AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
The poem is the story about Odysseus's ten-year-long voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. The Trojan War is the subject of the "Iliad". At the same time, his wife Penelope has to fight off a lot of men who want to marry her; and his son Telemachos searches for him.
Along the way, Odysseus and his men have to fight monsters and many other dangers. The main events (places he goes, creatures and people he meets) of Odysseus' journey are:
On his journey home, Odysseus lands on the island of the Cyclops Polyphemus. They go inside his cave at the sight of sheep, cheese and milk. Polyphemus catches them and eats some of Odysseus' men. Odysseus tricks and blinds him and they escape. The Cyclops prays to his father Poseidon that Odysseus would not get home to Ithaca and if he was fated to make it home, Odysseus would lose all of his men, his ship and find trouble at home. This prayer becomes the plot line of the Odyssey.
Odysseus and his ship have to pass the Sirens' island. The Sirens were always singing very beautifully, so sailors would try to go to them, but their ships would get destroyed, and they would die.
Odysseus tells his men to put wax in their ears, so they will not hear the song of the sirens. He also tells his men to bind him to the ship's mast, so he cannot go to the sirens when he hears their song. His men can then look at Odysseus and see when he cannot hear the sirens anymore, because he is calm again. Then they can take the wax out of their ears, and free Odysseus.
After escaping from the sea, and the death of his men, Odysseus comes to the island Ogygia. On this island lives the nymph Calypso, and Odysseus stayed with her for seven years. But then the god Hermes came and told her that the gods said that she had to let Odysseus go. Calypso promised Odysseus immortality (that he would live forever) if he stayed, but he wanted to go back to his wife Penelope. So Odysseus built a raft and left her.
After a storm, Odysseus comes to the island of the Phaeacians. There he is found by the king's daughter Nausicaä. Nausicaä brings him to the palace of her father, King Alkinoos. During his time there, Odysseus tell the story of his journey. After this, Alkinoos gives Odysseus a ship and sends him home to Ithaca.
During all this time, Penelope has been keeping the suitors at bay with a ruse (trick). She promises "I will choose when I have finished weaving this cloth", the cloth being a burial cloth for Odysseus' father. However, every night her servant unpicks the work of the previous day. The story is made more real by Penelope becoming restless. The goddess Athena causes Penelope to feel the need to display herself, and fan the flames of the suitors' desire.
Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca, where he disguises himself as a beggar. He goes to his home and meets his son Telemachus. Together they kill the suitors, who are trying to marry Penelope in order to gain his kingdom. Later, the families of the suitors come to kill Odysseus for revenge. The goddess Athena helps Odysseus by making them stop and give up the fight.
Mae West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress. She worked in vaudeville and later in movies. She is best-remembered for her dirty jokes and comedy movies.
Her name when she was born was Mary Jane West. She was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and died in Hollywood, California. Her mother was a German immigrant and former model.
Lenny Bruce
Lenny Bruce (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), was an American comedian. His real name was Leonard Alfred Schneider. He is considered an innovator of modern stand-up comedy and changed the way many people see comedians. His jokes and routines were very improper and off limits for the time and he got in a lot of trouble for them. He is considered a hero for the defense of the First Amendment rights in the United States, especially for free speech.
In the 1960s he was the last person arrested for impersonating and swearing, overwatched by martial law and police and banned from many cities and comedy clubs.
He appeared on the cover of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.
He died in 1966 of an accidental morphine overdose whist on trial.
In 1970 the New York's highest court of appeals decided that he is "not guilty for using bad words".
August 8
Kimchi (; ; ), also spelled kimchee or gimchi, is a traditional fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables with many seasonings. In traditional preparation, kimchi was stored underground in jars to keep cool during the summer months and unfrozen during the winter months. There are hundreds of varieties of kimchi made from napa cabbage, radish, scallion, or cucumber as a main ingredient.
Kimchi is usually very strong for non-Koreans. There are many different types and Koreans typically eat kimchi in every meal. It is a staple of Korean food. Kimchi can be stored for a long time and it does not go bad easily. However, when it is exposed to hot weather for certain time, kimchi turns sour. So, it should not be put out unless it is going to be eaten soon. In Korea kimchi pots are a common sight. They are large terra cotta pots where the kimchi is stored until it can be eaten or until it ferments. Kimchi usually takes about 2 weeks to ferment, but some varieties can be eaten right away. Some must be stored for over a year to be finished.
The fermentation gives the kimchi a pickle-like quality and generally soggy or limp kimchi is not good.
Every different kind of kimchi has a special taste and a different amount of time to ferment. Baechu Kimchi is one of the most famous kimchi. Kkakdugi is made of cubed Korean radish (mu). It’s especially contains more water and is hard to chew. Baek kimchi uses milder ingredients. It’s not spicy. Chonggak kimchi has a smallish white radish that comes with a ponytail. Gat kimchi is made from dark green Korean mustard (gat) leaves and stems. These can be kept for months or even longer. As these age, they taste like lemons. Oi Sobagi has a refreshing, cool, and hot taste. Cucumber is the main ingredient for it. It can be kept for about a week. As it ages, it also taste like a lemon. Dongchimi is a food and a beverage all in one. When it ferments, it becomes sweet and taste a lot like lemon water. It can be kept for about a month.
