What river, that passes through Turin, is the longest river in Italy?

Top 10 Rivers of Italy | Italy Top 10 Rivers of Italy Map Submitted by ancos on Thu, 09/10/2015 - 00:00 There are plenty of splendid and beautiful rivers across Italy where one can get a glimpse of the natural scenic beauty located amidst calm surroundings.   They are famous for their history, for the scenery, the lovely little towns along their banks or the sports and activities, like rafting , you can do on their waters. The longest rivers are located in the North, because the peninsular part of Italy is cut in half by the Apennines. Nevertheless, there are important rivers in the South and in the islands of Italy, too. Here is a look at Italy's top ten most important rivers:   1) Po Po is the longest river in Italy and it flows through some of the most vital cities in the country, such as Turin, Ferrara and Piacenza. This river measures 405 miles in length and 1,650 feet at its width. It is definitely small when compared to the Nile or the Yangtze, yet it remains the longest in the Bel Paese. Around 141 tributaries feed this vast river along with a catchment basin of around 27,000 sq miles that leads to the plains of Val Padana.   River Po in Turin, in Parco Valentino. Ph. ©Depositphoto.com/poissonenciel 2) Adige   The Adige is the second largest river of Italy after the Po. It originates on the Alps, in the area marking the border between Italy, Austria and Switzerland.  Little trivia: the Adige forms the artificial lake Reschen, situated at the Reschen Pass just over the Inn valley. This lake is known for hiding within an abandoned, underwater village , whose church belfry still rises from the waters.    Verona and the River Adige.  Ph. ©Depositphoto.com/ActiActi   3) Piave This river flows through the Northern part of Italy, springing in the Alps and clearing its water into the Gulf of Venice. It's called the "Fiume Sacro alla Patria" (River Sacred to the Country) in memory of the hard battles fought on its banks during World War I, and remembered in many popular songs, chief among them " La Leggenda del Piave " (The Legend of Piave). Today it is one of the principal water sources for the agricultural farms and hydroelectric power station in the plains of Veneto.   4) Savio The river Savio is located across northern Italy and has its source close to Montecoronaro located on Mount Castelvecchio. The source of this river is situated at a height of 1,126 meters. It has a well-preserved natural environment across Romagna and comprises of The River Savio National Park.   5) Tiber The Tiber is regarded as the third largest rivers of Italy. It springs from the Apennines and flows for about 406 kms along Umbria and Lazio, until he reaches the Tyrrhenian Sea. This river is especially known for being the main water basin touching the eternal city, Rome. The source of Tiber comprises of two springs located around 10 meters apart from each other, towards Mount Fumaiolo. The name "Le Vene" is given to these springs. It seems that the city of Rome was founded on the banks of  the Tiber in the year 753 B.C. This river was vital for trade and commerce during ancient times, as ships were able to reach up to 100 kms upwards.   Tiber at night near Ponte St. Angelo, Rome   6) Alcantara The Alcantara is in Sicily. It originates on the Monti Nebrodi and meets the Ionian sea after a course of about 52 kms. It seems that thousands of years ago, the river bed was stopped by the flow of lava arising from Mount Etna. The Alcantara River Park was created with the intention of protecting the river and also as a recreation and tourist spot for visitors.   The wooden bridge over the Brenta river in Bassano   Of course, there are other important rivers in Italy, running across each and every region. For instance,  the river Sesia where plenty of white river rafting activities take place. This river is a tributary of the Po and it is one of the major tourist attractions as people who enjoy rafting find this river to be really fascinating. Besides, the beauty of the valley and the scenic charm of the river brings lot of excitement to such activitie


Who is thought to have first invented gunpowder?

How Gunpowder Changed the World How Gunpowder Changed the World By Heather Whipps | April 6, 2008 08:00pm ET MORE When gunpowder was used to create personal handguns and rifles, a new type of soldier was created: infantry. Photo shows a Revolutionary War reenactment at Fort Ward Historic Site in Alexandria, Virginia. Credit: Igor Vorobyov, Dreamstime Each Monday, this column turns a page in history to explore the discoveries, events and people that continue to affect the history being made today. Ironically, it was a quest for immortality that led to the invention of the deadliest weapon before the arrival of the atomic bomb. Experimenting with life-lengthening elixirs around A.D. 850, Chinese alchemists instead discovered gunpowder. Their explosive invention would become the basis for almost every weapon used in war from that point on, from fiery arrows to rifles, cannons and grenades. Gunpowder made warfare all over the world very different, affecting the way battles were fought and borders were drawn throughout the Middle Ages . Flying fire Chinese scientists had been playing with saltpeter — a common name for the powerful oxidizing agent potassium nitrate — in medical compounds for centuries when one industrious individual thought to mix it with sulfur and charcoal. The result was a mysterious powder from which, observers remarked in a text dated from the mid-9th century, "smoke and flames result, so that [the scientists'] hands and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house where they were working burned down." Gunpowder was quickly put to use by the reigning Sung dynasty against the Mongols, whose constant invasions into the country plagued the Chinese throughout the period. The Mongols were the first to be subject to flying fire — an arrow fixed with a tube of gunpowder that ignited and would propel itself across enemy lines. More gunpowder-based weapons were invented by the Chinese and perfected against the Mongols in the next centuries, including the first cannons and grenades. The psychological effect alone of the mystifying new technology likely helped the Chinese win battles against the Mongols, historians believe. Explosive trade Gunpowder somehow remained a monopoly of the Chinese until the 13th century, when the science was passed along the ancient silk trade route to Europe and the Islamic world, where it became a deciding factor in many Middle Age skirmishes. By 1350, rudimentary gunpowder cannons were commonplace in the English and French militaries, which used the technology against each other during the Hundred Years' War. The Ottoman Turks also employed gunpowder cannons with abandon during their successful siege of Constantinople in 1453. The powerful new weapon essentially rendered the traditional walled fortification of Europe, impregnable for centuries, weak and defenseless. The next important step for gunpowder came when it was inserted into the barrel of a handgun, which first appeared in the mid-15th century and was essentially a cannon shrunk down to portable size. Guns literally put weaponry into the hands of the individual, creating a new class of soldier — infantry — and giving birth to the modern army. Gunpowder is still the basis for many modern weapons, including guns, though it's certainly no longer the most explosive force available to armies. Need to celebrate a victory in battle, though? Gunpowder is there for you. The powder is also at the heart of the fireworks that make the Fourth of July and other holidays so special. To produce the aerial spray of reds, golds and blues, pyrotechnicians pack a tube with gunpowder, colorizing chemicals and small pellets that create the shape and shimmer of the firework.


Where did Portuguese traders begin to settle in the 16th century, administering the area until 20 December 1999?

European History/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world European History/Print version This is the print version of European History You won't see this message or any elements not part of the book's content when you print or preview this page. European History Chapter 01 - The Crises of the Middle Ages Introduction The Middle Ages was a period of approximately one thousand years of history; generally accepted as spanning from the fall of the Roman Empire (toward the end of the 5th century) to the Protestant reformation in the 16th century. This period began with a demographic downturn at the end of the Roman imperial era, with European populations shrinking and many cities and rural estates abandoned. A cooling climate, disease, and political disorder each played a part in this opening period which saw Classical Mediterranean civilization eclipsed. Across Europe, there emerged smaller, more localized hybrid societies combining Roman, Christian and Germanic or Celtic barbarian influences. By the 9th and 10th centuries, populations had reached their minima, and Europe became a largely rural and somewhat backward region. Commerce and learning flourished in the Islamic world, China and India during the same period. Islamic armies conquered Spain during the 7th and 8th centuries, but were defeated by the Frankish kingdom in 732 when they attempted to enter France. The turn of the first millennium saw renewed growth and activity, as kings and cities consolidated their authority and began to repopulate lands left empty by Rome's decline. Warmer weather after 900 allowed more land to be brought into food production. The feudal system of agriculture, where peasants were tied to their estates by obligations to local lords or to the church, provided a degree of economic stability. This was aided by the arrival in Europe of the horse collar from Asia, which increased crop yields by allowing plows to be drawn by horse, rather than by slower oxen. Commercial towns flourished in England, France and the Low Countries. German rulers dispatched monks and peasants to clear forests and settle in Eastern Europe and the Baltic regions. The city-states of northern Italy rose in wealth and influence. Islamic Spain became a center of learning and culture where Christians, Muslims and Jews coexisted in relative amity. Despite many local wars and disputes between knights, the High Middle Ages, from 1000-1250, saw growing populations and prosperity enough to build great cathedrals and send European armies abroad on crusades. After 1250, demographic stagnation emerged. Population growth slowed or stopped as the limits of medieval agriculture were reached. Major conflicts between powerful kingdoms, such as the Hundred Years' War between England and France, became more frequent. The Christian church, previously secure in its spiritual authority, was racked by schisms and increasing financial corruption. The year 1348 saw a catastrophe as the virulent bubonic plague (the "Black Death"), entered Italy, carried by ships from Asia. It spread across the continent over three years killing, by some estimates, one-third of all Europeans. Many believed it was the end of the world foretold by Christian myth. Along with its suffering, the plague wrought economic havoc, driving up the cost of labor and making the old feudal system untenable, as surviving peasants scorned its demands. The following century and a half transformed Europe from a patchwork of feudal fiefdoms, under loose royal and church control, into a collection of newborn but increasingly unified national states. Towns became centers of resistance and dissent to the old royal and church authorities. Former noble and knightly influence declined, and rulers realigned themselves toward the increasingly wealthy and influential burgher and merchant classes. Emergence of the printing press and spreading literacy, increased religious and political conflict in many countries. By 1500, Christopher Columbus had sailed across the ocean to the New World, and Martin Luther was about to challeng


Blue Mountain Coffee, noted for its mild flavour and lack of bitterness (the beans of which are the flavour base of Tia Maria coffee liqueur), is grown in which country?

