They could not agree on who was going to receive credit for the discovery. Later, an international agreement decided that both Le Verrier and Adams together deserved credit. However, historians reviewed the topic after the rediscovery in 1998 of the "Neptune papers" (historical documents from the Royal Greenwich Observatory). It had seemingly been stolen and kept by astronomer Olin Eggen for nearly three decades and was only rediscovered (in his ownership) shortly after his death. After reviewing the documents, some historians now think that Adams does not deserve equal credit with Le Verrier.


title: Neptune

text: Shortly after its discovery, Neptune was temporarily called "the planet exterior to Uranus" or "Le Verrier's planet". The first suggestion for a name came from Galle. He proposed the name "Janus". In England, Challis suggested the name "Oceanus". In France, Arago suggested that the new planet be called "Leverrier", a suggestion which was met with a lot of opposition outside France. French almanacs quickly reintroduced the name "Herschel" for "Uranus" and "Leverrier" for the new planet.


title: Neptune

text: Meanwhile, Adams suggested changing the name "Georgian" to "Uranus", while Leverrier (through the Board of Longitude) suggested "Neptune" for the new planet. Struve gave support of that name on 29 December 1846, to the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Soon "Neptune" was internationally agreed among many people. It was the official name for the new planet. In Roman mythology, Neptune was the god of the sea, identified with the Greek god, Poseidon. Neptune's astrological symbol is Neptune's trident.


title: Neptune

text: At 102.413kg, Neptune's mass puts the planet between Earth and the largest gas giants. Neptune is the fourth largest planet in the solar system and third heaviest. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth, but just 1/18th the mass of Jupiter. Neptune is a little bit more massive than Uranus, though Neptune is denser and physically smaller than Uranus. Neptune and Uranus are often considered to be part of a sub-class of a gas giant known as ""ice giants"". It is given their smaller size and big differences in composition compared to Jupiter and Saturn. In the search for extrasolar planets, Neptune has been used as a reference to compare the size and structure of the discovered planet. Some discovered planets that have similar masses like Neptune are often called "Neptunes".


title: Neptune

text: The atmosphere of Neptune is made up mostly of hydrogen, with a smaller amount of helium. A tiny amount of methane was also detected in the atmosphere. The methane gives Neptune its blue color. The color of Neptune is much darker than the color of Uranus.


title: Neptune

text: Because of Neptune's far distance from the Sun, it gets very little heat. The average surface temperature on Neptune is about -201°C (−331 °F; 72 K). Therefore, in its surface Neptune is the coldest planet in the Solar System. But in the depths of planet the temperature rises slowly. The source of this heating is unknown. Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun, yet its internal energy is strong enough to create the fastest winds seen in the Solar System, at . Several possible explanations have been suggested. Firstly, radiogenic heating from the planet's core. Among the explanations is the continued radiation into space of leftover heat made by infalling matter during the planet's birth. The last explanation is gravity waves breaking above the tropopause. It has also been suggested that the friction and ram pressure of the diamond hail heats up the planet.


title: Neptune

text: The structure inside Neptune is thought to be similar to the structure inside Uranus. There is likely to be a core, thought to be about 15 Earth masses. It is made up of molten rock and metal surrounded by rock, water, ammonia, and methane. This mixture is referred to as icy. It is called a water-ammonia ocean. More mixtures of methane, ammonia, and water are found in the lower areas of the atmosphere.


title: Neptune

text: At a depth of 7,000 km of Neptune, the conditions may be such that methane decomposes into diamond crystals. These diamond crystals look like hailstones.


title: Neptune

text: One difference between Neptune and Uranus is the level of its meteorological activity. When the Voyager spacecraft flew by Uranus in 1986, the winds on that planet were observed to be mild. When Voyager flew by Neptune in 1989, powerful weather events were observed. The weather of Neptune has very active storms. Its atmosphere has the highest wind speeds in the Solar System. It may be powered by internal heat flow. Regular winds in the equatorial region have speeds of around 1,200 km/h (750 mph). Winds in storm systems can reach up to 2,100 km/h, near-supersonic speeds.


title: Neptune

text: In 1989, the Great Dark Spot, an anticyclonic storm system, was discovered by NASA's "Voyager 2" spacecraft. On 2 November 1994, the Hubble Space Telescope did not see the Great Dark Spot on the planet. Instead, a new storm similar to the Great Dark Spot was found in the planet's northern hemisphere. The reason why the Great Dark Spot has disappeared is unknown. The Scooter is another storm, a white cloud group farther south than the Great Dark Spot. Its nickname was given when first noticed in the months leading up to the "Voyager" encounter in 1989. It moved faster than the Great Dark Spot. Later images showed clouds that moved even faster than Scooter. The Wizard's Eye/"Dark Spot 2" is another southern cyclonic storm, the second strongest storm seen during the 1989 encounter. It originally was completely dark, but as "Voyager" came closer to the planet, a bright core developed.


