1.
The Rooms
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The Rooms is a cultural facility in St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The facility opened in 2005 and houses the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, the facility was constructed on a hill overlooking the port city, at a historic location once occupied by Fort Townshend. The buildings name, as well as its architecture, is a reference to the simple gable-roofed sheds that were once so common at the waterline in Newfoundland fishing villages, during the planning and construction of the building much opposition was raised by archaeologists and historians because of its location. Previously on the same spot of land was located Fort Townshend, an 18th-century military fort. The great star-shaped citadel, one of the largest British fortifications in North America at the time, was built to defend Britains fishing interests. With the withdrawal of the garrison in 1870, the site became the home of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and, later. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1951, on-site interpretation allows visitors to explore this historic past. Careful research and documentation before construction ensured that future study of the site is possible, in March 2013, The Rooms Corporation announced it would developing an outdoor space to improve access and safety, and to commemorate the history of Fort Townshend. The outline of the Fort is to be marked with granite pavers along a lit pathway, plans to excavate archaeological remains of Fort Townshend, which are largely located under the building, were not defined in the scope of the project. The outdoor space will be completed by the Grand Concourse Authority in two phases between 2013 and 2014, the facility was officially opened on June 29,2005. The building offers a view of downtown St. Johns and its architecture, St. Johns Harbour, The Narrows. The Rooms combines three divisions, Archives, Art Gallery, and Museum, the Archives also collects documents and other records from private sources if they are deemed to have value to the history of the province. The Archives database can be accessed here, since opening in 2005, the gallery has produced an average of 15 exhibitions annually, ranging from new-media installations to Renaissance printmaking. The gallery presents new work from across Canada and the world, with a focus on artists working in Newfoundland. Altogether, they comprise over 7,000 works of art, the Provincial Museum focuses on the natural and cultural history of Newfoundland and Labrador. Exhibits include dioramas of the animal and plant life of the tundra and bog, mounted bird displays, other displays include the citys British military history, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, and the culture and contributions of the areas Irish fishermen. Changing exhibits focus on aspects of the provinces history, natural history. The original Newfoundland Museum was located in a large Classical Revival brick, the address of The Rooms is 9 Bonaventure Avenue, St. Johns NL
2.
Hostel
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Hostels provide budget-oriented, sociable accommodation where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed, in a dormitory and share a bathroom, lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex, and private rooms may also be available, in a few countries, such as the UK, Ireland, India and Australia, the word hostel sometimes also refers to establishments providing longer-term accommodation. In India, Pakistan and South Africa, hostel also refers to boarding schools or student dormitories in resident colleges and universities, in other parts of the world, the word hostel mainly refers to properties offering shared accommodation to travellers or backpackers. Backpackers Hostels began in Australia and New Zealand and differ from Hostels by being open during the day time, in 1912, in Altena Castle in Germany, Richard Schirrmann created the first permanent Jugendherberge or Youth Hostel. These first youth hostels were an exponent of the vision of the German Youth Movement to let poor city youngsters breathe fresh air outdoors. The youths were supposed to manage the hostel themselves as much as possible, doing chores to keep the costs down and build character, because of this, many youth hostels closed during the middle part of the day. While most hostels still close during the day no longer require chores beyond washing up after self-catered meals. The words hotel, hostel, and hostal are etymologically related, coming into the English language from Old French hostel, itself from Late Latin hospitale, nowadays, however, they each refer to distinct types of accommodation. In particular, hostal is used in Spanish either with the sense as hostel. For those who prefer an environment, hostels do not usually have the same level of formality as hotels. For those who prefer to socialise with their guests, hostels usually have more common areas. The dormitory aspect of hostels also increases the social factor, Hostels normally close during the day to keep down cost. There is less privacy in a hostel than in a hotel, sharing sleeping accommodation in a dormitory is very different from staying in a private room in a hotel or bed and breakfast, and might not be comfortable for those requiring more privacy. Hostels encourage more interaction between guests due to the shared sleeping areas and communal areas such as lounges, kitchens. Care should be taken with personal belongings, as guests may share a living space. Noise can make sleeping difficult on occasions, whether from snoring, talking, sexual activity, someone either returning late or leaving early, to mitigate this, some wear earplugs and/or sleeping masks. Some hostels may include a hot meal in the price, the traditional hostel format involved dormitory style accommodation. Some newer hostels also include en-suite accommodation with single, double or quad occupancy rooms, in recent years, the numbers of independent and backpackers hostels have increased greatly to cater for the greater numbers of overland, multi-destination travellers
3.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
4.
Hall
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In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord. Later, rooms were partitioned from it, and the next to the front door became the entrance hall. Today, the hall of a house is the next to the front door or vestibule leading to the rooms directly and/or indirectly. Where the hall inside the front door of a house is elongated, it may be called a passage, in warmer climates the houses of the wealthy were often built around a courtyard, but in northern areas manors were built around a great hall. The hall was home to the hearth, and was all the residents of the house would eat, work. One common example of form is the longhouse. Only particularly messy tasks would be done in rooms on the periphery of the hall. Still today the hall is often used to designate a country house such as a hall house, or specifically a Wealden hall house. In later medieval Europe, the room of a castle or manor house was the great hall. In a medieval building, the hall was where the fire was kept, as heating technology improved and a desire for privacy grew, tasks moved from the hall to other rooms. First the master of the house withdrew to private bedrooms and eating areas, over time servants and children also moved to their own areas, while work projects were also given their own chambers leaving the hall for special functions. With time, its functions as dormitory, kitchen, parlour and so on were divided off to separate rooms or, in the case of the kitchen, until the early modern era that majority of the population lived in houses with a single room. In the 17th century even lower classes began to have a room, with the main chamber being the hall. The hall and parlor house was found in England and was a fundamental, historical floor plan in parts of the United States from 1620 to 1860, in Europe as the wealthy embraced multiple rooms initially the common form was the enfilade, with rooms directly connecting to each other. In 1597 John Thorpe is the first recorded architect to replace multiple connected rooms with a rooms along a corridor each accessed by a separate door. Many buildings at colleges and universities are formally titled _______ Hall, typically being named after the person who endowed it, for example, Kings Hall, others, such as Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, commemorate respected people. Between these in age, Nassau Hall at Princeton University began as the building of the then college
5.
Wall
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A wall is a structure that defines an area, carries a load, or provides shelter or security. an earthen wall or rampart set with palisades, a row or line of stakes, a wall, a rampart, fortification. While the Latin word murus means a stone wall. English uses the word to mean an external wall and the internal sides of a room. Many languages distinguish between the two, in German, some of this distinction can be seen between Wand and Mauer, in Spanish between pared and muro. The word wall originally referred to defensive walls and ramparts, building walls purposes are to support roofs, floors and ceilings, enclose a space as part of the building envelope, along with a roof to give buildings form, and to provide shelter and security. In addition, the wall may house various types of such as electrical wiring or plumbing. Wall construction falls into two categories, framed walls or mass-walls. In framed walls the load is transferred to the foundation through posts, framed walls most often have three or more separate components, the structural elements, insulation, and finish elements or surfaces. There are three basic methods walls control water intrusion, moisture storage, drained cladding, or face-sealed cladding, moisture storage is typical of stone and brick mass-wall buildings where moisture is absorbed and released by the walls of the structure itself. Sometimes ventilation is provided in addition to the plane such as in rainscreen construction. Face-sealed also called barrier wall or perfect barrier cladding relies on maintaining a leak-free surface of the cladding, examples of face sealed cladding are the early exterior insulation finishing systems, structural glazing, metal clad panels, and corrugated metal. In architecture and civil engineering, curtain wall refers to a facade that is not load-bearing but provides decoration, finish, front, face. Mullion walls are a system that carries the load of the floor slab on prefabricated panels around the perimeter. A partition wall is a wall that separates rooms, or divides a room, partition walls are usually not load-bearing. Partition walls are constructed of materials, including steel panels, bricks, blocks of clay, terra-cotta, concrete. Some partition walls are made of sheet glass, glass partition walls are a series of individual toughened glass panels mounted in wood or metal framing. They may be suspended from or slide along a robust aluminium ceiling track, the system does not require the use of a floor guide, which allows easy operation and an uninterrupted threshold. A timber partition consists of a framework, supported on the floor or by side walls
6.
Door
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A door is a moving structure used to block off, and allow access to, an entrance to or within an enclosed space, such as a building or vehicle. Doors normally consist of a panel that swings on hinges on the edge, similar exterior structures to doors are called gates. Typically, doors have a side that faces the inside of a space. In many cases the interior side of a door mostly matches its exterior side, when open, doors admit people, animals, ventilation or light. The door is used to control the atmosphere within a space by enclosing the air drafts. Doors are significant in preventing the spread of fire and they also act as a barrier to noise. Many doors are equipped with locking mechanisms to allow entrance to certain people, as a form of courtesy and civility, people often knock before opening a door and entering a room. Doors are used to screen areas of a building for aesthetics, keeping formal, Doors also have an aesthetic role in creating an impression of what lies beyond. Doors are often endowed with ritual purposes, and the guarding or receiving of the keys to a door, or being granted access to a door can have special significance. Similarly, doors and doorways frequently appear in metaphorical or allegorical situations, literature, the earliest in records are those represented in the paintings of the Egyptian tombs, in which they are shown as single or double doors, each in a single piece of wood. Doors were once believed to be the doorway to the afterlife. The stiles were the boards, one of which, tenoned or hinged, is known as the hanging stile. The horizontal cross pieces are the top rail, bottom rail, the most ancient doors were made timber, such as those referred to in the Biblical depiction of King Solomons temple being in olive wood, which were carved and overlaid with gold. The doors dwelt upon in Homer would appear to have been cased in silver or brass, besides olive wood, elm, cedar, oak and cypress were used. A5, 000-year-old door has been found by archaeologists in Switzerland. All ancient doors were hung by pivots at the top and bottom of the hanging stile which worked in sockets in the lintel and sill and those found at Nippur by Dr. Hilprecht dating from 2000 B. C. were in dolerite. The tenons of the gates at Balawat were sheathed with bronze and these doors or gates were hung in two leaves, each about 8 ft 4 in wide and 27 ft. high, they were encased with bronze bands or strips,10 in. High, covered with decoration of figures, etc
7.
