146 résultats pour "famous"
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Japanese Music
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INTRODUCTION
Shamisen Performance
The shamisen is a Japanese instrument with three strings.
utilizes six modes, or scales, of Chinese origin, all derived from two basic pentatonic (five-note) scales: ryo, D E-flat G A B-flat, plus F and C as auxiliary pitches; and ritsu, D F G A C, plus auxiliary pitches E-flat and B-flat. The meters in gagaku music are basically duple (in twos). IV DRAMATIC MUSIC Classical Nō Drama of JapanInspired both spiritually and artistically by Zen Buddhism, the Japanese n ō theater is composed of four main components:music (voices, instruments), choreogra...
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Temple (building)
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INTRODUCTION
Wat Phra Kaeo
Thailand has nearly 18,000 Buddhist temples, called wats, throughout the country.
colonnaded terraces connected by ramps. The surrounding area was planted with trees and flowers during Hatshepsut’sreign and for many years after.Gian Berto Vanni/Art Resource, NY In ancient Egypt, temples were grandiose, built of huge blocks and columns of stone. Often they were enlarged by successive rulers to form strung-out series of templeparts, as in the gigantic Temple of Amon (circa 1550-1070 BC) at Al Karnak. The Nile cliffs were used as settings for temples, such as the massive mortuar...
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Dogsledding.
Mushers are caretakers, but also coaches. Top mushers have large kennels, and their preparation for competition begins by buying and breeding race-specific dogs.They train their dogs, decide which to run on certain days, and make adjustments during races by switching and dropping dogs. Serious competitors run their dogsyear-round, using carts and all-terrain vehicles when there is not enough snow on the ground. During races they decide their strategy, choosing when to rest and whento push ahead....
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Cairo (Egypt) - geography.
Prize-winning author and Cairo native Naguib Mahfouz, whose fiction has provided a chronicle of the city. VI POINTS OF INTEREST The pyramids of Egypt, which served as tombs for the ancient pharaohs, and the statue of the Sphinx, which dates from about 2500 BC and is probably the country's most famous monument, are located just west of Cairo in the suburb of Giza. Depite the desert background usually depicted in photographs, the pyramids areextremely close to Cairo and are likely to be affecte...
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Ancient Greece.
The first culture of Aegean civilization on the Greek mainland is named Mycenaean for the palace at Mycenae on the Pelopónnisos. Scholars call the Mycenaeans the“earliest Greeks” because they are the first people known to have spoken Greek. Mycenaean culture developed later than Minoan. The ancestors of the Mycenaean people wandered onto the mainland from the north and the east from about 4000 to2000 BC, mixing with the people already there, and by about 1400 BC the Mycenaeans had become very...
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Ancient Greece .
The first culture of Aegean civilization on the Greek mainland is named Mycenaean for the palace at Mycenae on the Pelopónnisos. Scholars call the Mycenaeans the“earliest Greeks” because they are the first people known to have spoken Greek. Mycenaean culture developed later than Minoan. The ancestors of the Mycenaean people wandered onto the mainland from the north and the east from about 4000 to2000 BC, mixing with the people already there, and by about 1400 BC the Mycenaeans had become very...
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Ancient Greece - USA History.
The first culture of Aegean civilization on the Greek mainland is named Mycenaean for the palace at Mycenae on the Pelopónnisos. Scholars call the Mycenaeans the“earliest Greeks” because they are the first people known to have spoken Greek. Mycenaean culture developed later than Minoan. The ancestors of the Mycenaean people wandered onto the mainland from the north and the east from about 4000 to2000 BC, mixing with the people already there, and by about 1400 BC the Mycenaeans had become very...
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Buenos Aires (city) - geography.
The city has produced or nurtured many of the most prominent Spanish-language writers of the 20th century, including Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, and ManuelPuig. Buenos Aires has long been one of the primary centers of Spanish-language publishing and printing, and it is home to major publishing companies. It supports theoldest English-language daily newspaper in Latin America, the Buenos Aires Herald, published since 1876. The arts have a long, rich history in Buenos Aires. This is mani...
