alibayram/wikipedia-40-langs huggingface dataset:
Unicorn

A unicorn is a  legendary and mythical creature. It looks like a pony with one long, single and white  horn on its head. The word unicorn means "one-horned". It comes from the Latin word ūnus, which means one, and cornu which means horn, which term is in itself borrowed from the earlier Greek word monokerōs (also 'one horned').

Unicorns are found in many stories and myths from different parts of the world, especially China and India. Its blood and horn usually have mystical powers. In Western culture, its horn is said to have power (often called alicorn in medieval literature) to heal wounds and sickness, and to neutralize poison.

In mythology and heraldry unicorn symbolizes innocence, purity and feminine power. It is often seen as the counterpart of lion, which symbolizes the masculine virtues.

The unicorn is the official animal of Scotland.

In some pictures unicorns also have horses feet or a lion's tail. 

A Narwhal is an animal that is about 8 feet long. They live in the water around Canada and Greenland. Narwhal’s horns were said to be the horns of unicorns by some. People would sell the horn of a narwhal to others and say it was a horn of a unicorn.
Christian legends say the Unicorn is as small as a normal sized goat. They are so fearful that no hunter can catch them. Only a maiden that goes into the forest alone can catch a unicorn. The unicorn will come and fall asleep in the maiden’s lap. Around the time of the Middle Ages, some stories of unicorns became more popular. People bought what were said to be the horns of a unicorn at very high prices. They were mostly a tusk of a walrus or a horn from a narwhal. 

The term unicorn is also used in business to refer to a business startup valued at a billion dollars or more.

Real animals

Unicorns in history 
In On the Nature of Animals (Περὶ Ζῴων Ἰδιότητος, De natura animalium), Aelian, quoting Ctesias, adds that India has also a one-horned horse (iii. 41; iv. 52), and says (xvi. 20) that the monoceros () was sometimes called cartazonos (), which may be a kind of the Arabic karkadann, meaning "rhinoceros".

References

Sources
 Lindahl, Carl. "Unicorn." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2012. Web.  29 Nov. 2012.
 SuperScience: Mythical Creatures Revealed. Scholastic, May 2006. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=11851 >.

Legendary creatures
National symbols of Scotland
Radium

Radium is a chemical element with the atomic number 88 and symbol Ra on the periodic table. It was discovered by Marie Curie and Pierre Curie in the form of radium chloride in 1898. It is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but when it is exposed to nitrogen, it turns black quickly. All isotopes of radium are radioactive, and it glows faint blue because of this.

It's used in several things, like luminous watches, which are now banned because they can cause radiation poisoning. This was caused because of a lawsuit that involved 5 women ( radium Girls ) that suffered from many disabilities because of the prolonged exposure they had to the element radium.

It can also be used in treating cancer.

References

Alkaline earth metals
Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin () is the territorial capital of the Northern Territory in Australia. The city has about 147,000 people living there. The city is named after Charles Darwin. A member of the crew of the ship that started a port there in 1839 named it Port Darwin in honour of Darwin, who had sailed on that same ship earlier.

Most of Darwin has been built since 1974, when Cyclone Tracy ripped through and destroyed the city. Since then, the city has recovered. It is a very important port, because it is on the coast closest to Indonesia and the rest of Asia. Darwin also has a large military base.

Darwin also has many Indigenous Australians living in the city, about 9.7% of the people. This is more than any other state capital in Australia.

References

Other websites
 

Capital cities in Australia
Cities in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a territory of Australia. The capital city is Darwin. Other large towns in the Territory include Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek.

The Northern Territory has large areas of desert. It has many important places such as Uluru, or Ayers Rock. The rock is sacred to the native people.

Kakadu National Park is a World Heritage area. It has been lived in for more than 40,000 years. There are cave paintings, rock carvings and archaeological sites. These show the skills and way of life of the people who have lived there. The park has different ecosystems, including tidal flats, floodplains, lowlands and rocky gorges. It provides a place to live for a wide range of rare types of plants and animals.

Floral Emblem 

The floral emblem of the Northern Territory is Sturt's Desert Rose, Gossypium sturtianum. The flower is also featured on the Territory's flag. It was named after explorer Charles Sturt who found the plant in creeks near the site of Broken Hill, New South Wales in 1844.
The Fauna emblem is the Red Kangaroo.

References
Whiskey Rebellion

The Whiskey Rebellion was a rebellion against the federal government of the United States. Some farmers in western Pennsylvania rebelled against the United States government in 1794 because they believed that a new tax on whiskey was not fair. Selling whiskey was how people traded in western Pennsylvania, but farmers elsewhere did not need to sell whiskey. 

The United States had borrowed a large amount of money for the American Revolutionary War, and Alexander Hamilton offered the idea to try to pay the war debt. The government under George Washington, with advice from Alexander Hamilton, quickly stopped the rebellion. Washington and Hamilton wanted to ensure that no one would question the power of the federal government and so Washington himself led almost 13,000 troops to stop the rebellion of a few hundred farmers. The rebels went home before the army arrived.

The new federal government became more solid and the president more powerful. Numerous examples of resistance are recorded in court documents and newspaper accounts.