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee | The Coffee Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Share Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is a classification of coffee grown in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. The best lots of Blue Mountain coffee are noted for their mild flavour and lack of bitterness. Over the last several decades, this coffee has developed a reputation that has made it one of the most expensive and sought-after coffees in the world; over 80% of all Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is exported to Japan. In addition to its use for brewed coffee, the beans are the flavor base of Tia Maria coffee liqueur. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is a globally protected certification mark, meaning only coffee certified by the Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica can be labeled as such. It comes from a recognised growing region in the Blue Mountain region of Jamaica, and its cultivation is monitored by the Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica.


Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson competed against each other in the 1940s in which sport?

American Triumvirate: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and the Modern Age of Golf by James Dodson, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® Excerpted from the hardcover edition 1. Year of Wonders At seven o’clock on a cool Indian summer Saturday evening, eager to catch a glimpse of the future, thousands of patrons began filing into venerable Mechanic’s Hall on Huntington Avenue, happy to be among the first to see the wonders of the 1912 Boston Electric Show. “Electric devices unheard of just one year ago are to be exhibited in full operation,” wrote a reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, “inventions which make the fable of Aladdin and his magical lamp seem prosy by comparison.” Emblematic of the affair, Mechanic’s Hall was ablaze with forty thousand light bulbs, the largest display of incandescent lighting ever mounted; the creation of the Edison Illuminating Company of New Yorks outshone the “Great White Way itself,” the company promised. Owing to the marvels of alternate electrical current, wide-eyed patrons wandered through the vast hall being serenaded by live opera and choir selections amplified by an invention called the microphone (“such a delicate instrument that by its agency the tread of a fly is magnified until it sounds like the clomping of a horse over the loose planks of a country bridge”) and saw inventions designed to transform everything “from the farmyard to Main Street, from the shop floor to the housewife’s kitchen.” They viewed a dairy farm where cows were milked by automated machines, for instance, promising to make the drudgery of hand milking obsolete, and an electric forking machine that could unload two hundred bales of hay from a wagon and stack them in a loft in a matter of minutes rather than hours, reducing the need for hired labor. There were special motion pictures displaying how the dedicated electrical current would soon transform businesses from accountancy to coal mining; how it would count money in banks and permit a clerk in one location to inquire about a customer’s account balance in a separate building altogether, achieving a response within seconds; how bakers would never need to touch the bread they sold because machines would mechanically mold dough into perfect loaves and bake them by the clock to golden perfection; how lumber mills would use power saws to mill stockpiles of flawless high-grade lumber for the booming furniture and house-building trades in minutes, not hours; how darkened streets would soon be made bright as noon by municipal lighting soon coming to market, “pressing back the cloak of night and greatly reducing the scourge of crime and hoodlum behavior.” Perhaps the most popular aspect of the revolution on the doorstep, the show’s organizers promised, would be the liberation of the ordinary housewife thanks to special electric appliances that would wash and sanitize dishes, eliminating the need for madam or a domestic to ever touch a single china plate that wasn’t sparkling clean. Ovens would bake cakes and roasts according to an electric clock that would make expert cooking a snap at home. An exciting new commercial “electric refrigerator”—the world’s first, being introduced that year by the General Electric Corporation—promised to make spoiled fruits, vegetables and meats a thing of the past. “This magical showcase at Mechanic’s Hall fittingly serves as a capstone to a year that has seen one astonishment after another, all aimed at providing more leisure time for Americans to enjoy the bounty of their lives,” declared The Boston Evening Traveler. “Many will look back and perhaps agree there has never been a year quite like it.” To be sure, it had been a year of human wonders. Despite jitters about rising Anglo-German tensions over some obscure place called the Balkans in a faraway corner of Europe, most Americans were enjoying an unprecedented sense of prosperity and well-being, the afterglow of a Gilded Age that produced untold wealth for a few but also labor reforms that dramatically expanded the reach and


Inspired by lucid dreaming and corporate espionage, it won Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Cinematography. Which film is it?

Inception Trailer HD - YouTube Inception Trailer HD Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Jul 17, 2014 Inception is a 2010 science fiction heist thriller film written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film stars a large ensemble cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine. DiCaprio plays a professional thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance of redemption as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious. Shortly after finishing Insomnia (2002), Nolan wrote an 80-page treatment about "dream stealers" envisioning a horror film inspired by lucid dreaming and presented the idea to Warner Bros. Feeling he needed to have more experience with large-scale film production, Nolan retired the project and instead worked on Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), and The Dark Knight (2008). He spent six months revising the script before Warner Bros. purchased it in February 2009. Inception was filmed in six countries and four continents, beginning in Tokyo on June 19, 2009, and finishing in Canada on November 22, 2009. Its official budget was US$160 million; a cost which was split between Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures. Nolan's reputation and success with The Dark Knight helped secure the film's $100 million in advertising expenditure, with most of the publicity involving viral marketing. Inception 's premièr was held in London on July 8, 2010; its wide release to both conventional and IMAX theaters began on July 16, 2010. A box office success, Inception has grossed over $800 million worldwide becoming the 41st-highest-grossing film of all time. The home video market also had strong results, with $68 million in DVD and Blu-ray sales. Inception has received wide critical acclaim and numerous critics have praised its originality, cast, score, and visual effects. It won 4 Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects, and was nominated for four more: Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Screenplay. Category


Who created the character of the detective priest known as Father Brown?

Father Brown - Amateur Detective / Investigator      Father Brown   Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional detective character created by G. K. Chesterton      which gained a lot of appreciation from its readers. G. K. Chesterton      is well known for writing various short stories and for creating the      character Father Brown; he was inspired by a parish priest named Father      John OâConnor. Father Brown was a stumpy priest in Essex who started      working in London in later years of his life. The series featuring Father      Brown as detective has exposed him as a character wearing baggy clothes      holding an umbrella with a supernatural way of seeing the darker side      of the people. Introduction The first ever appearance of Father Brown as a private detective was      in the novel âThe Blue Crossâ which continued till five volumes and      was highly cherished by readers. All the volumes have depicted a clear      image of Father Brown who deals with crimes in an unusual manner. He      reflects upon each and every detail of the case that can link him to      the actual criminal and help him to prove innocence of the suspect.      As a priest and a confessor, Father Brown becomes very sharp in judging      people and his experience of years helps him to solve even the most      complicated and mysterious cases. Many readers also feel that abilities of Father Brown as an investigator      have been shaped up right because of his immense experience as a priest      and closeness to god. In novel âThe Blue Crossâ, father Brown says that      he has been listening to the real sins of people which makes him quite      aware of the evil inside a human. Father Brown constantly devotes time      in investigating cases so as to find out the real criminal. Most of      the cases that he solves clearly reflect his emphasizes on rationality      that is, considering all the evidences and proofs in a systematic manner      so that finding the actual offender becomes quite clear. Father Brown as an Individual Father Brown is a very modest character, both as a priest and as an      investigator who remains quiet most of the times. He is not in a habit      of discussing the case with people around, but when he speaks something      regarding the case, it is always thoughtful and has a deep meaning.      He handles the crime cases very steadily and is capable enough of solving      the case, no matter how complex it may be. Apart from solving mysteries,      Father Brown also describes Chestertonâs view in his own words in most      of the books which is an interesting part. He also keeps his point of      view in a very unique manner which enhances the interest of the reader      in the story. The philosophies and spiritual aspect of Father Brown always facilitates      him to solve the difficult mysteries as well and this was something      which made his character very popular among people. Chesterton was greatly      inspired by Conan Doyleâs Sherlock Holmes and this has been clearly      depicted by his character Father Brown. The increasing popularity of      Father Brown led the character to commence with movies, as well like      âFather Brown Detectiveâ and âThe Adventures of Father Brownâ to name      a few.


In the Bible, who was the apostle chosen by the remaining 11 to replace Judas Iscariot following his betrayal of Jesus and suicide?

Gospel of Matthias [ ? ]Subscribe To This Site The Gospel of Matthias The Gospel of Matthias is a lost text from the New Testament apocrypha. It is traditionally ascribed to Matthias according to itself. However, Early Church Fathers attributed it to heretical writings in the second century. We have very little information about Matthias and the Gospel of Matthias. There is no mention of him among the lists of disciples or followers of Jesus in the three synoptic gospels. However, according to tradition he was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Matthias was the apostle chosen by the remaining eleven apostles by lots to replace Judas Iscariot in the apostolate following Judas' betrayal of Jesus and his suicide (Acts 1:15-26). No further information about Matthias is to be found in the canonical New Testament. Left: Statue at St. Matthias Abbey in Trier, where relics of the Apostle are kept. According to Nicephorus in the Historia Ecclesiastica (1320), Matthias first preached the Gospel in Judaea, then in Aethiopia (believed to be a synonym for the region of Colchis, now in modern-day Georgia) in regions bordering the Caspian Sea. Traditionally it is believed that he was crucified in Colchis around 80 CE. A marker placed in the ruins of the Roman fortress at Gonio (Apsaros) in the modern Georgian region of Adjara claims that Matthias is buried at that site. The Synopsis of Dorotheus (fifth century) affirms this tradition: "Matthias preached the Gospel to barbarians and meat-eaters in the interior of Aethiopia, where the sea harbor of Hyssus is, at the mouth of the river Phasis. He died at Sebastopolis, and was buried there, near the Temple of the Sun." Above: Monumental effigy over the Apostle's grave, St. Matthias' Abbey at Trier in Germany. The bones of Matthias were supposedly sent to Trier in Germany on the authority of the Empress Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I. However, the relics were only discovered in 1127 during demolition work on the predecessor of the present church buildings. Since that time the St. Matthias Abbey has been a major centre of pilgrimage. Another tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem by the Jews, and then beheaded. According to Hippolytus of Rome, Matthias died of old age in Jerusalem. The Gospel of Matthias and the Traditions of Matthias The Gospel of Matthias is lost. However, its contents can be surmised from various descriptions of it in ancient works by church fathers. Some parts of Matthias's doctrine were conserved in the late second century by Clement of Alexandria, who attributes this sentence to the Apostle: "We must combat our flesh, set no value upon it, and concede to it nothing that can flatter it, but rather increase the growth of our soul by faith and knowledge.” (Stromateis, III, 4) The Gospel of Matthias is also mentioned by Origen of Alexandria (c. 185-254); by Eusebius (c. 263-339), who attributes it to heretics; by Jerome (347-420), and in the Decretum Gelasianum (late fifth century) which declares it apocryphal. However, it also comes at the end of the list of the Biblical Canon in the Codex Baroccianus 206, formerly in the library of Francesco Barozzi of Venice (1537-1604). Scholars believe that this lost gospel may be the document from which Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-c. 215) quoted in three passages, saying that they were borrowed from the Paradoseis ("Traditions") of Matthias. Clement claims that the Traditions had been invoked by the early second century heretics Valentinus, Marcion, and Basilides. According to Hippolytus in the early third century Philosophoumena ("Refutation of All Heresies"), Basilides cited apocryphal discourses that he attributed to Matthias. Basilides and his son Isidore claimed to have learned from Matthias "secret words", which he had received in private teaching from the Savior. "Basilides, therefore, and Isidorus, the true son and disciple of Basilides, say that Matthias communicated to them secret discourses, which, I being specially instructed, he heard


What term is applied to a left-handed boxer?

