AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
In 1970 Badfinger made an agreement with an American businessman called Stan Polley who promised to help them earn more money. But instead of helping them, Polley kept their money "away" from them in an account and refused to tell them how to get it out. He also behaved dishonestly toward Warner Bros. Because of his dishonesty, the band's sixth album was removed from shops after being available for only seven weeks, and Warner Bros. refused to release their seventh album. As a result, the band did not earn any money for their hard work, which made Pete Ham feel very depressed. Feeling that he could not be a good husband or father without any money, Ham committed suicide by hanging himself in 1975.
Evans and Molland decided they still wanted to work together. Mike Gibbins, the drummer, wanted to as well, but could not. They found two more musicians to take the place of Ham and Gibbins, and recorded a new album called "Airwaves". They had only one very small hit, but continued to tour. They released another record called "Say No More". This record had cover art by artist Peter Max.
Tom Evans had problems like Ham's, and killed himself (eight years after Ham) in the same way.
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of six main parts of the United Nations. The Security Council deals with maintaining peace and security between nations.
There are 15 members of the UNSC but only five are permanent members. They are:
The ten temporary seats are held for two years with member states (countries) voted in by the United Nations General Assembly on a regional basis. The Presidency of the Security Council (i.e. the leadership) is rotated alphabetically each month.
As of 2021, the 10 temporary members are:
If a country has behaved in a way seen as bad, the member countries of UNSC can make a ruling, known as a United Nations Security Council Resolution. All five of the permanent member countries must either agree to this ruling or at least not vote against it; if any of them do, it is said to have been "vetoed" and does not come into effect. This Resolution may call for UN members to take certain actions to punish the country, called "sanctions".
An example is that the UNSC had long banned all imports of nuclear fuel to Iran as they felt Iran was going to make nuclear weapons. These sanctions resulted in rules which made it much harder for Iran to do business with people in the rest of the world. These actions made life harder in Iran, both for its government and regular people as well. Most people think that is why Iran was willing to promise to change how it used nuclear material in order to end these rules. The Permanent Members of the Security Council worked together in ending this problem; Germany has also conferenced with the permanent UN Security Council members about this issue.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the most powerful part of the United Nations. The Security Council deals with maintaining peace and security between nations. For members of the UN to engage in war or major military activity against another country or a large armed group outside of their own country they are supposed to have the agreement of the Security Council to do so but recent history shows that this rule is often not closely followed by everyone. All members of the UN retain the right to "self-defense"; they can engage in actions to defend their people and land whenever this becomes necessary but are then expected to refer the matter to the Security Council as soon as they can.
High jump
The high jump is a track and field athletics event. Without the aid of any devices, athletes jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights. The high jump was first practised in England in the 19th century. It became an Olympic sport in 1896 for men and in 1928 for women. The rules that were made in 1865 still exist today. Thus, every athlete has three attempts on every height. The athletes are allowed to touch the bar but they must not knock it down.
The women's world record of 2.09 metres is held by Stefka Kostadinova. It was set in 1987. There is a technique called the Fosbury flop and scissor kick.
Manhattan is one of the five boroughs that make up New York City, and is the center of the New York metropolitan area. It is also located over the same area as a county of New York state called New York County. Although it is the smallest borough, it is the most densely populated borough. Most of the borough of Manhattan is on Manhattan Island, but the Marble Hill neighborhood is part of the mainland United States (by way of the Bronx). Several smaller islands, including Roosevelt Island, are also part of Manhattan.
The Dutch bought it from the Native Americans and called it New Amsterdam, then the English took it over and changed the name to New York. The name "Manhattan" comes from the Munsi language of the Lenni Lenape meaning "island of many hills". Other theories say that it comes from one of three Munsi words. "Manahactanienk" meaning "place of inebriation". Other possibilities are "manahatouh" meaning "a place where wood is available for making bows and arrows" and "menatay" meaning simply "the island."
Manhattan is an important commercial, financial, and cultural center of both the United States and the world. Most major radio, television, and telecommunications companies in the United States are based there, as well as many news, magazine, book, and other media publishers. Manhattan has many famous landmarks, tourist attractions, museums, and universities. It also has the headquarters of the United Nations.
Before colonization, the Lenape Indians lived in the area that is now called Manhattan. In 1524, Lenape people in canoes met Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European explorer to pass New York Harbor, although he may not have entered the harbor past the Narrows. Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the Dutch East India Company, made the first map of the area.
In the 1620s, the first large European colony was started in New Netherland, when the Dutch began trading fur on Governors Island. In 1625, the Dutch chose Manhattan Island to build Fort Amsterdam, a citadel for the protection of the new arrivals. It would later be called New Amsterdam (Dutch: "Nieuw Amsterdam"). The creation of New Amsterdam was recognized as the birth of New York City.
