AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Sartell's city council has a mayor and four council members. They are elected at-large to represent the community. They also legislate policy for the city. As of October 2005, Sartell's mayor is Robert Pogatshnik and its four council members are Mary Lewandowski, Tim O'Driscoll, Paul Orndorff, and Joe Perske. They have the authority to pass and enforce ordinances, establish public and administrative policies, create advisory boards and commissions, and manage the city's financial operations including preparing a budget, auditing expenditures, and transacting other city business as required by law. The City Council also appoints a City Administrator who overseas the day-to-day operations of the city and implements the policies of the Council.
The United States Census Bureau says that the city has a total area of 15.9 km² (6.1 mi²). 15.3 km² (5.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.6 km² (0.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 3.75% water.
The city is located on both sides of the Mississippi River. The area around the city has lots of farmland and forests.
Because the Mississippi River goes through the city, people use the river to have fun. When it is warm, people ride boats, swim, catch fish and water ski on the river. When the river is frozen in winter, people ride snowmobiles, cross country ski, and catch fish through holes in the ice.
The city has also built places for people to have fun. These include 24 parks, walking pathways, playgrounds, a bike lane, tennis courts, baseball and soccer fields, ice rinks, a disc golf course and a wading pool.
Sartell's largest employer is Verso Paper. They own a paper mill in the city. Another large employer is DeZurik Water Controls.
Sartell's Chamber of Commerce says that the city has many small business.
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,641 people, 3,443 households, and 2,513 families living in the city. The population density was 630.9/km² (1,633.9/mi²). There were 3,531 housing units at an average density of 231.1/km² (598.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.42% White, 0.29% African American, 0.17% Native American, 1.21% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.21% from other races, and 0.69% from two or more races. 0.87% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 3,443 households out of which 46.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.6% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.0% were non-families. 20.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.23.
In the city the population was spread out with 32.0% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 35.5% from 25 to 44, 15.5% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $52,531, and the median income for a family was $61,056. Males had a median income of $39,834 versus $27,476 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,667. 4.0% of the population and 3.0% of families were below the poverty line. 4.7% of those under the age of 18 and 8.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Transportation to and from Sartell is limited to surface roads, mainly U.S. Highway 10 and Minnesota Highway 15 which both pass along the outskirts of the city. A rail line runs through town but serves only as freight transportation for the local paper mill. The presence of dams along the Mississippi River and the waterway's relatively shallow depth render it useless for anything more than recreational watercraft traffic.
Sartell's proximity to St. Cloud allows for convenient access to St. Cloud Regional Airport.
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Pop punk
Pop punk (or punk-pop) is a form of popular music that blends punk rock with pop music and rock music. Pop-punk music has a lighter, happier sound than most punk rock and hardcore punk music. Most punk rock and hardcore punk music sounds angry and harsh, and has lyrics (words) about protest and anger.
There are several types of pop-punk. An early type of pop-punk was developed right after Punk rock became popular in the late 1970s. Most of this kind of music is very much like Punk rock, but it features things from other kinds of music like pop music and older rock music, and country music, so different people can enjoy it. Some people call the Ramones a pop-punk band. The Ramones were a band from the United States.
In the 1990s, pop-punk became very popular in North America. Bands such as Green Day, Blink-182 and Zebrahead sold millions of recordings and did many tours.
In the 2000s and 2010s, which is the decade we are in now, many bands have joined, or contributed to the pop punk genre. They include Fall Out Boy, Relient K, FM Static, Hawk Nelson, and Amber Pacific.
Some people who like 1970s punk rock or 1980s hardcore punk do not like pop-punk. The 1970s punk rock or 1980s hardcore punk was usually angry, rebellious protest music. In contrast, 2000s pop-punk songs are nicer and lighter. Some people think 2000s pop-punk is too commercialized and nothing like the older punk music from the 1970s and 1980s.
Sheryl Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She can also play guitar and bass guitar.
Many of her songs have charted and are still popular. They include "The First Cut Is the Deepest", "Soak Up the Sun", "If It Makes You Happy" and "All I Wanna Do".
Crow has never married. She has two adopted sons, Wyatt Steven Crow (born in 2007) and Levi James Crow (born in 2010).
She had breast cancer in 2006.
Chubby Checker
Ernest Evans (born October 3, 1941) better known as Chubby Checker, is a pop singer from the United States. He is most famous for his dance songs. After his famous appearance on American Bandstand, his cover version of Hank Ballard's "The Twist" hit #1 became a popular dance.
Irish people
The Irish are an ethnic group who come from or came from the island of Ireland. There are two countries on the island of Ireland: the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Historically, the Irish have been primarily a Celtic people. Many countries, especially English-speaking countries, have people with Irish roots.
In Northern Ireland, there have been violent fights between the Unionists, who identify as British people and are mainly Protestant, and the Nationalists, who identify as Irish and are mainly Catholic. Irish people have a strong culture and beliefs.
