Aarushhh/wikipedia-simple-splitted huggingface dataset:
The Asian tsunami 
The large movement of earth under the water caused a very large and powerful tsunami. The tsunami was called the Asian tsunami, or the Boxing Day tsunami in Australia, Canada, England, and South Africa because it happened on the 26th of December 2004 (Boxing Day). It spread all over the Indian Ocean. The tsunami caused heavy damage to countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. It also devastated the eastern coast of India, such as the states of Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
Waves as high as 30m (100ft) killed many people and damaged or destroyed a lot of buildings and other property. Over 225,000 people died or were not found after the tsunami. The wave did damage in East Africa as far away as South Africa (8000km/ 5000mi) where as many as 8 people died because of high water caused by the wave. Because of how much damage was caused and the number of people the earthquake affected, over $7 billion (USD) was donated to help rebuild the areas damaged. This was extremely helpful in rebuilding their respective economys.

Other websites

News collections 
 BBC News - In-Depth Report: Tsunami Disaster
 Channel News Asia - One Year On, Memorial & Updates to the Asian Tsunami Disaster
 CNN - Tsunami, One Year After 
 Guardian Unlimited - Special Report: Indian Ocean Tsunami Disaster
 New York Times
 Sydney Morning Herald - Waves of Devastation
Photos and video 
 Yahoo! Slideshows — Asian Tsunami Disaster
 Satellite images of tsunami-affected areas (National University of Singapore)
 Tsunamis.com - 2004 Asian Tsunami Pictures
 After the Tsunami Danish writer and photographer Thorsten Overgaard's documentary on the relief work after the December 26, 2004 tsunami.

References

Indian Ocean earthquake
Earthquakes in the 2000s
2000s in Indonesia
Earthquake, 2004
21st-century tsunamis
Earthquakes in Asia
December events
2004 disasters
Taiwan (minus the Pescadores) is an island of eastern Asia. Its first people were Austronesians with small numbers of Chinese. After the arrival of the Dutch in the 1600s, many Chinese moved to Taiwan to work. Few European people moved to Taiwan, and the native people married with Chinese or moved away from the west side of the island. When the Qing dynasty began in China, a supporter of the old Ming dynasty hid in Taiwan. Eventually the Qing came to Taiwan, defeated him, and added Taiwan to China.

Taiwan remained Chinese territory through most of the Qing dynasty until it was taken by Japan in 1895. Taiwan became a colony of Japan for fifty years until the end of World War Two. For a brief time it was under the control of China through the Guomindang government, but that government lost a civil war and moved to Taiwan. The rule of the Guomindang is considered controversial today. Some criticize its treatment of the people of Taiwan, but others focus on positive political and economic change that it made.
In the 1980s, the government became more democratic. This has also been controversial because it allows different political parties to compete. The Democratic Progressive Party gained influence. During this time, Taiwan has officially been called the Republic of China but has acted independently of China. The People's Republic of China demands that Taiwan must become a part of China, while most Taiwanese debate the appropriate political status for today. These perspectives make complications in the politics of Taiwan.

Prehistoric Taiwan 

The original people to move to Taiwan can be called the Aboriginal people. They have many similarities with others societies called Austronesian. Chinese historians have mentioned Taiwan several times since its Three Kingdoms period, although it was considered a land of barbarians.
About 50000 years ago was called the "Old Stone Age" in Taiwan. At that time, people hit rocks against each other to make tools. The most famous culture of Taiwanese old Stone Age is Changping Culture. The Changping culture's monument is the Eight Gods' Hole Monument in Taitung Conty.

About 5000 years ago was the "New Stone Age". People in New Stone Age sharpened stones to make tools. We can take New Stone Age into three parts. The most famous cultures are the Tapenken culture, the Beinan culture, and the Yuanshan culture. The Tapenken culture monument is the Tapenken Monument (also known as T.P.K.) in Taipei, the Beinan culture's monument is the Puyuma Relics in Taitung Conty, and the Yuanshan culture's monument is the Yuanshan Monument in Taipei City.

About 2000 years ago was the "Metal Age". In the Metal Age, people used metal to make tools, and started trading. The most famous culture in Metal Age is the Thirteen Hangs Cultures. Its monument is the Thirteen Hangs Monument in Taipei County.
Dutch Taiwan 

In the 17th century, the Dutch took control of Taiwan. During this time, it was a Dutch colony and it encouraged Chinese people to move there. Few Chinese had lived on Taiwan until this time. As more Chinese moved to Taiwan there was conflict with the Aboriginal people. The Aboriginal people either married with Chinese or moved away from the west of Taiwan. During the time of Dutch control, Spain also briefly held northern Taiwan but the Dutch removed them in 1642.

Qing Dynasty 

In 1644, the Qing Dynasty began ruling China, and Ming Dynasty's courtier, Koxinga landed Taiwan, removed the Dutch, and ruled Taiwan. He turned it into a place to resist the Qing Dynasty. This period is called "the period of Ming Zheng", or the Kingdom of Tungning, the Kingdom of Yanping. One year later, the Qing Dynasty ended the Kindom of Tungning. The Qing Dynasty ruled Taiwan for 212 years until 1895.

