alibayram/wikipedia-40-langs huggingface dataset:
Claude Monet

Claude Monet (14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French impressionist artist.
One of his most famous paintings was called Water Lilies, which he repeated many times in various conditions.

Monet was born in Paris, France. His father wanted him to help run the family's grocery business. However, Monet wanted to be an artist. When he was young he met the painter Eugène Boudin who taught him to use oil paints, and encouraged him to paint out of doors.

Monet joined the French Army in Algeria for two years from 1860 to 1862. When he became ill he left the army to study art at university. He did not like the way art was taught, and joined the painter Charles Gleyre in his studio. He met other artists here, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley. They shared their ideas about painting.

In 1866 Monet had a child with Camille Doncieux, who had been his model. They married in 1870 and had two children, Michel and Joseph. In 1870 he moved to England to escape the Franco-Prussian War, and in 1871 he moved to Argenteuil near Paris where he painted some of his most famous pictures. In 1873 he painted Impression, Sunrise, showing the sea at Le Havre. When this picture was shown in 1874 one critic took its title and called the group of artists "Impressionists". He intended to make fun of the artists, but the name has stuck and this is what people today call this style of painting.

In 1879 Camille died of tuberculosis. Alice Hoschedé decided to help Monet by taking care of his children as well as her own. In 1883 they moved to a house in Giverny where Monet planted a large garden. Monet married Alice in 1892.

Monet found that his garden inspired him to paint pictures of it, particularly the water lilies. Alice died in 1911, and his son Jean was killed in World War I in 1914.

Monet used broad brush strokes to build up his pictures, and painted quite quickly to try and get the idea of the light he could see into his paintings. If you go very close to one of his pictures it is hard to see what it shows, but if you stand back everything becomes clear.

His later paintings include series, in which he paints the same subject in different lights. For example, he painted a series of pictures of haystacks in a field, and another series of pictures of the west front of Rouen Cathedral. There are many paintings of the lilies in his garden at Giverny.

Related pages 
 Impressionism
 Giverny

References 

Artists from Paris
French painters
Impressionist painters
1840 births
1926 deaths
Exodus

Exodus is the second book in the Torah. Exodus in Hebrew is called Shemot, which means 'names.'

Exodus means 'going out' in Latin. It is about how the Hebrew people were led out of Egypt by God. Moses, their leader, hears God's words and then tells the Israelites. Exodus ends with God's laws and his instructions on how to build a holy container called the Ark of the Covenant.

Summary 
After the Hebrews went to Egypt to get food, the old Pharaoh died, and a new Pharaoh came to power and made each Hebrew a slave. The Pharaoh made the Hebrews work very hard and told his soldiers to throw their babies into the Nile River. One baby, Moses, was put in a reed basket set adrift on the Nile. He was later rescued by an Egyptian princess, grew up in Pharaoh's palace, and later killed an Egyptian slavedriver. Moses escaped from Egypt and lived away from his people in Midian. He lived with Jethro, his father-in-law.

One day, while Moses was tending his flocks, God appeared in a burning bush to Moses and instructed him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. As Moses had no confidence in doing this, God gives him his brother Aaron to help him. Aaron was good at speaking and helped Moses speak to the Pharaoh.

When he returned to Egypt, Moses asked the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but the Pharaoh refused. Through God's power, Moses causes ten plagues to come on Egypt.

The last plague was the death of all the firstborns in Egypt. Only the Israelites' firstborns were spared, as they had the blood of a young lamb on their door, so God did not let the Angel of Death enter their houses (12:23). The Pharaoh finally decided to let the Israelites go.

While the Israelites were crossing the Red Sea, the Pharaoh changed his mind and decided to pursue them with his troops. The Israelites passed safely as Moses parted the Sea with his staff by God's power. Once the Hebrews all passed the sea closed, leaving all the Pharaoh's troops to drown.

Later, at Mount Sinai, Moses received the law and the Ten Commandments from God. But the Israelites sinned against God by worshiping an idol (a golden calf). Moses broke the first two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in anger. God later gave him another two. He also told Moses how to build the Ark of the Covenant.
Ten Times the Israelites rebelled and tested the L-D during Exodus despite his revealation to them; according to rabbanic literature it was because "..They were still laboring under the slave mentality of the Egyptian bondage."

Media 
The book has been filmed several times, as The Ten Commandments and The Prince of Egypt.

References

Old Testament books
Books of the Hebrew Bible
6th-century BC books
Stretching (body piercing)

Stretching is a word used to describe a kind of body modification. It is when a person widens a pierced hole in their body.

Stretching is usually done a little bit at a time, so the pierced hole would not bleed or get infected.

Stretching methods

There are some common ways used to stretch piercings, of different origins and useful for different people.

 Tapering — The most common way to stretch, tapering uses a taper, a piece of jewelry which is smaller at one end and larger at the other. The taper is covered  with something slippery, like oil or soap, to make it slide through the skin more easily. Then it is pushed through the hole of the piercing until it is almost completely through. Thicker jewelry is then pushed into the piercing. Tapers come in many sizes and are usually sold by the thickness of the large end. Most tapers are about 2 or 3 inches long. 