On May 24, 1626, Manhattan was bought from the Native Americans living on the island. The price was trading goods worth 60 guilders, which was worth about 24 dollars at the time. The currency calculations from the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam say that 60 guilders in the 1620s cost around $1000 now.
In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant became the last Dutch Director General of the colony. New Amsterdam was considered an official city on 3 February 1653. In 1664, the British conquered New Netherland and renamed it "New York" after the English King James II, then known as Duke of York and Albany. Stuyvesant and his council made a deal with the British where New Netherlanders were promised liberties, including freedom of religion, under British rule. In August 1673, the Dutch took control of the island again, calling the city "New Orange" (Dutch: "Nieuwe Oranje"). The Dutch lost control of New Netherland forever to the English in November 1674 by treaty.
Manhattan was the center of many campaigns, battles and meetings during the American Revolution. In 1765, all of the colonies worked together for a unified political aim when the Stamp Act Congress (meeting) of representatives from across the Thirteen Colonies was held in New York City to write The Declaration of Rights and Grievances.
The Sons of Liberty, a Boston based group, were part of a long-term battle with British authorities over liberty poles that were sometimes raised by the Sons of Liberty and cut down by the British. The disputes ended when the revolutionary New York Provincial Congress took power in 1775.
Manhattan was the center of a series of large battles in the early American Revolutionary War. These battles were called the New York Campaign, where British forces and colonists fought for control of New York City and the state of New Jersey. The rebel Continental Army, led by George Washington, had to leave Manhattan after losing the Battle of Fort Washington on 16 November 1776. Shortly after, Manhattan was greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York in 1776.
Victory gave the British control of the area. They used the city as the center for political and military activities for the rest of the war. Loyalists from elsewhere came to the city as refugees from the Rebels and to join the war.
Years later, Washington came back to Manhattan with his army. On Evacuation Day, the last British occupation forces left the city on 25 November 1783. On 30 April, 1789, Washington was inaugurated (officially became) the first president of the United States and took his oath of office at Federal Hall on Wall Street.
In the early 19th century, Manhattan grew in population and economically. Another great fire in 1835 destroyed much of the city but it was soon rebuilt. Because of the Great Irish Famine, a lot of Irish people emigrated (left their country) to live in New York; they made up for 25% of Manhattan's population at the time. Many of the Irish people lived in a part of the Lower East Side known as the Bowery or in another section called Five Points.
After the Civil War, many immigrants of Italian, Polish and Jewish backgrounds came to Manhattan and lived in tenements in a part of the city called the Lower East Side. Over a million people lived in the area at one point.
An Irish political machine called Tammany Hall was very important to New York City during the Gilded Age. With the support of mostly Irish immigrants, it grew as a political machine. The support helped win the election for the first Tammany mayor, Fernando Wood, in 1854. Central Park, which opened to the public in 1858, became the first landscaped park in any American city and the country's first public park.
The rate of immigration from Europe shot up after the Civil War, and New York became the most popular state for immigrants in the United States. Because of this, the French built and gave New York the Statue of Liberty on October 28, 1886. Soon after, the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn were combined into one city.
In the beginning of the 20th century, many new things were built in the city, like skyscrapers and the New York City Subway. The first subway transit center, the Interborough Rapid Transit or "IRT", opened to the public in 1904. The installation of the Subway helped tie the new city together, as did new bridges to Brooklyn. In the 1920s, many African-Americans came to live in Manhattan during the Great Migration from the American South, and the Harlem Renaissance. New York City became the most populous city (city with the most people) in the world in 1925, overtaking London, which had held the title for a century.
Between World War I and World War II, reformist Fiorello La Guardia was elected as the new mayor in 1933 and took office in 1934, marking the fall of Tammany Hall after 80 years of dominating politics in New York City. Once the city's demographics were steadier, labor unionization provided protection and affluence to the working class. Despite the Great Depression, some of the world's tallest skyscrapers of the time were built in Manhattan during the 1930s, including many Art Deco masterpieces that are still part of the city's skyline today. The most well-known structures are Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the GE Building.
Following the end of World War II, a lot of veterans came home to the United States. This led to the development of private communities that were intended to be sold or rented out to returning soldiers, resulting in an economic boom. An example of one of the communities built to attract veterans looking for homes is Stuyvesant Town—Peter Cooper Village, which opened in 1947. In 1951, the United Nations relocated from its first headquarters in Queens, to the East Side of Manhattan.
