Aarushhh/wikipedia-simple-splitted huggingface dataset:
Lansing is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is about 1 to 2 hours west of Detroit. It is in the center of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

The landscape is flat. There is a lot of agriculture.

Notes

References

Other websites

 
State capitals in the United States
1835 establishments in Michigan Territory
A parody is a special piece of art.

Parodies make fun of another piece of art by mocking it.

The parody is an imitation of the original, but exaggerating it, showing clichés which have been used, to make the original look ridiculous or to make a comment about an issue affecting society.

For example, in a serious Western movie, the good guys always seem to shoot better and faster than the bad guys. In a Western parody, this might be exaggerated by showing a good guy firing a single shot, and a dozen of the bad guys falling from their horses as a result.

Mel Brooks is a director who has made many movies which are parodies:

 Blazing Saddles is a parody of Western movies in general,
 Spaceballs is a parody of the Star Wars movies, and science fiction in general,
 Men in Tights is a parody of Robin Hood movies,

The website Uncyclopedia is also a parody of Wikipedia.

Parodies can be anything from songs to poems to books to movies.
A movie that makes a parody of another movie or several movies at once is a parody movie. 

Newspaper columnists are well known for their strip cartoons which can very often parody public opinion on major issues affecting society, such as the recent credit crunch.

Related pages 
 Irony
 Satire
 Parody mass
A fact is a statement that is real or true, or a thing that can be shown to be real or true. That is its core meaning, though the word has a long history, and has been used in many ways. 

A fact is something that has really happened or is actually the case. The usual test for a statement of fact is whether it can be shown to be true. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by careful observation or measurement (by experiments or other means).

Facts as statements 
A fact is a statement (a claim) about something that is true. A fact can answer questions like, "what color is it?" or "who made that?"
An opinion is different from a fact. But you can say facts about a person's opinion. For example, someone can ask a question like "What is Alice's opinion about the book?" You can answer this question with a fact, for example "Alice said she likes the book." Then it is a fact that Alice says she likes the book. But maybe Alice does not like the book. So it is not a fact that Alice likes the book, but it is a fact that Alice says she likes the book.

One way to learn a fact is if a person can help you see it. For example, if you ask, "do you have my book?" To answer this question, a person can let you see your book. Then you can know it is a fact that this person has your book.

Examples of fact statements 
These examples show that there are facts of different kinds.
 Your heart pumps blood through your body.
 The leaves of growing plants are usually green.
 Some people keep dogs as pets.
 1 liter of water weighs 1 kilogram on Earth.
 There are 50 states in the United States.
False statements 
 Water always comes from the sky.
 Dogs are made of cheese.
 All people read books.
 Cows live under water.

Scientific theories 

A scientific theory is knowledge of important facts about a natural thing. The facts in a scientific theory have evidence that shows that the fact is not false.
A person who understands the scientific method can test to see if the facts of a scientific theory are correct. When statements have been tested and shown to be not false, they may be "true". The facts of each scientific theory have usually been questioned and tested by many people. Because of this, we know that the knowledge of a scientific theory is fact and not opinion. Examples of scientific theories include the theory of relativity and the theory of evolution. More simply, it is a fact that the Earth goes around the Sun (and not vice versa). This took so long to establish because a leading religious body had the reverse opinion (see articles on Galileo and Copernicus for the story). Now we can say that there is a difference between statements of fact, and opinions or claimed truths of religion. The difference is in the way disputes about the truth are decided.

References 

Basic English 850 words
Philosophy
Victim is a term used for a person who suffers adverse circumstances, often in relation to having a crime committed against them. If someone is robbed, he or she is the victim. If someone is killed, that person is the victim. The person who committed the crime is the culprit.
Victim blaming is saying that it is the fault of the victim that a crime was committed against them.

Criminal justice
A culprit is a person who commits a crime. If someone robs a person, the robber is the culprit, while the person who was robbed is the victim.

Crime
Shot put is an athletics sport where people try to "put" a heavy weighted ball as far as they can. They are not allowed to throw it, but instead they push the ball out into the air. They "put" the ball by holding it at their neck and pushing it through the air.  The shot put has been part of the Olympics since 1896. The weight of the ball can vary from 6 to 16 pounds (2.76 to 7.26 kg), depending on level age and gender of the participants. The main objective of the sport is to throw the ball as far as possible.

The shot put is similar to the javelin. It is an official Olympic event and can be seen at the Olympic games. The athlete cannot wear gloves when they are participating. If wearing gloves, the athlete would be disqualified.

It is an outdoor event and cannot be played inside. It is a track and field event.
History 
The first evidence for stone- or weight-throwing events were in the Scottish Highlands, and date back to the first century. In the 16th century King Henry VIII was noted for his prowess in court competitions of weight and hammer throwing.

Throwing technique 
There are two types of putting styles: glide and spin (rotation). The glide was invented in the US in the year 1876. The spin was also developed in the US. It was invented by Parry O'Brian and made famous by Brian Oldfield.