That is the only time in American history that a president has led the army by himself.

References 

1794
18th-century rebellions
Whisky
1790s in Pennsylvania
Saginaw, Michigan

Saginaw is a city in mid-Michigan, United States. It had about 70,000 people in the city as of the 2000 census.  It is very cold there in the winter.  It is near Bay City, Michigan.

Cities in Michigan
County seats in Michigan
Tom Cruise

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (; born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and producer. He has starred in many movies, including War of the Worlds and Jerry Maguire. He is one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood.

His first movie was Endless Love.  His first leading role was in the movie Risky Business and later in Top Gun. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globe Awards.  These were for the same movies: Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Jerry Maguire (1996), and Magnolia (1999). He is known for playing the lead role Ethan Hunt in six Mission Impossible films. Other key films are Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), Knight and Day (2010), Jack Reacher (2012), Oblivion (2013), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), The Mummy (2017), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022).

Early life
Tom Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York. He is the son of Mary Lee, a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III (died 1984), an electrical engineer. Cruise has three sisters, Lee Anne, Marian, and Cass. Cruise's surname originates from his great grandfather, born Thomas Cruise O'Mara, who was renamed "Thomas Cruise Mapother" (Mapother is a Welsh surname). Cruise is of Irish, German and English ancestry. One of his paternal great grandfather, Patrick Russell Cruise, was born in North County Dublin, in 1799 he married Teresa Johnson in Warrenstown House, County Meath, in 1825. They left Ireland for America that same year and settled in New York.

Personal life
Cruise is a Scientologist. He is one of the most famous members of the organization.

Cruise has an adopted daughter and adopted son with his second wife Nicole Kidman. He has a daughter Suri (born April 2006), by Katie Holmes. He and Holmes married in November 2006 and separated in 2012.

Movie

References

Other websites

 

20th-century American actors
Actors from New York (state)
American movie actors
American movie producers
People from Syracuse, New York
Scientologists
1962 births
Living people
People with dyslexia
Orgy (band)

Orgy is an American alternative metal band. They formed in 1997 in Los Angeles, California. The band's first hit was Blue Monday, which was a remake of a song by 1980s band New Order. The members of the band are: 
Jay Gordon - singer
Bobby Hewitt - drummer
Ryan Shuck - guitarist
Amir Derakh - guitar, synthesizer player
Paige Haley - bass player

American heavy metal bands
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Alternative metal bands
Magazine

A magazine is a type of book people read. Magazines are not like regular books. This is because a new version of the magazine is printed many times each year. Magazines are a type of periodical.  

They are called periodicals because versions are published at a fixed frequency. Magazines are printed on paper. People usually need to subscribe to them. An example of a magazine is Time. There are magazines about many things.  

Magazines are similar to newspapers, but usually the time between new versions is longer. Each one costs more money, and many are in color on every page. Also, sometimes magazines come with little gifts to reward the readers who buy it.

References
Orgy

There is also the alternative metal band Orgy (band).

In common use, an orgy is when more than two people have sex together, sometimes also called group sex.
This dates back to prehistoric ages, recorded in many ancient civilizations. 

Orgy could also mean any activity done without limits.

Originally, the word comes from Latin. There it referred to a feast (or a banquet) of a rich citizen. When the Romans ate they were almost lying down, and the food was brought to them by slaves. These slaves would also provide the entertainment which usually consisted of music and dancing slaves.

Sexual acts‎
Heilongjiang

Heilongjiang is the northeastern-most province in China. It is considered to part of the region known as Manchuria. It is bordered by Russia on the north and east. To the south is Jilin province, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region lies to the west.

The capital and largest city is Harbin. There had been a considerable foreign population in the region, particularly in Harbin, first by the Russians in the late 19th century, and then by the Japanese in the 20th century.

The land is largely of plains and rolling hills, with relatively few low mountainous areas. The climate is fairly dry with quite cold winters. There are some famous winter "ice festivals" with elaborate snow and ice sculptures.

Political divisions 

Heilongjiang Province is divided into 12 municipalities and 1 prefecture.

 Harbin Municipality
 Daqing Municipality
 Hegang Municipality
 Heihe Municipality
 Jiamusi Municipality
 Jixi Municipality
 Mudanjiang Municipality
 Qiqihar Municipality
 Qitaihe Municipality
 Shuangyashan Municipality
 Suihua Municipality
 Yichun Municipality
 Daxing'anling Prefecture

Provinces of China
Jilin

Jilin is one of 3 provinces in the far northeastern part of China, also known as Manchuria.  It is bordered on the north by Heilongjiang province, to the west by the "Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region", and to the southwest by Liaoning province. To the southeast lies North Korea.

The capital city of Jilin is Changchun (meaning "long spring").

The terrain and climate are much like that of neighboring Heilongjiang province.  Also like its neighboring provinces, one of the main agricultural products is corn, as the climate is too cold (and dry) for satisfactory rice cultivation.
Liaoning

Liaoning is a northeastern province of the People's Republic of China. The capital city of Liaoning province is Shenyang. From 1931 to 1945 Japan ruled Liaoning as part of Manchukuo.

