AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Internet Explorer 7 introduced the phishing filter, that restricts access to phishing sites unless the user overrides the decision. With version 8, it also blocks access to sites known to host malware. Downloads are also checked to see if they are known to be malware-infected.
In Windows Vista, Internet Explorer by default runs in what is called "Protected Mode", where the privileges of the browser itself are severely restricted - it cannot make any system-wide changes. One can optionally turn this mode off but this is not recommended. This also effectively restricts the privileges of any add-ons. As a result, even if the browser or any add-on is compromised, the damage the security breach can cause is limited.
Patches and updates to the browser are released periodically and made available through the Windows Update service, as well as through Automatic Updates. Although security patches continue to be released for a range of platforms, most feature additions and security infrastructure improvements are only made available on operating systems which are in Microsoft's mainstream support phase.
On December 16, 2008, Trend Micro recommended users switch to rival browsers until an emergency IE patch was released to fix a potential security risk which "could allow outside users to take control of a person's computer and steal their passwords". Microsoft representatives countered this recommendation, claiming that "0.02% of internet sites" were affected by the flaw.
On December 17, 2008, a fix to the security problem above became available, with the release of the Security Update for Internet Explorer KB960714, which is available from Microsoft Windows Update's webpage. Microsoft has said that this update fixes the security risk found by Trend Micro the previous day.
Internet Explorer has been subjected to many security vulnerabilities and concerns: Much of the spyware, adware, and computer viruses across the Internet are made possible by exploitable bugs and flaws in the security architecture of Internet Explorer, sometimes requiring nothing more than viewing of a malicious web page in order to install themselves. This is known as a "drive-by install". There are also attempts to trick the user into installing malicious software by misrepresenting the software's true purpose in the description section of an ActiveX security alert.
A number of security flaws affecting IE originated not in the browser itself, but ActiveX-based add-ons used by it. Because the add-ons have the same privilege as IE, the flaws can be as critical as browser flaws. This has led to the ActiveX-based architecture being criticized for being fault-prone. By 2005, some experts maintained that the dangers of ActiveX have been overstated and there were safeguards in place. In 2006, new techniques using automated testing found more than a hundred vulnerabilities in standard Microsoft ActiveX components. Security features introduced in then recently released Internet Explorer 7 mitigated some of these vulnerabilities.
Internet Explorer in 2008 had a number of published security vulnerabilities. According to research done by security research firm Secunia, Microsoft did not respond as quickly as its competitors in fixing security holes and making patches available. The firm also reported 366 vulnerabilities in ActiveX controls, an increase from the prior year.
According to the latest information, Secunia reports that IE6 has 24 known unpatched vulnerabilities, IE7 has 11, and IE8 has 4. The most severe unpatched Secunia advisories affecting Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x, 7.x, and 8.x with all vendor patches applied, are all rated Extremely critical. The oldest known unpatched vulnerabilities for IE6, IE7, and IE8 date from November 7, 2003, June 6, 2006, and February 26, 2007 respectively.
According to the latest information, security research firm SecurityFocus reports that IE6 has 396 known unpatched vulnerabilities, IE7 has 22, and IE8 has 25. The oldest known unpatched vulnerabilities for IE6, IE7, and IE8 date from November 20, 2000, May 17, 2007, and April 11, 2009 respectively.
In an advisory on January 14, 2010, Microsoft said that attackers targeting Google and other U.S. companies used software that exploits a security hole, which had already been patched, in Internet Explorer. The vulnerability affected Internet Explorer 6, IE7, and IE8 on Windows 7, Vista, Windows XP, Server 2003, and Server 2008 R2, as well as IE 6 Service Pack 1 on Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.
The German government warned users against using Internet Explorer and recommended switching to an alternative web browser, due to the major security hole described above that was exploited in Internet Explorer. The Australian and French Government issued a similar warning a few days later. The first browser they recommended was Mozilla Firefox, followed by Google Chrome.
The adoption rate of Internet Explorer seems to be closely related to that of Microsoft Windows, as it is the default web browser that comes with Windows. Since the integration of Internet Explorer 2.0 with Windows 95 OSR 1 in 1996, and especially after version 4.0's release, the adoption was greatly accelerated: from below 20% in 1996 to about 40% in 1998 and over 80% in 2000.
A CNN article noted at the release of Internet Explorer 4: "Microsoft's Internet Explorer has made inroads and various estimates put its share of the browser market 30 to 35 percent from about 10 percent a year ago." By 2002, Internet Explorer had almost completely superseded its main rival Netscape and dominated the market with up to 95 percent market share.
