AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Caribert of Laon, son of Martin of Laon, was the grandfather of Charlemagne. He was the father of Charles's mother, Bertrada of Laon. In 721, he signed, with his mother Bertrada of Prüm, the foundation act of the Abbey of Prüm. The same year, also with his mother, he made a donation to the Abbey of Echternach. In 744, his daughter Bertrada of Laon (by Bertrada of Cologne) married Pepin the Short, mayor of the palace of Neustria and Burgundy and later king of the Franks. He died before 762.
The First Lady of the United States sometimes abbreviated as (FLOTUS) is the wife of the President of the United States. If the President is not married, or his wife is unable to do the jobs of First Lady, a family member such as daughter or sister usually is considered the First Lady. The current first lady is Jill Biden.
Some famous former first ladies include Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Mary Lincoln, Edith Wilson, Lou Hoover, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacqueline Kennedy, "Lady Bird Johnson", Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.
The First Lady is not chosen by the people of the United States, and there are no jobs she is officially required to perform. Though she is not paid for being the First Lady, her role includes involvement in political campaigns, management of the White House, championing social causes and representing the President at official and ceremonial occasions. First ladies have focused on different causes and have had a strong influence in a range of sectors, from public opinion on policy to fashion.
As of January 20, 2021, there are five living former First Ladies, as seen below.
Star Wars is a series of science-fiction movies by George Lucas. As of December 2019, nine movies in the main series have been made by Lucasfilm Ltd, released by 20th Century Fox, and distributed by United International Pictures.
"Star Wars" has been so popular that there have been "Star Wars" books, video games, television shows, toys, spinoff movies and more. It is also known for its iconic music by John Williams. the influences such as, "Starcrash", "The Man Who Saved The World", etc.
The Force is a magic-like power, and in ways it is like a religion. It is a belief that the force flows through every living thing. In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi:
People who can control the Force with their minds get a number of special powers, like telepathy, telekenesis (moving things with your mind), precognition (knowing about things before they happen) and mind control (telling people comands they must follow).
The Jedi are a group of beings who use the Force to bring peace and harmony to people, planets, and cultures. They are trained to use the force for good purposes. They are sworn enemies with another group called the Sith.
The Sith are a group of beings who use the force as a power source; they are trained to use the force to gain ultimate power. The Sith normally use the force to gain power in battles with their enemy who are the Jedi. They also use the force to bring destruction to the universe and anything in their way. They are the antagonists, and they usually use red lightsabers in contrast to the variety of colors used by the Jedi. There are usually only two Sith, a master and an apprentice.
The lightsaber is a dangerous and powerful weapon used by the Jedi and the Sith. It can be described simply as a light sword. These weapons are very special to a Jedi or Sith. They are custom built to special specifications by the Jedi or Sith. The Sith tend to take a Jedi's lightsaber as a prize if they win the battle. Many epic battles have been fought with lightsabers between the Jedi and the Sith. For the lightsaber to be a weapon it is powered by a special crystal called a kyber crystal.The kyber crystal comes in many different cololrs such as: Red, white, yellow, orange, and many more. The reason it is powerful and dangerous is that when someone touches the blade, one gets burned straight away.
Anakin Skywalker is a young boy who meets Obi-Wan Kenobi and learns the ways of the Force (and to become a Jedi). Although Jedi are not allowed to get married, as an adult, Anakin falls in love with Senator Padmé Amidala and they get married. Anakin later goes to the Dark Side and turns against Obi-Wan Kenobi and the rest of the Jedi. Then Palpatine renames him to Darth Vader. Before he turned against his wife, Anakin had two children with Senator Amidala, Leia and Luke Skywalker, that he does not know about. Senator Amidala dies after giving birth to their twins. After birth, the twins are separated to prevent Vader and the Dark Side from finding and hurting the children. Obi-Wan Kenobi sends Luke to a planet called Tatooine to live with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Leia is raised by Senator Bail Organa of the planet Alderaan; she is called Princess Leia Organa.
When they get older, Luke and Leia meet again. At first they don't know that they are brother and sister, but they eventually find out. They help fight the evil government, called the Galactic Empire. Luke also learns the ways of the Jedi from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. In the end, they defeat the Empire, with the help of the Rebellion, and Luke helps his father Anakin become good again. Unfortunately, Anakin dies. The galaxy is then saved for a while.
Thirty years later, however, the Empire rises again in the form of the First Order. However, the New Republic does not believe that it is a threat. Those who do believe form the Resistance, led by Leia. Luke has vanished, and Leia has married Han Solo. They had a child, named Ben, but Ben was corrupted by the First Order and is now called Kylo Ren. Rey, a desert scavenger, fights with Han against the First Order, but Kylo Ren kills his father. However, Rey still manages to gain a large defeat against the First Order with the help of the Resistance. Rey then finds Luke, who was searching for the first Jedi Temple and for more knowledge about the Jedi.
The Caretakers of Ahch-To
The manatee nuns from “The Last Jedi” may not take an immediate liking to Rey, but we sure like them. These wise caretakers in cream-colored habits are as cute as they are intense.
