alibayram/wikipedia-40-langs huggingface dataset:
Edinburgh

Edinburgh (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital city and second largest city in Scotland. Edinburgh lies on the east coast, where the River Forth flows into the sea. 

The central part is Edinburgh Castle, at the top of a steep hill. The castle has a military display every year, called a tattoo, where soldiers show their skills at marching and competitions, and there are brass bands and bands of bagpipes. 

Edinburgh has a very large festival every year, where thousands of performers come to put on shows. The Edinburgh International Festival takes place in August and September. At the same time there is the Edinburgh Fringe. The shows are of all kinds, and range from large ones with famous people, to very small ones by new or unknown actors.

The city is served by Edinburgh Airport, and Haymarket and Waverley railway stations.

Old and New towns 
The Old Town of Edinburgh is the oldest part of the city, and with the 18th-century New Town, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has preserved its mediaeval plan and many Reformation-era buildings. The Old and New Towns are known locally simply as "Town". It is the city centre. The main part of the Old Town is a complex of streets called the Royal Mile while Princes Street is the main business area of the New Town.

Sport 
The city's main football teams are Heart of Midlothian F.C. and Hibernian F.C. Murrayfield stadium in the city is the home of the Scottish national rugby team and Edinburgh Rugby. The nearby Murrayfield Ice Rink is home to the city's ice hockey team, the Edinburgh Capitals. See also Leith Athletic F.C.

Buildings 
Edinburgh has lots of important buildings. The Balmoral Hotel was opened in 1902 and designed by W. Hamilton Beattie. Saint Giles' Cathedral was built in Mediaeval times. There was a big fire there in 1385. The Royal Museum was designed by architect Francis Fowke and built between 1861 and 1888. Its sister museum, the Museum of Scotland, was designed by Benson and Forsyth in 1998. 

Holyrood Palace was once the home of the Scottish kings, and is open to the public. It now serves as the King of Britain's Scottish residence. The Scottish Parliament is located next to Holyrood Palace.

Governing 
Edinburgh is one of the 32 local government areas of Scotland. It has its own council which is led by the Lord Provost (similar to a mayor). The city is divided into 17 "wards" which elect their councillors.

Famous people from Edinburgh
 Sir Walter Scott, who wrote many historical stories.
 Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, was born in Edinburgh.
 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories.
 Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote Kidnapped, Treasure Island, Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde and many other stories.
 Muriel Spark, who wrote The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and many other stories.
 Sean Connery, who acted as James Bond in films.

Twin Towns 
Edinburgh is twinned with:

  Florence
  Dunedin
  Nice
  Kraków
  San Diego
  Aalborg
  Kyiv
  Kyoto
  Xi'an
  Vancouver
  St. Petersburg
  Munich

References
2. Map of Edinburgh

 
Port cities and towns of the North Sea
Port cities and towns of Scotland
Head of state

The head of state is the leader of a country/sovereign state. The powers of a head of state may vary depending on the country. The head of state is usually the highest-ranking official in the country.

Titles 
In most republic countries, the head of state is called the president and is usually elected by the people. 

In countries that are monarchies, the head of state is a monarch (such as a king), who gets the position through inheritance. There are many titles that a monarch could have, but they all have the same role as a head of state.

Types of heads of state

Executive 
Sometimes a head of state has an executive role. This means that they take part in leading the government. In these systems, the head of state is also the head of government. For example, the President of the United States is both the head of state and head of government of the US. There are many republics that operate like this but some monarchies still have a king who runs the government.

Ceremonial 
In other countries, the head of state may be a separate person from the head of government. In this system, the head of state has the role of representing the nation and being a neutral non-political leader while the head of government takes care of the executive. This system is used in many modern monarchies such as the United Kingdom. However, some republics such as the Republic of Ireland follow this system/
Zaza language

Zaza language, also called Zazaki, Kirmanjki and Dimli, is an Iranian language mainly spoken in eastern Turkey by the Zazas. It belongs to the northwest-Iranian group of Iranic languages. The Zaza language is related to Sangsarī, Māzandarānī, Tātī (Herzendī), Semnānī, Tāleshī, Kurdish, Persian and Balōchi. The number of Zaza speakers is not known exactly. Many people consider the Zaza language to be a dialect of Kurdish. But it has been shown that Zaza has is more similar to other Iranic languages such as Mazandarani than to Kurdish.

Other websites 
 Zaza-Gorani | Ethnologue Ethnologue on Zazaki (language)
   (Weblinks of Zaza people)
 Zazaki.de zazaki dimili zaza  Academic Research Center of Zazaki
   Only Zazaki news
   Zazaki Institute

References 

 
Iranian languages
Rectangle

In geometry, a rectangle is a shape with four sides and four corners. The corners are all right angles. It follows that the pairs of sides opposite each other must be parallel and of the same length.
 including most tables, ᵇᵒˣᵉˢ 📦  comes from Latin words meaning "right" and angle".

A rectangle whose four sides have sh̆̈ă̈p̆̈p̆̈y̆̈ length is called a square.