After having fought and won the browser wars of the late 1990s, Internet Explorer gained almost total dominance of the browser market. Having attained a peak of about 95% during 2002 and 2003, its market share has since declined at a slow but steady pace. This is mainly due to the adoption of Mozilla Firefox, which statistics indicate is currently the most significant competition. Nevertheless, Internet Explorer remains the dominant web browser, with a global usage share of around 60% (though measurements vary). Usage is higher in Asia and lower in Europe.
Firefox 1.0 had surpassed Internet Explorer 5 in early 2005 with Firefox 1.0 at roughly 8 percent market share.
An article notes at the release of Internet Explorer 7 in October 2006 that "IE6 had the lion's share of the browser market with 77.22%. Internet Explorer 7 had climbed to 3.18%, while Firefox 2.0 was at 0.69%."
Internet Explorer 7 was released at the same time as Firefox 2.0, and overtook Firefox 1.x by November 2006, at roughly 9% market share. Firefox 2.0 had overtaken 1.x by January 2007, but IE7 did not surpass IE6 until December 2007. By January 2008, their respective version market share stood at 43% IE7, 32% IE6, 16% FF2, 4% Safari 3 and both FF1.x and IE5 versions at less than half a percent.
Approximate usage over time based on various usage share counters averaged for the year overall, or for the fourth quarter, or for the last month in the year depending on availability of reference.
Approximate usage over time based on various usage share counters averaged for the year overall, or for the fourth quarter, or for the last month in the year depending on availability of reference. IE was at its peak in 2003 with 94% of the worldwide internet browsers, but started falling in 2004 and since has hit a 2000s decade low in 2011 with only 49.7% of worldwide internet users.
The ActiveX extension mechanism is used by many public websites and web applications, including eBay. Similarly, Browser Helper Objects are also used by many search engine companies and third parties for creating add-ons that access their services, such as search engine toolbars. Because of the use of COM, it is possible to embed web-browsing functionality in third-party applications. Hence, there are a number of Internet Explorer shells, and a number of content-centric applications like RealPlayer also use Internet Explorer's web browsing module for viewing web pages within the applications.
IE versions, over time, have had widely varying OS compatibility, ranging from being available for many platforms and several versions of Windows to only a few versions of Windows. Many versions of IE had some support for an older OS but stopped getting updates. The increased growth of the Internet in the 1990s and 2000s means that current browsers with small market shares have more total users than the entire market early on. For example, 90% market share in 1997 would be roughly 60 million users, but by the start of 2007 90% market share would equate to over 900 million users. The result is that later versions of IE6 had many more users in total than all the early versions put together.
The release of IE7 at the end of 2006 resulted in a collapse of IE6 market share; by February 2007, market version share statistics showed IE6 at about 50% and IE7 at 29%. Regardless of the actual market share, the most compatible version (across operating systems) of IE was 5.x, which had Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, Unix, and most Windows versions available and supported for a short period in the late 1990s (although 4.x had a more unified codebase across versions). By 2007, IE had much narrower OS support, with the latest versions supporting only Windows XP Service Pack 2 and above. Internet Explorer 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, and 7.0 (Experimental) have also been unofficially ported to the Linux operating system from the project IEs4Linux.
See also Internet Explorer Mobile. Non-desktop versions of IE have supported Windows CE also.
Early versions of Internet Explorer such as 5 had a compatibility mode to run Internet Explorer 4, though this feature was dropped (also, Internet Explorer for Mac users could still use 4.5 after installing IE 5). While Microsoft claims it is impossible to keep multiple versions of Internet Explorer on the same machine, some hackers have successfully separated several versions of Internet Explorer, making them standalone applications. These are referred to as "standalone" IEs and have included versions 3 through 7.
Microsoft has discontinued standalone installers for Internet Explorer to the general public. However, there are unofficial procedures for downloading the complete install package. Internet Explorer standalone uses a feature introduced in Windows 2000 called DLL redirection to force it to load older DLLs than the ones installed on the system.
It is also possible to install Internet Explorer via Wine.
After Internet Explorer 7 is installed, an Internet Explorer 6 executable is still available in C:\WINDOWS\ie7, hidden by default. Launching this executable provides the user with the older IE6 interface, however web pages are rendered using the IE7 engine. The IE6 engine can be re-enabled by placing a file named "iexplore.exe.local" into the IE7 folder.
As an alternative to using IE standalone, Microsoft now makes available Microsoft Virtual PC images containing pre-activated copies of Windows XP with either IE 6 or IE 7 installed. Microsoft recommends this approach for web developers seeking to test their pages in the different versions of IE as the standalone versions are unsupported and may not work the same way as a properly installed copy of IE.
While a major upgrade of Internet Explorer can be uninstalled in a traditional way if the user has saved the original application files for installation, the matter of uninstalling the version of the browser that has shipped with an operating system remains a controversial one.
The idea of removing a stock install of Internet Explorer from a Windows system was proposed during the United States v. Microsoft court case. One of Microsoft's arguments, during the trial, was that removing Internet Explorer from Windows may result in system instability.