Population and industry began to decline in the 1960s. The Stonewall riots were a series of violent demonstrations by members of the gay community. By the 1970s, the city had gained a reputation as a graffiti-covered, crime-ridden relic of history. In 1975, the city government went bankrupt (ran out of money), and its pleas for financial help were rejected at first. On 30 October 1975, the New York Daily News reported the event with the headline as "Ford to City: Drop Dead". The city received a federal loan and debt restructuring. After the economic downfall and recovery, New York State kept a close watch on New York City's economy.
In the 1980s, Wall Street was revived from its slump, and the city reclaimed its role at the center of the worldwide financial industry. During this time, Manhattan was also at the heart of the AIDS crisis, with Greenwich Village being a major center of the epidemic. "Gay Men's Health Crisis" (GMHC) and "AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power" (ACT UP) were organizations that were started because of the crisis. Their purpose was to advocate on behalf of those AIDs victims.
Crime rates began to drop greatly in the 1990s. Murder rates were 537 in 2008 compared to 2,245 in 1990. The crack epidemic and its associated drug-related violence had died down, and was under great control by the city. Many people who had moved out of the city came back because the city once again became the destination of immigrants from around the world, joining with low interest rates and Wall Street bonuses to fuel the growth of the real estate market.
The Bronx is the northern part of New York City, United States. The name came from Bronck's Farms, owned by a settler called Jonas Bronck. The Bronx was once the southern part of Westchester County, but is now one of the five boroughs of New York City as well as a county in New York State called Bronx County. The Bronx River flows south out of Yonkers and Mount Vernon, New York, through the middle of The Bronx, and into Long Island Sound.
Two places to visit in The Bronx are the Bronx Zoo and Yankee Stadium, where the New York Yankees baseball team plays.
Bob Denver
Bob Denver (January 9, 1935 – September 2, 2005) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Gilligan on the 1960s television series "Gilligan's Island" and Maynard G. Krebs on the earlier "Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". He appeared on many other shows including "The Good Guys", "Dusty's Trail", and "Far-Out Space Nuts", but these could not match his success as Gilligan. In 1998, he was arrested for marijuana possession and in 2005, he underwent heart surgery. After that he learned he had cancer. Before he became an actor, Denver worked as a mailman and a high school teacher.
Note that 1100 is the last year of the 11th century. 1101 is the first year of the 12th century.
A monk is a man who devoted part or all of his life to a religion. The word comes from Ancient Greek, and can be translated as "solitary". In Greek, the word can apply to women, but in modern English it is mainly used for men. The word nun is usually used for female monastics. Monks practice asceticism. They either live alone, or together with other monks who share the same ideals. Monks can be found in different religions, most often in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism and Taoism.
The monks who live on their own are usually called hermits, those living with other monks do so in monasteries. Nuns living together do so in a convent.
Some laws monks might choose to obey:
Dream Theater (often called "DT" for short) is a progressive metal and progressive rock band formed in the mid-1980s in the United States.
The band was founded by John Myung, John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy. Myung and Petrucci are the only original members that are still in the band today. They changed their singer twice in the late 1980s when Chris Collins was replaced by Charles Dominici in 1987. Dominici left the band only three years later, in 1990, and James LaBrie joined and stayed until today. Dream Theater's keyboardist also changed three times. Kevin Moore played with the band from 1986 until 1995 when he left and Derek Sherinan took his position until 1999. Jordan Rudess is Dream Theater's Keyboardist now. He is known for his excellent technique and compositional skills. In September 2010, drummer Mike Portnoy left Dream Theater, and was replaced by Mike Mangini.
The members of Dream Theater are known for having excellent playing technique of their instruments, and for their songwriting. Their music is very complex and the songs are often long, their longest being "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" at 42 minutes in length.
Their songs contain a lot of instrumental sections, in which no vocals are heard and only the instruments play (these parts are called "instrumental passages") and also many solos. Another feature of their music is that during each song, the speed often changes, and occasionally style changes too.
They once said that other bands have trouble making long songs. They said they have trouble making "short" songs. Most of Dream Theater's music is very difficult to play because of the high speed it has to be played with and the complex rhythm.
A triangle is a shape, or a part of two dimensional space. It has three straight sides and three vertices. The three angles of a triangle always add up to 180° (180 degrees). It is the polygon with the least possible number of sides. A triangle with vertices "A", "B", "C" is written as formula_1.
Triangles can be grouped according to how many of their sides are equal:
Triangles can also be grouped by their angles:
Triangles are extremely useful. The study of geometry related to triangles is called trigonometry. Some people have spent their entire lives studying triangles for use in trigonometry.
Modern computers usually use triangles to make more complex graphic images or shapes.
Feminism is a social and political movement. Feminism is about changing the way that people see male and female rights (mainly female), and campaigning for equal ones. Somebody who follows feminism is called a feminist.