Japanese Rule
Japanese Rule 

Japan first showed interest in Taiwan in the 1870s. It tested the strength of the Qing Dynasty's control in 1871. Some ship-wrecked Okinawan fishermen were killed by Aboriginal people in southern Taiwan and Japan demanded compensation. Okinawa had secretly paid tribute to both China and Japan. In this situation Japan claimed Okinawa was part of Japan and it must protect its own people. There was no war but China stated it could not control barbarian people. Japan used this excuse to demand Taiwan after it defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War. Taiwanese people rebelled without the support of China and created the Republic of Formosa that lasted for about one year. Japan crushed Taiwanese resistance, but it was the beginning of Taiwanese nationalism.

Guomindang Rule
Guomindang Rule 

In 1945, the Republic of China won the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Allied Powers agreed to divide the territory of the Japanese Empire, and Taiwan would be returned to Chinese control. The Chinese civil war occurred at this time, and in 1949 the Guomindang lost and escaped to Taiwan. Taiwan was ruled by this one party until democratic reforms began in the 1980s.

Other websites
 Taiwan History  China Taiwan Information Center (PRC perspective)
 Taiwan's 400 years of history, from "Taiwan, Ilha Formosa" (a pro-independence organization)
 Reed Institute's Formosa Digital Library
 History of Taiwan  from FAPA (a pro-independence organization)
 Timeline of Taiwanese history 
 Museum Fort San Domingo  Exhibition in Tamsui about the Dutch history of Taiwan
A katana is a Japanese long sword used by samurai warriors. It is the most important sword of the three swords worn by samurai: katana, wakizashi, and tanto. The katana was popular from 1400 A.D. until 1876, when the samurai were abolished as a social class. 

In Japanese, "katana" means a long sword and it represents a blade, which is a little curved, with a single edge and a very sharp point.

Types
There are several types of katanas:
 Artwork/old katana - nihonto
 Sharpened katana - shinsaku, shinken
 Modern katana designed for the training of iaido and iaijutsu - iaito 
 Decorative, ceremonial katanas.

Forging and polishing
A traditional katana is made of a type of high carbon steel called tamahagane, which is made by smelting a type of Japanese iron ore, called iron sand, in a large furnace called a tatara.
Today katanas are mainly made of carbon steel of different quality. But there are some swords made of zinc and aluminum alloys, which are able to resist some external forces and are only used for decoration or non-tameshigiri practice. To determine the quality of a katana it is enough to check its resistance (how much it bends when it is hit), elasticity (the ability of katana to return to its original shape), and the endurance of the blade after striking (how long it lasts).

Wearing and use 
Generally, katana is designed for cutting, but it was widely used for stabbing too. This depended mainly on the length of the tang (the handle). The katana could be easily used for cutting if it was made for using with both hands. It was used for stabbing when the katana was made for using with one hand.
As a rule, katana was worn under the belt on the left side of a right-handed man. The sword was in its sheath or scabbard (the cover), with its blade facing up. That way the sword could be drawn and cut the opponent in one movement. Alternatively, the scabbard might be held freely in the left hand: in action the sword would be drawn and the scabbard thrown down. This allows for free movement in battle.

To pull the katana a few inches out of its scabbard was an aggressive move signalling willingness to fight.

Katana and Japanese tradition 
The Katana was very important in Japanese society. This sword was thought to be the "soul" of its master. Only a samurai was allowed to have a katana. A simple man with a katana sword could be killed at once. But in some case a emperor and shogun would carried one for show.
There was a tradition of wearing, taking care and taking the katana out of its scabbard. Samurai kept their katana on a special stand for swords, called katana-kake. This stand was used for both katana and wakizashi. The blade had to have its point up, just as when wearing the sword; the handle (called the tang) had to be turned to the let. This made katana available for handling any time it was needed. 

The art of handling a katana was developed in martial arts like kenjutsu and iaijutsu. Today, this art is practiced in iaido and kendo martial arts. The last one is the art of dueling with bamboo or wooden sword. Old schools of handling katana swords still exist. The most famous are: Kashima Shin-ryu, Kashima Shinto-ryu, Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu. 

The most appreciated technique of handling a katana is a school called Nitto Ryu. This school taught how to use both a katana and a wakizashi during a fight. The most famous samurai who improved this art was Miyamoto Musashi.

References

Other websites
Other websites 

 Impressive Performance of Katana vs. Machine Gun!  - An amazing video of how hard and sharp an original katana can be.

Japanese swords
Lindisfarne (often called Holy Island), is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is connected to the mainland of Northumberland by a causeway and is cut off twice a day by tides – something well described by Sir Walter Scott:

For with the flow and ebb, its style
Varies from continent to isle;
Dry shod o'er sands, twice every day,
The pilgrims to the shrine find way;
Twice every day the waves efface
Of staves and sandalled feet the trace.

According to the 2001 census it had a usual population of 162.