Formulas 

If a rectangle has length  and width w, then:
 It has area .
 it has perimeter .
 Each diagonal has length .
 it has an aspect ratio of  : w.
 When , the rectangle is a square.
 When  is equal to the golden ratio, the rectangle is called a golden rectangle.

Related pages 

 Matrix (mathematics)
 Quadrilateral
 Rhombus

References 

Polygons
Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square is in the heart of London and is a large pedestrian square that is bounded on three sides by roads. It serves as a refuge and a major traffic intersection. Important roads go from the square: Whitehall goes to Parliament, the Mall goes to Buckingham Palace and the Strand goes to the City of London. The square is also close to Covent Garden and Charing Cross station.

More than 15 million people go to visit there every year. It contains a large statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson. The square celebrates the Battle of Trafalgar, which was fought in 1805, and contains Nelson's Column, a statue of Nelson mounted on a tall column, with four statues of lions around it. The column is 56 m tall, and the statue is 5 m tall. The National Art Gallery is one of several important buildings facing the Square.

A point in Trafalgar Square is regarded as the official centre of London in legislation, and when measuring distances from the capital.

Uses 
The square is visited by many tourists, mainly for pleasure and relaxation. There are, however, meetings and demonstrations in the square. 

When the square was first built, demonstrations were banned. The ban lasted until the 1880s, when the new labour movement started to hold demonstrations. One group that did so was the Social Democratic Federation. On "Black Monday", on 6 February 1886, there was a major demonstration about unemployment that led to a riot in Pall Mall.

There were demonstrations in the 1980s against South African apartheid. In 1990, there were riots against the poll tax. In the 2000s, there were demonstrations against the Iraq War.

In recent years the square has become a gathering place for celebrations. When England won the Rugby World Cup in 2003, thousands of fans gathered in the square. Public festivities again happened when London won its bid to hold the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

The square was also the scene of a large gathering after the terrorist bombings in London on 7 July 2005.

Past 
The Square was last dug up in the 19th century in preparation to its present format. Discovered were the skeletons of lion, woolly mammoth, hippopotamus, and hyaenas. Very similar species were found in East London when Ilford was dug up.

The warm stage lasted from 125,000 to 24,000 years ago before the colder climate prevailed until modern times.

References

National squares
Town squares in Europe
Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster
Official language

An official language is a language that has special status in a country or other organization. Usually, the government does its business in the official language. They are sometimes named in a country's constitution.

Some countries, like Switzerland and Luxembourg, have more than one official language. Other countries, such as the United States and Australia, may not have a de jure official language set by law, but they may have one or more national languages that is considered de facto official because it is used by the government and people in the country.

An official language does not have to be a written language. It can be a pidgin language (like in Papua New Guinea), or a sign language (like in New Zealand).

Related pages 
 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
National language
 Lingua franca

Languages
Vocabulary
Cake

A cake is a type of (usually) sweet dessert which is baked. Originally, it was a bread-like food, but no longer. Cakes are often made to celebrate special occasions like birthdays or weddings. There are many kinds of cakes. It can be baked in an oven. Some savory cakes are made on a griddle or a frying pan.

Construction 
Cakes are baked from a batter. Batter is made by mixing wet ingredients (like milk and eggs) with dry ingredients (like sugar and flour). The batter is baked in an oven. This way of baking is known as the muffin method, because muffins are made this way.

Vegan versions of the same cake abstain from using animal products such as dairy or eggs and instead substitute them with plant derived products such as nut milk and alginate-lecithin gel.

Just like bread, cakes rise in the oven because they contain many small air bubbles. As cakes rise, the air bubbles expand. This is why the cake batter expands in the pan (often to twice its original size). There are two ways of forming the air bubbles, which create different types of cakes. Almost every kind of cake belongs to one of these families.

Creamed Fat 
These cakes are made with butter or another fat, like vegetable shortening. The common way is to mix the fat and sugar, then add eggs, and then add flour. The fat should be soft. It should not be hard or liquid. Mixing sugar with fat creates many very small air bubbles. Most birthday cakes are made this way. Cupcakes are also made this way.

Egg foam
These cakes are not made with solid butter or vegetable shortening. Some of these cakes are made with melted butter or vegetable oil. The common way is to mix the eggs and sugar, and then add flour. These cakes are often much taller, lighter and often spongier than creamed fat cakes. Angelfood cake and chiffon cakes are egg foam cakes. Most grocery stores with bakeries sell angelfood cakes. Angelfood cakes are made by beating egg whites with sugar. This traps a lot of tiny air bubbles. The eggs and sugar are mixed with other ingredients. Then, the cake is baked.

Decorations 
A cake can be decorated with icing (also called "frosting"), chocolate, fruit, and much more. A layer cake is made by stacking cakes with icing or filling between the layers. Birthday cakes are sometimes decorated with candles. Cakes can be served with berries or other kinds of fruit.

A large, rich cake is often called by the French word for "cake": "gâteau" (plural: "gâteaux", both singular and plural pronounced "GA-toe"). It may have a lot of cream. Some cakes can have edible paper on the top.