Rules 
The athlete must only use one hand and it must not drop below the shoulder or it could cause damage.
The athlete can be disqualified for leaving the circle before the shot hits the ground, or leaving the sector lines.
The athlete must not put a foot past the toe board, or it is a disqualification.
The athlete must not take longer than 60.00 seconds to take a shot.it is compulsory to put the shot in the given time.
History 
Shot put was originally used in the Olympics to see who was the strongest athlete. Each athlete threw from a wooden square, and could only stand to throw. The shot put was a large stone ball. That is now a metal ball not softer than brass.

Warm up

Under hand toss
Stand facing landing area. 
Hold shot in front of body with both hands. 
Bend knees and throw shot up and out, away from body, using an underhand toss.

Chest pass
Stand facing landing area. 
Hold shot with both hands with fingers behind shot. 
Push shot out like a basketball chest pass.

Record holders 

Cameron George, 23.12m United Kingdom 2013
Natalya Lisovskaya, 22.63m RUS 1987
Mark Robinson, 24.60m USA 2009

References 

Events in athletics
Magic can mean:

Magic (illusion), tricks that fool people into thinking they see something they really did not see
"Magic" (Pilot song), a song by the Scottish band Pilot
Apotropaic magic, protection against harmful influences
Black magic
Magic: The Gathering, a collectible card game
Witchcraft, the action of using magic powers
Orlando Magic, an American professional basketball team
Hitchhiking is a way to end travel from place to place in someone else's car or lorry. Usually, a hitchhiker (a person who hitchhikes) will stand at the side of a road and hold his or her thumb in the air waiting for a passerby to come and pick her or him up. This is a sign that he or she wants to go somewhere else.

It was a very common way of traveling in Europe in the 1970s until people started to go missing. It is common for people to encounter rapists or lunatics while hitchiking, it is not always clear when being picked up if a person is dangerous, and this make it very dangerous and has made it less popular.

Because of this, hitchhiking is illegal or restricted in many country’s and states of America.

Other websites
Other websites 

 The Hitchhiker's Guide to Hitchhiking - a wiki project to collect information about hitchhiking
 Anhalterfreunde - Information all about hitchhiking (English and German language)
 Liftershalte.info  - a worldmap with hitching places.
 hitchbase.com - Database with hitchhing places
 Abgefahren e.V. - the first German Autostop Society; ideas, tips, projects,..

Transport
Owls are birds in the order Strigiformes. There are 200 species, and they are all animals of prey. Most of them are solitary and nocturnal; in fact, they are the only large group of birds which hunt at night. Owls are specialists night-time hunters. They feed on small mammals such as rodents, insects, and other birds, and a few species like to eat fish as well. 

As a group, owls are very successful. They are found in all parts of the world except Antarctica, most of Greenland, and some small islands.

Owl families 
There are two families of owls: the true owls and the barn owls:
True owls: the family Strigidae (185 species in 25 genera)
Barn owls: the family Tytonidae. This contains the genus Tyto, especially Tyto alba, with its many sub-species. The genus Pholidus has only a couple of species, known as bay-owls. It hunts mainly by sound.
Appearance 
An owl has a big head, flat face, hooked beak, short tail, and sharp talons, The wings of an owl are long. Owls have brown, gray, or white plumage with streaks or spots.

Adaptations 
Owls have a suite of adaptations which help them to be successful.

Owls have large eyes and holes for ears, a hawk-like beak, and a rather flat face. Most birds of prey have eyes on the sides of their heads, but the owl's eyes are facing forwards to help it see better in the dark. Their eyes are also fixed inside their sockets, so they have to turn their whole head to look at other things. Owls can rotate their heads and necks up to 270 degrees in both directions. 

Owls are good at looking at things far from its eyes, but it cannot see anything clearly within a few centimeters of their eyes. Owls use small feathers on the beak and the feet that help it feel the prey it catches.

Hunting 
Most owls hunt at night, and in twilight (dawn and dusk). A few owls are also active during the day.
The owls' hunting depends on surprising its prey. Their most important adaptation is their almost silent flight. The feathers are soft, with fringes on the back edge, and the base of each is downy. This all muffles noise, and makes for silence. Also, they glide when coming in for the kill. 

The dull colors of the owls' feathers make them less visible by camouflaging the owl. This helps them as they roost during the day. 

Owls have fantastic hearing. The shape of the head helps slight sounds reach the ears. The feathers of the facial disc are arranged in order to increase sound delivered to the ears. Their ears are asymmetrical allowing the owl to locate a sound. They can hear a mouse move in the grass.
An owl's sharp beak and powerful talons allow it to kill its prey before swallowing it whole, unless it is too big. Owls usually regurgitate the parts of their prey that they cannot digest. These parts include bones, scales, and fur. Scientists who study the things that owls eat can get clues by studying the parts that the owl spit back out, called "owl pellets". These "owl pellets" are sold by supply companies to schools for use in the students' biology and ecology lessons.

