1.
Veronica Lario
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Veronica Lario is a former Italian actress and the former wife of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Born in Bologna, Lario was an actress in low-budget films and she also worked in theatrical plays with well-known actors, she retired from acting after meeting Silvio Berlusconi. Married on 15 December 1990, Berlusconi and Lario have three children together, Barbara Berlusconi, Eleonora, and Luigi, as the wife of the Italian premier, Veronica Lario has chosen to maintain a low public profile. She has avoided most public events and meetings and she accompanies her husband Silvio Berlusconi at official meetings. On the other hand, she has known to have publicly expressed political opinions contrasting with those of her husband. Larios husband was never shy about mentioning her on public occasions, on 31 January 2007, Lario said her dignity had been damaged by comments Berlusconi reportedly made during the VIP party after a TV awards ceremony broadcast by one of his channels. If I werent married I would marry you immediately, the 70-year-old media mogul told showgirl and future parliamentarian Mara Carfagna and he reportedly told another, With you, Id go anywhere. Larios letter appeared in La Repubblica, a prominent newspaper. She declared, I see these statements as damaging my dignity, to both my husband and the public man, I therefore demand a public apology, since I havent received any privately. I have faced the inevitable contrasts and the more painful moments that a long conjugal relation entails with respect, now I write to state my reaction, added Lario, saying her husbands comments were unacceptable and could not be reduced to mere jokes. But after few hours, Silvio Berlusconi wrote back a letter to his wife. In April 2009 she once published an open letter, criticising her husband for consorting with young ladies. On 3 May 2009 it was reported that she is to file for divorce, in December 2012 Milan court established that Silvio Berlusconi will pay his ex-wife Veronica Lario €3 million a month. Veronica Lario at the Internet Movie Database
2.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
3.
Alps
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The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres, the altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe, in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m. Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era, a mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800 Napoleon crossed one of the passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, in World War II, Adolf Hitler kept a base of operation in the Bavarian Alps throughout the war. The Alpine region has a cultural identity. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, at present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps derives from the Latin Alpes, maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator of Virgil, says in his commentary that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. The term may be common to Italo-Celtic, because the Celtic languages have terms for high mountains derived from alp and this may be consistent with the theory that in Greek Alpes is a name of non-Indo-European origin. According to the Old English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might possibly derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb hill, Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for a number of mountainous areas across Europe. In Roman times, Albania was a name for the eastern Caucasus, in modern languages the term alp, alm, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a mountain pasture where cows are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where hay barns can be found. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in a 800 km arc from east to west and is 200 km in width, the mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km. The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, the range continues onward toward Vienna, Austria, and east to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the border of Bavaria in Germany
4.
Bellagio, Lombardy
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Bellagio is a comune in the Province of Como in the Italian region of Lombardy. It is located on Lake Como, also known by its Latin-derived name, the arms of the lake form an inverted Y. The triangular land mass at the base of the inverted Y is the Larian Triangle, the Como arm of the lake lies to its south west, the Lecco arm of the lake to its south east. At the northern point of the triangle sits Bellagio, looking across to the arm of the lake and, behind it. It has always been famous for its location, Bellagio is situated upon the cape of the land mass that divides Lake Como in two. The city centre occupies the tip of the promontory, while other districts are scattered along the lake shores, from the ancient glacial blanket only the highest tops emerged, one of them Mount St. Primo, which obliged the glaciers to divide into two arms. Nowadays, a luxuriance of trees and flowers is favoured by a mild, the historic centre of Bellagio shelters 350m southwest of the promontory of the Larian Triangle, between the Villa Serbelloni on the hill and the Como arm of the lake. At the far tip of the promontory are a park and a marina, parallel to the shore are three streets, Mazzini, Centrale and Garibaldi in ascending order. Cutting across them to form a grid are seven medieval stone stairs running uphill. The Basilica of San Giacomo and a tower, sole relic of medieval defences. In 225 BC, the territory of the Gallo-Insubres was occupied by the Romans, the Romans, led by consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus, defeated the Gallo-Insubres in a fierce battle near Camerlata, occupying Como and the shores of the lake. Insubre hopes of independence were raised by an alliance with Hannibal during the Second Punic War, Bellagio became both a Roman garrison and a point of passage and wintering for the Roman armies on their way through to the province of Raetia and the Splügen pass. Troops wintered at the foot of the present Villa Serbelloni, sheltered from north winds, such variant Latin names as Belacius and Bislacus suggest Bellagio was originally Bi-lacus. Between 81 and 77 BC Cornelius Scipio brought 3,000 Latin colonists to Lake Como, from 59 BC Julius Caesar, as pro-consul, brought up another 5000 colonists, most importantly 500 Greeks from Sicily. Their names are borne by their descendants. Bellagio became a mixture of races which became more and more complex in the following centuries, also it increased its strategic importance because, as well as a place for wintering, it sheltered warships especially at Loppia, where the natural creek made it easy to repair them. Around Loppia there formed one of the first suburbs of Bellagio, the Romans introduced many Mediterranean crops, including the olive and laurel, from the name of the latter derives the Latin name of Lake Como. In the early decades of the Empire, two great figures brought fame to the lake and Bellagio, Virgil and Pliny the Younger, Virgil, the Latin poet, visited Bellagio and remembered the lake in the second book of the Georgics, verse 155
5.
Lombardy
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Lombardy is one of the twenty administrative regions of Italy, in the northwest of the country, with an area of 23,844 square kilometres. Milan, Lombardys capital, is the second-largest city and the largest metropolitan area in Italy, the word Lombardy comes from Lombard, which in turn is derived from Late Latin Longobardus, Langobardus, derived from the Proto-Germanic elements *langaz + *bardaz, equivalent to long beard. Some sources derive the second element instead from Proto-Germanic *bardǭ, *barduz, Lombardy referred during the early Middle Ages to the entire territory of Italy ruled by the Lombards, a Germanic tribe who conquered much of the Italian peninsula beginning in the 6th century. During the late Middle Ages, the term shifted meaning and was used to identify the whole of Northern Italy, with a surface of 23,861 km2, Lombardy is the 4th largest region of Italy. It is bordered by Switzerland and by the Italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, three distinct natural zones can be fairly easily distinguished in the Lombardy region, mountains, hills and plains – the latter being divided in Alta and Bassa. Inconsistent with the three distinctions above made is the subregion of Oltrepò Pavese, formed by the Apennine foothills beyond the Po River. The mighty Po river marks the border of the region for a length of about 210 km. In its progress it receives the waters of the Ticino River, the other streams which contribute to the great river are, the Olona, the Lambro, the Adda, the Oglio and the Mincio. The numerous lakes of Lombardy, all of glacial origin, lie in the northern highlands, from west to east these are Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Idro, then Lake Garda, the largest in Italy. A minor mountainous area, the Oltrepò Pavese, lies south of the Po, in the plains, intensively cultivated for centuries, little of the original environment remains. The most commons trees are elm, alder, sycamore, poplar, willow, in the area of the foothills lakes, however, grow olive trees, cypresses and larches, as well as varieties of subtropical flora such as magnolias, azaleas, acacias. Numerous species of flora in the Prealpine area include some kinds of saxifrage, the Lombard garlic, groundsels bellflowers. The highlands are characterized by the vegetation of the whole range of the Italian Alps. At a lower levels oak woods or broadleafed trees grow, on the slopes beech trees grow at the lowest limits. Shrubs such as rhododendron, dwarf pine and juniper are native to the summital zone, Lombardy has a wide array of climates, due to local variances in elevation, proximity to inland water basins, and large metropolitan areas. In addition, there is a seasonal temperature variation. A peculiarity of the climate is the thick fog that covers the plains between October and February. In the Alpine foothills, characterised by an Oceanic climate, numerous lakes exercise a mitigating influence, in the hills and mountains, the climate is humid continental
6.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
7.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
8.
Inflow (hydrology)
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In hydrology, the inflow of a body of water is the source of the water in the body of water. It can also refer to the volume of incoming water in unit time. All bodies of water have multiple inflows, but often, one inflow may predominate, however, in many cases, no single inflow will predominate and there will be multiple primary inflows. For a lake, the inflow may be a river or stream that flows into the lake. Inflow may also be, strictly speaking, not flows, but rather precipitation, inflow can also be used to refer to groundwater recharge. The dictionary definition of inflow at Wiktionary
9.
