AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
There are 6,000 Torres Strait Islanders who live in the area of the Torres Strait, and 42,000 others who live outside of this area, mostly in the north of Queensland, particularly in Townsville and Cairns.
The indigenous people of the Torres Strait have a distinct culture which has slight variants on the different islands where they live. They are a sea-faring people, and engaged in trade with peoples of Papua New Guinea. The culture is complex, with some Australian elements, some Papuan elements, and some Austronesian elements, just like the languages. The Islanders seem to have been the dominant culture for many centuries, and neighbouring Aboriginal and Papuan cultures show some Island influence in religious ceremonies and the like. Archaeological, linguistic and folk history evidence suggests that the core of Island culture is Austronesian. Unlike the indigenous peoples of mainland Australia, the islanders were traditionally agriculturalists although they supplemented their food supplies through hunting and gathering.
Australian megafauna
Australian megafauna is a word used to describe a number of animal species in Australia that are quite a bit bigger than their closest living relatives. These species became extinct during the Pleistocene (16,100±100 - 50,000 years before present), but exact dates for their extinction have only been discovered recently.
Some mythological creatures from the Aboriginal dreamtime look a bit like animals from the prehistoric Australian megafauna.
Scientists have been unable to agree on the reasons the megafauna became extinct. It is possible when humans came to Australia (around 48,000-60,000 years ago), and began hunting and using fire, they may have caused the extinction of the megafauna. Climate change, which made the country much drier during an Ice Age about 18,000 years ago, may have also have led to the extinction of the megafauna. Some scientists say that climate change alone caused the extinction of the megafauna. This argument does not allow for the fact that the megafaunal species had lived through two million years of climate changes. They had lived through a number of dry times before their sudden extinction.
Scientists have got new evidence, based on new and better ways of finding dates, using optically stimulated luminescence and Uranium-thorium dating of megafaunal bones. This suggests that humans were the main cause of the extinction of megafauna in Australia. The dates show that the last of the megafauna became extinct around the same time, about 47,000 years ago. This was the time in which humans first arrived in Australia. The dates suggest the main reason for extinction was human burning of the land. Many plants were not able to survive regular fires, and so the types of plants changed. Scientists have studied oxygen and carbon isotopes from teeth of megafauna. These show sudden, dramatic, non-climate-related changes in plants, and in the diet of surviving marsupial animals, as well as the loss of megafaunal species. Further study of the teeth of megafauna shows the climate was dry at the time of extinction, similar to the dry climate of today, and that the megafauna were able to live in dry climates.
The following is a list of some of the Australian megafauna. It shows:
Mammals are set out by size with largest at the top.
Omagh bombing
The Omagh bombing was a car bomb attack by the Real Irish Republican Army in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, on 15 August 1998. 29 people were killed and over 300 people were hurt.
Themis (hypothetical moon)
On April 28, 1905, the American astronomer William H. Pickering said that he had found a tenth moon of the planet Saturn. Pickering named the moon Themis. No other astronomer has ever seen the moon that Pickering said he saw. Because of this, astronomers do not count Themis as an official moon of Saturn.
Pickering tried to figure out an orbit for Themis. He thought that Themis had an inclination of 39.1° to the ecliptic, with 0.23 eccentricity (0.23) and a semi-major axis distance of 1,457,000 km. This meant that Themis had an orbit like the moons Titan and Hyperion. Pickering believed that it took Themis 20.85 days to orbit Saturn, in a prograde motion.
Pickering thought that the diameter of Themis was about 38 miles (61 km). Pickering had also discovered the moon Phoebe, but modern astronomers know that Pickering made a mistake when he gave 42 miles (68 km) as the diameter of Phoebe. Because astronomers know how Pickering made his mistake, they can say that if Themis existed, it would have a diameter of 200 km.
In April 1861, Hermann Goldschmidt also thought he discovered a new satellite of Saturn between Titan and Hyperion. Goldschmidt called this moon Chiron. The moon Chiron also does not exist, but the name was used much later for the comet/asteroid 2060 Chiron.
In 1906, the French Academy of Sciences gave Pickering the Lalande Prize of the French Academy of Sciences for his "discovery of the ninth and tenth satellites of Saturn".
The actual tenth satellite of Saturn (in order of discovery) was Janus, which was discovered in 1966 and confirmed in 1980. Its orbit is far from the supposed orbit of Themis.
There is also an asteroid named 24 Themis.
Real Irish Republican Army
The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck
The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is a comic book painted and written by Don Rosa. To make it, Rosa needed to see Carl Barks's stories and the more important facts of Scrooge's fictional life.
The story has 12 original parts, with more added later, that tell Scrooge's life:
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is a set of exams taken in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and other British territories. They are usually taken by students aged 15–16, after two years of study. Some students can take their exams early if their teachers think the students are capable. Most students taking their GCSEs study between 5 and 12 subjects.