Winter larder 
Many animals store food during times of plenty to prepare for leaner times. Owls may store dead mice for winter.
Swivelling the head 
Owls have special adaptations which help them swivel their heads 270 degrees. They have 14 neck vertebrae instead of our seven. Also, the big carotid arteries, instead of being on the side of the neck as in humans, are carried close to the centre of rotation just in front of the spine. So these arteries get much less twisting and stretching, and the potential for damage is greatly reduced. This arrangement  is seen in other birds, but in owls the vertebral arteries – the vessels that travel through channels in the neck bones – are given extra space.

Owls also have wide parts in their carotid arteries just under the base of the skull. Researchers found these could dilate and fill with a reservoir of blood. "We believe this is kind of a new structure not really known before", said a researcher. "It's probably a way to pool blood and get some continuity of flow even if there is disruption below at the next level".

Owls in culture 
Mythology and stories that include owls are:
The owl is the symbol of the Greek goddess Athena (Minerva to the Romans) 
 Nursery rhyme: "The wise old owl sat in an oak, the more he heard, the less he spoke". 
 Poem by Tennyson: "The wise owl in the belfry sits..."
 "Wol" is a character from the Winnie the Pooh books by A.A. Milne.
 Owls carry the mail in the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling.
 Owls are featured in the book series Guardians of Ga'hoole by Kathryn Lasky  with most of the series' characters being owls.

Gallery

Related pages 
Great horned owl
Northern pygmy owl
Barred owl
Nocturnal animals
Barn owl

References

Other websites 
 Facts about Owls
Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the use of material which is covered by copyright law, in a way that violates one of the original copyright owner's "exclusive rights", such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it. The slang term bootleg (from the use of boots to smuggle items) is often used to describe illegally copied material.

Some people call illegally copying movies and music, "piracy" or "theft". Richard Stallman says people should not call copying and distribution "piracy", because piracy is robbery with attacking ships, killing and stealing people, and owners of copyright use the word to say that such copying is as evil as piracy. Some courts say that the word "piracy" may be used, but the word "theft" may not be used. When people use the word "piracy" for copyright infringement, it usually means "selling of many copies without permission", but sometimes any "big copyright infringement".
Motivation 
There are a few reasons why people violate copyrights. Copyright infringed goods are usually cheaper than legal ones, because the people distributing them don't need to pay for the copyright. That can make them easier to sell. Normal goods might also not be as useful as copyright infringed ones because of legal limitations.

Internet piracy 
Copyright laws have tried to keep up with the development of technology, such as radio, television, and the internet. Now many people upload some articles to websites that allow people to read free articles on it without the permission of the author. In this way, people can read many articles easily, but it is illegal. As a result, many authors prosecute the website.

The normal behaviors of copy infringement 
Here are the normal behaviors of copy infringement.
 Copy or photocopying.
 Let other people browse for free in public.
 Distribute or sold after reforming.
The harm of copyright infringement 
Piracy goods are usually at low price because they don't need to pay for copyright and carry out research. So it is popular with the people who don't have awareness of copyright. On the surface, it will limit the monopoly of big company. But in fact, it is a means of unfair competition and damages the fair competition pattern. What's more, it will have a bad consequence on the competitiveness of middle or small sized companies.
Benefits of copyright infringement 
There are some benefits to society of limiting copyright. One is to expand readership of newspapers and books to a wider section of the public. Newspapers were once relatively expensive, but copies were freely available in coffee houses throughout Europe. The invention of public libraries had the same effect for books. Many great people in the 18th and 19th century came from poor backgrounds. Such people as Michael Faraday (the son of a blacksmith) and Alfred Russel Wallace had no university education, but used libraries to get their knowledge up-to-date. The aim of copyright law is to have a balance between these two sides: the needs of authors and publishers, and the broader needs of society.
Examples 
1.Well-known writers vs. Baidu On March 15, 2011, HanHan and many other well-known writers prosecuted Baidu Library because it allowed people to read and download their articles for free. They asked Baidu to pay for it but Baidu rejected the compensation.
2.Princeton University Press v. Michigan Document Services (1996)
Michigan Document Services was involved in creating packages of study material for the students of the university. A professor supplied the course material and Michigan Document services, a photocopying organization, took photocopies of the material and converted it into a booklet for sale to students at the university.
Here was a clause of "Fair use" in this case. The photocopying company could have paid a nominal fee to the university and then used the material. This was available to anyone who wished to use the material. However, the photocopying company paid for only the original and then started making photocopies of the study material. The court considered that it was not "fair use" and penalized the photocopying company.
3.A & M Records vs. Napster (2001)
This is one of the most famous cases of copyright infringement related to the music industry. As peer to peer file sharing increased, Napster started a website. This website offered downloads of songs of all genres – new and old. You may know someone who used it. A & M Records brought in a joint copyright infringement case which accused Napster of stealing music and making it available to people worldwide. Before closing the site in 2002, Napster had to settle US$26 million to different recording companies and songwriters. It could have been even more if Napster had not apologized and folded the site.Several websites still thrive on offering free music to people who can download it at no cost. As mentioned in our article on "Internet Ethics and Copyright Laws", the music industry faces most copyright infringement cases. The Napster case, though an example of the consequences, still does not act as a deterrent for other music websites that offer free music downloads.
The opinions of the public 
As opposed to the writers, many people think it's convenient and cheap to read books and other articles on the internet. They think free articles are good for them. On the other hand, some people think it is illegal to provide free articles download without authors permission. They think the best way to avoid this problem is to pay for reading on the Internet.