Southpaw | Define Southpaw at Dictionary.com southpaw a person who is left-handed. 2. Sports. a player who throws with the left hand, especially a pitcher. Boxing. a boxer who leads with the right hand and stands with the right foot forward, using the left hand for the most powerful blows. adjective 1880-85, Americanism; south + paw 1 Dictionary.com Unabridged Examples from the Web for southpaw Expand Contemporary Examples The four-part story of Henry Wiggen begins with The southpaw, which was published a year after The Natural. The 13 Best Baseball Books: From ‘The Art of Fielding’ to ‘Moneyball’ Jimmy So April 4, 2012 Historical Examples Devore has always been very weak at the bat with a southpaw in the box, dragging his right foot away from the plate. Lefty Locke Pitcher-Manager Burt L. Standish The southpaw fought to prevent his lips from curling with scorn, and to suppress a look of triumph in his eyes. Lefty Locke Pitcher-Manager Burt L. Standish He was seeking to get at the southpaw with his bare left hand! Lefty Locke Pitcher-Manager Burt L. Standish The enemy over in southpaw had already advanced the prophecy that they would take the meeting-house. Lefty Locke Pitcher-Manager Burt L. Standish “That may have been an accidental meeting,” said the southpaw. Lefty Locke Pitcher-Manager Burt L. Standish The southpaw was doing some serious thinking as he walked back to the mound. Lefty Locke Pitcher-Manager Burt L. Standish The swarthy little fabulist rose hastily to his feet, making a quick survey of the southpaw. Lefty Locke Pitcher-Manager Burt L. Standish British Dictionary definitions for southpaw Expand noun 1. a boxer who leads with his right hand and off his right foot as opposed to the orthodox style of leading with the left 2. of or relating to a southpaw Word Origin C20: from paw (in the sense: hand): originally a term applied to a left-handed baseball player: perhaps so called because baseball pitchers traditionally face west, so that a left-handed pitcher would throw with the hand on the south side of his body Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for southpaw Expand n. "lefthander," 1885, originally baseball slang, of pitchers, often said to have been coined by Finley Peter Dunne ("Mr. Dooley"), Chicago sports journalist and humorist, in the days when, it is said, baseball diamonds regularly were laid out with home plate to the west. But south paw "a person's left hand" is attested from 1848 in the slang of pugilism. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Slang definitions & phrases for southpaw Expand


What was a typical subject of paintings by Dgas?

Edgar Degas (1834–1917): Painting and Drawing | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art Edgar Degas (1834–1917): Painting and Drawing See works of art Works of Art (20) Essay Edgar Degas seems never to have reconciled himself to the label of “ Impressionist ,” preferring to call himself a “ Realist ” or “Independent.” Nevertheless, he was one of the group’s founders, an organizer of its exhibitions, and one of its most important core members. Like the Impressionists, he sought to capture fleeting moments in the flow of modern life, yet he showed little interest in painting plein air landscapes , favoring scenes in theaters and cafés illuminated by artificial light, which he used to clarify the contours of his figures, adhering to his Academic training . Degas was born in 1834, the scion of a wealthy banking family, and was educated in the classics, including Latin, Greek, and ancient history, at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. His father recognized his son’s artistic gifts early, and encouraged his efforts at drawing by taking him frequently to Paris museums. Degas began by copying Italian Renaissance paintings at the Louvre, and trained in the studio of Louis Lamothe, who taught in the traditional Academic style, with its emphasis on line and its insistence on the crucial importance of draftsmanship. Degas was also strongly influenced by the paintings and frescoes he saw during several long trips to Italy in the late 1850s; he made many sketches and drawings of them in his notebooks. Evidence of Degas’s classical education can be seen in his relatively static, frieze-like early painting, Young Spartans Exercising (ca. 1860; National Gallery, London), done while he was still in his twenties. Yet despite the title, and the suggestion of classical drapery on some of the figures in the background, there is little that places the subject of this painting in ancient Greece. Indeed, it has been noted that the young girls have the snub noses and immature bodies of “ Montmartre types,” the forerunners of the dancers Degas painted so often throughout his career. After 1865, when the Salon accepted his history painting The Misfortunes of the City of Orléans (Musée d’Orsay, Paris), Degas did not paint Academic subjects again, focusing his attention on scenes of modern life. He began to paint scenes of such urban leisure activities as horse racing and, after about 1870, of café-concert singers and ballet dancers . Degas’s choice of subject matter reflects his modern approach. He favored scenes of ballet dancers, laundresses, milliners (At the Milliner’s, 1882; 29.100.38 ), and denizens of Parisian low life. His interest in ballet dancers intensified in the 1870s, and eventually he produced approximately 1,500 works on the subject. These are not traditional portraits, but studies that address the movement of the human body, exploring the physicality and discipline of the dancers through the use of contorted postures and unexpected vantage points. In Dancer Adjusting Her Slipper (1873; 29.100.941 ), the figure’s pose is difficult to decipher, viewed from a steep angle with both her feet and her head at the bottom of the picture, yet it conveys a sense of the dancer’s flexibility. Degas absorbed artistic tradition and outside influences and reinterpreted them in innovative ways. Following the opening of trade with Japan in 1854, many French artists, including Degas, were increasingly influenced by Japanese prints . But whereas his contemporaries often infused their paintings with Eastern imagery , Degas abstracted from these prints their inventive compositions and points of view, particularly in his use of cropping and asymmetry. Degas had also observed how sixteenth-century Italian Mannerists similarly framed their subjects, sometimes cutting off part of a figure. For example, in A Woman Seated Beside a Vase of Flowers (1865; 29.100.128 ), the figure is cut off at the right edge of the painting, with part of her left hand just barely visible at the lower right corner


Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north are known as what?

Map of Ashkenazi Jews - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki Map showing all locations mentioned on Wikipedia article: The Jews in Central Europe (1881) Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim ( , , singular: ; also , Yehudei Ashkenaz, "the Jews of Ashkenaz"), are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany. Thus, Ashkenazim or Ashkenazi Jews are literally "German Jews." Later, Jews from Western and Central Europe came to be called "Ashkenaz" because the main centers of Jewish learning were located in Germany. (See Usage of the name for the term's etymology.) Ashkenaz is also a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations ( Genesis 10 ). Many Ashkenazi Jews later migrated, largely eastward, forming communities in non German-speaking areas, including Hungary , Ukraine , Eastern Europe , and elsewhere between the 11th and 19th centuries. With them, they took and diversified Yiddish , a basically Germanic language with Hebrew influence (see Jewish language ). It had developed in medieval times as the lingua franca among Ashkenazi Jews. The Jewish communities of three cities along the Rhine, Speyer , Worms and Mainz created the SHUM league (SHUM after the first Hebrew letters of Spira, Warmatia and Magentza). The SHUM-cities are considered the cradle of the distinct Ashkenazi culture and liturgy . Although in the 11th century they comprised only 3 percent of the world's Jewish population , Ashkenazi Jews accounted for (at their peak) 92 percent of the world's Jews in 1931 and today make up approximately 80 percent of Jews worldwide. Most Jewish communities with extended histories in Europe are Ashkenazim, with the exception of those associated with the Mediterranean region. The majority of the Jews who migrated from Europe to other continents in the past two centuries are Ashkenazim, Eastern Ashkenazim in particular. This is especially true in the United States , where most out of the 5.3 million American Jewish population is Ashkenazi, representing the world's single largest concentration of Ashkenazim. Definition The exact definition of Jewishness is not universally agreed upon—neither by religious scholars (especially across different denominations ), nor in the context of politics (as applied to those who wish to make Aliyah ), nor even in the conventional, everyday sense where 'Jewishness' may be loosely understood by the casual observer as encompassing both religious and secular Jews , or religious Jews alone. This makes it especially difficult to define who is an Ashkenazi Jew, because they have been defined by different people using religious, cultural, or ethnic perspectives. Since the overwhelming majority of Ashkenazi Jews no longer live in Eastern Europe, the isolation that once favored a distinct religious tradition and culture has vanished. Furthermore, the word Ashkenazi is being used in non-traditional ways, especially in Israel . By conservative and orthodox philosophies, a person can only be considered a Jew if their mother was Jewish (meaning more specifically that they descend from a female down the matrilineal line who was assumed to be present at Mt. Sinai when the ten commandments were given or one of their female matrilineal ancestors underwent what is considered to be a valid conversion before the birth of her children), or they themselves have undergone conversion. This means that a person can be Ashkenazi but not considered a Jew by some of those within the Jewish communities, making the term "Ashkenazi" more applicable as broad ethnicity which evolved from the practice of Judaism in Europe. By religion Religious Jews have Minhagim , customs, in addition to Halakha , or religious law, and different interpretations of law. Different groups of religious Jews in different geographic areas historically adopted different customs and interpretations. On certain issues, Orthodox Jews are required to follow the customs of their ancestors, and


A non-SI unit of radioactivity is named after ...?