Due to problems in Ireland, most importantly a famine between 1845 and 1852, caused by the potatoes in Ireland being destroyed by disease, many Irish moved out of Ireland, including Great Britain, and to other countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia. At present, many more Irish live in the United States than in Ireland, with many of them living in large American cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. The population of Irish people in the United States is over seven times more populated than that of those who live in the original homeland of Ireland.
Achille-Claude Debussy (born St Germain-en-Laye, 22 August 1862; died Paris, 25 March, 1918) was a French composer. He was one of the most important composers of the early 20th century. Most of his compositions are for orchestra or for piano. He also wrote some songs, chamber music and one opera. He made his music very different from the Romantic style that other composers were using at the time. He is often called an Impressionistic composer because he was influenced by the group of painters called “Impressionists”. They were not so much interested in making their paintings look exactly like the real world, but preferred to paint things such as the effect of the sunlight shining on water. Debussy often did this in his music, which creates a special atmosphere.
Claude Debussy did not have an easy childhood. His father was a travelling salesman and his mother worked as a seamstress. He learned the piano when he was young and was inducted into the Paris Conservatoire at age 11. For a time it seemed that he would become a concert pianist, but he did not do well enough in his examination. After winning an important prize, the Prix de Rome, he went to Rome for two years but he did not enjoy it. He visited Bayreuth in 1888 and 1889 to hear Wagner’s operas but he did not like them. He preferred sounds like that of the Javanese gamelan which he heard in Paris at the World Exhibition.
In 1899 he married a young woman named Rosalie Texier. He got a job as music critic of a journal called "La revue blanche". He wrote his opera "Pélleas et Mélisande" which was performed at the Opéra-Comique. It was extremely successful and was performed 100 times there during the next ten years. He wrote exciting music for orchestra: "Fêtes galantes" and a work called "La Mer" ("The Sea") which he worked at while staying in Brighton on the south coast of England. It is one of the most exciting pieces of music about the sea.
Debussy was starting to become very famous. His personal life changed. He left his wife because he had fallen in love with Emma Bardac who was an amateur singer for whom Gabriel Fauré had written a song cycle "La Bonne Chanson". Her husband was a banker. She bought an apartment and Debussy lived with her there for the rest of his life. They had a daughter called Chou-Chou, born in 1905. They married in 1908.
Debussy’s next orchestral work was called "Images". He began composing a set of preludes for piano. Other works followed: "Khamma", "Le martyre de St Sébastian" and the ballet "Jeux", which was produced in 1913 by Dyagilev’s company. People soon forgot about this work because only two weeks later the same ballet company produced Stravinsky’s "Rite of Spring" which caused a riot.
By this time Debussy was ill with colorectal cancer. His visit to London in 1914 was his last trip to another country. He wrote more piano works: a set of Études and a piano duet called "En blanc et noir" ("In white and black"). He planned to write six sonatas, each for a different group of instruments, but he only wrote three of them: one for cello and piano, one for flute, viola and harp and one for violin and piano. The "Sonata for violin and piano" (1917) was the last work he played in public (he played the piano part). He died of colorectal cancer in 1918.
Saint-Saëns, for example, did not understand the way that the musical ideas flowed gently into one another. He was always an enemy of Debussy.
There is a lot of variety in Debussy’s piano music.　Some of it is very difficult to play, e.g. the "Études" and pieces such as "L’isle joyeuse" ("The happy island"). Other collections are much simpler, e.g. "Suite bergamasque" which includes the very popular piece called "Clair de lune" ("Moonlight"). He wrote two books of preludes. Each of the pieces has a title, but the titles are printed at the end of each piece, as if he did not want the listener to know what it was about until afterwards.
Debussy wrote wonderfully for the voice, making the music just right for the rhythm of the French language. This can be heard in his songs and his opera. Using melodies and harmonies which are often quite simple he creates a special kind of dream-world which can be very powerful. He often uses the whole tone scale and the pentatonic scale which give the music a hazy feeling because it does not seem to be clearly in one particular key. He liked to use unusual chords just for their own sake, not in order to make them lead to a particular key. He also used the old scales known as the church modes.
Debussy’s music had a great influence on many composers in the 20th century. Cage, Messiaen, Boulez and Stockhausen all learned from listening to his music.
Groves Dictionary of Music Online
P.O.D.
P.O.D. (which stands for Payable on Death) is a metal band from San Diego, California. Its fans are called "The Warriors", and the band is known for its Christian messages.
The members are Sonny Sandoval (lead singer), Marcos Curiel (guitar player), Wuv Bernardo (drummer) and Traa Daniels (bass player).
The band released an album in 1999 called "The Fundamental Elements of Southtown", which became very popular, and P.O.D. made a lot of fans who saw the band on MTV.
In 2001, P.O.D. made a second album called "Satellite", which had a more nu metal post-grunge vibe and several hit songs, like "Boom," "Alive," "Youth of the Nation," "Set It Off," "Satellite," and "Portrait." In 2003, P.O.D. made the album "Payable On Death", which had a heavy neo-grunge sound and a hint of reggae.