Feminism began in the 18th century with the Enlightenment. The controversy over the differences between the genders led to the discussion of equality.
The word "feminism" comes from the French word "féminisme". This medical term was used to describe masculine women or men with feminized traits. When its use became popular in the United States of America, it was used to refer to groups of women who "asserted the uniqueness of women, the mystical experience of motherhood and women's special purity ".
Feminism started with the idea that human rights should be given to women. This idea was put forward by some philosophers in the 18th and 19th centuries such as Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill. Later feminists in the early 20th century also said that women should be allowed to vote in a democracy. Many women felt very strongly that they should be allowed to vote and there were many protests. These women were called Suffragettes. This is because they were fighting for Universal suffrage which means everybody is able to vote. The Suffragettes staged many protests for their rights. Some women even committed suicide to show how wrong it was that they could not take part in politics. After women received the vote, feminism worked to make all of society more equal for women.
Not all female politicians have been welcomed by feminists, with Margaret Thatcher, Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann being clear examples.
Feminism is generally acknowledged to have "waves" as different time periods focused on different aspects of feminism, often working off the ideas presented by the wave before.
In technical terms, the first wave of feminism could be dated earlier to include pre-nineteenth century women's rights movements. In particular, the French Revolution of 1789 is often attributed as the beginning of the first demands for women's rights. This went on to inspire Mary Wollstonecraft, whose book "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" was published in 1792. It is widely recognized as one of the earliest significant works of feminist literacy. However, first wave feminism is usually dated as occurring between the mid to late nineteenth century and early 1900s. During the first wave, women began to realize that they must first gain political power before they could bring about social change. This wave focused on gaining the right to vote (universal suffrage). Later, the focus shifted to include sexual, economic, and reproductive concerns.
During the inter-war years, the feminist movement declined. Anti-feminism was on the rise, focusing on the issue of women and work. Women were being 'persuaded' to return to their traditional roles in the home and give up their war jobs. There were also issues within the organized ranks of feminism itself. The ideologies and priorities of certain groups were changing. Some felt that equality with men had been reached and shifted their focus onto the needs of women as women, such as the subjects of birth control, family allowance, and protective legislature. This caused the split into the dominant groups of equality feminism and new feminism. New feminists focused on the role of traditional women in the home and as mothers. Equality feminists encouraged women to look beyond the home and fought for equality with men in every aspect of life. Equality feminists opposed protective legislature, such as maturity leave, purely on principle.
The topic of protective legislature eventually led to the divide of first wave feminism. Middle-class feminists tended to oppose protective legislature, whereas working class feminists largely supported it. This split between the previously dominant equality feminism and the rising new feminism marks the end of the first wave of feminism.
Second wave feminism is marked by the rise of political concerns. Where the first wave of feminism dealt with women in the workforce, as well as the right to own property and vote, the second wave of feminism lobbied for 'liberation' from a patriarchal society. The key to second wave feminism was the struggle over the female body itself - how it was represented and the significance attached to the reality of biological differences.
The famous "One is not born, but rather becomes a woman" declaration made by Simone de Beauvoir led to new thinking on the way gender was perceived as a construction, rather than something inherent.
Second wave feminism was also characterized by the problematization of equality. Questions arose about what gaining equality would achieve, due to the societal roles men and women were still expected to fill. This led to the call for extreme change in order to revolutionize the very fabric of a patriarchal society. This was the beginning of the radical, Marxist, and socialist feminist groupings. It also marked a shift in the politics of liberal feminism, focusing more on 'sexual politics', such as the family, abortion, rape, domestic violence, and sexuality.
Third wave feminism is generally described as the feminism of a younger generation who acknowledge both the effect and the limitations of the ideologies presented by second wave feminism. This new generation argues that the conditions which prompted second wave feminism no longer exist and therefore, feminism needs a revamping in order to be applicable to modern day. It is also argues that second wave feminism catered too much to a small group of people, namely white, middle-class, heterosexual women.
Third wave feminists largely seem to have grown up with feminism as a strong concept in society, thus influencing them from a young age. It is taught in schools and is also prominent in the media.
Third wave feminists largely focus on issues surrounding individual self-expression. This includes how identity is formed and communicated through things such as appearance, sexuality, and intersectionality. Third wave feminism was also created in order to include a larger grouping of people, recognizing women from different cultural backgrounds, religions, sexualities, ethnicities, and abilities to name a few.
Some say that a fourth wave of feminism is already upon us, prompted by the increase in internet culture. This wave is similar to the third wave but is distinguished by more advanced technology and broader ideas of equality. This wave stands more in solidarity with other social justice movements.