What units are used to measure radiation? | Socratic What units are used to measure radiation? Start with a one sentence answer Then teach the underlying concepts Don't copy without citing sources Write a one sentence answer... Answer: I want someone to double check my answer Describe your changes (optional) 200 Cancel Jun 11, 2014 According to Wikipedia: The rad is a deprecated unit of absorbed radiation dose, defined as 1 rad = 0.01 Gy = 0.01 J/kg The Gray, or Gy is 1 J/kg The curie (symbol Ci) is a non-SI unit of radioactivity, named after Marie and Pierre Curie. It is defined as 1 Ci = 3.7 ×


The Gregorian calendar was named after what public figure at the time?

New Year, Old Calendar: The Origins and Controversy of the Gregorian Calendar | Ancient Origins 26 December, 2015 - 21:37 dhwty New Year, Old Calendar: The Origins and Controversy of the Gregorian Calendar (Read the article on one page) The most commonly used civil calendar today is known as the Gregorian calendar, which is also called the Western calendar, or the Christian calendar. This calendar was named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in 1582. Today, the Gregorian calendar is part of our everyday lives, and most of us use it without really knowing its backstory, the reasons for its introduction, and the effects that it had on the world. Introduction of the Julian Calendar Prior to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, the calendar that was used in Europe was the Julian calendar. This calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and took effect in 45 BC. It became the predominant calendar in the territories controlled by the Romans. Example of a Pre-Julian Roman calendar called the ‘Fasti Praenestini.’ ( Marie-Lan Nguyen/CC BY 2.5 ) When the Roman Empire was Christianized, the Julian calendar was adopted as the Christian liturgical calendar. This allowed the use of the Julian calendar to spread eventually into areas that were beyond the borders of the Empire, such as Russia and the New World. The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter The Need for a New Calendar One of the problems with the Julian calendar is that the length of the solar year is miscalculated by 11 minutes each year. This meant that the calendar had fallen out of sync with the seasons over time. More importantly for the pope, the celebration of Easter, which had been traditionally observed on the 21st of March, was falling further away from the spring equinox with each passing year. Pope Gregory desired to rectify this problem by correcting the miscalculations in the Julian calendar. Roman mosaic of the four seasons from Acholla, 3rd century AD. ( CC BY SA 2.0 ) Once these errors were rectified, the Gregorian calendar was introduced by the pope in 1582, under the papal bull known as ‘ Inter gravissimas ’. By this time, however, the East-West Schism between the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox had been going on for over 500 years, and the Protestant Reformation in Western Europe had been underway for slightly more than 50 years. Thus, the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1582 was adopted mainly by countries under Roman Catholic rule, including Spain, Portugal (and the overseas possessions of these two countries) and France. The first page of the papal bull "Inter Gravissimas" by which Pope Gregory XIII introduced his calendar. ( Public Domain ) Rejection to the calendar Countries under Protestant rule initially rejected the Gregorian calendar. Due to the calendar’s ties with the papacy, these countries perceived the switch as a plot aimed at bringing them back to the Roman Catholic Church. Likewise, countries belonging to the Eastern Orthodox Church did not readily adopt the Gregorian calendar. Eastern Orthodox calendar of Saints. ( Public Domain ) Nevertheless, these countries too adopted the Gregorian calendar eventually. For example, the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 introduced the Gregorian calendar to the British Empire. Thus, in 1752, Great Britain and its territories switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. It was necessary to align the calendar used in England with the rest of Europe, therefore it was decided that the 2nd of September 1752 (Wednesday) would be followed by the 14th of September 1752 (Thursday), resulting in a loss of 11 days. The Origin of Lunar New Year and the Legend of Nian "Give us our Eleven Days" This change in calendars supposedly resulted in civil unrest and riots in England. In a 1755 painting by William Hogarth entitled ‘An Election Entertainment’ - referring to the 1754 elections, a campaign banner with the words ‘Give us our Eleven Days’ can be seen. It has been suggested that this might have given rise to the misinterpretation that people actuall


The formula for World Rally Championship cars changed for the 2011 championship, with engines limited to many litres?

World Rally Championship, past, present and future - Telegraph Motor Sport World Rally Championship, past, present and future As the 2010 season came to a close at the weekend, so too did the current era of World Rally Cars. So what exactly does the future hold for the World Rally Championship?   Image 1 of 4 Dream team: Daniel Elena, left, and Sébastien Loeb celebrate a seventh world championship Photo: RED BULL   Sebastien Loeb's Citroën C4 WRC in action Photo: RED BULL   Former WRC champion Petter Solberg    Image 1 of 4 Ex-Ferrari Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen is now a star of the WRC Photo: RED BULL By Dan Prosser Comments Anybody with a 56k modem, a cathode-ray tube television or the ability to converse with humans will probably have stumbled upon the news that a young chap called Vettel recently won the Formula One World Championship. Such is the disparity in profile between F1 and rallying, though, that you'd need an active interest in motorsport to have spotted that Sébastien Loeb won the World Rally Championship (WRC) just last month. You'd need to be even more enthusiastic about rallying to know that the curtains were drawn on a 14-year era at the final round of the 2010 season in Wales last weekend. An epoch came to a close as new regulations are set to be enforced for 2011 and beyond. First introduced in 1997, the World Rally Car regulations propelled the discipline into new realms of engineering sophistication, crowned Richard Burns, England's only ever WRC champion, and saw the emergence of Loeb, statistically the greatest rally driver of all time. In reverence of such landmarks, there was no sense of good riddance to the outgoing regulations, but rather a faint melancholy in the shadow of huge optimism for the future; the WRC has been dragged through the mud in recent years, but the long-overdue regulation revisions promise to lift the championship to greater heights. Although the new regulations retain the World Rally Car tag, they are fundamentally different. At their core is a switch from 2.0-litre turbocharged engines to 1.6-litre turbocharged units. Consequently, last weekend's Wales Rally GB was the very last time that the Ford Focus WRC and Citroën C4 WRC would run in competition as both manufacturers introduce new models to better suit the revised regulations, respectively the Fiesta WRC and DS3 WRC. So why mount such hope on a regulation change? Simply, they make the series an awful lot more affordable for manufacturers. Although Ford and certainly Citroën, the sport's only incumbents, will continue to invest similar amounts in the championship, new manufacturers are being enticed to the sport, which is crucial to heightening its profile. MINI will contest at least six rounds of the championship in 2011 before a full campaign in 2012, with VW, Saab and Toyota all being tipped to enter in the near future; early signs suggest the new regulations are doing their part in the resurgence of the WRC. Related Articles MotoGP preview: Valencia 05 Nov 2010 Although an era came to an end this year, Loeb's dominance certainly didn't. The Frenchman first won the World Championship in 2004, and he's retained it every year since. By winning Wales Rally GB, the 36-year-old took his 62nd rally victory; for reference, the second most successful driver won 30 rallies. Loeb is to the WRC what Valentino Rossi is to MotoGP and what Michael Schumacher once was to F1. Having won 2009's championship by just a single point ahead of Ford ace Mikko Hirvonen, many had predicted that Loeb would fail to retain the crown in 2010. The Frenchman proved us all wrong, however, by producing one of his most dominant campaigns ever. Of the 13 rounds, Loeb won eight. He set 96 fastest stage times throughout the course of the year, which is almost twice as many as the next man. By scoring 276 points, he outscored the championship runner-up by more than 100 points. Once Loeb had won three of the opening four rounds of the year, the title fight appeared to be as one-sided as Haye versus Harrison. The intrigue instead switched to the r


Who reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later, the shortest reign in papal history since 1605?

John Paul I elected Pope | World History Project Aug 26 1978 John Paul I elected Pope Pope John Paul I (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. I, Italian: Giovanni Paolo I), born Albino Luciani, (17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978), reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and as Sovereign of Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes. John Paul I was the first Pope born in the 20th century. In Italy he is remembered with the affectionate appellatives of "Il Papa del sorriso" ("The smiling Pope") and "Il sorriso di Dio" ("God's smile"). Luciani was elected on the fourth ballot of the August 1978 papal conclave. He chose the regnal name of John Paul, the first double name in the history of the papacy, explaining in his famous Angelus that he took it as a thankful honour to his two immediate predecessors: John XXIII, who had named him a bishop, and Paul VI, who had named him Patriarch of Venice and a cardinal. He was also the first (and so far only) pope to use "the first" in his regnal name. In Italy he is remembered with the affectionate appellatives of "Il Papa del Sorriso" (The Smiling Pope) and "Il Sorriso di Dio" (God's Smile). John Paul I pictured in a coin. Observers have suggested that his selection was linked to the rumored divisions between rival camps within the College of Cardinals: Conservatives and Curialists supporting Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, who favored a more conservative interpretation or even correction of Vatican II's reforms. Those who favored a more liberal interpretation of Vatican II's reforms, and some Italian cardinals supporting Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, who was opposed because of his "autocratic" tendencies. The dwindling band of supporters of Cardinal Sergio Pignedoli, who was allegedly so confident that he was papabile that he went on a crash diet to fit the right size of white cassock when elected.[citation needed] Outside the Italians, now themselves a lessening influence within the increasingly internationalist College of Cardinals, were figures like Karol Cardinal Wojtyła. Over the days following the conclave, cardinals effectively declared that with general great joy they had elected "God's candidate". Argentine Eduardo Francisco Cardinal Pironio stated that, "We were witnesses of a moral miracle." And later, Mother Teresa commented: "He has been the greatest gift of God, a sunray of God's love shining in the darkness of the world." Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad, who was present at his installation, collapsed and died during the ceremony, and the new Pope prayed over him in his final moments. Source: Wikipedia Added by: Kevin Rogers Pope John Paul I was the predecessor to the highly popular Pope John Paul II, but don't feel bad if you do not remember him, because his term as a Pope was short lived. In fact, it only lasted 33 days before Pope John Paul I died in office. So who was Pope John Paul I, where did He come from and what were His accomplishments? A Short Biography of Pope John Paul 1: His real name is Albino Luciani. He was born on October 17 1912 in Belluno Italy. He entered the minor seminary at Feltre on October 1, 1923. He became an ordained priest on July 7, 1935 in St Peter's Church Belluno. He became crate on Forno di Canale on July 8 of 1935. He was the Chaplain and teacher at the Technical Institute for Miners in Agordo from 1935-1937. He was appointed Vice Rector of Seminary at Belluno from 1935-1947. He received a Doctorate in Theology in 1950. Consecrated as Bishop of Vittorio Vento on December 27, 1958. Was named Patriarch of Venice on December 15, 1969. Was made a Cardinal on March 5, 1973. Was elected Pope on August 26, 1978 and adopted the name of Pope John Paul I. The Religious Figure Pope John Paul I who was born Albino Luciani was a devout religious man who dedicated his life to the Catholic Church almost from the first time he could. As you can see from the brief biography above -- from the time he entered the Seminary in 1923 to the time he w


"The term ""Teutonic"" means relating to what country?"