Location 
Liaoning province is the southernmost province of Manchuria (the three northeastern most provinces of China), which together, along with the "Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region", form the entire northeastern part of China.
It is bordered on the northeast by Jilin province, and has a coastline along the Yellow Sea to the southeast. Hebei province and Beijing lie to the southwest. 

Dalian is a major port city at the southern tip of a peninsula which juts about 100km south into the Yellow Sea.

Provinces of China
Basin

Basin might mean:
Wash basin, a bowl-shaped container used for washing hands or food
Drainage basin, the area drained by a river
Oceanic basin, a low place in the Earth that holds an ocean 
Sedimentary basin , like the Amazon Basin 
Basin (geology)
An open, round container shaped like a bowl with sloping sides, used for holding food or liquid

References

Basic English 850 words
Blade

A blade is the flat, sharp part of a tool or weapon used to cut or stab, such as a knife or sword. Most blades have handles. Blades can be used to stab, cut, or separate things. It can also be the top part of grass or the leaf of a plant. Blades come in all different sizes and shapes, sharpness and materials.

Basic English 850 words
Blades
Anastacia

Anastacia Lyn Newkirk, best known as Anastacia , (born September 17, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter and stylist.

Anastacia's father was of German ancestry; her mother is of Irish ancestry.

Anastacia has had several health problems in her life. She was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when she was 13. In early 2003 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery to remove it. She was again diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2013. On October 1, 2013 she told the media that she has had both of her breasts removed.

Albums  
 2000: Not That Kind
 2001: Freak of Nature
 2004: Anastacia
 2005: Pieces of a Dream
 2008: Heavy Rotation
 2012: It's a Man's World
 2014: Resurrection
 2015: Ultimate Collection
 2017: Evolution

Singles 

 2000: I'm Outta Love
 2000: Not That Kind
 2001: Cowboys & Kisses
 2001: Made For Lovin' You
 2001: Paid My Dues
 2002: One Day in Your Life
 2002: Boom
 2002: Why'd You Lie To Me
 2002: You'll Never Be Alone
 2003: Love Is a Crime
 2004: Left Outside Alone
 2004: Sick And Tired
 2004: Welcome To My Truth
 2005: Heavy On My Heart
 2005: Everything Burns (duet with Ben Moody)
 2005: Pieces Of A Dream
 2006: I Belong To You (duet with Eros Ramazzotti)
 2008: I Can Feel You
 2008: Absolutely Positively
 2009: Defeated
 2009: Stalemate (duet with Ben's Brothers)
 2010: Safety (duet with Dima Bilan)
 2010: Burning Star (duet with Natalia Druyts)
 2011: What Can We Do (A Deeper Love) (duet with Tiësto)
 2012: If I Was Your Boyfriend (duet with Tony Moran)
 2012: Dream On
 2012: Best Of You
 2014: Stupid Little Things
 2014: Staring at the Sun
 2014: Lifeline
 2015: Take This Chance
 2015: Army of Me
 2017: Caught In The Middle

Duets 

 1993: Forever Luv (duet with David Morales)
 1998: Mi Negra, Tu Bombón (duet with Omar Sosa)
 1999: Tienes Un Solo (duet with Omar Sosa)
 2000: Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting (duet with Elton John)
 2001: Let It Be (duet with Paul McCartney, Anastacia other artists)
 2001: I Ask of You (duet with Luciano Pavarotti)
 2001: What More Can I Give (duet with Michael Jackson and other artists)
 2001: Love Is Alive (duet with Vonda Shepard)
 2001: 911 (duet with Wyclef Jean)
 2001: I Thought I Told You That (duet with Faith Evans)
 2002: You Shook Me All Night Long (duet with Celine Dion)
 2002: Bad Girls (duet with Jamiroquai)
 2003: We Are the Champions, We Will Rock You, Amandla (duet with Queen, Beyoncé, Bono, Cast and David A. Stewart)
 2004: I Do (duet with Sonny Sandoval)
 2005: Everything Burns (duet with Ben Moody)    
 2006: I Belong to You (duet with Eros Ramazzotti)
 2007: Sing (duet with Annie Lennox and other artists)
 2009: Stalemate (duet with Ben's Brother) 
 2009: Holding Back the Years (duet with Simply Red)
 2010: Safety (duet with Dima Bilan) 
 2010: Burning Star (duet with Natalia)
 2011: What Can We Do (A Deeper Love) (duet with Tiësto)
 2012: If I Was Your Boyfriend (duet with Tony Moran)
 2014: "Lifeline / Luce per sempre" (Anastacia and Kekko Fornarelli)

References

Other websites
Official website

American singer-songwriters
Musicians from Chicago
1968 births
Living people
Key

A key is an object used to open and close locks. Many things have locks, for example, doors. Keys are also used to turn on cars, machines and other things. 

A key is used by placing the key into the slot of the thing you want to unlock.

A key that can open more than one lock (if each lock also has its own key) is called a master key or skeleton key.

History

The earliest known lock and key device was discovered in the ruins of Nineveh, the capital of ancient Assyria. Locks such as this were later developed into the Egyptian wooden pin lock, which consisted of a bolt, door fixture or attachment, and key. When the key was inserted, pins within the fixture were lifted out of drilled holes within the bolt, allowing it to move. When the key was removed, the pins fell part-way into the bolt, preventing movement.