title: Neptune

text: Neptune also has similarities with Uranus in its magnetosphere. However, Uranus' magnetosphere is weaker than Neptune's magnetosphere. The magnetic field is strongly tilted compared to its rotational axis at 47°. It is offset at least 0.55 radii (about 13,500 kilometres, bigger than the Earth's diameter, for scale) from the planet's physical center. The unusual course may be caused by flows in the interior of the planet.


title: Neptune

text: Five tiny blue-colored rings have been discovered around the planet. They are not as well known as the rings of Saturn. The rings were discovered by a team led by Edward Guinan. At first, they thought that the rings might not be complete. This was proven wrong by "Voyager 2". The planetary rings of Neptune have a weird "clumpy" arrangement. Scientists think that it may be because of the gravitational contact with small moons that orbit near them.


title: Neptune

text: Information was found in the mid-1980s that suggested that the rings were not completely formed. Stellar occultations were found that rarely showed an extra "blink" just before or after the planet moved in front of the star. Pictures from "Voyager 2" in 1989 answered the problem. The pictures showed that the ring system had several faint rings. The farthest ring, Adams, has three arcs now named "Liberté", "Egalité", and "Fraternité" (Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity).


title: Neptune

text: The existence of arcs is hard to understand. This is because the laws of motion predict that arcs spread out into one ring in a very short time. These arcs may have been created by the gravity of Galatea. It is a moon just inside the ring.


title: Neptune

text: In 2005, observations of the planet from Earth appeared to show that Neptune's rings are more unstable than scientists had believed them to be. The "Liberté" ring may disappear in less than 100 years.


title: Neptune

text: Neptune has a total of 14 known moons. As Neptune was the Roman god of the sea, the planet's moons were named after lesser sea gods or goddesses.


title: Neptune

text: The largest moon of Neptune is Triton. Triton was discovered on October 10, 1846 by British astronomer William Lassell. Unlike all other large planetary moons, Triton orbits in the other direction to the other moons. This shows the moon was probably captured and maybe was once a Kuiper belt object. It is close enough to Neptune to be locked into a synchronous orbit. It is also slowly moving into Neptune and may one day be torn apart when it passes the Roche limit. Triton is the coldest object that has been measured in the Solar System, with temperatures of −235 °C (38 K, −392 °F).


title: Neptune

text: Neptune's second known moon (by order of distance), the odd moon Nereid, has one of the most unusual orbits of any satellite in the Solar System. Nereid is so far from Neptune that it requires 360 Earth days to make one orbit. It causes the largest elliptical orbit and the largest deviation from a circular path. It is also considered that Nereid may be a captured asteroid or Kuiper Belt object.


title: Neptune

text: From July to September 1989, "Voyager 2" discovered six new moons of Neptune. Of these, Proteus is the second most massive Neptunian moon. It has only one quarter of 1% of the mass of Triton. Neptune's closest four moons, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, and Galatea, orbit close enough to be inside Neptune's rings. The next farthest out, Larissa was originally discovered in 1981 when it had covered up a star. The moon was credited for causing Neptune's ring arcs when "Voyager 2" observed Neptune in 1989. Five new unusual moons discovered between 2002 and 2003 were announced in 2004. The latest moon, Hippocamp, was discovered from examining Hubble Telescope images on 16 July 2013.


title: Neptune

text: Neptune can not be seen by just looking at the sky with the naked eye. To see it, a telescope or binoculars is needed. This is because Neptune has a normal brightness between magnitudes +7.7 and +8.0. It can be out-shined by Jupiter's Galilean moons, the dwarf planet Ceres, and the asteroids 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas, 7 Iris, 3 Juno and 6 Hebe. A telescope or strong binoculars will show Neptune as a small blue dot that looks similar to Uranus. The blue color comes from the methane in its atmosphere. Its small size in the night sky has made it difficult to study visually. Most telescopic data was quite limited until the arrival of the Hubble Space Telescope and large ground-based telescopes with adaptive optics.


title: Neptune

text: The average distance between Neptune and the Sun is about 4.5 billion km. Therefore, Neptune completes its orbit in every 164 years. On 12 July 2011, Neptune completed its first orbit since its discovery in 1846.


title: Neptune

text: Currently, only one spacecraft has visited Neptune. NASA's "Voyager 2" probe made a quick flyby of the planet with its closest encounter on 25 August 1989.


title: Neptune

text: One of "Voyager 2"'s important discoveries was its very close fly-by of Triton, where it took pictures of several parts of the moon. The probe also discovered the Great Dark Spot. However, it had now disappeared after the Hubble Space Telescope took pictures of Neptune in 1994. Originally thought to be a large cloud or cyclonic storm system. It was later guessed to be a hole in the visible cloud deck.