 Dead Stretching — In dead stretching, jewelry is forced through without trying to widen the piercing hole first. This can hurt the body, and make scars, if it is not ready to hold the new jewelry. Some piercings will stretch a little on their own and larger jewelry can be put in without  injury.

 Teflon Tape Stretching — The jewelry is taken out, and a thin layer of non-sticky teflon tape is wrapped around it to make it thicker. The jewelry is then put back in. If a lot of tape is wrapped around the jewelry, eventually a person's piercing holes can be very wide.

 Weights — Big, heavy jewelry objects can be used to stretch piercings.

Gauges and other measuring systems

Body jewellery is measured in gauges from 20g up to 000g; sizes larger than that are measured in fractions of inches. In Europe they are measured in millimeters.

The table below is not exact, but very close.

Body piercing
Pripyat

Pripyat (Ukrainian: При́п'ять, Pryp”iat’) is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine. It lies in Kyiv Oblast, near the border with Belarus. It was home to Chernobyl nuclear power plant workers. The city was abandoned in 1986 after the Chernobyl accident, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history. Before being abandoned, about 48,000 people lived in the city. The city was founded in the 1970s, when the nuclear power plant opened.
The site today is practically a museum showing the late Soviet era. With entirely abandoned buildings, including abandoned apartment buildings (four of which were yet to be used), swimming pools and hospitals, everything inside remains, from records to papers to children's toys and clothing. Pripyat and the surrounding area will not be safe for people to live there for several centuries. Scientists think that the most dangerous radioactive elements will take up to nine hundred years to decay sufficiently to render the area safe.

The city is entirely accessible and is relatively safe on the road, although it is unsafe to go around the city without a radiation dosimeter that measures exposure. The doors of all the buildings are open to reduce the risk to visitors, although many have accumulated too much radioactive material to be safe to visit.

Related pages
 Chernobyl disaster

Other websites 

 Site about Pripyat created by its former residents. Contains photos from the deserted town of Pripyat and much other useful information 
 Pripyat Ghost Town (1970-1986): a tale by Elena Filatova with photos
 Greenpeace pictures with no text 
 Pripyat - Ghost Town II (www.opuszczone.com)

Ghost towns
Nuclear accidents
1970s establishments in Europe
1986 disestablishments in Europe
20th-century establishments in Ukraine
Cities in Kyiv Oblast
Thyroid cancer

Thyroid cancer is cancer in the thyroid gland. Doctors can find thyroid cancer by checking for swelling in the neck, blood tests, special scans, or taking a  biopsy.

Types
There are four types of thyroid cancer:

References

Cancer
Containment building

A containment building is a building with a nuclear reactor in it. It is built around the reactor to keep the radiation from getting out, if something happens to the reactor. The containment building is the last barrier to the radiation getting into the environment. Containment systems for nuclear power reactors are distinguished by size, shape, materials used, and suppression systems. The kind of containment used is determined by the type of reactor, generation of the reactor, and the specific plant needs.

The Chernobyl accident was very bad partly because the Soviet RBMK reactors used at the Chernobyl power plant had no containment buildings. The explosion, however, was so powerful that it is unlikely a containment building would have completely prevented the release of radiation.

Layers of nuclear defense 
The diagram shows the order of defense layers for a nuclear reactor. The first layer of defense is the inert, ceramic quality of the uranium oxide itself. The second layer is the air tight zirconium alloy of the fuel rod. The third layer is the reactor pressure vessel made of steel more than a dozen centimeters thick. The fourth layer is the pressure resistant, air tight containment building. The fifth layer is the exclusion zone around the reactor.

Notes

Nuclear power plants
Chernobyl

Chernobyl or Chornobyl () is a city in northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus.

It was an important center of trade and commerce, especially in the 19th century. The city is 14.5 kilometers (9 miles) south of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, which became known for the Chornobyl disaster. The plant exploded on 26 April 1986. Clouds of dangerous radioactive particles were released.  The power plant started leaking dangerous radioactive matter. More than 100,000  people were evacuated from the city and other affected areas. 

Despite the fact that radiation is still being emitted from the nuclear disaster site, the 800-year-old city of Chornobyl survives. As of 2004, government workers still police the zone. They try to clean up radioactive material. Hundreds of people — mostly  the elderly — have decided to live with the dangers and have returned to their homes in the zone's towns and villages.  Their population was highest in 1987, when there were more than 1200 people.  In 2003, there were about 300. There are currently 704 people living in Chornobyl, the houses that have people inside have a sign on the outside saying, Owner of this house lives here.

In 2022, as part of Russia's invasion into Ukraine, Chernobyl has since been under Russian military control.