Fourth wave feminism uses the internet and its "call-out" culture to challenge misogyny and sexism in popular media such as television, literature, advertising, etc. This has caused companies to change how they market to women in order to avoid being "called out".
Another part of fourth wave feminism is the existence of people who reject the word "feminism" because of "assumptions of gender binary and exclusionary subtext: 'For women only'".
In 21st century online communities/ support groups focused on masculinism discourse as a counterpart to online presence of feminism is known as manosphere. Masculinism fueled by primordialist ideologies have also resulted into an openly anti-feminist toxic culture known as "incels" (involuntarily celibate).
There have been women who have been involved in politics throughout history.
Esther, Lady Godiva, Bodicea, Queen Elizabeth, Lucrezia Borgia, Catherine the Great, Joan of Arc.
Starting in 1960, there have been many women elected to high positions of power, such as prime minister. Sirimavo Bandaranaike was the first, followed by Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Elisabeth Domitien and Margaret Thatcher. Dame Eugenia Charles lasted nearly 15 years in the post, a record.
Liberal feminism drew its strength from the diversity of liberal thought following the Enlightenment. The basis of liberal feminism is the emphasis on the power of the individual. If everyone individually stands up for what is right, discriminatory practises will change. Liberals also value education, arguing that equal education of men and women will lead to equality in society. Liberal feminists would be more likely to accept the argument (to a degree) that certain positions in society (such as the home and the workplace) are better suited to the 'traditional' gender placements.
Socialist or Marxist feminism are similar in that they both believe revolution is the answer to change. They both link social conditions with capitalism and believe that overthrowing the current system is the only way to get what you want. Like liberal feminists, socialist or Marxist feminists acknowledge that men are necessary as part of the movement for change. Whatever the theory, socialist and Marxist countries have never had women in major government posts. Women have often achieved ministerial positions in democracies. Thus rhetoric (what regimes say) does not always line up with what regimes do in practice.
Radical feminism, particularly in the USA, developed from the civil rights and new left clusters. Radical feminists were largely fed up with the male-dominated left wing radicalism and formed the Women's Liberation Movement. This movement was formed in order to create woman-centered politics and to escape from male-oriented politics. They believed this could only be done in a safe women-only space, and this led to the policy of separatism for which radical feminism is best known for. Radical feminists are often misunderstood and seen as "man-hating" because of the way their women-oriented politics seem to reject male input.
Evangelical feminism or 'Christian feminism' was developed from religious movements. Evangelical feminists work to protect and spiritually reform those who need it, such as women and children from outside the church. These feminists believe that everyone is equal under one God and strive to bring that equality to the church and their individual lives.
Equality feminism is a subsection of the feminist movement. Equality feminism's focus on the similarities between the sexes is on the basis that men and women's abilities are indistinguishable from their biology. This type of feminism encourages the broadening of horizons, encouraging women to look beyond the home. Its ultimate goal is for the sexes to be completely equal in every part of life.
New feminism is a philosophy similar to equality feminism. It focuses on how the differences between men and women complement each other, rather than one sex's biology causing a superiority over the other. New feminism, unlike equality feminism, recognizes the different strengths and roles given to men and women. New feminism advocates for equality in how men and women are treated in their individual roles in society. Its basic concept is the emphasis placed on important differences being biological rather than cultural. Women should be supported as child bearers, both economically and culturally, but this should not be a role that is forced upon them. The main aim is to emphasize the importance of women and men as individuals and that in all senses (legal, social, economic), they should be equal despite their natural differences.
Global Feminist Thought is primarily the movement of women's rights on a global scale. Women are impacted in different communities around the world and have common problems they face on a day-to-day basis; usually at home or in the work force. Although different cultural locations have different experiences that will shape their experiences and perceptions, they have common themes. Global feminists tend to focus on nationality (like race, gender and class) and they reach out to help those in developing and third world countries, as well as address oppression created through histories of colonialism and imperialism. It works to end capitalism, imperialism, sexism and racism, along with having everyone considered equal on a global view. It encourages feminists to confront the problems they are facing and reach out for help, as they are not the only ones experiencing that particular problem.
Writers such as Camille Paglia, Christina Hoff Sommers, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Daphne Patai oppose some forms of feminism, though they identify as feminists. They argue, for example, that feminism often promotes misandry (hatred of men) and the elevation of women's interests above men's, and criticize radical feminist positions as harmful to both men and women. Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge argue that the term "anti-feminist" is used to silence academic debate about defects of feminism like lack of intersectionality and visible separatism.
Identified reasons why some people do not like feminism:
Eivør Pálsdóttir
Eivør Pálsdóttir (born 21 July 1983 in Syðrugøta, Faroe Islands) is a Faroese singer and composer. She sings in Faroese, but also in English, Icelandic, Swedish and Danish.