The warded lock was also present from antiquity and remains the most recognizable lock and key design in the Western world. The first all-metal locks appeared between the years 870 and 900, and are attributed to the English craftsmen. It is also said that the key was invented by Theodorus of Samos in the 6th century BC.

Affluent Romans often kept their valuables in secure locked boxes within their households, and wore the keys as rings on their fingers. The practice had two benefits: It kept the key handy at all times, while signaling that the wearer was wealthy and important enough to have money and jewelry worth securing.

Further reading 
 Phillips, Bill. (2005). The Complete Book of Locks and Locksmithing. McGraw-Hill. .
 Alth, Max (1972). All About Locks and Locksmithing. Penguin. 
 Robinson, Robert L. (1973). Complete Course in Professional Locksmithing Nelson-Hall.

Other websites 

 Historical locks by Raine Borg and ASSA ABLOY
 Picking Locks Popular Mechanics

Basic English 850 words
Tools
Locks
Branch

A branch is the part of a tree that grows out from the trunk of a tree. The size of a branch may vary depending on the type of tree, the location of the branch relative to the tree, and how healthy the tree is. The term twig usually refers to a terminus, while bough refers only to branches coming directly from the trunk. 

Basic English 850 words
Plant anatomy
Spoon

A spoon is a tool for eating. It is usually used for eating foods that are like liquids (like soup and yogurt), and it can also be used for stirring. Humans use spoons every day. Some solids (like cereal and ice cream) are also usually eaten with spoons. A ladle is a bigger type of serving spoon used for soup, stew, or other foods.

There are many different types of spoons. There are dessert spoons, soup spoons, baby spoons, teaspoons, tablespoons and others. There are also spoons that are collector items and are worth a lot of money. Some musicians even use two spoons as a musical instrument like a castanet.

Spoons have been used as tools for eating since Paleolithic times. Prehistoric peoples probably used shells, or small pieces of wood as spoons. Both the Greek and Latin words for spoon come from the word cochlea, which is a spiral-shaped  snail shell. The Anglo-Saxon word spoon, means a chip or splinter of wood.

References 

Basic English 850 words
Food utensils
Cutlery

Cutlery refers to tools used for preparing, serving and eating food. The most common types of cutlery are knives, spoons and forks. Other words for cutlery are silverware, tableware, utensils and flatware.

The best quality cutlery may be made of silver, but more often silver plating. Stainless steel is used for most good quality household cutlery. Pewter was often used in the past for cheap cutlery. Nickel silver, sometimes called German silver, is another alloy, with copper, nickel, and zinc in it. Plastic cutlery is used for eating fast food, because it is very cheap, and may be thrown away afterwards.  

Serving practice and use of cutlery varies somewhat between cultures. Formal dinners have cutlery set out in a traditional manner. There will be two sets of knives and forks, an outer smaller set for the first course and a larger inner set for the main course. Cutlery for later courses will usually be delivered with those courses. In an informal restaurant, cutlery may come wrapped in a cloth napkin (serviette).

Chinese and Japanese food is eaten with chopsticks, and food pre-cut to a size suitable for that method. Some other oriental cuisines are eaten by fork and spoon, with no knife. 

Food utensils
Vase

A vase is a container, often used for flowers. They can be made from a number of materials, including glass and ceramics. Many vases are decorated or painted but some are left plain. It sometimes is used for decorations in American and Chinese homes. It can be a big part of culture in many countries.

Containers
Sensory system

The sensory system is the way animals find out about their nearby environment and their bodies. To do this they have special devices for collecting data called sense organs. The sense organs act as transducers: they turn energy from the outside or inside of the body into nerve signals. The signals are then very rapidly processed by the brain. The whole arrangement is the sensory system.

It is usual to say the sensory system has five senses:
 Hearing is the sense of sound. Ears hear sounds.
 Sight is the sense of seeing. Eyes see.
 Touch is the sense of feeling. Sense organs feel.
 Taste is the sense of the flavor. Tongues taste.
 Smell is the sense of scent or odor. Noses smell.

There are other senses. For example, we have a sense of equilibrioception which checks our balance, and proprioception which is the sense of the relative position of one's own parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement. Fishes have a sense system which no land animal has. It is called the lateral line system. This senses movement and vibration in the water pressure and other functions. Some fish can sense patterns of electrical current in the water.

Handling the data 
A huge amount of data comes in from the sensory system. About 11 million pieces of information per second is one estimation, of which ten million comes from our eyes. Of this huge number we only handle about 40 in our conscious mind. The rest is handled non-consciously.

References
Inspector Gadget

Inspector Gadget is a Canadian-French-American-Japanese animated series that ran from 1983 to 1986. It was the first show produced by DiC Entertainment.

On the show, Inspector Gadget is a cyborg detective and secret agent, who must stop an evil organization called "MAD", lead by Dr. Claw. He is usually helped by his niece, Penny, and his dog, Brain. Gadget has many gadgets and special devices inside his body, hence his name. He uses these when searching in a case, but he is not very smart. Yet with the help of Penny and Brain, he ends up saving the day.

