Rikunarita-ORG/Wikinium huggingface dataset:
# Western civilization

Plato, one of the most important Western philosophers
**Western civilization**, **western culture** or **the West** is made up of European culturally derived societies (most notably in the Hellenic and in the Classical Roman heritage, Western Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism), Democracy and Liberalism). This at least includes Western and Central Europe, English speaking North America, Australia and New Zealand. The identities of places such as Latin America, South Africa, Israel, the Philippines and Singapore are disputed due to those countries being a blend of both western and non western cultures.

It generally refers to the classical era cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Those cultures grew bigger across places around the Mediterranean sea and Europe. In modern times, they later grew bigger around the world mostly through colonization and globalization.

Until the 17th century, Western civilization was also called Christendom meaning the area where the Christian religion is in the majority (a view held by historian Arnold Toynbee). By this definition, most parts of Africa would now also be part of Western civilization since many Africans have been converted to Christianity since the 1950s.

Westernization is the transformation of a non western culture to Western standards, with historical examples being the Romanization of "barbarian" Europe in the classical period, the Hispanization of South America, Central America and the Philippines in the 1500s, the Anglicization of North America and Australia in the 1700s, the Francization of North and West Africa in the 1800s and the current Americanization of many first world nations such as Singapore and Israel through Hollywood, pop music, and American popular culture.

There are many supporters of westernization, and many who oppose its expanding at the expense of local cultures.

## Related pages

* Western world
* Western Europe
# Continental Congress

The Continental Congress
The **Continental Congress** was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies. It governed the colonies before and during the American Revolution and met three times from 1774 to 1789.

## First congress

In the First Continental Congress, delegates from twelve colonies (all but Georgia) met in September 1774 because of the Coercive Acts imposed by the British Parliament on Massachusetts to answer the Boston Tea Party and other resistance to new taxes. The following men served as the president of the First Continental Congress:

* Peyton Randolph (September 5, 1774 – October 21, 1774)
* Henry Middleton (October 22, 1774 – October 26, 1774)

## Second congress

The **Second Continental Congress** met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania starting in May of 1775. It was made up of representatives from all 13 colonies. On July 4, 1776 the Congress approved the United States Declaration of Independence, which was mostly written by Thomas Jefferson. The Second Continental Congress was formed partly to manage the colonial troops fighting the Revolutionary War. Troops fighting for the colonies were known as the militia army led by George Washington.

The following men served as president of the Second Continental Congress:

* Peyton Randolph (May 10, 1775 – May 23, 1775)
* John Hancock (May 24, 1775 – October 31, 1777)
* Henry Laurens (November 1, 1777 – December 9, 1778)
* John Jay (December 10, 1778 – September 27, 1779)
* Samuel Huntington (September 28, 1779 – March 1, 1781)
# Ur (supercontinent)

**UR** was a supercontinent, on the Earth, that formed 3.1 billion years ago in the early Archaean eon (during the Mesoarchaean era). It might have been the oldest continent on Earth, half a billion years older than Arctica. However, one other supercontinent, Vaalbara, may have come before Ur. Vaalbara might have formed about 3.6 billion years ago.

Ur joined with the continents Nena and Atlantica about 1 billion years ago to form the supercontinent Rodinia. Ur had survived as a single unit, until it was separated when the supercontinent Pangaea broke apart into Laurasia and Gondwana.

## Lifetime

Rocks that made up Ur are now parts of Africa, Australia, and India.

In the early period of Ur's existence, it was probably the only continent on Earth. Therefore, scientists call Ur a supercontinent, even though it was probably smaller than Australia is now. Today's New Zealand is similar to Ur, but rotated 90 degrees out of phase, and about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) too far south.

When Ur was the only continent on Earth, all other land was in the form of small granite islands and small land-masses like Vaalbara, which were not large enough to be continents.

## Timeline

* About 3.1 billion years ago, Ur formed as the only continent on Earth.
* ~2.8 billion years ago, Ur was a part of the supercontinent Kenorland.
* ~2 billion years ago, Ur was a part of the supercontinent Columbia.
* ~1 billion years ago, Ur was a part of the supercontinent Rodinia.
* ~550 million years ago, Ur was a part of the supercontinent Pannotia.
* ~300 million years ago, Ur was a part of the supercontinent Pangaea.
* ~208 million years ago, Ur was separated into parts of Laurasia and Gondwana.
* ~65 million years ago, the African part of Ur was separated as part of India.
* Today, Ur is part of Australia and Madagascar.