The most common variety of kimchi is made from cabbage, radish, garlic, red pepper, salt and sugar. The cabbage is soaked in salt water for a few hours. Coarse rock salt is then rubbed in between the leaves of the cabbage. Red peppers are also rubbed in and most Kimchi has a lot of pepper in it. The radish is usually cut into long thin strips and added to the mix. A little sugar is added to help the fermentation process along much in the same way beer is made. The amounts of each ingredient vary between the type of kimchi you are making and the personal taste of the maker. Most kimchi has a special taste with shrimp or fish. The kimchi is allowed to ferment for a period of time, usually outdoors in a large kimchi pot. It is also quite common for these pots to be buried under ground. Kimchi can be kept for a long time and does not go bad. Koreans make kimchi with their families in December.
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman (February 20, 1925 - November 20, 2006) was an American movie director. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri and died of leukemia in Los Angeles, California. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.
His movies "MASH" (1970), "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (1971), and "Nashville" (1975) have been selected to keep in the United States National Film Registry.
In the 1960s, Altman lived for nine years with his second wife in Mandeville Canyon in Brentwood, California. He moved to Malibu but in 1981 sold that home and the Lion's Gate production company. "I had no choice", he told the "New York Times". "Nobody was answering the phone" after the flop of "Popeye". He moved his family and business headquarters to New York. Eventually he moved back to Malibu, where he lived until his death.
In November 2000, he said he would move to Paris if George W. Bush were elected. He joked that he had meant Paris, Texas when Bush became president. Altman was an outspoken marijuana user. He was a member of the NORML advisory board. He was against the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Altman died on November 20, 2006, at age 81 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He died of complications from leukemia.
Altman is survived by his wife, Kathryn Reed Altman; six children, Christine Westphal, Michael Altman, Stephen Altman (his production designer of choice for many movies), Connie Corriere, Robert Reed Altman, and Matthew Altman; 12 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
The movie director Paul Thomas Anderson dedicated his 2007 movie "There Will Be Blood" to Altman.
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Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Maya Lin
Manslaughter is the crime of killing a person. When a person is killed, lawyers also look at the reasons, and motives why this person was killed. If the death of a person was not on purpose, but the killer did something that resulted in the death of the another person, this is usually called manslaughter, in English. It is less serious than if a person was killed on purpose (sometimes with planning involved), which is called murder, in English. Killing someone in self-defence may be manslaughter. Depending on the circumstances, killing in self-defence may be no crime at all. Negligent homicide is an even lesser crime.
Manslaughter is a relatively new legal concept. It was first mentioned in an English statute in 1547, but was interpreted very loosely and not earnestly enforced, instead usually charging with murder. Very few countries had manslaughter on their books until the latter half of the 20th century. In fact, no jurisdiction in the United States had manslaughter on its books until the 20th century. England and the United States were the first two countries to introduce manslaughter into their laws.
Bangkok (Thai: กรุงเทพมหานคร) is the most populous and capital city of Thailand. In 2010, the city had a population of 9,100,000 people. Since Bangkok has more than 55 times as many people as the second largest city, Nonthaburi, it is a primate city.
In Thailand Bangkok is known as "Krung Thep" or, its full name; Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. Nicknames for Bangkok are the City of Angels and the Big Mango.
Bangkok has a tropical savanna climate ("Aw" in the Koeppen climate classification).
Bangkok is the world's most popular tourist destination; 23 million visitors stay overnight there per year. The main airport is Suvarnabhumi, located 30 kilometers east of Bangkok.
1971 (MCMLXXI) was .
1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was .
Silicosis
Silicosis is a disease that is caused by small particles of silica (glass) getting trapped in the lungs. When people have silicosis, the changes in their body often are cyanosis (when skin goes a blueish color), a fever, when the body gets hotter or being not able to breathe properly. Sometimes doctors do not realize that someone has silicosis, and think that they have other illnesses like pneumonia, tuberculosis or fluid in the lungs.
It was first noticed in 1705 by "Bernardino Ramazzini" (an Italian doctor). He saw something that looked like sand in the lungs of stonecutters. The name silicosis is from Visconti in 1870. The name comes from the Latin "silex" which means flint.
Andrew Sachs
Andrew Sachs (Andreas Siegfried Sachs, 7 April 1930 – 23 November 2016) was a German-British actor.
Sachs was born in Berlin. His family was Jewish. In 1938, they left Germany for London, shortly after Adolf Hitler became Germany's leader.
Sachs is best known for his role as Manuel on "Fawlty Towers". He also played Albert Einstein in a 1996 episode of Nova on PBS, and provided all the voices in the English version of the 1994 movie version of "Faust".