Elements of the franchise pay homage to the 1960s series Get Smart. Gadget's voice was even provided by Don Adams who was the star of Get Smart. Other elements are homages to things like Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther movie series.

In 1999, Matthew Broderick played the title character in Disney's live-action adaptation.

1983 television series debuts
1986 television series endings
1980s American comedy television series
1980s American animated television series
American crime television series
American science fiction television series
Canadian animated television series
First run syndicated television programs
French animated television series
English-language television programs
Syndicated

Syndicated means a television program being shown on a different television network than the one that first showed the program. A syndicated program can also be a program that was not made for a television network. These types of programs are made and then sold to many different television stations to be shown.

There are different types of syndication:
First run syndication: First run syndicated programs are programs that are shown for the first time as syndicated programs. These programs were not made to be shown by a network. Programs that are made in one country and then are shown in other countries are often first run syndicated program.
Off network syndication: Off network syndicated programs are programs that were first shown on a television network. Later, that network sold the program to other networks or stations so that they can also show it. These programs are also called re-runs.
Public broadcasting syndication: PBS makes only some of its programs. Many of the shows are bought from people who make syndicated programs.

Popular examples of syndicated series
First run series
Andromeda
Baywatch
Mutant X
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xuxa

Off network series
Cheers
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Everybody Loves Raymond
Seinfeld
The X-Files
The Simpsons
The Big Bang Theory

Television
Square root

In mathematics, a square root of a number x is another number that, when multiplied by itself (squared), becomes x. When it is non-negative, it is represented by the symbol , and called the principal square root of x. For example, 3 is the square root of 9, because 3×3=9. Only numbers bigger than or equal to zero have real square roots. The only square root of zero is zero.

An important number is the square root of 2, which is an irrational number. Its value is around 1.41421. It is the length of a diagonal in the square whose side is 1.

Square roots of negative numbers are not real numbers – they are imaginary numbers. Imaginary numbers are basically numbers whose square is negative. Every complex number, except 0, has 2 square roots. For example, −1 has two square roots. We call them  and . We also consider the number  as the principal square root of −1, and called it the imaginary unit.

The sign for a square root is made by putting a bent line over a number, like this: . This is read as "the square root of 4" (or whatever number you are taking the square root of).

A whole number with a square root that is also a whole number is called a perfect square. The first few perfect squares are: 0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, 121, 144, 169, 196, 225, 256, 289, 324, 361, 400, 441, 484, 529, 576, 625, 676, 729, 784, 841, 900, 961, 1024, 1089, 1156, 1225.

Below is a table of square roots (rounded to 3 decimal places).

Origin of the symbol 
It is not really known where the square root symbol  comes from, but some people believe that it was from the letter r, which is the first letter of the Latin word radix (used in many languages). Radix means the root or base. Thus, radix quadratum from Latin refers most likely to the base of a square. Since the sides of a square are all equal, the word radix may be interpreted as side of a square—without actually so.

Related pages 

 Methods of computing square roots
 nth root

References

Other websites 
 Table of square and square roots, 1-100 -The Math Forum

Mathematics
Negative number

A negative number is a number that indicates an opposite. For example: 

 If a positive number is distance up, then a negative number is distance down.  
 If a positive number is distance to the right, then a negative number is distance to the left.  
 If a positive number is a deposit to a bank account, then a negative number is a withdrawal from that bank account.  
 If a positive number is a quantity of minutes in the future, then a negative number is a quantity of minutes in the past.  
 If a positive number means addition, then a negative number means subtraction. 

The counting numbers (1, 2, 3, and so on) are all positive numbers. The positive numbers, negative numbers, and the number zero, taken together, are called "signed numbers" or integers.

The number zero is neither positive nor negative. Zero is its own opposite; so +0 = −0. That is, zero steps to the right is the same as zero steps to the left.

A negative number is always less than zero.

A negative number is written by putting a minus sign, "−", in front of a positive number. For example, 3 is a positive number, but −3 is a negative number. It is read "negative three" or "minus three"; it means the opposite of 3.

Negative numbers are left of zero on a number line. A number and its opposite are always the same distance from zero. The negative number −3 is just as far to the left of zero as 3 is to the right of zero:

Sometimes, for emphasis, we write the pair of opposite numbers as −3 and +3.

A number and its opposite always add to zero. So the sum of −3 and +3 is 0. We can write this either as −3 + 3 = 0 or as 3 + (− 3) = 0. In addition, a number and its opposite are said to "cancel each other out".

The set of negative real numbers is sometimes written as .

Arithmetic with negative numbers 
 Adding a negative number to something is the same as subtracting a positive number from it. For example, to add the negative number "−1" to the number "9" is the same as subtracting one from nine. In symbols:
 9 + (−1) = 9 − 1 = 8
 Subtracting a negative number from something is the same as adding a positive number to it. For example, to subtract the negative number "−8" from the number "6" is the same as adding the number "6" and the number "8". In symbols:
 6 − (−8) = 6 + 8 = 14
 A negative number multiplied by another negative number produces a positive number. For example, to multiply the negative number "−3" by the negative number "−2" is the same as multiplying the number "3" by the number "2". In symbols:
 (−3) × (−2) = 3 × 2 = 6
 A negative number multiplied by a positive number produces a negative number. For example, to multiply the negative number "−4" by the positive number "5" is like multiplying the number "4" by the number "5", but the answer is negative. In symbols:
 (−4) × 5 = −(4 × 5) = −20

Uses of negative numbers 
When a person got a debt, people sometimes say that they have a negative amount of money. Negative numbers are used in accounting and science.