Copyright test case 

In 2014 selfies taken by a crested black macaque seemed to establish a legal precedent, after the Wikimedia Foundation rejected a copyright claim. On 22 August 2014, a spokesperson for the UK Intellectual Property Office states that even if creatures that aren't human create a work, the copyright of a photograph depends if the photographer made a "creative contribution" to the work, and the judges must decide who is the real owner of the photograph.
The photos had been sold widely by David Slater, a professional nature photographer, whose camera was temporarily carried away by a group of macaques. After the photos were uploaded to Wikipedia, the organisation refused to delete them, claiming "This file is in the public domain, because as the work of a non-human animal, it has no human author in whom copyright is vested. In December 2014, the United States Copyright Office stated that works created by a creature that isn't a human, such as a photograph taken by a monkey, are not able to be copyrighted. Several legal experts in the US and UK suggest that Slater's role in the photographic process would be enough of a valid claim for copyright, although the court would need to decide if that claim is still valid.

References

Copyright infringement
File sharing
International Women's Day is celebrated every year on March 8.  International Women's Day has been observed since 1909 in the United States.  After a while the people of United States stopped celebrating this holiday. In the 1920s Soviet Union, and then some other Communist countries like China and Cuba, started celebrating this day as a holiday for women and world peace. Since then the holiday has become more and more popular around the world.

In many places, the day does not have a political aspect, and is simply a time for men to express their love for women. It is similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. Men present their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc. with flowers and small gifts. In some countries International Women's Day is observed like Mother's Day, where children give small gifts to their mothers and grandmothers. In some countries, women get a half day off work. Often, schools will have a celebration where students will honor their teachers.
In 1975, the United Nations also started to recognize this holiday for women's rights and gender equality. The UN chooses a political or social theme for the holiday each year.  For example, the 2011 theme was ""Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women." and the 2012 theme is "Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world". In this way, the holiday is a time to look at the social and economic problems women have around the world.

International Women's Day is now an official holiday in Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Georgia, Italy, Israel, Laos, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Other websites

Other page 
Women's History Month

Observances
Human rights
May 1 is known in many countries as May Day or International Labor Day for human rights of workers and labour movement. This day is a holiday in most countries, including UK,China, Cuba, Czech republic, France, Russia, Brazil, Austria, Germany, Serbia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenya, Slovenia, Slovakia, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, Bulgaria, Vietnam and Argentina.

May Day commemorates worker demonstrations for eight-hour workweeks in Chicago, May, 1886. More specifically, it commemorates the Haymarket Affair and the execution of multiple anarchist and marxist leaders.

Holidays
May events
Labor
Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world. It is on a hilly promontory on the eastern Mediterranean surrounded to the east by the snow-capped mountains of Lebanon. Before the civil war it was a cultural center of the Arab World, a major international financial, banking and media center and was called the Switzerland of the Middle East. It was called the Paris of the Middle East.

Gallery

References

 Linda Jones Hall, Roman Berytus: Beirut in Late Antiquity, 2004.
 Samir Kassir, Histoire de Beyrouth, Fayard 2003.
 Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, (), p. 69.

Other websites 

 Official website of Beirut 
 Downtown Beirut 
 Discover Lebanon - Beirut photos and images, virtual tour, Allenby street, parliament, museum

Phoenicia
Nancy Ajram or Nancy Agram (, born May 16, 1983) is a popular Arab singer from Lebanon. Her musical videos, directed by Nadine Labaki, also Lebanese, revolutionized the Arab music industry.

She had quite a normal childhood with her small family that consisted of her parents, her sister and brother and herself. But when Nancy Ajram was 12, she participated in a television program called "Nojoum Al Mostakbal" (which means "Stars of the Future") and actually won first prize. Soon after, Ajram began studying music under the supervision of some of the finest teachers in her country. When she turned 18, she joined the Syndicate of Professional Artists in Lebanon - after they made an exception because of her age.
Her first album; Mehtagalak, was released in 1998 and marked her first official step in the world of show business. But, it took the young singer another 3 years to launch her second album Shil Eyounak Aney in 2001. Then her true hit came with her third album Ya Salam in 2003. The singer stressed the success of the album by shooting four of its songs; Akhasmak Ah, Ya Salam, Yay - Sehr Eyounoh and Nasseto Gar7o in the form of video clips. The clips were a tremendous hit and gained popularity in such a short time and gave the singer incredible fame in the Arab world. 