Nature reserve
Large parts of the island, and all of the adjacent inter-tidal area, are protected as Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve to help safeguard the internationally important wintering bird populations. 
Grey seals are frequent visitors to the rocky bays at high tide.

Lindisfarne Priory
Lindisfarne Priory

The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded by Irish-born Saint Aidan. He was brought from Iona off the west coast of Scotland to Northumbria around AD 635 by King Oswald of Northumbria. It became the base for Christian evangelising in the North of England and also sent a successful mission to Mercia. Monks from the community of Iona settled on the island.

Northumberland's patron saint, Saint Cuthbert, was a monk and later Abbot of the monastery, and his miracles and life are recorded by the Venerable Bede. Cuthbert later became Bishop of Lindisfarne.

In the early 700s the famous illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels (an illustrated Latin copy of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) was made, probably at Lindisfarne.

Later, a monk named Aldred added an Anglo-Saxon translation to the Latin text. This made (late 10th century) the earliest surviving Old English copies of the Gospels.
History 
In 793 a Viking raid on Lindisfarne scared many people throughout the Christian West. The year 793 is often called the beginning of the age of Viking raids. A very famous passage in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reads:

"In this year fierce, foreboding omens came over the land of Northumbria. There were excessive whirlwinds, lightning storms, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. These signs were followed by great famine, and on January 8th of the same year, the ravaging of heathen men destroyed God's church at Lindesfarne."

Eventually the monks fled the island. They took with them the body of St Cuthbert, which is now buried at Durham Cathedral. The priory was re-established in Norman times as a Benedictine house and continued until its dissolution in 1536 under Henry VIII. It is now a ruin in the care of English Heritage, who also run a museum/visitor centre nearby. The neighbouring parish church (see below) is still in use.
Lindisfarne also has the small castle, based on a Tudor fort and open to visitors.

J.M.W. Turner, Thomas Girtin and Charles Rennie Mackintosh all painted on Holy Island.

Other websites 
The island's own web site
Lindisfarne Holy Island Safe Crossing Times 2006 
Lindisfarne Holy Island Safe Crossing Times 2007 
Photographs and Description

History of England
 
Tidal islands
Peter Lorre (born was Ladislav (László) Löwenstein, June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian-American actor.

Biography
Lorre's family was Jewish. Lorre was born in Rózsahegy (Rosenberg) in a country called Austria-Hungary. Now the place where he was born is in the country Slovakia. He began acting in theaters in Vienna, Breslau, and Zürich. In the 1920s, he moved to Berlin to work as an actor. In 1931, the movie director Fritz Lang chose Lorre to act in a movie about a serial killer who kills children called M. Lorre got married three times: Celia Lovsky (1934 - 13 March 1945, divorced); Kaaren Verne (25 May 1945 - 1950, divorced) and Annemarie Brenning (21 July 1953 - 23 March 1964, his death). He had his only child with Brenning, a daughter named Catharine (1953-1985).
When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Lorre had to leave Germany. Lorre went to England to be safe from the Nazis. Lorre got work as an actor in a movie by Alfred Hitchcock called The Man Who Knew Too Much. Lorre only knew a little English. At first, it was hard for him to act in English movies.

In the 1940s, Lorre moved to Hollywood, California (USA). Hollywood is a town where many movies are made. Lorre acted in many movies, playing foreign characters. Lorre played the role of Joel Cairo in the movie The Maltese Falcon (1941) and played the role of "Ugarte" in the movie Casablanca (1942). Lorre played the character of Dr. Einstein in the movie Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).

Related pages
 Film noir

Other websites 
 
 The Peter Lorre Library of Sound
 The Peter Lorre Companion 

1904 births
1964 deaths
American movie actors
Hungarian movie actors
Jewish American actors
European Jews
The history of Tamil Nadu goes back to the early Stone Age. The region of Tamil Nadu (now one of the states in the south of the Republic of India) has been under continuous human habitation since prehistoric times.

Overview 

The civilisation of the Tamil people is among the oldest in the world and has been influenced by, influenced, and coexisted with many external cultures.

The three Tamil dynasties of Chera, Chola and Pandya were all of ancient origins. Together they ruled over Tamil Nadu with a unique culture and language, contributing to the growth of Sangam Literature, some of the oldest literature in the world.

They had extensive oversee trade contacts with the Roman and Greek empires later on. These three dynasties were in constant struggle with each other as they wanted hegemony over the land.
Rapid changes in the political situation of the rest of India occurred due to the incursions of Muslim armies from the northwest marked a turning point in the history of Tamil Nadu. With the decline of the three ancient dynasties during the fourteenth century, the Tamil country became part of the Vijayanagara Empire. Under this empire the Telugu speaking Nayak governors ruled the Tamil land. The brief appearance of the Marathas gave way to the European trading companies, who began to appear during the seventeenth century and eventually assumed greater sway over the indigenous rulers of the land. The Madras Presidency comprising of most of southern India including what is now Tamil Nadu, was created in the eighteenth century and was ruled directly by the British East India Company
. After the independence of India by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, the Tamil Nadu state was created based on linguistic boundaries, due to a Telugu man who wished the Telugu speaking land bordering Tamil Nadu to become its own state, which it did, Andra Pradesh was born. This caused a chain reaction because the other languages also wanted their own states. This led to state boundaries because of linguistic reasons, and gave birth to many other linguisticly devised states, including Tamil Nadu.
Pre-historic period