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Kentucky - geography.
The climate of Kentucky is characterized by warm or hot summers and cool winters. Throughout the year, temperatures do not vary greatly from place to place,although they are generally slightly lower in the Appalachian Plateaus region than elsewhere in the state. Average July temperatures are usually from 24° to 27°C (76°to 80°F) in the central and western areas and from 23° to 24°C (74° to 76°F) in the east. January averages range from below 1°C (34°F) in the northern Bluegrassregion to more tha...
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Kentucky - USA History.
The climate of Kentucky is characterized by warm or hot summers and cool winters. Throughout the year, temperatures do not vary greatly from place to place,although they are generally slightly lower in the Appalachian Plateaus region than elsewhere in the state. Average July temperatures are usually from 24° to 27°C (76°to 80°F) in the central and western areas and from 23° to 24°C (74° to 76°F) in the east. January averages range from below 1°C (34°F) in the northern Bluegrassregion to more tha...
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Iceland - country.
III PEOPLE Icelanders are one of the most homogenous peoples in the world. They are predominantly of Nordic origin, descendants of the hardy people who emigrated fromNorway to Iceland in the Middle Ages. There are also some Celtic influences from Irish and Scottish immigrants who arrived from the British Isles ( see Celts). The population of Iceland (2008 estimate) is 304,367. Numerous times in its history, Iceland has suffered major population losses due to epidemics, volcanic eruptions, and...
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Switzerland - country.
formation over higher elevations. The wind reverses direction about sundown and moves down the valley as a cool downdraft. The foehn, which occurs during the wintermonths, is a dry and relatively warm airflow that is drawn northward over the Alps. The foehn can quickly melt snow and ice, increasing the risk of mudslides andavalanches. D Natural Resources Waterpower is the chief natural resource of Switzerland. The principal source of water is runoff from the considerable annual precipitation th...
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English Literature
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INTRODUCTION
English Literature, literature produced in England, from the introduction of Old English by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century to the present.
evident. That feature is typical of other Old English literature, for almost all of what survives was preserved by monastic copyists. Most of it was actually composed byreligious writers after the early conversion of the people from their faith in the older Germanic divinities. Sacred legend and story were reduced to verse in poems resembling Beowulf in form. At first such verse was rendered in the somewhat simple, stark style of the poems of Caedmon, a humble man of the late 7th century who w...
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Mythology
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INTRODUCTION
Mythology, the body of myths of a particular culture, and the study and interpretation of such myths.
usually define a myth as a story that has compelling drama and deals with basic elements and assumptions of a culture. Myths explain, for example, how the worldbegan; how humans and animals came into being; how certain customs, gestures, or forms of human activity originated; and how the divine and human worlds interact.Many myths take place at a time before the world as human beings know it came into being. Because myth-making often involves gods, other supernatural beings, andprocesses beyond...
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Theater
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INTRODUCTION
The Art of Theater
BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc.
Theater at EpidaurusAncient Greek dramas were performed in open-air theaters like this one in Epidaurus, Greece, which was designed byPolyclitus the Younger in 350 bc. A festival of ancient Greek drama is still held in the summer in this 14,000-seat theater.Roger Wood/Corbis Fundamental to the theater experience is the act of seeing and being seen; in fact, the word theater comes from the Greek word theatron , meaning 'seeing place.' Throughout the history of world cultures, actors have used...
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Ship.
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INTRODUCTION
Ship, vessel that is buoyant in the water and used
B1 Biremes Experience soon proved that longer ships posed a new set of problems: They were weaker structurally, more difficult to maneuver, and presented a larger target to anyenemy ship with a ram. In the 8th century BC Mediterranean shipbuilders eliminated these problems with the bireme , a war galley built to accommodate two levels, or banks , of oarsmen. Oarsmen on the lower level rowed oars from ports cut into the side of the vessel, while those above rowed from the deck. This arrangemen...