Establishments in Ukraine
1190s establishments in Europe
 
Cities in Kyiv Oblast
Klaus Wowereit

Klaus Wowereit (born 1 October 1953) is a German politician. He was born in Berlin. He was the SPD Governing Mayor of Berlin from 2001 to 2014. He and his party won 31.4% of the votes in the 2001 state elections, and he started a coalition government with Linkspartei.PDS. He was President of the Bundesrat in 2001/02. He was re-elected as Governing Mayor in 2006, and has carried on the coalition.

He supports Kurt Beck as "Kanzlerkandidat", the SPDs nominee for the Chancellorship of Germany. Many people wanted Wowereit to be the candidate, not so many after he decided to stay in coalition with Die Linke after the 2006 elections.

He is openly gay.

Background 
Klaus Wowereit attended the Ulrich-von-Hutten-Oberschule in Berlin until 1973. He went on to study law at the Free University Berlin, passing his first State Exams in 1981 and the second set in 1984.

Political career 
After university Wowereit spent three years as a civil servant in the Senate Office (that is, Ministry) of the Interior. At the age of 30, he was became the youngest councillor in the city of Berlin when he was elected a councillor of Tempelhof Borough. After eleven years he stood for the Berlin House of Deputies Abgeordnetenhaus which is City's Landtag or state legislature in 1995. In December 1999, he was elected chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Abgeordnetenhaus. From June 2001 to December 2014 he served as Governing Mayor, Regierender Bürgermeister, of Berlin.

Sexual orientation 
Wowereit is one of the most famous German politicians who has openly declared himself homosexual. He came out at a convention of the Berlin SPD just before the 2001 mayoral elections, when he said "" ("I am gay, and it's good that way".) This is now a famous quotation in Germany. He probably came out so that the tabloid newspapers could not publish what they thought were embarrassing stories about him.

Wowereit is not the only gay mayor of a large European city. Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, is openly gay, and Ole von Beust, the former mayor of Hamburg, is also gay.

In September 2007, Wowereit published an autobiography called "...und das ist auch gut so.", after his famous coming out phrase.

References

Other websites 

 Konsequent Berlin (Personal website for British and French readers)
 CityMayors.com profile

1953 births
Living people
Gay men
German autobiographers
German LGBT people
German politicians of the Left Party
LGBT politicians
Politicians from Berlin
Politicians of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sino-Soviet split

The Sino-Soviet split (1956-1966) was a time when the relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union weakened during the Cold War. Eventually, China's leader, Mao Zedong, decided to break the alliance with the Soviet Union.

The Soviet leader, Stalin, wanted to help spread communism in the world, including China. In the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Soviets gave weapons and supplies to the Kuomintang, and advised the Communists to ally with them against the Japanese Empire. The Chinese Civil War continued, however. After World War II, Stalin and the Soviet Union helped the Communists. Chinese leaders disliked the Soviet leaders for not helping Mao and the Communists from the start.

The split 

Suddenly, in 1953, Stalin died.  Mao saw Stalin as the leader of Communism, but also had a bad relationship with the Soviet Union throughout his time as leader.   The new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, was not like Stalin.  He did not want capitalism to collapse like Stalin did.  Mao got angry about this, and he wanted Nikita Khrushchev to help him fight the imperialists.  Khrushchev said no, and then Mao decided that if Khrushchev was not going to cooperate, they would not work with each other anymore.

Later, there was peace between the USSR and China, but they were suspicious of each other.  They were no longer allies, and Mao's supporters said that it had been a victory.

History of the Soviet Union
History of the People's Republic of China
Awake

Being Awake is a daily brain state. It is being in a state of consciousness where one is conscious about the surroundings. The person (or animal) can respond to these surroundings by communicating, walking, eating, and more. 

Being awake is the opposite of being asleep. When you are asleep most responses to your surroundings are turned off, and you are unconscious of what is happening around you.

Animals are awake for some hours each day or night. Animals which are awake during the day are called diurnal. Animals which are awake during the night are called nocturnal.

Diurnal animals include humans. They wake up in the morning and are awake during the day. When they are awake they can eat and move. 

Basic English 850 words
Liu Bei

Liu Bei (; 161-223) was the founder of the Chinese Shu Han dynasty and its first Emperor.

Early life 

He went into battle against the Yellow Turban Rebellion rebellion in 184, along with his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Later (in 190) he joined Gongsun Zan against the evil Dong Zhuo who had seized the Han emperor Xian. 

After Dong lost, the emperor was in the clutches of his followers—until Cao Cao saved him and seized control over him. Cao Cao tried to conquer all   of China for the emperor but in fact wanted to conquer it for himself. He defeated Liu Bei once at the Battle of Changban in 207 but was not able to win the Battle of Red Cliffs against the united forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, a warlord in the South.

Sun Quan granted Liu Bei some land in the West of his domain, and the two agreed to fight Cao Cao again if necessary.

Death 

From 211 to 214, Liu Bei conquered the country Ba Shu in the West. Because he had now an empire of his own, Sun Quan demanded his western regions back but Liu Bei declined. This made Sun Quan quite angry.