Although there is very little concrete historical evidence that has been found so far for the period prior to 600 BCE, the history of the Tamil people probably predates this period. Various legends became prevalent after the 5th century BCE regarding the antiquity of the Tamil people. According to Iraiyanar Agapporul, a 3rd/5th century CE annotation on the Sangam literature, the Tamil country extended southwards beyond the natural boundaries of the Indian peninsula comprising of 49 ancient nadus (divisions). The land was supposed to have been destroyed by a deluge. The Sangam legends also added to the antiquity of the Tamil people by claiming tens of thousands of years of continuous literary activity during three Sangams. However, there have been no direct archaeological finds supporting these legends.
The prehistoric period during which the Palaeolithic civilisations existed in the Tamil Nadu region has been estimated to span the period from about 50,000 BCE until around 3000 BCE. For most part of the lower Palaeolithic stage, humans lived close to river valleys with sparse forest cover or in grassland environments. The population density was very low and so far only two localities of this lower Palaeolithic culture have been found in south India. One of these is in Attirampakkam valley in the northwest of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Archaeological research has uncovered evidence of fossil remains of animals and primitive stone implements around the northern Tamil Nadu that could be dated to belong to around 300,000 BCE
. Humans in South India, belonging to the species of Homo erectus, lived in this primitive 'old Stone Age' (Palaeolithic) for quite a long time, using only crude implements such as hand axes and choppers and subsisting on food he hunted and gathered instead of actively growing it according to his needs.
The ancestor of modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) who appeared around 50,000 years ago was more developed and could fabricate thinner flake tools and blade-like tools using a variety of stones. From about 10,000 years ago, humans made still smaller tools called Microlithic tools. The material used by the early humans to make these tools were jasper, agate, flint, quartz, etc. In 1949, researchers found such microliths in Tirunelveli district.
In Tamil Nadu, the Neolithic period had its advent around 2500 BCE. Humans of the Neolithic period made their stone tools in finer shapes by grinding and polishing. The Neolithic humans lived mostly on small flat hills or on the foothills in small, more or less permanent settlements but for periodical migration for grazing purposes. They gave the dead proper burials within urns or pits. They were also starting to use copper for making certain tools or weapons.
Humans started using iron for making tools and weapons. The Iron Age culture in peninsular India is marked by Megalithic burial sites, which are found in several hundreds of places.

Early history (500 BCE – 300 CE)

Ancient Tamil Nadu contained three monarchical states, headed by kings called Ventar and several tribal chieftaincies, headed by the chiefs called by the general denomination Vel or Velir. During the third century BCE, the Deccan was part of the Mauryan kingdom, and from the middle of the first century BCE to second century CE the same area was ruled by the Satavahana dynasty. The Tamil area had an independent existence outside the control of these northern empires.

The names of the three dynasties, Cholas, Pandyas, and Keralaputras or Cheras are mentioned in the Pillars of Ashoka (inscribed 273–232 BCE) inscriptions, where they are mentioned among the kingdoms, which though not subject to Ashoka, were on friendly terms with him.
Karikala Chola was the most famous early Chola. He is mentioned in a number of poems in the Sangam poetry.

Pandyas ruled initially from Korkai, a sea port on the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula, and in later times moved to Madurai. Pandyas are also mentioned in Sangam Literature, as well as by Greek and Roman sources during this period. The early Pandyas went into obscurity at the end of the third century CE during the incursion of the Kalabhras.

The kingdom of the Cheras comprised of the modern state of Kerala, along the western or Malabar Coast of southern India. Their proximity to the sea favoured trade with Africa.
Internal and external trade was well organised and active.

Interregnum (300 – 600)
After the close of the Sangam era, from about 300 to about 600 CE, there is an almost total lack of information regarding occurrences in the Tamil land. Some time about 300 CE, the whole region was upset by the appearance of the Kalabhras. These people are described in later literature as 'evil rulers' who overthrew the established Tamil kings and got a strangle hold of the country. They did not leave many artefacts or monuments. The only source of information on them is the scattered mentions in Buddhist and Jain literature.

Jainism and Buddhism, took deep roots in the society, giving birth to a large body of ethical poetry.

Writing became very widespread and vatteluttu evolved from the Tamil-Brahmi became a mature script for writing Tamil.
Age of empires (600  - 1300)
The medieval period of the history of the Tamil country saw the rise and fall of many kingdoms, some of whom went on to the extent of empires, exerting influences both in India and overseas.
The Hindu sects Saivism and Vaishnavism became more dominant, with temples being built and Dravidian architecture being supported by empires replacing the significance of Nastik Jainism and Buddhism of the previous era. Some of the output of villages throughout the kingdom was given to temples that reinvested some of the wealth accumulated as loans to the settlements.