Ewoks
Yes, Lucas went overboard with the killer teddy bears of Endor, populating film and TV projects with these forest fuzz-warriors. And it was their very engineered-for-cuteness factor that first divided Star Wars fans as pro- and anti-Ewok a long time ago — even if some naysayers softened a bit after the bar was lowered in 1999 by Jar Jar Binks.
R2-D2 and C-3PO
Although the narrative may separate them, they are an inseparable joint entry here, befitting their place as a great action-comedy team. R2-D2 is the droid that Resistance royals are forever looking for — the beeping do-it-all mechanic and sometime projector. And C-3PO is the know-it-all, fussy butler of protocol, languages and odds-making.
Many books, short movies, and video games have been produced that deal with events that do not happen in the original movies. They also tell more about things that did happen in the movies. For example, the book "Death Star" tells about the building and destruction of the space station from the original movie. It tells much about things seen in that movie but from the point of view of the people on the station. A different example is that in the Expanded Universe, sometimes the Sith are shown as the protagonists. Most of the stories in the Expanded Universe are about the rebuilding of the Republic after the Empire's defeat. They are set anywhere from the early Sith Wars which happened 5,000 years before to more than one hundred years after Episode VI.
"Star Wars" prequel trilogy:
"Star Wars" original trilogy:
"Star Wars" sequel trilogy:
"Star Wars anthology" films:
The Korean language is spoken mainly in North and South Korea. It is spoken by more than 78 million people (most are North or South Koreans).
In South Korea, it is called "hangukmal" (한국말) or "hangugeo" (Hangeul: 한국어, Hanja: 韓國語). In North Korea, however, it is called "choseonmal" (조선말) or "choseoneo" (조선어, 朝鮮語). They are named differently because the common names for North and South Korea are different. Additionally, Koreans usually call their language "urimal" (Hangeul: 우리말) or "urinara mal" (Hangeul: 우리나라 말), meaning "our language" or "our country's language."
Korean uses two different writing systems. One is Hangul, the main alphabet. In North Korea, only Hangeul (Known as Choseongeul in North Korea) is used by law. In South Korea, only Hangeul should be used in most public areas like education, but the other system, Hanja, is still used in some newspapers and professional areas. Hanja is the system of Chinese characters that are used in Korean. It was the only way to write Korean before the creation of Hangeul in the 15th century, and it was common in novels before the 19th century.
Although King Sejong the Great led the development of Hangeul to allow literacy to spread among common people and to create a writing system that represented the language more accurately than Hanja, it was not adopted by the upper classes of Koreans. Hanja would continue to be the official writing system until the late 19th century. Although it was rejected by the elite classes, Hangeul was used often by lower classes as a way to write down Korean literature and for lower classes to communicate.
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States of America. Kansas has a total population of 2.9 million, with an area of , making Kansas the 34th largest state by population and the 15th largest state by area. The name of the state comes from the Kansa Native Americans, whose name comes from a Siouan-language phrase meaning "people of the south wind". The land that would become Kansas was bought in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Kansas became the 34th state to be admitted to the United States on January 29, 1861. Kansas' capital is Topeka, and its biggest city is Wichita.
Kansas was first settled by Americans in 1827 when Fort Leavenworth was built. In the 1850s, many more people came to live in Kansas. This was also when people were fighting about slavery. People were allowed to move to Kansas in 1854 due to the Kansas–Nebraska Act. When this happened, anti-slavery Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery people from Missouri quickly came to Kansas. They wanted to decide whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Because of this, a lot of fighting happened, and it was known as Bleeding Kansas. The anti-slavery people won. On January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state.
Kansas is in a region known as "America's Breadbasket". Like other states in this area, Kansas is a large producer of corn, sorghum, soybeans, and wheat; they make one-fifth of all wheat grown in the United States. In addition agriculture, Kansas has other industries including aviation and communications. Kansas has an area of , which is the 15th-biggest state by area and is the 34th most-populous of the 50 states because it has 2,913,314 people living there. People who live in Kansas are called "Kansans". Mount Sunflower is Kansas's highest place at .
The terrain of Kansas consists of prairies and forests. All of Kansas is in the Great Plains.
In 1539, Marcos de Niza, a friar, reported rumors of Cíbola, a city of gold, to Spanish colonial officials in Mexico City. Niza said the city was in modern-day New Mexico. In response to the rumors, two years later, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, with an army of 3000 Spaniards and 8001 Mexicans, marched northward from Culiacán in hopes of finding the city.When Coronado did not find the city in New Mexico, he continued northeast into the Mississippi Valley, crossing the present area of Kansas diagonally. This made Conrado and his army the first Europeans to see the Great Plains, including Kansas. Later, Juan de Oñate also traveled to Kansas in 1601.
In 1682, Marquette, Joliet, Hennepin and other French leaders took formal control of the Mississippi Valley, including the land that would become Kansas. This land, known as the Louisiana territory, was used to organize trade with Native Americans. In 1763, France ceded the Louisiana territory to Spain.