Adda (river)
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The Adda is a river in North Italy, a tributary of the Po. It rises in the Alps near the border with Switzerland and flows through Lake Como, the Adda joins the Po a few kilometres upstream of Cremona. The highest point of the basin is the summit of la Spedla. Towns along the river Adda include Bormio, Sondrio, Bellagio and Lecco, and Lodi. The Addas true source is in lakes near the head of the Fragile glen. This first half path of Adda makes it the only one big river of Northern Italy to flow from East to West. It falls into the Lake of Como, at its northern end, the Trezzo sullAdda Bridge, erected in 1377, holds the world record of 72 metres for the longest bridge arch built before the introduction of metal into bridge construction. Valtellina disaster Val Pola landslide Kayaking in the Adda river
10.
Mera (river, Switzerland)
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The Mera is a river in Switzerland and Italy. Its source is near the Piz Mungiroi, in the Grisons, first, it flows east in the direction to Maloja Pass, then turns west through the Val Bregaglia and crosses the border to Italy in Castasegna. It is joined by the Acquafraggia close to Piuro, and then south at Chiavenna. The Mera ends in Lake Como, near Sorico in the Province of Como, media related to Mera at Wikimedia Commons
11.
Discharge (hydrology)
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In hydrology, discharge is the volume rate of water flow that is transported through a given cross-sectional area. It includes any suspended solids, dissolved chemicals, or biologic material in addition to the water itself, GH Dury and MJ Bradshaw are two hydrologists who devised the models showing the relationship between discharge and other variables in a river. The units that are used to express discharge include m³/s, ft³/s and/or acre-feet per day. For example, the discharge of the Rhine river in Europe is 2,200 cubic metres per second or 190,000,000 cubic metres per day. A commonly applied methodology for measuring, and estimating, the discharge of a river is based on a form of the continuity equation. In storm hydrology, an important consideration is the streams discharge hydrograph, the stream rises to a peak flow after each precipitation event, then falls in a slow recession. Because the peak flow also corresponds to the water level reached during the event. The amount of precipitation correlates to the volume of water that flows out of the river. The relationship between the discharge in the stream at a given cross-section and the level of the stream is described by a rating curve, average velocities and the cross-sectional area of the stream are measured for a given stream level. The velocity and the give the discharge for that level. After measurements are made for different levels, a rating table or rating curve may be developed. Once rated, the discharge in the stream may be determined by measuring the level, if a continuous level-recording device is located at a rated cross-section, the streams discharge may be continuously determined. Larger flows can transport more sediment and larger particles downstream than smaller flows due to their greater force, larger flows can also erode stream banks and damage public infrastructure
12.
Drainage basin
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A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
13.
Water cycle
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The water cycle, also known as the hydrological cycle or the hydrologic cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. In doing so, the water goes through different forms, liquid, solid, the water cycle involves the exchange of energy, which leads to temperature changes. For instance, when water evaporates, it takes up energy from its surroundings, when it condenses, it releases energy and warms the environment. The evaporative phase of the cycle purifies water which then replenishes the land with freshwater, the flow of liquid water and ice transports minerals across the globe. It is also involved in reshaping the geological features of the Earth, the water cycle is also essential for the maintenance of most life and ecosystems on the planet. The sun, which drives the cycle, heats water in oceans. Water evaporates as water vapor into the air, ice and snow can sublimate directly into water vapour. Evapotranspiration is water transpired from plants and evaporated from the soil, the water vapour molecule H 2O has less density compared to the major components of the atmosphere, nitrogen and oxygen, N2 andO2. Due to the significant difference in mass, water vapor in gas form gains height in open air as a result of buoyancy. However, as increases, air pressure decreases and the temperature drops. The lowered temperature causes water vapour to condense into a liquid water droplet which is heavier than the air. A huge concentration of these droplets over a space up in the atmosphere become visible as cloud. Fog is formed if the water vapour condenses near ground level, as a result of moist air, air currents move water vapour around the globe, cloud particles collide, grow, and fall out of the upper atmospheric layers as precipitation. Some precipitation falls as snow or hail, sleet, and can accumulate as ice caps and glaciers, most water falls back into the oceans or onto land as rain, where the water flows over the ground as surface runoff. A portion of runoff enters rivers in valleys in the landscape, runoff and water emerging from the ground may be stored as freshwater in lakes. Not all runoff flows into rivers, much of it soaks into the ground as infiltration, some water infiltrates deep into the ground and replenishes aquifers, which can store freshwater for long periods of time. Some infiltration stays close to the surface and can seep back into surface-water bodies as groundwater discharge. Some groundwater finds openings in the surface and comes out as freshwater springs
14.
Isola Comacina
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Isola Comacina is a small wooded island of Italy’s Lake Como, administratively a part of the commune of Ossuccio. It is located close to the shore of the Como arm of the lake in front of a gulf known as Zoca de loli. In the late 6th century the island was a remaining Roman stronghold under Francio, the island was besieged for a good deal of time by the Lombards under Authari who released Francio to flee back to Narses capital at Ravenna. The Lombards found the island to contain many riches deposited for safekeeping by local Roman loyalists, the island was invaded in 1169 by Frederick Barbarossa and soldiers from the town of Como. In 1919 the island was given to Belgium, in homage to King Albert I, the island was returned the following year. Pietro Lingeri built three houses on the island in 1939 and his idea was to turn the island into a colony for artists. The houses were built in a rationalist style, made from local materials, the island now consists of a restaurant, cafe, a collection of archaeological sites and the three artist houses
15.
Como
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Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Como. With 215,320 overnight guests, in 2013 Como was the fourth most visited city in Lombardy after Milan, Bergamo, the hills surrounding the current location of Como have been inhabited, since at least the Bronze Age, by a Celtic tribe known as the Orobii. Remains of settlements are still present on the wood covered hills to the South West of town, around the 1st century BC, the territory became subject to the Romans. The newly founded town was named Novum Comum and had the status of municipium, in 774, the town surrendered to invading Franks led by Charlemagne, and became a center of commercial exchange. In 1127, Como lost a war with the nearby town of Milan. A few decades later, with the help of Frederick Barbarossa, Frederick promoted the construction of several defensive towers around the city limits, of which only one, the Baradello, remains. Subsequently, the history of Como followed that of the Ducato di Milano, through the French invasion and the Spanish domination, until 1714, Napoleon descended into Lombardy in 1796 and ruled it until 1815, when the Austrian rule was resumed after the Congress of Vienna. Finally in 1859, with the arrival of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the town was freed from the Austrians, as a curiosity, the Rockefeller fountain that today stands in the Bronx Zoo in New York City was once in the main square by the lakeside. It was bought by William Rockefeller in 1902 for 3,500 lire, nearby major cities are Varese, Lecco and Lugano. Wind is quite rare, only sudden bursts of foehn or thunderstorms manage to sweep the air clean, pollution levels rise significantly in winter when cold air clings to the soil. Rain is more frequent during spring, summer is subject to thunderstorms and, occasionally, Como Cathedral, construction began in 1396 on the site of the previous Romanesque church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The façade was built in 1457, with the rose window. The construction was finished in 1740, the interior is on the Latin cross plan, with Gothic nave and two aisles divided by piers, while the transept wing and the relative apses are from the Renaissance age. It includes a carved 16th century choir and tapestries on cartoons by Giuseppe Arcimboldi, the dome is a rococo structure by Filippo Juvarra. Other artworks include 16th–17th century tapestries and 16th century paintings by Bernardino Luini, San Fedele, a Romanesque church erected around 1120 over a pre-existing central plan edifice. The original bell tower was rebuilt in modern times, the main feature is the famous Door of St. Fedele, carved with medieval decorations. SantAgostino, built by the Cistercians in the early 14th century, the interior and adjoining cloister have 15th–17th century frescoes, but most of the decoration is Baroque
16.