Related pages 
 Sign (mathematics)

References

Other websites 
Discussion of negative numbers (Math League) 
Negative numbers (Purple Math)

Numbers
Arithmetics
Hailstone

A hailstone is a round ball of ice which falls out of a storm cloud. About 5,000 hailstorms a year in the United States of America make hail 3/4 of an inch or larger.

The beginning of a hailstorm 
A hailstone begins as a small water drop or a round snow pellet in a cloud. The drop grows by collecting many cloud drops. The little drop is blown by a strong wind inside the cloud to where it meets with some extremely cold water drops. These supercooled drops are still liquid water even though the temperature is below freezing. When the little drop mixes with these extremely cold drops, they join, and the little drop has now become a hailstone.

The little hailstone is thrown up inside the cloud, still collecting other cold drops. The hailstone gets bigger and bigger until it goes to the top of the cloud. Then, because there is no more wind, it falls back down through the cloud. While it is falling it gets even bigger as it bangs into more supercooled drops. If it goes down very fast it can hit the earth at up to 90 mph (144 kph), bouncing like popcorn. If the hailstone hits dirt, it can actually bury itself.

Hailstone sizes 

The biggest hailstone recorded in the United States weighed 1.67 pounds (0.75 kg), and was 5.5 inches (14 cm) across. It fell near Coffeyville, Kansas, on September 3, 1970. The biggest recorded hailstone in the world was 4.2 pounds (almost 2 kilograms). It fell in Kazakhstan in Asia.

Hailstones are made of many rings of clear, cloudy ice. The rings show different amounts of freezing on the hailstone. The cloudy ice is because it freezes so quickly, trapping many small air bubbles. The clear rings are made by slow freezing of the water, which lets bubbles escape.

Hail damage and protection 

Hail does a very great amount of damage every year. Even small hail with strong winds can crush a field of wheat flat in a few minutes. It sometimes breaks windows, and can dent cars and roofs. Big hailstones can hurt and even kill small animals.

Because hail damages crops, there has been many efforts to stop hail. In the 16th century, farmers used to shoot cannons at thunderstorms, thinking this would destroy the hail. Cloud seeding (trying to make rain by putting dry ice crystals or a kind of smoke in clouds) is the more recent way, but it is expensive and we do not know for sure how well it works. To this day, there is no proved way of stopping hailstorms.

Related pages 
Ice pellets 
Sleet (disambig page)

References

Other websites 

Hail Research Information Center 
Hail factsheet 
The Economic Costs of Hail Storm Damage  NOAA Economics
https://stormmaps.com/pages/hail-impact-reports  NOAA Economics
 Images
Hail and hailstorms 
Major hail event in Brazil  
NOAA Hail Reports on Google map (non commercial)

Severe weather
Brake

A brake is a device for slowing or stopping a moving machine part. The most common brakes are for wheels, such as those on cars and bicycles.

The kinetic energy lost by the moving part is usually converted into heat by friction. There are also regenerative braking systems that store some of the energy in a flywheel or capacitor, or convert it to electricity to store in a battery or send to some other machine. The first braking systems were used on horse-drawn vehicles. The horse accelerated the cart to relatively high speeds and could not cope with its stopping by itself. The first mechanisms braked the wheel itself by means of a manual lever or a system of levers.

The first braking systems were used on horse-drawn vehicles. The horse accelerated the cart to high speeds and could not cope with its stopping by itself. The brake used a manual lever or a system of levers to press a wooden block onto the wheel, slowing it by friction. In wet weather, it was ineffective. Later, faster vehicles such as bicycles, trains and automobiles needed much better brakes, and many kinds were invented. Even some airplanes have brakes to slow them in the air.

Related pages 
 Railway brake

References

Basic English 850 words
Tools
Bucket

A bucket is a container with a wide open top and a handle that is mainly used for carrying liquids.  In some cases, solids may also be carried in a bucket (like sand which is hard to carry in your hands).

Some buckets are used for work, and some more for leisure, as seen here  . A bucket used for work is often made of a strong material such as iron or steel and is used to carry things like coal or soil. A bucket used for leisure, e.g. for making sandcastles, is normally made of plastic.

In rare cases, a bucket may be worn as a piece of clothing, people may wear a bucket on their heads for humorous reasons. Buckethead is a famous example of this.

Basic English 850 words
Containers
Emmy Award

The Emmy Awards are United States television production awards which are given out each year. They are the television version of the Academy Awards. The first Emmy Awards were given out on January 25, 1949 at the Hollywood Athletic Club. Shirley Dinsdale was the very first person to be given an Emmy in the first awards ceremony.

Three organizations give Emmy Awards:

 The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences gives the award for American prime time entertainment (not including sports).
 The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences gives the award for daytime, sports, news, and documentary programming.
 The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences gives the award for programming that is created outside the United States.