Tamil script replaced the vatteluttu script throughout Tamil Nadu for writing Tamil. Both secular and religious literature flourished during the period.
Pallavas 
The seventh century Tamil Nadu saw the rise of the Pallavas under Mahendravarman I and his son Mamalla Narasimhavarman I. The Pallavas were not a recognised political power before the second century. After the fall of the Satavahanas, they began to get control over parts of Andhra and the Tamil country. The Pallavas were at their finest during the reigns of Narasimhavarman I and Pallavamalla Nandivarman II.

During the sixth and the seventh centuries, the western Deccan saw the rise of the Chalukyas based in Vatapi. The Pallavas had the more difficult existence of the two as they had to fight on two fronts - against the Pandyas as wells as the Chalukyas.

Pandyas

Pandya Kadungon (560 - 590) is credited with the overthrow of the Kalabhras in the south. Pandya Cendan extended their rule to the Chera country. His son Arikesari Parantaka Maravarman (c. 650 - 700) had a long and prosperous rule. He fought many battles and extended the Pandya power.
After some decades of expansion, the Pandya kingdom was large enough to pose a serious threat to the Pallava power.

The Pandya power continued to grow under Srimara and encroached further into the Pallava territories.

Cholas

Around 850 rose Vijayalaya, made use of an opportunity arising out of a conflict between Pandyas and Pallavas, captured Thanjavur and eventually established the imperial line of the medieval Cholas. Vijayalaya revived the Chola dynasty and his son Aditya I helped establish their independence. He invaded Pallava kingdom in 903 and killed the Pallava king Aparajita in battle, ending the Pallava reign. The Chola kingdom under Parantaka I expanded to cover the entire Pandya country. However towards the end of his reign he suffered several reverses by the Rashtrakutas who had extended their territories well into the Chola kingdom.

The Cholas went into a temporary decline during the next few years due to weak kings, palace intrigues and succession disputes.
European colonisation (1650 - 1850)

European settlements began to appear in the Tamil country during the Vijayanagara Empire. In 1605, the Dutch established trading posts in the Coromandel Coast near Gingee and in Pulicat. The British East India Company built a 'factory' (warehouse) at Armagaon (Durgarazpatnam), a village around 35 miles North of Pulicat, as the site in 1626.

Anglo French Conflicts

The conflict between the British and the French had as result in 1765 the Emperor of Delhi issued a firman (decree) recognizing the British possessions in southern India.

British Government Control
Although the Company was becoming increasingly bold and ambitious in putting down resisting states, it was getting clearer day by day that the company was incapable of governing the vast expanse of the captured territories. In 1784 Pitt's India Act made the Company subordinate to the British Government.
The next few decades were of rapid growth and expansion in the territories controlled by the English. The Anglo-Mysore Wars of 1766 to 1799, the Anglo-Maratha Wars of 1772 andPolygar Wars of 1800-1805 Dheeran chinnamalai,the Tamil king won three polygar wars against Britishers and at last he was hanged along with his two brothers.Then Britishers took entire control of Tamil Nadu by settling east India company after the death of chinnamalai the brave Tamil king.

End of Company rule

The discontent in the various districts of the company territories exploded in 1857 into the Sepoy war. Although the rebellion had a huge impact on the state of the colonial power in India, Tamil Nadu was mostly unaffected by it.

British rule (1850 – 1947)

In 1858 the British Crown assumed direct rule in India.
Failure of the summer monsoons and administrative shortcomings of the Ryotwari system resulted in a severe famine in the Madras Presidency during 1876 - 1877.The government instituted a famine insurance grant, setting aside 1.5 million Rupees. Other civic works such as canal building and improvements in roads and railway were also undertaken to minimise effects of any future famines.

Independence struggle
The growing desire for independence began to gradually gather pace in the country and its influence in Tamil Nadu generated a number of volunteers to the fight against the British colonial power in the struggle for Independence. Notable amongst these are Tiruppur Kumaran, who was born in 1904 in a small village near Erode. Kumaran died during a protest march against the British.

In 1916 Dr. T.M. Nair and Rao Bahadur Thygaraya Chetty released the Non-Brahmin Manifesto sowing the seeds for the Dravidian movements.

Post Independence period
The trauma of the partition did not impact Tamil Nadu when India was granted Independence in 1947. There was no sectarian violence against various religions. There had always been an atmosphere of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence between all religions in Tamil Nadu. Congress formed the first ministry in the Madras Presidency. Rajaji was the first Chief Minister. Madras Presidency was eventually reconstituted as Madras State.

The Madras state was named Tamil Nadu (the land of the Tamils) in 1968.

Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka during the 1970s and the 80s saw large numbers of Sri Lankan Tamils fleeing to Tamil Nadu.
Evolution of regional politics
The politics of Tamil Nadu have gone through three distinct phases since independence. The domination of the Congress Party after 1947 gave way to the Dravidian populist mobilisation in the 1960s. This phase lasted until towards the end of the 1990s. The most recent phase saw the fragmentation of the Dravidian political parties and led to the advent of political alliances and coalition governments.