Eivør Pálsdóttir is one of the most well-known singers from the Faroe Islands.
"Krakan", her second solo album, won the nomination for an Icelandic Music Award in three categories. Eivor won Best Singer and Best Performer in Iceland in 2003.
The hippopotamus ("Hippopotamus amphibius"), or hippo, ancient Greek for "river horse" ("Ιπποπόταμος"), is a large mammal in Africa that usually eats plants. It is one of only two species in the family Hippopotamidae that are still alive. The other is the pygmy hippopotamus.
The hippopotamus is the second largest land animal in size, and the third largest land animal in weight. The elephant is the heaviest, and the white rhinoceros is the second heaviest, but a bit smaller than the hippo. The hippo is also the heaviest artiodactyl.
The hippopotamus is semi-aquatic. This means that even though it usually lives on the land, it spends a great amount of time in rivers and lakes where males lead groups of 5 to 30 females and young. In the daytime, they keep cool by staying in the water or mud. They give birth to baby hippos in the water, too. At dusk, they come out to graze on grass. Hippopotamuses rest together in the water, but they like to graze by themselves.
The hippopotamus has a torso that is shaped like a barrel, a very big mouth and teeth, an almost hairless body, short legs and great size. It is the third largest land mammal, judging by its weight, which is between between 1½ and 3 tonnes. The white rhinoceros weighs 1½ to 3½ tonnes, and the three species of elephant weigh 3 to 9 tonnes. Even though it has short, fat legs, it can run more quickly than a human. Some hippos have run at 30 km/h (19 mph) for short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the fiercest animals in the world. It is often called one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. There are about 125,000 to 150,000 hippos in Sub-Saharan Africa. Zambia (about 40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) have the most hippos. They are threatened because they are losing their habitats and being poached for their meat and ivory teeth.
The word "hippopotamus" comes from the ancient Greek , "hippopotamos", from , "hippos", "horse", and , "potamos", which means "river". So, "hippopotamus" means "horse of the river". More than one hippopotamus are called "hippopotami", and 'hippopotamuses', or 'hippos' is also used. Hippopotamusi are social. About 30 hippos live together in groups. A male hippopotamus is known as a bull. A female hippopotamus is called a cow, and a baby hippo is called a calf. The species is also known as the common hippopotamus or the Nile hippopotamus.
Hippopotami are the fourth largest mammals in the world (after whales, elephants, and rhinoceroses). The Egyptian hippopotamus is smaller than the others. They can live in the water or on land. They can walk or even run along the bottom of a river.
Because hippos are so large, it is difficult to weigh them in the wild. Most adult male hippos weigh between . Females hippos are smaller, and usually weigh between . Older males can get even bigger. They are at least and sometimes even weigh .
Male hippos seem to keep on growing for their whole lives. Females hippos, though, become heaviest when they are about 25 years old.
Hippos have big and heavy bodies, dark gray skin, and short legs. A hippo's main defence is their extremely strong mouth. They can grow to be 15 feet long and weigh 3,000 pounds.
Hippopotami are herbivores which live in groups. Despite being semiaquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. They usually stay in the mud and water during the day and come out to eat grass or leaves at night. Though they are bulky animals, hippopotami can gallop at 30 km/h (19 mph) on land but normally trot.
Many hippos lived in North Africa and Europe until about 30,000 years ago. They used to be common in Egypt's Nile region from long ago, though they are not there now. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best place in Egypt for finding this animal was in the Saite nome. The animal could still be found around there after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, northern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia, west through Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia). Some hippos also live in Tanzania and Mozambique. They like to live in places with water that is not too deep.
Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation. This aggression by the hippopotamus is caused by humans coming too close to their children. Hippopotami are very protective of their young and they often fear that humans pose a large threat to their young. They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.
The earliest proof that humans were involved with hippos comes from butchery cut marks on hippo bones at Bouri Formation from around 160,000 years ago. Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted. They have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara from 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet. Ancient Egyptians also knew much about hippos. They knew the hippo was a fierce, wild animal that lived in the Nile. In Egyptian mythology, Tawaret, a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, had the head of a hippo. This was because ancient Egyptians saw how protective female hippopotami could be about their young.
Prefecture
A prefecture is a word used by countries such as Greece and Japan (called "νομός", "nomós" in Greece and called 県 "ken" in Japan). It is a smaller part of a country with its own government. It is a kind of local government.
It is like an American state or a British county.
In France, it is the head of the department ("see" Prefectures in France "for more detail").
2010 (MMX) was .
The United Nations designated 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity and International Year of Youth.
There are many debates over how the years are spoken. The year 2010 can be spoken as "twenty-ten" or "two thousand (and) ten".