Minoan civilization
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The Minoan civilization was an Aegean Bronze Age civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean islands which flourished from about 2600 to 1100 BC. It preceded the Mycenaean civilization of Ancient Greece, the civilization was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of British archaeologist Arthur Evans. It has been described as the earliest of its kind in Europe, the term Minoan, which refers to the mythical King Minos, originally described the pottery of the period. Minos was associated in Greek mythology with the labyrinth and the Minotaur, according to Homer, Crete once had 90 cities. The Minoan period saw trade between Crete and Aegean and Mediterranean settlements, particularly the Near East, traders and artists, the Minoan cultural influence reached beyond Crete to the Cyclades, Egypts Old Kingdom, copper-bearing Cyprus, Canaan and the Levantine coast, and Anatolia. Some of its best art is preserved in the city of Akrotiri on the island of Santorini, although the Minoan language and writing systems remain undecipherable and are subjects of academic dispute, they apparently conveyed a language entirely different from the later Greek. The reason for the end of the Minoan period is unclear, theories include Mycenaean invasions from mainland Greece, the term Minoan refers to the mythical King Minos of Knossos. Its origin is debated, but it is attributed to archeologist Arthur Evans. Minos was associated in Greek mythology with the labyrinth, which Evans identified with the site at Knossos. However, Karl Hoeck had already used the title Das Minoische Kreta in 1825 for volume two of his Kreta, this appears to be the first known use of the word Minoan to mean ancient Cretan, Evans said that applied it, not invented it. Hoeck, with no idea that the archaeological Crete had existed, had in mind the Crete of mythology, although Evans 1931 claim that the term was unminted before he used it was called a brazen suggestion by Karadimas and Momigliano, he coined its archaeological meaning. Instead of dating the Minoan period, archaeologists use two systems of relative chronology, the first, created by Evans and modified by later archaeologists, is based on pottery styles and imported Egyptian artifacts. Evans system divides the Minoan period into three eras, early, middle and late. These eras are subdivided—for example, Early Minoan I, II and III, another dating system, proposed by Greek archaeologist Nicolas Platon, is based on the development of architectural complexes known as palaces at Knossos, Phaistos, Malia and Kato Zakros. Platon divides the Minoan period into pre-, proto-, neo-, the relationship between the systems in the table includes approximate calendar dates from Warren and Hankey. The Thera eruption occurred during a phase of the LM IA period. Efforts to establish the volcanic eruptions date have been controversial, the eruption is identified as a natural event catastrophic for the culture, leading to its rapid collapse. Although stone-tool evidence exists that hominins may have reached Crete as early as 130,000 years ago, evidence for the first anatomically-modern human presence dates to 10, the oldest evidence of modern human habitation on Crete are pre-ceramic Neolithic farming-community remains which date to about 7000 BC
8.
Santorini
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Santorini, classically Thera, and officially Thira, is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km southeast of Greeces mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera. It forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately 73 km2, the municipality of Santorini includes the inhabited islands of Santorini and Therasia and the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Aspronisi, and Christiana. The total land area is 90.623 km2, Santorini is part of the Thira regional unit. Santorini is essentially what remains after a volcanic eruption that destroyed the earliest settlements on a formerly single island. A giant central, rectangular lagoon, which measures about 12 by 7 km, is surrounded by 300 m high, the main island slopes downward to the Aegean Sea. On the fourth side, the lagoon is separated from the sea by another smaller island called Therasia. The islands principal port is Athinios, the capital, Fira, clings to the top of the cliff looking down on the lagoon. The volcanic rocks present from the prior eruptions feature olivine, and have a presence of hornblende. It is the most active volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, the volcanic arc is approximately 500 km long and 20 to 40 km wide. The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history, the Minoan eruption, another popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis. Before then, it was known as Kallístē, Strongýlē, or Thēra, the name Thera was revived in the nineteenth century as the official name of the island and its main city, but the colloquial name Santorini is still in popular use. During the Ottoman Empires domination of the Aegean Sea, the Turkish exonym for the island was Santurin or Santoron, Oia is now called a Κοινότητα, within the municipality of Thera, and it consists of the local subdivisions of Therasia and Oia. The two main sources of wealth in Santorini are agriculture and tourism, in recent years, Santorini has been voted one of the worlds most beautiful islands. Santorini remains the home of a small, but flourishing wine industry, white varieties also include Athiri and Aidani, whereas red varieties include mavrotragano and mandilaria. The Cyclades are part of a complex that is known as the Cycladic Massif. The complex formed during the Miocene and was folded and metamorphosed during the Alpine orogeny around 60 million years ago, Thera is built upon a small, non-volcanic basement that represents the former non-volcanic island, which was approximately 9 by 6 km. The basement rock is composed of metamorphosed limestone and schist
9.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
10.
Akrotiri (Santorini)
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Akrotiri is a Minoan Bronze Age settlement on the volcanic Greek island of Santorini. The settlement was destroyed in the Theran eruption about 1627 BC and buried in volcanic ash, the settlement has been suggested as a possible inspiration for Platos story of Atlantis. The site has been excavated since 1967, the earliest evidence for human habitation of Akrotiri can be traced back as early as the fifth millennium BC, when it was a small fishing and farming village. By the end of the millennium, this community developed and expanded significantly. One factor for Akrotiri’s growth may be the relations it established with other cultures in the Aegean. This all came to an end, however, in the late 17th century BC with the eruption of Thera. The excavation is named for a village situated on a hill nearby. The name of the site in antiquity is unknown, Akrotiri was buried by the massive Theran eruption in the middle of the second millennium BC, as a result, like the Roman ruins of Pompeii after it, it is remarkably well-preserved. Frescoes, pottery, furniture, advanced drainage systems and three-story buildings have been discovered at the site, the earliest excavations on Santorini were conducted by French geologist F. Fouque in 1867, after some local people found old artifacts at a quarry. Later, in 1895-1900, the digs by German archeologist Baron Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen revealed the ruins of ancient Thera on Mesa Vouno. Also, a later, R. Zahn excavated in the locality of Potamos, near Akrotiri. Extensive modern excavation was started in 1967 by Spyridon Marinatos, Spyridon Marinatos choice of site proved to be correct, and just a few hours into the excavation, the remains of the buried city began to be discovered. The next step was to determine the extent of the city and he experimented with tunneling into the pumice, but this technique was later abandoned. Excavated artifacts have been installed in a museum distant from the site, with many objects, only a single gold object has been found, hidden beneath flooring, and no uninterred human skeletal remains have been found. This indicates that an evacuation was performed with little or no loss of life. An ambitious modern roof structure, meant to protect the site, collapsed just prior to its completion in 2005, no damage was caused to the antiquities. As a result, the site was closed to visitors until April 2012, all of the pigments used by the artists at Akrotiri for painting the frescoes look as though they are all mineral based, and thus have resulted in the great preservation of the pieces. The colors used in Theran painting includes white, yellow, red, brown, blue, as a result, often on the same fresco, the paint has penetrated the plaster in some areas but flakes off easily in others
11.
Bedroom
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A bedroom is a room of a house, mansion, hotel, dormitory, or apartment where people sleep. A typical western bedroom contains as bedroom furniture one or two beds, a closet, a nightstand, and a dresser. Except in bungalows or one-storey motels, bedrooms are usually on one of the floors of a dwelling that is ground level. Modern bedrooms often have central heating, Older bedrooms in countries with cool or cold climates often had built-in fireplaces and these were not normally lit, but provided for times when a sick person or invalid was occupying the bedroom. In larger Victorian houses it was common to have accessible from the bedroom a boudoir for the lady of the house and a dressing room for the gentleman. Attic bedrooms exist in some houses, since they are separated from the outside air by the roof they are typically cold in winter. The slope of the rafters supporting a pitched roof also makes them inconvenient, in houses where servants were living in they often used attic bedrooms. In the 14th century the lower class slept on mattresses that were stuffed with straw, during the 16th century mattresses stuffed with feathers started to gain popularity, with those who could afford them. The common person was doing if he could buy a mattress after seven years of marriage. In the 18th century cotton and wool started to more common. The first coil spring mattress wasn’t invented until 1871, the most common and most purchased mattress is the innerspring mattress. The variety of choices range from soft to a rather firm mattress. A bedroom may have bunk beds if more than one person share a room, a chamber pot kept under the bed or in a nightstand was usual in the period before modern domestic plumbing and bathrooms in dwellings. Furniture and other items in bedrooms vary greatly, depending on taste, local traditions, for instance, a master bedroom may include a bed of a specific size, one or more dressers, a nightstand, one or more closets, and carpeting. Built-in closets are less common in Europe than in North America, an individual’s bedroom is a reflection of their personality, as well as social class and socioeconomic status, and is unique to each person. The various television series of Come Dine with Me expose to view some of the bedrooms of the hosts of particular programmes both to the guests and to those who choose to watch, however, there are certain items that are common in most bedrooms. Mattresses usually have a bed set to raise the mattress off the floor, there are many different types of mattresses. They are used to put items on, such as an alarm clock or a small lamp
12.
Kitchen
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A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. Many households have an oven, a dishwasher and other electric appliances. The main function of a kitchen is serving as a location for storing, cooking and preparing food, commercial kitchens are found in restaurants, cafeterias, hotels, hospitals, educational and workplace facilities, army barracks, and similar establishments. These kitchens are generally larger and equipped with bigger and more heavy-duty equipment than a residential kitchen, for example, a large restaurant may have a huge walk-in refrigerator and a large commercial dishwasher machine. Commercial kitchens are generally subject to public health laws and they are inspected periodically by public-health officials, and forced to close if they do not meet hygienic requirements mandated by law. The evolution of the kitchen is linked to the invention of the range or stove. Food was cooked over an open fire, technical advances in heating food in the 18th and 19th centuries changed the architecture of the kitchen. Before the advent of modern pipes, water was brought from a source such as wells. The houses in Ancient Greece were commonly of the atrium-type, the rooms were arranged around a courtyard for women. In many such homes, a covered but otherwise open patio served as the kitchen, homes of the wealthy had the kitchen as a separate room, usually next to a bathroom, both rooms being accessible from the court. In such houses, there was often a small storage room in the back of the kitchen used for storing food. In the Roman Empire, common folk in cities often had no kitchen of their own, some had small mobile bronze stoves, on which a fire could be lit for cooking. Wealthy Romans had relatively well-equipped kitchens, the fireplace was typically on the floor, placed at a wall—sometimes raised a little bit—such that one had to kneel to cook. Early medieval European longhouses had a fire under the highest point of the building. The kitchen area was between the entrance and the fireplace, in wealthy homes there was typically more than one kitchen. In some homes there were upwards of three kitchens, the kitchens were divided based on the types of food prepared in them. In place of a chimney, these buildings had a hole in the roof through which some of the smoke could escape. Besides cooking, the fire served as a source of heat
13.