All pupils have to study English, mathematics and science until they are 15-16. They do not have to take the GCSE exams, but the large majority do so. In Wales, students must also study Welsh until they are 14.
Most schools require that a pupil passes 5 or more GCSE exams at grades 4 or 5 or above before they can move on to study A-levels.
In 2020, the exams were cancelled for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of the subjects in this list are not offered by every school.
In all schools students have to study Mathematics, Science, and English linguistics and literature.
Edo
The site of the city, on what is now known as Tokyo Bay, had been settled for several centuries, but first became historically significant with the building of Edo Castle in 1457 by order of Ōta Dōkan. Kyoto was the site of the Japanese emperor's residence and the capital of Japan for many centuries, until the Tokugawa shogunate was established in 1603 and Edo became its seat of government. From that point Kyoto remained merely the formal capital of the country, while the "de facto" capital was now Edo, the center of real political power. Edo consequently rapidly grew from what had been a small, virtually unknown fishing village in 1457 to a big city of 1,000,000 residents by 1721, the largest city in the world at the time.
In 1868, when the shogunate came to an end, the city was renamed "Tokyo", meaning "eastern capital", and the emperor moved his residence to Tokyo, making the city the formal capital of Japan.
Renault Vel Satis
The Renault Vel Satis was a large automobile created by the French car manufacturer Renault. It has five seats and four doors. It was produced from 2001 to 2009· It was known for its daring styling and was sold in the UK from 2002 to 2005 but was dropped there due to poor sales. Renault also produced another big car with bold styling called the Avantime which was a coupe/grand tourer but it was a poor seller with only 8,557 made between 2001 and 2003.
Korean food
Korean food came from very old traditions in Korea. It has developed through many environmental, political, and cultural changes. There are special rules for eating meals in Korea.
Korean food is mostly made up of rice, noodles, vegetables, and meats. Most Korean meals have many side dishes (called "banchan") along with their steam-cooked rice. Kimchi is usually eaten at every meal. Sesame oil, "doenjang", soy sauce, salt, garlic, ginger, pepper and "gochujang" are ingredients that are often used in the food.
In different provinces of Korea, its ingredients and dishes are different, too. The Korean royal court cuisine used to serve all the best dishes from each province for the royal family. People follow special rules when they eat meals in Korea.
Traditional rice cakes like "tteok" are eaten as treats during holidays and festivals. "Tteok" means all rice cakes made from pounded rice (메떡, "metteok"), pounded glutinous rice (찰떡, "chaltteok"), or glutinous rice that has not been pounded. It is usually filled or covered with sweet mung bean paste, red bean paste, raisins, or a sweet, creamy filling made with sesame seeds, pumpkin, beans, pine nuts, and honey. "Tteok" is usually eaten for dessert or as a snack.
The oldest people are usually served first, and it is thought rude to pick up chopsticks or eat before the oldest people do so. In Korea, unlike in China and Japan, the rice bowl is not lifted up from the table. Spoons should not hit bowls while eating. You must not talk about dirty things. Some rules are now not important. For instance, talking used to be discouraged, but today people usually talk together at meals. Also, men usually ate at a different table than women, but now they eat all together. In Korea, they have both spoons and chopsticks, and together they are called "sujeou" (pronounced soo-juh - 수저). Usually, before they eat, people say, "Jalmukgessemnidah (잘 먹겠습니다)", and after they are finished, they say, "Jalmuggussemnidah (잘 먹었습니다)." Soups and stews must be set on the right side of the person who is eating.
These dishes are usually made with rice.
These simple foods can be bought at shops on the street and are usually thought of as snacks rather than meals.
Cryptanalysis (from the Greek "kryptós", "hidden", and "analýein", "to loosen" or "to untie") is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information which is normally required to do so. Typically, this involves finding a secret key. In non-technical language, this is the practice of codebreaking or cracking the code, although "break" can also mean just a part of a complete solution.
People have been making and breaking codes for many centuries. In the 1930s specialized machines were invented to do the calculations. Code-breaking machines such as the Colossus computer were important during World War II. Computers were the main tool of cryptanalysis in the Cold War and later.
International General Certificate of Secondary Education
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education, or IGCSE, is an international exam for school students. It is typically taken by 14 to 16-year–olds, and it makes students ready for more academic work, including moving to A-Level and AS-Level study. The IGCSE is recognised as the same quality as the United Kingdom GCSE.
IGCSE courses cover subjects from a variety of areas: Languages, Humanities, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Creative, Technical and Vocational.
Most subjects can be studied at two levels of ability, either an easier level or a harder level. This is so that the IGCSE is appropriate for students with different levels of ability. It is planned to be appropriate for students whose first language may not be English and this is seen in all the tests for the IGCSE.
The following is a list of subjects for which IGCSEs are available:
Sánchez Ramírez Province
Sánchez Ramírez is a province of the Dominican Republic. It is in the central part of the country. Its capital city is Cotuí.