Gallery

References

 
Basic English 850 words
Gigabyte

A gigabyte (GB), sometimes abbreviated as a gig, is a unit of measurement in computers and similar electronic devices. At first it meant exactly 1 billion bytes, usually referring to the number of bytes in a computer hard drive. Its meaning gradually changed over time, so that today it is often used to mean 1,073,741,824 (230) bytes, especially when referring to the random access memory (RAM) of a modern computer. Now international standards bodies say a gigabyte should only be used to mean exactly 1 billion bytes, and that gibibyte is a better name for 1,073,741,824 bytes. In everyday use, people use gigabyte to mean 1,073,741,824 bytes when talking about computer memory and 1,000,000,000 bytes when talking about computer disk space.

One thousand gigabytes make one terabyte.

Uses 
This measurement is often used when measuring the capacity of computer memory, hard drives, or other storage devices.

Units of information
Sailor

A sailor (or seaman) is a person who works at sea on a boat or ship. The sailor works under a captain. The term is only used when the person is working professionally (earning money or make a living).

Sailor is also the lowest rank in a navy.

Occupations
Water transport
 
Navy
Farmer

A farmer is a person who grows crops and raises animals to be used as food. This has been a common job for people since the beginning of civilization.

What farmers do 
The word farmer usually refers to a person who has a field, orchard, vineyard, or garden where food is grown. This food is eaten or sold after it is harvested. Farmers may also grow raw materials for industrial purposes. Some examples of raw materials that are used in this way are:
 cereals for alcoholic beverages
 hides (animal skin) for leather
 maize/corn for plastics or fuel
 wool or cotton for yarns and making cloth
Some farmers also raise animals to be used for meat, milk, eggs or other things.

Related pages

Agriculture

Agricultural occupations
Flood

A flood is an overflow of water. Floods are very hard to deal with. 

This is most commonly due to an overflowing river, a dam break, snowmelt, or heavy rainfall. Less commonly happening are tsunamis, storm surge.
The most deadly flooding was in 1931 in China and killed between 20,00,000 and 40,00,000 people. The Kerala flood in India was another flood that has destroyed people's houses.

During a flood, people try to move themselves and their most precious belongings to higher ground quickly. The process of leaving homes in search of a safe place is called a flood evacuation.

Floods have inspired myths and legends, especially the story of the great flood.

Pollution of drinking water 

During a flood there is plenty of water logging and overflow of water,  it is mostly polluted and not safe to drink. If people drink this dirty water, they may suffer from diseases such as typhoid and cholera, hepatitis and other such diseases. People can get ready to survive a flood by filling many containers with fresh and clean drinking water and storing other emergency supplies; like: medicine and food. During flood people try to go to higher sides because the flood water wouldn't reach high areas. Also drains overflow and mix with clean water and people who drink it might fall ill.

Causes of floods 
Flooding is usually caused when a volume of water within a water body, such as a lake, overflows outside it.Sometimes if a dam breaks, it suddenly releases a large amount of water. The result is that some of the water travels to land, and 'floods' the area. Many rivers are in a channel, between river banks. They flood when the strength of the river causes it to flow beyond the banks. This is more common at bends or meanders. Flood damage can be prevented by moving away from places that flood. However, people have long liked to have their homes and businesses alongside water because water is good for agriculture and transport and in other ways. Floods are also caused due to improper management of drains. Rainfall is the most common cause. Snow melt is also a cause of flooding. Tsunamis and Storm Surge are less common ways that floods happen. Coastal Flooding is another common cause of flooding, and this is caused by low pressure systems or storms.You can control floods by improving the drainage and grading of your home. Installing a flood detection system in your home also helps to prevent flooding.

References

Related pages 
 Noah
 Flood control
Government-in-exile

A government-in-exile is a group of people who claim they are the real government of a country, but who live in another country. These were common during World War II. The Germans took over several countries, and the leaders of those countries went to England for refuge. When the war ended, most were able to return to their home countries.

Today, there are some governments-in-exile. They include:

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in the Tindouf region in Algeria
the government of the Belarus National Republic exiled since 1920 and currently led by Ivonka Survilla in Canada
the government of the Dalai Lama in India, claiming to be the real leaders of Tibet, which was taken over by the Chinese
the former provinsional Bangladeshi government was exiled, claiming to be the real leaders of East Bengal province, which was taken over by the Pakistani military.
the former provinsional Afghan government was ousted by the Taliban, claiming to be the real leaders of Afghanistan#History, which was taken over by the American military, after they left in 2021 in the War on Terror.

Few countries recognize (accept) these groups.

There used to be more governments-in-exile in the past (more commonly during World War II), but many have either disbanded, were able to regain power of the country they left from, or transfer their creditials (assets) to the new government.

Related pages
Exile

References
Granite

Granite is a kind of igneous rock, found on Earth but nowhere else in the Solar System. It is formed from hot, molten magma. Its colour can be dark or light grey, brown, or even pink, according to the proportions of its minerals.