Bathroom
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A bathroom is a room in the home for personal hygiene activities, generally containing a sink and either a bathtub, a shower, or both. In some countries, the toilet is included in this room, for ease of plumbing, whereas other cultures consider this insanitary, historically, bathing was often a collective activity, which took place in public baths. In some countries the social aspect of cleansing the body is still important, as for example with sento in Japan. In North American English the word bathroom may be used to any room containing a toilet. The term for the used to clean the body varies around the English-speaking world. A full bathroom is generally understood to contain a bath or shower, a toilet, an ensuite bathroom or ensuite shower room is attached to and only accessible from a bedroom. A family bathroom, in British estate agent terminology, is a full bathroom not attached to a bedroom, a Jack and Jill bathroom or connected bathroom is situated between and shared by the occupants of two separate bedrooms. A wetroom is a room usually equipped with a shower. In the United States, there is a lack of a single, universal definition, in some U. S. markets, a toilet, sink, and shower are considered a full bath. In addition, there is the use of the bathroom to describe a room containing a toilet, usually a basin. See that article for further synonyms and euphemisms, bathrooms often have one or more towel bars or towel rings for hanging towels. Some bathrooms contain a medicine cabinet for personal hygiene products and medicines, some bathrooms contain a bidet, which might be placed next to a toilet. The design of a bathroom must account for the use of hot and cold water, in significant quantities, for cleaning the body. The water is used for moving solid and liquid human waste to a sewer or septic tank. Water may be splashed on the walls and floor, and hot air may cause condensation on cold surfaces. From a decorating point of view the bathroom presents a challenge, ceiling, wall and floor materials and coverings should be impervious to water and readily and easily cleaned. The use of ceramic or glass, as well as smooth plastic materials, is common in bathrooms for their ease of cleaning. Such surfaces are often cold to the touch, however, alternatively, the floor may be heated, possibly by strategically placing resistive electric mats under floor tile or radiant hot water tubing close to the underside of the floor surface
14.
Staircase
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A stairway, staircase, stairwell, flight of stairs, or simply stairs is a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. Stairs may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles, special types of stairs include escalators and ladders. Some alternatives to stairs are elevators, stairlifts and inclined moving walkways as well as stationary inclined sidewalks, a stair, or a stairstep is one step in a flight of stairs. In buildings, stairs is a term applied to a flight of steps between two floors. A stair flight is a run of stairs or steps between landings, a staircase or stairway is one or more flights of stairs leading from one floor to another, and includes landings, newel posts, handrails, balustrades and additional parts. A stairwell is a compartment extending vertically through a building in which stairs are placed. A stair hall is the stairs, landings, hallways, or other portions of the hall through which it is necessary to pass when going from the entrance floor to the other floors of a building. Box stairs are stairs built between walls, usually with no support except the wall strings, Stairs may be in a straight run, leading from one floor to another without a turn or change in direction. Stairs may change direction, commonly by two flights connected at a 90 degree angle landing. Stairs may also return onto themselves with 180 degree angle landings at each end of straight flights forming a vertical stairway commonly used in multistory, many variations of geometrical stairs may be formed of circular, elliptical and irregular constructions. Stairs may be a component of egress from structures and buildings. Stairs are also provided for convenience to access floors, roofs, levels, Stairs may also be a fanciful physical construct such as the stairs that go nowhere located at the Winchester Mystery House. Stairs are also a used in art to represent real or imaginary places built around impossible objects using geometric distortion. Stairway is also a metaphor for achievement or loss of a position in the society. Each step is composed of tread and riser, tread The part of the stairway that is stepped on. It is constructed to the specifications as any other flooring. The tread depth is measured from the edge of the step to the vertical riser between steps. The width is measured from one side to the other, riser The vertical portion between each tread on the stair
15.
Alabaster
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Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft and often used for carving, as well as being processed for plaster powder. The term is used in different ways by archaeologists and the processing industry on the one hand. The first use is in a meaning, covering varieties of two different minerals, the fine-grained massive type of gypsum, as well as the fine-grained banded type of calcite. Geologists only define the gypsum variety as alabaster, chemically, gypsum is a hydrous sulfate of calcium, while calcite is a carbonate of calcium. Both types of alabaster have broadly similar properties and they are usually light-coloured, translucent and soft stones that have been used throughout human history mainly for carving decorative artifacts. Onyx-marble must be understood as a traditional, but geologically inaccurate term, in general, ancient alabaster is calcite in the wider Middle East, including Egypt and Mesopotamia, while it is gypsum in medieval Europe. Modern alabaster is calcite, but may be either. Both are easy to work and slightly water-soluble and they have been used for making a variety of indoor artworks and carvings, as they will not survive long outdoors. Moreover, calcite alabaster, being a carbonate, effervesces when treated with hydrochloric acid, the origin of the word alabaster is in Middle English through Old French alabastre, in turn derived from the Latin alabaster, and that from Greek ἀλάβαστρος or ἀλάβαστος. The Greek words were used to identify a vase made of alabaster and this name may be derived further from the Ancient Egyptian word a-labaste, which refers to vessels of the Egyptian goddess Bast. She was represented as a lioness and frequently depicted as such in figures placed atop these alabaster vessels, other suggestions include derivation from the town of Alabastron in Egypt, described in sometimes contradictory manner by Roman-era authors Pliny and Ptolemy and whose location is not yet known. The purest alabaster is a material of fine uniform grain, but it often is associated with an oxide of iron. The coarser varieties of gypsum alabaster are converted by calcination into plaster of Paris, the softness of alabaster enables it to be carved readily into elaborate forms, but its solubility in water renders it unsuitable for outdoor work. If alabaster with a smooth, polished surface is washed with dishwashing liquid, it will become rough, dull and whiter, losing most of its translucency and lustre. The finer kinds of alabaster are employed largely as a stone, especially for ecclesiastical decoration and for the rails of staircases. Alabaster is mined and then sold in blocks to alabaster workshops, the effect of heating appears to be a partial dehydration of the gypsum. If properly treated, it closely resembles true marble and is known as marmo di Castellina. Alabaster is a stone and can be dyed into any colour or shade
16.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
17.
Ancestral Puebloans
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The Ancestral Puebloans are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara Tradition, who developed from the Picosa culture. They lived in a range of structures that included small family pit houses, larger structures to house clans, grand pueblos, the Ancestral Puebloans possessed a complex network that stretched across the Colorado Plateau linking hundreds of communities and population centers. They held a distinct knowledge of celestial sciences that found form in their architecture, the kiva, a congregational space that was used chiefly for ceremonial purposes, was an integral part of this ancient peoples community structure. In contemporary times, the people and their culture were referred to as Anasazi for historical purposes. The Navajo, who were not their descendants, called them by this term, reflecting historic traditions, the term was used to mean ancient enemies. Contemporary Puebloans do not want this term used, archaeologists continue to debate when this distinct culture emerged. The current agreement, based on terminology defined by the Pecos Classification, suggests their emergence around the 12th century BC, beginning with the earliest explorations and excavations, researchers identified Ancestral Puebloans as the forerunners of contemporary Pueblo peoples. Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in the United States are credited to the Pueblos, Mesa Verde National Park, Chaco Culture National Historical Park and Taos Pueblo. Pueblo, which means village in Spanish, was a term originating with the Spanish explorers who used it to refer to the particular style of dwelling. The Navajo now use the term in the sense of referring to ancient people or ancient ones, Hopi people used the term Hisatsinom, meaning ancient people, to describe the Ancestral Puebloans. The Ancestral Puebloans were one of four major prehistoric archaeological traditions recognized in the American Southwest and this area is sometimes referred to as Oasisamerica in the region defining pre-Columbian southwestern North America. The others are the Mogollon, Hohokam, and Patayan, in relation to neighboring cultures, the Ancestral Puebloans occupied the northeast quadrant of the area. The Ancestral Puebloan homeland centers on the Colorado Plateau, but extends from central New Mexico on the east to southern Nevada on the west. Structures and other evidence of Ancestral Puebloan culture has been found extending east onto the American Great Plains, in areas near the Cimarron and Pecos Rivers, terrain and resources within this large region vary greatly. The plateau regions have high elevations ranging from 4,500 to 8,500 feet, extensive horizontal mesas are capped by sedimentary formations and support woodlands of junipers, pinon, and ponderosa pines, each favoring different elevations. Wind and water erosion have created steep-walled canyons, and sculpted windows, in areas where resistant strata, such as sandstone or limestone, overlie more easily eroded strata such as shale, rock overhangs formed. The Ancestral Puebloans favored building under such overhangs for shelters and defensive building sites, all areas of the Ancestral Puebloan homeland suffered from periods of drought, and wind and water erosion. Summer rains could be unreliable and often arrived as destructive thunderstorms, while the amount of winter snowfall varied greatly, the Ancestral Puebloans depended on the snow for most of their water
18.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
19.
Maya civilization
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The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. The Archaic period, prior to 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture, the first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC, in the Late Preclassic a number of large cities developed in the Petén Basin, and Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands. Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop a number of city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful, the Classic period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonized the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city in 1697. Classic period rule was centred on the concept of the divine king, kingship was patrilineal, and power would normally pass to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader. Maya politics was dominated by a system of patronage, although the exact political make-up of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic, the aristocracy had greatly increased, resulting in the reduction in the exclusive power of the divine king. Maya cities tended to expand haphazardly, and the city centre would be occupied by ceremonial and administrative complexes, different parts of a city would often be linked by causeways. The principal architecture of the city consisted of palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, the Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing that was the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, there are also a great many examples of Maya text found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a complex series of interlocking ritual calendars. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice, the Maya civilization developed within the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers a region that spreads from northern Mexico southwards into Central America. Mesoamerica was one of six cradles of civilization worldwide, the Mesoamerican area gave rise to a series of cultural developments that included complex societies, agriculture, cities, monumental architecture, writing, and calendrical systems
20.