Removing Internet Explorer does have a number of consequences. Applications that depend on libraries installed by IE will fail to function, or have unexpected behaviors. The Windows help and support system will also not function due to the heavy reliance on HTML help files and components of IE. In versions of Windows before Vista, it is also not possible to run Microsoft's Windows Update or Microsoft Update with any other browser due to the service's implementation of an ActiveX control, which no other browser supports. In Windows Vista, Windows Update is implemented as a Control Panel applet.
With Windows 7, Microsoft added the ability to safely remove Internet Explorer 8 from Windows. Microsoft does not allow the dependencies to be removed through this process, but the Internet Explorer executable (iexplore.exe) is removed without harming any other Windows components.
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four historical provinces which make up the island of Ireland. The others are Leinster, Munster and Connacht.
There are nine counties in Ulster. Three of them are in the Republic of Ireland:
The other six counties make up all of Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom:
Because most of Ulster is in Northern Ireland, the name "Ulster" is also sometimes used to mean "Northern Ireland", even though Northern Ireland is only part of Ulster. This is called "totum pro parte" in Latin which means "the whole for a part".
List of mathematicians
This is a list of famous mathematicians.
Coden, Alabama
Coden is a small fishing village near Bayou la Batre, Alabama, USA. It is about 20 miles southwest of Mobile, near the Alabama/Mississippi border. The name of the town comes from "Coq d'Inde", which is French for "Turkey".
Around 1900, the area was known as a resort, which is a place people go to on their vacations. The Rolston Hotel brought visitors from all over the region. When it was destroyed by a fire in 1927 from a faulty fireplace only after it had survived 2 hurricanes, the community fell on hard times. The Rolston Hotel property now belongs to the City Of Bayou La Batre and is a park that is attracting people from other areas who want cool ocean breezes and peace that originally brought visitors. It is nice because it has the gentle sound of the water of Portersville Bay, fishing, and relaxation. Fresh seafood can be found on Shell Belt Road from fishing boats returning to Bayou Coden. Coden is on the southern shore of the mainland, across the Mississippi Sound from Dauphin Island and is one stop along Alabama's Coastal Birding Trail.
History Revisited at Portersville Bay
January 25, 2012
Once upon a time, the shoreline of Coden featured a resort area known as the “Coney Island of the South.” Tourists from all over the nation would come by train to visit the three-story Rolston Hotel. Two-hundred pound tarpons were pulled out of the surrounding bay waters. Jefferson Davis and Booker T. Washington walked the grounds.
The Mobile County Commission will mark this historic site, once known as Portersville, at a ceremony set for 10 a.m. Thursday, January 26 at Rolston Park located at Coden Belt Road, west of Hemley Road. The ceremony will include the unveiling of an historical marker citing the larger history of the site.
The event will be part of an ongoing program by the Mobile County Bicentennial Commission to mark similar spots of historical significance throughout the county during the year.
“We are one of the oldest communities in the country and it gives us a lot of history to draw from,” said Mobile County Commissioner Mike Dean, who recommended the marker at Rolston Park. “The history of this community is part of our heritage and we need to remember.”
The Mobile County Bicentennial Commission- a volunteer-driven, non-profit group that is planning the year-long county celebration - will be highlighting communities and unincorporated areas that once had a prominent role in the development of the area, but are less well-known today as cities and towns developed around them. A new historical calendar also will be presented at the Rolston Park event that features rarely-seen photos of the earliest days of the community.
“We are excited that our Bicentennial will bring to life the many threads of history that came together in this area,” said Mobile County Commission president Connie Hudson.
“The celebration gives us a chance to rediscover all the people and places that brought us to this time in our history,” said Mobile County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood.
The Mobile County Bicentennial Commission will be celebrating the history of Mobile County throughout the year, leading to a birthday extravaganza on the date of the county’s 200 year birthday on December 18
The duck-billed platypus ("Ornithorhynchus anatinus") is a small mammal. It is one of only two monotremes to survive today. It lives in eastern Australia. The plural of platypus is just 'platypus'.
The platypus lives in rivers and river banks. It is one of only two families of mammals which lay eggs. The other is the Echidna, which has four species. The platypus was first described in detail in the early 19th century, but it took a while before biologists in England believed what they were reading.
These mammals are called monotremes because they have a common rear opening known as the cloaca. Through this opening faeces and urine are voided (put out), and sexual activity takes place. This is a primitive ('basal') feature of tetrapods, which monotremes, birds and reptiles have today. The more 'advanced' ('derived') mammals have the system where the rear has two openings.