The magma is forced between other layers of rock by the pressure under the Earth's surface. The magma cools and turns slowly into solid stone. Granite has many different types of minerals in it. These include quartz, feldspar,  hornblende, and sometimes mica. As the magma cools, these minerals form crystals. The crystals can be seen easily if the granite is cut and polished.

Granite is a common stone on Earth, and makes up a big part of the crust (the Earth's outer layer). It is usually found in the continental plates of the Earth's crust. Although it forms under the surface of the Earth, there are many places where it has been forced upwards by tectonic movement. When plates in the Earth's crust move together, they get bent and pushed upwards. When this happens, granite mountains can be formed.

Origin 
Granite forms from silica-rich (felsic) magmas. It is the most abundant basement rock. It lies under the thin sedimentary rocks which cover the continents

Chemical composition 
A worldwide average of the chemical composition of granite, by weight percent, based on 2485 analyses:

Uses 
Granite is dense, and can be cut, carved and shaped. It is resistant to water and pollution, and has a range of different colours.

Kitchen benches are often made of polished granite. Granite is found in many countries of the world. Some countries have beautifully patterned granite which is quarried (cut in open mines) and sold for building material.

Gallery

References 

Igneous rocks
Syracuse, New York

Syracuse is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is also the county seat of Onondaga County. Syracuse has a population of 148,620and a metropolitan area population of 662,000.

Syracuse is sometimes called the "Salt City" because salt mining was once the main industry. Syracuse is named after Syracuse, Sicily, a city on the Italian island of Sicily.

Syracuse is home to Syracuse University and many company company offices.

References

County seats in New York (state)
Soap opera

A soap opera is a television or radio program that airs in episodic series. This means that each episode continues telling a story, which, in turn, tells more of the last episode's story. A single story on a soap opera can be told for weeks, months, or sometimes even years.

In America, each soap opera airs every day, Monday through Friday, in the afternoon. Because they air at this time, they are sometimes called daytime serials. In the U.K. and other countries, the soap operas air in the evening, twice or three times a week.

This is a list of soap operas that air in America, in their current order of popularity:

The Young and the Restless
The Bold and the Beautiful
General Hospital
Supernatural
Lost
Days of Our Lives
All My Children
As the World Turns
One Life to Live
Guiding Light
Passions

There are still two soap operas that air in Australia, Network Ten's Neighbours and the Seven Network's Home and Away. Strangely, Neighbours is more popular in England than it is in Australia.

In the U.K., the most popular soap operas are Coronation Street and EastEnders. Coronation Street is about people who live in Manchester, in the northern part of England. EastEnders is about people who live in an imaginary place called Albert Square in the East End of London. Another popular soap opera is Emmerdale, and it is about people who live in a small village in Yorkshire, also in the northern part of England. In the 1970s Crossroads became the most watched soap in England. It was shown from 1964 to 1988.

In Latin America (including Brazil), Spain, Portugal and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa (like Angola), soap operas are called telenovelas, and usually run for a limited time.

Related pages
Dorama 
Serial
Radio drama
Playwright
Theatre

References 

 
Television genres
The Young and the Restless

The Young and the Restless is a very popular American soap opera. The show is the highest-rated soap opera, which means that more people watch it than any other soap opera. It aired its first episode on March 26, 1973. It is set in fictional Genoa City, Wisconsin. In the beginning, the show was about the Brooks family, who were very rich, and the Foster family, who were poor. Today, very few members of either family are still on the show.

Today, the show tells stories about two cosmetics companies: Newman Enterprises and Jabot Cosmetics. Newman's president is Victor Newman (played by the actor Eric Braeden) and Jabot's president is Jack Abbott (played by Peter Bergman). These two men hate each other very much and would like to see the other fail. This hatred is the root of much of the story on the show.

List of actors/characters on the show

Other websites 

1973 American television series debuts
1970s American television series
1980s American television series
1990s American television series
2000s American television series
2010s American television series
American soap operas
Television series set in Wisconsin
CBS network shows

English-language television programs
Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state in the southeastern part of the United States. It is bordered by Florida to the south, Alabama to the west, Tennessee and North Carolina to the north, and South Carolina to the east. All of Georgia's coastline is on the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean borders Georgia to the southeast.

Georgia was established in 1732 and became a state in 1788. It was the last of the original 13 colonies and eventually joined in the growing rebellion against Britain. Georgia was named after George II of Great Britain.

History 
Georgia was initially inhabited by Native Americans before the arrival Europeans. The largest tribes were the Cherokee and the Creek.

The 5 Regions of Georgia 
There are 5 regional habitats of Georgia. They are the Georgia mountains, Okeefenokee marsh/swamp area, the Georgia coastal region, the Georgia Piedmont, and Atlantic Coastal region .

Cities in Georgia 
The capital and largest city in Georgia is Atlanta. The 1996 Olympic Games took place there, and the book and movie Gone with the Wind was set in and around Atlanta in the 1860s. Other big cities in the state include Augusta, Columbus, Savannah, and Macon. Georgia has a total of 159 counties.