Their next album, "Testify", was released in 2006. It was similar to "Satellite" in sound and featured two duets with Matisyahu. In 2008, P.O.D. released the album "When Angels & Serpents Dance".
Differential can refer to different concepts:
The blackbird ("Turdus merula", or common blackbird) is a thrush. It is a member of the passerine songbird family Turdidae.
It has a huge range across Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to Australia and New Zealand. It has a number of subspecies across its range. Depending on latitude, the common blackbird may be resident, partially migratory or fully migratory.
The adult male is black, with a yellow/orange bill (beak). Juveniles and females are brown, and less easy to see. Blackbirds are easy to find in gardens all over Europe and in Asia, South of the Arctic Circle. On average, Blackbirds live to be 2.4 years old, but some have been found to be 20 years old.
It is a terrific singer, and will breed whenever the weather is right.
The male common blackbird defends its breeding territory, chasing away other males or using a "bow and run" threat display. This is a short run, the head first being raised and then bowed with the tail dipped simultaneously. If a fight between male Blackbirds does occur, it is usually short and the intruder is soon chased away.
The female blackbird is also aggressive in the spring when it competes with other females for a good nesting territory, and although fights are less frequent, they tend to be more violent.
The male attracts the female with a courtship display: oblique runs and head-bowing movements, an open beak, and a "strangled" low song. The female stays still until she raises her head and tail to allow sex. This species is monogamous, and the established pair usually stay together as long as they both survive. Pair separation rates of up to 20% have been noted following poor breeding. Although socially monogamous, there have been studies showing as much as 17% extra pair paternity.
As long as winter food is available, both the male and female will stay in the territory throughout the year, although occupying different areas. Migrants are more social, travelling in small flocks and feeding in loose groups in the wintering grounds. The flight of migrating birds is bursts of rapid wing beats interspersed with level or diving movement, and differs from both the normal fast agile flight of this species and the more dipping action of larger thrushes.
Geta (footwear)
Geta are traditional Japanese sandals. They are stilted to keep the hem of a kimono above the ground. They are worn with tabi socks. Geta makes the person's feet stay out of the mud.
Usually Japanese people wear them with a casual kimono rather than formal one. It is common to wear them with bare feet when a yukata is worn. Also they are worn with western clothes.
Today, in Japan, most people rarely wear kimono and rarely wear geta. One reason for this is most gravel roads were changed to asphalt roads for Tokyo Olympic. Since 1995, the number of people who wear geta casually increased because of the pretty looks and sounds. In addition, the popularity of geta grew little by little through trend for yukata. At one time, Japanese people thought that it is hard to walk with geta and sometimes get injured by hanao. Hanao is a rope which is set between the big toe and second toe when geta are worn. However, because of efforts by yukata makers and footwear makers, Japanese people are starting to like to wear geta again.
Tabi
Bydgoszcz (, ) is a city in the north of Poland, capital of Kujavia-Pomerania voivodship, on the Brda and Wisła rivers. As of 2020, 345 000 people live there. Bydgoszcz is one of the biggest cities in Poland - placed the 8th position. The city was located in 1346 by the king of Poland Casimir III the Great. Patrons of the city are Saint Martin of Tours and Saint Nicholas.
Is a big center od industry, trade, logistic and traffic cord. In the city is located the Ignacy Jan Paderewski International Airport. In Bydgoszcz is located a big military garrison and headquarters of most NATO institutions present in Poland.
Bydgoszcz belongs to the greenest cities in Poland, has more than 30 parks what are occupying more than 970 hectares. In the nort part of the city is located the biggest city park in Poland - Myślęcinek.
Bydgoszcz has many monuments, starting with the gothic cathedral and ending with the downtown with many Art Nouveau tenement houses. The unique monument is the oldest in Poland artificial waterway - Bydgoszcz Canal, which connects the Vistula and the Oder rivers.
The most visited place in Bydgoszcz is Old Town with the Mill Island. The most important monuments in this area are goticks churches include cathedral, fragments of city walls and granaries from the XVII century.
Bydgoszczy downtown was built almost completely between 1850 and 1914 and and is famous for Art Nouveau tenement houses. East part od the downtown was built on assumptions garden city movement. In this part is located the Music Distirct - with the Pomeranian Filharmonija, the Bydgoszcz Academy of Music and the Polish Theatre.
In Bydgoszcz is located many museums. The biggest is the Leon Wyczółkowski Regional Museum which has a wide collection including art, numismatics, archeology and souvenirs related to Bydgoszcz.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the last novel written by Charles Dickens. The novel was not finished at the time of Dickens's death (9 June 1870) and his ending for it is unknown.
The story is set in a fictional town called Cloisterham, which is believed to be based on Rochester. It begins as John Jasper is leaving a place in London where opium (a powerful drug) is taken by lots of people. Jasper leads a choir (group of singers) in a large church in Cloisterham. The next day Jasper is visited by his nephew Edwin Drood. Edwin tells Jasper he is worried about getting married to a girl called Rosa Bud. He has to get married to her because his parents and Rosa’s parents said they had to.
