cahya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Maryland is a state in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States of America. It is on the south-east of the East Coast. Its capital is Annapolis, and its biggest city is Baltimore.

The governor of Maryland is Larry Hogan. He was elected in the 2014 election. Hogan was re-elected during the 2018 election.

The state bird is the Baltimore Oriole.  The state flower is the Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta).  The state reptile is the diamondback terrapin.  The state crustacean is the blue crab.  The state motto is Fatti maschii, parole femine, which is Italian for "Manly deeds, womanly words".  Maryland is the only state with a motto in Italian.

Maryland has many places important to the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War.  One of these places is Fort McHenry, which defended against the British Empire during the War of 1812.  Another place is the Antietam National Battlefield, where the Battle of Antietam took place in 1862 during the American Civil War.

Silver Spring, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Frederick, Hagerstown, Cumberland, Salisbury, Greenbelt are other cities.

Maryland was founded by English Catholic settlers who wanted a place where they could freely practice Catholicism. It was the seventh state to join the US. Maryland is known as the "Old Line State," named after the Maryland Line, a regiment that fought in the American Revolution. Maryland surrounds most of the Chesapeake Bay, and the state is known for its Crabs and Crab Cakes.

Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, is a major city that is home to the National Aquarium, Fort McHenry, and the Camden Yards baseball park. Annapolis is very famous for being the home of the United States Naval Academy, one of the flagship service academies in the United States.

Maryland was home to several different Indian tribes when English settlers arrived in the seventeenth century. The Algonquian-speaking Indians of the Chesapeake Bay and coastal areas included the Nanticoke, Piscataway, Assateagues and Pocomoke Indians. Iroquois-speaking groups such as the Susquehannocks lived in the Piedmont and mountains.

Related pages
 Colleges and universities in Maryland
 List of counties in Maryland

References

Other websites

 
 Maryland Office of Tourism
 Energy Data & Statistics for Maryland
 USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Maryland
 U.S. Census Bureau
 Catholic Encyclopedia article
 Maryland State Facts from USDA
 
 
 Maryland State Archives: Special Collections, Map Collections
 Maryland Historical Society: County Maps
 The Huntingfield Map Collection

 
1788 establishments in the United States
Billy Paul (Paul Williams; December 1, 1934 – April 24, 2016) was an American R&B singer. His biggest hit was "Me and Mrs. Jones". He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Paul died on the afternoon of April 24, 2016 in Blackwood, New Jersey after suffering from pancreatic cancer at the age of 81.

References

Grammy Award winners
Singers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
American R&B singers
Cancer deaths in New Jersey
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
1934 births
2016 deaths
Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American singer.  During the 1970s and 1980s, she charted hits on Billboard's pop, country, adult contemporary and jazz charts.

Personal life 
Coolidge is part Cherokee, and this influences her music.

Coolidge married Tatsuya Suda on June 19, 2012 in the Cook Islands.   Coolidge was married to Kris Kristofferson from 1973–1980. They have one daughter, Casey. Coolidge also had romantic relationships with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash.  Her leaving Stills for Nash has been said to be a reason behind the 1970 breakup of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Discography

Albums (North American)

Albums with Kris Kristofferson

International albums

Related pages
List of country musicians from Tennessee

References

1945 births
Living people
Singers from Tennessee
Grammy Award winners
Carole Bayer Sager (born March 8, 1947) is an American songwriter and singer.

Singer-songwriters from New York
Singers from New York City
Grammy Award winners
1947 births
Living people
Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songwriters
Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick MacManus, 25 August 1954) is an English singer and songwriter. He was born in London. He was an important musician in the late 1970s punk rock and new wave music styles.  In the 1980s, he played an original style of rock and roll. Later he wrote and performed music in a number of different styles from classical to jazz.

Costello has won multiple awards in his career.  These include a Grammy Award.  He has twice been nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male. In 2003, Elvis Costello & the Attractions were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Costello number 80 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

After two earlier marriages he married jazz pianist Diana Krall in 2003.

Acting

Costello appeared with his friend Burt Bacharach in the 1999 Austin Powers movie The Spy Who Shagged Me. They played "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" during the scene where Mike Myers danced with Heather Graham.

In 2010, Elvis Costello appeared as himself in David Simon's television series, Treme.

In 2011, Elvis Costello appeared as himself on Sesame Street.  He did a song with Elmo and Cookie Monster, titled "Monster Went and Ate My Red 2", a play on "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes".