Central America
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Central America is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. Central America is bordered by Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the east, Central America consists of seven countries, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The combined population of Central America is between 41,739,000 and 42,688,190, Central America is a part of the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from northern Guatemala through to central Panama. Due to the presence of several active faults and the Central America Volcanic Arc. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur frequently, these disasters have resulted in the loss of many lives. In the Pre-Columbian era, Central America was inhabited by the peoples of Mesoamerica to the north and west. Soon after Christopher Columbuss voyages to the Americas, the Spanish began to colonize the Americas, the seven states finally became independent autonomous states, beginning with Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, followed by El Salvador, then Panama, and finally Belize. Middle America is usually thought to comprise Mexico to the north of the 7 states of Central America as well as Colombia, usually the whole of the Caribbean to the north-east and sometimes the Guyanas are also included. According to one source, the term Central America was used as a synonym for Middle America as recently as 1962, in Brazil, Central America comprises all countries between Mexico and Colombia, including those in the Caribbean. Mexico, in whole or in part, is included by British people. For the people living in the 5 countries formerly part of the Federal Republic of Central America there is a distinction between the Spanish language terms América Central and Centroamérica, in the Pre-Columbian era, the northern areas of Central America were inhabited by the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. Most notable among these were the Mayans, who had built numerous cities throughout the region, and the Aztecs, following Christopher Columbuss voyages to the Americas, the Spanish sent many expeditions to the region, and they began their conquest of Maya territory in 1523. Soon after the conquest of the Aztec Empire, Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado commenced the conquest of northern Central America for the Spanish Empire. Beginning with his arrival in Soconusco in 1523, Alvarados forces systematically conquered and subjugated most of the major Maya kingdoms, including the Kiche, Tzutujil, Pipil, and the Kaqchikel. By 1528, the conquest of Guatemala was nearly complete, with only the Petén Basin remaining outside the Spanish sphere of influence, the last independent Maya kingdoms – the Kowoj and the Itza people – were finally defeated in 1697, as part of the Spanish conquest of Petén. In 1538, Spain established the Real Audiencia of Panama, which had jurisdiction over all land from the Strait of Magellan to the Gulf of Fonseca. This entity was dissolved in 1543, and most of the territory within Central America then fell under the jurisdiction of the Audiencia Real de Guatemala. This area included the current territories of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Mexican state of Chiapas, the president of the Audiencia, which had its seat in Antigua Guatemala, was the governor of the entire area
21.
Common Era
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Common Era or Current Era is a year-numbering system for the Julian and Gregorian calendars that refers to the years since the start of this era, i. e. since AD1. The preceding era is referred to as before the Common or Current Era, the Current Era notation system can be used as a secular alternative to the Dionysian era system, which distinguishes eras as AD and BC. The two notation systems are equivalent, thus 2017 CE corresponds to AD2017 and 400 BCE corresponds to 400 BC. The year-numbering system for the Gregorian calendar is the most widespread civil calendar used in the world today. For decades, it has been the standard, recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations. The expression has been traced back to Latin usage to 1615, as vulgaris aerae, the term Common Era can be found in English as early as 1708, and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish academics. He attempted to number years from a reference date, an event he referred to as the Incarnation of Jesus. Dionysius labeled the column of the table in which he introduced the new era as Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, numbering years in this manner became more widespread in Europe with its usage by Bede in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before what he supposed was the year of birth of Jesus, in 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius. The first use of the Latin term vulgaris aerae discovered so far was in a 1615 book by Johannes Kepler, Kepler uses it again in a 1616 table of ephemerides, and again in 1617. A1635 English edition of that book has the title page in English – so far, a 1701 book edited by John LeClerc includes Before Christ according to the Vulgar Æra,6. A1716 book in English by Dean Humphrey Prideaux says, before the beginning of the vulgar æra, a 1796 book uses the term vulgar era of the nativity. The first so-far-discovered usage of Christian Era is as the Latin phrase aerae christianae on the page of a 1584 theology book. In 1649, the Latin phrase æræ Christianæ appeared in the title of an English almanac, a 1652 ephemeris is the first instance so-far-found for English usage of Christian Era. The English phrase common Era appears at least as early as 1708, a 1759 history book uses common æra in a generic sense, to refer to the common era of the Jews. The first-so-far found usage of the phrase before the era is in a 1770 work that also uses common era and vulgar era as synonyms. The 1797 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the terms vulgar era, the Catholic Encyclopedia in at least one article reports all three terms being commonly understood by the early 20th century. Thus, the era of the Jews, the common era of the Mahometans, common era of the world
22.
Han dynasty
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The Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period. Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered an age in Chinese history. To this day, Chinas majority ethnic group refers to itself as the Han people and it was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han, and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods, the Western Han or Former Han and the Eastern Han or Later Han, the emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the gentry class. The Han Empire was divided into areas controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States, from the reign of Emperor Wu onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 AD, the Han dynasty was an age of economic prosperity and saw a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty. The coinage issued by the government mint in 119 BC remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang dynasty. The period saw a number of limited institutional innovations, the Xiongnu, a nomadic steppe confederation, defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a de facto inferior partner, but continued their raids on the Han borders. Emperor Wu of Han launched several campaigns against them. The ultimate Han victory in these wars eventually forced the Xiongnu to accept vassal status as Han tributaries, the territories north of Hans borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic Xianbei confederation. Imperial authority was seriously challenged by large Daoist religious societies which instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion. When Cao Pi, King of Wei, usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, following Liu Bangs victory in the Chu–Han Contention, the resulting Han dynasty was named after the Hanzhong fief. Chinas first imperial dynasty was the Qin dynasty, the Qin unified the Chinese Warring States by conquest, but their empire became unstable after the death of the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. Within four years, the authority had collapsed in the face of rebellion. Although Xiang Yu proved to be a commander, Liu Bang defeated him at Battle of Gaixia. Liu Bang assumed the title emperor at the urging of his followers and is known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu, Changan was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han
23.
Anno Domini
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The terms anno Domini and before Christ are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means in the year of the Lord, There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor, the Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. Traditionally, English followed Latin usage by placing the AD abbreviation before the year number, however, BC is placed after the year number, which also preserves syntactic order. The abbreviation is widely used after the number of a century or millennium. Because BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes concluded that AD means After Death. However, this would mean that the approximate 33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be included in either of the BC, astronomical year numbering and ISO8601 avoid words or abbreviations related to Christianity, but use the same numbers for AD years. The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus to enumerate the years in his Easter table. His system was to replace the Diocletian era that had used in an old Easter table because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. The last year of the old table, Diocletian 247, was followed by the first year of his table. Thus Dionysius implied that Jesus Incarnation occurred 525 years earlier, without stating the year during which his birth or conception occurred. Blackburn & Holford-Strevens briefly present arguments for 2 BC,1 BC, There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls There were confused summations of emperors regnal years It is not known how Dionysius established the year of Jesuss birth. It is convenient to initiate a calendar not from the day of an event. For example, the Islamic calendar begins not from the date of the Hegira, at the time, it was believed by some that the Resurrection and end of the world would occur 500 years after the birth of Jesus. The old Anno Mundi calendar theoretically commenced with the creation of the based on information in the Old Testament. It was believed that, based on the Anno Mundi calendar, Anno Mundi 6000 was thus equated with the resurrection and the end of the world but this date had already passed in the time of Dionysius. The Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius Exiguus, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. e. On the continent of Europe, Anno Domini was introduced as the era of choice of the Carolingian Renaissance by the English cleric and scholar Alcuin in the late eighth century
24.
House
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Houses use a range of different roofing systems to keep precipitation such as rain from getting into the dwelling space. Houses may have doors or locks to secure the dwelling space, most conventional modern houses in Western cultures will contain one or more bedrooms and bathrooms, a kitchen or cooking area, and a living room. A house may have a dining room, or the eating area may be integrated into another room. Some large houses in North America have a recreation room, in traditional agriculture-oriented societies, domestic animals such as chickens or larger livestock may share part of the house with humans. The social unit that lives in a house is known as a household, most commonly, a household is a family unit of some kind, although households may also be other social groups, such as roommates or, in a rooming house, unconnected individuals. Some houses only have a space for one family or similar-sized group. A house may be accompanied by outbuildings, such as a garage for vehicles or a shed for gardening equipment, a house may have a backyard or frontyard, which serve as additional areas where inhabitants can relax or eat. The English word house derives directly from the Old English Hus meaning dwelling, shelter, home, house, the house itself gave rise to the letter B through an early Proto-Semitic hieroglyphic symbol depicting a house. The symbol was called bayt, bet or beth in various related languages, and became beta, ideally, architects of houses design rooms to meet the needs of the people who will live in the house. Such designing, known as design, has become a popular subject in universities. Feng shui can also mean the aura in or around a dwelling, making it comparable to the real-estate sales concept of indoor-outdoor flow, the square footage of a house in the United States reports the area of living space, excluding the garage and other non-living spaces. The square metres figure of a house in Europe reports the area of the enclosing the home. The number of floors or levels making up the house can affect the square footage of a home, many houses have several large rooms with specialized functions and several very small rooms for other various reasons. These may include an area, a sleeping area, and separate or combined washing. Some larger properties may also feature such as a spa room, indoor pool, indoor basketball court. In traditional agriculture-oriented societies, domestic animals such as chickens or larger livestock often share part of the house with human beings, most conventional modern houses will at least contain a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen or cooking area, and a living room. Little is known about the earliest origin of the house and its interior, roman architect Vitruvius theories have claimed the first form of architecture as a frame of timber branches finished in mud, also known as the primitive hut. Philip Tabor later states the contribution of 17th century Dutch houses as the foundation of houses today, as far as the idea of the home is concerned, the home of the home is the Netherlands
25.