title: Neptune

text: The pictures sent back to Earth from "Voyager 2" in 1989 became the basis of a PBS all-night program called "Neptune All Night".


title: Ireland

text: Ireland (; ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic. It is about 486 kilometres (302 miles) long and about 288 kilometres (179 miles) wide. To the west of Ireland is the Atlantic Ocean; to the east of Ireland,borders with the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain. Over 6.4 million people lived on the island in 2016.


title: Ireland

text: Today, the island of Ireland is made up of two countries: the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland:


title: Ireland

text: From 1801 to 1921, all of Ireland was part of the same country, called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1919, a war broke out, the Irish War of Independence, and on December 6 1921, the Irish Free State became independent. After a new constitution came into effect in 1937, the state became a republic. Northern Ireland stayed with the UK, and this would lead to The Troubles beginning in the 1960s and ending with the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998.


title: Ireland

text: Ireland is traditionally divided into four provinces and thirty-two counties. Twenty-six counties are in the Republic and six in Northern Ireland. Three of the provinces are entirely within the Republic (Connacht, Leicester and Munster), and one province (Ulster) has some counties in both the Republic and in Northern Ireland.


title: Ireland

text: Dublin is the largest city. It is the capital of the Republic of Ireland. Dublin was established as a Viking settlement in the 9th century. The population is 525,383 in Dublin City, and 1,270,603 in Co. Dublin.


title: Ireland

text: Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. It has 483,000 people in the Greater Belfast urban area there are 267,000 in the city itself. Shipbuilding used to be a major industry here. The "Titanic" was built in Belfast at the Harland and Wolff shipyard.


title: Ireland

text: Armagh is a city in Northern Ireland. It is often called the 'Ecclesiastic Capital of Ireland' as it is the seat of both the Catholic Church and the (Protestant) Church of Ireland. The population is 14,590.


title: Ireland

text: Cork is the largest city in Munster. Corkonians often refer to it as 'the Real Capital'. The population is 119,230. but following a 2019 Cork boundary change|boundary extension in 2019, the population increased to c. 210,000.


title: Ireland

text: Derry (Or Londonderry) is the second largest city in Northern Ireland. Derry is notable for the Medieval city walls which still stand. Because the walls have never been breached, the city is nicknamed "The Maiden City". In 2013 Derry was the UK Capital of Culture. Many cultural events took place there during the year. The population is 83,652.


title: Ireland

text: During the last glacial period (the "ice age"), most of Ireland was covered with ice. After that, Ireland became covered with trees. The first people came to Ireland about 9,000 years ago, in the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic period). They were nomadic. Once food ran out in the place they lived, they would move to another place. Evidence of these people was found in Mount Sandel, Co. Derry.


title: Ireland

text: About 4000 BC, in the New Stone Age (Neolithic period), the first farmers arrived in Ireland. These people cleared openings in the forest and built permanent settlements with houses and farmland. When people in this age died, they were buried in tombs called megaliths. Many megaliths are left standing today, such as portal dolmens and passage tombs.The most famous megalith is Newgrange passage tomb in co.Meath.


title: Ireland

text: New settlers came around 2000BC, marking the start of the Bronze Age. Copper was mined mainly in Mount Gabriel, Co. Cork and tin was imported from Cornwall. These people used bronze to make weapons, such as swords. They also used it to make early forms of jewellery, such as sun discs and torcs. These settlers buried the dead in court tombs or wedge tombs, and burial places have been found with stone circles.


title: Ireland

text: It is unknown when the Celts came to Ireland, but it is likely they brought the use of iron with them. The use of iron marks the start of the Iron Age. It is known that by about 300BC, the use of iron and Celtic culture was widespread in Ireland. The Celts lived in ring forts, hill forts, promontory forts and crannógs. It is thought that only the richer families and settlements lived in crannógs. These were man-made islands in the middle of lakes with houses on them.


title: Ireland

text: Celtic Ireland was split into around 150 kingdoms called tuath. The king was elected from the royal family. Below the king were the Nobles, and the Aos Dána, who were people with special skills, such as poets, Druids (priests), judges and craftsmen.


title: Ireland

text: By the early 6th century, Ireland was mostly Christian through the work of St. Patrick and other missionaries. Druids were replaced by priests and monks. Monasteries soon were built such as Glendalough in co. Wicklow. Glendalough and other monasteries built round towers for safety when Vikings attacked. Small monasteries were also built in remote places, the most famous being Skellig Michael, off the coast of co. Kerry.


title: Ireland

text: At this time many hand-written manuscripts were created by the monasteries. They include the Cathach, the Book of Durrow, and the Book of Kells. Monks also produced fine silver chalices, croziers and brooches, and carved high crosses.