Eris (dwarf planet)
Eris is a dwarf planet and a trans-Neptunian object (TNO). It is the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. Eris is slightly smaller than Pluto, but it is more massive (has more mass) than Pluto. It is a "scattered disc object" in the Kuiper belt, further out than Pluto. It is also called a "plutoid" because the IAU decided to rename all trans-Neptunian dwarf planets as plutoids. Eris orbits the sun once every 557 Earth years. It has an elliptical orbit, inclined at an angle of 44° between the plane of the orbit of the planet and the ecliptic, the plane containing Earth's orbital path.
Eris has one moon, called Dysnomia.
Eris was discovered by Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo and David Rabinowitz on January 5, 2005, when they were having a close look at some images of the outer Solar System taken in 2003.
Eris was originally called "Xena", after the main character of the television series "". However, there is a rule stating that all objects orbiting outside Neptune’s orbit have to be named after a creation of mythology. Therefore, it was officially named Eris on September 13, 2006. Eris is named after the goddess of strife, discord, contention and rivalry in Greek mythology.
Eris has one moon called Dysnomia. It was discovered on September 10, 2005. Dysnomia was originally nicknamed "Gabrielle", after a character from the television series "Xena: Warrior Princess", like Eris. However, like Eris, it could not be called this. Dysnomia was named after the daughter of Eris, in Greek mythology. Dysnomia is the goddess (or spirit) of lawlessness and poor civil constitution.
Media reports have argued that Eris is the tenth planet, along with astronomers and NASA scientists. However, the definition of a planet was changed in August 2006. Under the new specifications, Eris, along with Pluto, was lowered in status to a dwarf planet.
Scientists are continuing to find out more about Eris and its moon, and to look for any more moons and possible rings. Because Eris is so far away, it would take 24.5 years to visit Eris with a space probe.
Operation Overlord was the 1944 campaign for the invasion of continental Europe in World War II. It was fought by the Allied forces against German forces. The most critical part was the Normandy landings, which were to get the Allied armies onto the continent of Europe. This might have failed. Heavy casualties were expected, even if it succeeded. It was successful. The Battle of Normandy raged until German forces retreated across the Seine on 30 August 1944. This marked the close of Operation Overlord.
The main Allied forces came from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. Nine other nations also sent units, the rest being Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland.
Preparations were large and complex. Operation Overlord was the largest and deadliest amphibious assault in the history of warfare. Almost three million troops crossing the English Channel from England to Normandy in then German-occupied France.
Allied troops made many practice landings to understand how to do it.
Maps of Normandy beaches were created. The planners knew heavy tanks and transport could not travel on the beaches, which had soft peat underneath them. Detailed maps of the area were required. Where peat had to be travelled on, the plan was to lay down matting.
On 7 April and 15 May, Bernard Montgomery presented his plan for the invasion. He planned a ninety-day battle, ending when all the forces reached the Seine.
The goal for the first 40 days was to capture Caen and Cherbourg (especially Cherbourg, for its deep-water port). Then Brittany and its Atlantic ports would be captured. Railways and roads in northern France would be bombed to block reinforcements for the defenders. Next, the Allies would go 125 miles (190 km) to the southwest of Paris. The Allies would then control the land between the rivers Loire in the south and Seine in the northeast.
Meanwhile, the Allies made great efforts to make the Germans think the invasion would happen elsewhere.
The Allies developed new technology for Overlord. The "mulberry", a mobile concrete harbor, allowed the Allies to supply their soldiers on the beach without capturing one of the heavily defended Channel ports. Major-General Percy Hobart, a military engineer, designed modified Sherman and Churchill tanks.
In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies worked at military deception. German coastal defences were stretched thin in 1944. Once Normandy had been chosen as the site of the invasion, it was decided to attempt to trick the Germans into thinking it was a fake invasion and that the true invasion was to be elsewhere. This was called Operation Bodyguard. In the weeks leading up to the invasion, the Allies tried to make the Germans think that the main invasion would take place at the Pas de Calais and in Norway. The deception was an industry in itself. It included dummy messages, dummy tanks in places near Dover and the south coast of England, using double agents to spread false information, dummy radio messages, and so on.
The deception was highly successful. It led Hitler to delay sending reinforcements from the Pas de Calais region for nearly seven weeks (the original plan had specified 14 days). In his memoirs, General Omar Bradley called "Bodyguard" the "single biggest hoax of the war".
Allied forces rehearsed their roles for D-Day months before the invasion. On 28 April 1944, in south Devon on the British coast, 946 American soldiers and sailors were killed when German torpedo boats attacked one of these landing exercises, Exercise Tiger.