The next day, Edwin finds Rosa in a nun’s house which is a school. At the same time, Jasper wants to learn about the graveyard, so he goes to find a man called Durdles, who knows a lot about the graveyard. A person called Neville Landless has a twin sister called Helena. They are both sent to a school in Cloisterham. Helena goes to live with Rosa in the nuns’ house, and Neville is taught by a reverend named Crisparkle.
We find out that Neville doesn’t like his stepfather who is a nasty man. He tells this to Crisparkle. Rosa tells Helena that she doesn’t like Jasper, who is her music teacher. She says she finds him scary. When Neville meets Rosa, he falls in love with her. He is angry that Edwin Drood doesn’t like her very much, but still wants to get married. Edwin makes Neville angry, and Neville attacks him. Jasper tells everyone that Neville is a violent (hurts a lot of people) person.
Reverend Crisparkle wants Edwin and Neville to be friends. He wants to say sorry to Edwin, but only is Edwin accepts the apology (saying sorry). They all decide to have dinner the day before Christmas at Jasper’s house, so that everyone can say sorry.
Mr. Gregious who takes care of Rosa, tells Rosa that she has a lot of money. This money is from her father who is dead. She asks him if they money will still be given to her if she doesn’t marry Edwin. Mr Gregious says that she will still get the money even if she doesn’t marry Edwin. Mr. Gregious meets Edwin and gives him a ring. The ring belonged to Rosa’s father, and gave is to Rosa’s mother when they got married. Mr Gregious says that if Edwin loves Rosa and wants to stay with her forever, he must give her the ring. If he doesn’t love Rosa, and doesn’t want to stay with her forever, he must give the ring back to Mr. Gregious. There is another man watching to make sure Mr. Gregious and Edwin follow the rules. Rosa and Edwin talk and they say they both don’t want to get married anymore. They want ask Mr. Grewgious to tell Jasper this. Edwin says he will soon give the ring back.
Meanwhile, Jasper is in the graveyard again with Durdles. Jasper gives Durdles some very strong wine, which makes him drunk. Jasper finds out that Durdles can tap the stone coffins and knows what is in them from this. Jasper is interested in this trick. Suddenly they see a boy called Deputy. Jasper thinks the boy was following them, so he holds him by the neck. He doesn’t kill him though, and lets him go.
On Christmas Eve, Neville buys a stick for walking. He wants to do some walking in his spare time in the countryside. Edwin goes to a jewellery shop because his watch is broken. A woman who uses opium (powerful drug) asks him what his first name is. He tells her. She says that she is happy his name is not Ned. She says that Ned is in danger. Edwin doesn’t listen to her, but he knows that Jasper sometimes calls him Ned.
They have the planned dinner, and everyone is friends again. Edwin and Neville go down to the river to see the storm. The next day, we find out that Edwin is missing. Jasper tells everyone that Neville killed him. Neville goes off for a walk, but the village people bring him back to the town.
Reverend Crisparkle stops Neville from going to jail by saying that he will look after him. He says that he will bring Neville forward whenever he is needed. Jasper is then told that Edwin and Rosa won’t get married. He is very upset. Crisparkle finds Edwin’s watch and other belongings at the river.
Half a year later Neville is living in London. A man called Mr. Tartar meets Neville and he wants to share his garden with him. He lives near Neville. A new character called Dick Datchery comes to Cloisterham. He lives near Jasper and watches him. Datchery meets Deputy and asks where Jasper lives. Deputy doesn’t ever go near there because he is afraid Jasper will choke (grab his neck) him again.
Jasper goes and visits Rosa. He tells her that he loves her. She tells him to leave. He doesn’t give up, and says he will destroy Neville unless she loves him. Because Neville is the brother of her friend Helena, Rosa is frightened. She goes to Mr. Grewgious in London, and Crisparkle follows her. Mr. Tartar meets him and asks him if he knows who he is. Crisparkle remembers that Tartar once saved him from dying in a river. They tell Rosa not to talk to Neville or Helena in case Jasper is watching. However, Tartar lets Rosa meet Helena. Grewgious finds a place for Rosa to live with another woman.
We see that Jasper is visiting the place where lots of people smoke opium in London. He has not been there for a long time. The woman who owns the place follows him. She promises not to lose him again like last time. She follows him all the way to Cloisterham. She meets Mr. Datchery, who tells her Jasper’s name. He also says that he is going to sing in the church service in the morning. The woman is called Princess Puffer. She goes to the service and shakes her fist (a sign of anger and hate) at Jasper.
Dickens died before the story was finished. He made a summary of the story as planned in a letter to his friend John Forster.
Despite its lack of completeness, the novel has a history of media exposure. There are two films (1935 and 1993) and three television versions (1960 and 2012 in English, and 1980 in Russian). The novel has been on radio and in the theatre. There are a number of versions in print.