Lecco
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Lecco is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy,50 kilometres north of Milan, the capital of the province of Lecco. It lies at the end of the branch of Lake Como. The Bergamo Alps rise to the north and east, cut through by the Valsassina of which Lecco marks the southern end, the lake narrows to form the river Adda, so bridges were built to improve road communications with Como and Milan. There are four crossing the river Adda in Lecco, the Azzone Visconti Bridge, the Kennedy Bridge and the Alessandro Manzoni Bridge. Its economy used to be based on industry, but now it is mainly tertiary, Lecco was also Alpine Town of the Year 2013. Archaeological finds demonstrate the presence of Celtic settlement in the area before the arrival of the Romans, the latter built a castrum here and made it an important road hub. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Lombards captured the town in the 6th century, they were followed by the Franks, emperor Otto I spent a long time in Lecco, crushing the 964 AD revolt against the Holy Roman Empire led by Leccos Count Attone. Later it became a possession of the Milanese monastery of St. Ambrose, conrad II also stayed in Lecco, in the attempt to free it from the church, but as the result of the ensuing wars the city was subjected by Milan. It subsequently followed the history of the Duchy of Milan and of Lombardy, in the early 16th century it was briefly ruled by the condottiere Gian Giacomo Medici. The main sports facility of the city is the Rigamonti-Ceppi Stadium and it was built in 1922 in honor of the football player Mario Rigamonti and the ex president of the team Mario Ceppi. It can contain almost 5000 people, Lecco is the finish of the Giro di Lombardia cycling classic which includes the famous Madonna del Ghisallo hill. Alessandro Manzoni, poet and novelist, author of I promessi sposi, antonio Ghislanzoni, journalist, poet, and novelist, he wrote many librettos for Verdi, including La forza del destino and Aida. Roberto Castelli, Senator, former Minister of Justice during the government of Silvio Berlusconi 2001–2006, roberto Formigoni, a Catholic conservative politician, President of Lombardy since 1995. Antonio Rossi, a canoeist and five-time Olympic medalist in kayak flatwater canoeing, sandro Salsano, a businessman and philanthropist, chairman and president of Salsano Group. Alessandro Manzoni set the events in the first half of The Betrothed in Lecco and we voyaged by steamer down the Lago di Lecco, through wild mountain scenery, and by hamlets and villas, and disembarked at the town of Lecco. They said it was two hours, by carriage to the ancient city of Bergamo, and that we would arrive there in season for the railway train. We got an open barouche and a wild, boisterous driver and we had a fast team and a perfectly smooth road. There were towering cliffs on our left, and the pretty Lago di Lecco on our right, in total, ethnic groups in Lecco represent 97 countries
17.
Coastline paradox
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The coastline paradox is the counterintuitive observation that the coastline of a landmass does not have a well-defined length. This results from the properties of coastlines. The first recorded observation of this phenomenon was by Lewis Fry Richardson, more concretely, the length of the coastline depends on the method used to measure it. Various approximations exist when specific assumptions are made about minimum feature size, the basic concept of length originates from Euclidean distance. In the familiar Euclidean geometry, a straight line represents the shortest distance between two points, this line has only one length, the length of basic curves is more complicated but can also be calculated. Using shorter and shorter lines will produce sums that approach the true length. A precise value for this length can be established using calculus, the following animation illustrates how a smooth curve can be meaningfully assigned a precise length, However, not all curves can be measured in this way. A fractal is by definition a curve whose complexity changes with measurement scale, whereas approximations of a smooth curve get closer and closer to a single value as measurement precision increases, the measured value of fractals may change wildly. However, this relies on the assumption that space can be subdivided indefinitely. The Planck length, many orders of magnitude smaller than an atom, is proposed as the smallest measurable unit possible in the universe, coastlines differ from mathematical fractals because they are formed by numerous small events, which create patterns only statistically. In reality, permanent features of the coastline of order of size 1 cm or less do not exist, because of erosion, in most places the minimum size is much larger than this. Thus the concept of a fractal is not applicable to the coastline. For practical considerations, a choice of minimum feature size is on the order of the units being used to measure. If a coastline is measured in kilometers, then small variations much smaller than one kilometer are easily ignored, to measure the coastline in centimeters, tiny variations the size of centimeters must be considered. Using different measurement methodologies for different units also destroys the usual certainty that units can be converted by a simple multiplication, extreme cases of the coastline paradox include the fjord-heavy coastlines of Norway, Chile and the Pacific Northwest of North America. Coastline problem Fractal dimension Gabriels Horn, a figure with infinite surface area. Post, David G. and Michael Eisen, how Long is the Coastline of Law. Thoughts on the Fractal Nature of Legal Systems, journal of Legal Studies XXIX, January 2000
18.
Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
19.
Lombard language
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Lombard is a member of the Cisalpine or Gallo-Italic group within the Romance languages. It is spoken natively in Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland, the two main varieties have significant differences and are not always mutually intelligible. Lombard is considered a minority language, structurally separated from Italian, by the Ethnologue reference catalogue and that fact is being obscured, to some extent, both by the use of Italian orthography to write the languages and by influence from Italian. Historically, the vast majority of Lombards spoke only Lombard, Lombard is from the Gallo-Italian subdivision of the Italo-Romance group that shares common features with Gallo-Romance languages and other Western Romance languages. The varieties of the Italian provinces of Milan, Varese, Como, Lecco, Lodi, Monza, Pavia and Mantua belong to the Western subgroup, and the ones of Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona are Eastern. All the varieties spoken in the Swiss areas are Western, also, dialects from the Piedmontese provinces of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Novara, the Valsesia valley, and the city of Tortona are closer to Western Lombard than to Piedmontese. The koiné is similar to Milanese and the varieties of the provinces on the Italian side of the border. There is extant literature in other varieties of Lombard, for example La masséra da bé, standard Italian is widely used in Lombard-speaking areas. However, the status of Lombard is quite different between the Swiss and Italian areas, which justifies the view that the Swiss areas have now become the stronghold of Lombard. In the Swiss areas, the local Lombard varieties are generally better preserved, no negative feelings are associated with the use of Lombard in everyday life, even with complete strangers. Some radio and television programmes, particularly comedies, are occasionally broadcast by the Swiss Italian-speaking broadcasting company in Lombard, moreover, it is common for people from the street to answer in Lombard in spontaneous interviews. Even some television ads in Lombard have been reported, the major research institution working on Lombard dialects is located in Bellinzona, Switzerland, there is no comparable institution in Italy. In December 2004, the CDE released a dictionary in five volumes, today, in most urban areas of Italian Lombardy, people under 40 years old speak almost exclusively Italian in their daily lives because of schooling and television broadcasts in Italian. However, in Periferic Lombardy, Lombard is still vital, now, the political party most supportive of Lombard is the Northern League. Thus, speaking a dialect of some minority languages might be controversial in Italy. The popularity of artists singing their lyrics in some Lombard dialect is also a relatively new. New York 2003, Facts On File. p.40, itinerario antologico-critico dalle origini ai nostri giorni - Hoepli,2003. A comprehensive description of a set of writing rules for all the Lombard varieties of Switzerland and Italy, with IPA transcriptions
20.
Glacial lake
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A glacial lake is a lake with origins in a melted glacier. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land, and then melts, near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,000 years ago, glaciers began to retreat. A retreating glacier left behind large deposits of ice in hollows between drumlins or hills. As the ice age ended, these melted to create lakes and this is apparent in the Lake District in Northwestern England where post-glacial sediments are normally between 4 and 6 metres deep. These lakes are surrounded by drumlins, along with other evidence of the glacier such as moraines, eskers and erosional features such as striations. The scouring action of the glaciers pulverizes minerals in the rock over which the glacier passes and these pulverized minerals become sediment at the bottom of the lake, and some of the rock flour becomes suspended in the water column. These suspended minerals support a population of algae, making the water appear green. These lakes are visible in aerial photos of landforms in regions that were glaciated during the last ice age. The coastlines near these areas are very irregular, reflecting the same geological process. By contrast, other areas have fewer lakes that often appear attached to rivers and these areas were carved more by water erosion. As seen in the English Lake District, the layers of the sediments at the bottom of the lakes contain evidence of the rate of erosion. The elemental make up of the sediments are not associated with the lakes themselves, the distribution of these elements, within the lake bed, are attributed to the condition of the drainage basin and the chemical composition of the water. The amount halogens and boron found in the sediments accompanies a change in erosional activity, the rate of deposition reflects the amount of halogen and boron in the deposited sediments. Great Lakes of North America Glacial history of Minnesota Proglacial lake Moraine-dammed lake Subglacial lake Zungenbecken
21.
Lake Garda
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Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy. It is a holiday location and is located in northern Italy. Glaciers formed this region at the end of the last Ice Age. The lake and its shoreline are divided between the provinces of Verona, Brescia, and Trentino, the name Garda, which the lake has been seen referred to in documents dating to the eighth century, comes from the town of the same name. It is the evolution of the Germanic word warda, meaning place of guard or place of observation, the northern part of the lake is narrower, surrounded by mountains, the majority of which belong to the Gruppo del Baldo. The shape is typical of a valley, probably having been formed under the action of a Paleolithic glacier. Nearby to the south is Isola San Biagio, also known as the Isola dei Conigli, both are offshore of San Felice del Benaco, on the lakes western side. The three other islands are Isola dellOlivo, Isola di Sogno, and Isola di Trimelone. The main tributary is the Sarca River, others include the Ponale River, if the water level of the Adige river is too high, excess water is diverted to the lake through the Mori-Torbole tunnel. The particularly mild climate favours the growth of some Mediterranean plants, citrus trees can also be found, which are extremely rare at this latitude. This greatly favoured the development of tourism since the end of the world war. In ancient times, poets like Catullus wrote about Lacus Benacus with its mild climate vivified by the winds, the bottleneck formed by the lake basin affects the timing of the winds, many of which happen on a regular daily basis. The winds are all named, most in regional Italian dialect so a single wind may have different names, salmo carpio, also known as the carpione is a rare salmonid fish endemic to Lake Garda. It has been introduced to a number of lakes in Italy and elsewhere. The population in Lake Garda has been declining, and is considered critically endangered. The main threats are due to overfishing, pollution and possibly competition from introduced species such as Coregonus, adult lake trout outside the mating season are silvery with very few black spots on the body and almost none on the head. During the mating season males develop some a dark mottled body coloration, Garda lake trout reach a length of up to 50 centimeters. They live primarily in depths of 100 to 200 metres and they feed on zooplankton and bottom-dwelling crustaceans in summer
22.