Her most popular album is Ah we Nos which was released in 2004. Nancy shot again four video clips for this Album. Ah w Noss, Lawn Oyounak, Oul Tani Eih and Enta Eih.

As for other activities besides singing, the Lebanese diva has agreed to be the spokesperson for the international soft drink company Coca-Cola. After signing the contract with Nancy Ajram, Coca-Cola sold much more drinks in the Arab world.
Other websites 
 Official website
 Second Official website 
 Nancy Ajram Zone
 Nancy Ajram VideoClips 
 Popular FanPage 
 Listen to all Nancy ajram songs 

1983 births
Living people
Lebanese Christians
Lebanese singers
Fairuz (born Nouhad Haddad (, November 21, 1935) is a Lebanese singer. She is considered among the best singers in Arab world. She has been performing for over 50 years all over the world. Her vocal range is contralto. Her first album was released in 1952. She has released 98 more albums since then.

Early Life
Nuhad Haddad was born in 1935 in Beirut, Lebanon to a Lebanese Christian Maronite family. She was the eldest child in the family. Her father worked as a typesetter at a print shop. In 1940's, Mohammed Flayfel, a musician and a teacher at the Lebanese Conservatory, discovered her when he was searching different schools for singers to perform in a newly opened radio station. He attended a show at the school where Nuhad was to sing. He was very impressed with her voice and adviced her family to enroll her in his conservatory. Her father allowed her to be enrolled but only on a condition that her brother would also go with her. Flayfel along with other staff at Lebanese Conservatory trained her for 5 years. She began singing for the Palestinian Cause and also sang for various Arab Capitals including Beirut. Soon, she was hired at the National Radio Station as a Chorus singer. During that time, many singers used stage names
. Halim Al-Rumi, who wrote songs for her, recommended that Nahud Haddad perform under the name Fairuz, means "turquoise" in Arabic, which she accepted. in 1954, she married Assi Rahbani, who was a policeman and a part time composer.
References

Other Websites
 About Fairuz at American University of Beirut.

1935 births
Living people
Lebanese Christians
Lebanese singers
A sword is a hand-held weapon made for cutting.  It is often made of metal. It has a long blade, and a handle called a hilt.  Often there is some form of hand protection, such as a cross-guard or a basket. It can be used either for cutting, slashing or stabbing, depending on the type of sword.

Swords were first created from bronze by blacksmiths in Ancient Egypt in 1150 BCE. Soon other cultures adopted them, and they began to spread quite quickly. Before guns were invented, swords were much more common as a weapon. After the invention of the gun, swords remained as sidearms, as secondary weapons used in man-to-man fight once the battle lines had contacted after shooting. Since after the American Civil War, swords have not been used as much by armies, except as a ceremonial part of uniforms. Some guns, however, have bayonets to perform the same function.
Today, Sport fencing, is an Olympic games sport which uses very light swords and a strict scoring system. Western Martial Arts use swords that are much closer to the original blades, such as longswords, rapiers and sabres. The blades used are blunt, but they are much heavier than a sport fencing sword, which means the fencers need much more armour. Likewise, the Japanese sport kendo is swordplay in armour with two-handed bamboo swords called shinai.

Types of swords
Types of swords

There are many kinds of swords.  One kind of sword is a sabre (or saber). A sabre is a curved, light sword, sharpened on one side and at the tip, and was generally used on horseback.  A broadsword is a straight sword that is sharp on both sides and at the tip. A rapier is long and thin, with a basket protecting the hand. Another type of sword is a foil, used in sport fencing, and is long and thin, with a button at the tip to protect the fencers from injury. Larger swords, such as Longswords or claymores are used with two hands. In Eastern martial Arts, swords like the Katana are used. A Katana has one sharp edge and a small guard near the handle. Some Katanas are used with one hand, while other larger versions are used with two hands.

Famous swords
The sword of King Arthur, Excalibur, is one of the most famous swords, although it is suspected it is legendary and does not exist.
In a Vietnamese legend, the Dragon King gives a sword called Heaven's Will to Emperor Lê Lợi so he can free Vietnam from the Chinese.

The Frisian freedom fighters Pier Gerlofs Donia and Wijerd Jelckama are known to have wielded swords of great size. Donias sword was a long as 210 cm (seven feet) and weighed 7 kg (15 lbs). The swords are kept in the Frisian Museum in Leeuwarden.