It was created in 1952. It was a municipality of the Duarte province before being elevated to the category of province.
The province was named after Juan Sánchez Ramírez, who was born in Cotuí and who fought against the French army when the country was a colony of France. When the country was again a Spanish colony, Sánchez Ramírez was made the governor of the colony.
The territory of the province was part of the La Vega Province from the Dominican independence (in 1844) until 1945 when most of the territory was made part of the Duarte Province.
On 3 March 1952, the province was created with the territory of Cotuí, part at that moment of the Duarte Province, and the southeastern part of La Vega province. When it was created, it had only two municipalities: Cotuí, the provincial capital, and Cevicos. In 1961, Fantino became the third municipality of the province; in 2002, Villa La Mata became the fourth municipality.
In 1979, La Cueva became a municipal district; La Bija and Angelina in 2001; Quita Sueño and Platanal in 2005; Hernando Alonzo, Caballero and Comedero Arriba in 2006; and Zambrana Abajo in 2010.
The Sánchez Ramírez province is in the centre of the country, in the southeast limit of the Cibao Valley (part of the region called "Eastern Cibao"). It is bordered to the north by the Duarte province, to the east and south by the Monte Plata province, to the southwest and west by the Monseñor Nouel province and to the northwest by the La Vega province.
In (last national census), there were people living in the Sánchez Ramírez province, and 85,207 () living in towns and cities. The population density was persons/km².
Its population represents of the total population of the country and the province is ranked as the 19th (out of 31 plus the National District) more populated province.
, the total estimated propulation of the province is 152,036 inhabitants.
The largest city of the province is Cotuí, its head municipality or capital, with an urban population (in ) of 45,135 inhabitants.
The Sánchez Ramírez province has a total area of . It has of the area of the Dominican Republic and it is ranked as the 21st (out of 31 plus the National District) largest province.
There are two regions in the province:
The altitude of Cotuí, provincial capital, is above sea level.
The most important river is the Yuna river, that flows from west to east; the other rivers are all tributaries of this river. Other rivers are Cevicos, Chacuey and Maguaca; they flow from the Sierra de Yamasá into the River Yuna.
There are 4 municipalities and 8 municipal districts (M.D.) in the province.
The main economic activities in the province are farming and mining. Close to the town of Las Lagunas, in the Sierra de Yamasá, are the gold mines.
The main products of farming in the Sierra de Yamasá are cacao, oranges and tobacco. In the Yuna valley, rice is the most important product but pineapple and orange are also produced.
Cattle are also important in the province, mainly in the northwestern part of it.
Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British politician. She was born and raised in London. Her parents were Jamaican immigrants. She is the Member of Parliament for the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency in London. She was the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons when she was elected in the 1987 General Election. In 2010, Abbott became Shadow Public Health Minister after unsuccessfully standing for election as leader of the Labour Party. Abbott was made Shadow Home Secretary by Jeremy Corbyn in October 2016.
She attended Newnham College, Cambridge.
Abbott is a frequent public speaker, newspaper contributor and TV performer. She has been on programmes such as "Have I Got News For You", "Celebrity Come Dine with Me" and "Cash in the Celebrity Attic".
Hywel Francis
David Hywel Francis (6 June 1946 – 14 February 2021) was a Welsh politician and the Member of Parliament for the Aberavon constituency in the United Kingdom. He was elected in the 2001 General Election.
Frank Doran
Frank Doran (born April 13, 1949 in Edinburgh, Scotland–died October 30, 2017) was a Scottish politician and the Member of Parliament for the Aberdeen North constituency in the United Kingdom. He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1987 general election for Aberdeen South but was defeated in 1992. He is a member of the Labour Party.
He was re-elected at the 1997 general election for the new constituency of Aberdeen Central. The boundary of the constituency was changed, and in 2005 he was elected for the Aberdeen North constituency.
He is the partner of fellow Labour MP Joan Ruddock.
Anne Begg
Dame Anne Begg, DBE (born December 6, 1955) is a Scottish politician and the Member of Parliament for the Aberdeen South constituency in the United Kingdom. She was elected in the 1997 general election.
Begg is the first permanent wheelchair user in the House of Commons.
John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan
John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan (born 8 May 1947) is a Scottish football club chairman and a Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for the Scottish constituency of Airdrie and Shotts in the United Kingdom. He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1987 general election for the Motherwell North constituency. The boundary of the constituency was changed, and in the 1997 election he was elected to the new constituency of Hamilton North and Bellshill. After more boundary changes in 2005 he was elected to the new constituency of Airdrie and Shotts.
He is the former Home Secretary.
Reid did not stand in the 2010 election, and was made a life peer instead.
He is Chairman of Celtic Football Club in Glasgow.
Gerald Howarth
James Gerald Douglas Howarth, known as Gerald Howarth (born September 12, 1947) is a British politician and the Member of Parliament for the English constituency of Aldershot in the United Kingdom. He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1983 general election for the Cannock and Burntwood constituency but lost in the 1992 general election.