The platypus looks similar to a beaver with a brown, furry body and wide, flat tail. Unlike a beaver, it has no feet (no toes), which are good for swimming. When the platypus moves on land, it walks on its knuckles so the webs on its feet will not get in the way. Its nose is large and rubbery. The platypus is sometimes called "duck billed platypus" because of this nose. It is similar to a duck's bill (mouth). Platypus can be big or small. The larger platypus live in Tasmania while the smaller ones live in Queensland. Adults can be less than or up to . Its body can be from to long. Its tail can be from to long. Males are about one-third (1/3) larger than females.
The male platypus has a sharp spine on his two back ankles called "spurs" which contain a venom. It will not kill humans, but the poison has been known to kill small animals, such as dogs, and cause pain lasting as long as four months. The amount of poison increases during the breeding season.
The platypus sleeps during the day, and moves mostly at night. It is a very good swimmer and spends much of its time in the water. The toes on its feet are joined. When it swims, it pushes itself along by moving the front two feet. The tail and back feet help it to turn left or right, but does not make it faster.
The platypus eats other animals. It eats worms, insect larvae, shrimps and yabbies, which are a kind of freshwater crayfish. It digs these animals out of the bottom of the river with its beak, or catches them while swimming. Its nose can sense many things that other noses cannot. The platypus can sense electricity from other animals. It keeps its eyes shut when swimming, using only its other senses, such as hearing, touch and changes in the electrical field. The platypus can also hunt without using its eyes. These are adaptations to life in rivers where the water is opaque with sediment.
When on land, the platypus lives in burrows on the river banks. These holes are between and long. It makes these holes in the river bank a little above the water. It likes them hidden under roots. When a female platypus is pregnant, the female makes much larger holes, up to long. She blocks the tunnel with earth at several places. At the end of the tunnel, she builds a nest out of reeds for her eggs.
The platypus lays eggs in its nest. When the babies come out of the eggs after about ten days, they hold on to the mother. The mother makes milk for the new babies. The platypus does not have nipples, but milk comes through small openings in the skin. The young platypus drinks the milk from the mother's skin while she lies on her back. At six weeks the babies have fur and are able to leave the burrow for short trips. After four months they no longer need their mother's milk.
The long period as dependent young, the provision of milk, and the way the young learn through play, are all advanced features. The monotremes share them with all other mammals. The monotremes are a mixture of primitive and advanced traits, a situation known as mosaic evolution.
The platypus lives in small streams and rivers over a large area of eastern Australia. The map above shows this with dark purple. It has been seen in alpine lakes in Tasmania in the south, and north in Queensland as far as the Cape York Peninsula in tropical rain forest rivers.
In the past, platypus lived in South Australia but they no longer do so. There are platypus on Kangaroo Island, but these were brought there in an attempt to save animals people thought might become extinct. There are very few if any platypus left in most the Murray-Darling Basin. The water there is no good because people used it to grow plants, and cleared the trees from the land. It is strange that the platypus does not live in some healthy rivers. It does live in some less healthy coastal rivers, for example the Maribyrnong River in Victoria.
Platypus are difficult to see in the wild. They dislike areas with people, spend most of their time underground or under water, and sleep during the day. At Eungella National Park in Queensland, there are spots on the river with viewing areas where wild platypus can usually be seen each evening.
The first platypus specimen arrived in England in 1799 in the form of a skin of a dead platypus, so biologists could study it. At first, the scientists thought the skin was a joke, because they thought no animal could look so strange. They thought an Asian had made it from pieces of different animals.
"National Geographic" magazine had a story on the platypus in 1939. Many people had never heard of the platypus. The story told how hard it was to raise the babies in zoos. Even today, humans have raised only few. David Fleay at the Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria had the first successful zoo-raised platypus in 1946. He nearly did it again in 1972 at the David Fleay Wildlife Park at Burleigh Heads, Queensland, but it died at 50 days. Healesville raised another in 1998 and again in 2000. Taronga Zoo in Sydney bred twins in 2003, and had another birth in 2006.
The platypus will probably not die out completely in the near future. Ecologists say that it is “secure but faces future threat” (safe now but not in the future) or common but vulnerable (there are a lot now but they are not safe). They say this because people can make the water unsafe for the platypus.
Kenya is a country in East Africa, about halfway down, near the horn of Africa. It has the Indian Ocean to its east and Lake Victoria to its west. Kenya borders the Jubaland part of Somalia (east), Ethiopia (north), South Sudan (north-west), Uganda (west), and Tanzania (south). Kenya is about the size of France, and almost as large as Texas (U.S.).
The capital city of Kenya is Nairobi, which is the 14th largest city in Africa (after Accra, Ghana). Some cities on the seaside are Mombasa and Malindi on the Indian Ocean, Nyeri, Nanyuki, Naivasha, and Thika in the Kenyan Highlands, and Kisumu on Lake Victoria.