He was involved in a controversy when Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross left obscene phone messages on his answerphone stating that Brand had had sex with his granddaughter Georgina Baillie, a member of the Satanic Sluts.
Sachs died on 23 November 2016 at a nursing home in Northwood, London from vascular dementia, aged 86.
The Seven Samurai
The Seven Samurai is a Japanese movie, written and directed by Akira Kurosawa, and released in 1954.
The fictional plot is set in Japan in 1587, which is the 15th year of "Tenshō".
People in a village are worried about thieves and decide to get samurai to help defend them. It is hard to get enough samurai. The samurai that help do it for different reasons. There is a lot of planning while they are waiting for the thieves. There is a big fight with the thieves at the end.
"The Magnificent Seven" was an American movie Western with a similar story. This is called a remake.
The movie was also adapted into an Japanese anime series in 2004 by GONZO, entitled Samurai 7. The anime series takes a more futuristic and fantasy take at the original story, replacing robots for thieves and bestowing superhuman abilities to the 7 samurais.
Vacuum tube
A vacuum tube, also called a valve in British English, is an electronic device used in many older model radios, television sets, and amplifiers to control electric current flow. The cathode is heated, as in a light bulb, so it will emit electrons. This is called thermionic emission. The anode is the part that accepts the emitted electrons. The device may have other parts. Vacuum tubes must be hot to work. Most are made of glass, thus are fragile and can break. Vacuum tubes were used in the first computers like the ENIAC, which were large and need much work to continue operating.
Although the vacuum tube was invented by John Ambrose Fleming, it was Thomas Edison who later discovered the "Edison effect," which states that electricity does not necessarily need a solid material to move through; it can move through gas or vacuums as well. Without this realization, vacuum tubes would never have been invented.
John Ambrose Fleming invented the first vacuum tube, the diode, in 1904. Lee De Forest invented the "audion" in 1906 (which was improved by others as the triode in 1908) and used in the first telephone amplifiers. Many other kinds were invented for various purposes.
The transistor became cheaper in the 1960s and was much smaller, worked on lower voltages, and used less power. In addition, unlike vacuum tubes, they were much less likely to be damaged by being dropped and had extremely long life. Eventually, they were also much cheaper than glass vacuum tubes. At this time, most radios, television sets, and amplifiers began using transistors instead. High powered electronics such as broadcasting transmitters were transistorized more slowly. Television receivers continued using the cathode ray tube until the mid-2000s.
In the 21st century, vacuum tubes are rarely used in common electronic equipment. Many devices today rely on the transistor over the vacuum tube. Some devices that still use the vacuum tube, however, include:
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 - September 13, 1996) was an American hip-hop artist, who sold many records. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2010. Shakur began his career as a roadie, backup dancer, and MC for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground as "MC New York", eventually branching off as a solo artist.
He was born in East Harlem, New York. Tupac lived in California from age 17. Tupac went to Baltimore school for Arts, where he found it interesting to read Shakespeare's poems which he got very affected by the beauty of rhyming, choosing the word and expression. Later in his music career, this experience in school becomes his personality of his own music style. He was the son of Afeni Shakur, who was a member of the Black Panther party. She had just been released from jail a month before his birth. His family was struggling with poverty. They moved homes often, sometimes they even had to stay in shelters.
On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot several times in a drive-by shooting at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane in Las Vegas, Nevada. He died six days later at the Southern Nevada University Medical Center.
He was also called 2Pac, Pac, Makaveli and also called himself The Don Killuminati. He also holds the Guinness World Record for the highest selling rap/hip hop artist, selling 165 million worldwide and 43 million in the US alone. Shakur was convicted of assault and sexual assault in separate incidents.
His work of music had very big influences on the Hip-Hop/Rap industry in the US and is still loved by lots of people around the world.
Shakur acted in eight films.
Skagerrak
Skagerrak is a sea in the northern part of Europe between Norway and Denmark. Skagerrak is a part of the North Sea. To the east is Kattegat.
Close to the Norwegian coast is a deep trench (700 m), the rest of the sea is shallow. Oil and gas are produced from rigs in the Skagerrak.
Kattegat
Kattegat is a sea in the northern part of Europe between the Danish peninsula Jutland, the Danish island Zealand, and the western coast of Sweden.
To the north-west is Skagerrak. Kattegat is connected to the Baltic Sea through the Danish Straits and Belts.
The sea is shallow, and life conditions are threatened by loss of oxygen in the water. The oxygen loss is caused by pollution. The pollution originates from farming. A century ago, the sea was very rich in cod, herring, and salmon, which were important sources of food in the countries around the sea.
The Baltic Sea is a sea in northern Europe between Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, the Baltic countries, Poland, and Germany.
Many big rivers in the surrounding countries drain into the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea is connected to the ocean through the narrow and shallow Danish straits and belts. For this reason, the water has a low amount of salt, so the northern parts of the sea freeze over in the winter. The ice can carry cars, and roads are established every winter between the islands in the archipelagos between Sweden and Finland.