Related pages
 List of counties in Georgia
 List of rivers of Georgia

References 

 
1788 establishments in the United States
Prem Rawat

Prem Pal Singh Rawat (previously known as Maharaji, also known as Guru Maharaj Ji and Balyogeshwar) waku
s born in India on December 10, 1957. Rawat is a self-help guru who teaches inner peace by the use of what he calls "self-knowledge". 

His father was a spiritual master, guru (or teacher of religious matters) in India for three million people. Prem Rawat took over at the age of eight when his father died. He went to England and the United States when he was 13 years old in 1971. 

He got married when he was 16 years old. In 1975, he had a fight with his mother and brother. They took over in India while Prem Rawat took over in America and the West. Now he lives in California. He shares self-knowledge for free, to help those interested to find inner peace.

Prem Rawat founded "The Prem Rawat Foundation", a nonprofit organization, to address the fundamental human needs of food, water, and peace.

Other websites 
Words of Peace Global
Prem Rawat's personal web site
The Prem Rawat Foundation

References

1957 births
Living people
Indian religious leaders
Hindu gurus
Aunt

An aunt is relationship that describes a woman who is a sibling of a parent or is married to a sibling of a parent. Aunts are sometimes called Auntie or Aunty. A man is a nephew to their Aunt and a woman is a niece. An aunt is part of an extended family. The child of an aunt's is a cousin. Often the word aunt is used with people who are not related to show closeness or respect.

In many cultures there are different words to describe a person's mother's sister and father's sister. In Latin a mother's sister is matertera while a father's sister is amita.

Detail
A maternal or paternal relative is one who is related through one's mother or father, respectively. For example, a maternal aunt is the subject's mother's sister. An in-law is a relationship that is not by blood, but instead by marriage. The in-law shares the in-law relationships of the spouse's relatives. For example, an aunt in-law could be the wife of the subject's uncle.
 aunt: parent's sister.
 maternal aunt: mother's sister.
 paternal aunt: father's sister.
 half-aunt: parent's half-sister.
 double-half-aunt: a person who is a half-sister of both of the subjects parents.
 grandaunt (or great-aunt): grandparent's sister.
 great-grandaunt (or great-great-aunt): great-grandparent's sister.
 aunt-in-law: uncle/aunt's wife.
 aunt-in-law: spouse's aunt.
 co-aunt-in-law: spouse's uncle/aunt's wife.
 stepaunt: stepparent's sister.
 stepaunt: parent's stepsister.

References 

Family
Homer

Homer is the name of the Greek poet who wrote the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. These are the earliest works of Greek literature which have survived to the present day, and are among the greatest treasures of the ancient world. They are a product of Mycenaean culture. The Iliad tells the story of the Trojan war, which took place around 1190 BC. The manuscripts of Homer were written much later, probably later than 800 BC.

The history
What makes the history of this period so difficult is that the Mycenaean civilization was followed by several hundred years of decline, from which little or no writing has survived. This period, the Greek Dark Ages, ended around 800 BC, when once again we find Greek writing, though this time in their newly developed alphabetic script. Therefore, there is a distinct possibility that the Homeric epics had a life, perhaps a long life, as oral literature, spoken by story-tellers.

We know little about Homer, and the later Greeks also knew little about him. Some have doubted he was a real person; others think he was a woman. 
A legend, has it that he was a blind poet who lived in Ionia. There is no definite evidence for any of these ideas.

There is archaeological evidence that Troy existed. The site of Troy has been discovered, and excavated. Therefore, it is a fair guess that the epic began as a long oral poem based on the siege of Troy, but with details added and changed as time went on. Homer's poetry is different from other poetry because it had to be short in order to be memorized.

The date of Homer, and the transcription
The date of Homer's existence is not known. Herodotus said that Homer lived 400 years before his own time, which would place him at around 850 BC; but other ancient sources gave dates much closer to the time of the Trojan War. The date of the Trojan War was given as 1194–1184 BC by Eratosthenes.

Today, "the date of Homer" means the date of the writing down the oral poems, rather than the life of Homer. This is called the transcription date. The language suggests that the earliest possible date for the transcription is 800 BC, and the latest possible date is 600 AD.

References

Ancient Greek poets
Marquis de Sade

Donatien Alphonse François, Comte de Sade, (2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), better known as the Marquis de Sade) was a French nobleman, writer and philosopher who was born in Paris. The de Sade family were French nobility, who came from Provence. Different members of the house held positions in the Church, and the French state at different times.

Once Donatien had grown up, he had troubles with the authorities several times. He was bisexual. He spent many years in prison and at a mental asylum.

The main points he was accused of were:
Whipping a prostitute.
Drugging prostitutes and later forcing them to have group sex, and also engage in sodomy.

On one of his escapades, he "accidentally" raped a close relative of his, who was a nun. This caused his family to drop him, and to hand him over to the authorities.

For this, he was sentenced to death (while being absent). He later escaped the death penalty by moving to Italy.  The death penalty against him was later changed to a prison sentence.

In prison, he started to read about philosophy. He also started to write down his ideas. He tried to hide his writing, and also wrote in a very small print, so that the consumption of paper would not be noticed.

In later years, he was moved to an asylum (for the mentally ill), and gave his wife the possibility of a divorce.