Pantries
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A pantry is a room where beverages, food, and sometimes dishes, household cleaning chemicals, linens, or provisions are stored. Food and beverage pantries serve in a capacity to the kitchen. The word pantry derive from the source as the Old French term paneterie, that is from pain. In a late medieval hall, there were rooms for the various service functions. A pantry was where bread was kept and food associated with it was done. The head of the responsible for this room was referred to as a pantler. There were similar rooms for storage of bacon and other meats, alcoholic beverages known for the butts of barrels stored there), and cooking. In the United States, pantries evolved from early Colonial American butteries, built in a cold north corner of a Colonial home, into a variety of pantries in self-sufficient farmsteads. By the Victorian era, large houses and estates in Britain maintained the use of rooms, each one dedicated to a distinct stage of food preparation. The kitchen was for cooking, while food storage was done in a storeroom, food preparation before cooking was done in a larder, and dishwashing was done in a scullery or pantry, depending on the type of dish and level of dirt. Since the scullery was the room with running water, it had a sink, the pantry was where tableware was stored, such as china, glassware, and silverware. If the pantry had a sink for washing tableware, it was a wooden sink lined with lead, to prevent chipping the china, in some middle-class houses, the larder, pantry, and storeroom might simply be large wooden cupboards, each with its exclusive purpose. The pantry is making a comeback in American and English homes and it is one of the most requested features in American homes today, despite modern homes having larger kitchen sizes than ever before. The demand is due both to the charm and nostalgia associated with the pantry, as well as to the pantrys practical, utilitarian purpose. Today, the term may also be used for any small storeroom used for foods such as canned goods, it need not be located near the kitchen. Traditionally, kitchens in Asia have been more open format than those of the West, the function of the pantry was generally served by wooden cabinetry. For example, in Japan, a cabinet is called a Mizuya Tansu. A substantial tradition around woodworking and cabinetry in general developed in Japan, a huge number of designs for Tansu were made, each tailored towards one specific purpose or another
26.
Root cellar
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A root cellar is a structure, usually underground or partially underground, used for storage of vegetables, fruits, nuts, or other foods. Root cellaring has been important in various eras and places for winter food supply. Root cellars are for keeping food supplies at controlled temperatures and steady humidity, a few crops even keep better in low humidity. Root cellars keep food from freezing during the winter and keep cool during the summer to prevent spoilage. Typically, a variety of vegetables are placed in the cellar in the autumn. A secondary use for the cellar is as a place to store wine, beer. Vegetables stored in the root cellar primarily consist of potatoes, turnips, other food supplies placed in the root cellar over the winter months include beets, onions, jarred preserves and jams, salt meat, salt turbot, salt herring, winter squash, and cabbage. A potato cellar is sometimes called a potato barn or potato house, separate cellars are occasionally used for storing fruits, such as apples. Water, bread, butter, milk, and cream are sometimes stored in the cellar also. In addition, items such as greens, fresh meat. The ability of some vegetables and fruit to keep for months in favorable cellar conditions stems in part from the fact that they are not entirely inanimate even after picking. Although they may no longer qualify as living, the plant cells continue to respire in some impaired but nonzero way, the analogy is not exact, but the high humidity that supports many cellared crops is involved in this residual respiration. In some cases plants are transplanted from the field to the floor of a cellar in autumn. This is a form of extension in which the growing season is not extended. Closets, crawlspaces, garages, sheds, and attics have all used successfully for storage of at least some kinds of crops. Even the space under a bed can store some crops for several weeks, common construction methods are, Digging down into the ground and erecting a shed or house over the cellar. Digging into the side of a hill, building a structure at ground level and piling rocks, earth, and/or sod around and over it. This may be easier to build on rocky terrain where excavation is difficult, most root cellars were built using stone, wood, mortar, and sod
27.
Study (room)
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A study is a room in a house that is used for paperwork, computer work, or reading. A typical study might contain a desk, chair, computer, desk lamps, bookshelves, books, a spare bedroom is often utilized as a study, but many modern homes have a room specifically designated as a study. Other terms used for rooms of this nature include den, home office, the study developed from the closet or cabinet of the Renaissance onwards
28.
Sewing
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Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. For thousands of years, all sewing was done by hand, fine hand sewing is a characteristic of high-quality tailoring, haute couture fashion, and custom dressmaking, and is pursued by both textile artists and hobbyists as a means of creative expression. The first known use of the sewing was in the 14th century. Sewing has an ancient history estimated to begin during the Paleolithic Age, Sewing was used to stitch together animal hides for clothing and for shelter. The weaving of cloth from natural fibres originated in the Middle East around 4000 BCE, and perhaps earlier during the Neolithic Age, during the Middle Ages, Europeans who could afford it employed seamstresses and tailors. Sewing for the most part was an occupation, and most sewing before the 19th century was practical. Clothing was an investment for most people, and women had an important role in extending the longevity of items of clothing. Clothing that was faded would be turned inside-out so that it could continue to be worn, once clothing became worn or torn, it would be taken apart and the reusable cloth sewn together into new items of clothing, made into quilts, or otherwise put to practical use. The many steps involved in making clothing from scratch meant that women often bartered their expertise in a skill with one another. Decorative needlework such as embroidery was a skill, and young women with the time. From the Middle Ages to the 17th century, sewing tools such as needles, decorative embroidery was valued in many cultures worldwide. Some examples are the Cretan Open Filling stitch, Romanian Couching or Oriental Couching, the stitches associated with embroidery spread by way of the trade routes that were active during the Middle Ages. European imperial settlements also spread embroidery and sewing techniques worldwide, however, there are instances of sewing techniques indigenous to cultures in distant locations from one another, where cross-cultural communication would have been historically unlikely. For example, a method of reverse appliqué known to areas of South America is also known to Southeast Asia, the Industrial Revolution shifted the production of textiles from the household to the mills. In the early decades of the Industrial Revolution, the machinery produced whole cloth, the worlds first sewing machine was patented in 1790 by Thomas Saint. By the early 1840s, other early sewing machines began to appear, by the 1850s, Isaac Singer developed the first sewing machines that could operate quickly and accurately and surpass the productivity of a seamstress or tailor sewing by hand. While much clothing was produced at home by female members of the family
29.
Laundry room
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A laundry room is a room where clothes are washed. A typical laundry room is located in the basement of homes, but in many modern homes. Another typical location is adjacent to the garage and the room serves as a mudroom for the entrance from the garage. As the garage is often at a different elevation than the rest of the house and this prevents or reduces the need for stairs between the garage and the house. Laundry rooms may include storage cabinets, countertops for folding clothes, and, space permitting. Most houses in the United Kingdom do not have rooms, as such. Lavoir, a place for the washing of clothes Tvättstuga
30.
Toilet (room)
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A toilet, in this sense, is a small room used for privately accessing the sanitation fixture for urination and defecation. Toilet rooms usually include a sink with soap for handwashing, as this is important for personal hygiene and this room is commonly known as a bathroom in American English, a loo in British English, and by many other names across the English-speaking world. Toilet originally referred to personal grooming and came by metonymy to be used for the rooms used for bathing, dressing. It was then used for the similarly private rooms used for urination and defecation. By metonymy, it came to refer directly to the fixtures in such rooms. At present, the word refers primarily to such fixtures and using toilet to refer to the room or activity is somewhat blunt and it is, however, a useful term since it is quickly understood by English-speakers across the world, whereas more polite terms vary by region. Lavatory was common in the 19th century and is broadly understood, although it is taken as quite formal in American English. The contraction lav is commonly used in British English, in American English, the most common term for a private toilet is bathroom, regardless of whether a bathtub or shower is present. Other terms are used, some as part of a regional dialect. Some forms of jargon have their own terms for toilets, including lavatory on commercial airplanes, head on ships, larger houses often have a secondary room with a toilet and sink for use by guests. These are typically known as powder rooms or half baths in North America, the main item in the room is the sanitation fixture itself, the toilet. This may be the sort, which is plumbed into a cistern operated by a ballcock. Or it may be a dry model, which does not need water, the toilet room may also include a plunger, a rubber or plastic tool mounted on a handle, which is used to removing blockages from the toilet drain. Toilets often have a mirror above the sink for grooming, checking ones appearance and/or makeup. Some toilets have a cupboard where cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products may be kept, methods of anal cleansing vary between cultures. If the norm is to use paper, then typically the room will have a toilet roll holder, if instead, people are used to cleaning themselves with water, then the room may include a bidet shower or a bidet. Toilets such as the Washlet, popular in Japan, provide an automatic washing function, the room may also include a plunger, a rubber or plastic tool mounted on a handle, which is used to removing blockages from the toilet drain. If it is a toilet, then the room usually also includes a toilet brush for cleaning the bowl
31.
Public toilet
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A public toilet is a room or small building containing one or more toilets which is available for use by the general public, or by customers or employees of certain businesses. Public toilets are commonly separated into male and female facilities, although some can be unisex, increasingly, public toilets are accessible to people with disabilities. Public toilets may either be used free of charge or the user may be charged a fee, in the latter case they are also called pay toilets and sometimes have of a coin-operated turnstile. Public toilets may be provided by the authority or by a commercial business. They may be unattended or be staffed by a janitor or attendant, in many cultures, it is customary to tip the attendant, especially if they provide a grooming service, such as at upscale nightclubs or restaurants. Portable toilets are provided at large outdoor events. In many Asian, African and Muslim countries, public toilets are of the squat type, Public toilets are known by many names in different varieties of English. One of the more formal circumlocutions is public convenience, as in the Guilford Place public conveniences, in American English, restroom usually denotes a toilet facility designed for use by the public. However, bathroom is also commonly used, comfort station sometimes refers to a visitor welcome center such as those found in national parks. In Canadian English, public facilities are always called washrooms, the word toilet generally denotes the fixture itself rather than the room. The word washroom is never used to mean utility room or mud room as it is in parts the United States. Bathroom is generally used to refer to the room in the home contains a bath or shower. In Britain, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand, the terms in use are public toilet, public lavatory and more informally, public loo. A bathroom is a room containing a bath, a washroom is a room for washing hands, as public toilets were traditionally signed as Gentlemen or Ladies, the colloquial terms the Gents and the Ladies indicates the facility itself. The British Toilet Association, sponsor of the Loo of the Year Award, in Philippine English, comfort room, or C. R. is the most common term in use. In continental Europe, both toilet, a translation of the French les toilettes, and WC are common, mosques, madrassas and other places Muslims gather, have public sex-segregated wash rooms since Islam requires specific procedures for cleansing parts of the body before prayer. These rooms normally adjoin the toilets, which are subject to Muslim hygienical jurisprudence. Many public toilets are permanent small buildings visible to passersby on the street, others are underground, including older facilities in Britain and Canada
32.