After several useless battles against Liu Bei's general Guan Yu, Cao Cao chose to make a union with Sun Quan. They attacked Guan Yu with their allied forces and overthrew him in 219. Liu Bei was mad and swore revenge for the death of his brother and the loss of an important part of his empire.

When Cao Cao died in 220, his son Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian of Han to give up his power. Cao Pi declared himself Emperor of the Wei Dynasty. Liu Bei found that offensive, for he was a member of the royal family of Han and considered himself the righteous Emperor of China. That's why he declared himself emperor of the Shu Han in 221. The next year, Sun Quan claimed the title Emperor of Wu for himself.

Liu Bei was really mad at Sun Quan's arrogance. In 222 he opposed him in the Battle of Yiling but failed due to Lu Xun's (a Wu general) great tactics. After his defeat Liu Bei got ill and died a year later. His son Liu Shan followed him as emperor.

Reference 

161 births
223 deaths
Emperors of Three Kingdoms era
Cao Cao

Cao Cao ( 155-220) was a Chinese general. He managed to control the last Han Emperor Xian and conquered the whole northern China.

Cao Cao gathered an army in 184 to fight against the Yellow Scarves rebellion. After the Dong Zhuo had seized the Emperor Liu Bian in 189 and deposed him in favour of his brother Liu Xie (Emperor Xian), a coalition of local warlords all over the country arose against Dong. It was called by Cao Cao and led by Yuan Shao, and many powerful warriors joined it.
After Dong Zhuo's death through the hands of his foster son Lü Bu, Emperor Xian was controlled by Dong's associates. He fled to Chang'an (the old capital) in 195 but almost starved to death. Cao Cao saved him in 196 and brought him to his own place at Xuchang.

With the emperor under his control, Cao Cao managed to kill most of the minor warlords in Northern China and was even able to defeat Lü Bu and the powerful Yuan Shao at Guandu in 200. He tried to conquer the south, too, but Liu Bei and Sun Quan opposed him and defeated his forces in the Battle at Red Cliffs. Cao Cao led several campaigns against the south, but with fairly low success. Also, he managed to get the famous general Guan Yu killed by Sun Quan's general Lü Meng.

Cao Cao died in 220, and his son Cao Pi followed him in control of the emperor. He eventually deposed him the same year and became Emperor Wen of Wei, making his father posthumously Emperor Wu of Wei.

Poetry

Cao Cao was a poet. Only some of his poetry can be found today. 

155 births
220 deaths
Three Kingdoms generals
Chinese poets
Zhang Fei

Zhang Fei (167–221) was a warrior in ancient China. He fought along with his brothers Liu Bei and Guan Yu for the restoration of the Han Dynasty.

In the battles against the Dong Zhuo, Zhang fended off the enemy general Lü Bu and was greatly rewarded by his then-ally Cao Cao.

Zhang Fei was later killed by his own officers, because after the death of his brother Guan Yu, he became a drunk.

167 births
221 deaths
Three Kingdoms generals
Dong Zhuo

Dong Zhuo (; 139 – 192) was a general in ancient China. He took control over the imperial court of Han in 189. He was later killed by his own foster son, Lu Bu.

Dong Zhuo had been a successful warrior and general since his youth. However, he was defeated by Yellow Scarves rebels in 184 and was demoted. After the death of Emperor Ling, the eunuchs kidnapped the young follower Liu Bian and his brother Liu Xie. Dong Zhuo freed them and intimidated the kidnappers so they committed suicide by drowning in the Yellow River. Dong then brought the emperor and his brother back to the capital Luoyang and seized control over the court. Because Liu Bian seemed too stupid to him, Dong deposed him and made his brother Liu Xie emperor instead (Emperor Xian). In 190 he poisoned Liu Bian.

Dong Zhuo became arrogant and violent. He even forced the emperor to move to the city Chang'an as capital instead and burned Luoyang. Because of that, many warlords and Han generals all over the country formed an alliance to destroy Dong's reign. After some fierce battles, Lü Bu knew that his position was lost, and killed his foster father Dong in 192.

Dong's associates Guo Si and Li Jue continued to control the emperor, but they started struggles and the emperor escaped. He was rescued by Cao Cao in 196.

139 births
192 deaths

Three Kingdoms generals
Sun Quan

Sun Quan (; 182-252) was an ancient Chinese warlord and founder of Eastern Wu in 222.

As a warlord 
His brother Sun Ce conquered Southeastern China from 197 until his death in 200. Sun Quan was in charge at the age of 18. He continued to expand his empire and drew back the forces of Cao Cao in the Battle at Red Cliffs (along with Liu Bei). To have better opportunities against the north, he gave his Jing Province to Liu Bei so that he could create an empire on his own. Liu Bei conquered the other western territories from 211 to 214 and set his brother Guan Yu in charge of defending Jing.

Now that Liu Bei had his own empire, Sun quan demanded his western province back from him, but Liu Bei declined. In alliance with Cao Cao, Sun Quan's general Lü Meng captured Guan Yu in 219 and slayed him along with his son, Guan Ping.