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New York - geography.
The Adirondack province consists of a large highland area occupying 26,000 sq km (10,000 sq mi) in the northeastern quarter of the state. The region is domelike inshape, with the higher elevations toward the east. The western Adirondack province is more a rugged hill region and not truly mountainous. Geologically, this area isrelated to the Laurentian Upland, or Canadian Shield, which lies north of the St. Lawrence River, for it is composed of the same very old igneous rocks, principallygranite...
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New York - USA History.
The Adirondack province consists of a large highland area occupying 26,000 sq km (10,000 sq mi) in the northeastern quarter of the state. The region is domelike inshape, with the higher elevations toward the east. The western Adirondack province is more a rugged hill region and not truly mountainous. Geologically, this area isrelated to the Laurentian Upland, or Canadian Shield, which lies north of the St. Lawrence River, for it is composed of the same very old igneous rocks, principallygranite...
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German Literature
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INTRODUCTION
German Literature, literature written in the German language from the 8th century to the present, and including the works of German, Austrian, and Swiss authors.
Till EulenspiegelThe medieval peasant Till Eulenspiegel appears in many German folktales as a trickster who outwits people in positions ofauthority. In this image his first name is spelled Tyll.Keystone Pressedienst GmbH The rise of the middle class in the 14th and 15th centuries and the struggles of the peasants against the nobility culminated in the great 16th-century religiousrevolution known as the Reformation. This movement was reflected in literature, especially by Martin Luther, whose tra...
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Middle Ages .
Saints were very important in Late Antiquity. They were considered both models of virtue and powerful miracle workers. One of the most well-known saints of the periodwas Saint Anthony. Anthony gave away all his possessions and left his hometown in Egypt to live alone in the desert and pray. Anthony was one of the first Christianmonks. The word monk comes from a term meaning 'alone.' Gradually Anthony attracted followers, and he eventually became the center of a whole community of monks who wis...
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Comics
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INTRODUCTION
Comics, series of drawings arranged to tell a story.
is still used to refer to sensationalistic techniques that publishers use to draw more readers to their newspapers. Outcault finally won the right to continue his strip andgradually adopted the panel style and balloon narration that mark “The Yellow Kid” as the first true comic strip. Other early comics included “Little Bears” by JamesSwinnerton, which first appeared in the San Francisco Examiner in 1892, and “The Katzenjammer Kids” by Rudolph Dirks, which first appeared in The American Humo...
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Renaissance Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Renaissance Composition
During the Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries) artists discovered new ways to help them create more realistic and
compelling images.
with reliefs, had been familiar for centuries. A Early Renaissance Sculpture Ghiberti’s Gates of ParadiseThe Gates of Paradise are bronze doors created by Italian Renaissance sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1425 and 1452for the east entrance to the baptistery of the Florence Cathedral in Italy. This detail, showing Isaac and Esau, is from oneof the doors' ten panels, each of which illustrates a story from the Bible. Ghiberti endowed the scenes with volume, depth,and movement, and helped initi...
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Johann Sebastian Bach.
from his duties, and even tossed him into jail for “too obstinately requesting his dismissal.” But after several weeks the duke saw it was of no use and let him go. E Köthen: 1717-1723 Bach’s new employer, Leopold, loved and understood music and could play the violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord as well as sing bass. The prince held Bach in highregard and stood as godfather for his seventh child. Bach, in turn, named the child Leopold August in his employer’s honor. Bach later said that the...
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Washington, D.
structures built according to L’Enfant’s plan. During the War of 1812, British troops set fire to the White House, destroying its interior. President James Madison and hisfamily lived in the Octagon while the White House was being rebuilt. South of the Federal Triangle is the Mall, a narrow park stretching roughly 1.6 km (1 mi) from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. Although the Mall officially endsat 14th Street, landscaped greenery extends to the Potomac. The Washington Monument, whose m...