He was re-elected at the 1997 General Election as MP for Aldershot.
He is currently Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence as Minister for International Security Strategy.
He is a member of the Conservative Party.
Mount Agung
Mount Agung or Gunung Agung is a volcano on Bali. Mount Agung last erupted in 1963-1964. The lava just missed the Mother Temple of Besakih, which is located on high on the slopes of this sacred mountain. Over 1,000 people were killed and a number of villages were destroyed in this eruption.
Gunung Agung is an active volcano, with a large and deep crater that occasionally emits smoke and ash. The last major eruptions occurred in November 2017.
Mount Batur
Mount Batur or Gunung Batur is a volcano on Bali. Mount Batur last erupted in 2000. It is a volcano inside an older, larger, volcano. The original eruption, about 30,000 years ago, is one of the largest known volcanic events on Earth. The volcano is now 1,717 metres (5,633 feet) high. There are many people — whole villages — living inside the caldera.
Mount Rinjani
Mataram
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Soekarnoputri (born January 23, 1947), was President of Indonesia from July 23, 2001 to October 20, 2004. She was the Indonesia's first female President, and leader born after independence. On September 20, 2004, she lost her campaign for re-election in the 2004 Indonesian presidential election. She was also the country's vice president from 21 October 1999 to 23 July 2001. She is the daughter of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno.
Megawati was born in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Her father is Indonesia's first President, Sukarno, and her mother is Fatmawati, one of Sukarno's nine wives. Megawati was Sukarno's second child and first daughter. She grew up in her father's Merdeka Palace, one of Indonesia's presidential palace. She used to dance for her father's guests and had a hobby of gardening. Megawati was 19 when her father gave up his power in 1966 and was taken over by a government which was later led by President Suharto.
Megawati studied agriculture at Padjadjaran University in Bandung but dropped out in 1967 to be with her father following his loss of power. In 1970, the year her father died, Megawati went to the University of Indonesia to study psychology but dropped out two years later.
Kingdom of Kerma
The Kingdom of Kerma was a state in Nubia from around 2500 BC to about 1520 BC. It was based in the city of Kerma in Upper Nubia and was a major centre during the Middle Kingdom period of Egypt. It had a distinct civilization (for example very fine and original ceramics have been found).
The site of Kerma includes both an extensive town and a cemetery consisting of large tumuli. Because one can find there much examples of Nubian culture and burial practices at the site, scholars think that the Egyptian statues and other Egyptian objects found at Kerma arrived through trade.
In 2003, a Swiss archaeological team working in northern Sudan uncovered one of the most remarkable Egyptological finds in recent years. At the site known as Kerma, near the third cataract of the Nile, archaeologist Charles Bonnet and his team discovered a ditch within a temple from the ancient city of Pnoubs, which contained seven monumental black granite statues. Magnificently sculpted, and in an excellent state of preservation, they portrayed five pharaonic rulers, including Taharqa and Tanoutamon, the last two pharaohs of the 'Nubian' Dynasty, when Egypt was ruled by kings from the lands of modern-day Sudan. For over half a century, the Nubian pharaohs governed a combined kingdom of Egypt and Nubia, with an empire stretching from the Delta to the upper reaches of the Nile.
Aladdin (1992 movie)
Aladdin is a 1992 American animated musical fantasy movie. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. "Aladdin" is the 31st animated movie in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was part of the Disney movie era known as the Disney Renaissance. The movie was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. It is based on the Arab folktale of Aladdin and the magic lamp from "One Thousand and One Nights". The voice cast features Scott Weinger, Jonathan Freeman, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Frank Welker, Gilbert Gottfried, and Douglas Seale.
"Aladdin" was released on November 25, 1992. It got positive reviews and was the most successful movie of 1992, earning over $217 million in revenue in the United States, and over $504 million worldwide. The movie also won many awards, most of them for its soundtrack. Some people have accused it of being racist, because the heroes are light-skinned and have American accents while the villains are dark-skinned and have Arab accents. "Aladdin"s success led to other material inspired by the movie, including two direct-to-video sequels, "The Return of Jafar" and "Aladdin and the King of Thieves"; an animated television series; toys, video games, spin-offs, and Disney merchandise. A Broadway adaptation debuted in 2014.
In the city of Agrabah, the Sultan wants his daughter Princess Jasmine to marry a prince, but she rejects every suitor and temporarily leaves the palace. At the marketplace, she meets a "street rat" named Aladdin.