Related pages
 History of India
 Polygar Wars

Notes

References
 Theeran Chinnamanlai Gounder by Pulavar S. Rasu, Samba Publications, 152 Peters Road, Chennai, India 600 086, 1996.
 Knogu Nattu Lion Singham Theeran Chinnamalai by Kavignar Magudam Manickam, Sakunthla Publications, Rangoli Graphics, 329 E.V.N.Road, Erode, TH, India 638 009, year 2001.
 http://kongu-usa.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=74
Clarence Leonidas Fender (August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991) also known as Leo Fender, was an American instrument maker.

He founded a company called Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company. It makes electric guitars, electric bass guitars, and electric guitar amplifiers. Leo Fender designed electric guitars which he called the  Telecaster and the Stratocaster. Fender also designed the first bass guitar, which he called the Precision Bass. In the 1960s, Fender designed another bass guitar, which he called the Jazz Bass.

All of these instruments (the Telecaster, Stratocaster, Precision Bass, and the Jazz Bass) became popular. Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company sold thousands and thousands of these instruments. Many rock and pop music bands from the 1960s to the 2000s use these electric guitars and electric bass guitars.

1909 births
1991 deaths
Musical instrument makers
Businesspeople from California
A fret is a thin strip of varying materials (most commonly metal, but occasionally gut or nylon) found on string instruments. Guitars, mandolins, and banjos have frets.

Frets are mounted on the long necks of the instrument. The frets help the musician playing the instrument to know where to place their fingers on the instrument.

On historical instruments and some non-European instruments, pieces of string tied around the neck are frets.
 
Frets divide the neck into sections related to a musical framework. On instruments such as guitars, each fret marks one semitone in the standard western system where one octave is divided into twelve semitones.

Other websites

String instrument construction
The word amplifier (sometimes called an amp) usually refers to an electronic amplifier. Electronic amplifiers make a signal from a radio or electric musical instrument (such as an electric guitar or an electric bass guitar) louder and stronger. Amplifiers are also hidden in any electronic thing that makes sound with loudspeakers. This includes televisions, radios, computers, and mp3 players, to name a few.

Amplifiers ability to use low impedance speakers may vary. Typical impedance is 8 ohms.

Classification can be done by current loss when amplifier is on but does not get signal. Example: A-class amplifier takes more current without signal than B-class amplifier but A-class amplifier have smaller distortion.

There is also several distortion types.
How it works
Electronic amplifiers make a signal from the radio or electric instrument louder and stronger by using transistors or vacuum tubes. Electronic amplifiers have to be connected to electrical current or a battery to work. Once the signal from the radio or electric instrument has been made louder and stronger, the signal needs to be connected to a loudspeaker so that people can hear it.

When an amplifier tries to make the sound louder than it can, it adds distortion to the sound. Some amplifiers are made to add controlled distortion. Distortion from transistors sounds different than distortion from tubes. Distortion from tubes is often said to be more musical. Because of all this, more expensive amplifiers often add controlled distortion with tubes. Many of these amplifiers use transistors for a "clean" sound (without distortion).
History
From the  1920s until the  1950s, electronic amplifiers used vacuum tubes. However, electronic amplifiers with vacuum tubes were heavy, and they produced a lot of heat. They also broke down a lot. 

Since the 1960s, most electronic amplifiers have been built with transistors. Transistors are lighter, cheaper, and more reliable.

Electronic musical instruments
Electronics
Audio technology
Ruda Śląska is a city in Poland in Silesian Voivodeship. It has about 147 000 inhabitants and 77 km².

Cities in Silesian Voivodeship
Rybnik is a city in Poland in Silesian Voivodeship. About 141,000 people live there. The city is about 148 km². Since 2014, the mayor of the city is Piotr Kuczera.

References 

Cities in Silesian Voivodeship
Tychy is a city in Poland in Silesian Voivodeship. It has about 132 000 inhabitants and 81 km².

Cities in Silesian Voivodeship
Dąbrowa Górnicza is a city in Poland in Silesian Voivodeship. Around 131,000 people live here.

Cities in Silesian Voivodeship
Płock is a city in Eastern Poland in the Masovia Voivodship. About 128,000 people live there and it is 88 km² big.

Cities in Masovian Voivodeship
A loudspeaker, which is also called a loud-speaker or speaker, is an item that is used to create the sound in radios, television sets, and electric musical instrument amplifier systems.

How it works 
Loudspeakers use both electric and mechanical principles to convert an electrical signal from a radio, television set or electric musical instrument into sound. For a loudspeaker to produce sound, the signal from the radio, television set, or electric musical instrument needs to be connected to an electronic amplifier. 

Loudspeakers are usually built by using a stiff paper cone, a coil of thin copper wire, and a circular magnet. The cone, copper wire, and magnet are usually mounted in a rectangle-shaped wood cabinet. The coil of copper wire moves back and forth when an electrical signal is passed through it. The coil of copper wire and the magnet cause the rigid paper cone to vibrate and reproduce sounds.