For several thousand years, the Baltic Sea has connected the countries at her shores. For that reason there are many cultural similarities in these countries. Since all of these countries are European, this sea is also considered European.
Scandinavia is a group of countries in northern Europe. Scandinavia is Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Some people also think Finland is part of Scandinavia. Others also say Iceland and the Faroe Islands should count. Most of the time, "Scandinavia" is used to mean places where people speak Scandinavian languages (also called North Germanic languages). The Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish) are very similar to each other, and many Scandinavians understand some of the other languages.
What people mean when they say "Scandinavia" depends on what they think is important at the time. Mostly, when people want to talk about about maps, natural land formations and how the economy works, they say Finland is part of Scandinavia but Iceland isn't. When people want to talk about history and what languages people speak, they say Iceland is part of Scandinavia but Finland isn't.
The Scandinavian Peninsula is a large peninsula reaching west from northern Europe over the north side of the Baltic Sea. Norway, Sweden and some of Finland are on this peninsula. However, Denmark is considered part of Scandinavia in the ethnic sense more often than Finland is. This is because Danish is a Scandinavian language but Finnish is not.
Some people like to say "Nordic countries" instead of "Scandinavia" because they think it is more correct about geography, but the Nordic countries include Norway, Sweden, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands), Finland, and Iceland. These five countries use the Nordic Council to work together on political and cultural activities. Denmark, Sweden, and Finland are also members of the European Union, but only Finland is part of the eurozone, meaning that it uses the Euro as its money. The other Nordic countries still use their own money, called "krone" or "krona" (from the word "crowns"). Norway and Iceland, which are not members of the EU, are members of NATO and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Only Denmark is a member of both the EU and NATO.
Most of the Scandinavian Peninsula has only a few people in it. It has large forests of pine, birch, and spruce trees. The western and northern parts are mountainous; the Scandinavian mountains are some of the oldest in the world. The tallest mountain is Galdhøpiggen in Norway. Denmark (43,098 km) is the smallest of the Scandinavian countries. It is more densely populated, and most of the land is farmland. Sweden (449,964 km) is the largest of the Scandinavian countries. It has the most lakes, and the landscape ranges from plains in the south to mountains in the west (along the border with Norway) to tundra in the north. The far north of Scandinavia and Finland is called Lapland, where the Sami people live. Some of them still herd reindeer, but most Sami live in modern houses and have modern jobs, like other Scandinavians.
The most famous group of Scandinavians is the Vikings of the Middle Ages. The Vikings attacked and raided but they were also traders, traveling to the Ukraine and starting trade routes to the Middle East.
Vikings from Norway were explorers, crossing the North Atlantic in their longships. They came to Iceland and Greenland and built towns and farms there. The Norwegian explorers also came to the east coast of Canada, where they set up at least one settlement, but it did not last into modern times.
The Vikings from Denmark came to England, where they affected the history and politics and even the English language. Danish raiders attacked England many times with great violence. Sometimes the Danes would ask that the English pay them to go away. These payments were called "Danegeld" (Danish gold). The priests and bishops of churches on the east coast of England wrote a famous prayer: "deliver us, O Lord, from the wrath of the Norsemen!" "Norsemen" is another way to say "men from the north," or the Danes.
Much later, in the 19th century (1800s), Richard Wagner and other artists in the Romantic period made operas and other artwork about ancient Germanic culture. They liked the Vikings because they were not Greeks or Romans. They were the first to have the idea of Vikings wearing helmets with wings or horns on them and drinking out of hollowed-out animal horns. Some ancient Germans wore helmets with horns on them, but real Vikings did not. Wagner and his partners deliberately dressed the actors in the opera "Ring des Nibelungen" so they would look like ancient Germans and so the audience would feel like modern Germans came from medieval Vikings.
During the 10th through 13th centuries, when the Christian religion spread through Scandiavia, modern countries started to form there. They came together into three kingdoms:
These three Scandinavian kingdoms made the Kalmar Union in 1387 under Queen Margaret I of Denmark. However, in 1523, Sweden left the union. Because of this, civil war broke out in Denmark and Norway. Then, the Protestant Reformation happened, and Catholic and Protestant Christians fought each other. After things settled, the Norwegian Privy Council was abolished: it assembled for the last time in 1537. Denmark and Norway formed another union in 1536, and it lasted until 1814. It turned into the three modern countries Denmark, Norway and Iceland.
The borders between Denmark, Sweden and Norway came to the shape they have today in the middle of the seventeenth century: In the 1645 Treaty of Brömsebro, Denmark–Norway gave some territory to Sweden: the Norwegian provinces of Jämtland, Härjedalen and Idre & Särna and the Baltic Sea islands of Gotland and Ösel (in Estonia). The 1658 Treaty of Roskilde forced Denmark–Norway to give the Danish provinces Scania, Blekinge, Halland, Bornholm, and the Norwegian provinces of Båhuslen and Trøndelag to Sweden. In 1660, the Treaty of Copenhagen forced Sweden to give Bornholm and Trøndelag back to Denmark–Norway.