Dutch | Define Dutch at Dictionary.com Dutch adjective 1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the natives or inhabitants of the Netherlands or their country or language. 2. pertaining to or designating the style of painting and subject matter developed in the Netherlands during the 17th century, chiefly characterized by the use of chiaroscuro, muted tones, naturalistic colors or forms, and of genre, landscape, or still-life subjects drawn from contemporary urban and rural life. 3. of, relating to, or characteristic of the Pennsylvania Dutch . 4. the people of the Netherlands and their immediate descendants elsewhere, collectively. 6. Also called Netherlandic . the Germanic language of the Netherlands and northern Belgium. Abbreviation: D. go Dutch, Sometimes Offensive. to have each person pay his or her own expenses: a dinner where everyone goes Dutch. Also, go dutch. in Dutch, Sometimes Offensive. in trouble or disfavor (with someone): in Dutch with the teacher for disturbing the class. Origin of Dutch Middle Dutch 1350-1400 1350-1400; Middle English Duch < Middle Dutch duutsch Dutch, German(ic); cognate with Old High German diutisc popular (language) (as opposed to learned Latin), translation of Latin (lingua) vulgāris popular (language) Related forms Usage note Expand The idioms go Dutch (related to Dutch treat ) and in Dutch (which uses Dutch to mean “trouble”) are both sometimes perceived as insulting to or by the Dutch. In addition, the adjective Dutch is found in a few other set phrases ( Dutch courage , Dutch gold , and Dutch uncle ) in which it implies that something Dutch is not authentic. Although insulting a particular person or nationality may be unintentional, it is best to be aware that use of these terms is sometimes perceived as offensive to or by the Dutch. Dictionary.com Unabridged Examples from the Web for Dutch Expand Contemporary Examples He was also very Dutch, and no nation in the world is more deeply attached to freedom of expression than the Dutch. Life On The Run Ayaan Hirsi Ali October 5, 2008 Not long after the Dutch nuptial-nullifying company started gaining publicity, a pilot for a reality show called—what else? Dutch Queen Abdicates Tom Sykes April 29, 2013 Historical Examples Rub it over with a piece of butter, strew it with a little chopped sage and a few bread crumbs, and roast it in a Dutch oven. Still Jim Honor Willsie Morrow Later on I let it go for a tenth of its value to a Dutch half-caste. British Dictionary definitions for Dutch Expand noun 1. the language of the Netherlands, belonging to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family and quite closely related to German and English See also Flemish , Afrikaans 2. (functioning as pl) the Dutch, the natives, citizens, or inhabitants of the Netherlands 3. (slang) in Dutch, in trouble adjective of, relating to, or characteristic of the Netherlands, its inhabitants, or their language adverb (informal) go Dutch, to share expenses equally Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for Dutch Expand adj. late 14c., used first of Germans generally, after c.1600 of Hollanders, from Middle Dutch duutsch, from Old High German duit-isc, corresponding to Old English þeodisc "belonging to the people," used especially of the common language of Germanic people, from þeod "people, race, nation," from Proto-Germanic *theudo "popular, national" (see Teutonic ), from PIE root *teuta- "people" (cf. Old Irish tuoth "people," Old Lithuanian tauta "people," Old Prussian tauto "country," Oscan touto "community"). As a language name, first recorded as Latin theodice, 786 C.E. in correspondence between Charlemagne's court and the Pope, in reference to a synodical conference in Mercia; thus it refers to Old English. First reference to the German language (as opposed to a Germanic one) is two years later. The sense was extended from the language to the people who spoke it (in German,


"What was the title of a 1996 American disaster film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as ""storm chasers""?"

Twister (1996) Movie Review - YouTube Twister (1996) Movie Review Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Apr 8, 2014 Today I bring you a review of the very entertaining 1996 flick Twister. Twister is a 1996 American disaster drama film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as storm chasers researching tornadoes. It was directed by Jan de Bont from a screenplay by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin. Its executive producers were Steven Spielberg, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Gerald R. Molen. Twister was the second-highest-grossing film of 1996 domestically, with an estimated 55 million tickets sold in the US. It is notable for being both the first Hollywood feature film to be released on DVD format and one of the last to be released on HD DVD. Twister has since been released on Blu-ray Disc. In the film, a team of storm chasers try to perfect a data-gathering instrument, designed to be released into the funnel of a tornado, while competing with another better-funded team with a similar device during a tornado outbreak across Oklahoma. The plot is a dramatized view of research projects like VORTEX of the NOAA. The device used in the movie, called "Dorothy", is copied from the real-life TOTO, used in the 1980s by NSSL. Category


In snooker, what is the name of the shot where a ball goes into a pocket after hitting the opposite cushion?

The Rules of Billiards and Snooker Game Categories The Rules of Billiards and Snooker The following is a basic set of instructions for the friendly play of     the game of Billiards and Snooker including additional comments designed     to assist with the understanding of the game.  Note: 1 foot = 30.48     cm   Billiards Equipment A full-size Billiards table measures twelve feet by six feet, one and     a half inches and has a baize-covered slate bed.  The four edges     of the table feature rubber edges covered in baize called "cushions".  Six "pockets" are situated one at each corner plus one at the     centre of each long side of the table into which the balls can drop.  The six pockets normally have a net or a small collecting channel to catch     the balls.  Two feet, five inches from one end, a line is drawn across     the table called the "baulk" line.  Any ball between the     baulk line and the nearest end is generally referred to as being "in     baulk".  A semi-circle is inscribed within the baulk area with     is axis as the middlepoint of the baulk line and with a radius of eleven     and a half inches.  This semi-circle is termed the "D".   At the other end of the table, twelve and three-quarter inches     from the end cushion, a spot is centrally inscribed as a starting point     for the red ball. The cue ball is struck with tapered sticks featuring a striking tip called "cues".  The cue tips are chalked to prevent a slippery     contact with the ball.  There is almost always an additional accessory     available called a "rest" which is like a cue with a cross on     the end upon which the cue can be rested to extend its playing length.  Quite often, a "full-butt" and a "half-butt" are also     available - these are much longer rests with arched fixments on the end     that come with their own long cues for playing very long shots. Billiards is played with one red ball and two white cue balls, one with     a small black spot and one without.   The Start A doubles game is occasionally played but the game is usually singles.  One player chooses to play with the white cue ball and the other the spotted     white cue ball.  To begin with, players play their cue ball from     within the D down the table so that it bounces back up the table and comes     to rest in baulk.  The player whose ball is closest to the baulk     cushion chooses to go first or second.  Most players prefer to go     second because the first turn occurs with only two balls on the table     - a severe limitation. The game starts with the red ball on it's spot and the cue ball of the     starting player placed in the D at the front of the table.  Players     agree how many points will constitute a game and the objective is merely     to be the first to score than number.   A typical number for expert     players might be 1000 points - professionals regularly score more than     this in a single break.  Beginners might consider 150 as a more appropriate     target.   Basic Play Each turn is called a "break" and consists of a series of strikes     of the cue ball that come to an end when a player makes a non-scoring     strike or a foul stroke.   Scoring is achieved by "potting" balls, by "cannons", and by going "in off".  A ball is "potted" when the cue ball knocks it into a pocket.  A "cannon" is when the cue ball strikes first one ball and then     the other.  A player's ball goes "in off" when it falls     into a pocket having first "kissed" (struck) another ball. Whenever the red ball is potted, it is immediately returned to the red     spot for the next strike.  Whenever the cue ball goes in off, it     is immediately returned to the player who can position it anywhere within     the D for the next strike.  If the opponents ball is potted, it remains     out of play until the end of that player's break.   In this case,     the oppone


Of the 5 Presidents of Egypt since it was declared a republic in 1953 who has served the longest?