Jafar, the Sultan's vizier, discovers that Aladdin is the only one who can enter the Cave of Wonders and find a magic lamp. Jafar orders him to get the lamp. Aladdin and his pet monkey, Abu, enter the cave, where they befriend a magic carpet and obtian the lamp. Abu inadvertently grabs a forbidden treasure and the cave collapses itself. After surviving, Aladdin rubs the lamp and meets the Genie, who grants three wishes for him. Aladdin uses the first one to disguise himself as a prince. He returns to the city, and meets the Sultan and Jafar. After Jasmine deduces the identity from Aladdin, the Sultan decides to promote him. When Jafar steals the lamp, he uses two wishes and banishes Aladdin from the city. However, Aladdin returns to the palace and tricks Jafar into having the third wish, which makes Jafar being transformed into a genie. Aladdin uses the dark lamp to trap Jafar inside of it.
With the palace reverted to normal, Aladdin uses the third wish to free the Genie and he sets off to see the world. Aladdin and Jasmine plan their marriage.
D. B. Cooper (also known as Dan Cooper) is an alias (false name) for a man who hijacked an airplane in November 24, 1971. At that time, airline passengers were not searched before boarding their planes. He carried a bomb onto a flight between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. He received the ransom payment of $200,000. He jumped from the airplane, which was a Boeing 727. When he jumped, the airplane was in the Pacific Northwest, perhaps over Woodland, Washington. Hundreds of suspects have been named through the years, but no conclusive evidence has surfaced regarding who Cooper was, or where he lived. The FBI believes he did not survive the jump. Several people have tried to explain what happened after the jump. Some of these explanations contradict each other.
Because no one expected he would jump and because little is known of what happened afterwards, people are still interested in the case. The Cooper case (code-named "Norjak" by the FBI) remains an unsolved mystery.
The case is famous for its lack of evidence. A few important clues have arisen, nevertheless. In late 1978, a placard, which had instructions on how to lower the rear stairs of a 727 was found just a few flying minutes north of Cooper's projected drop zone. It is believed that this is from the rear stairway of the plane from which Cooper jumped. In February 1980, eight-year-old Brian Ingram found $5,880 in decaying $20 bills on the banks of the Columbia River.
In October 2007, the FBI announced it was able to get a partial DNA profile of Cooper from the tie he left on the hijacked plane. The FBI warehouse had lost other material with his DNA. On December 31, 2007, the FBI revived the unclosed case: They published never before seen composite sketches and fact sheets online. They did this because some people might remember them, and help identify Cooper. In a press release, the FBI said that it still does not believe Cooper survived the jump, but wanted to know who Cooper was. In March 2008, the FBI announced that another possible clue was being investigated after a torn, tangled parachute was found within the bounds of Cooper's probable jump site near the town of Amboy, Washington. However, the FBI announced on April 1, 2008 that the parachute in question was not D. B. Cooper's. The man responsible for packing the four parachutes said that the recently discovered parachute was not Cooper's, as his was nylon, and the newly discovered parachute was silk, dating from the 1940s.
Normally, the criminal laws cannot work against people years after their crimes (statute of limitations). In 1976, to prevent D. B. Cooper from escaping punishment, a Portland grand jury charged D. B. Cooper with crimes.
Since 1999, Ariel, Washington holds an annual D. B. Cooper celebration on the anniversary of his jump.
He is said to be a "disabled veteran".
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling (born November 28, 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Chancellor of the Exchequer from June 2007 to May 2010 and also held several posts in Tony Blair's government. He is the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South West.
Alistair Darling was born in London. He was first elected to the House of Commons at the 1987 General Election. His government posts under Tony Blair include: Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1997-1998), Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1998-2002), Transport Secretary (2002-2006), Scottish Secretary (2003-2006) and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (2006-2007).
The moa were large flightless birds. They lived only in New Zealand, and are now all extinct.
There were nine species (in six genera) of Moa. The largest and best known were the genus Dinornis, which grew up to 3.6 meters (12 feet) tall, and weighed as much as 230 kilograms (510 pounds).
The group of birds to which the moa belong had been in existence since the Cretaceous period. The Māori people arrived in New Zealand from Oceania about a thousand years ago. Then, moas lived in large numbers, especially on South Island. Archaeological sites with evidence of moa hunting are all over New Zealand. The moas became extinct about five hundred years ago. The moas had survived being hunted by Haast's eagle. However, they could not survive being hunted for food by the Maoris.
Recent extinctions (also mostly birds) have been caused by habitat change and introduced species.
Malacology
Malacology is the study of molluscs. These animals include snails, slugs, octopus, squid, and bivalves generally, such as clams and mussels. Most of them have shells. The shells are often collected for their beauty and interest. Many people eat molluscs, especially those people who live near the ocean.
Those scientists who study molluscs are called "malacologists". They identify and classify them, and find out everything they can about their lives.
The gastropods are the most common type of mollusc. They have about 70,000 described species.
With 20,000 described species, bivalves are the second commonest class of molluscs. There are several classifications of bivalves in use. This is a rough guide:
Museums that have either exceptional malacological research collections (behind the scenes) and/or exceptional public exhibits of molluscs:
Placard
A placard is a sign made to inform people about something. Often, they are used to warn about danger. Very often, hazard symbols (special pictograms) are used.