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Italy - country.
C Natural Resources Italy is poor in natural resources. Much of the land is unsuitable for agriculture because of mountainous terrain or unfavorable climate. Italy, moreover, lacks substantialdeposits of basic natural resources such as coal, iron, and petroleum. Natural gas is the country’s most important mineral resource. Other deposits include feldspar andpumice. Many of Italy’s mineral deposits on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia had been heavily depleted by the early 1990s. Italy is rich...
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Berlin - geography.
boroughs of Wedding and Tiergarten. Other important central areas include Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, now united as the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, andPrenzlauer Berg, now incorporated as a part of the Pankow borough. Tiergarten contains a large wooded park, a zoo, and a variety of public monuments as well as the large, modern Congress Hall and the Reichstag building, which wasbuilt from 1884 to 1894. The Reichstag and the surrounding area have undergone renovation to accommodate the Bun...
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Geographic Exploration.
The commercial reason for exploration has been a consistent driving force. In 1492 the great navigator Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Oceanseeking a new, shorter, and cheaper route to reach the riches of East Asia, and Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama circumnavigated Africa for much the same reason.Yet similar investigations of the profitable eastern trade had already been made by Arab sailors. Arab trading ships were sailing from the Arabian Sea to southeasternAsia probab...
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Geographic Exploration - explorer.
The commercial reason for exploration has been a consistent driving force. In 1492 the great navigator Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Oceanseeking a new, shorter, and cheaper route to reach the riches of East Asia, and Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama circumnavigated Africa for much the same reason.Yet similar investigations of the profitable eastern trade had already been made by Arab sailors. Arab trading ships were sailing from the Arabian Sea to southeasternAsia probab...
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Florida - USA History.
accidentally introduced into the region in the 1880s, and it spread with alarming rapidity throughout the upper reaches of the river. The plant is very difficult toeradicate, and it has also clogged the channels of other Florida rivers. To increase drainage of the Everglades, which drain naturally to Florida Bay and the Gulf ofMexico, a number of drainage channels and canals have been built across southern Florida. Among the rivers flowing from the peninsula to the Gulf of Mexico are the Suwanne...
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Hawaii (state) - geography.
limestone along the coast. The volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands are all so-called shield volcanoes, or lava domes. Unlike the volcanoes of Alaska and South America, those of Hawaii were notcreated by very explosive eruptions. Formed mostly by lava flows, they are great rounded mountain masses, rather than steep-sided cones. Mauna Kea, dormant forcenturies, is the highest mountain in the state. It rises to 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level, and its summit is dotted with cinder cones formed by...
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Hawaii (state) - USA History.
limestone along the coast. The volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands are all so-called shield volcanoes, or lava domes. Unlike the volcanoes of Alaska and South America, those of Hawaii were notcreated by very explosive eruptions. Formed mostly by lava flows, they are great rounded mountain masses, rather than steep-sided cones. Mauna Kea, dormant forcenturies, is the highest mountain in the state. It rises to 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level, and its summit is dotted with cinder cones formed by...
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Detroit - geography.
of German and Irish immigrants. In the first half of the 20th century, the percentage of foreign-born residents declined, even though many immigrants arrived fromeastern Europe. During World War II (1939-1945), both whites and blacks were attracted from the South to work in the city’s defense industries. In 1950 foreign-bornand black residents each made up about 16 percent of the total population. In the five decades after 1950, the city lost almost half of its population, as many white resident...
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Asian Theater
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INTRODUCTION
Asian Theater, live performance, featuring actors or puppets, native to Asia, a continent with more than 2 billion people of many nations and cultures.
III THEATER IN EAST ASIA Theater in East Asia includes the traditions of China, Japan, and Korea. Most Chinese theater is urban, secular (nonreligious) entertainment, influenced by the ethics of Confucianism. However, a belief in spirits influences rituals performed by ethnic minorities in China, and Buddhism dominates traditional Tibetan performance. Japanesedramatic forms combine native shamanistic performance, secular entertainment, and cultural or religious influences from China and Kore...