Lake Maggiore
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Lake Maggiore or Lago Verbàno is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest lake in Italy and the largest in southern Switzerland, the lake and its shoreline are divided between the Italian regions of Piedmont and Lombardy and the Swiss canton of Ticino. Located halfway between Lake Orta and Lake Lugano, Lake Maggiore extends for about 65 kilometres between Locarno and Arona, the climate is mild in both summer and winter, producing Mediterranean vegetation, with many gardens growing rare and exotic plants. Well-known gardens include those of the Borromean and Brissago Islands, that of the Villa Taranto in Verbania, and the Alpinia botanical garden above Stresa. Lake Maggiore is 64.37 km long, and 3 to 5 km wide and it is the longest Italian lake, although Lake Garda has a greater area. Its mean height above the sea level is 193 metres, a lake, its bottom is almost everywhere below sea-level. Its form is very sinuous, so there are few points from which any considerable part of its surface can be seen at a single glance. If this lessens the effect of the apparent size, it increases the variety of its scenery, while the upper end is completely alpine in character, the middle region lies between hills of gentler form, and the lower end advances to the verge of the plain of Lombardy. Lake Maggiore is the most westerly of the three great southern prealpine lakes, the others being Lake Como and Lake Garda, the lake basin has tectonic-glacial origins and its volume is 37 cubic kilometres. The lake has an area of about 213 square kilometres. Its main tributaries are the Ticino, the Maggia, the Toce, the rivers Verzasca, Giona, and Cannobino also flow into the lake. Its outlet is the Ticino which, in turn, joins the river Po just south-east of Pavia, the lake’s jagged banks are surrounded by the Pennine, Lepontine and Lugano Alps. Prominent peaks around the lake are the Gridone, Monte Tamaro, Monte Nudo, the highest mountain overlooking Lake Maggiore is Monte Rosa, located about 50 kilometres west of it. The culminating point of the drainage basin is the Grenzgipfel summit of Monte Rosa at 4,618 metres above sea level. Lake Maggiore weather is humid subtropical, during winter, the lake helps to maintain a higher temperature in the surrounding region. The temperatures are cooled down in summer by the breezes that blow on the waters surface changing its colour, the area enjoys nearly 2300 hours of sunshine a year and an average annual temperature of 15.5 °C. The water of the lake has a temperature of 20 °C to 22 °C in July. In winter snowfall is erratic and primarily affects the higher elevations, rainfall is heaviest in May and lowest during the winter months
23.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
24.
Villa Olmo
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Villa Olmo is a neoclassical villa located in the city of Como, northern Italy. The construction of the villa, which began in 1797, was commissioned by marquis Innocenzo Odescalchi from Swiss architect Simone Cantoni, as it was designed to be a summer retreat for the aristocracy, it was built alongside the lake. The villa was named after an elm tree planted in the middle of the ornate gardens and it was acquired in 1924 by the municipality of Como and today is open to the public only during exhibitions, while the lakeside gardens are freely accessible during the daytime. Media related to Villa Olmo at Wikimedia Commons Villa Olmo - Alessandro Volta Scientific Association Villa Olmos Lido Villa Olmo Exhibition Center
25.
Rockefeller Foundation
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The Rockefeller Foundation is a private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. It was established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, the Foundation was started by Standard Oil owner John D. Rockefeller, along with his son John D. Rockefeller Jr. Its stated mission is promoting the well-being of humanity throughout the world, as of 2015, the Foundation was ranked as the 39th largest U. S. foundation by total giving. By year-end 2008 assets were tallied at $3.1 billion from $4.6 billion in 2007, on January 5,2017, the Board of Trustees announced the unanimous selection of Dr. Rajiv Shah to serve as the 13th president of the foundation. Shah became the youngest person, at 43, and first-ever Indian-American to serve as president of the foundation. He assumed the position March 1, succeeding Dr. Judith Rodin who served as president for twelve years and announced her retirement, at age 71. Rodin in turn had succeeded Gordon Conway in 2005, a former president of the University of Pennsylvania, Rodin was the first woman to head the foundation. It was in that year he gave the first $100,000 to fund the University of Chicago, over the next two decades, $35 million dollars were gifted to the institution by Rockefeller. It was also in 1906 that the Russell Sage Foundation was established, though its program was limited to working women, Rockefellers would thus not be the first foundation in America, but it brought to it unprecedented international scale and scope. On May 14,1913, New York Governor William Sulzer approved a charter for the foundation - two years after the Carnegie Corporation - with Junior becoming the first president. With its large-scale endowment, a part of Seniors fortune was insulated from inheritance taxes. On December 5, the Board made its first grant of $100,000 to the American Red Cross to purchase property for its headquarters in Washington, D. C. At the beginning the foundation was global in its approach and concentrated in its first decade entirely on the sciences, public health and medical education. In 1913 the foundation set up the International Health Commission, the first appropriation of funds for work outside the US and its early field research on hookworm, malaria, and yellow fever provided the basic techniques to control these diseases and established the pattern of modern public health services. In 1913 it also began a 20-year support program of the Bureau of Social Hygiene, whose mission was research and education on birth control, maternal health and sex education. Also in 1914, the set up a new Department of Industrial Relations. The foundation henceforth confined itself to funding responsible organizations involved in this and other controversial fields, during its first few years of work, the LSRM awarded funds primarily to social workers, with its funding decisions guided primarily by John D. Rockefeller Jr. In January 1929, LSRM funds were folded into the Rockefeller Foundation, John D. Rockefeller Jr. became the foundation chairman in 1917
26.
Villa Carlotta
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Villa Carlotta is a villa in Northern Italy on Lake Como. It was built for the Milanese marquis Giorgio Clerici in 1690 and extends over a 70,000 m2 area in Tremezzo, an Italian garden with steps, fountains and sculptures was laid out at the same time. Among the statues, Mars and Venus by Luigi Acquisti is remarkable, the architect who designed the villa is unknown. In 1843, it was given as a present by Princess Marianna to her daughter Charlotte, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen. The whole estate was owned by the princely House of Saxe-Meiningen, until the Italian State confiscated it after World War I, ludwig Bechstein was the author of Villa Carlotta. Poetische Reisebilder vom Comersee und aus den lombardisch-venetianischen Landen, Italian Gardens, Robertson McCarta, London 1989. Media related to Villa Carlotta at Wikimedia Commons
27.
HuffPost
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On February 7,2011, AOL acquired the mass market Huffington Post for US$315 million, making Arianna Huffington editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group. In July 2012, The Huffington Post was ranked #1 on the 15 Most Popular Political Sites list by eBizMBA Rank, Traffic Rank from both Compete and Quantcast. In 2012, The Huffington Post became the first commercially run United States digital media enterprise to win a Pulitzer Prize, the Huffington Post was founded by Arianna Huffington on May 9,2005. It has a community, with over one million comments made on the site each month. Prior to The Huffington Post, Huffington hosted a website called Ariannaonline. com and her first foray into the Internet was a website called Resignation. com, which called for the resignation of President Bill Clinton and was a rallying place for conservatives opposing Clinton. In August 2013, the website banned anonymous comments, in approximately June 2007, the site launched its first local version, HuffPost Chicago. In June 2009, HuffPost New York was launched, followed shortly by HuffPost Denver which launched on September 15,2009, and HuffPost Los Angeles which launched on December 2,2009. In 2011, three new editions were launched, HuffPost San Francisco on July 12, HuffPost Detroit, on November 17. HuffPost Hawaii was launched in collaboration with the investigative reporting. The Huffington Post launched its first international edition, HuffPost Canada, on July 6 of the same year, the Huffington Post UK launched its UK edition. On February 8, another French language edition was launched in the Canadian province of Quebec, on May Day, a U. S. -based Spanish-language edition was launched under the name HuffPost Voces, replacing AOLs Hispanic news platform, AOL Latino. The following month an edition for Spain was announced, as was one for Germany, on September 24, an Italian edition, LHuffington Post, was launched, directed by journalist Lucia Annunziata in collaboration with the media company Gruppo Editoriale LEspresso. On May 6,2013, an edition for Japan was launched with the collaboration of The Asahi Shimbun, with the launch of Al Huffington Post, there is a third francophone edition, this time for the Maghreb area. On October 10, Munich-based Huffington Post Deutschland has been put online in cooperation with the liberal-conservative magazine Focus, in January 2014, Arianna Huffington and Nicolas Berggruen announced the launch of the WorldPost, created in partnership with the Berggruen Institute. Its contributors have included former British prime minister Tony Blair, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, novelist Jonathan Franzen, on January 29,2014, the Brazilian version was launched as Brasil Post, in partnership with Abril Group, the first in Latin America. In September 2014, Huffington Post announced they will launch in Greece, India, and introduce HuffPost Arabi, on August 18,2015, HuffPost Australia was launched. The Huffington Post planned to launch a Chinese version in 2015, due to strict media controls, the content of Chinese version would not include serious news report, only entertainment and lifestyle. In 2011, after its purchase by AOL, The Huffington Post subsumed many of AOLs Voices properties, the Voices brand was expanded in September 2011 with the launch of Gay Voices, a vertical dedicated to LGBT-relevant articles
28.