Sometimes, placard is also used to mean a leaflet that shows how a certain machine should be operated.
Budíkov
Budíkov is a village in the Pelhřimov District, Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. About 283 people live there and it has 6,64 km². Budíkov was first documented in 1226.
Typha
Typha is a genus of plants. They are found in wetland habitats. They are commonly found in the Northern Hemisphere, but may be found in wetlands elsewhere. These plants are known in British English as bulrush, bullrush or reedmace, and in American English as cattail or punks.
Cattails were once used to make paper. Cattail paper is very heavy and coarse, and is rarely used today. Cattail has also been used as a water filter to remove the poisonous chemical arsenic from drinking water.
Sickle-cell disease
Sickle cell anaemia is a genetic disease. It affects red blood cells. It changes the cells from flexible disks into rigid crescents. When many red cells take this shape veins get blocked. This can cause damage to many organs. The organ damage increases with time and leads to an early death.
This is a lifelong disease which starts in childhood. The red blood cells take up an abnormal, rigid, sickle shape. The cells also become sticky. This causes difficult blood flow when cells flow through long narrow capillaries. Low oxygen increases the problem. As they pass through low oxygen areas most cells take up this shape. The cells then stick to the inner wall of blood vessels, especially the branching point of veins. This leads to a blockade of blood flow in many organs. Severe complications may result.
The classic example of a sickle cell crisis is "acute chest syndrome"(ACS). This is unique to sicklers, and can cause death in a day or two unless treated. Historically, acute chest syndrome was considered different from infection (pneumonia). But in treatment there is not much point making that distinction.
ACS is a clinical diagnosis helped by at least one chest X-ray. In all other organs low oxygen causes widening of blood vessels. But the lung is a unique organ where blood vessels become narrower when oxygen is low. This unique problem makes the lung a major target of the disease. Fever is the most common symptom of ACS in children because infection is more common. In the adults circulating clots and broken pieces of bone marrow can also add to the blockage of vessels in the lung and lead to ACS. ACS can be partially treated by blood transfusion to dilute the sickled cells with some normal red blood cells. An even better treatment is a procedure called red blood cell exchange. Automated apheresis machines can do RBC exchange.
A milder and more frequent problem is 'painful crisis'. Painful crisis involves flank, back and thigh pains that can be relieved by treatment. A painful crisis may evolve into worse problems such as acute chest and other organ failures e.g. strokes, heart attacks. Both strokes and heart attacks are general problems which may happen in older people. But in sickle patients these can happen even in the young.
The spleen is involved differently in different ethnic groups with this disease. Spleen is the organ which filters old RBCs and destroys them. Old RBCs are stiff and cannot pass through some very narrow slits in the spleen. But in sickle patients all cells very quickly become stiff and thus keep clogging up the spleen. Starting from a very young age segments of the spleen die because of this problem. In the pure form of this disease the whole spleen is dead and shrunken before the patient become adult. Normal spleen keeps a large store of B cells which make antibodies and protect us from bacteria. Loss of a working spleen leads to loss of protection from such bacteria.
In many Asian populations beta thalassaemia occurs together with sickle cell disease. Thalassemia itself is another form of anaemia. But the nature of the two disease are opposite. Thalassemia increases red cell flexibility. However, thalassemia itself can be a serious disease.
The sickling occurs because of a single point mutation in the gene for the beta chain of haemoglobin. Sickle-cell disease occurs more commonly in people (or their descendants) from parts of tropical and sub-tropical regions where malaria is or was common. One quarter of all people of Sub-Saharan African origin carry the gene.
We all inherit two copies (alleles) of the hemoglobin beta gene. One comes each parent. Some people are heterozygous: they have the sickle mutation in one copy and the other copy is normal. Such people are called sickle trait or a carrier. People with sickle trait are more resistant to malaria than normal people.
When both alleles of a gene are similar (homozygous) a person has copies mutated or both normal. If both alleles have the mutation, it causes the full disease. In malaria prone areas, normal people die frequently of malaria often before they had children. Those with both copies with sickle mutation die of sickle disease before they can reproduce. But the heterozygotes have a better survival (and have more children) than both homozygous groups. Thus, the inheritance of the disease is an example of 'heterozygous advantage'.
In the full (homozygous) disease life expectancy is shortened, in fact it is near-fatal in pre-modern societies. Sir Cyril Clarke said (referring to East Africa in the 1960s) "Almost all the children (with sickle-cell disease) will die in infancy".. Studies in the modern U.S.A. report an average life expectancy of 42 years for males and 48 years for females.
David Miliband
David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is a British politician who was the Foreign Secretary from June 2007 to May 2010 and a member of Tony Blair's cabinet. He was the Member of Parliament for South Shields in Tyne and Wear. He is the CEO of the International Rescue Committee.