The first humans may have lived near the lakes of Kenya along the Great Rift Valley, which cuts Kenya from north to south.
Kenya's coast is tropical and gets very hot. Inland, it is drier and cooler where the mountains rise up. The highest mountain in Kenya is Mt. Kenya, at . Mount Kilimanjaro crosses over the south border, with Tanzania, but the highest part of Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania.
Kenya is home to many different indigenous peoples with their own cultures, languages, and histories. There are at least 44 living languages and 1 extinct language that is not spoken any more. English and Swahili are the official languages spoken in Kenya. Because of colonialism school-going Kenyans are required to learn English, and it is used in schools and universities.
Kenya was colonized by the British, who began taking land from indigenous peoples to build ranches. They also discriminated against Kenyans in their own land. Kenyans who were against this formed a group called the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, or Mau Mau that fought a war against Britain for independence. The British committed war crimes to stop the Mau Mau, but on December 12, 1963 they agreed to give Kenya independence.
For many years after independence, a single party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU), ruled the country. General elections were held every 5 years. However, all candidates for election to office had to belong to the ruling party, KANU. The party used the police to harass and torture socialists and communists in Kenya, and worked closely with Britain and the United States to keep them out of politics.
Uhuru Kenyatta is currently the president of Kenya. He is the first one to belong to a party other than KANU.
All Kenyans of school-going age are required to attend Primary School. However, school fees and required uniforms often keep students away from school. The Kenyan school system consists of 8 years of primary school, standard 1 through 8, 4 years of high school (Form 1 to 4) and 4 years of university but plans are underway of changing the system to 2 years in pre-school, 6 years in primary school,3 years in junior high school,3 years in senior high school and 3 years in university (2-6-6-3) in 2018. At the end of primary school, all students sit for a standardized exam called Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE). The grades attained in this exam determine which high school the student will attend. In Form 4 (this is the last year in high school), students sit for another exam called Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). The highest achieving students are granted admission into the 5 national universities (Nairobi, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenyatta University, Egerton University and Moi University). Tertiary colleges, like Globovillee college, also feed the diploma graduates to universities.
Kenya is a country of grassland, but it is not rich, but it is productive land especially in the highlands. This is a very dry grassland with poor soil. Kenya also has very few mineral resources but their main mineral is soda ash. Three-fourths of the country is covered with plains. They are low in altitude along the coast, but get higher further inland, making a large plateau. The part east of Lake Turkana is the only true desert, but the rest can be very close to desert.
Savannas usually get between 4 and 16 inches (100 to 400 mm) of rain in a year. These lands, however, are called savanna because of the type of plants that live there and how they get their rain. Savannas have a wet and dry season. During the wet season it can rain hard for long periods of time then not rain at all in the dry season. Savannas that have more rain often have many trees spaced out across their plains. These trees have deep roots or store water, like desert plants do, to live through the long, dry seasons without rain. Even drier savannas will have only grass, and that too only in a few clumps. The dry land is very bad for crops, but it is a wonderful place for all kinds of wild animals to gather and stay. That is why Kenya has a lot of parks where the animals are kept, and protected from all the hunters. People/tourists come from all over the world to go on photo safaris in Kenya's special wildlife parks. The people come to Kenya on safari to see animals such as the rhinoceros, giraffe, wildebeest, elephant, cheetah, antelope, and lion. These animals live on the savanna grasslands.
The wild herbivores move as they eat, and they never stay in one spot because there is not enough grass for all of them. People also usually raise cattle on the savanna. These animals are kept in one place and often eat up all the grass there.
Since the independence of Kenya in 1963, Kenya had usually had a one-party government. In 1991, a section of the constitution was scrapped, that automatically made it a multi-party state. It is a member of the British Commonwealth. The people are, like the Congo, divided into many tribes that often fight. However, Kenya's government is trying to get the people to work together and has encouraged them to run businesses and factories. Kenya is a developing country, slowly growing more modern.
In 2012, Kenya was divided into 47 counties. The head of each county is a governor.
The Swahili language is a language widely spoken in East Africa. In the language, its name is "". It is a Bantu language.
Swahili is spoken in a wide area from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique and in all of Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. Congo has five million first-language speakers and fifty million second-language speakers. Swahili has become a language with which people communicate within East Africa and the surrounding areas.
Swahili language to be spoken by the Swahili people, who live on the coast of East Africa and on the islands near the coast, including Zanzibar, which is now a part of Tanzania. Swahili is an official language in Tanzania and Kenya. It has been influenced by many other languages like Arabic .
The long jump is a sport in athletics (track and field), where athletes compete by comparing lengths of their jumps where athletes try to jump as far as they can. For this, the athlete runs down the runway to the jumping pit which is made of soft sand If a person falls backwards when jumping, this can decrease the length of their jump.