## Related pages

* Supercontinent

* Lerner, K. Lee; Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth, eds. (2003). "Supercontinents". Gale Cengage/eNotes.com. Archived from the original on 2011-11-01. Retrieved 2013-06-08.
* Zubritsky, Elizabeth (1997). "In the beginning, there was Ur". Endeavors.

## Other websites

* Zimmer, Carl (January 1997). "In Times of Ur". Discover Magazine.
# Ashmore and Cartier Islands

Location of the islands
The **Territory of the Ashmore and Cartier Islands** (Indonesian: *Kepulauan Pasir*) is the collective name for two groups of small low-lying uninhabited tropical islands. The islands are in the Indian Ocean north-west of Australia and south of the Indonesian island of Roti. The Australian mainland is about 340 kilometres (210 mi) to the southwest, the island of Timor (and Roti next to it) is about 160 kilometres (99 mi) to the north.

The territory includes **Ashmore Reef** (West, Middle, and East Islets) and **Cartier Island** 70 kilometres (40 mi) east with, a total area of 199.45 square kilometres (77.0 sq mi) within the reefs and including the lagoons, and 114,400 square miles (3.2×1012 sq ft) of dry land. They have a long coastline, over 74 kilometres (46 mi), but there are no ports or harbours, only offshore anchorage. Nearby **Hibernia Reef**, 42 kilometres (26 mi) northeast of Ashmore Reef, is not part of the territory, because it has no permanently dry land area, although large parts of the reef become exposed during low tide.

## Government

The territory is administered from Canberra by the Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage. Therefore, it is a dependency within the commonwealth. The islands are visited by seasonal caretakers.

## Images

* Cartier Island
* Hibernia Reef
* Ashmore Reef
# Auckland Islands

The **Auckland Islands** (Māori: *Motu Maha* or *Maungahuka*) are a group of islands that are part of New Zealand. The islands are 465 kilometres (289 mi) south of the South Island. There are no people on the islands.

The biggest island is Auckland Island. There are smaller islands around Auckland Island like Adams Island, Enderby Island, Disappointment Island, Ewing Island, Rose Island, Dundas Island, and Green Island.

The islands were found by Europeans in 1806.
# Palmyra Atoll

Map of Palmyra Atoll
**Palmyra Atoll** is an island in the North Pacific Ocean. No one lives there, but 4 to 20 people use this island, mainly scientists. It is managed as a nature reserve by the United States. It is known as the *Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge*.

In 2005, a team of scientists from around the world started to build a research station on the island. They wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the environment of the island.

## History

Palmyra Atoll was claimed by the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1862, and was taken by the United States in 1898 along with Hawaii. The atoll was not included in the Hawaii Admission Act of 1959, which made Hawaii a state, so it remained a US territory.

*  Archived 2017-07-16 at the Wayback Machine

## Other websites

* Palmyra atoll Archived 2005-09-06 at the Wayback Machine
* Palmyra Island Archived 2013-02-19 at the Wayback Machine
* Palmyra Atoll NWR Archived 2009-08-25 at the Wayback Machine
* The Curse of Palmyra Island – article
* The Curse of Palmyra Island – free book Archived 2009-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
* The Nature Conservancy in Palmyra Atoll Archived 2007-08-14 at the Wayback Machine
* Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium
* *United States v. Fullard-Leo* (Supreme Court opinion; includes a history of the island's ownership)
* WorldStatesmen- U.S.
* History of Palmyra Atoll Archived 2008-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
* The Palmyra Gazette Archived 2018-09-21 at the Wayback Machine
# Massively multiplayer online game

**Massively multiplayer online games** (**MMOGs**) are video games where players play together over the internet. These games are different from other online video games because they have very many players all playing with each other at the same time. Other online video games have fewer players playing with each other at the same time. The most popular kind of MMOG is the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Examples are *RuneScape*, *World of Warcraft* (WOW), *Roblox* and *Transformice*.

## Related pages

* Metaverse
# Fangame

**Fangames** are computer games created by fans based on popular video games. They are often made using C++, The Games Factory, Multimedia Fusion Express, and GameMaker. But now with free versions available of powerful game development tools available, some fangames are made in either Unity or Unreal Engine. One fangame planned to be produced by Capcom and Marvel Comics was 1992's fighting game *Marvel Task Force,* similar to *Justice League: Task Force*, another fighting game.