In general, people have believed what Dicken's friend John Forster reported: Jasper murdered Drood. In 2015, the UK newspaper "The Daily Mail" and the University of Buckingham asked the public for their solution to the mystery. Out of 15,000 responses, the overwhelming verdict was that Jasper killed his own nephew and stashed his body in the church crypt, the same solution proposed by Dickens' friends and family.
Vientiane is the capital city of Laos. It is in the Mekong Valley, and over two hundred thousand people live in its central area.
A dome is a feature of architecture that usually looks like the upper half of a sphere on top of a building.
It is a feature that makes many religious and government buildings stand out, because if someone is speaking to others inside or under a dome, the voice sounds louder. Also a dome makes it easier to identify an important building, for example a temple or a palace.
A large stadium with a roof over the playing field is often called a "dome". One example of that usage is the Metrodome.
An address (pronounced AD-dress or ad-DRESS) is a way to find or communicate with someone. It can be a postal address or an e-mail address. On forms, it is common to ask for someone's name, address and phone number, so that the person can be found easily.
A postal address is usually the location of someone's house, but sometimes it is the person's Post Office Box. It is the information that is put on a letter to have the letter delivered to a person.
Example (in England):
Example (in the U.S.):
Example (in Nigeria):
An email address is used to send someone an e-mail. It has a username, and this is followed by the name of the person's email provider. The at sign (@) separates the two. For example:
The "name" part can be made up of any letters or numbers, and a few special characters, but it cannot contain spaces. The "provider" part can be made up of any letters or numbers, but no special characters and no spaces. Some providers may restrict the "name" part in other ways. For example, Gmail does not allow underscores.
T cell
A T cell is a type of lymphocyte, a white blood cell. T-cells plays an important role in the immune system. They attack infected cells, foreign cells, and cancer cells and completely destroy them. This stops viruses or cancer from spreading to healthy cells.
The "T" in T cell stands for thymus. The thymus is where T cells mature.
A biscuit is a type of food. They are small baked breads or cakes.
In British English, Australian English, Canadian English and New Zealand English, biscuits are usually sweet and can be eaten with tea, milk or coffee. In North America these are called "cookies".
In spite of the difference, this is the meaning in the name of the United States' most famous maker of cookies and crackers, National Biscuit Company (now called Nabisco).
In American English, a "biscuit" is a small form of bread, similar to scones, made with baking powder or baking soda as a leavening agent rather than yeast. (Biscuits, soda breads, and corn bread, among others, are sometimes referred to all together as "quick breads" to show that they do not need time to rise before baking.)
Electromagnet
Electromagnets are temporary and artificial magnets. They are magnets that are only magnetic when there is a coil of wire with electricity running through it. The coil of wire is called a solenoid. The strength of the magnet is proportional to the current flowing in the circuit. The electricity running through the wire is called a current. The current is the flow of electrons, which are negatively charged particles. Electromagnets are used for a variety of purposes. In a simple example, an electromagnet can pick up pieces of iron, nickel, and cobalt.
Electromagnets can be made stronger by adding more coils to the copper wire, or adding an iron core through the coils (for example a nail). The current can also be increased to make the magnetism stronger. British electrician William Sturgeon invented the electromagnet in 1825.
An electromagnet is useful because it can be turned on and off easily (using an electric current), whereas a permanent magnet cannot be turned off and will continue to affect its immediate environment.
Different alloys act differently. Iron stops being an electromagnet very quickly, but steel takes time to wear off. To make an electromagnet, copper wire is wound around an iron rod. The two ends of the wire are connected to the + (positive) and - (negative) side of the battery.
Electromagnets are used in everyday items such as burglar alarms, electric relays and fire bells. Electric motors are basically electromagnets. Their ability to change from the state of non-magnetic to magnetic just by passing an electric current through it allows it to be used in many different items. This ability is used in relays.
Electromagnets can also be used to make electricity. Movement of a magnet back and forth in front of the electromagnet will make an electric current.
Electromagnets work because when electricity flows through a wire it makes a magnetic field around the wire. The direction of the magnetic field can be found by using the "right-hand rule". This means that if a person points the thumb of their right hand in the direction of the current, the magnetic field would go around the wire the same way their fingers would wrap around the wire.
The magnetic field made by a single wire is not usually very strong. To make an electromagnet normally the wire is wrapped in many loops to make the fields of each piece of wire add together into one stronger magnetic field.
Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island nation. It is in the Pacific Ocean. Palau is 300 miles (500 km) east of the Philippines. It got independence from United Nations trusteeship administration (administered by the United States of America) in 1994. It is one of the world's youngest and smallest nations. It is sometimes referred to in English under its native name Belau. The capital city of Palau is Melekeok. This has been true since October 1, 2006.
Palau is divided into sixteen administrative states:
Palau has a tropical climate all year round. Average yearly temperature is around 82 °F (27 °C).
Island country
An island country (also sometimes called island nation or borderless country) is a country that is made up only of islands. They are not connected by land to any other nation. Each island only belongs to that country, so there are no borders. Examples of borderless countries are Iceland, Japan and Madagascar.