After Cao Cao's son Cao Pi started the Wei Dynasty in 220, Liu Bei also wanted to be an emperor and declared himself Emperor of Shu Han in 221. He considered himself the righteous heir of the abdicated Han emperor Xian. Sun Quan declared himself King of Wu in 222. Liu Bei found that offensive, and launched a great attack against Sun Quan but failed—due to Lu Xun's great tactics. He died a year later.

Under the regency of the Shu prime minister Zhuge Liang, the alliance between Shu and Wu was renewed. Both empires did not have to worry about their defense in the west/east after that.

As Emperor 
In 229, Sun Quan declared himself Emperor of Wu. His attacks on Wei were all in vain but he managed to develop his country very well. After his son Crown Prince Sun Deng died in 241, he made his now-oldest son Sun He Crown Prince. All along the next nine years, He would have trouble with his brother Sun Ba who wanted to be Crown Prince instead. Their fight even caused the honorable general Lu Xun to die of anger in 245.

In 250, Sun Quan was sick of his sons' struggles and deposed them both as princes. Instead he made his youngest son Sun Liang Crown Prince. Two years later, Sun Quan died at the age of 70. For his follower was too young to rule on his own, the official Zhuge Ke became regent.

182 births
252 deaths
Emperors of Three Kingdoms era
Conference

A conference is an event where people get together to discuss things.  For example, scientists usually present their findings at conferences.  Many other types of people other than scientists attend conferences also. Business people sometimes come together to talk about things. International business conferences are very common because it allows individuals to showcase their knowledge to the world. Using modern media, like the Internet, or the telephone people can talk to each other that are not in the same place. This is then called a conference call. Very often, digital video cameras can be used to transmit images, as well as sound.

References 

Communication
Pasture

A pasture is a piece of land. Usually specific grasses and herbs are grown on it. Then livestock is put on for grazing. Rangeland is similarly used, but less controlled.

Agriculture
Grasslands
Hectare

A hectare is a unit of measurement of area. It is equal to 10,000 square metres, or a square with sides of 100 by 100 metres. 100 hectares is 1 square kilometre. Therefore, a farm with 200 hectares of fields has 2 square kilometres of fields.

The word hectare means 100 ares. Hecto is the metric prefix of 100. The are is a metric unit of area, equal to 100 square metres.

Units of area
Zhuge Liang

Zhuge Liang (181-234) was a Chinese politician and general of the ancient Shu Han Dynasty.

He helped his lord Liu Bei conquer the country Ba Shu from 211 to 214, along with Pang Tong. After Liu Bei's death in 223, Zhuge Liang was a regent for the new emperor Liu Shan. Zhuge Liang attempted to conquer the Southern Wei territories five times but had no success. He died in 234, leaving the regency to Jiang Wei.

181 births
234 deaths
Chinese politicians
Wavelength

A wavelength is the length of the shortest repeating part of a "sine wave". All waves can be formed by adding up sine waves. That is, every wave is a total of sine waves, which may be identified by Fourier analysis. It is also known as the distance between a crest and another crest of a wave (highest point above equilibrium) or the distance between a trough and another trough of a wave (lowest point below the equilibrium of a wave).

Examples of waves 
Waves are everywhere.  Examples of waves include:
 sound
 electromagnetic spectrum including
 radio wave
 light
 water waves such as ocean surface waves
 earthquake waves

"Length" of a sine wave
The sine wave has a pattern that repeats. The length of this repeating piece of the sine wave is called the wavelength. The wavelength can be found by measuring the length or distance between one peak of a sine wave and the next peak. The wavelength can be found in many other ways too.  As the frequency of a wave increases, the wavelength decreases Thus, the frequency and wavelength are in inverse proportionality.   

There are other properties of waves and sine waves, such as their frequency, amplitude, phase, and speed.

A symbol used for wavelength most often is the Greek letter lambda (λ).

Wave physics
Mechanical vibrations
Francis Scott Key

Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779 - January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer and poet. He is best known for writing a poem which later became the words of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States of America. 

His mother was Ann Phoebe Penn Dagworthy (Charlton) and his father was Captain John Ross Key. He graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland in 1796.

Key was an owner of slaves, and in the later administration of Andrew Jackson he was the United States Attorney in Washington, D.C.

1779 births
1843 deaths
19th-century American poets
Writers from Maryland
Latex

Latex, also known as rubber, is a natural polymer. It is taken from the milky sap of the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), native to the tropical forests of Central and South America.  

Today, much of the natural latex comes from Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Polymers made from artificial latex are called "synthetic rubber."  

Properties 
 Elasticity
 High mechanical resistance
 Non-adherent
 Electrical insulator
 Chemical resistance
 Insoluble in organic solvents

Vulcanization makes rubber useful in many products:
 Tires
 Shoe soles
 Flexible tubes
 Gloves
 Raincoats
 Bed mattresses

Natural materials
Polymers
Drum

A drum is a musical instrument. It is played with the hands, sometimes using a drum stick (a stick for hitting a drum). A collection of drums and cymbals is called a drum kit, or drum set. 