## Other websites

* The Click Wiki Archived 2007-09-12 at the Wayback Machine - information about Multimedia Fusion, The Games Factory.
# Rhine River

A map of the River Rhine
The **Rhine River** (German: *Rhein*, French: *Rhin*, Dutch: *Rijn*) is 1,230 kilometres (760 mi) long. Its name comes from the Celtic word "*renos*", which means 'raging flow'.

The Rhine is an important waterway. 883 kilometres (549 mi) can be used by ships, and boats can go to the Black Sea using the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. Many goods are transported over the Rhine, and the Rhine valley is also an important wine producing region. The river Rhine begins at *Tomasee*, a lake in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland, and runs through Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. It is the border between Switzerland and Liechtenstein and also the border between Germany and France. It is also the border between Switzerland and Austria. It is also the border between the Netherlands and Germany. It is the border between France and Switzerland. It runs through Basel, Bonn, Cologne and Duisburg. It also separates the cities of Mainz and Wiesbaden. The Rhine has 50 species of fish. The Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe.

## Geography

The river runs through only one lake on its way, Lake Constance, which is on the border of Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

The middle Rhine has many castles. Robber barons used some of them during the 15th–18th centuries. When the Industrial Revolution hit Europe, factories set up along its banks and emptied their waste into the River. The Salmon left and other fish became rare. After World War II, the Rhine Action Programme was set up to boost the Rhine's wildlife and reduce the pollution there.

Together with the Danube it formed most of the northern frontier of the Roman Empire.

* Rhine start at Tomasee.
* Rhine flows into Lake Constance
* Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen
* Rhine flows into the North Sea seen from space

## List of features

### Cities near the Rhine

These are large cities that are found near the Rhine:

**Switzerland: Basel

**France: Strasbourg

**Germany: Karlsruhe
* Mannheim
* Ludwigshafen
* Wiesbaden
* Mainz
* Koblenz
* Bonn
* Cologne
* Leverkusen
* Neuss
* Düsseldorf
* Krefeld (Uerdingen)
* Duisburg

**Netherlands: Arnhem (Nederrijn)
* Nijmegen (Waal)
* Utrecht (Kromme Rijn)
* Rotterdam (Nieuwe Maas)

Smaller cities that are found near the Rhine:

**Switzerland Chur
* Kreuzlingen
* Schaffhausen

**Liechtenstein: Vaduz

**Germany: Konstanz
* Breisach
* Speyer
* Worms
* Bingen am Rhein
* Rüdesheim am Rhein
* Neuwied
* Andernach
* Bad Honnef
* Königswinter
* Niederkassel
* Wesseling
* Dormagen
* Zons
* Monheim am Rhein
* Wesel
* Xanten
* Emmerich am Rhein

**Netherlands: Zutphen (IJssel)
* Deventer (IJssel)
* Zwolle (IJssel)
* Kampen (IJssel)
* Leiden (Oude Rijn)
* Dordrecht (Merwede)
* Wageningen (Nederrijn)
* Woerden (Oude Rijn)
* Wijk bij Duurstede (Neder Rijn / Kromme Rijn / Lek)
* Alphen aan den Rijn (Oude Rijn)

## Related pages

* Rhenium
# Free Territory of Trieste

| Free Territory of Trieste
Territorio Libero di Trieste (Italian)
Svobodno tržaško ozemlje (Slovene)
Slobodni Teritorij Trsta (Croatian)
Слободна Територија Трста (Serbian)
Teritorio Libero de Trieste (Triestine · Venetian) |
| --- |
|
Flag

Coat of arms

 |
| **Anthem:** Inno Di San Giusto
"Hymn to Saint Justus" |
|  |
| Largest city | Trieste |
| Demonym(s) | Triestine |

The **Free Territory of Trieste** was an independent territory in Southern Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of World War II. For a period of seven years, it acted as a free city.

The territory was established on 10 February 1947, by a protocol of the Treaty of Peace with Italy, to accommodate an ethnically and culturally mixed population in a neutral independent country. The intention was also to cool down territorial claims between Italy and Yugoslavia, due to its strategic importance for trade with Central Europe.
# Heat wave

Temperature difference in Europe from the average during a heat wave in 2003.
A **heat wave** is a period of unusually warm or very hot weather, and may be accompanied by high humidity. "Heat wave" is not an exact term: Any weather that feels warmer than people expect, might be called a heat wave. For example, temperatures normal for a warmer climate might be called a "heat wave" by people living in a place that is usually cooler. So a "heat wave" could mean a little warm weather, (like "several days as hot as summer, but in winter"), or temperatures so high they make history, (such as, "the hottest summer in a hundred years").