Finland used to be part of Sweden in medieval times. During the wars fought by Napoleon, it became part of Russia.
Minerva cars
In 1883 a young Belgian called Sylvain de Jong settled in Antwerp, Belgium. He started a bicycle factory there. By the end of that century he started producing motorbikes, and after a while automobiles as well. In 1903 he grounded the NV Minerva Motors' in Berchem (Antwerp).
A certain Charles S Rolls was Minerva dealer in England. The small 1 cylinder "Minervette" was there with its 105 Pound, the cheapest automobile.
In the years after the fame of the automobile was rising enormous. Most important market for the constructor remained however England that took the biggest part of the production, followed by the Netherlands and France.
From 1908 Minerva got a worldwide Knight licence. The Knight motor was a motor without valves, developed by Charles Y Knight in the United States. These motors were extremely silent. The company did well in several automobile racing competitions in Europe.
After worldwar I, during which Sylvain de Jong and his engineers headed to Amsterdam, where they kept on developing parts, they returned to start up the production of luxury automobiles. The constructors star rose in the United States as well, American filmstars, politicians and industrials liked them cars as well (even Henry Ford had before the WW already one!). The car had the same qualities as the Rolls Royce, but was a little cheaper. With the economical crisis in the 30's, the company went bankrupt in 1936. The remains were taken over by another Belgian constructor named Imperia. Imperia putted the name Minerva on their automobiles for export to England and France and for the trucks (which Minerva had made before too).
After worldwar II the company produced Land Rovers under licence for the Belgian army. Production of these 4Wheel Drives stopped in 1953. The company struggled for survival and made some Land Rover-like cars till 1956. But than the constructor diappeared completely.
E. B. White
Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985) was an American writer.
He is most famous for his 1959 manual about how to write well in English, "The Elements of Style" (which was first written by William Strunk Jr. in 1918), and also for his three children's books "Stuart Little" (1945), "Charlotte's Web" (1952), and the "Trumpet of the Swan" (1970).
He also wrote for magazines and newspapers in the United States.
E.B. White won many awards, including a Pulitzer Prize. "The Trumpet of the Swan" may be his best-selling book, but "Charlotte's Web" was voted the top children's novel in a 2012 survey, and not for the first time.
Raffles Institution is a highly regarded secondary school in Singapore, often considered the best school in the country. Only boys can go to this school. It has been performing well in studies and sports. It was founded in 1823 as Singapore Institution by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore. It is the school with the longest history in Singapore. Its name was changed to "Raffles Institution" in 1868. It has two sections, Raffles Institution and Raffles Institution Junior College.
The current principal of Raffles Institution is Mr Frederick Yeo, who replaced Mr Chan Poh Meng when he left the school at the end of 2017.
Sir Stamford Raffles founded Raffles Institution on 5 June 1823, making it the school with the longest history in Singapore. Raffles Institution was along Bras Basah Road at first, where Raffles City is now. The school moved to Grange Road in 1973, and then moved to its current location at Bishan in 1990. The Grange Road campus is now the MOE Teacher's Network.
An archipelago () is a chain or group of islands. The word "archipelago" means "chief sea", from Greek "arkhon" ("arkhi"-) ("leader") and "pelagos" ("sea").
Archipelagos are usually found in the open sea; less commonly, a big landmass may neighbor them, an example being Scotland which has more than 700 islands surrounding the mainland. Many archipelagos are volcanic, forming along mid-ocean ridges or hotspots. Others are island arcs neighboring an oceanic trench. Many other processes create archipelagos, including erosion, deposition, and land elevation.
The four biggest countries that are mainly archipelagos are Japan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Indonesia (the world's biggest archipelagic country according to the CIA World Factbook). The biggest archipelago in the world by size is in Northern Canada, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, which is in the Arctic Ocean.
Baltic states
The Baltic states are three countries in Northern Europe to the east of the Baltic Sea and the south of the Gulf of Finland. They are, from north to south, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The languages that are spoken in these countries are different: while Lithuanians and Latvians speak Baltic languages (Latvian and Lithuanian), Estonians speak an Uralic language (Estonian).
By their culture and history, the Baltic countries are close to the Nordic countries. The biggest difference in the history was that the Baltic countries were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 (during the Second World War), but not the Nordic countries (with the exception of Karelia, a part of Finland which later joined the Russian SFSR). The three countries would become republics of the Soviet Union as the Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR.
All three Baltic states had their freedom back in 1991, when the Soviet Union came to an end. However, the states all consider the Soviet occupation to be illegal, which has been supported by the United States, European Union, and United Nations. Today, the Baltic countries are some of the richest and most advanced countries which were part of the Soviet Union. They became members of the European Union and NATO in 2004, joined the Schengen Area in 2007, and became part of the eurozone by 2015.
Paganism was the religion of Baltic people before most of them took Christianity during the Middle Ages. Baltic paganism never died out and some people are still pagans.