Toilet
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A toilet is a sanitation fixture used for the storing or disposal of human urine and feces. In developed countries, different forms of flush toilets are common. These are connected to a system in most urban areas. In many developing countries, especially in areas, dry toilets such as pit latrines. Dry toilets are usually placed in outhouses, i. e. not inside the dwelling, in many countries, private homes are designed with the flush toilet and the bath or shower in the same room, the bathroom, to simplify plumbing and reduce cost. Other cultures find this insanitary, and have one room for body-washing, public toilets are installed where their use is expected on a permanent basis, while portable toilets may be brought in for large but temporary gatherings. Chemical toilets are used in various contexts, such as passenger trains. Serious waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea occur when open defecation or poor sanitation permits human waste to pollute water supplies, historically, sanitation has been a concern from the earliest stages of human settlements. The Indus Valley Civilization is particularly notable for its extensive sanitation works, for the most part, early cities emptied their waste into rivers or seas manually or via open ditches. Sanitation in ancient Rome was notably advanced, as were some of the reredorters of medieval monasteries, a precursor to the modern flush toilet system was designed by John Harington in 1596 but did not become common until the late 19th century. Even London, at time the worlds largest city, did not require indoor toilets in its building codes until after the First World War. A typical flush toilet is a ceramic bowl connected on the up side to a cistern that enables rapid filling with water, when a toilet is flushed, the sewage should flow into a septic tank or into a system connected to a Sewage treatment plant. However, in countries, this treatment does not happen. The water in the bowl is connected to a pipe shaped like an upside-down U. One side of the U channel is arranged as a tube longer than the water in the bowl is high. The siphon tube connects to the drain, the bottom of the drain pipe limits the height of the water in the bowl before it flows down the drain. The water in the acts as a barrier to sewer gas entering the building. Sewer gas escapes through a vent pipe attached to the sewer line, the amount of water used by conventional flush toilets usually makes up a significant portion of personal daily water usage
33.
Shower
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A shower is a place in which a person bathes under a spray of typically warm or hot water. Indoors, there is a drain in the floor, most showers have temperature, spray pressure and adjustable showerhead nozzle. The simplest showers have a swivelling nozzle aiming down on the user and this allows the showerer to spray the water at different parts of their body. A shower can be installed in a shower stall or bathtub with a plastic shower curtain or door. Showering is common in Western culture due to the efficiency of using it compared with a bathtub and its use in hygiene is therefore common practice. A shower uses less water on average than a bath,80 litres for a shower compared with 150 litres for a bath, the original showers were neither indoor structures nor man-made, but were common natural formations, waterfalls. The falling water rinsed the bathers completely clean and was more efficient than bathing in a traditional basin, ancient people began to reproduce these natural phenomena by pouring jugs of water, often very cold, over themselves after washing. There has been evidence of upper class Egyptian and Mesopotamians having indoor shower rooms where servants would bathe them in the privacy of their own homes. However, these were rudimentary by modern standards, having rudimentary drainage systems and water was carried, not pumped, the ancient Greeks were the first people to have showers. Their aqueducts and sewage systems made of lead pipes allowed water to be pumped both into and out of large communal shower rooms used by elites and common citizens alike. These rooms have been discovered at the site of the city Pergamum, the depictions are very similar to modern locker room showers, and even included bars to hang up clothing. The ancient Romans also followed this convention, their famous bathhouses can be all around the Mediterranean. The Romans not only had these showers, but also believed in bathing multiple times a week, the water and sewage systems developed by the Greeks and Romans broke down and fell out of use after the fall of the Roman Empire. The first mechanical shower, operated by a pump, was patented in England in 1767 by William Feetham. His shower contraption used a pump to force the water into a vessel above the users head, the system would also recycle the same dirty water through every cycle. This early start was greatly improved in the anonymously invented English Regency shower design of circa 1810, the original design was over 10 feet tall, and was made of several metal pipes painted to look like bamboo. A basin suspended above the pipes fed water into a nozzle that distributed the water over the users shoulders, the water on the ground was drained and pumped back through the pipes into the basin, where the cycle would repeat itself. The original prototype was improved upon in the following decades
34.
Pit latrine
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A pit latrine or pit toilet is a type of toilet that collects human feces in a hole in the ground. They use either no water or one to three liters per flush with pour-flush pit latrines, when properly built and maintained they can decrease the spread of disease by reducing the amount of human feces in the environment from open defecation. This decreases the transfer of pathogens between feces and food by flies and these pathogens are major causes of infectious diarrhea and intestinal worm infections. Infectious diarrhea resulted in about 700,000 deaths in children under five years old in 2011 and 250 million lost school days, pit latrines are the lowest cost method of separating feces from people. A pit latrine generally consists of three parts, a hole in the ground, a slab or floor with a small hole. The shelter is known as an outhouse. The pit is typically at least 3 meters deep and 1 m across, the World Health Organization recommends they be built a reasonable distance from the house balancing issues of easy access versus that of smell. The distance from groundwater and surface water should be as large as possible to decrease the risk of groundwater pollution, the hole in the slab should not be larger than 25 centimeters to prevent children falling in. Light should be prevented from entering the pit to reduce access by flies and this may require the use of a lid to cover the hole in the floor when not in use. When the pit fills to within 0.5 meters of the top, it should be emptied or a new pit constructed. Fecal sludge management involves emptying pits as well as transporting, treating and using the fecal sludge. If this is not carried out properly, water pollution and public health risks can occur, a basic pit latrine can be improved in a number of ways. One includes adding a pipe from the pit to above the structure. This improves airflow and decreases the smell of the toilet and it also can reduce flies when the top of the pipe is covered with mesh. In these types of toilets a lid need not be used to cover the hole in the floor. Other possible improvements include a floor constructed so fluid drains into the hole, as of 2013 pit latrines are used by an estimated 1.77 billion people. This is mostly in the world as well as in rural. In 2011 about 2.5 billion people did not have access to a proper toilet, southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have the poorest access to toilets
35.
Outhouse
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An outhouse, also known by many other names, is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers one or more toilets. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, the term may also be used to denote the toilet itself, not just the superstructure. Outhouses were in use in cities of developed countries well into the half of the twentieth century. They are still common in areas and also in cities of developing countries. Outhouses that are covering pit latrines in densely populated areas can cause groundwater pollution. In some localities and varieties of English, particularly outside North America, the term refers not to a toilet. Outhouses vary in design and construction and they are by definition outside the dwelling, and are not connected to plumbing, sewer, or septic system. The World Health Organization recommends they be built a distance from the house balancing issues of easy access versus that of smell. The superstructure exists to shelter the user, and also to protect the toilet itself, the primary purpose of the building is for privacy and human comfort, so that the user is not exposed and does not get wet when it is raining or cold when it is windy. Walls and a roof for privacy and to shield the user from the elements—rain, wind, sleet and snow —and thus to a small degree, Outhouses are commonly humble and utilitarian, made of lumber or plywood. This is especially so they can easily be moved when the pit fills up. Depending on the size of the pit and the amount of use, as pundit Jackpine Bob Cary wrote, Anyone can build an outhouse, but not everyone can build a good outhouse. Floor plans typically are rectangular or square, but hexagonal outhouses have been built, the arrangements inside the outhouse vary by culture. In Western societies, many, though not all, have at least one seat with a hole in it, others, often in more rural, older areas in European countries, simply have a hole with two indents on either side for your feet. In Eastern societies, there is a hole in the floor, a roll of toilet paper is usually available. Old corn cobs, leaves, or other types of paper are also used, the decoration on the outhouse door has no standard. The well-known crescent moon on American outhouses was popularized by cartoonists and had a basis in fact. There are authors who claim the practice began during the period as an early mens/ladies designation for an illiterate populace
36.
Great hall
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At that time the word great simply meant big, and had not acquired its modern connotations of excellence. Great halls were found especially in France, England and Scotland, a typical great hall was a rectangular room between one and a half and three times as long as it was wide, and also higher than it was wide. It was entered through a passage at one end, and had windows on one of the long sides. There was often a gallery above the screens passage. At the other end of the hall was the dais where the table was situated. The lords familys more private rooms lay beyond the end of the hall. Even royal and noble residences had few living rooms until late in the Middle Ages, and a great hall was a multifunctional room. It was used for receiving guests and it was the place where the household would dine together, including the lord of the house, his gentleman attendants, at night some members of the household might sleep on the floor of the great hall. The hearth was used for heating and also for some of the cooking, commonly the fireplace would have an elaborate overmantel with stone or wood carvings or even plasterwork which might contain coats of arms, heraldic mottoes, caryatids or other adornment. In the upper halls of French manor houses, the fireplaces were usually very large, typically, the great hall had the most beautiful decorations in it, as well as on the window frame mouldings on the outer wall. Many French manor houses have very beautifully decorated external window frames on the large mullioned windows that light the hall and this decoration clearly marked the window as belonging to the lords private hall. In western France, the manor houses were centered on a central ground-floor hall. Later, the reserved for the lord and his high-ranking guests was moved up to the first-floor level. This was called the salle haute or upper hall, in some of the larger three-storey manor houses, the upper hall was as high as second storey roof. The smaller ground-floor hall or salle basse remained but was for receiving guests of any social order and it is very common to find these two halls superimposed, one on top of the other, in larger manor houses in Normandy and Brittany. Access from the hall to the upper hall was normally via an external staircase tower. The upper hall often contained the bedroom and living quarters off one end. Occasionally the great hall would have a listening device system
37.