Drums are used to keep a steady beat in a song. They give music of many kinds a sense of feeling. For example, to make a song to be slow or fast, the drums play slower or faster.

A drum is a percussion instrument, which means it makes a noise by being hit.  There are many types such as cymbals and bells; even a simple piece of wood can be used as a percussion instrument. 

The drum kit is a group of drums & cymbals to make beats for music. Drum kits are used in most types of popular music, including rock, jazz, country, blues, and many others.

Acoustic Drum
Acoustic drum kit is a set of drums and cymbals designed to be played as one instrument. A standard drum kit is made from a bass drum, snare drum, set of tom toms, hi hat cymbals, a ride cymbal and a crash cymbal. The sound is produced by striking the drums or cymbals with a drum stick or mallet.

Electric Drum
An electric drum kit is essentially a collection of sample pads set up in the same way as an acoustic drum kit. The pads themselves are designed to produce little acoustic sound, other than the dead sound of the wooden drum sticks hitting rubber. The drum kit sends electrical signals to an amplifier, speaker, or pair of headphones to be heard.  This makes them ideal for practicing quietly.  Recording electronic drums is very easy.  They may be connected using a USB cable or an audio interface. 

Related pages
 Cymbal

References
Pashupatinath Temple

Pashupatinath is one of the most sacred temples of Hinduism. It is in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. It is the temple of the Hindu god Shiva.

Hindu temples
Buildings and structures in Nepal
Invasion

Invasion is a word that comes from Latin. Originally, it meant that something goes in (as in military occupation) of a foreign territory. So far, the following uses are known:

 Military: Getting troops to take control of enemy territory. Often a state invades another to start a war, but invasions can happen anytime during war.
 Others: Sometimes, biologists speak about an invasive species. There might be locust swarms invading, or that some algae spread far more rapidly in new territory.

One of many examples is the importing of rabbits  to Australia. As they had no enemies, they did what rabbits do best. They multiplied. To get rid of them, people then thought about importing foxes as well.

 In psychology, invasion is a state where the unconsciousness is a ruler (by C.G.Jung).

Military
Biology
Olive tree

The olive tree  is a small tree. Its scientific name is Olea europaea. A long time ago, it came from  the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean, from Syria and the maritime (next to the sea) parts of Asia Minor and northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea. It has been farmed for a very long time. The Ancient Greeks were farming it. They spread the trees to the western part of the Mediterranean.  

Olive trees like soil with lots of chalk in it. They grow best on limestone slopes and crags in coastal climate.

Overview
The Wild Olive is a small tree or shrub that grows up to 8–15 m tall with thorny branches. The leaves are opposite, 4–10 cm long and 1–3 cm wide. The leaves have a dark greyish-green color above and are pale with whitish scales below. The small white flowers, with calyx and corolla divided into four parts, two stamens and bifid stigma, are mostly on the last year's wood, in racemes coming up from the axils of the leaves. The fruit is a small drupe 1–2 cm long, thinner-fleshed and smaller in wild plants than in orchard cultivars.

Uses
Today, olive trees are grown for the following reasons:
The fruit of the tree is used:
For cooking. Directly from the tree the olive does not taste very good (it tastes very bitter). It is put into some liquid that makes it less bitter. When this is done, it can be used in many recipes of Mediterranean cooking.
 To make olive oil, a very important vegetable oil.
The wood of the tree is very hard. It is used to make furniture or articles of everyday use.
The leaves of the tree have some medical uses. It is said that the leaves have a calming effect. They are good for people going to sleep. They are also good for the immune system and to bring down high levels of cholesterol. The oil is good for the cardiovascular system (the heart, and the arteries, etc.) and the circulation of fat in the body.

The numbers behind 
In total, about 17.3 million tons of olives are produced every year. 60% of all olive trees are in the European Union. The top producers are:

Cultural significance 

Very probably, the first olive trees were grown in Syria. From there they spread rapidly. In Ancient Greece, the tree was considered to be holy. Some city states (polis) like Athens punished people for cutting down olive trees.

The branches in the flag of the United Nations are those of an olive tree.

In Christianity, the olive tree can be a sign of peace, because according to the Bible, a dove brought an olive branch to Noah to show that the flood was over.

The olive tree is the National tree of Palestine.

References

Other websites 
 
 Olive at Plants for a Future
 International Olive Oil Council Includes studies on health benefits
 The California Olive Oil Council
 Resource portal for olive oil
 Olive Oil Times
 Information about growing olive trees 
 The history and gastronomy of the olive and olive oil in Spain

Trees
Oleaceae
National symbols of Albania
Hello

Hello is a greeting in the English language. It is common between two people in a non-formal (informal) setting, but can also be used in a formal setting. There are also many other ways of saying "hello", for example a wave of the hand, a salute or a bow (both very formal), a handshake (a little formal) or a high five (very informal). Saying "hello" is a sign of politeness, especially when it is said in a friendly way. "Hello" was first used in writing in about 1833.