The security of D-Day was supported by stopping unplanned news from getting out of Britain. Travel to and from the Republic of Ireland was banned and movements near the coasts was not allowed. The German embassies and consulates in neutral countries were given false information.
All the same, there were several leaks before or on D-Day. An embassy spy in Istanbul gave the Germans documents containing references to Overlord, but these documents lacked detail. Another leak was General Charles de Gaulle's radio message after D-Day. He stated that this invasion was the real invasion. This had the potential to ruin the Allied tricks. Eisenhower referred to the landings as the initial invasion. The Germans did not believe de Gaulle and waited too long to move in extra troops against the Allies.
The British did an airborne assault on the River Orne. The British goal was to capture the Orne River bridges to prevent German armor from using them and to prevent retreating Germans from blowing them up. This way, they could be used by Allied armor and vehicles.
The British sea attack units would attack through Sword and Gold Beaches. The United States had an airborne division and land units, which were to take Omaha Beach, the Pointe du Hoc and Utah Beach. The Canadians would work with British units to attack Sword Beach. The British and Canadians had separate beaches, Gold Beach and Juno Beach, respectively.
The Invasion Fleet was made upfrom eight navies made up of warships and submarines, split into the Western Naval Task Force (Rear-Admiral Alan G Kirk) and the Eastern Naval Task Force (Rear-Admiral Sir Philip Vian). The fleet was led by Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay.
The Allies assigned codenames to the various operations involved in the invasion. "Overlord" was the name for the landing on the Continent. Getting a secure hold on the area was codenamed "Neptune". It began on D-Day (6 June 1944) and ended on 30 June 1944. By this time, the Allies had control in Normandy. Operation "Overlord" also began on D-Day, and continued until Allied forces crossed the river Seine on 19 August 1944.
Through most of 1942 and 1943, the Germans thought successful Allied invasion in the west would not happen. Preparations were limited to building fortifications at the major ports. The number of military forces in Nazi Germany reached its peak during 1944 with 59 divisions in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was in charge of the wall. He improved the defences of the entire coastline. Steel obstacles were put on beaches, concrete bunkers and pillboxes constructed, and low-lying areas were flooded. Pointed stakes were set up on likely landing grounds to make it hard for the Allies to do airborne landings. The Germans fortified the foreshore area as part of their Atlantic Wall defences (including tank turrets and barbed wire).
These projects were not finished, especially in the Normandy sector. Allied bombing of the French railway system made it hard to move materials, and the Germans were convinced by the Allied tricks that the landings would take place in the Pas de Calais.
The sector which was attacked was guarded by four divisions, of which the 352nd and 91st were of high quality. The other defending troops included Germans who were not fit for active duty on the Eastern Front, conscripted Poles and former Soviet prisoners-of-war who had agreed to fight for the Germans. These units had German leaders.
Rommel's defensive measures were made difficult by arguments over how to use armoured forces. Von Geyr and Rommel disagreed over the how to use Panzer divisions.
Rommel thought armoured formations be close to the coast, to attack while the invaders were weak. Von Geyr said they should instead be put around Paris and used in a big group when the Germans knew which beach was being invaded. Hitler made a compromise solution.
Rommel was given only three tank divisions, one of which was close enough to the Normandy beaches to fight on the first day. The other mechanized divisions were put under the control of the German Armed Forces HQ (OKW) and were placed across France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The opportunity for launching an invasion was limited to only a few days in each month, because a full moon was needed. This would provide light for the aircraft pilots and create a spring tide. Eisenhower had picked 5 June as the date for the assault. However, on 4 June, conditions were unsuitable for a landing. High winds and heavy seas made it impossible to launch landing craft. Low clouds would prevent aircraft finding their targets.
Meteorologists predicted an improvement in the weather for 6 June. At a meeting on 5 June, Eisenhower and his senior commanders discussed the situation. Eisenhower decided to launch the invasion that night. Had Eisenhower delayed the invasion, the only option was to go two weeks later. This would have been during stormy weather.
To make it hard for the Germans to launch attacks during the sea attack phase, airborne operations were used to capture bridges and road crossings. The airborne landings behind the beaches were also designed to help the soldiers landing on beaches and destroy German coastal defense artillery.
On Sword Beach, the regular British infantry came ashore with few casualties. They had advanced about by the end of the day but did not get as far as Montgomery had wanted. Caen was still held by Germans by the end of D-Day and would remain so until Operation Charnwood on 9 July.
The Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach had a difficult battle. German concrete fortifications and a sea wall twice as high as at Omaha Beach made it very difficult to attack. Juno was the second most heavily defended beach on D-Day, next to Omaha. Canadians were off the beach within hours and advancing inland. They were the only units to reach their D-Day goals, although most units fell back a few kilometres to make stronger defensive positions.