Discography
Studio albums by Elvis Costello (includes albums released with the Attractions and the Imposters):
My Aim Is True (1977)
This Year's Model (1978)
Armed Forces (1979)
Get Happy!! (1980)
Trust (1981)
Almost Blue (1981)
Imperial Bedroom (1982)
Punch the Clock (1983)
Goodbye Cruel World (1984)
King of America (1986)
Blood & Chocolate (1986)
Spike (1989)
Mighty Like a Rose (1991)
The Juliet Letters (1993)
Brutal Youth (1994)
Kojak Variety (1995)
All This Useless Beauty (1996)
When I Was Cruel (2002)
North (2003)
The Delivery Man (2004)
Momofuku (2008)
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (2009)
National Ransom (2010)

Costello has also released studio albums in collaboration with Richard Harvey, John Harle, Burt Bacharach, Anne Sofie Von Otter, Bill Frisell, Marian McPartland and Allen Toussaint, as well as five live albums: Live at the El Mocambo, Deep Dead Blue, Costello & Nieve, My Flame Burns Blue, and Live at Hollywood High. There have also been many compilations, box sets, and reissues by labels such as Rykodisc, Demon, Rhino, and  Universal Music Enterprises.

References

1954 births
Living people
English rock guitarists
English rock singers
English singer-songwriters
Musicians from London
New wave musicians
Blue Öyster Cult is a psychedelic rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1971. They have many well-known songs like (Don't Fear) The Reaper, and Burnin' For You.

The group's  best known songs are probably: The 1976 single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" from the album Agents of Fortune (featured in the movie Halloween, and in the TV movie The Stand based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, and in the credits of Peter Jackson's 1996 movie The Frighteners) and the 1981 single "Burnin' for You" from the album Fire of Unknown Origin and "Godzilla" (1977).

Lineup

Current members
The current members of the band are:
Eric Bloom (1971-present) - lead vocals, guitar
Buck Dharma (1971-present) - lead guitar, vocals
Richie Castellano (2004-present) - bass, vocals 
Jules Rodino (2004-present) - drums
Rudy Sarzo (2008present)  Bass guitar

Original members
The original lineup of the band was:
Eric Bloom - lead vocals, stun guitar 
Buck Dharma  - lead guitar, vocals 
Allen Lanier  - keyboards, guitar
Joe Bouchard - bass, vocals
Albert Bouchard - drums, vocals

Former Members 
The former members of the band are as follows:

Bass
Joe Bouchard (1971-1986)
Jon Rogers (1987-1995)
Greg Smith (1995)
Danny Miranda (1995-2004)

Drums
Albert Bouchard (1971-1981, Feb 1985 - Californian tour) 
Rick Downey (1981-1984) 
Thommy Price (1985)
Jimmy Wilcox (1985-1987)
Ron Riddle (1987-1991)
Chuck Burgi (1991-1992, 1992-1995, 1996-1997) 
John Miceli (1992, 1995 and some dates in 2003) 
John O'Reilly (1995-1996) 
Bobby Rondinelli (1997-2004)

Keyboards
Tommy Zvonchek (1985-1987) 
Kasim Sultan (1998) - also guitar (filled in for Lanier during illness)
Al Pitrelli (1999) - also guitar (filled in for Lanier during illness)
Allen Lanier  also guitar.

Discography
 1972 Blue Öyster Cult 
 1973 Tyranny and Mutation 
 1974 Secret Treaties 
 1976 Agents of Fortune 
 1977 Spectres 
 1979 Mirrors 
 1980 Cultösaurus Erectus 
 1981 Fire of Unknown Origin 
 1983 The Revölution by Night 
 1985 Club Ninja 
 1988 Imaginos 
 1994 Cult Classic
 1998 Heaven Forbid 
 2001 Curse of the Hidden Mirror

References 

1970s American music groups
1980s American music groups
1990s American music groups
2000s American music groups
2010s American music groups
American heavy metal bands
American hard rock bands
Musical groups from New York City
Musical groups established in 1971
1971 establishments in New York (state)
Steppenwolf is a Canadian-American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1967. The band has sold more than 25 million units worldwide, releasing 8 gold albums and 13 Hot 100 singles, including three top-10 hits in "Born to Be Wild", '"Magic Carpet Ride", and "Rock Me".

Popular culture
 "Born to Be Wild," which has been long associated with motorcycles, has appeared in numerous movies including Easy Rider.
 "Magic Carpet Ride" appears in numerous movie soundtracks, including Star Trek: First Contact, Team America: World Police, Apollo 13, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Sahara.

American rock bands
American heavy metal bands
American hard rock bands
Canadian rock bands
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Musical entertainers from Toronto
1967 establishments in North America
1972 disestablishments
1974 establishments in North America
Creedence Clearwater Revival (often made shorter as CCR or Creedence) was an American rock band from California, United States.  They were popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  The band has sold 26 million albums in the United States alone.  CCR was inducted into (became part of) the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Many people thought they were from the Southeastern United States because the group's music sounded like the country, folk, and blues music of that place.  They liked to sing about bayous, the Mississippi River, catfish, and other things people in the south liked.  They also used instruments and styles that were common in the southeast.