Between 1763 and 1803 the territory of Kansas was integrated into the Spanish Louisiana. The governor Luis de Unzaga 'le Conciliateur', during that period, promoted expeditions and good relations with the indians tribes, among the explorers were Antoine de Marigny and others who continued trading across the Kansas River, especially at its confluence with the Missouri River, tributaries of the Mississippi River.
However, in 1803, Spain receded the territory back to France in the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso. On April 30, 1803, Napoleon sold the Louisiana territory to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. In the early 1800s, Kansas was used to hold Native Americans that were removed from their native lands.
On May 30, 1854, the Congress signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Kansas-Nebraska Act stated that Kansas and Nebraska were both territories of the United States. It also stated that Kansans would vote on the legality of slavery.
Upon hearing this, about 1,200 armed New Englanders came to Kansas to vote against slavery. However, thousands of southerners, mostly from Missouri, came to vote for slavery. The final vote was to make slavery legal, and Kansas adopted most of Missouri's slave laws. There was fighting between Southerners and Northerners in Kansas. In one fight, John Brown and his men killed five people in the Pottawatomie Massacre. Later, Southerners destroyed Lawrence, Kansas. Kansas was called "Bleeding Kansas".
Between 1854 and 1861, Kansas proposed four state constitutions. Out of the four proposed constitutions, three did not allow slavery. Finally, in July 1859, Kansas passed the Wyandotte Constitution, which was anti-slavery. The constitution for statehood was sent to the U.S. government in April 1860 to be voted on. The constitution was passed by the House of Representatives, but rejected by the Senate. This is because southern voters in the Senate did not like that Kansas would become a state without slavery. In 1861, after the Confederate states formed, the constitution gained approval from the Union, and Kansas became a state.
Four months after Kansas became a state, the Civil War started. Out of the 381 battles in the Civil War, four were fought in Kansas. Throughout the war, Kansas remained a Union state.
On August 21, 1863, William Clarke Quantrill led a force of 300 to 400 Confederates into the town of Lawrence, Kansas. Quantrill and his troops burned, looted, and destroyed the anti-slavery town. This battle became known as the Lawrence Massacre. In total, 164 Union soldiers and 40 Confederate soldiers died in the Lawrence Massacre. In the Battle of Mine Creek, on October 25, 1864, Union soldiers attacked Confederates as they were crossing the Mine Creek. The Union surrounded the Confederates, and captured 600 men and two generals. 1,000 Confederate soldiers and 100 Union soldiers died in the battle. In total, 8,500 people from Kansas died or were wounded in the Civil War.
After the Civil War, many free slaves came to Oklahoma and Kansas. In fact, between the years of 1879 and 1881, about 60,000 African Americans came to this region. This is because the slaves wanted economic opportunities, which they believed awaited them in Kansas. African Americans also came to Kansas for better political rights and to escape sharecropping. These people were called "Exodusters."
From 1930 to 1936, Kansas went through a period of time called the Dust Bowl. During this time, Kansas had little rainfall and high temperatures. Thousands of farmers became very poor and had to move to other parts of the United States. In total, 400,000 people left the Great Plains area. The years from 1930 to 1940 was the only time the population of Kansas went down. The number of people living in Kansas decreased 4.3 percent.
During the 1950s, school segregation was required in fifteen U.S states. However, Kansas was not one of these states. Instead, school segregation was permitted by local option, but only in elementary schools. In 1896, the ruling from "Plessy v. Ferguson" stated that segregation was allowed, but equal facilities should be made available for blacks and whites. Often, however, black schools received less funding and had fewer textbooks than white schools.
For these reasons, Linda Brown and her family sued the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Brown won the case, and the ruling was to overturn the "Plessy v. Ferguson" decision. This was considered by many a landmark case in the civil rights movement.
Kansas is the 15th-largest state in the United States. It covers an area of 82,282 square miles (213,109 km). Of this, about 462 square miles (1196.57 km) are water. This makes up 0.60% of the total area of the state.
Kansas shares borders with Nebraska to the north, Oklahoma to the south, Missouri to the east, and Colorado to the west. Kansas is just as far away from the Pacific Ocean as it is the Atlantic Ocean. The geographic center of the main 48 states is near Lebanon, Kansas. The geographic center of Kansas is in Barton County.
The underground of Kansas is made of dipping sedimentary rocks, and they are slightly slanted west. A series of Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian rocks are found in the eastern and southern parts of the state. In the western part of Kansas, Cretaceous can be found sticking up from the ground. This happened because of the erosion from the geologically uplifted Rocky Mountains west of Kansas. Northeastern Kansas was affected by glaciation during the Pleistocene.
All of Kansas is in the Great Plains, where the land is mostly flat with prairies and grasslands. Eastern Kansas has hills and forests, like the Flint Hills and the Osage Plains in the southeastern part of the state.