Topography
Topography means "the description of shape". The word comes from Greek: ' "place" and ' "(I) write". It is an important part of earth science.
When you talk of the topography of the land, you refer to the landscape features like valleys, hills and mountains, rivers and lakes, or the coastline. Everything that describes the form of the landscape, is part of the topography. Topographic maps show topography.
Bornholm
Bornholm is a small, rocky island in the Baltic Sea. Bornholm is a Danish island.
The island is a popular holiday resort for Scandinavians, Germans and Poles. Many yachters come here in the summer.
At the end of World War II, the island was "liberated" by the Soviet red army, and held for several months after the German surrender. The island lies far east of the demarcation line between the allied forces in Europe. For some time the Soviet presence looked like an occupation. It was not until April 5th, 1946 that the island at last was free.
But then the Danish government took over and the island is today a Danish colony. But the struggle for a free island still goes on as it can be seen on this page Free Bornholm
Budapest is the capital and the largest city of Hungary. It was made as such in 1873. In that year three towns on the River Danube, namely "Buda", "Óbuda (Old Buda)" and "Pest" were united. The city has a population of about 1.7 million people. Its highest place is "János Hill (527 m.)".
The history of the city started with Celtic tribes who settled here before 1 AD. Later Roman empire transformed the first settlements into the Roman town of Aquincum. The Hungarians arrived in the territory of modern Hungary only in the end of 9th century AD.
Budapest also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a great power that dissolved in 1918 after World War I. The city was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Battle of Budapest in 1945, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
The main sights in Budapest are the Castle Hill (Várhegy), the Parliament House (Országház) and St. Stephen's Basilica. Budapest is also known for the ruins of Aquincum, the capital city of the Roman Province of Pannonia. The city has a great atmosphere with nice cafes, spas and the traditional Hungarian hospitality.
It has the oldest subway-line in Europe.
Budapest has a humid subtropical climate with relatively cold winters and quite warm summers.
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beach town in California. It is next to Los Angeles, California, US.
It was made a city in 1886. In 2000, there were 88,050 people living there.
It is famous for the Santa Monica Pier that has many fun rides.
Kuwait is a small Arab country (about 17,819 square kilometers) in the Middle East.
Kuwait is the most socially progressive country in the Gulf region. It has a small and rich economy. It has about 96 billion barrels of crude oil reserves. Crude oil reserves are the oil that is still under the ground and has not yet been cleaned up. Kuwait has 10% of all of the oil reserves in the world. The country makes a lot of money by selling oil. This money is almost half of all the money the country makes. The oil money is also 95% of the money made by selling things to different countries (people call that exports). Also, the oil money is 80% of the money the government makes. Kuwait is now talking with oil companies of other countries to make oil fields in the northern part of the country.
Kuwait's weather makes farming hard (too little rain). Instead of farming, the country catches fish and buys food from other countries. About 75% of the country's water to drink has to be distilled (have the salt removed) or purchased from other countries.
In 1990, Iraq invaded (brought an army in to fight against) Kuwait. This started the first Gulf War. Kuwait's official religion is Islam, although 15% of its population are Christian or Hindu. Arabic is mostly spoken in Kuwait but English is widespread among Kuwaitis (residents of Kuwait). Kuwait is one of the few nations that has education for every age.
Another interesting fact about Kuwait is that a lot of people speak English.
Population (in thousands) for 2004 2595.
CBR(per 1000) for 2004 19.4.
CDR (per 1000) for 2004 1.9. Growth Rate(%) for 1992-2002 2.1. the Total Fertility Rate for 2002 is 2.7. Percent population is living in urban in 2003 96.2.Per capita gross national income ($) 2002 612. Population Density( per square kilometer) in 2000 107.4
Infant Mortality Rate (per 1000)for 2005 9.95. Adult literacy rate (85%) female literacy rate (81%) (2002).
Kuwait is divided into 6 governorates. The governorates are divided into districts.
Herbert Buckingham Khaury, better known as Tiny Tim (April 12, 1932–November 30, 1996), was an American singer and musician. He became popular in the late 1960s due to his appearances on television, and songs played on ukulele with a falsetto voice. His most famous song was "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". His best-remembered television appearances were on "Laugh-In" and "The Tonight Show". His first wedding took place on "The Tonight Show" in 1969, at host Johnny Carson's suggestion.
Not just a performer, he was also an expert , who studied American music from the earliest days of the United States, and performed many historic songs in his act. Over time, he used his falsetto voice less, and performed most songs in his natural, baritone voice.
When his popularity as a "" lessened, he performed in small nightclubs and other places, as he had earlier. During the 1980s, he toured with a circus, and appeared in a movie as a circus performer who turned to crime. In the 1990s, he recorded new music (including a Christmas album), and joined comedian Pat Paulsen in his latest mock campaign to become President of the United States, as Paulsen's .