Long jump is a sport in which, the athlete who jumps the longest by legal means, wins. The athlete begins running from his or her starting position and after attaining sufficient velocity, jumps, landing in a sand pit, which is fitted with distance markers. There is a foul line, in the run-up area, that the athlete has to be aware of; jumping from beyond this line results in a ‘foul jump’. Jumpers try to get as close to the foul line as legally possible before initiating their jump.
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the Queen of the United Kingdom, and the other Commonwealth realms.
She became Queen when her father, King George VI, died on 6 February 1952. Since 9 September 2015, Elizabeth II has ruled longer than any other king or queen in the history of the United Kingdom. She has also ruled longer than any other living king or queen in the world, since the death of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej on 13 October 2016.
The countries of which she is Queen are known as Commonwealth realms. Their total population is over 129 million. Although Elizabeth II is the queen of each country separately, all are independent countries. Elizabeth II lives and spends most of her time in the United Kingdom. In all the other countries where she is queen, a person is chosen to represent her. This person may be known as the Governor General.
Elizabeth II has few political powers, and is not a ruler in the usual sense. She is Queen and interested in the running of her countries, but she does not tell the governments what to do. She has regular meetings with people from her governments, but it is they who run the countries. She performs ceremonies for the governments, gives out honours, and visits and supports many charities.
In 1947, the Queen married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died in 2021. The Queen and Prince Philip had four children, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Elizabeth was born in her grandparents' home at 17 Bruton street, Mayfair, London on 21 April 1926. Her father was Prince Albert, Duke of York, who later became George VI. His brother was the Prince of Wales. Her mother was Elizabeth, Duchess of York.
Princess Elizabeth was the granddaughter of King George V and Queen Mary. She was named after her mother. Her nickname was "Lilibet".
Princess Elizabeth had one sister, Princess Margaret. Margaret was born in 1930. The two young princesses were taught at home. They had a governess named Marion Crawford.
Princess Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the British Throne. The first in line was her uncle, the Prince of Wales. The second in line was her father, the Duke of York. She was third in line.
Elizabeth's grandfather, King George V, died in 1936. Her uncle became King Edward VIII. He was king only for a short time. He abdicated.
His brother, Elizabeth's father the Duke of York, became King George VI. One day, Princess Elizabeth would be Queen.
Elizabeth was 13 years old when World War II started. London was bombed. Elizabeth and Margaret were moved to Windsor Castle. This was for their safety. People thought that they should be sent to Canada. Their mother did not approve this idea.
Princess Elizabeth joined the British army in 1945. She drove a truck. She was a mechanic. In 1947, she made her first official trip outside Britain. She went with her parents to South Africa. She made a speech on her 21st birthday. She said her whole life would be devoted to the service of British Commonwealth and Empire.
Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 20 November 1947. The wedding was held in Westminster Abbey. The couple lived mostly at Clarence House in London. The couple has four children; Charles, Prince of Wales was born 14 November 1948. Their second child is a daughter. She is Anne, Princess Royal. She was born 15 August 1950. The Royal couple had two more sons. Prince Andrew, Duke of York was born 19 February 1960. Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex was born 10 March 1964. The princes and princess sometimes use the name Mountbatten-Windsor. This is their official last name when they need one (royal families rarely use them). Prince Philip died on 9 April 2021 at Windsor Castle, aged 99.
In 1951, the King's health was poor. He could not go to many public events. Princess Elizabeth started to make official visits for him. The King died on 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was crowned queen on 2 June 1953. The ceremony was held in Westminster Abbey. She wore a dress that was decorated with the national flowers of the countries of the Commonwealth. Many people bought TV sets to watch the event.
In 1952, Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip moved into Buckingham Palace in central London. This is the main official home of the monarch.
Her early years as Queen were spent traveling to many places. In 1953, the Queen and Prince Philip began an around the world tour in the Royal Yacht, "Britannia". Their tour went for 6 months. She was the first reigning monarch to visit Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
In October 1957, she made an official visit to the United States. She spoke to the United Nations General Assembly. She toured Canada. She became the first monarch to open the nation's Parliament. The Queen likes to go to Canada. She calls Canada her "home away from home".
In February 1961, she visited Turkey, India, Iran, Pakistan and Nepal for the first time. Since then, the Queen has made visits to most Commonwealth countries. She has also been to most European countries and many countries outside Europe.
In 1991, she became the first British monarch to speak to a joint session of the United States Congress. She goes to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings. She is the most widely traveled head of state in history.
When Elizabeth became Queen on 6 February 1952, she was officially Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka). These were the Commonwealth countries. She was also Queen of the Union of South Africa (which became a republic in 1961).
There were many more countries that she also ruled, because they belonged to the British Empire. One by one, many of the countries became independent, and as they gained independence she became Queen of many of them. Altogether, she was sovereign of 32 nations.