Kansas increases in elevation from east to west. The highest place in the state is Mount Sunflower near the Colorado border. Mount Sunflower is 4,039 ft (1,231 m) tall. The lowest point is the Verdigris River in Montgomery County, at 679 ft (207 m) above sea level. It is a common misconception that Kansas is the flattest state – in 2003, a tongue-in-cheek study famously said the state is "flatter than a pancake". Kansas has a maximum topographic relief of . This makes Kansas the 23rd flattest U.S. state.
About of the Kansas's northeastern border is the Missouri River. The Kansas River is created by the junction of the Smoky Hill River and Republican River. This happens at Junction City. The Kansas River then joins the Missouri River at Kansas City. It goes across the northeastern part of the state.
The Arkansas River (pronunciation varies) starts in Colorado. It goes for about across the western and southern parts of Kansas.
Kansas's has other rivers. There is the Saline River and the Solomon River. They are tributaries of the Smoky Hill River. The Big Blue River, the Delaware River, and the Wakarusa River flow into the Kansas River. The Marais des Cygnes River is a tributary of the Missouri River. Spring River is between Riverton and Baxter Springs.
The Köppen climate classification says that Kansas's climate has three types depending on where in the state it is: it has humid continental, semi-arid steppe, and humid subtropical. The eastern 2/3 of the state (especially the northeastern part) has a humid continental climate. This means it has cool to cold winters and hot, often humid summers. Most of the precipitation happens during both the summer and the spring.
The western 1/3 of the state – from about U.S. Route 83 to west of it – has a semiarid steppe climate. Summers are hot, often very hot, and generally less humid. Winters vary a lot. Winters can be anything between warm and very cold. The western region gets an average of about of precipitation per year. Chinook winds in the winter can warm western Kansas all the way into the range.
The far south-central and southeastern parts of Kansas, including the Wichita area, have a humid subtropical climate. This means it has hot and humid summers, and it has milder winters. It also has more precipitation than other places in Kansas. Some things about three climates can be found in most of Kansas. Many parts can get droughts and varied weather. Places can be dry or humid. Places can get both warm or cold in the winter.
Temperatures in many areas in the western half of Kansas reach or hotter on most days of June, July, and August. Because of the high humidity, the heat index can be deadly, especially in Wichita, Hutchinson, Salina, Russell, Hays, and Great Bend. Temperatures are often high in Dodge City, Garden City, and Liberal, but the heat index in those three cities is usually lower than the actual air temperature.
Temperatures of or higher are not as common in the eastern half of Kansas. However, higher humidity and the urban heat island effect make most summer days reach between and in Topeka, Lawrence, and the Kansas City metropolitan area. During the summer, the low temperatures each night in the northeastern part of the state don't get colder than very often. Also, because of the humidity being between 85 and 95 percent, dangerous heat can be felt all day.
Kansas has a varied climate with an average yearly temperature of 56°F (13°C). The highest temperature ever in Kansas is 121 °F (49.4 °C). This happened in Fredonia on July 18, 1936, and in Alton on July 24, 1936. The lowest temperature ever in Kansas is -40 °F (-40 °C). This occurred in Lebanon on February 13, 1905. Kansas is in a temperate area of the country. Like other states in this region, Kansas has four distinct seasons.
Kansas can have extreme weather in all four seasons. For example, in spring and autumn, Kansas has many tornadoes. In fact, Kansas gets about 55 tornadoes per year. This is because Kansas is in the area known as Tornado Alley, where cold and warm air masses come together to make severe weather.
In summer, Kansas has experienced severe droughts. For example, in 1934, 1936, and 1939, Kansas had less than average rainfall and widespread dust storms as a part of the Dust Bowl.
In winter, Kansas has snow in most parts of the state. The average snowfall in the northern half of the state is 16 inches, with the average snowfall in the southern half of the state being 8 inches. Blizzards and related snowstorms are rare in Kansas.
Kansas had 627 cities in 2008. The largest city in Kansas is Wichita, which had a population of 382,368 in 2010. The other largest cities in Kansas are: Overland Park, 173,372; Kansas City, 145,786; Topeka, 127,473; and Olathe, 125,872. Between the years of 2000 and 2010, the Kansas population increased 6.1 percent.
The 2010 Census says that the people of Kansas were:
Ethnically 10.5% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (they may be of any race). They are mostly in southwest Kansas. Many black people in Kansas were from the Exodusters, free black people who left the South.
As of 2011, 35.0% of Kansas's population younger than one year old were part of a minority group (i.e., did not have two parents who were non-Hispanic white).
English is the most-spoken language in Kansas. About 95% of people only speak English. Spanish is second.
The northeastern part of the state, going from the eastern border to Junction City and from the Nebraska border to south of Johnson County, has more than 1.5 million people in the Kansas City (Kansas portion), Manhattan, Lawrence, and Topeka metropolitan areas. Overland Park is the biggest city in the county. Johnson County Community College is there, and the corporate campus of Sprint Nextel is also there. In 2006, Overland Park was ranked as the sixth best place to live in America; the nearby city of Olathe was 13th.
Olathe is the county seat of Johnson County. Olathe, Shawnee, De Soto, and Gardner are some of Kansas's fastest growing cities.