Y
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Y is the 25th and penultimate letter in the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. In the English writing system, it represents a vowel. The names igrek in Polish and i gờ-rét in Vietnamese are both phonetic borrowings of the French name, in Dutch, both Griekse ij and i-grec are used. The original Greek name υ ψιλον has also adapted into several modern languages, in German, for example, it is called Ypsilon. In Portuguese, both names are used, Old English borrowed Latin Y to write the native Old English sound /y/. The name of the letter may be related to ui in various languages, in Middle English it was wi /wiː/. The oldest direct ancestor of English letter Y was the Semitic letter waw, from which also come F, U, V, the Greek and Latin alphabets developed from the Phoenician form of this early alphabet. In Modern English, there is some historical influence from the old English letter yogh. The form of the modern letter Y is derived from the Greek letter upsilon, the Romans first borrowed a form of upsilon as the single letter V, which represented both the vowel sound /u/ and the semivowel consonant sound /w/. This first loaning of upsilon into Latin is not the source of the Modern English Y and it was used to transcribe loanwords from the prestigious Attic dialect of Greek, which had the non-Latin vowel sound /y/, as found in modern French cru, or German grün. Because it was not a sound of Latin, it was usually pronounced /u/ or /i/. Some Latin words of Italic origin also came to be spelled with y, Latin silva was commonly spelled sylva, in analogy with the Greek cognate and synonym ὕλη. The Roman Emperor Claudius proposed introducing a new letter into the Latin alphabet to transcribe the so-called sonus medius, the letter Y was used to represent the sound /y/ in the writing systems of some other languages that adopted the Latin alphabet. In Old English, there was a native /y/ sound, but, by the time of Middle English, /y/ had lost its roundedness and became identical to I. Therefore, many words that originally had I were spelled with Y, in Modern English, Y can represent the same vowel sounds as the letter I. The use of the letter Y to represent a vowel is restricted in Modern English than it was in Middle. It occurs mainly in the three environments, for upsilon in Greek loan-words, at the end of a word. As a consonant in English, Y normally represents a palatal approximant and this use was possibly influenced by the Middle English letter yogh, which could represent /j/
29.
Colico
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Colico is a city in the province of Lecco, Lombardy, Italy. It is situated on the arm of Lake Como, where the river Adda enters the lake. Colico is the most important city in the part of Lake Como. Colico is a transport hub, with boats to Como and Lecco, as well as trains and roads to Milan, to Chiavenna. The Piona Abbey is located in the territory, in the Olgiasca peninsula. Colico is dominated by Monte Legnone, at 2,609 metres above sea level, near Colico is an important natural reserve, the migration corridor of the Pian di Spagna. The two main waterways of Colico are Inganna and Perlino, the river Adda is a boundary between the provinces of Como and Lecco. On the northern Montecchio hill are still visible two guard towers, which formed the so-called Castle Colico, built in the Medieval commune period to control the road from Valtellina. The most important from a point of view was Fontanedo Tower. From the tower it was possible to dominate the Upper Lake, the hinterland of Colico and the area of the Lake Mezzola. In defense of the ancient road linking Lake Como with Valtellina, within the territory of Curcio, there is another tower, now transformed into a farm house. Another part of the system is Fortino dAdda, or Stallone. Its unique structure has slots for the shot of firearm and a bridge that connects the main entrance to the plain. It is currently used for storage, another fort is placed in the territory of Olgiasca. It is a casaforte, which from the top of the controls the town below. It is known as the Castle of Mirabello and it is thought to have built in the first half of the 16th century. Roccoli, or bird snares, are tree architectures, equipped with nets placed vertically and they have long been formidable weapons to catch birds which, at the approaching of winter, migrate southwards. This activity was important for Colico, placed on the route of the flocks
30.
Menaggio
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Menaggio is a town and comune in the province of Como, Lombardy, northern Italy, located on the western shore of Lake Como at the mouth of the river Senagra. Menaggio has three frazioni, Croce, Loveno and Nobiallo, the area of current Menaggio was conquered by the Romans in 196 BC. The Roman conquest culminated with the construction of a road called the Via Regina, remnants of the wall are evident today. Construction of big hotels in this cool summer area made it a resort area. The area of Menaggio is a recreational resort in the summer. Lake Comos only youth hostel is in Menaggio, Menaggio is known for its Menaggio and Cadenabbia Golf Club, founded in 1907 by an English gentleman, one of many who was spending his holidays on Lake Como during the late 19th century. The craggy and often fog hidden mountains are from the Cretaceous period, among many events which occur in the town every summer, the Menaggio Guitar Festival is relevant on an international scale. Guitarists who have played there since its first edition on 2005 include Pete Huttlinger, Martin Taylor, Franco Cerri, Roman Bunka, Solorazaf, the artistic director is Sergio Fabian Lavia, composer and musician born in Argentina. Allevard, France Carapicuíba, Brazil Wolpertswende, Germany Official website
31.
Lierna
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Lierna is a comune in the province of Lecco in Lombardy, in north-west Italy. It lies on the shore of Lake Como, about 60 kilometres north of Milan. It has an area of 11.3 km² and has twelve frazioni, Bancola, Casate, Castello, Cisarino, Genico, Giussana, Grumo, La Foppa, Mugiasco, Olcianico, Sornico, at the end of 2014 the population was 2176 people, in 983 families. Lierna borders the comuni of Esino Lario, Mandello del Lario, Oliveto Lario, the first mention of Lierna dates to 854 AD, but Roman remains, including a mosaic floor now in the Palazzo Belgioioso of Lecco, attest to much earlier settlement. The name of the village may be of Roman or of Celtic origin, between 1035 and 1202 it was a feud of the Monastery of San Dionigi in Milan. Lierna was contested between Milan and Como, and between the Della Torre and Visconti families and it passed into the hands of the Marchesino Stanga in 1499, and in 1533 to the Sfondrati family of Cremona, who held it until 1788. Lierna became a comune in 1743, when it was separated from that of Mandello, in 1927 the Milanese sculptor Giannino Castiglioni opened a studio at his house in Lierna. He died in Lierna on 27 August 1971 and he left some preparatory plaster casts to the comune, a museum to house them is under construction. It is now in the Museo di Storia Naturale in the Palazzo Belgioioso of Lecco
32.
Triangolo lariano
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The Triangolo lariano is a geographic area in Lombardy within the Province of Como. It is represented by an intermediate institution named Comunità montana del Triangolo lariano. There are three big lakes in Italy who reach a depth of more than 300 metres and cover an area of hundreds of square kilometres and they are aligned west-east, since they all are within the pre-alpine zone of Lombardy region. The most west is the Lake Maggiore, and it marks the boundary with the region of Piedmont, the most east is Lake Garda, marking the boundary with the region of Veneto and it is distinguishable from its characteristic shape of an upside-down “Y” or a Greek letter “λ”. The triangle formed by the two branches of the lake is named in Italian Triangolo lariano. This phrase is composed by the noun triangolo and the adjective lariano, meaning “related to the Larius”, the Latin name of Lake Como. It consists in a peninsula – whose end is the village of Bellagio –, another one was the Curtis Casalensis, a league of free communes with Canzo as chief town, within the jurisdiction of the Duchy of Milan too. Part of the former Pieve of Incino, Duchy of Milan, finally, communes who were under the rule of Como. The “Triangle” has an altitude between 320 and 1,682 m. a. s. l, mount Bollettone too, for its proximity to Como, is often visited. Triangolo lariano is also the name of a Special Protection Area protected by European laws and its protection concerns 84 precious bird species and the habitats, e. g. A peculiar habitat of the consists in the stone springs with travertine formation. The alternation of woods, meadows–pastures, and rock formations in the mountains of Canzo, Canzo Curtis Casalensis Lago del Segrino Corni di Canzo Cornizzolo Giubiana Canzés dialect Brianza Province of Como Longoni, Virginio. Religiosità e cultura del Rinascimento nel Triangolo Lariano, Canzo, Comunità Montana del Triangolo Lariano, Assessorato alla Cultura. Fonti per la storia del Triangolo Lariano, il medioevo, Canzo, Comunità Montana del Triangolo Lariano, Assessorato alla Cultura. Comunità Montana del Triangolo lariano official website
33.