Many island nations get money from fishing.
Llivia
Llívia is a small Catalan town which is an exclave of Spain, being surrounded by France. The Spanish border is about one kilometre away. The town is part of Cerdanya, province of Girona. The French territory surrounding Llivia is the Pyrénées-Orientales "département". Llivia had a total population of 1252 in 2005.
People lived there in Roman times. Originally, the settlement was a Roman fort (known as an "oppidum)". The name of the oppidum was "Julia Libica".
Llivia was the capital of Cerdagne in antiquity, but in the early Middle Ages, Hix (a commune of Bourg-Madame, France) became the capital of the region.
Monkey Island is a well-known adventure game series made and published by LucasArts.
The games are known for their humor, and often use parody and clichés, both from pirate stories as well as from films.
The story takes place in the Caribbean. In the different games. The first one involves main character Guybrush Threepwood, who wants to become a pirate, has many adventures. Each of the games usually involves the evil undead ghost/zombie pirate LeChuck and the island which gave the series its name.
Port Arthur massacre
The Port Arthur massacre was a mass killing that took place at Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia. On Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 April 1996 35 people were killed, and 18 people hurt. Martin Bryant used 2 semi-automatic guns to shoot people who were visiting Port Arthur. Port Arthur is an café and, hotel and historic site.000 convtd Irlitors to Tasmania. Bryant is in jail for the crime.
The massacre was the worst single-day mass murder incident in Australian history. 35 people died on 28 April 1996, the middle day of the massacre. After the massacre, Australia made new laws about gun control. People could not buy guns very easily anymore. New laws were changed. This law also exits in new Zealand and many other countries.
Bryant had first killed the owners of a small guesthouse. then he went to the Port Arthur Historic Site. 20 of the people killed were shot in the Broad Arrow Cafe in 2 minutes of gunfire. before Bryant started shooting in the café he ate lunch Bryant went into the café and began shooting. There were more than 60 people in the cafe. He then went into the gift shop and continued shooting. Two minutes later he went back to his car to escape. He continued to shoot and kill people outside in the gardens.
Bryant then took a hostage and went back to the Seascape Guest House. He killed the hostage and then set fire to the house. He finally gave himself up to the police after 18 hours. He was burned in the fire.
Bryant was found guilty of killing 35 people. He was sentenced to a life sentence for each murder. The court said he was never to be released.
The ruins of the cafe are now a memorial to the people who were killed in the massacre. A square pond has been built as a place for quiet thinking. The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard spoke at the memorial in 2006. This was to remember 10 years since the massacre.
Backpacker murders
Between 1990 and 1996, a total of seven people were killed in Australia. Since all of the people were backpackers, the events are known as backpacker murders today. All of their bodies were found in Belangalo State Forest, which is close to Sydney. Ivan Milat killed all of these people.
7 people were found in Belangalo State Forest. Five of these people were visiting Australia - three Germans and two British people. The other two were visiting Sydney from other parts of Australia. Some of these people were by themselves. Some of these people were with a friend. The 7 people were all different from each other.
On the TV they said that tourists were killed, but not everyone who died was a tourist.
The 7 people were found all over Belangalo State Forest, which is a big area. One of them had their head chopped off. Someone had sex with some of them. Some of them had their clothes taken off. Some of them had bits of their bodies cut off and put somewhere else. Some of the bodies were by themselves.
Some of the people had been killed with a knife. Some had been killed with a gun. Some seemed to have been strangled.
The 7 people who died had nothing in common. People who tried to find out who did it said that there may have been more than one person who killed them. They said that they may have been a part of a gang.
Ivan Milat (born 1944 died 2019) was an Australian man from New South Wales who lived near Belangalo State Forest. So police arrested Milat and searched his house. They found out that:
Milat went to court, and people in court said that he did kill all of these people.
Some people think that other people helped Milat. Some people said his brothers helped him, or a girl, or lots of other people. Police have said that there are more than 30 people that went missing that might have been killed by Milat.
Death of Azaria Chamberlain
Azaria Chamberlain (11 June 1980 – dissapeared on 17 August 1980 - died 26 January 2010) was an Australian baby who was born in Mount Isa, Queensland, and went missing in 1980 near Ayers Rock, Northern Territory, Australia. The family were camping in a tent at the base of the rock. Her mother, Lindy Chamberlain, said that she had been taken by a dingo and killed. Police said that Lindy Chamberlain had murdered the baby and had lied about the dingo. After a long trial which was reported around the world, Chamberlain was convicted of murder and sent to jail. Chamberlain kept arguing that she was innocent. When some of the baby's clothes were found three years later near a dingo's den, the case was reopened since the 1980s.
After a long legal battle which involved three inquests, three appeals and a royal commission, she was released. In 2012, a fourth inquest found that Azaria had been taken by a dingo, and the death certificate has now been changed to show this. The inquest noted that there had been other dingo attacks in the region.