There are many universities and colleges in the northeast. Baker University is the oldest university in the state (created in 1858), and it is in Baldwin City. Benedictine College is in Atchison. MidAmerica Nazarene University is in Olathe. Ottawa University is in Ottawa and Overland Park. Kansas City Kansas Community College and KU Medical Center are in Kansas City. The KU Edwards Campus is in Overland Park. Lawrence has the University of Kansas, the biggest public university in Kansas. Lawrence also has Haskell Indian Nations University.
Topeka is the state capital, and about 250,000 people live in the metropolitan area. Washburn University and Washburn Institute of Technology are in Topeka.
In south-central Kansas, the Wichita metropolitan area has over 600,000 people. Wichita is the biggest city in the state in terms of both land area and number of people. 'The Air Capital' is a major manufacturing area for the aircraft industry. It's also where Wichita State University is. Before Wichita was 'The Air Capital' it was a cowtown. Wichita's population growth has grown by more than 10%. The nearby suburbs are some of the fastest growing cities in Kansas. The number of people in Goddard has grown by more than 11% per year since 2000.
Wichita was one of the first cities to add the city commissioner and city manager in their form of government. Wichita is also home of the nationally recognized Sedgwick County Zoo.
Southeast Kansas is different in that it was a coal-mining region. It has many places on the National Register of Historic Places. Pittsburg is the biggest city in the region. It is where Pittsburg State University is. Frontenac in 1888 was where one of the worst mine disasters in Kansas happened; an underground explosion killed 47 miners. Fort Scott has a national cemetery. It was designated by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862.
Salina is the biggest city in central and north-central Kansas. South of Salina is the small city of Lindsborg. Lindsborg has many Dala horses. Abilene was where President Dwight D. Eisenhower lived. It is where his Presidential Library is. It also has the tombs of the former President, First Lady and son who died in infancy.
The city of Hays is the biggest city in the northwest as it has about 20,000 people living there. Hays is where Fort Hays State University is. It also has the Sternberg Museum of Natural History.
There are very few people that live west of Hays. There are only two towns that have at least 4,000 people: Colby and Goodland.
Dodge City was famous for the cattle drives it had in the late 19th century. It was built along the old Santa Fe Trail route. The city of Liberal is along the southern Santa Fe Trail route. The first wind farm in the state was built east of Montezuma. Garden City has the Lee Richardson Zoo.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Kansas's total gross domestic product in 2014 was billion. In 2015, the job growth rate in was .8%. This was one of the lowest rate in America with only "10,900 total nonfarm jobs" added that year. The Kansas Department of Labor's 2016 report found the average yearly wage was $42,930 in 2015. In April 2016, the state's unemployment rate was 4.2%.
The State of Kansas had a $350 million budget deficit in February 2017. In February 2017, S&P downgraded Kansas's credit rating to AA-.
Farming has always been an important part of the state economy of Kansas. The main crop grown in Kansas is wheat. In fact, Kansas farmers produce about 400 million bushels of wheat per year. Kansas also ranks first in the United States in grain sorghum produced, second in cropland, and third in sunflowers produced. However, farming is not the only important part of the economy of Kansas. Many parts of airplanes are made in the city of Wichita. Also, many important companies are near Kansas City, Missouri. For example, the Sprint Nextel Corporation is one of the largest telephone companies in the United States. Its main operational offices are in Overland Park, Kansas.
About 90% of Kansas's land is used for farming. Kansas's agricultural products are cattle, sheep, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, cotton, hogs, corn, and salt. As of 2018, there were 59,600 farms in Kansas, 86 (0.14%) of which are certified organic farms. The average farm in the state is about 770 acres (more than a square mile). In 2016, the average cost of running the farm was $300,000.
The industrial products are transportation equipment, commercial and private aircraft, food processing, publishing, chemical products, machinery, apparel, petroleum, and mining.
The median household income for Kansas was $47,709 in 2009. The gross domestic product (GDP) for Kansas was $122,700,000,000 ($122.7 billion) in 2008. Overall, Kansas' GDP accounts for less than 1 percent of total U.S. economy.
Kansas has three big military bases: Fort Riley, Fort Leavenworth, and McConnell Air Force Base. The US Army reserve has about 25,000 soldiers at these bases, and they also have about 8,000 civilian employees there.
During his campaign for the 2010 election, Governor Sam Brownback said he would get rid of the state income tax. In May 2012, Governor Brownback signed into law the Kansas Senate Bill Substitute HB 2117. Starting in 2013, the "ambitious tax overhaul" lowered income tax, got rid of some corporate taxes, and created pass-through income tax exemptions. He raised the sales tax by one percent to make up for the loss of the other taxes. However, the sales tax was not enough to make up for it. He made cuts to education and some state services to make up for the lost revenue. The tax cut led to years of budget shortfalls. The worst was a $350 million budget shortfall in February 2017. From 2013 to 2017, 300,000 businesses were considered to be pass-through income entities and benefited from the tax exemption. The tax reform "encouraged tens of thousands of Kansans to claim their wages and salaries as income from a business rather than from employment."