## Related pages

* Extreme weather
* List of heat waves

## Other websites

* FEMA: Extreme Heat
* Hot Weather Tips Archived 2006-06-21 at the Wayback Machine
* Marble Bar heatwave, 1923-1924Archived 2009-03-17 at Pandora Archive
# Arctic fox

| Arctic fox |
| --- |
|  |
| Scientific classification |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | *Vulpes* |
| Binomial name |
| Vulpes lagopus (Linnaeus, 1758)  |
|  |
| Arctic fox range |

The **Arctic fox**, (or 'white fox', 'polar fox', 'snow fox'), is Vulpes lagopus. It is a small fox which lives in the Arctic. The fox is about 10-12 inches high (25–30 cm) and it weighs from 6.5 to 21 pounds (2.7-9.5 kg).The females tend to be smaller than the males. The Arctic fox has a round body shape, short nose and legs, and short, fluffy ears. It has a deep thick fur which is brown in summer and white in winter. Arctic foxes live for about 3 to 6 years.

This fox can live in the cold north even when it is -30F. Their thick fur keeps them warm. The fur of the Arctic fox provides the best insulation of any mammal. Its broad, fluffy paws let it walk on ice and snow to look for food. The Arctic fox has very good ears so that it can hear small animals under the snow. When it hears an animal under the snow, it jumps and punches through the snow to catch its victim. Arctic foxes are omnivores. They feed on lemmings, arctic hares, fish, birds, eggs, fruit, insects, small seals, and carrion.

Arctic foxes do not hibernate. They grow thicker fur in the Autumn, and put on more than 50% of their body weight as fat for insulation and as energy reserves.

It takes 53 days for the pups to grow in the mother before they are born. The mother can produce 5-8 cubs, and sometimes as many as 25 cubs. Both the mother and the father help to raise their young pups. The young females leave the family and form their own groups and the males stay with the family. Arctic foxes form pairs in the breeding season. Litters are born in the early summer. The parents raise the young in a large den under the ground. The pups are born with brown fur. As they grow older, their fur turns white. Arctic foxes sleep with their tails wrapped around themselves. Arctic foxes also have a keen sense of smell. They can smell carcasses that are often left by polar bears as far away as 10 to 40 km.

* National Geographic. "Arctic Fox"
* Caleb, C Thinkquest. “Arctic Fox" Archived 2009-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
# Azerbaijani language

| Azerbaijani |
| --- |
| Azeri |
| *Azərbaycan dili*, آذربایجان دیلی, Азәрбајҹан дили |
| Azerbaijani in Perso-Arabic *Nastaliq* (Iran), Latin (Azerbaijan), and Cyrillic (Russia). |
| Pronunciation | [ɑːzæɾbɑjˈdʒɑn diˈli] |
| Native to | * Azerbaijan
* + Iran
* Russia
* Turkey
* Iraq
* Georgia
* Romania
* Moldova
* Ukraine
* Serbia
* Bulgaria
* Afghanistan
* Kazakhstan
 |
| Region | Iranian Azerbaijan, South Caucasus |
| Ethnicity | Azerbaijanis |
| Native speakers | 23.8493300000000000000000000 million (2022) |
| Language family | Turkic
* Common Turkic
	+ Oghuz
		- Western Oghuz
			* **Azerbaijani**
 |
| Early forms | Old Anatolian Turkish
* Ajem-Turkic
 |
| Standard forms | * Shirvani (In Republic of Azerbaijan)
* Tabrizi (In Iranian Azerbaijan)
 |
| Dialects | * Afshar Sonqori Yerevan various others
 |
| Writing system | * In Azerbaijan: Latin script (Azerbaijani Latin alphabet)
* In Iran: Perso-Arabic script (Azerbaijani Arabic alphabet)
* In Russia: Cyrillic script
* In Georgia: Georgian script (rarely)
 |
| Official status |
| Official language in | Azerbaijan Dagestan (Russia) Organization of Turkic States |
| Regulated by | * Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (North Azerbaijani)
* No regulatory body (South Azerbaijani)
 |
| Language codes |
| ISO 639-1 | `az` |
| ISO 639-2 | `aze` |
| ISO 639-3 | `aze` – inclusive code Individual codes: `azj` – North Azerbaijani `azb` – South Azerbaijani |
| *Glottolog* | `azer1255`  Central Oghuz |
| Linguasphere | part of 44-AAB-a |
| Areas that speak Azerbaijani   The majority speak Azerbaijani   A sizable minority speaks Azerbaijani |
|