Lambro
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The Lambro is a river of Lombardy, northern Italy, a left tributary of the Po. The Lambro rises from the Monte San Primo, elevation 1,685 metres, near the Ghisallo, in the province of Como, after Magreglio it flows through the Valassina and the comuni of Asso, Ponte Lambro and Erba, entering Lake Pusiano with the name of Lambrone. The Lambro passes through Brianza reaching Monza and crossing its famous park in two branches join again before the river passes through the eastern part of Milan. At Melegnano it receives the waters of the Vettabbia and, at SantAngelo Lodigiano, those of its main tributary, the Lambro flows into the Po near Orio Litta. The name Lambro was used for a popular three-wheeler commercial transport vehicle produced by Milanese automaker Innocenti, pokorny cites Krahe, Gymnasium 59, p.79. Lambro drains a very populated and heavily industrialized zone, including a significant portion of the Milan metropolitan area with a population of more than 3,000,000. Before the construction of a treatment plant in 2002, almost all of the sewage from the city of Milan flowed untreated into the river, as well as industrial sewages
34.
Canzo
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Canzo is a commune of the Italian province of Como. It is the last town north of the historical Brianza region of Lombardy, capital of the Lake Como Triangle community and it has 5,192 citizens and an area of 11.8 square kilometres, a density of 445 persons/km2. Its history began in the 5th century BC, when it was founded by Celts, prehistoric settlements date to the Mesolithic period and the Copper Age. The name of the town comes from the Latin Cantius, itself from the Celtic root meaning edge and it is known in Lombardy for its mountains, particularly the Corni di Canzo and the Cornizzolo. The surroundings are rich in watercourses and springs, lago del Segrino is a glacial lake fed by underground springs. Canzo hosts BIOFERA, one of the organic farming events in Italy. According to a statistic of the financial newspaper of Italy, Canzo is a leader place of hobbies and security. The first settlements were between Cornizzolo, Mount Raj and Segrino lake and this site remained inhabited until the 1950s, under the later names of Canza and Sitt di Budracch. The later Celtic and first Roman foundation were transferred to the valley under the Corni di Canzo, the ancient town was on the right side of this river. The oldest extant streets are, Lunaa, Casargh was where people lived, the presence of Roman soldiers and their integration within the Insubric/Lepontian population is still evidenced by toponyms such as Castelmarte and Martesana. Evidence of pre-Roman cults is found at sites, including stones dedicated to propitiatory fertility rites. A legend says that the Church of Milan was founded by St. Barnabas and this is commonly rejected by historians, archaeological proof of a Christian presence in Milan during apostolic times has been found. From the 3rd to the 5th centuries, Christianity was consolidated across Canzo, a church was dedicated to St. Stephen. Another product of this period was widespread veneration of St. Maternus, during the 3rd century, Bishop Monas organized the diocese. At this time Canzo probably belonged to Incinos pieve, but later the Curtis Casalensis confederation was established and retained relative political autonomy throughout the Middle Ages. This pieve or confederation of communes comprised the villages of Caslino, Castelmarte, Proserpio, Eupilio, Longone and some frazioni of the current commune of Erba, with Canzo as its capital. The coat of arms of Corte di Casale was similar to others of the zone, with white and red stripes, forming peaks with the top upward. During these centuries the rule of Corte di Casale continued, on 27 April 1162, in an act signed in Pavia, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, recognized that the possessions of St. Peters Abbey included some fields in Canzo
35.
Sailing
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Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the water, on ice or on land over a chosen course, which is often part of a larger plan of navigation. A course defined with respect to the wind direction is called a point of sail. Conventional sailing craft cannot derive power from sails on a point of sail that is too close into the wind, on a given point of sail, the sailor adjusts the alignment of each sail with respect to the apparent wind direction to mobilize the power of the wind. In the 21st century, most sailing represents a form of recreation or sport, recreational sailing or yachting can be divided into racing and cruising. Cruising can include extended offshore and ocean-crossing trips, coastal sailing within sight of land, until the end of the 19th century, sailing ships were the primary means for marine commerce. The earliest representation of a ship under sail appears on a painted disc found in Kuwait dating between 5000 and 5500 BCE, polynesian oceanfarers traveled vast distances of open ocean in outrigger canoes using navigation methods such as stick charts. Advances in sailing technology from the Middle Ages onward enabled Arab, Chinese, Indian and European explorers to make longer voyages into regions with extreme weather and climatic conditions. There were improvements in sails, masts and rigging, improvements in marine navigation including the tree and charts. Sailing has contributed to many great explorations in the world, the air interacting with the sails of a sailing vessel creates various forces, including reaction forces. If the sails are properly oriented with respect to the wind, however, boats propelled by sails cannot sail directly into the wind. They must tack back and forth in order to progress directly upwind, sails are airfoils that work by using an airflow set up by the wind and the motion of the boat. Sails work in two modes to use the wind to force, PUSH, when the boat is going in the same direction as the wind. The force on the sail is mostly aerodynamic drag, and sails acting in this way are aerodynamically stalled. This force manifests itself as pressure differences between the two sides of the sail - there is a region of low pressure on the front side of the sail and a region of high pressure on the back. Another way to say this is that sails generate lift using the air flows around them in the same way as an aircraft wing. The wind that a boat experiences is the combination of the true wind and this combination is the apparent wind, which is the relative velocity of the wind relative to the boat. When sailing upwind the apparent wind is greater than the true wind, iceboats can typically sail at 5 times the speed of the wind. Where there is a difference in motion, then there is energy to be extracted at the interface, the sailboat does this by placing the sail in the air and the hull in the water
36.
Windsurfing
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Windsurfing is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually 2.5 to 3 meters long, the rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and consists of a mast, 2-sided boom and sail. The sail area generally ranges from 2.5 m2 to 12 m2 depending on the conditions, the skill of the sailor, the type of windsurfing being undertaken and the weight of the person windsurfing. Some credits S. Newman Darby with the origination of windsurfing by 1964 on the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, USA when he invented the sailboard, in 1964, Darby began selling his sailboards. A promotional article by Darby was published in the August 1965 edition of Popular Science magazine, while Darbys sailboard incorporated a pivoting rig, it was square rigged and suffered all the associated limitations. You operated the sailboard with your back to the lee side of the kite shaped square sail, Although it might be considered a minimalistic version of a sailboat, windsurfing offers experiences that are outside the scope of other sailing craft designs. Windsurfers can perform jumps, inverted loops, spinning maneuvers, extreme waves aside, many expert windsurfers will ride the same waves as surfers do. At one time referred to as surfings ginger haired cousin by the legendary champion, Robby Naish. As a result of attempts to claim the word windsurfer as a trademark, participants have been encouraged to use different names to describe the sport, the term windsurfing has persisted as the accepted name for the sport, and the word windsurfer persists for both participants and equipment. Windsurfing is predominately undertaken on a non-competitive basis, organised competition does take place at all levels across the world, including in the Olympics. Typical formats for competitive windsurfing include Formula Windsurfing, speed sailing, slalom, course racing, wave sailing, superX, the boom of the 1980s led windsurfing to be recognized as an Olympic sport in 1984. However, windsurfings popularity saw a decline in the mid-1990s, thanks to licensing battles. The sport experienced a modest revival, as new beginner-friendly designs became available, further pressure came as a proportion of avid windsurfers took up the similar sport of kitesurfing. Windsurfing, as a sport and recreational activity, did not emerge until the half of the 20th century. Darby did not file a patent for the sailboard, however, he is widely recognized as its inventor as well as the first to conceive, design, and build a sailboard with a universal joint. In 1964, Darby began selling his sailboards, twelve-year-old Peter Chilvers is often cited for inventing a sailboard in 1958. In the 1960s, Jim Drake was the first to many problems of getting the board to sail while Hoyle Schweitzer was the first to be successful in marketing the sailboard. That night they developed the idea of a kite-powered surfboard, on later reflection, Drake didnt like the integrity of the idea and dismissed it
37.