References
Moses (;  in both the Septuagint and the New Testament; , ) is a person in Abrahamic religions. He was a religious leader, lawgiver, and prophet according to the Hebrew Bible. Generally, he is also seen as the author of the Torah. 
He is often called Moshe Rabbenu in Hebrew (, Lit. "Moses our Teacher/Rabbi") and seen as the most important prophet in Judaism. Christianity, Islam,  the Bahá'í Faith, and the Rastafari also see him as an important prophet.  Moses has also been an important symbol in American history, from the first settlers up until the present.
According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was born in a time when his people were increasing in number and the Egyptian Pharaoh was worried that they might help Egypt's enemies. Moses' Hebrew mother, Jochebed,  hid him when the Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed, and he ended up being adopted into the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave-master, Moses fled across the Red Sea to Midian where he tended the flocks of Jethro, a priest of Midian on the slopes of Mt. Horeb. After the Ten Plagues were unleashed on Egypt, Moses led the Hebrew people out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, where they based themselves at Horeb and compassed the borders of Edom. It was at this time that Moses received the Ten Commandments. Despite living to the age of 120, Moses died before reaching the Land of Israel.

Early life
Early life 

Moses was born of the Levi tribe. The new Pharaoh, afraid of the ever-growing Israelite population, ordered every new-born Hebrew boy to be thrown into the Nile River, but let every girl live. Moses' mother Jochebed gave birth and kept him hidden for three months from Pharaoh's soldiers. When she could no longer keep him hidden, she fashioned a basket lined with tar and pitch, and placed him in the reeds along the riverbank, while his sister Miriam kept watch from a distance.

A princess, one of pharaoh's daughters, went down to the Nile to bathe. There she discovered a crying baby and noticed he was a Hebrew child. Joining the attendants, Moses' sister offered to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for the princess, who agreed. Bringing Moses' real mother, the princess asked her to be the baby's wet nurse, for which she was paid. When the child grew older, she took him to pharaoh's daughter, who named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."
Moses grew up a privileged member of the court. He was well educated academically and physically. He was taught hand-to-hand combat tactics and leadership.

Upon adulthood, he killed an Egyptian guard who was beating a Hebrew slave and had to leave Egypt because the Pharaoh tried to kill him.

The Burning Bush 

Moses fled to Midian, where he married Jethro's daughter, Zipora. Zipora had two sons. The old Pharaoh died and the Israelites cried loudly. God heard him. One day Moses was tending his father-in-law, Jethro's, sheep and came to Mount Horeb. God's angel made a bush burn with fire, but it did not burn up. When he came nearer, God spoke to him and ordered him to remove his shoes as he was on holy land. God commanded him to be a leader for the Israelites and bring them out of Egypt. At first Moses did not want to do it and said that he was not good with words, but God commanded him and gave Aaron, his brother, to speak for him. Moses returned to Egypt and told the elders what happened.
Moses and the Pharaoh 

Moses then went to the Pharaoh and asked him to let the Israelites go. However the Pharaoh did not agree. Finally God inflicted ten plagues upon the Egyptians before Pharaoh agreed to release the Israelites. The last plague was the killing of all first-born, both human and animals. However, to save the Israelites, they were instructed to mark their doors with blood from a lamb, so that the avenging angel would see it and know to "pass over" that house.

The Pharaoh finally decided to let the Israelites go who then migrated in large numbers from Egypt. The Pharaoh later changed his mind and followed Moses and his people with an army to attack them. But Moses made the Red Sea to part and give way for Israelites to pass. The Israelites were safe but the Pharaoh's army was destroyed.

Journey in the Wilderness
Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness, and God gave them manna and quails to eat, and water from rocks to drink. He also caused the Amalekites to lose in a battle. When Moses came to Mount Sinai, he went up to receive the Ten Commandments and other laws from God. The Ten Commandments were written by God on two tablets. God also told him the instructions of the priests' duties. Moses was up the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

When the people waited for Moses and did not find him, they made Aaron, his brother, make a calf out of gold and worshiped it. God warned Moses about it, and when Moses came down and saw what they did, he was so angry that the tablets fell and they smashed into pieces. The people of Levi tribes are commanded to kill people who worshiped the calf.

Later on Moses asked God to forgive the people. God wrote for Moses two more tablets, and put them in the Ark. Moses also asked craftsmen to make the Tabernacle as God wanted.
To some people, Moses is the founder of the philosophy of law as well as such modern legal doctrines as independent judiciary and separation of powers..

Later life 

While the Israelites were wandering around the wilderness, Moses was the one to whom God spoke. However, the people kept complaining about the hardships. God instructed Moses to send twelve spies to scout the land God is giving to them; however some of them became afraid because the people living there looked stronger and more powerful than they. They told the others not to go there. Only Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, reported the truth as God wanted. God decided because of this that the Israelites would wander forty years in the wilderness, and every one except Joshua and Caleb from that generation would die without seeing the promised land.

God gave many laws to the Israelites through Moses. Moses made Joshua take over him before he died.
Moses died before he reached Canaan, the land God was leading his people to. He was 120 years old when he died.