Many people say "Hello" when they answer a phone call.

Other greetings like "hello" include; Hi , Hallo, Hiya, Howdy, Hey, Howya, 'Sup, Yo, 'Yello, Herro, Greetings, Good day, What's poppin', G'day mate, Top of the mornin' to you, Ay up, what's up mate and many more.

People then often say "goodbye" when they leave each other. "Goodbye" is a shortened version of the religious farewell expression "God be with ye", which indicates the user's religious belief, usually in a single god. Similar expressions exist in other languages such as: adieu, adieus, adieux, adios. These terms also possess religious undertones as they are derived from the Latin word "deus", meaning "god". This of course does not always mean they are religious.

Human communication
Messaging
Annexation

Annexation (Latin: ad "to" and nexus "joining") is the one-sided forceful takeover, such as military occupation, of one state's territory by another.

Related pages
Anschluss (World War II, Austria merged to Nazi Germany)
Republic of Texas annexed to United States
Colonization

References 

Politics
International law
Political geography
Manchuria

Manchuria (Northeast China) is the homeland of the Manchu people. To the Chinese, the region is simply known as the Northeast (Chinese: 东北, Dōngbĕi). Manchuria is made up of China's three northeastern most provinces: Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang. Parts of Manchuria were annexed by the Russian Empire in the past, and they are now ruled by Russia

The name “Manchuria” comes from a Japanese version of the Chinese word Manzhou ().

History 
In the early history, Manchuria was under the control of many Chinese kingdoms. Later, the Manchu people formed their own empire called Jurchen. They eventually invaded China and founded the Manchu Qing Dynasty. 

Although the Manchus, who at the time ruled China, signed a treaty with Russia, the Russians took advantage of the weak Qing government and annexed the part that touches the Pacific Ocean, where the modern Chinese city of Dalian stands today. Japan then attacked the Russians to take this important piece of land. Later, Japan invaded the Chinese part of Manchuria too (see Manchukuo). This eventually led to World War II.

After the war, Manchuria was handed over to China by the Soviet Union.

Geography 
Manchuria is in north-east China and the Russian Far East. The land has rocks, grasslands, mountains, and deserts. The weather is very extreme. It is very hot and humid in the summer, and is very cold and dry in the winter.

Regions of Russia
People's Republic of China
Senkaku Islands

Senkaku Islands, also called , Diaoyu Dao Islands () and Tiaoyutai Islands (), are uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

The group of islands, islets and rocks is east of mainland China, northeast of Taiwan, west of Okinawa, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands. The islands are about 200km from Taiwan, and about 300 km from Okinawa.

Dispute
Control over these islands and rocks is disputed.  The dispute issues are complex.  
 
The Japanese government describes the islands as part of Japan. 

The islands are also described as part of China.  There are conflicts in the positions of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC).  The PRC and ROC have a shared history.  

The United States occupied the islands from 1945 to 1972 when they reverted to Japan.  The official US position is neutral in a dispute among Japan, China and Taiwan.

Related pages
 Provinces of Japan
 Prefectures of Japan
 List of regions of Japan
 List of islands of Japan

References

Other websites

 Japan,  "The Basic view on the Sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands", Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
 China,  "China's Diaoyu Islands Sovereignty is Undeniable", People's Daily
 Taiwan, "ROC (Taiwan) Government Reaffirms Sovereignty over Diaoyutai Islands", Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Islands of Japan
Islands of China
Islands of Taiwan
Territorial disputes
Ryukyu Islands
Uninhabited islands
World Youth Day

World Youth Day (WYD) is a gathering (meeting) of young Catholic people. It was created by Pope John Paul II in 1984 "to consolidate the ordinary youth ministry by offering new encouragement for commitment, objectives which foster ever greater involvement and participation"[1]. In other words, the Pope wanted young Catholics to come together, and work together.

The day is celebrated around the world every year, and every two or three years, a gathering is held at a different place. Thousands of people (including young people) from many countries go to this celebration. Because of World Youth Day, many young people are more likely to work together around the world.

The last World Youth Day celebration was held in 2005, in Cologne, Germany, the country in which Pope Benedict XVI was born in. About 1,200,000 attended the event. In 2008 World Youth Day was held in Sydney, Australia and in 2011 in Madrid,Spain and in 2013 in Rio,Brazil

Roman Catholicism
Carl XVI Gustaf

Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. He became the king when his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf died on 15 September 1973.

He is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. His father died on 26 January 1947 in an airplane crash in Denmark. Carl Gustaf was nine months old when his father died. The death of his father, made him second in line to the throne after his grandfather. When his great-grandfather, King Gustaf V, died in 1950, his grandfather  became king and Carl Gustaf became crown prince and heir apparent to the throne at the age of four.