After the French Revolution, he got out of the asylum, but in 1803 was declared mentally ill (and again was sent to the asylum). He died in the asylum in Val-de-Marne in 1814 at the age of 74.
 
The term 'sadism' was named after him. It refers to the habit of getting pleasure from giving pain.

References 

1740 births
1814 deaths
Bisexual people
French criminals
French LGBT writers
French novelists
French prisoners
LGBT criminals
Sex offenders
Writers from Paris
Eurozone

The Eurozone (also called Euro area or Euroland) is the set of countries in the European Union which have adopted the Euro (€) currency. The European Central Bank is responsible for managing the supply of money within the eurozone and political decisions are taken by the "euro group", which is a meeting of the politicians from each euro country in charge of that country's economy.

EU members that are not part of the Eurozone are Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Official members 
There are 20 members in the Eurozone 

Made the area on 1 January 1999
1 Austria
2 Belgium
3 Finland
4 France
5 Germany
6 Ireland
7 Italy
8 Luxembourg
9 Netherlands
10 Portugal
11 Spain

Joined on 1 January 2001
12 Greece

Joined on 1 January 2006
13 Slovenia

Joined on 1 January 2008
14 Cyprus
15 Malta

Joined on 1 January 2009
16 Slovakia

Joined on 1 January 2011
17 Estonia

Joined on 1 January 2014
18 Latvia

Joined on 1 January 2015
19 Lithuania

Joined on 1 January 2023
20 Croatia

There are other countries outside the European Union which use the euro as well, but these are not officially in the eurozone.

Other websites 
 Eurozone -Citizendium

European Union
Ordinal number

Ordinal numbers (or ordinals) are numbers that show something's order, for example: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th.

Suppose a person has four different T-shirts, and then lays them in front of the person, from left to right.

 At the far left, there is the red T-shirt.
 Right of that is the blue one.
 Then there is the yellow one.
 And finally, at the far right is an orange T-shirt.

If the person then starts counting the shirts from the left, he would first see the red shirt. So the red shirt is the first T-shirt. The blue shirt is the second T-shirt. The yellow shirt is the third one, and the orange T-shirt is the fourth one.

The first, second, third, and fourth in this case are ordinal numbers. They result from the fact that the person has many objects, and they give them an order (hence 'ordinal'). The person then simply counts those objects, and gives the ordinal numbers to them.

In set theory, ordinals are also ordinal numbers people use to order infinite sets. An example is the set  (or  for short), which is the set containing all natural numbers (including 0). This is the smallest ordinal number that is infinite, and there are many more (such as  + 1).

Related pages
Cardinal number
Names of ordinal numbers in English
Transfinite number

References 

Number theory
Republic

A republic is a form of government that has no monarchy and no hereditary aristocracy. It originates from Rome. In 509 BC, the Romans overthrew the Roman Kingdom and established a republic, a government in which citizens elected representatives to rule on their behalf.

National sovereignty lies in the authority of the government, not in an emperor or monarch. The word republic comes from the Latin words res publica,  meaning a "public thing". For example, the United States and India are republics. However, the United Kingdom and Canada are not republics since they have a monarch (King Charles III in both cases) 

Countries with a king or other monarch and free elections is called a constitutional monarchy, not republics. A constitutional monarchy resembles a republic because the constitution has been amended to remove power from the monarch and install institutions conforming to a philosophy of republicanism. That includes the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, the Netherlands, Thailand, and countries in Scandinavia and elsewhere. What makes a republic different is that its laws are made and enforced without royal authority.

The head of state in a republic is generally a person who has been chosen by the citizens by direct election or by a group of elected representatives to act as the top representative of the people. In most republics, the head of state is called the president. In some countries, the president is elected and has a lot of political power. In others, the president does not hold much direct power but is important in the legal system for other reasons.

Sometimes, state is called a "republic" when its head is not called a "king". For example, the Roman Empire had an "emperor" and the Dutch Republic had a "stadholder", but they worked as hereditary monarchs.

Licchavi, in India, was an aristocratic state in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE and is nowadays sometimes called the first republic. The earliest republics that were much imitated later were Greek cities, for example democracy in Athens. The biggest difference from the other city-states was that people chose their leaders by voting or by lottery. Several Italian city-states during the Renaissance were ruled by a small group of aristocrats, and were called republics.

References

Forms of government
Noh

Noh or No (Japanese:能 Nō) is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama. It started in the 14th century and continues today. Noh is made up of mai (dances), hayashi (music) and utai (words usually in songs). The performers use masks and dance slowly. Zeami and his father Kan'ami brought Noh to its present-day form during the Muromachi period.

Types of Noh drama 
Theater pieces of Noh are classified into 5 groups.
 Divine; the hero or heroine is divine like a god, heavenly people, and so on. The hero or heroine makes a benediction at the end of the drama.　　
 Shura-mono (Warrior); the hero (rarely heroine) is a warrior, usually already dead.
 Kazura-mono (Women); the heroine and often her love romance is the focus.
 Zatsu-no (Miscellaneous); Noh which cannot be placed in the other four groups.
 Oni-noh (Oni; demons) ; Non-humans, like oni, tengu (fairy, lion), are the heroes of this type. Mainly it is played at the end of the program.