The best-known of the awards are the Primetime Awards (some of which are named "Creative Arts Emmys") and the Daytime Emmy Awards.

The Emmy Awards is a statuette of a woman with wings holding an atom. It was created by television engineer Louis McManus, using his wife as a model. The trophies are made by a company that has a manufacturing site at the El Dorado Correctional Facility, a prison in El Dorado, Kansas.

Other websites
 Primetime Emmy Awards
 Daytime Emmy Awards
 International Emmy Awards 
 Emmy Awards  at the Internet Movie Database
Maggie Simpson

Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character shown in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is a baby.

Character 
Like most babies, Maggie copies what she sees around her. She once hit Homer on the head with a mallet, shot a suction dart at his picture and attacked him with a pencil in imitation of Itchy and Scratchy. Maggie is also very accurate with a gun, she shot Mr. Burns in "Who Shot Mr. Burns".

Characteristics 
During the early episodes, Maggie's well-known feature would be to trip over her clothes and fall on her face causing a loud smack on the floor. Throughout the early episodes, Maggie fell down 39 times.

History

Creation 
Maggie was named after Matt Groening's sister Maggie Groening.  She often sucked on a pacifier and wore a sleep suit like Maggie.  Groening thought that it would be funny to have a baby character that did not talk and never grew up, but showed any emotions that the scene needed.

Voice 
With few exceptions, Maggie never speaks but is aware of what is going around her. Maggie has spoken in "Good Night", the first cartoon to air on The Tracey Ullman Show. When the rest of the family falls asleep, she speaks and her voice is played by Liz Georges.

Maggie's first word spoken in the normal television show of the series happened in "Lisa's First Word", when she was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor and says, "Daddy" in an empty room. Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie was later named the 13th greatest guest spot in the history of the show.  James Earl Jones, who voiced Maggie in "Treehouse of Horror V" was in seventh place.  She would later have small sentences in "Treehouse of Horror IX", voiced by Harry Shearer, who used his Kang voice.  Her squeaks and occasional speaking parts are regularly done by Nancy Cartwright or Yeardley Smith. Jodie Foster voiced the Howard Roark-inspired Maggie in the Season 20 episode "Four Great Women and a Manicure".

References

Other websites
 Biography from the official Simpsons website
 Maggie's page at BBC.co.uk 
 The Maggie File  unofficial trivia compilation
 The Cutest Baby

Fictional characters introduced in 1987
The Simpsons characters
Animated human characters
Pin

A pin is an object used to attach something to a surface. It is usually metal or plastic. Pins are usually sharp and are cheap to buy.

Types of pins
 Bobby pin
 Hairpin
 Push pin
 Cotter pin
 Clevis pin
 Safety pin

Tools
Dining room

A dining room is a room used for eating and is usually near the kitchen. This is to make serving food easier.

Usually a dining room will contain a table with a set of chairs, normally positioned at the sides and end of a table. People often only use their dining rooms now for formal occasions and eating in the kitchen has become more popular.

Rooms
Crown

A crown is a type of headdress worn by a monarch. They are usually worn when they are crowned or at important occasions. Also, crowns are now used as a symbol of the monarchy. They are also won by beauty pageant winners. 

"Crown" is also a synonym for prize or reward. Crowns are awarded or won at contests. Beauty contests award crowns to the winning participant, for example. Couples chosen the King and Queen at a dance also receive crowns.

Diadem 
A diadem is a type of crown, an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of royalty. 

Headgear
Monarchs
Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German) (26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a high ranking Nazi leader, and one of Adolf Hitler's closest men. He was the third man after Hermann Göring in the Third Reich from 1933 to 1941.

Biography 
Rudolf Hess was born in Alexandria, Egypt, but moved back to Germany in 1908.

He joined the army in World War I and was trained as a pilot.

In 1920 he joined the Nazi Party and in 1922 he also became a member of the SA.

He flew to Scotland during World War II in 1941 and was arrested. After the war he was tried at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

He died in the Allied Military Prison, Spandau, Berlin in 1987. Since 1966 he had been the only prisoner. His death was caused by a strangulation using an electrical cord; officials recorded it as a suicide.

References 

1894 births
1987 deaths
Criminals who committed suicide
German prisoners
German war criminals
Government ministers of Nazi Germany
Members of the Reichstag (Nazi Germany)
Members of the Reichstag (Weimar Republic)
Nazis who committed suicide
People from Alexandria
People who committed suicide in prison custody
Politicians of the Nazi Party
Politicians who committed suicide
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
Sturmabteilung people
SS officers
Suicides by asphyxiation
Suicides in Germany
Occultists
German Lutherans
1780s



Events 
 American Revolutionary War ends
 George Washington becomes first President of the United States.
 United States Constitution
 French Revolution begins

World leaders 
 King Louis XVI (France)
 King George III (Great Britain)
 Emperor Joseph II (Holy Roman Empire)
 Frederick II of Prussia, King of Prussia
 Frederick William II of Prussia, King of Prussia
 Pope Pius VI
 Empress Catherine II (Russia)
 King Charles III (Spain)
 King Charles IV (Spain)
 Shahs of Persia (Zand dynasty)
 Sadiq Khan, 1779–1782
 Ali Murad Khan, 1782–1785
 Jafar Khan, 1785–1789
 Lotf Ali Khan, 1789–1794

Births 
 Washington Irving, American author (1783)
 Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan patriot, revolutionary leader and statesman (1783)

Deaths 
 Empress Maria Theresa of Austria
1510s

The 1510s was a decade that began on 1 January 1510 and ended on 31 December 1519.