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Comet - astronomy.
may exceed the planet Jupiter in size, however. Observations from telescopes on Earth and in space indicate that most of the gases in the coma and tail of a comet are fragmentary molecules, or radicals, of the mostcommon elements in space: hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. The radicals, for example, of CH, NH, and OH may be broken away from the stable molecules CH 4 (methane), NH 3 (ammonia), and H 2O (water), which may exist as ices or more complex, very cold compounds in the nucleus. Al...
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American Literature: Drama
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INTRODUCTION
American Literature: Drama, literature intended for performance, written by Americans in the English language.
American plays, while still a minority, began to appear in the theater repertory in the 19th century. Although American plays were still styled after British models, theirsubject matter came to be based on specifically American incidents or themes. In the United States as in Britain, many plays reflected the influence of romanticism , a European literary and artistic movement. Melodrama, with its outpourings of emotion, was the most prevalent dramatic form in the 19th century. Gothic melodramas...
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Belgium - country.
European Union (EU) directives aimed at improving Belgium’s environmental conditions concern water treatment and water quality, both significant issues in such anindustrial center. Before these directives were issued, the Meuse River, a major source of drinking water, had become polluted from steel production wastes. Otherrivers were polluted with animal wastes and fertilizers. However, Belgium failed to meet EU targets set for the early 2000s for protecting its rivers from farm pollutionand for...
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Constitution of the United States.
chief executive should have the power to veto legislation, should be elected by Congress or the people, should be eligible to run for reelection, and should command thearmed forces. Some delegates even hoped for a limited monarchy. Not until September 8, more than three months after the convention started, did the final shape ofthe presidency emerge: a single leader, elected to a four-year term and eligible for reelection, with authority to veto bills enacted by Congress. The president was alsog...
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Constitution of the United States - U.
chief executive should have the power to veto legislation, should be elected by Congress or the people, should be eligible to run for reelection, and should command thearmed forces. Some delegates even hoped for a limited monarchy. Not until September 8, more than three months after the convention started, did the final shape ofthe presidency emerge: a single leader, elected to a four-year term and eligible for reelection, with authority to veto bills enacted by Congress. The president was alsog...
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Europe .
D Vegetation Although much of Europe, particularly the west, was originally covered by forest, the vegetation has been transformed by human habitation and the clearing of land.Only in the most northerly mountains and in parts of north central European Russia has the forest cover been relatively unaffected by human activity. On the otherhand, a considerable amount of Europe is covered by woodland that has been planted or has reoccupied cleared lands. The largest vegetation zone in Europe, cuttin...
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Europe - Geography.
D Vegetation Although much of Europe, particularly the west, was originally covered by forest, the vegetation has been transformed by human habitation and the clearing of land.Only in the most northerly mountains and in parts of north central European Russia has the forest cover been relatively unaffected by human activity. On the otherhand, a considerable amount of Europe is covered by woodland that has been planted or has reoccupied cleared lands. The largest vegetation zone in Europe, cuttin...
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Spain - country.
B Natural Resources Spain has a number of mineral resources. The largest known deposits are of iron ore, zinc, and lead. Spain also produces significant quantities of copper and mercury.These deposits are mined mainly in Huelva province in southwestern Spain, around Cartagena on the Mediterranean, and at various points along the Bay of Biscay inthe north. Additionally, uranium is mined in the region of Extremadura, near the Portuguese frontier, where pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, tungsten, and po...
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Article Paper Assignment
The G reat White Way. Even though the article was short, the content was explicitly accurate to the topic. Neil Simon, Broadway Master of Comedy, Is Dead at 91 is an article written by Charles Isherwood, in honor to the playwright . Neil Simon was famous in Broad way and had a major role in redefining the American humor. From 1950s, he made of the popular theater and, more particularly the famous and successful Broadway, an inexhaustible reservoir, which served so much so...