The economic growth that Brownback hoped for never happened. He argued that it was because of "low wheat and oil prices and a fewer aircraft sales." The state general fund debt load was $83 million in fiscal year 2010. By fiscal year 2017 the debt load sat at $179 million. In 2016, Governor Brownback earned the title of "most unpopular governor in America". Only 26 percent of Kansas voters approved of his job performance. 65 percent said they did not. In the summer of 2016, S&P Global Ratings downgraded Kansas's credit rating. In February 2017, S&P lowered it to AA-.
In February 2017, a bi-partisan group wrote a bill that would repeal the pass-through income exemption, the "most important provisions of Brownback's overhaul", and raise taxes to make up for the budget shortfall. Brownback vetoed the bill but "45 GOP legislators had voted in favor of the increase, while 40 voted to uphold the governor's veto." On June 6, 2017 a group of Democrats and newly elected Republicans overrode Brownback's veto. They increased taxes to an amount that is close to what it was before 2013. Brownback's tax plan was described in a June 2017 article in "The Atlantic" as the United States' "most aggressive experiment in conservative economic policy". The tax cuts had made schools and infrastructure difficult to get funding in Kansas.
There are two interstate highways in Kansas. The first part of the interstate highway opened on Interstate 70 west of Topeka. It opened on November 14, 1956.
Interstate 70 is an important east–west highway. People can go from Kansas City, Missouri to Denver, Colorado. Cities on this highway include Colby, Hays, Salina, Junction City, Topeka, Lawrence, Bonner Springs, and Kansas City.
Interstate 35 is a major north–south highway from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Des Moines, Iowa. Cities on this highway include Wichita, El Dorado, Emporia, Ottawa, and Kansas City (and suburbs).
Kansas's only major commercial (Class C) airport is Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. It is along US-54 on the western part of Wichita. Manhattan Regional Airport in Manhattan has flights every day to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. This would it the second-biggest commercial airport in Kansas. Most air travelers in northeastern Kansas fly out of Kansas City International Airport, which is in Platte County, Missouri. Some also use the Topeka Regional Airport in Topeka.
In the state's southeastern part, people often use Tulsa International Airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma or Joplin Regional Airport in Joplin, Missouri. People in the far western part of the state often use the Denver International Airport. Connecting flights are also available from smaller Kansas airports in Dodge City, Garden City, Hays, Hutchinson, Liberal, or Salina.
The "Southwest Chief" Amtrak route goes through the state on its route from Chicago to Los Angeles. Stops in Kansas include Lawrence, Topeka, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City, and Garden City. An Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach connects Newton and Wichita to the Heartland Flyer in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Amtrak may change the Southwest Chief route from using train service for the entire route. Plans call for shortening the route to Los Angeles to instead end in Albuquerque. Buses would replace the train on the route between Albuquerque and Dodge City, where train service east to Chicago would continue.
Kansas has four Class I railroads, Amtrak, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, and Union Pacific, as well as many shortline railroads.
Executive branch: The executive branch has the governor, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state, the treasurer, and the insurance commissioner.
Legislative branch: The legislative branch is the Kansas Legislature. It is a bicameral legislature. It has the Kansas House of Representatives and the Kansas Senate. The House has 125 members, and the Senate has 40 members.
Judicial Branch: The judicial branch is headed by the Kansas Supreme Court. The Kansas Supreme Court has seven judges. If there is a spot open, the governor picks who to replace them.
Since the middle of the 20th century, Kansas has been socially conservative. In 1999 and 2005, the Board of Education voted to stop teaching evolution in schools. In 2005, Kansas banned same-sex marriage. In 2006, Kansas made the lowest age to marry 15 years old.
Kansas allowed women's suffrage in 1912. This was nearly a decade before the United States allowed it.
The state's current delegation to the Congress of the United States includes Republican Senators Pat Roberts of Dodge City and Jerry Moran of Manhattan; and Republican Representatives Roger Marshall of Great Bend (District 1), Steve Watkins (District 2), Ron Estes of Wichita (District 4), and Democratic Representative Sharice Davids (District 3).
Kansas has been strongly Republican. The Republican Party was very strong since Kansas became a state. This is because Republicans were very anti-slavery, and Kansas was also anti-slavery. Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the United States Senate since 1932.
Abilene has the childhood house of Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower. Two Republican presidential candidates, Alf Landon and Bob Dole, were also from Kansas.
Primary and secondary schools are controlled by the Kansas State Department of Education. Public colleges and universities are controlled by the Kansas Board of Regents.
In 1999 and 2005, the Board of Education voted to teach intelligent design in science classes. Both times, they changed their decision after the next election.
The rock band Kansas was created Topeka. Many of the band's members are from there.
Joe Walsh, guitarist for the famous rock band the Eagles, was born in Wichita.
Danny Carey, drummer for the band Tool, was raised in Paola.
Singer Melissa Etheridge is from Leavenworth. Singer Martina McBride is from Sharon. Singer Janelle Monáe is from Kansas City.