David Miliband was born in London to Polish-Jewish parents and is an atheist. He was raised in Primrose Hill, London. He is the elder son of Marxist Ralph Miliband and Marion Kozak. He is the elder brother of Labour leader Ed Miliband. He was educated at the University of Oxford and was the head of the Number 10 Policy Unit from 1997-2001. He was first elected in the 2001 general election. After being part of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's governments, Miliband was a candidate in the 2010 Labour leadership contest. Despite Miliband being favourite to win the contest, his brother Ed narrowly won the contest in September 2010. Miliband chose not to be a member of Ed's shadow cabinet.
Jack Straw
John Whitaker 'Jack' Straw (born 3 August 1946 in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England) is a British politician. He held several cabinet posts in the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Blackburn.
Jack Straw became a Labour Party MP at the 1979 General Election for the constituency of Blackburn. He was promoted to the shadow cabinet in 1987 and became the Home Secretary when Labour returned to power in 1997. His other cabinet posts included: Foreign Secretary (2001-2006), Leader of the House of Commons (2006-2007) and Justice Secretary (2007-2010). He did not choose to become a member of Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet.
Straw's first marriage, in 1968, to teacher Anthea Weston ended in divorce in 1977. They had a daughter, Rachel, born on 24 February 1976. She died after five days because of a heart defect.
On 10 November 1978 he married Alice Perkins, a senior civil servant. They have two adult children, William and Charlotte.
He supports his local football club Blackburn Rovers. He was made an Honorary Vice President of Blackburn Rovers in 1998 by Jack Walker.
Straw has tinnitus.
Jacqui Smith
Jacqueline Jill "Jacqui" Smith (born 3 November 1962) is an English politician. She was the first female Home Secretary of the United Kingdom. She was born in Malvern, Worcestershire. She was the Member of Parliament for the Redditch constituency. She was first elected in the 1997 general election. She lost her seat at the 2010 General Election.
Smith married Richard Timney (born 1963 in Ealing, London) in October 1987 in Malvern, Worcestershire. They have two sons.
In December 2008, it was discovered that Timney wrote a series of letters praising the work of Smith. These letters were sent to newspapers. He did not say that he was her husband and managing her constituency office.
In June 2008 the "Independent newspaper" reported that she was a season-ticket holder at Aston Villa Football Club.
Des Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton
Desmond ""Des"" Henry Browne, Baron Browne (born March 22, 1952) is a Scottish politician and was Secretary of State for Defence and Secretary of State for Scotland. He was first elected in the 1997 general election, and was the Member of Parliament for the Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency in the United Kingdom until 2010, when he was created a Life Peer
Alan Johnson
Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is an English politician and former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was born and raised in London. He has been the Member of Parliament for the Hull West and Hessle constituency in the East Riding of Yorkshire since the 1997 general election.
Johnson has been married twice. His first marriage was to Judith Elizabeth Cox. They had one son and two daughters. After his divorce he married Laura Jane Patient in 1991. They had a son, born in 2000.
Hilary Benn
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (born 26 November 1953) is an English politician. He was born in Hammersmith, west London. Since October 2010, he has been the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He is the Member of Parliament for the Leeds Central constituency in the United Kingdom. He was first elected in 1999 in a by-election. He is a member of the Labour Party. He is the middle son of Tony Benn (1925-2014) and Caroline Benn (1926-2000).
Douglas Alexander
Douglas Garven Alexander (born October 26, 1967) is a Scottish politician. Before the 2010 General election he was Secretary of State for International Development, afterwards he became the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and is now Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He is the Member of Parliament for the Paisley and Renfrewshire South constituency in the United Kingdom. He was first elected in 1997 in a by-election.
John Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness
John Matthew Patrick Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness (born 6 May 1955) is an English politician. He is a member of the Labour Party.
He was the Member of Parliament for the Barrow and Furness constituency in the United Kingdom. He was first elected in the 1992 general election, and retired in 2010. In March 2011 he published a report on public sector pension reform.
The report states that radical reform to the pension plans of six million public sector workers still leave them with "hugely generous" settlements. The retirement crisis has been caused by the scrapping of gold-plated final salary pension schemes for private sector workers coinciding with low interest rates and a lacklustre stock market. House prices have also fallen. "Future pensioners are likely to be confronted by a crisis of expectations and a squeeze in income", the report warns.
Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2015. She was born and raised in West London. She has held cabinet posts in the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Following Brown's resignation as Labour leader on 11 May 2010, Harman was the acting leader of the Labour Party until Ed Miliband was elected on September 25, 2010. Until 2015 she was the Deputy Leader and ex-officio member of the Shadow Cabinet. She was also Shadow Deputy Prime Minister and Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.
She is the Member of Parliament for the Camberwell and Peckham constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. She was first elected for Peckham in a by-election in 1982.
On February 24 2014 Harman's was on "Newsnight" to say that she did not support the Paedophile Information Exchange.
Harman would not say sorry.
Harman is a feminist. She has been married to Jack Dromey since 1982. The couple have two sons and a daughter.