Inside the loudspeaker can be a audio crossover.
Types of loudspeakers 
Some loudspeakers are designed for lower-pitched sounds, such as woofer loudspeakers or subwoofer loudspeakers. Other loudspeakers, which are called tweeters, are designed to reproduce high-pitched sounds (such as the sound of a whistle or a bird singing).

Loudspeakers for electric musical instruments are usually much stronger and heavier than loudspeakers for radios or television sets. Their main function is to convert electrical signals given to it into sound signals.

History 
Alexander Graham Bell invented the first audible loudspeaker in 1876. Bell invented the loudspeaker because he needed a device that would amplify sound for the telephone. In 1878, the inventor Werner von Siemens from Germany patented an improved type of electrodynamic loudspeaker which did not yet include an amplifier.

References

Other websites 

Machines
Audio technology
Chorzów is a city in Poland in Silesian Voivodeship. It has about 115,000 inhabitants and an area of 33 km².

Cities in Silesian Voivodeship
Wałbrzych (pronounce:  ['vawbʒix], German: Waldenburg) is a town in southwestern Poland in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. About 126 000 people live there and the area is 84 km². The city belonged to Germany until 1945. The original German population was expelled after WW II.

Cities in Lower Silesian Voivodeship
An organ trio is a type of jazz band with three musicians. Usually a jazz organ trio consists of a Hammond organ player, a drummer, and either a jazz guitarist or a saxophone player. 

Organ trios popular in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. Organ trios usually performed jazz music that had influences from blues music. Organ trios are usually led by the organ player, who is called the leader of the trio.

History
Important organ trio leaders from the 1950s were organists such as  Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Smith, and Jack McDuff. In the late 1960s, organist Larry Young had a jazz fusion style organ trio. In the 1970s, Tony Williams had a jazz fusion band called Lifetime which was an organ trio. In the 1990s and 2000s, organist Joey DeFrancesco is an organ trio leader.
Other meanings
The word "organ trio" is also used to refer to the type (or "genre") of music played by organ trios from the 1950s and 1960s. For example, a person might say "I want to listen to some organ trio music." This would usually mean that they want to listen to music by Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, or other well-known organ trio leaders.

Jazz music
Hegemony (pronounced with a soft or hard 'g') is the power of one group over other groups. Hegemony is mostly used to refer to relationships between different nations (or countries). This might be direct dominance, such as through military might, but may be indirect dominance, such as when a nation can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage.

Hegemony often describes the relationship of a great power to nearby less powerful countries.  The term is Greek, and was first used about the influence of a great city over the cities which were allied to it.  Examples are the  Peloponnesian League of Sparta (6th to 4th centuries BC); the short-lived Delian League of Classical Athens.  The later League of Corinth was headed not by a state, but by Philip II of Macedon.  Such a hegemon is a king or ruler with personal power.
A hegemonic relationship is usually described as less than an empire, but more than a regional power. This means a hegemon may not actually take control of other nations, but has the power to greatly influence what they do.  On the other hand, a global hegemon is more powerful than, say, Iran is in the Middle East.

Cultural Hegemony 

A term made by Antonio Gramsci.It is a form of social control by the elites over the lower classes.  Here, ideas and opinions are enforced by them, so that the lower classes accept only the elite’s opinions and not their own.

References

Other websites 
Stuart Hainsworth, "Gramsci's hegemony theory and the ideological role of the mass media"
Mike Dorsher, Ph.D., "Hegemony Online: The Quiet Convergence of Power, Culture and Computers" 
Hegemonic Pundit, a neo-con blog 
Hegemony and the hidden persuaders - the power of un-common sense

Politics
Leonard James "Jim" Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff,  (; 27 March 1912 – 26 March 2005) was a British Labour politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) from 1976 to 1979.

Born in the 1910s, Callaghan was an old-style socialist, lacking any higher education, and served as Member of Parliament (MP) for a Cardiff constituency. He is the only person to have held all three leading UK Cabinet positions (Chancellor, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary), prior to their premiership. He was never expected to reach the premiership, having taken a back seat to the younger and more charismatic Harold Wilson for many years. However, when Wilson unexpectedly announced his retirement in 1976, Callaghan was the most experienced candidate to replace him. His time as prime minister was one of more open government but the electorate was dissatisfied with his relaxed response to high inflation and more industrial unrest, and replaced Labour with a Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher.
Callaghan resigned as Leader of the Labour Party shortly afterwards, but remained an MP for some years before being sent to the House of Lords as Baron Callaghan of Cardiff.

References

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Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was the military leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1940. He was a farm worker from eastern Cuba, and moved to Havana where he became a stenographer and a sergeant in the Army. He became a leader of a group of sergeants who wanted better pay. With others they overthrew President Gerardo Machado in 1933 and Batista ended up commanding the Army.

In 1940 Batista won election and was President of Cuba until 1944. In 1952 he made his own coup and ruled the country until 1959. His authoritarian government during this time caused opposition despite his attempt to placate critics with a 'show' election in 1954 were he ran without opposition. The opposition included the entire coalition that had overthrown Gerardo Machado.
Fidel Castro's guerrilla movement overthrew Batista. This is known as the Cuban Revolution. Batista fled Cuba on January 1, 1959 and went to the Dominican Republic before moving on to Portugal, and finally to Spain where he died of a heart attack in 1973.