Egypt’s presidential history: Military’s tight grip on power | Al Jazeera America Egypt’s presidential history: Military’s tight grip on power by Ehab Zahriyeh @EhabZ January 29, 2014 3:49PM ET Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s candidacy follows the country’s tradition since 1952 Topics: A street vendor offers cards of Egypt’s army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah El Sisi during celebrations of the third anniversary of Egypt’s uprising, Jan. 25, 2014. Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters Egypt's military remains the most powerful entity in the country despite secrecy surrounding its budget, its generals, and its businesses, which many believe make up more than a third of the country's economy. Consolidation of power and industry by the armed forces goes as far back as the country’s first presidency in 1952, and Egyptian law prevents any real oversight of the military.  The revolution that forced King Farouk into exile that year placed the military in power on civilian rule — one leader after another — until the 2011 popular uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak. With presidential elections approaching, the chief of the Egyptian armed forces, Abdel Fattah El Sisi — who removed Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first freely elected, nonmilitary president after one year — has announced his candidacy. The election of a military leader reverses efforts of the 2011 revolution, which among other demands, called for more oversight over the budgets and leaders of the armed forces. Here, a history of Egypt’s presidents: 1953: Muhammed Naguib AP Presidency: June 18, 1953 – Nov. 14, 1954 Muhammed Naguib’s military career began in 1918. Making his way up the ranks, Naguib was promoted to major-general in 1949 after serving in Palestine in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Naguib, along with a secret group of disgruntled officers (Free Officers Movement) led a coup d'état against King Farouk in 1952 and declared Egypt a republic for the first time. When Naguib became president on June 18, 1953, he simultaneously held the title of prime minister and chairman of Revolution Command Council (RCC) — the newly formed political body deciding Egypt’s affairs. The RCC was mostly made up of military personnel. His presidency marked the start of military control over civilian affairs, which continues till today. Naguib eventually resigned as president one year later after losing a power struggle to a younger officer, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Naguib was immediately placed under house arrest by Nasser for 18 years. 1954: Gamal Abdel Nasser AP Presidency: Nov. 14, 1954 – Sept. 28, 1970 Gamal Abdel Nasser joined the military in 1938 and, like Muhammed Naguib, fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. As deputy commander, Nasser was famously known for his resilience in the war for securing the Palestinian village of al-Faluja while withstanding Israeli bombardment. He was highly critical of Egypt’s unpreparedness in battles with Israel. After combat, Nasser became a founding member of the Free Officers Movement and helped seat Naguib as the country’s first president following the coup against King Farouk. Nasser then forced Naguib to resign and took over as the country’s leader on Nov. 14, 1954. Nasser won Egypt's first presidential elections in 1956 by 99.9 percent of the votes. He was the only candidate on the ballot. Nasser served 16 years as Egypt’s president until he died while in office on Sept. 28, 1970. In presidential elections in 1958 and 1965, Nasser — again running unopposed — won 100 percent of the votes cast. One month before he assumed office on Oct. 26, 1954, Nasser was giving a speech in Alexandria, celebrating British withdrawal from Egypt, when a member of the Muslim Brotherhood attempted to assassinate him. Nasser survived and swiftly banned the Brotherhood and imprisoned thousands of its members. The Brotherhood’s struggle with the nations' military leaders continues today. Nasser also eliminated Egypt's short-lived multi-party system as he consolidated power and marginalized the opposition. Nasser’s pan-Arab push made him one of the most popular Arab leaders of modern times. His


The volcano Vesuvius looks down on what?

Mount Vesuvius, Italy: Map, Facts, Eruption Pictures, Pompeii Article by Jessica Ball Mount Vesuvius Introduction Vesuvius is the only active volcano in mainland Europe, and has produced some of the continent's largest volcanic eruptions. Located on Italy's west coast, it overlooks the Bay and City of Naples and sits in the crater of the ancient Somma volcano. Vesuvius is most famous for the 79 AD eruption which destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Though the volcano's last eruption was in 1944, it still represents a great danger to the cities that surround it, especially the busy metropolis of Naples. Map: Where is Vesuvius? Map showing the location of Mount Vesuvius on the west coast of Italy.  Map by Geology.com and MapResources.  Nearby Volcanoes: Etna Stromboli Mount Vesuvius: Plate Tectonic Setting Vesuvius is part of the Campanian volcanic arc, a line of volcanoes that formed over a subduction zone created by the convergence of the African and Eurasian plates. This subduction zone stretches the length of the Italian peninsula, and is also the source of other volcanoes like Mount Etna , the Phlegraean Fields (Campi Flegrei), Vulcano, and Stromboli. Under Vesuvius, the lower part of the subducting slab has torn and detached from the upper part to form what is called a "slab window". This makes Vesuvius' rocks slightly different chemically from the rocks erupted from the other Campanian volcanoes. Simplified plate tectonics cross section (A to B) Simplified plate tectonics cross-section showing how Mount Vesuvius is located above a subduction zone formed where the African plate descends beneath Italy. Magma produced from the melting African plate  creates the large, violently explosive volcanoes of the Italian  Peninsula. Mount Vesuvius: Eruption History Mount Vesuvius has experienced eight major eruptions in the last 17,000 years. The 79 AD eruption is one of the most well known ancient eruptions in the world, and may have killed more than 16,000 people. Ash, mud and rocks from this eruption buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pompeii is famous for the casts the hot ash formed around victims of the eruptions. The unfortunate people suffocated on ash in the air, which then covered them and preserved amazing details of their clothing and faces. Starting in 1631, Vesuvius entered a period of steady volcanic activity, including lava flows and eruptions of ash and mud. Violent eruptions in the late 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s created more fissures, lava flows, and ash-and-gas explosions. These damaged or destroyed many towns around the volcano, and sometimes killed people; the eruption of 1906 had more than 100 casualties. The most recent eruption was in 1944 during World War II. It caused major problems for the newly-arrived Allied forces in Italy when ash and rocks from the eruption destroyed planes and forced evacuations at a nearby airbase. Vesuvius eruption (1944) A view of Naples at the height of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1944. A Melvin C. Shaffer photograph used with permission from Southern Methodist University CUL Digital Collections . Did You Know? The 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius is why volcanologists use "Plinian" to describe large volcanic eruption clouds. Pliny the Younger, a Roman historian who witnessed the 79 AD eruption, wrote the oldest surviving description of the tall, tree-shaped cloud that rose above the volcano. Modern volcanologists use the term to describe large-volume, violent eruptions that produce quickly-expanding clouds of rock, ash and gases which rise many miles into the atmosphere. Some more recent examples of Plinian eruptions include Mount St. Helens in 1980 and Pinatubo in 1990. Here is Pliny's description... "On 24 August, in the early afternoon, my mother drew [my uncle's] attention to a cloud of unusual size and appearance. its general appearance can be best expressed as being like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the first


"What number, on the Ph scale, represents ""neutral""?"

pH Scale pH Scale Introduction and Definitions: Acidic and basic are two extremes that describe a chemical       property chemicals. Mixing acids and bases can cancel out or       neutralize their extreme effects. A substance that is neither       acidic nor basic is neutral. The pH scale measures how acidic or basic a substance is.       The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is neutral. A pH       less than 7 is acidic. A pH greater than 7 is basic. The pH scale is logarithmic and as a result, each whole pH       value below 7 is ten times more acidic than the next higher value.       For example, pH 4 is ten times more acidic than pH 5 and 100       times (10 times 10) more acidic than pH 6. The same holds true       for pH values above 7, each of which is ten times more alkaline       (another way to say basic) than the next lower whole value. For       example, pH 10 is ten times more alkaline than pH 9 and 100 times       (10 times 10) more alkaline than pH 8. Pure water is neutral. But when chemicals are mixed with water,       the mixture can become either acidic or basic. Examples of acidic       substances are vinegar and lemon juice. Lye, milk of magnesia,       and ammonia are examples of basic substances. Practice: Water molecules exist in equilibrium with hydrogen ions and       hydroxide ions. H2O <--> H+ + OH- The water equilibrium constant is written as: Kw = [H+] [OH-] Experimentally, it has been found that the concentration of: H+ = OH- = 10-7 Therefore: Kw = [10-7][ 10-7] = [10-14] (To multiply exponential numbers - simply add the exponents.) The values for Kw, H+, OH- concentration       all indicate that the equilibrium favors the reactant (water       molecules). In other words, only very small amounts of H+ and OH- ions are present. Effect of Acids and Bases on Water Equilibrium: If an acid (H+) is added to the water, the equilibrium       shifts to the left and the OH- ion concentration decreases. Water Equilibrium: H2O <--> H+ + OH- If base ( OH-) is added to water, the equilibrium       shifts to left and the H+ concentration decreases. Water Equilibrium Principle: The multiplication product       (addition of exponents) of H+ and OH- ion       concentration must always be equal to 10-14. BOTH H+ and OH- ions are ALWAYS PRESENT in any solution. A solution is acidic if the H+ are       in excess. A solution is basic, if the OH- ions are       in excess.   Number Representation and Logarithms  Number  Exponent Notation  Log of the Number  1000  103  3  100  102  2  10  101  1  1  100  0  0.1  10-1  -1  0.01  10-2  -2  0.001  10-3  -3  0.0001  10-4  -4 Solve for any of the others given one  H+  OH-  pH  pOH  0.001    4   Definition of pH, pOH, and pKw: The concentrations of hydrogen ions and indirectly hydroxide       ions are given by a pH number. pH is defined as the negative       logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration. The equation       is: pH = - log [H+] similarly, pOH = - log [OH-] and p Kw = - log [Kw] . Logarithms of numbers that are multiples of ten are merely       the exponents of the number including the sign. See the table       on the left for a review. The method to find logs of numbers       that are not multiples of ten are found by using a calculator.       The method is not discussed here. Example: If an acid has an H+ concentration of 0.0001 M, find the pH. Solution: First convert the number to exponential notation, find the log,          then solve the pH equation. H+ = 0.0001M = 10-4; log of 10-4 = -4; pH = - log [ H+] = - log (10-4) = -          (-4) = +4 = pH The purpose of the negative sign in the log definition is          to give a positive pH value. If the base has an OH- concentration of 0.001M, find          the pH.  Solution: First find the pOH, (similar to finding the pH,) then subtract the pOH from 14. OH- = 0.001M = 10-3; pOH = -log [


Benito Mussolini's Mistress Clara Petacci Pictures, Images & Photos | Photobucket benito mussolini's mistress clara petacci benito mussolini's mistress clara petacci                              Pictures & Images   (58,591 results)


"What is the literal translation of the French phrase ""cul de sac""?"