Married three times, his last wife was a former fan, who met him when she made a documentary about his life and career. One of his later supporters was radio talk show host Howard Stern. Tiny Tim died in 1996, after suffering a heart attack during a performance.
The Kelvin scale (symbol: K) is the SI unit of temperature. It is named in honour of the physicist William Thomson, the first Lord Kelvin (1824–1907).
0 degree celsius = 273 kelvin
The Kelvin scale is defined by a specific relationship between the pressure of a gas and the temperature. This says that "the pressure of the gas is directly proportional to the temperature in Kelvin". This means that Kelvin is an absolute temperature scale, and scientists use this scale more than any other.
The kelvin is a base SI unit of measurement, since 2018 defined by setting the fixed numerical value of the Boltzmann constant "k" to 1.380649×10 J⋅K.
The temperature of the triple point of water is a hundredth of a degree Celsius above the freezing point, or 0.01 °C. The coldest possible temperature is called absolute zero and is equal to -273.15 degrees Celsius, or zero kelvin (0 K). By writing temperatures in kelvins one does not need to use negative numbers.
The absolute temperature scale was designed so that a change in temperature of 1 kelvin is equal to a change of 1 degree Celsius. This means that it is easy to convert a temperature from degrees Celsius to kelvin.
It is important to notice that the name of this unit is simply "kelvin" (with a lowercase initial), not "degree Kelvin". In English, it undergoes normal plural inflection as "kelvins". For example, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen is 77 kelvins.
In everyday use, the kelvin is most commonly used to measure very low or very high temperatures, such as the temperature of liquid nitrogen or the temperature of a light bulb filament.
Tourism means people traveling for fun. It includes activities such as sightseeing and camping. People who travel for fun are called "tourists". Places where many tourists stay are called "resorts". Places that people go to for tourism are called tourist destinations.
There are a lot of reasons why people travel for fun:
The tourism industry has different parts. Some of these are:
Tourism can bring damage to the local area, and/or the tourists. Litter, scuba-diving and deforestation are problems for popular places such as St. Lucia, Hawaii and others. Scuba-diving can damage coral reefs which are home to hundreds of species of sea animals. Tourism can change culture when people learn each others’ ways, and certain local traditions are being put aside for tourists.
Berkshire is a county in southeast England. It is west of London. Its county town is Reading. In the past, a town named Abingdon was the county town, but this town is not in Berkshire any more.
Berkshire is also known as the Royal County of Berkshire.
The towns below are not part of Berkshire now, but were in the past.
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is a county in central England, near the south and London. The county town is named Aylesbury.
Locations marked with a (*) are a part of the cerimonal county of Buckinghamshire, but are governed by the Borough of Milton Keynes.
Computer monitor
A computer monitor is an electronic device that shows pictures for computers. Monitors often look similar to televisions. The main difference between a monitor and a television is that a monitor does not have a television tuner to change channels. Monitors often have higher display resolution than televisions. A high display resolution makes it easier to see smaller letters and fine graphics.
There are three types of computer displays:
In geometry, the diameter of a circle is a line from one side directly to the opposite side through the centre. It can also be defined as the longest chord of a circle. The same explanations can be also used to describe the diameter in a sphere.
The letter "d" or the symbol ⌀ are often used as a symbol for the diameter. The diameter's length is often called the diameter itself.
The diameter's length is twice the radius, and therefore the relationship between the diameter's length and radius can be shown with the equations:
formula_1 and formula_2
1958 (MCMLVIII) was .
1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar.
1745 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar.
Year 1813 (MDCCCXIII) was a year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar (or a year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).
The Commonwealth of Dominica is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. It is an English-speaking country. It is between the French-speaking territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique. The island is 751 km² (290 mi²) in area. Roseau is its capital. Portsmouth is another main town. Almost 70,000 people live on the island.
The currency of the island is the East Caribbean dollar.
The island's name comes from the Latin for Sunday, "Dies Dominica". It is not the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic in the Greater Antilles.
The country is nicknamed the "Nature Island of the Caribbean".
Dominica is most famously depicted in Jean Rhys' classic prequel to "Jane Eyre", "Wide Sargasso Sea".
The indigenous Carib people lived in Dominca before it was found by Europeans. They called it "Wai‘tu kubuli", which means "Tall is her body."
Christopher Columbus came to Dominica in 1493. In 1763, it became a territory of the United Kingdom from which its independence was received on 3 November 1978.
In August 1979, Hurricane David, wiped out its entire infrastructure. On 21 November 2004, the island was hit by its most destructive earthquake in history; Portsmouth and the northern area were deeply affected.
On 18 September 2018, Hurricane Maria, the most powerful storm to hit the island, severely damaged its infrastructure and cut off all its communications to the outside world. The Assessment Capacities Project estimates that the hurricane has caused $1.37 billion in losses across the island, which is equal to 226 percent of its 2016 GDP. As of April 12, there are 65 fatalities confirmed across the island, including 34 who are missing and presumed to be dead.
In 1980, Dame Eugenia Charles became its prime minister, the first female government leader in the West Indies.
