Europe

Europe (ⁱ/ˈjʊərəp/ or /ˈjɜːrəp/) is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. To the east and southeast, Europe is generally considered as separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. Yet the borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary, as the primarily physiographic term "continent" also incorporates cultural and political elements.

Europe is the world's second-smallest continent by surface area, covering about 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi) or 2% of the Earth's surface and about 6.8% of its land area. Of Europe's approximately 50 countries, Russia is by far the largest by both area and population, taking up 40% of the continent (although the country has territory in both Europe and Asia), while Vatican City is the smallest. Europe is the third-most populous continent after Asia and Africa, with a population of 739–743 million or about 11% of the world's population. Europe has a climate heavily affected by warm Atlantic currents, tempering winters and enabling warm summers on most of the continent, even on latitudes that have severe climates in North America and Asia. Further from the Atlantic, seasonal differences increase, but the mildness of the climate remains.

Europa (mythology)

In Greek mythology Europa (/jʊˈroʊpə, jə-/; Greek: Εὐρώπη Eurṓpē) was the mother of King Minos of Crete, a woman with Phoenician origin of high lineage, and for whom the continent Europe was named. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story; as Kerényi points out "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the story of Europa".

Europa's earliest literary reference is in the Iliad, which is commonly dated to the 8th century B.C. Another early reference to her is in a fragment of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, discovered at Oxyrhynchus. The earliest vase-painting securely identifiable as Europa, dates from mid-7th century B.C.

Etymology

The etymology of her Greek name (εὐρύς eurys "wide" or "broad" and ὤψ ops "eye(s)" or "face") suggests that Europa as a divine spirit represented the wide-faced cow Hathor, at least on some symbolic level. Metaphorically, at a later date her name could be construed as the intelligent or open-minded, analogous to glaukopis (γλαυκῶπις) attributed to Athena. However, Ernest Klein and Giovanni Semerano suggest a possible Semitic origin in Akkadian erebu "to go down, set" (in reference to the sun) which would parallel occident.

Team Europe

The term Team Europe is used in a number of sports to designate a unified team of European countries in several sports competitions. Whilst neither the European Union nor the Council of Europe are countries themselves, European teams have been formed to compete in several international competitions. The most famous of these is the Ryder Cup in golf which sees a European team play against a team from the USA in even-numbered years. In football, a selection of European footballers play occasionally for charity games and anniversary games in the Europe XI team.

Examples of competitions featuring a European team

"Team Europe" is the official designation of the team representing Europe in several international competitions

Europe vs. USA

Cable (British band)

Cable were a British indie rock band originally from Derby, UK who released 3 albums in the late '90s: Down-Lift the Up-Trodden ('96), When Animals Attack ('97), and Sub-Lingual ('99), on Infectious Records. The band split up in 1999.

Formed in 1992 by Matt Bagguley and Darius Hinks, Cable were initially inspired by the art-rock leanings of indie-labels such as Touch and Go, Dischord, Blast First, Southern Records and Shimmy Disc, and also UK artists such as Spacemen 3 & My Bloody Valentine. The first settled line-up was Matt Bagguley (vocals/guitar), Darius Hinks (guitar), Pete Darrington (bass), Neil Cooper (drums) and throughout 1993 the band played regularly with underground acts from the U.S (such as Medicine, Polvo, Truman's Water, Rocket From The Crypt..) In early '94 their debut single "Sale of the Century" was released on 7", by Derby-based indie-label Krunch! Records. Radio 1 DJ John Peel played it immediately on his show saying it was the best thing he'd heard that week and phoned the band during the show to invite them to record a session. John Peel remained a loyal fan from that moment on, and altogether the band recorded 4 Peel Sessions.

Cable (American band)

Cable is an American band formed in 1994 in Rockville, Connecticut. They combine a hardcore punk and emo aesthetic with a rhythmically complex, often discordant metal-influenced musical approach. Lineup changes and delays between recordings may have hindered their notoriety over the years.

History

The quartet formed in 1994, at which time it consisted of Randy Larsen (guitar/vocals), Vic Szalaj (drums), Matt Becker (guitar), and Jeff Caxide (bass) and were players in Connecticut's "noise-core" scene. This line-up recorded a demo and appeared on a split 7" with Malcolm's Lost. Vocalist Aaron Lazauski joined the band briefly and appeared on the "Part Three"/"Feed Me Glass" 7" in 1995. Soon, both Lazauski and Larsen left the band and Bernie Romanowski joined the group as vocalist/guitarist. In the documentary Last Call, Jeff Caxide stated that he was unhappy with Larsen's departure and soon, he parted ways with Cable, only to, ironically, be replaced by a returning Randy Larsen, who picked up the bass upon re-entry into the band. In 1997, their debut, Variable Speed Drive was released by Doghouse Records.

Cable (foreign exchange)

Cable (or the cable) is a foreign exchange term used for the GBP/USD currency pair rate (British pound vs the US dollar).

The term cable is a slang term used by forex traders to refer to the exchange rate between the pound and dollar and is also used to simply refer to the British pound itself. The term originated in the mid-19th century, when the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and British pound began to be transmitted across the Atlantic by a submarine communications cable. Since that time the exchange rate has been referred to as the cable.

The first Transatlantic Cable was laid under the Atlantic Ocean in 1858, but it failed after only about a month of fitful service. The first really successful cable across the Atlantic was completed in July 1866, reliably transmitting currency prices between the London and New York Exchanges. The first such exchange rate to be published in The Times appeared in their issue of 10 August 1866.

Transatlantic communications are now mainly carried by optical fibre cables, supplemented to a small degree by satellites, but forex traders' nickname for the pound-dollar pair still hearkens back to the old days of copper telegraph cables.