In 1947, Kansas chose "Home on the Range" as their state song.
Kansas's most famous appearance in a book was as the home of Dorothy Gale. She is the main character in the book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1900).
The Plaza Cinema in Ottawa, Kansas was built on May 22, 1907. It is listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest operating movie theater in the world.
The group that governs college sports in the United States is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Their headquarters were in Johnson County, Kansas from 1952 until moving to Indianapolis in 1999.
The state symbols of Kansas are:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:
James Buchanan
James Buchanan Jr. (April 23, 1791 - June 1, 1868) was the 15th President of the United States.
He was the only president not to have married. His niece, Harriet Lane, stood in as First Lady. He was an experienced politician, and became president in 1857. His stances on slavery, and actions before the Civil War broke out, have been criticized by scholars.
James Buchanan was born on April 23, 1791 in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, into a prosperous merchant family. He had four sisters and three brothers, and studied at the Old Stone Academy before entering Dickinson College in 1807. There he studied law and was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar Association in 1812.
Buchanan was engaged to Anne C. Coleman, but she died early, and he never had children. He is the only U.S. President who was never married.
Buchanan served in both the House and Senate, representing Pennsylvania, as well as the Minister to Russia, under Andrew Jackson, before stepping taking the presidential career.
During the beginning of his presidency, he called slavery an issue of little importance. This was clearly not the case at the time; Northerners and Southerners were very divided on slavery, almost to the point of war.
The Supreme Court declared that African Americans were not American citizens and that the states were allowed to keep slavery legal. James Buchanan supported that decision because he did not want the pro-slavery states to stop being part of the United States.
Buchanan supported the rights of slave owners to keep their slaves and wanted Kansas to adopt a constitution that allowed slavery. Because of that, the Democratic Party was divided on that issue and after the 1858 Congressional election, there were more Republicans in Congress than Democrats. He did not get along with the Republicans.
He ordered troops to fight against Utah based on untrue information that Utah was planning a revolt. Buchanan later realized that he made a mistake and apologized.
During his term, the country was becoming more and more divided over the slavery issue. A few months before his term ended, some of the southern states decided that they were going to not be a part of the United States any more.
Buchanan believed that it was a bad thing, but he did nothing about it because he felt that using force against the south was against the Constitution. He did not even prepare the country for war.
At the end of his term, he left the next president, Abraham Lincoln, to face the greatest crisises in United States history, the Civil War.
Some historians think that Buchanan was the worst president, because he did nothing to prevent the Civil war.
A hand is the part of the body at the end of an arm. Most humans have two hands. Each hand usually has four fingers and a thumb. On the inside of the hand is the palm. The five bones inside this part of the hand are called metacarpals. The wrist connects the hand to the arm. The hand has 27 bones including the wrist bones.
When the fingers are all bent tightly, the hand forms a fist. The joints that are the hardest part of the fist are called knuckles. Many other animals, especially other primates, have hands that can hold things. Human hands can do things other hands cannot.
When something always does the same thing, one can say that there is a rule that it does what it does.
The word "rule" has many uses, including the following:
A "rule" in mathematics is a formula which allows a person to work out parts of the solution if he or she has certain information. For example, Pythagoras' theorem is a rule which states that if a person knows the lengths of two sides of a right-angled triangle he or she can work out the length of the third.
Rules, however, can also means laws created aby people in power - for example, school rules are the "laws" of a specific school.
1910s
The 1910s was the decade that started on January 1, 1910, and ended on December 31, 1919.
Bahrain (officially called Kingdom of Bahrain) is an island country in the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia is to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway, and Qatar is to the south across the Persian Gulf. The Qatar-Bahrain Friendship Bridge, not yet built, will link Bahrain to Qatar as the longest fixed bridge in the world.Qatar and Bahrain's flag is the same design but not the same colors because Qatar is white and maroon and Bahrain is white and red.
People have lived in Bahrain before there was writing. It has been ruled and influenced by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, and the Arabs, who made the island Muslim. Bahrain was in old times known as Dilmun, Tylos, Awal and Mishmahig.
The islands of Bahrain, set in the middle south of the Persian Gulf, have attracted many invaders in history. The word "Bahrain", "Two Seas", means that the islands contain two kinds of water, sweet water springs and salty water in the sea.
A location between East and West, fertile lands, fresh water, and pearls made Bahrain important in history. About 2300 BC, Bahrain started trading with Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and the Indus Valley (now near India). It was then called Delmon, and was linked to the Sumerian Civilization about 2000 BC. Bahrain also became part of the Babylonian empire about 600 BC. Historical records called Bahrain the "Life of Eternity", "Paradise", the "Pearl of the Persian Gulf" and other names.
Until 1521, Bahrain also ruled Al-Hasa and Qatif (both are now the eastern province of Saudi Arabia) and Awal (now the Bahrain Islands). The country had all of the land from what is now Kuwait to Oman. This was called "Iqlim Al-Bahrain" (Province of Bahrain). In 1521, the Portuguese took Awal (now Bahrain) from the rest and since then the name of Bahrain only means today's Bahrain.