Shortly after Carl Gustaf became king in September 1973, the new 1974 Instrument of Government took effect. This removed all remaining executive power from Carl XVI Gustaf .After this, he no longer has many of the normal duties of a head of state. These include the appointment of the prime minister, signing legislation and being commander-in-chief of the military of the nation. The new instrument limited the king to ceremonial functions and to be regularly informed of affairs of state. As head of the House of Bernadotte, Carl Gustaf has also been able to make decisions about the titles and positions of the member of the house.

The King's heir apparent is Crown Princess Victoria. She is the oldest child of the King and his wife, Queen Silvia. Carl XVI Gustaf is the longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history. He became the longest  serving after passing King Magnus IV's reign of 44 years and 222 days on 26 April 2018.

Internationally, King Carl XVI Gustav is best known for presenting the Nobel Prizes every year.

Family and personal life 
Carl Gustaf was born in Solna, Stockholm on 30 April 1946. His father was Prince Gustaf Adolf He is married to Silvia Sommerlath who is half German, half Brazilian. With her he has three children: Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine.

References 
 

1946 births
Living people
Charles 16 Gustav
Current national leaders
House of Bernadotte
Recipients of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
People with dyslexia
Age of Empires III

Age of Empires III is a 2005 computer game made by the company Ensemble Studios. It is published by Microsoft. It is the third game of the Age of Empires games, and has better graphics than the ones before it. The plot is from 1500 to 1860. An expansion pack, Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs, was released for the game in 2006. The second expansion, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, was released in 2007. The Definitive Edition (2020) also came with new content including the Incas civilization.

The game is compatible with Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. The game is available on Steam.

2005 requirements
CPU: should be above 1.4 GHz
Memory: 256 MB RAM
Graphics: 64 MB video card
2 GB free space on the harddisk. The expansions require additional free space. 

Real-time strategy video games
2005 video games
Bank of China Tower (Hong Kong)

The Bank of China Tower (BOC Tower, 中銀大廈) is one of the most well known skyscrapers in the central parts of Hong Kong. In the tower, the Bank of China has their offices.

The tower was designed by the architect I. M. Pei and is 315 meters high. On the tower there are two masts that are 369 meters (1209 feet) high.

Photo Gallery

Related pages
 List of tallest buildings in the world

Other websites

 Emporis.com - Bank of China Tower
SkycraperPage.com – Bank of China Tower

Skyscrapers in China
Buildings and structures in Hong Kong
I. M. Pei buildings
1990 establishments in Asia
1990s establishments in China
1990 in China
Pyongyang

Pyŏngyang (평양 직할시 in hangul, 平壤直轄市 in hanja) is the capital and biggest city in North Korea. The government does not want people from outside the country to know anything about North Korea, so Pyongyang is one of the few places in North Korea that people from other countries can travel to.

Entry
Pyongyang is a closed city meaning that North Koreans can't just go there. They must apply for a permit or be high up in the military. It is the most advanced city in the country which allows tourists to go there. Pyongyang does not really show what North Korea is really like, because the government uses it to pretend to tourists that the country is not poor. The city is kept very clean and littering is strictly not allowed. The city is home to the DPRK's only fast food restaurant which only the most privileged North Koreans go to (a meal would be worth around a weeks wages for the average person there). Many shops there have plastic food on display in the windows to make tourists think that there is lots of food in the country when in fact, food is scarce.

Attractions
The city has lots of nice attractions like the statues of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il at Mansudae hill. The Juche tower is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the country, towering over the Taedong River across from Kim Il-Sung square. It also has the world's deepest subway system. Pyongyang has many large parks and wide avenues as well as the largest sports stadium in the world, the Rungrado May Day Stadium. The city is also the location of the embalmed bodies of the two leaders, Il-Sung and Jong-Il in the Kumsusan Palace of the sun.

Pyongyang is home to the 105-story hotel, Ryugyong Hotel. The construction started in 1987 and the exterior was completed twenty-four years later in 2011. It was originally intended as a propaganda device to make North Korea look wealthy when a South Korean recently built the world's then-tallest building. The hotel to this day remains empty and unopened.

The population of Pyongyang is 3,255,388.
IBM

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a multinational technology company from the United States that makes and sells software, computer hardware, infrastructure services, and consulting services. IBM is one of the biggest Information Technology companies in the world. IBM has had the most patents of any technology company for many years, and has made many important inventions and discoveries that have improved computers.

IBM began in 1911, it was called the "Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company". It was set up by a man named Charles Flint. There were no computers at that time, so IBM made other machines, such as typewriters. In 1924, the company changed its name to International Business Machines (IBM). In 1937, the company's Tabulating Machines were used by the United States government to record information about Americans, so they could make a new law called the Social Security Act.

During World War II, IBM made guns for the American army. During the 1960s and 1970s IBM dominated the mainframe computer market. IBM computers were used for American space exploration. From the 1980s starting in 1981 until 2005, IBM made personal computers. In 2005, IBM sold their personal computer manufacturing to a Chinese company called Lenovo. Today, IBM mostly makes software, and some powerful supercomputers.

References

Other websites

 
 

 
 

American computer hardware manufacturers
1911 establishments
Multinational technology companies
Companies based in New York (state)