James Purnell
James Mark Dakin Purnell (born March 2, 1970) was an English politician was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2010. He was the Member of Parliament for the Stalybridge and Hyde constituency in the United Kingdom from the elected in the 2001 general election until he retired at the 2010 general election. He is currently the Head of the Open Left project at the left leaning think tank Demos
Paul Murphy, Baron Murphy of Torfaen
Paul Peter Murphy, KCMCO, KSG (born November 25, 1948) is a Welsh politician and held several cabinet posts, including Secretary of State for Wales. He is the Member of Parliament for the Torfaen constituency in the United Kingdom. He was first elected in the 1987 general election.
Ruth Kelly
Ruth Maria Kelly (born May 9, 1968) is now an economist working for the HSBC Bank. She was a British politician and had been a Cabinet Minister.
She was the Member of Parliament for the Bolton West constituency in the United Kingdom from the 1997 general election to the 2010 general election
Hazel Blears
Hazel Anne Blears (born May 14, 1956) is an English politician. and is the Member of Parliament for the Salford and Eccles constituency. She was first elected in the 1997 general election as member for the Salford constituency.
She held several government posts under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, including Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, up until the 2010 general election
Geoff Hoon
Geoffrey William Hoon (born 6 December 1953) is an English politician and held several government posts. He was born in Derby. He was the Member of Parliament for the Ashfield constituency in the United Kingdom from his first elected in the 1992 general election until he retired in 2010.
Hoon is a member of the Labour Party.
Edward Michael "Ed" Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British politician. He was the shadow Home Secretary in Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet. He was born in Norwich, Norfolk and moved to Nottinghamshire during his childhood. He is the Labour Party and was theCo-operative Party Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Morley and Outwood in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
He was first elected in the 2005 general election and held the post of Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from June 2007 to May 2010. He was a candidate to become leader of the Labour Party in September 2010 and lost to Ed Miliband. Ed Balls lost his seat in the 2015 general election
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician. He was the leader of the Labour Party and of the Official Opposition. He is also the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Doncaster North, and is a former cabinet minister.
He was born in University College Hospital, Bloomsbury, London and raised in Primrose Hill. His parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants. He is the younger son of the Marxist thinker Ralph Miliband. At the London School of Economics, he obtained a Master's degree in Economics, and then became an advisor to Labour politicians such as Harriet Harman and Gordon Brown. At the 2005 general election, he was elected to be the MP for Doncaster North. His first job in government was as the "Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change", which he took up on October 3, 2008 and remained as until Labour lost the 2010 General Election.
In September 2010, he defeated his brother David Miliband by a small number of votes to become leader of the Labour Party.
He resigned as leader in May 2015 after Labour lost to the Conservative Party in the 2015 General Election. Jeremy Corbyn replaced him.
Andy Burnham
Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is an English politician. He was a candidate in the 2010 Labour leadership election. As of 2012 Burnham was Shadow Secretary of State for Health within Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet. He is the Member of Parliament for the Leigh constituency in the United Kingdom. He was first elected in the 2001 general election.
Burnham was born in Old Roan, Aintree, Lancashire and raised in Culcheth, Warrington.
On 5 May 2017, he was elected mayor of Greater Manchester.
Shaun Woodward
Shaun Anthony Woodward (born 26 October 1958 in Bristol, England) is a British politician and is the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet. He is the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of St Helens South in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
He was first elected in the 1997 general election as the Conservative Party MP for the constituency of Witney but changed to Labour in 1999. At the 2001 General Election he was made the MP for the St Helens South constituency and was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2010. When Ed Miliband became Labour leader, Shaun Woodward was made the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Yvette Cooper
Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician.
Cooper is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford constituency in the United Kingdom. She is a member of the Labour Party. Her husband, Ed Balls, represents the neighbouring constituency of Morley and Outwood.
She served in the Cabinet between 2008 and 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She was Chief Secretary to the Treasury and then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. After Labour lost the 2010 general election, Cooper was appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary, then in 2011 Shadow Home Secretary.
John Denham
John Yorke Denham (born July 15, 1953) is an English politician. He is the Member of Parliament for the Southampton Itchen constituency in the United Kingdom. He was first elected in the 1992 general election.
He has held many ministerial posts, including
Limnology is the study of waters that are not part of the oceans or seas. This includes rivers, lakes, swamps, streams, wetlands, water under the ground, and even bodies of water made by people. Scientists who study this are called "limnologists". Their work includes biology, chemistry, physics, geology, and hydrology.
The "International Society of Limnology" promotes limnology to scientists throughout the world. There are many centres for such research throughout the world.
Limnology helps to explain why some lakes have lots of plants and animals and some have very few. The Freshwater Biological Association which is based next to Windermere in England did a lot of the early work. Limnologists there worked out why deep lakes have cold water at the bottom in summer-time but not in Winter. The reason was that winds in Autumn mix the waters up.