cul-de-sac | WordReference Forums Dictionary and thread title search:  WordReference Forums I'm sorry I don't understand French, but I have a question for you French people Do you know whether this expression 'cul-de-sac' is french? catalan? Thanks in advance and happy new year to everyone Saludos!!!! I'm sorry I don't understand French, but I have a question for you French people Do you know whether this expression 'cul-de-sac' is french? catalan? Thanks in advance and happy new year to everyone Saludos!!!! noun (PL. culs-de-sac PRONUNC. same) a street or passage closed at one end. n* figurative a route or course leading nowhere: was the new post a career cul-de-sac? ORIGIN mid 18th cent. (originally in anatomy): French, literally bottom of a sack. Bise, Art Right, un cul-de-sac is a dead-end (street)   Thanks for your answers, Art and Egueule Well, then it's true that catalan and french are so alike Saludos Right, un cul-de-sac is a dead-end (street) Click to expand... A cul-de-sac is a rounded dead-end street with $500,000 homes on it.   Since Tabac last posted, they have gone up to $502,000. Check in tomorrow.   United States / English In a literal translation, while we remain on the subject, does 'cul-de-sac' mean 'bottom of the bag'? Funny how, as Tabac speaks truly, expensive homes usually rest in cul-de-sacs, but its translation almost implies low quality (*laughs).   Tobycek Senior Member England, English I'm not sure if "cul-de-sac" is used in modern French - can any French person help here? In France, I usually see "Voie sans issue"... Any French speakers should be warned, though, that when it's used in English it has a very "English" pronunciation: sort of like "culldi-sack" Another phrase like this (which is used more in a foreign language than its original one) might be "fait accompli" - I've been told that this isn't used much in French anymore... but it's in regular use in English!   Bretagne, France français de France Si, si, we still say cul-de-sac but since cul means "bottom", it is not written down on street signs, prudish town officials use voie sans issue instead. Is is pronounced ku de sak.   Thanks for your answers, Art and Egueule Well, then it's true that catalan and french are so alike Saludos Click to expand... Cul-de-sac is commonly used in English too. Does that mean that English is like French and Catalan?   North East USA British English I heard that "cul-de-sac", although made up of French words, actually does not exist as a word in France. Is this true? And who wants to give me a mortgage?   French emma42 said: I heard that "cul-de-sac", although made up of French words, actually does not exist as a word in France. Is this true? And who wants to give me a mortgage? Click to expand... You made be doubt about it, so I went to look into the TLFi: CUL-DE-SAC, subst. masc. Étymol. et Hist. 1. 1307 cul-de-çac « rue sans issue, impasse » (Mem. Soc. Hist. Paris, XVIII, 177 ds GDF. Compl.); 2. av. 1755 p. métaph. « emploi, situation sans issue, qui ne mène à rien » (SAINT-SIMON, Mémoires, 345, 23 ds LITTRÉ, s.v. cul). Composé de cul* « partie la plus profonde d'un objet », de* et sac* (p. anal. de forme). Click to expand... Merci, anangelaway. Est-ce que c'est souvent utilisé? Est-ce qu'il sonne étrange/faux?   Merci, anangelaway. Est-ce que c'est souvent utilisé? Est-ce qu'il sonne étrange/faux? Click to expand... Non Emma, pour moi pas du tout. Je n'arrive pas à trouver dans quelle situation je préfèrerais utiliser impasse à cul-de-sac. Pour un petit chemin de campagne par exemple, qui ne mène tout à coup nulle part, je ne dirais pas 'impasse', mais plutôt 'cul-de-sac'. En fait, de plus, j'aime beaucoup 'cul-de-sac'!   N49*05'51.92" W0*21'09.88" France French Non, cul-de-sac ne sonne ni faux ni étrange mais parfaitement naturel au contraire. Simplement, je ne l'utilise pas. C'est une question d'habitudes de langage : le premier mot qui me vient à l'esprit est toujours impasse. Mais c'est probablement (anangelaway a raison) parce que je pense "ville".   Alors, ce que j'ai entendu était comp


"Who is a central figure in Homer's ""Iliad""?"

SparkNotes: The Iliad: Character List Character List Analysis of Major Characters The Achaeans (also called the “Argives” or “Danaans”) Achilles -  The son of the military man Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis. The most powerful warrior in The Iliad, Achilles commands the Myrmidons, soldiers from his homeland of Phthia in Greece. Proud and headstrong, he takes offense easily and reacts with blistering indignation when he perceives that his honor has been slighted. Achilles’ wrath at Agamemnon for taking his war prize, the maiden Briseis, forms the main subject of The Iliad. Read an in-depth analysis of Achilles. Agamemnon (also called “Atrides”)  -  King of Mycenae and leader of the Achaean army; brother of King Menelaus of Sparta. Arrogant and often selfish, Agamemnon provides the Achaeans with strong but sometimes reckless and self-serving leadership. Like Achilles, he lacks consideration and forethought. Most saliently, his tactless appropriation of Achilles’ war prize, the maiden Briseis, creates a crisis for the Achaeans, when Achilles, insulted, withdraws from the war. Patroclus -  Achilles’ beloved friend, companion, and advisor, Patroclus grew up alongside the great warrior in Phthia, under the guardianship of Peleus. Devoted to both Achilles and the Achaean cause, Patroclus stands by the enraged Achilles but also dons Achilles’ terrifying armor in an attempt to hold the Trojans back. Odysseus -  A fine warrior and the cleverest of the Achaean commanders. Along with Nestor, Odysseus is one of the Achaeans’ two best public speakers. He helps mediate between Agamemnon and Achilles during their quarrel and often prevents them from making rash decisions. Diomedes (also called “Tydides”) -  The youngest of the Achaean commanders, Diomedes is bold and sometimes proves impetuous. After Achilles withdraws from combat, Athena inspires Diomedes with such courage that he actually wounds two gods, Aphrodite and Ares. Great Ajax -  An Achaean commander, Great Ajax (sometimes called “Telamonian Ajax” or simply “Ajax”) is the second mightiest Achaean warrior after Achilles. His extraordinary size and strength help him to wound Hector twice by hitting him with boulders. He often fights alongside Little Ajax, and the pair is frequently referred to as the “Aeantes.” Little Ajax -  An Achaean commander, Little Ajax is the son of Oileus (to be distinguished from Great Ajax, the son of Telamon). He often fights alongside Great Ajax, whose stature and strength complement Little Ajax’s small size and swift speed. The two together are sometimes called the “Aeantes.” Nestor -  King of Pylos and the oldest Achaean commander. Although age has taken much of Nestor’s physical strength, it has left him with great wisdom. He often acts as an advisor to the military commanders, especially Agamemnon. Nestor and Odysseus are the Achaeans’ most deft and persuasive orators, although Nestor’s speeches are sometimes long-winded. Menelaus -  King of Sparta; the younger brother of Agamemnon. While it is the abduction of his wife, Helen, by the Trojan prince Paris that sparks the Trojan War, Menelaus proves quieter, less imposing, and less arrogant than Agamemnon. Though he has a stout heart, Menelaus is not among the mightiest Achaean warriors. Idomeneus -  King of Crete and a respected commander. Idomeneus leads a charge against the Trojans in Book 13. Machaon -  A healer. Machaon is wounded by Paris in Book 11. Calchas -  An important soothsayer. Calchas’s identification of the cause of the plague ravaging the Achaean army in Book 1 leads inadvertently to the rift between Agamemnon and Achilles that occupies the first nineteen books of The Iliad. Peleus -  Achilles’ father and the grandson of Zeus. Although his name often appears in the epic, Peleus never appears in person. Priam powerfully invokes the memory of Peleus when he convinces Achilles to return Hector’s corpse to the Trojans in Book 24. Phoenix -  A kindly old warrior, Phoenix helped raise Achilles while he himself was still a young man. Achilles deeply loves and trusts Phoenix, and Phoenix


What is an Afrikaans and South African English word for a roughly circular enclosure for livestock, surrounded by fencing?

Translation of Kraal in English Kraal in English kraal \kraal\ (?; 277), n. [d., a village, inclosure, park, prob. fr. pg. curral a cattle pen; the same word as sp. corral. see corral.] 1. a collection of huts within a stockade; a village; sometimes, a single hut. [south africa] 2. an inclosure into which are driven wild elephants which are to be tamed and educated. [ceylon] More: English to English translation of kraal Kraal (also spelled craal or kraul) is an Afrikaans and Dutch word (also used in South African English) for an enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within an African settlement or village surrounded by a fence of thorn-bush branches, a palisade, mud wall, or other fencing, roughly circular in form. It is similar to a boma in eastern or central Africa. See more at Wikipedia.org...


What is the name for a mixture of clay, sand and silt?

The Dirt on Soil - Learning Adventures Learning Adventures Classroom Resources > Learning Adventures Soils are as diverseas the plants and animals growing and living above them. Tropical rain forest soil is not like a prairie soil. Physical, chemical, and biological actions work together to create every soil on the planet. But there are many ingredients that can go into the basic recipe.   What's your type?Squeeze some soil between your fingers. Is it crumbly? Sticky? A soil's texture depends on the size of its particles. And living things depend on the right texture to thrive in the soil. Soil Particles Gravel:larger than 2mm; feels coarse Sand:2 - 0.05mm; feels gritty Silt:0.05 - 0.002mm; feels like flour Clay:smaller than 0.002; feels sticky when wet Every soil type is a mixture of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter . Sand: Too Coarse.Soils with lots of sand have big spaces between the particles. They don't hold water or nutrients. Sand doesn't react with other chemicals. Sandy soils don't stick together very well. Plant roots can't hold onto this soil. But the big spaces do allow air into the soil. There are some plants that are able to grow in sandy topsoil by putting their roots deep, through the sand to the subsoil. Silt: Too Light.This is material which is finer than sand, but still feels gritty. Silt is commonly found in floodplains and is the soil component that makes mud. Soils with a lot of silt make excellent farm land, but erode easily. This is the soil blown away in dust storms and carried down stream in floods. Clay: Too Fine.Lots of clay makes the soil heavy and dense. The spaces between soil particles are very tiny. When clay soil is dry, it's almost as hard as concrete. Plant roots can't push through it. No air can get in from the surface. Most bacteria and other soil organisms that need oxygen can't breathe. But clay is important because it can change the soil chemistry. Clays give off minerals and absorb acids. Loam: Just Right.The perfect soil for plants and soil organisms has about the same amount of sand and silt, plus a smaller amount of clay. This soil has enough large and small spaces for air and water to flow in. It also has enough clay to let it stick together and hold humus . These clumps make another size of space. Plant roots can easily grow through these spaces. This is what farmers and gardeners are talking about when they call a soil "a loam " or "loamy." It's the nicest thing they can say about a soil. Really. Pictures: Saskatchewan Interactive/Dr. Jeff Bettany | Point Pelee National Park, Canada | Steven Allison-Bunnell | USDA/Larry Rana


How many members of a netball team are allowed to shoot at goal?