Dominica is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. It is the northernmost of the Windward Islands.
Dominica is largely covered by rainforest. It is home to the world's second-largest hot spring, Boiling Lake.
Morne Trois Pitons National Park is a tropical forest with scenic volcanic features. It was recognised as a World Heritage Site on 4 April 1995.
Dominica is divided into 10 parishes, given below with their 2011 Census populations:
Cricket is a popular sport on the island. Dominica competes in test cricket as part of the West Indies cricket team.
Netball, basketball, rugby, tennis and association football are gaining popularity as well.
1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar was made obsolete starting that year, though Eastern Orthodox churches still use the Julian Calendar.
1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar.
Playing cards is the name for the 54 cards used in card games like poker, bridge, blackjack, solitaire, and Go Fish.
There are 52 basic cards in a deck (not including the jokers). These cards have a suit and a number (called the value or rank). There are 4 suits and 13 ranks in each suit. There are also two Jokers that do not have a suit or a rank.
Usual signs: spades (♠), hearts (♥), diamonds (♦), clubs (♣).
In some countries different suit signs may be used. In central Europe, there are cards with the suit signs of acorns, leaves, hearts, and bells. In Spain, Italy and Latin America, there are playing cards with the suits of clubs, swords, cups, and coins and Aces
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack or Knave (J), Queen (Q), King (K), Ace (A).
For many games, the Jokers are removed from the deck, making the total number of cards in the deck 52. Sometimes the deck is reduced to 40, 36, or 32 cards for playing certain games, like belote, sheepshead or euchre.
There are various types of tarot cards. Tarots are commonly used for fortune-telling, although they can also be used for playing games. Conversely, people have also used standard playing cards for fortune-telling.
Playing cards have been found in 9th century China, Tang dynasty.
Playing cards first entered Europe in the early 14th century, probably from Egypt. The suits were very similar to the tarot suits of Swords, Staves, Cups and Coins. These designs are still used in traditional Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese card decks.
The first documentary evidence is from Vitoria-Gasteiz (now Spain) in 1334, in which the Knights of the Band are forbidden to play cards. The next record is from Catalonia in 1371.
Wide use of playing cards in Europe can be traced from 1377 onwards.
The method of making cards has stayed the same for over a century. Cards are two thin pieces of paper stuck together with black paste. Both outer sides are printed. Inside is the design of the card face, the outer is the design for the pack as a whole. The black paste is essential to prevent sight of the face coming through when light shines on the face side. The use of the paste is the reason cards are sometimes called "pasteboards".
One or two packs at a time are printed on large sheets of paper, already pasted. The individual cards are stamped out by a machine which acts like a cookie-cutter. It cuts 36,000 cards per hour. A tiny fraction of a second later the edges of the cards are squashed extra-thin. This is not obvious to the naked eye, but the effect is that the cards slide easily past each other during shuffling.
Printed paper cards hold about 97.5% of the world market. Plastic cards do exist: they were first invented in the 1930s. They last longer than papercards, but have only 2.5% of the market.
An emperor is a male who rules an empire. The word is taken from the Latin language "imperator". Often it is capitalized.
A woman who comes to power in an empire is called an "empress". The wife of an emperor is also called empress. An emperor or empress is often a hereditary monarch and comes to power when one of his parents, or relatives, dies. In some countries, people elected a new emperor from candidates.
The only emperor in the world today is the Emperor of Japan ("tennō"), but he lacks political power. The true leaders of Japan are the Diet and Prime Minister because the country is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy.
The English word comes from Latin, the language of the old Roman Empire. At first, an "imperator" was a powerful general (army leader) but, after Augustus, it was only used by their most powerful rulers. There have been many countries in history whose leaders are called "emperor" in English. The leaders of the Byzantine Empire ("basileus", "autokrator") in Greece, the Holy Roman Empire ("imperator", "Kaiser") in Germany, Russian Empire ("tsar"), and the Ottoman Empire ("sultan", "padishah", "khagan", "kaysar") in Turkey all said they were just new parts of the old Roman Empire.
The leaders of other countries who said they ruled the whole world or called themselves "king of kings" are frequently also called emperors in English. For example, the old rulers of China ("huangdi"), and Ethiopia ("negusa negast") are all known as emperors in English. There have also been emperors of France, Germany, and Mexico and the rulers of the United Kingdom called themselves the emperors and empresses of India for a while.
Palmdale, California
Palmdale is the largest city in the desert area of California. It is a suburb of Los Angeles. It has a population of 147,897 and is the 6th largest city in Los Angeles County. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, currently the 25th fastest. It has a population of 589,043 if you include the suburbs around it.
Even though Palmdale is in Los Angeles County, it is not connected to the larger Los Angeles population area. It is separated from it by a mountain range called the San Gabriel Mountains that are over 40 miles wide and almost 2 miles high overall.
Palmdale is the home of several airplanes used by NASA and the Air Force, giving it the nickname of ""the aerospace capital of America.""