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Robin Hood
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INTRODUCTION
Robin Hood
The legendary hero Robin Hood is a popular figure from English folklore.
Errol FlynnIn 1938 Australian-born motion-picture actor Errol Flynn won the heart of Maid Marian and defeated his evil foes as RobinHood in The Adventures of Robin Hood.Corbis Some people believe that Robin Hood was an actual person, usually identified as Robert Fitzooth, the earl of Huntington. Others think that Robin was not a real personand that the stories about him developed for historical and cultural reasons. In medieval England, peasant masses struggled to make a meager living while a re...
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Festivals and Feasts.
The festivals of many ethnic and national groups are credited with the preservation of unique customs, folktales, costumes, and culinary skills. An interesting recentdevelopment is the merging of the arts, lore, and customs of various regions in Africa in the cultural festival known as Kwanzaa (Swahili kwanza, ”beginnings”). Introduced from Africa into the United States in 1977, this festival is celebrated with feasts and songs in the home for seven days and nights from December 26 toJanuary 1....
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Gold - chemistry.
producers of gold during this period. Spain's domination in South America resulted, in the 16th century, in a large increase in gold produced in the New World; someresulted from simple seizure of gold from the Native Americans, who had long mined the metal. In the same century Mexico contributed about 9 percent of the totalworld production. Gold was discovered in Australia in February 1851, and rich fields were found there. By the middle of the 19th century the United States produced a considera...
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Development (biology) - biology.
Understanding the molecular machinery within cells gives biologists a direct basis for understanding growth, because growth is the synthesis of new protoplasm, andbiologists know the basic mechanism of this synthesis. One key gap, however, exists in this knowledge. Biologists want to know not only how substances aresynthesized but also how growth is controlled so that the proportions of an animal or plant remain consistent from generation to generation. The direction and amountof growth, which a...
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Conceptual analysis
Kant's important idea that conceptual truths can be either analytic a priori or synthetic a priori is effectively erased by Gottlob Frege in his Foundations of Arithmetic (1884). Frege's overriding philosophical aim is to put mathematical proof on a firm footing by reducing the truths of arithmetic to analytic truths of logic. In view of this, the proper goal of an analysis is the production of non-circular, explanatory, yet meaning-preserving general definitions of fundamental concepts -...
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Confucianism.
IV NEO-CONFUCIANISM After centuries of intellectual and cultural dominance by Buddhism, China began to experience a revival of Confucian thought during the Tang dynasty ( AD 618-907). It was led by poet and essayist Han Yu (Han Yü). Han Yu attacked Buddhism and Daoism, which he believed had kept government officials from seeing how they couldhelp the people. To further public welfare, he urged them to study the way of the ancient sages through the Five Classics . Han Yu almost lost his life f...
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Latin American Music
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INTRODUCTION
Tito Puente Playing the Drums
Since the 1950s American drummer Tito Puente has popularized Latin American music, especially the mambo, in the
United States.
Panpipe Music of BoliviaWell before the Spanish conquest, native peoples such as the Quechua and Aymara living in the Andes Mountains inBolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, developed a rich musical tradition. Panpipes (set of tuned pipes), made of ceramic, sugarcane,or bone were paired with shell trumpets, cane flutes, and drums, which accompanied dancers during religious and secularceremonies. Large ensembles of 4 to 20 panpipe players are still the norm, and Spanish influences have since beenintegrated...
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Coins and Coin Collecting.
U.S. coins dates from 1909, when the first Lincoln Cents appeared during the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. George Washington’s profile was used on thequarter-dollar of 1932, a coin originally intended as a one-year commemorative to honor the 200th anniversary of his birth. The design quickly became so popular thatit was retained for regular-issue quarters and is still being used today. Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Dwight D. Eisenhower are theother Americ...