Netball Rules Netball Rules Star Players... Netball Rules The following is an overview of the rules of the game of netball as outlined in the Official Netball Rules, published by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA). It's not possible to include all the rules of the game in this section. There are so many that every netball player learns a new rule every once in a while, no matter how long they've been playing! The aim is to provide you with a basic understanding of the rules to be able to play the game safely and enjoyably. Please use this section as a reference to answer any questions you may have about umpiring decisions. If you're still not sure, please ask! Interested in running your own Play Simple Netball League? Click here for more details. Copies of the rule book can be obtained from England Netball.   The team Teams shall consist of 7 players. There must be at least 5 players, one of whom must play centre, to enable the fixture to go ahead.    Substitutions Substitutions can only be made at half time or when a player is injured. There is no limit to the number of substitutions that a team can make. If you start a match with 5 or 6 players but more members of your team arrive after the game has started, they must wait until the next centre pass before being allowed to join the game.   Playing positions and their roles on the court There are seven playing positions in a team. Each has an important role to play for their team: Goal Shooter  To score goals and to work in and around the circle with the GA Goal Attack To feed and work with GS and to score goals Wing Attack To feed the circle players giving them shooting opportunities Centre To take the centre pass and to link the defence and the attack Wing Defence To look for interceptions and prevent the WA from feeding the circle Goal Defence  To win the ball and reduce the effectiveness of the GA Goal Keeper  To work with the GD and to prevent the GA/GS from scoring goals   Starting the game – centre pass The first centre pass is decided between the two captains by the toss of a coin. The centre passes then alternate between the teams, regardless of which team has scored. Before the whistle, all players must start in the goal thirds except the two Centres. The Centre with the ball must be wholly within the Centre Circle and must obey the footwork rule after the whistle has been blown.  The opposing Centre stands anywhere within the Centre Third and is free to move. After the whistle the Centre pass must be caught or touched by a player standing in or landing wholly within the Centre third. A player must not break at the centre pass, which is moving into the Centre third before the whistle is blown for the Centre pass. A free pass would be awarded to the opposing team in any of these instances above. Players must get onside quickly at the centre pass. The Centre with the ball must hurry back to the centre circle and step straight in. If she waits for her players to get back onside, this is called “delaying play”. **NEW RULES** Under the new rules coming into play in September 2016, this would result in the Centre receiving a caution, a penalty being given and advanced up the court!  New rules like these are designed to speed the game up even further.   Footwork in the centre circle The footwork rule still applies in the centre circle. As soon as the Centre steps into the circle, their leading leg becomes their landing foot and the footwork rule then applies. That is, if they lift or move their landing foot and place it back down again, a free pass will be awarded to the opposing team due to footwork. **NEW RULES** From September 2016, the umpire will blow the whistle to start play once the Centre has placed one foot wholly in the circle.  Until then, it's two feet!   Offside rule A player with or without the ball cannot move into an area of the court that is not designated for their position. This will result in a free pass being awarded to the opposing team.   Footwork A player can receive the ball: With both feet grounded or jump to catch


The Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 was decisive in which conflict?

Battle of Tewkesbury in the Wars of the Roses approx. 5,000 men Battle of Tewkesbury - Background: The dynastic struggle known as the Wars of the Roses took a decisive turn in 1461 following the Yorkist victory at the Battle of Towton . Victorious, Yorkist Edward IV supplanted Lancastrian Henry VI, who was prone to bouts of insanity, on the throne. Ruling in relative peace for nearly a decade, Edward's actions as king began to alienate several of his key supporters including Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. Known as the "Kingmaker" for his connections and role in Edward's elevation, Warwick became sufficiently irritated in 1469 to lead forces against the king in open rebellion. Enlisting the aid of the king's younger brother, the Duke of Clarence, Warwick sought to replace Edward with the duke. Defeated in 1470, the two were forced to flee to France. There they entered into the service of Henry's wife, Queen Margaret, and the Lancastrian cause. Returning to England that October, Warwick succeeded in forcing Edward to flee to Burgundy and Henry VI was returned to the throne. Not to be deterred, Edward made the necessary preparations and landed on the Yorkshire coast on March 14, 1471 with an army. Coming ashore, he stated that he only sought to reclaim his father's title of Duke of York. Clashing at the Battle of Barnet on April 14, Edward succeeded in defeating the Lancastrians and killing Warwick. Capturing the docile Henry VI, Edward occupied London and reclaimed his throne. On the same day that Warwick was defeated, Margaret and Edward, Prince of Wales landed at Weymouth. Swiftly joined by the veteran commander Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, they learned of Warwick's defeat. Unwilling to attack Edward without first augmenting his forces, Somerset began moving towards Wales where he hoped to unite with troops under Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke. Moving to Battle: To the east at Windsor, Edward learned of Margaret's arrival and began moving towards the West Country to intercept the Lancastrian army before it could be reinforced. Marching hard, Somerset's men were compelled to make a detour to Bristol to re-supply and then another when the city of Gloucester refused them entry. As a result, the Lancastrians were forced to head to Tewkesbury where they hoped to cross the River Severn. Closely followed by Edward, Somerset was able to avoid battle at Sodbury, but was concerned about being attacked as his army crossed the river. As a result, with his columns approaching Tewkesbury, Somerset elected to turn and fight on May 3. Selecting a strong position south of the town and including a pasture known as the Gastum (Gastons), he formed his army into three battles with himself commanding the right, Lord Wenlock the center, and the Earl of Devon the left. Somerset's right flank was anchored on small stream with a forest park opposite, while his left was on the banks of the Swillgate River. Arriving the next day, Edward was eager to destroy the Lancastrian army to prevent the rebellion from spreading. The Battle of Tewkesbury: Arriving on the field early the next day, Edward deployed his army with Richard, Duke of Gloucester's (future Richard III) men on the left, his own in the center, and Lord Hastings on the right. Possessing an advantage in artillery and archers, Edward began a bombardment with the goal of softening the strong Lancastrian position. In addition, concerned about a possible flank attack from the woods on the left, he dispatched a force of 200 mounted spearmen to keep guard. While enduring the bombardment, Somerset devised a plan to strike at Gloucester's flank ( Map ). Leaving a line of men to screen his movements, Somerset led his troops across a series of back roads to the base of a hillock in the forest park. From this point he intended to strike at Gloucester while Wenlock launched a frontal assault. Moving forward, Somerset's men failed to strike directly at the Yorkist flank and instead veered towards Edward's troops in the center. As the fighting raged, Wenlock failed to come to Somerset's aid. As


Tennis Vocabulary | English Club Download the Prepositions ebook! Tennis Vocabulary This page covers the vocabulary and language of tennis by looking at its background, equipment and people. Check your understanding with the vocabulary quiz and comprehension quiz . Tennis is one of the world's most widely-played sports, enjoyed by players of all ages. It is also a popular spectator sport, with star players in glamorous tournaments watched on TV by millions of fans all over the world. Women's matches attract as much interest as the men's, and tennis is one of the few professional sports in which women can earn as much prize money as men. Singles matches are played between two players and doubles matches are between two teams of two players. Each player uses a racket (also spelled racquet) to hit a felt-covered ball over a net into their opponent's side of a court. A player wins a point when his or her opponent cannot return a shot, or the opponent's shot doesn't land in the court. History The modern form of tennis first appeared in the 19th century, but earlier forms of the game had been played in Europe for centuries. The most well-known was real tennis (or royal tennis), which had been popular with royal families and the rich since the thirteenth century. In 1571, French King Charles IX gave permission for the 'Corporation of Tennis Professionals', a type of 'pro tour', to be started, which shows how popular real tennis had become. The game became less popular around the time of the French Revolution, however, because of its links with royalty and the 'ruling classes' that people blamed for social injustices. In England in 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield revived interest in the game by simplifying the rules and designing new courts that were easier and cheaper to build. He called his new version of the game 'lawn tennis' and kept most of the old scoring system, and many of the original French words used in real tennis, such as love and deuce. Why does love mean zero? Love, meaning zero (in tennis only), comes from the French expression l'oeuf, meaning the egg, and was used because of an egg's round shape, similar to zero (0). How the Game Works Tennis is played on a rectangular court, usually with a grass, clay, or hard court surface. The court is 78 feet (23.77 m) long and 27 feet (8.23 m) wide for singles matches and 36 feet (10.97 m) wide for doubles matches. The net is 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) high at the outer posts and 3 feet (.914 m) high in the middle. Lines divide the court into different areas, including four 'service boxes' in the centre of the court, in which serves must land. Before a match begins, one player is designated server in the first game, and play begins with this player serving the ball from one side of the back of the court into the service box diagonally opposite. If the serve is good, the receiver must hit it back into the server's side of the court. Play continues until one player cannot return a shot, or hits a shot out of the court, and loses the point. The server then serves again, and play continues until one player scores enough points to win the first game. Then the second game begins with the player who received in the first game now serving. Play continues until a player wins the first 'set' by being the first to win at least six games. Then the second set begins, and play continues until a player has won enough sets to win the match. In a 'best of three' match, the winner is the first to win two sets, and in a 'best of five' match, the winner is the first to win three sets. Professional players learn to use many different shots, including the serve, forehand, backhand, volley, half-volley, overhead smash, drop shot, and lob. They also learn how to put spin on their shots to make them more difficult to return, and learn how to use tactics to win, such as by playing to their opponent's weaknesses. Tournaments Every year hundreds of tournaments are held for professional players. The biggest of these are the Grand Slam tournaments; the Australian Open, the French Open, The Champions


"Who is the lead vocalist for the alternative rock band R.E.M. who has become well-known for the ""mumbling"" style of his early career and for his complex, surreal lyrics, and his social and political activism?"

Michael Stipe music - Listen Free on Jango || Pictures, Videos, Albums, Bio, Fans Biography Read More John Michael Stipe (born January 4, 1960) is an American singer who is the lead vocalist for the alternative rock band R.E.M. Stipe has become well-known (and occasionally parodied) for the "mumbling" style of his early career and for his complex, surreal lyrics, as well as his social and political activism. Stipe is in charge of the band's visual image, often selecting album artwork and directing many of the band's music videos. Stipe's work extends outside of the music industry, and he runs his own film p... Biography from Wikipedia