Dining room
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A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving. In the Middle Ages, upper class Britons and other European nobility in castles or large manor houses dined in the great hall and this was a large multi-function room capable of seating the bulk of the population of the house. The family would sit at the table on a raised dais. Tables in the hall would tend to be long trestle tables with benches. The sheer number of people in a Great Hall meant it would probably have had a busy, suggestions that it would also have been quite smelly and smoky are probably, by the standards of the time, unfounded. These rooms had large chimneys and high ceilings and there would have been a flow of air through the numerous door. In the first instance, the Black Death that ravaged Europe in the 14th Century caused a shortage of labour, also the religious persecutions following the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII made it unwise to talk freely in front of large numbers of people. Over time, the nobility took more of their meals in the parlour, and the parlour became, functionally and it also migrated farther from the Great Hall, often accessed via grand ceremonial staircases from the dais in the Great Hall. Eventually dining in the Great Hall became something that was primarily on special occasions. Toward the beginning of the 18th Century, a pattern emerged where the ladies of the house would withdraw after dinner from the room to the drawing room. The gentlemen would remain in the room having drinks. The dining room tended to take on a more masculine tenor as a result, a typical North American dining room will contain a table with chairs arranged along the sides and ends of the table, as well as other pieces of furniture, as space permits. Often tables in modern dining rooms will have a leaf to allow for the larger number of people present on those special occasions without taking up extra space when not in use. Although the typical family dining experience is at a table or some sort of kitchen area. In modern American and Canadian homes, the room is typically adjacent to the living room. Smaller houses and condos may have a breakfast bar instead, often of a different height than the kitchen counter. If a home lacks a dinette, breakfast nook, or breakfast bar and this was traditionally the case in Britain, where the dining room would for many families be used only on Sundays, other meals being eaten in the kitchen
38.
Ballroom
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A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences, many mansions contain one or more ballrooms, ballrooms are generally quite large, and may have ceilings higher than other rooms in the same building. The large amount of space for dancing, as well as the formal tone of events have given rise to ballroom dancing. The largest balls are now nearly always held in public buildings and they are also designed large to help the sound of orchestras carry well throughout the whole room. A special case is the annual Vienna Opera Ball, where, just for one night, on the eve of the event, the rows of seats are removed from the stalls, and a new floor, level with the stage, is built. Sometimes ballrooms have stages in the front of the room where the host or a special guest can speak and that stage can also be used for instrumentalists and musical performers. These lists should only include ballrooms with permanent wood floors, the size of the floor should only include the largest contiguous area without obstructions. The web sites and materials about some places add up multiple spaces, rooms, and balconies, however, this list ranks ballrooms based on the size of one single open space with a hardwood floor. Aragon Ballroom Ballroom an album of Irish music by De Dannan Robert Meyer, Millennium Maple - Glorious, Historic, Legendary, Treasured Ballroom Dance Floors, Amateur Dancers, Jan/Feb 2000, Dance Halls and Last Calls, A History of Texas Country Music. Lanham, MD, Republic of Texas Press 2002, copyright Texas Dance Hall Preservation Inc. List of ballrooms at the National Ballroom & Entertainment Association
39.
Drawing room
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A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained. The name is derived from the sixteenth-century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the seventeenth century and it was often off the great chamber and usually led to a formal, or state bedroom. During the American Civil War, in the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, president Jefferson Davis greeted his guests. At the conclusion of these greetings, the men remained in the parlor to talk politics and this was common practice in the affluent circles of the Southern United States. If a Morning-room be not provided, it is properly the only Sitting-room of the family, in it in any case the ladies receive calls throughout the day, and the family and their guests assemble before dinner. After dinner the ladies withdraw to it, and are joined by the gentlemen for the evening and it is also the Reception-room for evening parties. In size, a small Drawing-room will be about 16 feet wide by from 18 to 20 feet long,18 by 24 feet is a size,20 by 30 to 26 by 40 is enough for a very superior apartment. Until the mid-twentieth century, after a dinner the ladies of a dinner party withdrew to the room, leaving the gentlemen at table. After an interval of conversation, the gentlemen rejoined the ladies in the drawing room and this term is still widely used in India and Pakistan, probably dating from the colonial days, in the larger urban houses of the cities where there are many rooms. The term parlour initially designated the more modest reception rooms of the middle classes, parlor remained the common usage in North America into the 20th century. An example, named as such, was a Midland Drawing Room Car in 1874 which was a Pullman Import from the USA, in North America, it meant a room which slept three or more persons, with a private washroom. The drawing room, being a room in the house to visitors, gave its name to drawing room plays. Beginning with the forms of drama, the drawing room play has evolved to encompass comedy as well as to include the forms of the dramatic monologue. The play format itself has grown out of the traditional drawing room performance and back into main street theater. While the drawing room itself has fallen out of favor, the format has continued to provide a source of entertainment. Drawing room comedy typically features wit and verbal banter among wealthy, leisured, genteel, Drawing room comedy is also sometimes called the comedy of manners. Oscar Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest and several of the plays of Noël Coward are typical works of the genre, george Bernard Shaws Heartbreak House adds an undercurrent of social criticism to the genre. Cary Grant appeared in a number of filmed drawing-room comedies, ernst Lubitsch was especially known as a director of drawing-room comedies
40.
Sitting room
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In Western architecture, a living room, also called a lounge room, lounge or sitting room, is a room in a residential house or apartment for relaxing and socializing. Such a room is called a front room when it is near the main entrance at the front of the house. In large formal homes, a room is often a small private living area adjacent to a bedroom, such as the Queens Sitting Room. The term living room was coined in the late 19th or early 20th century, in homes that lack a parlour or drawing room, the living room may also function as a reception room. A typical Western living room may contain furnishings such as a sofa, chairs, occasional tables, coffee tables, bookshelves, electric lamps, rugs, or other furniture. Traditionally, a room in the United Kingdom and New Zealand has a fireplace. In a Japanese sitting room, called a washitsu, the floor is covered with tatami, sectioned mats, on which people can sit comfortably. Until the late 19th century, the front parlour was the room in the used for formal social events. Lobby Lounge Media related to Living rooms at Wikimedia Commons
41.
Parlour
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Parlour is a name used for a variety of different reception rooms and public spaces in different historical periods. Parlour derives from the Old French word parloir or parler, in its original usage it denoted a place set aside for debating people, an audience chamber. The outer parlour was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and it was generally located in the west range of the buildings of the cloister, close to the main entrance. The inner parlour was located off the next to the chapter house in the east range of the monastery and was used for necessary conversation between resident members. It was the function of the parlour as the public antechamber of the monastery that was adapted into domestic architecture. In the early modern period homes became larger and concepts of privacy evolved as material prosperity was more widely shared, rooms were increasingly set aside for the reception of guests and other visitors, screening them from the rest of the home. Although aristocratic homes might have state rooms, the frequent name for this reception room among the middle classes was the parlour. In the English-speaking world of the 18th and 19th century, achievement of a room was a marker of social status—evidence that you had risen above the majority who lived in one or two rooms. As the parlour was the room in which the larger world encountered the private sphere of middle class life, the parlour frequently displayed a familys best furnishings, works of art and other status symbols. The parlour was used for receptions around formal family occasions such as weddings, births, some tradespeople used the parlour of their houses in the service of their businesses. Hence, funeral parlours, beauty parlours, and the like, the secondary functions of the parlour for entertaining and display were taken up by various kinds of sitting rooms, such as the living room, or the drawing room. Despite its decline in architecture, the term parlour continues to have an afterlife in many places as common nomenclature for certain categories of commercial enterprise. In addition to funeral parlour and beauty parlour, it is used for betting parlour, billiard parlour, ice cream parlour, pizza parlour. Other less common examples include beer parlour, wine parlour, spaghetti parlour, the dialect-specific usage of this term varies by region. Family room Massage parlour Recreation room This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Easton
42.
Man cave
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A man cave or manspace is a male retreat or sanctuary in a home, such as a specially equipped garage, spare bedroom, media room, den, or basement. The term man cave is a metaphor describing a room inside the house where guys can do as they please, paula Aymer of Tufts University calls it the last bastion of masculinity. The phrase is thought to come from the 1993 publication, Men Are from Mars, while a wife may have substantial authority over a whole house in terms of design and decoration, she generally has no say about what gets mounted on the walls of a mans personal space. Since it may be accepted that a woman has input on the decoration of the rest of the house, a man cave or man-space is in some sense a reaction to feminine domestic power. Man caves have multiple purposes, they are a place to be alone, to be away from women and from female sensibilities, to indulge in hobbies and it is, loosely, a male-only space to retreat to watch sports matches, or play video games. According to psychiatrist and author Scott Haltzman, it is important for a man to have a place to call his own, rules are relaxed, it is a place where other peoples sensibilities about standards of cleanliness are not necessarily observed. Writer and handyman Sam Martin explained, Men have had an identity problem since the womens movement and they have tried to figure out who theyre supposed to be. For a while women wanted them to be sensitive, so they were more sensitive. Then women wanted them to be more manly, one of the things I discovered is when men have their own manspace, what they put inside of it is really an expression of who they are. Manspace is about establishing an identity for a man and our premise is that women have control of the look and the feel of the house and that left guys wanting more. Anybody who has a specific interest or hobby or work or collection is going to want a space to indulge that and its like a firehouse lounge room, but in the home. According to several sources, the architectural and design trend is for men to take traditionally male-only spaces. A man cave may also be fitted out with a bar, the book suggests that men make their own spaces for good or ill, according to Publishers Weekly. Twitchell focused on communal man cave spaces such as groups in megachurches. One man redecorated the space to look like a model of the bridge of the Starship Enterprise from the TV show Star Trek. Upscale sports-themed furnishings are also available to outfit a man cave and these rooms are also often decorated by the male, with little or no female influence. A big screen television is useful for watching sports games with buddies, since it is an area set off from the rest of the house, its possible to make noise, or yell at the television, without fear of reprisals from a wife, girlfriend or mother. There are some reports suggesting that men are likely to lavish time, money
43.