**Azerbaijani** (/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒæni, -ɑːn-/ *AZ-ər-by-JA(H)N-ee*; *Azərbaycanca*, آذربایجانجا‎, Азәрбајҹанҹа) or **Azeri** (/æˈzɛəri, ɑːˈ-, əˈ-/ *a(h)-ZAIR-ee, ə-*), also referred to as **Azerbaijani Turkic** or **Azerbaijani Turkish** (*Azərbaycan türkcəsi*, آذربایجان تۆرکچه‌سی‎, Азәрбајҹан түркҹәси), is a Turkic language that is spoken in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran. Azerbaijani is the official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Dagestan in Russia.

Azerbaijani is also spoken in Dagestan (a republic of Russia), southeastern and eastern Georgia, northeastern Turkey and in some parts of Ukraine, northern Dobruja in Romania and in northwestern Iran. In Dagestan, there are over 30 different languages, and Russian is used as a lingua franca.

Notes
# ERASMUS programme

Logo of the European Commission's Erasmus+ programme
The **Erasmus Programme** is a European Union project to help students and university teachers move among EU countries and Turkey, Norway and Switzerland. Its name stands for "*European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students*". The name is also in honor of the humanist Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus.
# Greco-Roman world

The **Greco-Roman** or **Graeco-Roman world**, refers to geographical regions and countries who had the language, culture, government or religion of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

## Other websites

* Greek influence
# Planning

Consultants look at an old-fashioned plan-board. Together they discuss the work, who does what, and when.
 Nowadays computers may produce schedules, but the details must be discussed live with the whole team.
**Planning** is the way most organizations work to do big projects. It is thinking about what needs to happen, and then making a detailed plan. It may include a schedule.

All humans plan to some extent: it is a fundamental property of intelligent behaviour. In big organisations and government planning is a main activity. It combines forecasting developments with scenarios of how to react to them.

Forecasting is predicting what the future will look like, whereas planning predicts what the future *should* look like.

The "nuts and bolts" of planning are the documents, diagrams, and meetings, the objectives and the strategy to be followed. Beyond this, planning has a different meaning depending on the context in which it is used.

The counterpart to planning is self-organization, when order emerges spontaneously out of seeming chaos.
# Hand grenade

M67 American grenade
Seven ceramic hand grenades of 17th Century found in Ingolstadt Germany
A **hand grenade** is a small explosive device that is thrown at a target. It can be used as a weapon against an enemy soldier or vehicle. The most common type of grenade is the fragmentation grenade. Fragmentation grenades send out lots of very fast, very small fragments when they explode. Hand granades are usually thrown, and explode soon after that. Some specially designed grenades are fired from rifles or specially made grenade launchers. There are grenades which contain tear gas. These are used to control riots.

Hand grenades are used by the infantry. There are three main types: one which gives a big powerful blast to destroy bunkers, another which starts fires and another which contains shrapnel to hurt enemy soldiers. Most grenades are shaped like an egg, with a metal-arm on its top and a ring. When the ring is pulled out, the arm flips up and ignites a fuse. The user then has a few seconds to throw it and take cover, usually about 5 seconds. It explodes on impact and may injure or even kill people.

## History

Early grenades were iron balls, filled with gunpowder and with a long fuse that its user must light up with a match before throwing. Some were too big to throw, so soldiers rolled them. Some armies assigned special soldiers called "grenadiers" to throw or roll grenades.

Grenades in the early 20th century exploded on contact. This was changed during World War I to time fuses. The German army used stick grenades (grenades with handles) during World War I and World War II. The Soviet Army used different grenades for attack and defence.

## Related pages

* Smoke grenade
* Ammunition
# Mad scientist

This is a stereotypical mad scientist. Many people think about something like this when they hear or see the word "mad scientist".
A **mad scientist** is a fictional character who is a genius, but who wants to find out and do what no one else ever has and often what he should not. The character Victor Frankenstein is often said to be the first mad scientist, though Coppelius from The Sandman could also be called a mad scientist and The Sandman was published a year before Frankenstein was.

They often work with fictional technology, they either fail to recognise the dangers of their actions or don't care about the consequences, and some attempt to play God.

Mad scientists are often shown as evil (evil genius) or insane. Some may be neutral or good, even if their actions are dangerous and irresponsible, which can make them mad scientists.