Noh players 
All Noh players are men. They have been taught their skills by their fathers. When a woman or girl appears in the drama, a male actor plays her role with a woman mask.

There are three types of Noh players: shite, waki and kyogen. Shite plays the hero or the heroine. He talks sings and dances. Waki (meaning "Side") and plays the sidekick of Shite. The Waki usually plays the role of a traveler role. He introduces us to the world in the drama. Kyogen appears in the middle of the drama if it has two parts, and plays the role of the local citizen. He talks to Waki and makes him notice something new or realize what has happened.

Music on Noh 
Hayashi means musical instrumentals. Two kinds of drum (Tuzumi, Taiko) and a flute (Fue) are used in the theater.

References 

Japanese music
Theatrical forms
Entertainment in Japan
Manga

A manga () is a Japanese comic book. 

Manga is drawn by a mangaka () (Japanese for cartoonist: an artist of comics). Manga is usually read from right to left. 

The word manga can be both singular and plural, and mean both the medium of comics or a single comic. It is a form of art that is used to draw comics and develop Anime (animated cartoons of manga art). Colors and symbols are important.

Types 
 Yōji (幼児向け漫画) - manga for people aged 1–4
 Kodomo (or Jidō) manga (児童漫画、子ども漫画) - manga that appeals to many small children
 Doraemon
 Kureyon Shinchan
 Shōnen (少年漫画) - A boy is usually the main character in these types of manga. The storyline is mostly about adventure/fighting.Weekly Shōnen Jump (published by Shueisha) BleachNarutoBlack CloverOne PieceDragon BallThe Prince of TennisGintamaDeath Note Weekly Shōnen Sunday (published by Shōgakukan) InuYashaDetective ConanMajorMagi Weekly Shōnen Magazine (published by Kōdansha) Fairy TailFighting Spirit (manga) Monthly GFantasy (published by Square Enix)Black Butler 
 Shōjo ( - Manga that features human emotions and relationships. Mostly for girls aged 13–17.
 Ciao (published by Shogakukan) 
 Chuchu (published by Shogakukan)
 Sho-Comi (published by Shogakukan)
 Ribon (published by Shueisha)
 Nakayoshi (published by Kodansha)
 Sailor Moon - an example of shōjo manga published by Nakayoshi LaLa (published by Hakusensha) 
 Hana to yume (published by Hakusensha)
 Seinen - manga that is written for college-aged young menYoung animal (published by Hakusensha)
 Berserk Nana to Kaoru Futari Ecchi Ai Yori Aoshi Young King OURs (published by Shōnen Gahōsha)Hellsing Young Ace (published by Kadokawa Shoten)Another Seijin (成人漫画) - manga that might appeal to men more than women
 Josei/Redikomi (女性漫画　レディースコミック、レディコミ) - (abbreviation of English "LADIes' COMIc") manga that might appeal to women more than men
 Shōnen-ai (少年愛) - manga that features a romantic relationship between two male characters. Also known as Yaoi
 Shōjo-ai'' (少女愛) - Manga that features a romantic relationship between two female characters. Another name Yuri(百合).

Related pages
 Anime
 Cosplay
 Mangaka
 Light novel
 Otaku
 Hentai
 Ecchi
 Manhwa  – Korean comic books

 
Comic books
Spree

The Spree is a river in the north-east of Germany.
It runs through the centre of Berlin. The river is  long.

Geography of Berlin
Geography of Brandenburg
Geography of Saxony
Rivers of Germany
Mandrake

For the Linux variant, see Mandriva Linux

Mandrake is the common name of a number of plants in the Nightshade family, genus Mandragora. The roots often look like man or woman, or can be easily made to resemble them. The plant has been used in witchcraft for a long time. 

According to this literature, the plant shrieks in pain, when it is pulled from the ground. This shriek is able to make a person deaf. He might also lose his mind, or even be killed, if he is unprotected. 

Mandrake (Mandragora officinalis) has been used as an anaestethic for a long time. For this, it was usually prepared in an  alcoholic solution.

Solanaceae
GNU

GNU is the name of a computer operating system. The name is short for GNU's Not Unix. Richard Stallman leads the GNU Project. The popular Linux operating systems made using the Linux kernel have many GNU tools too. So, many projects and developers call the Linux-based operating systems GNU/Linux.

The GNU project was started by Richard Stallman in 1983. He wanted to create a computer system that was all free and open-source software. Users could change, share and publish new work based on GNU. He and a group of developers started by creating copies of each piece of UNIX software. The rest of GNU was the kernel, called the GNU Hurd, which is not yet finished. The more popular Linux kernel is often used instead.

Other websites 
 
 GNU User Groups

Operating systems
GNU project
Acronym

An acronym is a word whose letters are the first letters of other words. People often create a short acronym that means the same thing as a much longer phrase (set of words).  This is faster and shorter to say than the long phrase.  