Events 
Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, starting the Reformation.
Protestant Reformation
Selim I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire conquers Palestine and Egypt, and declares himself Caliph. 
Hernán Cortés lands in Mexico. 
Ferdinand Magellan leaves Europe to go around the world.

Births 
Saint Teresa of Avila, Spanish Carmelite nun and poet

Deaths 
Leonardo da Vinci, Italian inventor and painter
Amin Maalouf

Amin Maalouf (; ; born 25 February 1949) is a Lebanese author. He studied sociology at the French University in Beirut. He was the director of the Beirut daily newspaper an-Nahar. But, he left the country 1975 at the start of the Lebanese Civil War. He moved to Paris and still lives there today.

Maalouf writes in French, and his works have been translated into many languages. He received the Prix Goncourt in 1993 for his book Rock of Tanios.

He uses his experiences of civil war and migration in writing his novels. The characters in his novels are wanderers. They may not have just one home country, language, or religions.

Works of fiction
 First Century after Beatrice 
 Leo Africanus 
 Rock of Tanios (Prix Goncourt 1993) 
 Samarkand (first published 1988 titled 'Samarcande') 
 Gardens of Light 
 Ports of Call (first published 1996 titled 'Les échelles du Levant') 
 Balthasar's Odyssey

Works of non-fiction
 Crusades through Arab Eyes 
 On Identity
 In the Name of Identity

Other websites
 Amin Maalouf Official Site 

1949 births
Living people
Writers from Paris
Lebanese Christians
People from Beirut
Bulb

For the electrical device that produces light, see Lightbulb.

A bulb is the part of some plants, mostly under the dirt, that stores food while the plant is resting from growing (a storage organ).

Some well-known bulbs people grow to use as food are onions and garlic. Some bulbs grown for the decorative flowers are the lily, tulip, and some irises.

Some plant storage organs that are similar to bulbs, but have different names are, tubers, corms (swollen stems), tuberous roots, and pseudobulbs.

Plant anatomy
1520s

The 1520s was a decade that started on 1 January 1520 and ended on 31 December 1529.

Events 
Aztecs surrender to the Spanish conquistadors.
Ferdinand Magellan takes a trip around the world, and discovers the Philippines and Guam.
Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation

Births 
Anne Askew, English Protestant martyr (1521)
Taqi al-Din, Muslim scientist (1526)

Deaths 
Ferdinand Magellan, Spanish explorer (1521)
Zhengde, Emperor of China (1521)
Wijerd Jelckama, Frisian warlord and rebel (b. 1490)
Marko Marulic, Croatian poet (1524)
Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer (1524) 
Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian writer and statesman.
Wave

A wave is a kind of oscillation (disturbance) that travels through space and matter. Wave motions transfer energy from one place to another.

Waves play an important role in our daily life.  This is because waves are a carrier of energy and information over large distances. Waves require some oscillating or vibrating source. Ocean surface waves were the first known waves. Later, other kinds were discovered.

Types of waves 
In physics and technology, a wave (physics) carries energy that creates visible light, sound, and many other things. There are two categories of waves.
 Mechanical waves
 Electromagnetic waves

Mechanical waves  

Waves which require any medium for their propagation are called mechanical waves. 

One example of a mechanical wave is sound. 

Sound can travel through air, water, or solids, but it can't travel through a vacuum. It needs the medium to help it travel. 

Other examples include water waves, seismic waves, and waves traveling through a spring.
Earthquakes produce seismic waves
A wave in the water, such as an ocean surface wave, is a disturbance on the surface (top) of water,

Electromagnetic waves 
Waves which do not require any medium for their propagation are called electromagnetic waves.

For example:
Radio waves and other electromagnetic radiation carry one type of energy.  X-rays, heat and light waves are some examples of electromagnetic waves.

Related pages 
 Radiation

Basic English 850 words
Gluon

Gluons are what hold quarks together to make bigger particles. Gluons carry the strong force between other quarks, so it is considered a force carrying particle. Photons do the same thing, but for the electromagnetic force. Also, like photons, gluons are spin-1 particles, and when a particle has spin-1 it is considered a boson.

Gluons are hard to study because although they exist in nature all the time, they are so small and require so much energy to break them away from quarks (about 2 trillion degrees) that scientists have only been able to find more about them from particle colliders such as  the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

References 

Elementary particles
Humphry Davy

Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society) (born 17 December 1778 in Penzance, Cornwall, England; died 29 May 1829 in Geneva City, Switzerland), was a Cornish chemist. His study of chemistry led to the first pure forms of some of the chemical elements such as water and sodium.

References

1778 births
1829 deaths
British chemists
People from Cornwall