Lindy Chamberlain was released from jail on February 7 1986, but not cleared until September 15 1988, at which time Lindy and Michael (her husband) were declared innocent of all charges. She and Michael were divorced on June 27 1991. She met Rick Creighton on a speaking tour of the United States in February 1992 and married him on December 20 1992.
The disappearance of Azaria became one of the most argued about events in Australia. Many people thought that a dingo would be unable to kill a baby. This meant that the mother must have lied. People in Australia say "a dingo stole my baby" as a joke, when they think someone is lying. After a dingo killed a nine-year-old boy on Fraser Island in 2001, people have had to rethink their beliefs about dingos.
Author John Bryson wrote a book about the case, called "Evil Angels." This was later made into a movie called "Evil Angels" and starred Meryl Streep and Sam Neill. The movie was released in other countries as "A Cry in the Dark."
In 2005, a woman called Erin Horsburgh said that she was really Azaria Chamberlain and wanted police to do a DNA test to check. But police said that the woman was lying and they did not need to check. This created interest in the media, but there was no truth to the story.
Murder of Peter Falconio
Peter Falconio (20 September 1972 - c. 14 July 2001) was an English tourist who went missing in Northern Territory, Australia in 2001. Falconio was last seen near a place called Barrow Creek. This is one of Australia's greatest murder mysteries. Police say that he is dead. A trial decided that Bradley John Murdoch murdered Falconio.
Peter Falconio and his girlfriend Joanne Lees had been fighting with each other. Lees was going to leave Falconio because she had a new boyfriend in Australia. Some people think that Lees wanted to kill Falconio because of this. Some people think that she might have asked Murdoch to kill Falconio for her.
Bradley John Murdoch sold drugs to people. Falconio and Lees liked to use drugs. It is thought that they knew each other, and that Falconio and Lees bought drugs from Murdoch. Falconio owed a lot of money in taxes, and he was scared. Falconio had told people that he wanted to fake his own death. Many people say they saw Falconio over a week after police say that he died. It was known that Murdoch had hurt people before this. He had once shot at some aborigines just for fun. He had told people that he thought he was being followed and was going to get rid of them. Some people think that he raped some women too.
This remains a great mystery and many people have different stories as to what really happened. A movie called "Wolf Creek" was made that is similar to the story. It was not allowed to be shown until after the trial.
John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is a former Australian politician who was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. John Howard is the second longest serving prime minister of Australia after Robert Menzies. John Howard is a member of the Liberal Party.
John Howard was a lawyer before he became a politician. He was in parliament from 1974 until 2007. From 1977 to 1983 he was the Treasurer in Malcolm Fraser's government. Malcolm Fraser lost the 1987 election to Bob Hawke. On 24 November 2007, John Howard lost to Kevin Rudd and his parliamentary seat to Maxine McKew. He became the second prime minister to lose a parliamentary seat after Stanley Bruce in 1929.
John Howard is the fourth son of Mona ("nee" Kell) and Lyall Howard. His parents were married in 1925. His eldest brother Stanley was born in 1926, followed by Walter in 1929, and Robert (Bob) in 1936. Lyall Howard was an admirer of Winston Churchill, and a sympathiser with the New Guard. Howard's ancestors were English, Scottish and Irish.
Howard was born and raised in the Sydney suburb of Earlwood, in a Methodist family. His mother had been an office worker until her marriage. His father and his paternal grandfather, Walter Howard, were both veterans of the First AIF in World War I. They also ran two Dulwich Hill petrol stations. Howard worked there as a boy.
Howard suffered from a hearing impairment in his youth. It ruled out the chances of him becoming a barrister as a likely career from his mind. To this day, John wears a hearing aid.
One of Howard's first initiatives was to unite the state governments of Australia to place a ban on gun ownership in Australia. This move came after the Port Arthur Massacre in Tasmania in 1996, where 35 people were killed and a further 37 injured at the hands of a gunman. In 1998, Howard and his Treasurer, Peter Costello took a big tax reform (the GST) to the election and won.
In 1999 John Howard's government held a referendum on whether Australia should become a republic and have a President instead of a Queen. However, John Howard did not support the referendum and urged people to vote no. The Australian Labor Party opposition led by Kim Beazley criticised John Howard's handling of the 1998 Australian Waterfront Dispute.
In 1999, Howard led a United Nations force into East Timor (INTERFET), to help them set up an independent democracy.
After the September 11 attacks, John Howard was involved in world issues. He was close with George W. Bush who was the leader of the United States. George Bush called John Howard a "key ally". John Howard sent SAS troops to Afghanistan and Iraq to support the United States, and signed a free trade agreement with the United States. Despite this alliance, Australia remained fairly neutral on Israel and Palestine.
Like before Howard, Australian trade with Asia got bigger while John Howard was leader. He invited the Chinese leader Hu Jintao to speak to the Australian Parliament for the first time. After the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, John Howard called the President of Indonesia and offered a billion dollars to help. John Howard increased immigration a lot and people came to Australia from all over the world, but he tried to stop boats of people coming without asking for visas first.