The modern history of Bahrain begins with Great Britain exploring the area, trying to keep Iran from taking more land. The British gave support to the Al-Khalifa family, who made a power base in the island and allied with the British to keep the island from Iran. The British got free passage to the Persian Gulf through this agreement. In November of 1957, the Iranian parliament declared that Bahrain was the Fourteenth Province of Iran. Later the British would become involved in the politics of Bahrain by choosing an Emir of the island. Iran and Britain later agreed that the United Nations Secretary General would judge the political situation in Bahrain. In a Plebiscite to decide the country's future, the majority of the people of Bahrain chose to reject Iran's claims, and to define their country and their culture to be Arabic, and not Persian.
Oil was found in the early 20th century and brought modern improvements to the country. Relations with the United Kingdom also became closer, and the British brought more military bases to the nation. British influence grew, until Charles Belgrave became an advisor; Belgrave brought modern education to Bahrain.
After World War II, anti-British feeling spread through the Arab world and led to riots in Bahrain. The British left Bahrain in 1971, making it an independent country. The sales of more oil in the 1980s brought money to Bahrain, but even when the sales of oil decreased in later years, it did not cause as many problems in Bahrain as in other oil countries, because the economy of Bahrain had grown into other areas.
In 1973 the election of first parliament was done but the government stopped & dissociate the parliament in 1975 which result in strong protests by the Bahraini opposition (Moderate Islamic & non-Islamist opposition).
In 1994, many highly educated Bahraini people signed a letter to Prince of Bahrain at that time Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa
to re-establish the parliament life which is strongly refused & the leader of the opposition at that time Sheikh Abdulamir Aljamri was jailed then a huge protest & conflicts occurs between Bahraini nation & the armed forces.
In 1999, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa followed his father as head of state and called for elections for parliament to resolve the congestion that occurred over that last period. The women were given the right to vote and the new ruler released all political prisoners in 2001.
In 2002 the King released a new constitution without any voting from the nation & canceled 1973 constitution which caused strong refuse from the most of nation parties & opposition.
The situations became worse later & some of political activists were jailed like Abdulhadi Al-Khuwajah, Hasan Mushaima.
Many political websites that refused these changes were blocked like Bahrain online forum (the most popular website in Bahrain): www.bahrainonline.org Until 2009 there were many riots & conflicts especially from Shia group which faces a huge organized discrimination according to Human Rights Watch & US Congress.
Bahrain is a constitutional monarchy ruled by the King, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The head of government is the Prime Minister, which is currently held by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa was the country's first prime minister from 1971 until his death in 2020. The prime minister has a cabinet of 15 members.
Bahrain has a bicameral legislature with a lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, elected by all of the people and the upper house, the Shura Council, appointed by the King. Both houses have forty members. The first elections were held in 2002, with Members of Parliament serving four year terms.
Women were given the right to vote and stand in national elections for the first time in 2002's election, but no women were elected to office that year, and Shia and Sunni Islamists won a majority of seats. Because no women were elected, six were appointed to the Shura Council, which also includes members of the Kingdom’s Jewish and Christian people.
The King recently created the Supreme Judicial Council to organise the country's courts and the government offices.
Bahrain is split into five governorates. Until July 3 2003, it was divided into twelve municipalities.
For further information, see: Decree-Law establishing governorates from the Bahrain official website.
The largest cities in Bahrain are:
Other towns include: Awali, Diraz, Hidd, Sar, Bani Jamrah.
In Bahrain, petroleum (oil product) producing and processing is about 60% of the money from export, 60% of government money, and 30% of Gross Domestic Product. The economy has changed as the sales of oil have changed since 1985, for example, during and after the Persian Gulf War of 1990 - 1991. Bahrain has high quality communications and transport, and so the country is home to many international companies with business in the Persian Gulf. A large part of the country's income comes from petroleum products made from imported crude oil. There are several major industrial projects being built. Unemployment, especially among young people, and the decrease of both oil and water resources are major economic problems.
Bahrain is a flat and dry archipelago, with a low desert plain rising gently to a low central hill, in the Arabian Gulf, east of Saudi Arabia. The highest point is the 122 meter Jabal ad Dukhan ("Mountain of Smoke").
Bahrain has a total area of 620 km², which is a few square kilometres larger than the Isle of Man. As an archipelago of 33 islands, Bahrain does not share a land border with any other country, but it does have a 161 km coast line and claims a further 12 nm of territorial sea and a 24 nm contiguous zone. Bahrain enjoys mild winters and has very hot, humid summers.
Bahrain's natural resources include large amounts of oil natural gas as well as fish. Only 1% of the country includes land where crops can be grown. 92% of Bahrain is desert, and droughts and dust storms are the main natural dangers.
Environmental problems in Bahrain include desertification, which is causing the land where crops can be grown to decrease, and damage to coast lines, coral reefs, and sea vegetation caused by oil spills from large tankers and oil refineries.