Examples of acronyms are:

 COBOL - COmmon Business Oriented Language
 LASER - Light Amplification through Stimulated Emmission of Radiation
 QUANGO - Quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation
 RADAR - RAdio Detecting And Ranging
 SARS  - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
 SCUBA - Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
 SNAFU - Situation Normal: All Fouled Up

An acronym usually must be able to be spoken as word. Other abbreviations such as ASAP (as soon as possible), USA (the United States of America), ECU (European Currency Unit), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), NBA (National Basketball Association) have combinations of letters that are not pronounced as a single word. People just say the letters, one after another.  

These three-letter acronyms, and some more obscure four-letter ones such as ISDN are more often called initialisms.

The word "acronym" comes from the Greek acro ‘extreme’ and onymus ‘name’.

Extremes
The world's longest acronym, according to the Guinness Book of World Records is NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT (). It is 56 letters long (54 in Cyrillic). It is from the Concise Dictionary of Soviet Terminology and means "the Laboratory for Shuttering, Reinforcement, Concrete and Ferroconcrete Operations for Composite-monolithic and Monolithic Constructions of the Department of Technology of Building Assembly Operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for Building Mechanization and Technical Aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR."

Related pages
Initialism
Abbreviation
List of acronyms and initialisms

References

Other websites 

Acronym Finder - an acronym website with many ways to search for acronyms.
All Acronyms - a website with many acronyms
Radio wave

Radio waves make up part of the electromagnetic spectrum. These waves are packets of energy with differing wavelengths, similar to visible light waves, X-rays or gamma rays, except much longer.

A radio wave, like other electromagnetic waves, is similar to an ocean surface wave or any other type of wave.  Both types of wave have a hill and valley shape, repeating over and over.  A wavelength is measured as the distance from the top of one crest to the top of its neighboring crest. While the wavelength of visible light is very very small, less than one micrometer and much less than the thickness of a human hair, radio waves can have a wavelength from a couple centimeters to several meters. They also have a radio frequency.

The smallest radio waves are called microwaves.  Shortwaves are not quite so small.  There are also medium and long waves. Antennas designed to send and receive radio waves are usually similar in size to the wavelength they are to use. Many radio antennas (like those on cars) are made long because they receive signals of FM radio (a few meters, several feet) or AM radio (hundreds of meters, about a thousand feet).

Uses 
Manmade radio waves have been used since the 19th century for communication.  Radar was developed in the 20th century, using radio waves to 'see' distant objects by bouncing waves off an object and seeing how long it takes for the waves to return.  Radios also use these waves to send and receive information.

Radio waves from other planets were first discovered in the 1930s by Karl Guthe Jansky, working for Bell Laboratories.  Bell was detecting noise (electronics) on radio channels, and had Jansky try to find the source of this static, or interference. After identifying noise that came from lightning, he spent much time looking into the remainder. Surprisingly, some of the interference was coming from space! This discovery eventually led astronomers to look at radio waves along with light waves to find things in the sky. These radio astronomers use giant Radio telescopes, shaped like satellite dishes, to gather and study the waves.

Radio waves are used for many things today.  Broadcasting and communications satellites and mobile phones and many computers communicate by radio waves.  

Wave physics
Radio technology
Electromagnetic radiation
Bridge

A bridge is a structure to cross an open space or gap.  Bridges are mostly made for crossing rivers, valleys, or roads.  Nowadays most big bridges are made to carry vehicles but people have also walked across bridges for thousands of years.  Bridges called highway overpasses carry a road over another road. 

Military bridges are portable, so that they may be easily moved to where they are needed.  This makes them much more complex than most civilian bridges. 

The first man-made bridges were probably made from cut wood or stones. Some stone bridges have lasted thousands of years. In recent centuries large bridges are made mostly of steel. They do not last as long. Many bridges are in a state of disrepair.

Types of bridges 
There are five major structural types of bridges: 
 Beam bridges
 cantilever bridges,
 arch bridges
 suspension bridges and 
 cable-stayed bridges

Notes 

Basic English 850 words
Mysticism

Mysticism is the belief that people can directly experience God or true reality, rather than through books, ritual or other people. People who practice this are called mystics.

Mystics exist within most religions, though not all people who practice religions are mystics. Mystics may experience visions or dreams, or hear God as a voice.

Hindu mystics
Some examples of Hindu mystics:

Shankara
Sri Ramakrishna

Christian mystics
Some examples of Christian mystics:

Augustine of Hippo (354–430)
Gregory I (590–604)
Bridget of Sweden (1303–1373)
John of the Cross (1542–1591)
George Fox (1624–1691)
William Blake (1757–1827)
Thomas Merton (1915–1968)

Islamic mystics
Islamic Mysticism is known as Tassawuf (or Sufism) and a detailed list of Muslim Sufi mystics is given on the Sufism page.

Jewish mystics
Some examples of Jewish mystics:

Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)

Buddhist mystics
Some examples of Buddhist mystics:

Siddhartha Gautama (563 BC-483 BC)
Bodhidharma (440-528)

Related page
Spirituality

Theology
Reality