Today Jews around the world follow the laws of the Ten Commandments and the Torah that God gave to them through Moses. He is also believed to be a prophet by Muslims.

The Historical Moses 
The Bible, the Torah, and the Quran have references to a person called Moses in them. The name they give to the person, varies. Other people also have written about Moses. These include Tacitus and Strabo. It is not known how much these descriptions have taken from earlier sources, which may now have been lost.
No other written records from countries such as Egypt or Assyria have been found, that are from before about 850 BCE and that tell about the stories of the Bible or its main characters. There is no known physical evidence (such as pottery shards or stone tablets) to say that Moses' really existed. Pharaohs have ordered the destruction of records that put them into a bad light. Several cartouches from monuments have also been destroyed in different epochs of Ancient Egyptian history.

It looks like the story written about Moses in the Bible has two different sources. There were two groups of people who told the story. The two stories were passed on separately. Only later were they combined into the version that can now be found in the Bible. Passing on the stories from one generation to the next has perhaps also introduced inaccuracies. Some people added things to the story when they told it. They also omitted other things.

Criticism
Criticism

According to the Torah, Moses ordered the death penalty for many offences. He also had defeated enemies killed. Jews, Christians and Muslims consider him to be a holy figure. For this reason, criticism of these passages of the Hebrew Bible has been left to others.

In the late eighteenth century, for example, the deist Thomas Paine commented at length on Moses' Laws in The Age of Reason. Paine also gave his view that "the character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid that can be imagined", giving the story at  as an example. In the nineteenth century the agnostic Robert G. Ingersoll wrote "...that all the ignorant, infamous, heartless, hideous things recorded in the 'inspired' Pentateuch are not the words of God, but simply 'Some Mistakes of Moses'". In the 2000s, the atheist Richard Dawkins referring to the same passage like Paine, concluded, "No, Moses was not a great role model for modern moralists."

References

Related pages
 Ten Commandments

Other websites
Other websites

The Geography, Book XVI, Chapter II The entire context of the cited chapter of Strabo's work

Old Testament prophets
Ancient Israeli people
15th-century BC people
Canaan was an ancient region in the Levant. In the Bible, it was the land promised to Abraham and his children by God. The Canaanite people lived in the area from about 2000 BC until the time of the Bible. The area covers part of the area that is now Israel, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.

Ancient Israel and Judah
Former countries in the Middle East
History of Jordan
History of Lebanon
History of Syria
Prophets are people who said that God or gods talked to them. They freely teach other people what they learned. Most of them warn people that something very good will happen if they live good lives. Or if they sin, God will punish them. Sometimes people who are not religious are also called prophets if they correctly predict the future. Persons who think bad things  will happen are sometimes made fun of as being "prophets of doom". A person who says things will happen, but they don't happen are called "false prophets". 

There are prophets in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Sanamahism, Zoroastrianism, and in other religions. 

For the main Abrahamic religions, there are two kinds of prophets, major and minor. Major prophets gave a lot of teachings while minor prophets do not have many teachings. The most important prophet in Judaism is Moses.  Isaiah and Elijah are also important. Elijah didn't write any books in the Bible but did many miracles and told kings that God would punish them.
In Christianity Jesus was the main prophet. Other Christian prophets are mentioned in the New Testament, both men and women. John, a disciple of Jesus wrote the Book of Revelation which has many prophecies.  

In Islam, Muhammed is considered the greatest and last prophet.  Muslims also consider Moses and Jesus to be prophets and many others who lived before the time of Muhammed.  But some modern religions say that their founder is a prophet, such as Joseph Smith. The famous preacher Billy Graham is sometimes called a prophet.

Related pages
 Nevi'im
Isaiah
John the Baptist
 Oracle
 Prophecy
 Prophets of Islam

References

Theology
Mount Cotopaxi is a volcano in Ecuador. The mountain's altitude (height) is . That is high enough for snow to fall on it, even though it is near the equator (a very warm part of the world). If the volcano erupted, it would be very bad for the people living around it because of the destruction and damage it could cause.

Cotopaxi began showing new activity. As of 25 June 2015, it was under active watch by the National Polytechnic School Geophysics Institute.

The Geophysics Institute at the National Polytechnic School in Quito houses an international team of seismologists and volcanologists whose responsibility is to monitor Ecuadors numerous active volcanoes
and the constant seismic activity in the Andean Volcanic Belt and the Galapagos Islands.

References 

Andes
Volcanoes of Ecuador
Mountains of Ecuador
Cotopaxi Province
Israelites were a Semitic people of the ancient Middle East. They lived in part of what was Canaan during the time of the Bible. This area came to be called the Land of Israel. It usually refers to a member of one of the Tribes of Israel. The term Children of Israel is also used, especially when talking about the period of the Five Books of Moses.