Kiteboarding
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Kiteboarding is a surface water sport combining aspects of wakeboarding, snowboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, skateboarding and gymnastics into one extreme sport. Kitesurfing is a style of kiteboarding specific to wave riding, which utilizes standard surfboards or boards shaped specifically for the purpose, there are different styles of kiteboarding, including freestyle, freeride, downwinders, speed, course racing, wakestyle, jumping and kitesurfing in the waves. In 2012, the number of kitesurfers was estimated by the ISAF, the global market for kite gear sales is worth US $250 million. In the 1800s, George Pocock used kites of increased size to propel carts on land and ships on the water, both carts and boats were able to turn and sail upwind. The kites could be flown for sustained periods, the intention was to establish kitepower as an alternative to horsepower, partly to avoid the hated horse tax that was levied at that time. In 1978, Ian Days FlexiFoil kite-powered Tornado catamaran exceeded 40 km/h, in October 1977 Gijsbertus Adrianus Panhuise received the first patent for KiteSurfing. Although this patent did not result in any commercial interest, Gijsbertus Adrianus Panhuise could be considered as the originator of KiteSurfing, through the 1980s, there were occasionally successful attempts to combine kites with canoes, ice skates, snow skis, water skis and roller skates. Strasilla and his Swiss friend Andrea Kuhn used this invention also in combination with surfboards and snowboards, grasskies, one of his patents describes in 1979 the first use of an inflatable kite design for kitesurfing. In 1990, practical kite buggying was pioneered by Peter Lynn at Argyle Park in Ashburton, Lynn coupled a three-wheeled buggy with a forerunner of the modern parafoil kite. Kite buggying proved to be very popular worldwide, with over 14,000 buggies sold up to 1999, the development of modern-day kitesurfing by the Roeselers in the USA and the Legaignoux in France carried on in parallel to buggying. The KiteSki was commercially available in 1994, the kite had a rudimentary water launch capability and could go upwind. In 1995, Cory Roeseler visited Peter Lynn at New Zealands Lake Clearwater in the Ashburton Alpine Lakes area, demonstrating speed, balance, in the late 1990s, Corys ski evolved to a single board similar to a surfboard. Bruno Legaignoux has continued to improve kite designs, including developing the bow kite design, in 1997, specialized kite boards were developed by Raphaël Salles and Laurent Ness. By the end of 1998 kitesurfing had become a sport, distributed and taught through a handful group of shops. The first competition was held on Maui in September 1998 and won by Flash Austin, starting in 1999, kitesurfing became a mainstream sport with the entry of key windsurfing manufacturers namely Naish and Neil Pryde. Single direction boards derived from windsurfing and surfing designs became the dominant form of kiteboard, from 2001 onwards, twin-tip bi-directional boards became more popular for most flat water riders, with directional boards still in use for surf conditions. In May 2012, the racing style of kitesurfing was announced as a sport for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Kitesurfing was named as an event at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires
38.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
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Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets, and is regarded by some as among the finest lyric, as well as most influential, poets in the English language. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not see fame during his lifetime, but recognition for his poetry grew steadily following his death. Shelley was a key member of a circle of visionary poets and writers that included Lord Byron, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Love Peacock, and his own second wife, Mary Shelley. Shelley is perhaps best known for such poems as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, Music, When Soft Voices Die, The Cloud. Shelleys close circle of friends included some of the most important progressive thinkers of the day, including his father-in-law, the philosopher William Godwin and Leigh Hunt. Though Shelleys poetry and prose output remained steady throughout his life, most publishers, Shelley became a lodestone to the subsequent three or four generations of poets, including important Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite poets such as Robert Browning and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He was admired by Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, yeats, Upton Sinclair and Isadora Duncan. Henry David Thoreaus civil disobedience was apparently influenced by Shelleys non-violence in protest, Shelleys popularity and influence has continued to grow in contemporary poetry circles. Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place, Broadbridge Heath, near Horsham, West Sussex, England. He was the eldest legitimate son of Sir Timothy Shelley, a Whig Member of Parliament for Horsham from 1790–92 and he had four younger sisters and one much younger brother. He received his education at home, tutored by the Reverend Evan Edwards of nearby Warnham. His cousin and lifelong friend Thomas Medwin, who lived nearby and it was a happy and contented childhood spent largely in country pursuits such as fishing and hunting. In 1802, he entered the Syon House Academy of Brentford, in 1804, Shelley entered Eton College, where he fared poorly, and was subjected to an almost daily mob torment at around noon by older boys, who aptly called these incidents Shelley-baits. Surrounded, the young Shelley would have his books torn from his hands and his clothes pulled at and this daily misery could be attributed to Shelleys refusal to take part in fagging and his indifference towards games and other youthful activities. Because of these peculiarities he acquired the nickname Mad Shelley, Shelley possessed a keen interest in science at Eton, which he would often apply to cause a surprising amount of mischief for a boy considered to be so sensible. Shelley would often use an electric machine to charge the door handle of his room. His friends were particularly amused when his tutor, Mr Bethell, in attempting to enter his room, was alarmed at the noise of the electric shocks. His mischievous side was again demonstrated by his last bit of naughtiness at school, despite these jocular incidents, a contemporary of Shelley, W. H. Merie, recalled that Shelley made no friends at Eton, although he did seek a kindred spirit without success
39.
Thomas Love Peacock
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Thomas Love Peacock was an English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company. He was a friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each others work. Peacock wrote satirical novels, each with the basic setting. Peacock was born in Weymouth, Dorset, the son of Samuel Peacock and his wife Sarah Love, daughter of Thomas Love and his father was a glass merchant in London, partner of a Mr Pellatt, presumed to be Apsley Pellatt. Peacock went with his mother to live with her family at Chertsey in 1791 and in 1792 went to a run by Joseph Harris Wicks at Englefield Green where he stayed for six. Peacocks father died in 1794 in poor circumstances leaving a small annuity, Peacocks first known poem was an epitaph for a school fellow written at the age of ten and another on his Midsummer Holidays was written when he was thirteen. Around that time in 1798 he was taken from school. In February 1800, Peacock became a clerk with Ludlow Fraser Company and he lived with his mother on the firms premises at 4 Angel Court Throgmorton Street. He won the prize from the Monthly Preceptor for a verse answer to the question Is History or Biography the More Improving Study. He also contributed to The Juvenile Library, a magazine for youth whose competitions excited the emulation of other boys including Leigh Hunt, de Quincey. He began visiting the Reading Room of the British Museum and continued doing so for years, diligently studying the best literature in Greek, Latin, French. In 1804 and 1806 he published two volumes of poetry, The Monks of St. Mark and Palmyra, some of Peacocks juvenile compositions were privately printed by Sir Henry Cole. In around 1806 Peacock left his job in the city and during the year made a walking tour of Scotland. The annuity left by his father expired in October 1806, in 1807 he returned to live at his mothers house at Chertsey. He was briefly engaged to Fanny Faulkner, but it was broken off through the interference of her relations and his friends, as he hints, thought it wrong that so clever a man should be earning so little money. In the autumn of 1808 he became secretary to Sir Home Popham. By the end of the year he was serving Captain Andrew King aboard HMS Venerable in the Downs and his preconceived affection for the sea did not reconcile him to nautical realities. Writing poetry, he says, or doing anything else that is rational, I would give the world to be at home and devote the winter to the composition of a comedy
40.
Arbutus unedo
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Arbutus unedo is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe north to western France and Ireland. Due to its presence in southwest and northwest Ireland, it is known as either Irish strawberry tree, or cain or cane apple, or sometimes Killarney strawberry tree. Arbutus unedo was one of the species described by Carl Linnaeus in Volume One of his landmark 1753 work Species Plantarum. It is sold in California as Arbutus x Marina named for a district in San Francisco where it was hybridized, Arbutus unedo grows to 5–10 m tall, rarely up to 15 m, with a trunk diameter of up to 80 cm. Zone, 7–10 The leaves are green and glossy, 5–10 cm long and 2–3 cm broad. The hermaphrodite flowers are white, bell-shaped, 4–6 mm diameter, the fruit is a red berry, 1–2 cm diameter, with a rough surface. It matures in about 12 months, in autumn, at the time as the next flowering. It is edible, the fruit is sweet when reddish, the name unedo is attributed to Pliny the Elder, who allegedly claimed that unum tantum edo, meaning I eat only one. It is not known whether he meant that the fruit was so good he could eat only one and it is also found in western France, Albania, Bulgaria and southwestern Ireland. The red-flowered variant, named A. unedo rubra by William Aiton in 1785, was discovered growing wild in Ireland in 1835, Arbutus unedo serves as a bee plant for honey production, and the fruits are food for birds. The fruits are used to make jams, beverages. Many regions of Albania prepare the drink raki from the fruits of the plant. In order to reduce the content of methanol in the drink. Honey produced has a bitter taste. In folk medicine, the plant has been used for antiseptic, astringent, intoxicant, rheumatism, Arbutus unedo is cultivated as an ornamental plant by plant nurseries. It is used as a single or multi-trunked ornamental tree, and as a specimen or hedge shrub in gardens, when grown as a tree rather than a shrub, basal sprouts are kept pruned off. The plant prefers well-drained soils, and low to moderate soil moisture, unlike most of the Ericaceae, A. unedo grows well in basic pH soils. In cold climates it prefers a position due to its late flowering habit
41.