In 2005, he made it easier for bosses to get rid of workers by introducing the controversial WorkChoices industrial legislation introduced by his Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews. This upset people and the Labor Party became more popular. On 24 November 2007, Kevin Rudd won an election and John Howard stopped being Prime Minister. John Howard also lost his seat in the Parliament to the Labor Party candidate Maxine McKew, a former ABC TV journalist.
Swedish () is a language mostly spoken in Sweden and in parts of Finland, typically along the southern and western coasts and on the Åland islands. More than nine million people speak Swedish. It is similar to two of the other Scandinavian languages, Norwegian and Danish, and a person who understands one of these languages can understand the others. Other Scandinavian languages, such as Icelandic and Faroese, are less closely related and cannot be understood by Swedish speakers. Standard Swedish is spoken and written throughout Sweden, but there are some local dialects with differences in grammar and vocabulary in small towns and rural areas.
Swedish began as a dialect of Old Norse, which was a language that everyone in Scandinavia understood during the Viking Age. Around the 12th century Swedish began to slowly become different from the other dialects. These dialects later became what we today call Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese and Danish. Swedish is a Germanic language with some similarities to English because of the Vikings that invaded England in the 10th Century. It is even more similar to German and Dutch, partly because of the Hanseatic League of the Middle Ages, when Sweden traded very openly with Germany.
There are three characters in the Swedish language that are not used in English. These are å, ä and ö. The letter å is a vowel sound between [a] and [o], similar to the English word "awe". The letter ä is a vowel sound similar to [ɛ], like in the English word "bed". The letter ö is a vowel sound between [o] and [ɛ], pronounced [øː] like the "u" in the English word "burn". These characters are also used in the Finnish language, while Norwegian and Danish languages replace ä and ö with similar characters æ and ø.
Swedish also has some important differences in grammar. Definite articles are suffixed onto the end of their nouns, so "ett hus" (a house) becomes "huset" (the house). Also unlike English, Swedish uses two grammatical genders called "Common" and "Neuter". Nouns of the Common gender are sometimes called "en words", and many words for living (or once-living) things are "en words". Nouns of the Neuter gender are sometimes called "ett words".
Walter Mikac
Walter Mikac is an Australian writer and motivational speaker.
Walter Mikac's wife and two small children were killed at the Port Arthur massacre. He has written two books, one called "To Have And To Hold" and the other is called "Circle of Life: Sustenance for the Soul". It is about handling grief and tragedy. He helped create the Alannah and Madeline Foundation to help children who are the victims of violent crime
Martin Bryant
Martin Bryant (born 7 May 1967) is an Australian criminal who killed 35 people in Tasmania in 1996, in the Port Arthur massacre. He is now in prison for the most murders in Australian recorded history.
Bryant has been given a sentence of life in gaol for each of the 35 murders. He is never to be released. He is held in solitary confinement (by himself) in Hobarts Risdon Prison.
Martin Bryant is believed to have an IQ (thinking level) of an 11-year-old. Guards and doctors report that his only interest seems to be himself. He has tried to kill himself several times in prison.
Rugby League
Rugby League is a ball sport. Two teams of thirteen players play against each other. The ball used is oval in shape. The field is a rectangle shape. It is 100 metres long and 70 metres wide. It is played for 80 minutes (40 minutes each half).
A "try" is scored when a player scores or touches the ball down in the in-goal area (the try line included). A try is worth 4 points and if its converted (the goal kicker kicks the ball in between the top of the goal post), the team gets an extra 2 points. Another method of scoring points is through drop goals which are worth 1 point, or penalty goals which are worth 2 points.
Rugby League is played in over 30 countries in the world. The countries that play it the most are Australia, England, Ireland and New Zealand. The Rugby League World Cup has been played by Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, France, Wales, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Scotland, United States, Italy, Cook Islands, Lebanon, Russia and South Africa. The current world champions are Australia, who won the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. The 2021 Rugby League World Cup will be held in England.
Dustin Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor. He has been in many movies.
Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California. He is the younger son of Lillian, a jazz pianist, and Harry Hoffman, who worked as a prop supervisor/set decorator at Columbia Pictures before becoming a furniture salesman. His brother, Ronald, is a lawyer and economist. Hoffman's family was Jewish, although he was not brought up religious. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955.
Hoffman starred in "The Graduate", "Midnight Cowboy", "Marathon Man", "All the President's Men", "Kramer vs. Kramer", "Tootsie", "Stranger than Fiction", "Meet the Fockers" and "Rain Man".
In 2013, Hoffman had successful treatment for cancer.
Chopper Read
Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read (November 17, 1954 - October 9, 2013) was an Australian mobster who was born in Melbourne, Victoria. During his criminal career in the Melbourne mafia scene, he was convicted of many crimes, including armed robbery, assault, attempted murder, arson, impersonating a police officer and kidnapping. Read retired from a life of crime and wrote a series of fiction books based on his life as a criminal.