Some of the countries are now republics and have a president as "Head of State", while some of them keep the Queen as "Head of State". Queen Elizabeth II is the only monarch of more than one independent nation. The old British Empire became the Commonwealth of Nations.
It includes both monarchies and republics. It is now called "The Commonwealth". The Queen is the Head of the Commonwealth. She works hard to keep peace and good communication between all the nations that are members.
Ever since she became the Queen, Elizabeth has spent about three hours every day "doing the boxes". The "boxes" are two large red boxes that are brought to her from the Parliament every day. They are full of state papers sent to her from her various departments, embassies, and government offices. One of the most famous photos taken of Elizabeth as a teenager shows her with her father, the King, learning about "the boxes". Because she has been doing this since 1952, she knows a great deal about the government of the UK.
When the Queen is in London, she meets her Prime Minister once a week, to talk about events. She also has meetings with the First Minister of Scotland and other Ministers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the Prime Ministers and Ministers of other countries, when she is in their country, or when they visit London.
In the late 1990s, there were "referendums" in which the people of Scotland and Wales were asked if they wanted parliaments that were separate from the parliament of the United Kingdom. This was called a "devolution policy". As a result, the new Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly of Wales, were set up. The Queen opened the first sessions of these two bodies.
Recently, some people in Australia wanted a republic, with an elected or appointed President as Head of State instead of the Queen. In 1999, the people of Australia were asked in a referendum whether they wanted a republic. The decision of the people was to remain a monarchy. The Queen visited Australia the following year and said that she would continue to serve Australians as she had done for 48 years.
Elizabeth II is friends with many world leaders. Her first Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Robert Menzies called her "My Dear" and recited a poem that said "I will love her till I die". She has friendships with Mary Robinson, President of Ireland (1990-1997) and George W. Bush, who was the first American President in more than 80 years to stay at Buckingham Palace. Nelson Mandela, in a BBC documentary, called her "my friend, Elizabeth".
In May 2007, the Queen and Prince Philip made a state visit to the United States, in honour of the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement.
Elizabeth II, as the Monarch of the United Kingdom, is the "Supreme Governor" of the Church of England and sworn protector of the Church of Scotland. She is very interested in the Church of England, but the Archbishop of Canterbury runs the church. She rarely attends the yearly meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
The Queen is deeply religious. In her Christmas Day television broadcast in 2000, she said:
The Queen regularly goes to church wherever she is: at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, St. Mary Magdalene Church at Sandringham House, Crathie Kirk at Balmoral Castle, and Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, when she stays there in Holyroodhouse, her official home in Scotland.
The Queen often meets with leaders from other religions as well. In 1980, she became the first British Monarch to visit the Vatican, where she was welcomed by Pope John Paul II. She made another visit twenty years later on 17 October 2000. Queen Elizabeth II is Patron of "The Council of Christians and Jews" in the UK.
The Queen has shown a very strong sense of duty, ever since she was a girl. Her father, King George VI, was not meant to be king. Her uncle became king when her grandfather died. But he fell in love with an American woman who was divorced, and that wasn't allowed. So he had to give up being king very shortly after ascending. George VI didn't want to be king, because he was quite nervous and had a stammer. However, Elizabeth's grandfather said that he didn't think her uncle was very good as a king, and wanted George to reign, then Elizabeth. From the moment she realised that one day she would be Queen, she became very interested in her duties and did all she could to help her father. Her promise to serve her people all her life has always been very important to her. Some people think that now that she is old, perhaps she will retire ("abdicate") and let her son Prince Charles take over. People who know her well, including Prince Charles, have said that this will never happen.
The Queen has often shown courage, ever since she joined the military at 18. During a trip to Ghana in 1961, she was warned that it was dangerous to be near the President Kwame Nkrumah because people wanted to kill him. But she refused to stay away. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Harold Macmillan, wrote that the Queen got very impatient with people if they tried to treat her like "a film star".
In 1964, when the Queen was invited to Quebec, there were fears for her safety because there was opposition to her visit. There were suggestions that the tour should be cancelled. But the Queen's secretary said that the Queen would not want to be stopped from going to Quebec because of any danger. During the Trooping the Colour in 1981, she was shot at, but she carried on. The Queen was praised for her courage and for her ability to keep her horse calm. It was later discovered that the shots were blanks. In 1982, a man called Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace in the morning, and found the Queen's bedroom. He woke her up, and sat on her bed, until the guards came to take him away.
Throughout her long reign, Queen Elizabeth II has been supported in her duties by her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Philip promised to help the Queen on the day of her Coronation. The Queen was also helped by her mother Queen Elizabeth, known as "The Queen Mother", who lived to be 101 years old, and stayed very active in her old-age. The Queen is the patron of many organisations and charities. She has many invitations and official duties. Many of the duties have been shared by other members of the Royal Family, who have also become patrons of many organisations.