Israelites lived in the kingdom of Israel, in areas where the modern State of Israel is now. Israel split off from a kingdom called Judah, whose people were later called Jews. Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 721 BCE. Judah was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Many Jews were taken away from Judah. When the Achaemenid Empire defeated the Babylonians they let the Jews return to rebuild the Second Temple in Jerusalem about 70 years later.

Related pages
 History of ancient Israel and Judah

Ancient Israel and Judah
Up to 1900 
 314 – Pope Miltiades ends his reign as the Catholic Pope.
 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople.
 1158 – Vladislav II becomes King of Bohemia.
 1569 – First recorded lottery in England.
 1571 – Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion.
 1693 – Mount Etna erupts in Sicily, Italy.
 1759 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.
 1779 - Ching-Tang Khomba is crowned King of Manipur in present-day northeastern India.
 1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
 1805 – Michigan Territory is created.
 1861 – Alabama secedes from the United States.
 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post – General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
 1866 - British passenger ship London sinks in a storm in the Bay of Biscay, killing 220 out of the 239 people on board.
 1867 – Benito Juárez becomes Mexican president again.
 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War begins.
1901  1950 
 1902 – Popular Mechanics magazine was published for the first time.
 1908 – The Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
 1917 - The Kingsland Munitions Factory explosion occurs in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.
 1919 – Romania annexes Transylvania.
 1922 – First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
 1923 – Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to pay its reparation payments.
 1927 - Louis B. Mayer, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
 1935 – Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
 1938 – Frances Moulton is the first woman to become president of a US national bank.
 1942 – Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.
 1942 – The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
 1943 – The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
1946 – Enver Hoxha declares the People's Republic of Albania with himself as dictator.
 1946 – Porfirio Barba-Jacob's ashes go back to Colombia.
 1949 – First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles, California.
From 1951 
 1954 - A series of avalanches in the state of Vorarlberg in Austria kills 135 people.
 1957 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar.
 1960 – Chad declares its independence.
 1962 – An avalanche occurs in the Huascaran region in Peru; 4,000 deaths.
 1962 - Cold War: While tied to its pier in Polyarny, the Soviet submarine B-37 is destroyed when fire breaks out in its torpedo compartment.
 1963 – The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the US, is opened.
 1964 – United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports smoking may be hazardous to health. First such statement from US government.
 1972 – East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh.
 1973 – Beginning of the Watergate burglars trial.
 1974 – The world's first surviving set of sextuplets are born to Susan Rosenkowitz in Cape Town, South Africa.
 1976 - In Ecuador, Guillermo Rodriguez Lara is removed from power by the military.
1980 – Nigel Short, 14, is the youngest chess player to be given the degree of International Master.
 1981 - In Spain, Cantabria becomes an autonomous community.
 1982 – A cold snap sends temperatures to record lows in dozens of cities throughout the Midwestern United States.
 1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia was officially opened.
 1990 – 300,000 march in favor of Lithuanian independence.
 1992 – Paul Simon is the first major artist to tour South Africa after the end of the cultural boycott.
 1994 – Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin
 1996 – Haiti becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
 1996 - Ryutaro Hashimoto becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
 1998 – Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria; over 100 people killed.
 2001 – The Federal Trade Commission approved the merger of AOL and Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner.
2002 - The first prisoners arrive at the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay, on the island of Cuba.
 2003 – Illinois governor George H. Ryan announces decision to grant clemency to all inmates of death row.
 2005 – Black Tuesday bushfires swept across the southern Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.
 2013 - President of France François Hollande authorizes military intervention in the conflict in Mali.
 2015 - Over a million people march in Paris for freedom of speech after the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine a few days earlier.
 2015 - Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic is elected to become the first female President of Croatia.
 2018 - US President Donald Trump is involved in a racism controversy over words he is said to have used to describe Haiti, El Salvador and African countries.
Up to 1900 
 347 – Theodosius I, Roman Emperor (d. 395)
 1209 - Möngke Khan, Mongol Emperor (d. 1259)
 1322 – Emperor Komyo of Japan (d. 1380)
 1359 – Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan (d. 1393)
 1395 - Michelle of Valois, Duchess of Burgundy (d. 1422)
 1503 - Parmigianino, Italian artist (d. 1540)
 1591 - Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English Civil War general (d. 1646)
 1638 – Nicolaus Steno, Danish physician, scientist and bishop (d. 1686)
 1642 - Johann Friedrich Alberti, German composer and organist (d. 1710)
 1671 - François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (d. 1745)
 1695 - Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch, Scottish nobleman (d. 1751)
 1755 or 1757 – Alexander Hamilton, American politician (d. 1804)
 1757 - Samuel Bentham, English mechanical engineer (d. 1831)
 1760 - Oliver Wolcott, Jr., American politician (d. 1833)
 1786 – Joseph Jackson Lister, English optician and physicist (d. 1869)
 1788 - William Thomas Brande, English chemist (d. 1866)