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A Sock puppet is a simple type of hand puppet made with a sock. Most sock puppets have some fabric or plastic facial features added to the sock, such as eyes or a mouth. Some sock puppets may also have accessories such as a hat or clothing. Sock puppets are operated by putting a person's hand inside the sock.

Uses of sock puppets
Sock puppets are often used for entertaining people, especially children. People often present them on special stages that show sock puppets without showing the puppeteers (the people who use sock puppets) themselves.

Well-known sock puppets
In Canada, Ed the Sock is a sock puppet who has appeared on Canadian television shows since 1987. Ed the Sock appears in a weekly Toronto television series called Ed's Night Party!. In the 1950s, comedian Soupy Sales made two sock puppets famous; 'White Fang' and 'Black Tooth'. Ventriloquist and puppeteer Shari Lewis delighted children with her lovable sock puppets 'Lamb Chop', 'Charlie Horse' and 'Hush Puppy'. They appeared on TV and in person for over four decades. 1950s TV sock puppets 'Kukla' and 'Ollie' appeared with a real person, Fran, who appeared in front of the stage in the long-running program Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

References

Puppets
Smoke is a cloud of very small, solid particles that is made when something is burned with a flame, such as wood or paper.

Smoke can be bad because if it goes into the lungs of a person, it can hurt their lungs or even kill them (for example, in a house fire). Most people think that they are always able to see smoke, but people cannot see some types of smoke: they are invisible.

Smoke removal systems redistribute gas flows and reduce the temperature and concentration of smoke during a fire. This helps in evacuating people, limiting the spread of fire; and extinguishing the fire.

Smoke from tobacco 

When people smoke tobacco in cigars or cigarettes, they are burning the tobacco and inhaling the smoke. Tobacco smoke can hurt the mouth, throat, and lungs. It can cause mouth, throat, or lung cancer. It can also cause emphysema and bronchitis (trouble breathing). They continue doing it because the smoke also has a nicotine.
Smoke from factories 
Factories and power plants produce large amounts of smoke into the atmosphere which pollutes the air. Eventually the toxic chemicals in smoke fall to the ground, and then they pollute the soil and the water. When the air, soil and water are polluted with toxic chemicals, the chemicals also get absorbed by plants and animals (including humans).

Smoke from dry ice 
When Dry ice is put into water, the dry ice boils and makes fog. This is not real smoke but movie makers and other show people do this to simulate smoke.

Related pages
 Pollution

References

Waste
August Friedrich Kellner (born February 1, 1885 in Vaihingen an der Enz, Germany, died November 4, 1970 in Lich) was a German social democrat. He worked as a justice inspector. In the time of the Nazis in Germany, he wrote a secret diary. This became known as the Diary of Friedrich Kellner. After the war he said why he wrote it:

“I could not fight the Nazis in the present, as they had the power to still my voice, so I decided to fight them in the future. I would give the coming generations a weapon against any resurgence of such evil. My eyewitness account would record the barbarous acts, and also show the way to stop them.”

Biography

Family and education 
August Friedrich Kellner was born on February 1, 1885 in Vaihingen, a town next to the Enz River and not far from Heidelberg. He was the only child of Georg Friedrich Kellner, a baker from the village of Arnstadt in Thuringia, and Barbara Wilhelmine Vaigle from Bissingen. Friedrich’s parents belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran faith.
When Friedrich was four years old, his family moved to Mainz. There his father became the master baker at "Goebels Zuckerwerk".

In December 1902, when he was 17 years old, Kellner graduated from Goethe High School. He began work as a junior clerk in the courthouse in Mainz. He worked there from 1903 until 1933. He became a justice secretary, then an accountant, and finally a justice inspector.

Military service and marriage 

In 1907 and 1908 Kellner had to fulfill his military reserve duty. He was assigned to the 6th Infantry Company of the Leibregiments Großherzogin (3. Großherzoglich Hessisches) Nr. 117 in Mainz.

In 1913 Friedrich Kellner married Pauline Preuss. She was from Mainz. Their only child, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Kellner, was born three years later.
When the First World War began in 1914, Kellner was called back to active duty. He was an officer substitute in the Prinz Carl Infantry Regiment (4. Großherzoglich Hessisches Regiment) Nr. 118, in Worms. He fought in France at the battle of the Marne. Later, he was wounded near Reims. He was sent to St. Rochus Hospital in Mainz to recover.

Political activism
Kellner was loyal to the Kaiser’s regime, but still he welcomed the birth of the German democracy after the war. He became a political organizer  for the leading political party, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). From those first days of the Weimar Republic, he spoke out against the danger of extremists, against Communists and the National Socialists (the Nazis). Kellner would show his opposition at rallies by holding Adolf Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, above his head. He then shouted to the crowd: “Gutenberg, your printing press has been violated by this evil book.” On more than one occasion Kellner was beaten by the Nazis for expressing his views.