The Queen was sad about the broken marriages and divorces of three of her children, Prince Charles, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew. Prince Charles's marriage to Lady Diana Spencer was thought to be a fairytale wedding because Diana was young and beautiful, and they seemed very happy. But soon the marriage became troubled, and after their divorce, she was killed in a car accident in 1997. On 9 April 2005, Prince Charles married Camilla Parker-Bowles, whom he had loved for many years. In the year 2002, within a few months of each other, the Queen's mother and sister, Princess Margaret, both died.
As the Queen is old, people worry about her health, but she is rarely sick. However, she is leaving more duties to the younger members of the Royal Family, particularly to Prince Charles, who will become King when she dies.
The Queen's wealth is private. It is difficult to estimate how much she is worth. She owns Sandringham House, Balmoral Castle, and other large properties. She does not own Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, or the royal collection of art. These are worth millions of pounds. In 2010, "Forbes" magazine estimated her personal fortune at about US$450 million (£300 million).
In 1977, the Queen celebrated her Silver Jubilee. This jubilee marked the 25 anniversary of her coming to the throne. There was a royal procession in the golden State Coach. A service of thanksgiving was held at St. Paul's Cathedral. Millions of people watched on television. There were parties across the UK. Five commemorative stamps were printed in honour of the event. The Jubilee line of the London Underground opened in 1979, named after the anniversary.
In 2002, Elizabeth II celebrated Golden Jubilee. This jubilee marked the 50th anniversary of her coming to the throne. She toured the Commonwealth countries. There was a pop concert in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. A service of thanksgiving was held at St. Paul's Cathedral.
The Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their sixtieth (diamond) wedding anniversary on 19 November 2007, with a special service at Westminster Abbey. The night before, Prince Charles gave a private dinner party at Clarence House for twenty members of the Royal Family.
On the following day, 20 November, the Queen and Prince Philip went on a visit to Malta, where they had stayed from 1949 to 1951 after getting married. A Royal Navy ship, which was nearby, got its sailors to line up on deck to form a big number '60' for the couple.
In 2012, the Queen's 60 years as monarch were marked by Diamond Jubilee celebrations, including a grand pageant of boats on the Thames and a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral.
In 2017, the Sapphire Jubilee marked the Queen's 65 years as monarch. She was the first British monarch to have a Sapphire Jubilee. Instead of large celebrations, as usual, the Queen spent the day in "quiet reflection" because the day was also the anniversary of her father's death. Commemorative stamps and coins were made in honour of the Jubilee, and a portrait of the Queen wearing sapphire jewellery was reissued.
Also in 2017, the Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their seventieth (Platinum) wedding anniversary. They held a private celebration at Windsor Castle. Westminster Abbey, where they were married, held a three-hour bell ceremony.
When someone is talking about the Queen, she is called "The Queen" or "Her Majesty". When someone is talking to her, she is called "Your Majesty". After the first time, the person talking to the Queen can say "Ma'am". It is pronounced "Marm". These are the titles that she has had:
The Queen has several coats of arms. In the UK, they are known as the "Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom". Every British monarch has used these arms since the reign of Queen Victoria. The coats of arms used in Scotland and Canada are different to the arms used in England and Wales.
Elizabeth II is:
A question is what someone asks, usually when there is something that he or she does not know. In writing, a question mark ("?") comes at the end of a question. However, just because a question is asked does not mean there is an answer.
Sometimes a question has a simple answer like "Yes" or "No".
Sometimes a question has a more complicated answer like "Maybe", or "I don't know". There are so many types of questions and so many ways of answering questions.
People may give a short answer. People may give a long answer. It depends on the question.
Different kinds of why questions need different kinds of answers. A question like "Why did you do that?" clearly asks for an explanation. What that explanation might be depends on context. This kind of explanation is not right or wrong: it all depends on circumstance. The question and answer may also have to do with "who", "what", "when" and "where".
There are types or forms of explanations, including:
Many kinds of explanations are made up of more than one type.
An explanation can be valid or invalid or a combination of both. Some explanations may appear reasonable, but they turn out to be misleading or wrong.
A boss is a person who is in charge of workers in a company or organization. Bosses can have many different job titles. Simple examples include manager, supervisor and director.
Boss may also mean:
A gun (also called a firearm) is a weapon used to shoot one or more metal projectiles called bullets. Guns made of wood or bamboo are thought to have been made in China around 1000 AD. In the next few centuries they spread to other parts of Asia and to Europe where they were made of metal. Guns largely replaced catapults and bows and arrows when they became strong enough to reach out over longer distances to kill or hurt. They are of many different sizes. Some are small enough to hold in one hand. Others are large enough to sink a warship.