title: Ireland

text: In 1169, Anglo-Norman lords invaded Ireland. They were led by Strongbow who landed at Passage East, Co. Waterford. The Anglo-Normans conquered many parts of Ireland in the following 60 years. They introduced their way of life to the Irish people. The feudal system was soon introduced in Ireland as a means of organising land. Castles were built to defend the land like Trim Castle, Co. Meath. During the Middle Ages, Ireland's first proper towns were built.


title: Ireland

text: From 1801 until 1921, all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1921 Northern Ireland was created and 'partitioned' from the south. Northern Ireland has stayed within the United Kingdom since then. The full name of the UK is 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'.


title: Ireland

text: In 1921 the south became the Irish Free State. In 1937 the Irish Free State adopted a new constitution which named the state 'Ireland', and in 1948 this state passed the Republic of Ireland Act which declared it to be a republic.


title: Ireland

text: Many Irish people have left Ireland and moved to the United States, Canada, Australia, and South America. The Great Famine (1845 to 1849 inclusive) forced many to leave; it is estimated almost a million people died of starvation, and a million more emigrated. From a maximum of over 8 million in 1841, the total Irish population dropped to just over 4 million in the 1940s. Since then, the population has grown to over 6 million. This has been helped by the economic growth of the "Celtic Tiger" and since 2004 immigration from countries in Eastern Europe such as Poland.


title: Ireland

text: The many sports played and followed in Ireland include Gaelic games (mainly Gaelic football, hurling and camogie), horse racing, show jumping, greyhound racing, basketball, fishing, handball, motorsport, MMA, boxing, target shooting and tennis. Hockey, golf, rowing, cricket, rugby union and Olympic target shooting are organised on an all-island basis, with a single team representing the whole of Ireland in international competitions. Other sports, such as soccer and netball, have separate organizing bodies in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.


title: Ireland

text: As Northern Ireland is a constituent nation of the United Kingdom it also sends a Northern Ireland Team to the Commonwealth Games. At the Olympic Games, a person from Northern Ireland can choose to represent either Ireland or Great Britain.


title: Ireland

text: Soccer is the most popular team sport in terms of participation. According to the Irish Sports Monitor 2015 annual report, 4.8% of adults over 15 participate in Soccer. Gaelic football 2%, camogie 1.2, rugby 1.1%. Individual exercise pursuits are most popular with 43% of all sport participated by individuals on their own. Personal exercise 13.7%, running 8.2%, swimming 8%, cycling 5.5%, dancing 3%, golf 2.7%, weights 2.3%, yoga 1.5% and pilates 1.4%.


title: Ireland

text: Soccer is by far the most popular team pursuit for males at 8.8% with Gaelic football attracting 3.4%. Personal exercise 13.4% and running 8.9% are the most popular male activities. Team sports do not figure highly amongst females with dancing at 4.6% and yoga 2.4% are two of the highest shared activities.


title: Ireland

text: Given the variety of sports in Ireland, it is of interest to note how the government's Capital Sports programme 2017 allocated it's €56 million funds. €23.5 million went to the GAA which highlights the strength of the GAA lobby. €7.25 million to soccer, Rugby €3.1 million, tennis €2.64 million, golf €1.97 million, sailing €1.21 million, athletics just under €1 million, diving €451,000 while other sports did not fare so well.


title: Ireland

text: Gaelic Football is one of the most popular sports in Ireland in terms of match attendance, and in 2003 had 34% of total sports attendances at events in the Republic of Ireland, followed by hurling at 23%, soccer at 16% and rugby at 8%. Initiative's ViewerTrack study, which measured 2005 sports audiences, showed the sport's highest-profile match, the All-Ireland Football Final, to be the most watched event of the nation's sporting year. Soccer is the most played team sport in Ireland.


title: Ocean

text: An ocean is a large area of water between continents. Oceans are very big and they join smaller seas together. Oceans (or marine biomes) cover 72% of Earth. There are five main oceans: the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean.


title: Ocean

text: The largest ocean is the Pacific Ocean. The smallest ocean is the Arctic Ocean. Many types of animals live in oceans, such as carp, crabs, starfish, sharks, and whales.


title: Ocean

text: Different water movements separate the Southern Ocean from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Southern Ocean is also called the Antarctic Ocean, because it covers the area around Antarctica.


title: Ocean

text: The deepest ocean is the Pacific Ocean. The deep ocean is characterized by cold temperatures, high pressure, and complete darkness. Some very unusual organisms live in this part of the ocean. They do not require energy from the sun to survive, because they use chemicals from deep inside the Earth.


title: Ocean

text: Although many people believe that the oceans are blue because the water reflects the blue sky, this is actually not true. Water has a very slight blue color that can only be seen when there is a lot of water. However, the main cause of the blue or blue/green color of the oceans is that water absorbs the red part of the incoming light, and reflects the green and blue part of the light. We then see the reflected light as the color of water.