Killarney
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Killarney is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. Its natural heritage, history and location on the Ring of Kerry make Killarney a popular tourist destination, Killarney won the Best Kept Town award in 2007, in a cross-border competition jointly organised by the Department of the Environment and the Northern Ireland Amenity Council. In 2011, it was named Irelands tidiest town and the cleanest town in the country by Irish Business Against Litter, Killarney has featured prominently in early Irish history, with religious settlements playing an important part of its recorded history. Its first significantly historical settlement was the monastery on nearby Innisfallen Island founded in 640 by St. Finian the Leper, Innisfallen or Inishfallen is an island in Lough Leane, one of the three Lakes of Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland. It is home to the ruins of Innisfallen Abbey, one of the most impressive archaeological remains dating from the early Christian period found in the Killarney National Park, the monastery was founded in 640 by St. Finian the Leper, and was occupied for approximately 850 years. Over a period of about 300 of these, the monks wrote the Annals of Innisfallen, the monks were dispossessed of the abbey on 18 August 1594, by Elizabeth I. The location of the monastery on the island is thought to have given rise to the name Lough Leane, according to tradition the Irish High King Brian Boru received his education at Innisfallen under Maelsuthain OCarroll. Maelsuthain has been credited as the originator of the Annals. It is possible for tourists to visit the island during the summer months, Aghadoe, the local townland which overlooks present day Killarney, may have begun as a pagan religious site. The site has also associated with the 5th century missionary St. Abban. According to legend, St. Finian founded a monastery at Aghadoe in the 6th or 7th century, the first written record of a monastery dates from 939 AD in the Annals of Innisfallen where the Aghadoe monastery is referred to as the Old Abbey. Following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169, the Normans built Parkavonear Castle, the castle was perhaps intended as an early warning outpost due to its views of the entire Killarney valley and lakes region. Ross Castle was built on the shore in the late 15th century by local ruling clan the ODonoghues Mor. Ownership of the castle changed hands during the Desmond Rebellions of the 1580s to the Mac Carty Mor, Muckross Abbey was founded in 1448 as a Franciscan friary for the Observantine Franciscans by Donal McCarthy Mor. The abbey was burned down by Cromwellian forces under General Ludlow in 1654, Killarney was heavily involved in the Irish War of Independence. The town, and indeed the county, had strong republican ties. The Great Southern Hotel, was for a while taken over by the British, One notable event during the war was the Headford Ambush when the IRA attacked a railway train a few miles from town. A day after the Ballyseedy Massacre, five Republican prisoners were murdered in Killarney in retaliation, killarneys tourism history goes back at least to the mid 18th century, when Thomas, fourth Viscount Kenmare, began to attract visitors and new residents to the town
42.
Villa
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A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably, after the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity, sometimes transferred to the Church for reuse as a monastery. Then they gradually re-evolved through the Middle Ages into elegant upper-class country homes, in modern parlance, villa can refer to various types and sizes of residences, ranging from the suburban semi-detached double villa to residences in the wildland–urban interface. In ancient Roman architecture a villa was originally a house built for the élite. The Roman villae rusticae at the heart of latifundia were the earliest versions of what later, not included as villae were the domus, a city house for the élite and privileged classes, and insulae, blocks of apartment buildings for the rest of the population. In Satyricon, Petronius described the range of Roman dwellings. Another type of villae is the villa marittima, a seaside villa, a concentration of Imperial villas existed on the Gulf of Naples, on the Isle of Capri, at Monte Circeo and at Antium. Examples include the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, and the Villa of the Mysteries, wealthy Romans also escaped the summer heat in the hills round Rome, especially around Tibur (Tivoand Frascati, such as at Hadrians Villa. Cicero allegedly possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of which was near Arpinum, pliny the Younger had three or four, of which the example near Laurentium is the best known from his descriptions. Roman writers refer with satisfaction to the self-sufficiency of their latifundium villas, archeologists have meticulously examined numerous Roman villas in England. The grand villa at Woodchester preserved its mosaic floors when the Anglo-Saxon parish church was built upon its site, grave-diggers preparing for burials in the churchyard as late as the 18th century had to punch through the intact mosaic floors. The even more palatial villa rustica at Fishbourne near Winchester was built as an open rectangle. Villae rusticae are essential in the Empires economy, two kinds of villa-plan in Roman Britain may be characteristic of Roman villas in general. The more usual plan extended wings of all opening onto a linking portico. The other kind featured a central hall like a basilica. The villa buildings were often independent structures linked by their enclosed courtyards, timber-framed construction, carefully fitted with mortises and tenons and dowelled together, set on stone footings, were the rule, replaced by stone buildings for the important ceremonial rooms. Traces of window glass have been found, as well as ironwork window grilles, with the decline and collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries, the villas were more and more isolated and came to be protected by walls. In England the villas were abandoned, looted, and burned by Anglo-Saxon invaders in the fifth century, in regions on the Continent, aristocrats and territorial magnates donated large working villas and overgrown abandoned ones to individual monks, these might become the nuclei of monasteries
43.
Pliny the Younger
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Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo, better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Plinys uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him, both Pliny the Elder and the Younger were witnesses to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, in which the former died. Pliny the Younger wrote hundreds of letters, of which 247 still survive and are of historical value. Some are addressed to reigning emperors or to such as the historian Tacitus. Pliny served as a magistrate under Trajan, and his letters to Trajan provide one of the few surviving records of the relationship between the imperial office and provincial governors. Pliny rose through a series of civil and military offices, the cursus honorum and he was a friend of the historian Tacitus and might have employed the biographer Suetonius on his staff. Pliny also came into contact with other men of the period, including the philosophers Artemidorus and Euphrates the Stoic. Pliny the Younger was born in Novum Comum around 61 AD, the son of Lucius Caecilius Cilo, born there, and his wife Plinia Marcella, a sister of Pliny the Elder. He was the grandson of Senator and landowner Gaius Caecilius, revered his uncle, Pliny the Elder, Cilo died at an early age, when Pliny was still young. As a result, the boy lived with his mother. His guardian and preceptor in charge of his education was Lucius Verginius Rufus, after being first tutored at home, Pliny went to Rome for further education. There he was taught rhetoric by Quintilian, a teacher and author. It was at time that Pliny became closer to his uncle Pliny the Elder. When Pliny the Younger was 17 or 18, his uncle Pliny the Elder died attempting to rescue victims of the Vesuvius eruption, in the same document the younger Pliny was adopted by his uncle. As a result, Pliny the Younger changed his name from Gaius Caecilius Cilo to Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, there is some evidence that Pliny had a sibling. The trustees are apparently named in the inscription, L. Caecilius Valens and P. Caecilius Secundus, sons of Lucius, the word contubernalis describing Lutulla is the military term meaning tent-mate, which can only mean that she was living with Lucius, not as his wife. The first man mentioned, L. Caecilius Valens, is probably the older son, Pliny the Younger confirms that he was a trustee for the largess of my ancestors. It seems unknown to Pliny the Elder, so Valens mother was not his sister Plinia
44.
Milan
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Milan is a city in Italy, capital of the Lombardy region, and the most populous metropolitan area and the second most populous comune in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1,351,000, Milan has a population of about 8,500,000 people. It is the industrial and financial centre of Italy and one of global significance. In terms of GDP, it has the largest economy among European non-capital cities, Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and lies at the heart of one of the Four Motors for Europe. Milan is an Alpha leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts Italys Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks, the city is a major world fashion and design capital, well known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total enrolled students, Milans museums, theatres and landmarks attract over 9 million visitors annually. Milan – after Naples – is the second Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, the city hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. Milan is home to two of Europes major football teams, A. C. Milan and F. C. Internazionale, the etymology of Milan is uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name Mediolanum comes from the Latin words medio, however, some scholars believe lanum comes from the Celtic root lan, meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence, Mediolanum could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe, indeed, the name Mediolanum is borne by about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France, e. g. Saintes and Évreux. Alciato credits Ambrose for his account, around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres settled Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement, renaming it Mediolanum, Milan was eventually declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 286 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one, immediately Maximian built several monuments, such as a large circus 470 m ×85 m, the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other buildings. With the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians, after the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. In 452, the Huns overran the city, in 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, a Teutonic tribe, the Lombards, conquered Milan, some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne took the title of King of the Lombards, the Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period
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