Cabinet (room)
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A cabinet was a private room in the houses and palaces of early modern Europe, a room serving as a study or retreat, usually for a man. The cabinet would be furnished with books and works of art, and sited adjacent to his bedchamber, such a room might be used as a study or office, or just a sitting room. Heating the main rooms in palaces or mansions in the winter was difficult. They also offered more privacy from servants, other household members, typically such a room would be for the use of a single individual, so that a house might have at least two and often more. Names varied, cabinet, closet, study, office, and this was true for the elaborate Studiolo of Francesco I de Medici located in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Isabella dEste called her room with paintings commissioned from Andrea Mantegna, Perugino, a studiolo would often have a Latin motto painted or inlaid round the frieze. Heraldry and personal devices and emblems would remind the occupant of his station in life, series of portraits of exemplary figures were popular, whether the Nine Worthies or the classical philosophers, in imaginary ideal portrait heads. Fra Bartolommeo died before starting work, and Raphael got no further than a drawing, dosso Dossi, Alphonsos court painter, completed the room with a large painting and ten small oblong subjects to go as a frieze above the others. Two people in private conversation were until recently said to be closetted. In his closet at Christ Church, Oxford, Robert Burton wrote The Anatomie of Melancholy, Cabinet in English was often used for strongrooms, or treasure-stores - the tiny but exquisite Elizabethan tower strongroom at Lacock Abbey might have been so called - but also in the wider sense. David Rizzio was murdered when dining with his putative lover Mary, Queen of Scots in a cabinet abowte xii footes square, in the same a little low reposinge bedde, and a table. A rare surviving cabinet, or closet, with its contents probably little changed since the early 18th century, is at Ham House in Richmond, London, England. It is less than 10 feet square, and leads off from the Long Gallery, as is often the case, it has an excellent view of the front entrance to the house, so that comings and goings can be discreetly observed. Most surviving large houses or palaces, especially from before 1700, have such rooms, but they are very often not displayed to visitors. Since the reign of King George I, the Cabinet – derived from the room – has been the executive group of British government. The process has repeated itself in recent times, as leaders have felt the need to have a Kitchen Cabinet, figurative uses of Closet have developed in a different direction. Especially wealthy or aristocratic people may have had a series of cabinets in a suite, versailles has a large assortment of cabinets en filade for the king located behind and adjacent to his formal bedchamber, the Petit appartement du roi. The meaning of cabinet began to be extended to the contents of the cabinet, thus we see the 16th-century cabinet of curiosities, often combined with a library
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Library
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A library is a collection of sources of information and similar resources, made accessible to a defined community for reference or borrowing. It provides physical or digital access to material, and may be a building or room, or a virtual space. Libraries range in size from a few shelves of books to several million items, in Latin and Greek, the idea of a bookcase is represented by Bibliotheca and Bibliothēkē, derivatives of these mean library in many modern languages, e. g. French bibliothèque. The first libraries consisted of archives of the earliest form of clay tablets in cuneiform script discovered in Sumer. Private or personal libraries made up of books appeared in classical Greece in the 5th century BC. In the 6th century, at the close of the Classical period. A library is organized for use and maintained by a body, an institution. In addition to providing materials, libraries also provide the services of librarians who are experts at finding and organizing information, Libraries often provide quiet areas for studying, and they also often offer common areas to facilitate group study and collaboration. Libraries often provide facilities for access to their electronic resources. Modern libraries are increasingly being redefined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats, the first libraries consisted of archives of the earliest form of writing—the clay tablets in cuneiform script discovered in temple rooms in Sumer, some dating back to 2600 BC. These archives, which consisted of the records of commercial transactions or inventories, mark the end of prehistory. Things were much the same in the government and temple records on papyrus of Ancient Egypt, the earliest discovered private archives were kept at Ugarit, besides correspondence and inventories, texts of myths may have been standardized practice-texts for teaching new scribes. There is also evidence of libraries at Nippur about 1900 BC, philosopher Laozi was keeper of books in the earliest library in China, which belonged to the Imperial Zhou dynasty. Also, evidence of catalogues found in some destroyed ancient libraries illustrates the presence of librarians, the Library of Alexandria, in Egypt, was the largest and most significant great library of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and functioned as a center of scholarship from its construction in the 3rd century BC until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. The library was conceived and opened either during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter or during the reign of his son Ptolemy II, an early organization system was in effect at Alexandria. The Library of Celsus in Ephesus, Anatolia, now part of Selçuk, Turkey was built in honor of the Roman Senator Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus by Celsus’ son, the library was built to store 12,000 scrolls and to serve as a monumental tomb for Celsus. Private or personal libraries made up of books appeared in classical Greece in the 5th century BC
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Home cinema
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In the 1980s, home cinemas typically consisted of a movie pre-recorded on a LaserDisc or VHS tape, a LaserDisc or VHS player, and a heavy, bulky large-screen cathode ray tube TV set. Whether home cinema enthusiasts have a stereo set-up or a 5, in the 1950s, playing home movies became popular in the United States with middle class and upper-class families as Kodak 8 mm film projector equipment became more affordable. The development of audio systems and later LaserDisc in the 1980s created a new paradigm for home video, as it enabled movie enthusiasts to add better sound. In the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, a home cinema in the United States would have a LaserDisc or VHS player playing a movie. Some people used expensive front projectors in a viewing room. During the 1990s, watching movies on VHS at home became a leisure activity. In the 2010s, affordable large HDTV flatscreen TVs, high resolution video projectors, 3D television technology, in the 2000s, the term home cinema encompasses a range of systems meant for movie playback at home. 3D-TV-enabled home theaters make use of 3D TV sets/projectors and Blu-ray 3D players in which the viewers wear 3D-glasses, enabling them to see 3D content. Home theater designs and layouts are a choice and the type of home cinema a user can set up depends on her/his budget. Finally a set of speakers, at least two, are needed but more common are anywhere from six to eight with a subwoofer for bass or low-frequency effects. In the 2010s, many home cinema enthusiasts aim to replicate, to the degree that is possible, to do so, many home cinema buffs purchase higher quality components than used for everyday television viewing on a relatively small TV with only built-in speakers. As of 2016, home cinema enthusiasts using Smart Blu-ray players may also watch DVDs of TV shows, as well, with a Smart player, a user may be able to stream movies, TV shows and other content over the Internet. Many 2016-era DVD players and Blu-ray players also have inputs which allow users to view digital photos, video and audio input devices, One or more video/audio sources. High resolution movie media formats such as Blu-ray discs are normally preferred, some home theaters include a HTPC with a media center software application to act as the main library for video and music content using a 10-foot user interface and remote control. In 2016, some of the more-expensive Blu-ray players can stream movies, the user selects the input at this point before it is forwarded to the output stage. Some AV receivers enable the viewer to use a control to select which input device or source to use. Audio output, Systems consist of preamplifiers, power amplifiers and two or more loudspeakers mounted in speaker enclosures, the audio system requires at least a stereo power amplifier and two speakers, for stereo sound, most systems have multi-channel surround sound power amplifier and six or more speakers. Some users have 7.1 Surround Sound and it is possible to have up to 11 speakers with additional subwoofers
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Billiard room
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A billiard room is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table. The term billiard room is also used as synonymous with billiard hall i. e. a business providing public access to hourly-rental or coin-operated billiard tables. The billiard room room may be in the center of the house or the private areas of the house. Billiard rooms require proper lighting and clearances for game playing, although there are adjustable cue sticks on the market,5 feet of clearance around the pool table is ideal. Interior designer Charlotte Moss believed that a room is synonymous with group dynamics. Its where you mix drinks and embark on a friendly competition. Billiards probably developed from one of the century or early-15th century lawn games in which players hit balls with sticks. The earliest mention of pool as a table game is in a 1470 inventory list of the accounts of King Louis XI of France. Following the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, billiard rooms were added to some famous 18th century cafes in Paris, although billiards had long been enjoyed by both men and women, a trend towards male suites developed in 19th century Great Britain. These male suites paired billiard rooms with smoking rooms and sometimes libraries, one example of these male suites is Castle Carr near Halifax. By the turn of the century, billiard rooms were considered a feature in great British houses with House Beautiful claiming Up-to-date owners of English estates have installed billiard rooms. Many mid- and late-19th century billiard rooms were designed in an Oriental or Moorish style, mark Twains billiard room in Hartford, CT was decorated with quasi-Moorish stencils. The late 19th and early 20th century represent the billiard rooms heyday
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Recreation room
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A recreation room is a room used for a variety of purposes, such as parties, games and other everyday or casual use. The term is common in the United States, Australia and Canada, often children and teenagers entertain their friends in the rec room, which is often located in the basement, away from the main living areas of the house. Usually it is a larger space than a room to have the ability to serve multiple purposes. Recreation rooms can vary in themes and styles, but they generally have a basic setup, Recreation rooms are normally centered on some form of entertainment and this can consist of something as elaborate as a projection screen with surround sound or something as simple as a base model television. Couches, pub tables/chairs, bar stools, and recliners may all be used in recreation rooms, tabletop games are frequent in recreation rooms. In addition to games played on a table, recreation rooms sometimes include custom game tables for table tennis, table football, table shuffleboard, air hockey. Custom tables for casino games such as poker, blackjack, other games include dart boards and arcade games such as pinball and video games. Fridges, microwaves, wet bars, popcorn machines, ice machines, soda fountains. Media related to Recreation rooms at Wikimedia Commons
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Dressing room
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A changing room, locker room, dressing room or changeroom is a room or area designated for changing ones clothes. Changing rooms are provided in a situation to enable people to change clothes in privacy. Separate changing rooms may be provided for men and women, or there may be a non-gender specific open space with individual cubicles or stalls, sometimes a person may change his or her clothes in a toilet cubicle of a washroom. Many changing rooms include washrooms and showers, sometimes a changing room exists as a small portion of a washroom. For example, the mens and womens washrooms in Torontos Dundas Square each include an area which is a blank counter space at the end of a row of sinks. In this case, the facility is primarily a washroom, and its use as a room is minimal. Larger changing rooms are found at public beaches, or other bathing areas, where most of the space is for changing. Beach-style changing rooms are large open rooms with benches against the walls. Some do not have a roof, providing just the necessary to prevent persons outside from seeing in. Various types of changing rooms exist, changing stalls are small stalls where clothes can be changed in privacy. They are used for swimming purposes, locker rooms are usually gender-specific spaces where clothes are changed and stored in lockers. They are often used for swimming or other sporting purposes and they are open spaces with no stalls. Fitting rooms, or dressing rooms, are usually small single-user cubicles where a person may try on clothes and these are often found at retail stores where one would want to try on clothes before purchasing them. Green rooms and trap rooms are usually mixed-gender backstage or under-stage changing spaces found at theaters, changing stalls are small stalls where clothers can be changed in privacy. Clothes are usually stored in lockers, there are usually no separate areas for men and women. They are often combined with gender-separated communal showers, most public pools have changing facilities of this kind alongside communal changing rooms. Locker rooms are named because they provide lockers for the storage of ones belongings. Alternatively, they may have a room attendant who will keep a persons belongings until one comes to retrieve them
Media related to Rooms at Wikimedia Commons