The members of the group were John Fogerty (born 1945), his brother Tom Fogerty (1941-1990), Doug Clifford (born 1945), and Stu Cook (born 1945).

Discography
Studio albums
 Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968)
 Bayou Country (1969)
 Green River (1969)
 Willy and the Poor Boys (1969)
 Cosmo's Factory (1970)
 Pendulum (1970)
 Mardi Gras (1972)

References

Other websites 
 Creedence-Online
 Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Ed Sullivan Show
 Creedence Clearwater Revival at WorldMusicDatabase 
 
 

1967 establishments in California
1972 disestablishments in the United States
American rock bands
Musical groups from California
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees
Southern rock bands
1970s disestablishments in California
John Michael '"Ozzy"' Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English heavy metal singer.

Osbourne was born in Marston Green, England. He grew up in Aston, Birmingham, England. He has dyslexia. He was convicted of burglary when he was a teenager, for which he was fined. He was sent to prison for not paying the fine.

Osbourne was the lead singer for Black Sabbath between 1968 and 1978. He joined again in 1997 for occasional tours. He bit the head off of a bat on stage once. Osbourne wrote a song called 'Suicide Solution' that was heavily ridiculed claiming it was about suicide, which coincided with the words shoot shoot whispered in the song. It was really a tribute to his friend Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC, who died of alcohol poisoning.

He and his wife Sharon have three children together: Aimee Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne and Jack Osbourne. He also has three children from his first marriage to Thelma Riley: Elliot, Jessica, and Louis.

Osbourne released his first solo album, Blizzard of Ozz in 1980.

He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in February 2019, which he publicly revealed in January 2020.

Other websites 
The Official Ozzy Osbourne Website
Ozzy Osbourne - Discography
Metal Storm - Ozzy Osbourne - Discography

References

British burglars
English rock musicians
English singer-songwriters
Grammy Award winners
Musicians from Birmingham
Actors from Birmingham
Writers from Birmingham
English artists
English rock singers
English movie actors
English television personalities
People with Parkinson's disease
1948 births
Living people
Bryan Guy Adams  (November 5, 1959) is a Canadian rock musician. He is known for the songs Summer of '69 and (Everything I Do) I Do It For You.  He has performed with many other musical artists such as Def Leppard, Tina Turner, Sting, Rod Stewart, Bonnie Raitt, Barbra Streisand and Melanie C. His best-selling albums are Reckless, Waking Up the Neighbours and 18 til I Die.

Discography

References

 
Canadian rock musicians
Canadian singer-songwriters
Grammy Award winners
Musicians from Ontario
1959 births
Living people
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 - December 6, 1988) was an American singer. In 1987, he was named into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Orbison was popular in the 1960s. He became less popular in the 1970s, but began to make a career comeback in the 1980s. However, as he was becoming more popular again, he died of a heart attack at the age of 53 in Henderson, Tennessee.

Discography
Singles

"Pretty Paper" (1963)

Studio albums
Lonely and Blue (1960)
King of Hearts (1992)

References

American rock singers
Cardiovascular disease deaths in Tennessee
Deaths from myocardial infarction
Singers from Texas
1936 births
1988 deaths
Taylor Dayne (born as Leslie Wunderman on March 7, 1962) is an American singer. She is best known for her song, "Tell it to my heart".

1962 births
Living people
Singers from New York
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter. He is most famous as a member of the groups Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash. In 2003, Rolling Stone listed him at #28 on a list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

References

Singer-songwriters from Texas
Singers from Dallas, Texas
Writers from Dallas, Texas

1945 births
Living people
Seafood is food made from fish or other sea animals (such as shrimp and lobsters). The harvesting (collecting) of seafood is called fishing.

Seafood is rich in protein, and is usually thought as healthy food.

Seafood
Jonathan Ke Quan (born August 20, 1971 as Ke Huy Quan) is a Vietnamese-American former child actor.

In the 1980s, he appeared in several movies. His best known roles were as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Data in The Goonies (1985). He now works as a stunt coordinator on many movies, for example X-Men.

In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, he was an orphan in the streets of Shanghai when he becomes Indy's(Harrison Ford) friend. They end up in India where Indy, Short Round and night club singer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) fight Indians, save children, and participate in a mine car chase.

After their adventures in India, Short Round disappeared temporarily. He later grew up to become an archeologist. He went on an adventure in search of the Peacock Stone, the same diamond lost at the begining of "Temple of Doom".

1971 births
Living people

Vietnamese people
American child actors
American movie actors
American television actors
Actors from Los Angeles County, California
A pilgrimage is when people travel to a place of worship that is usually far away. They may have to go to a different city or country. Usually a pilgrimage is done for spiritual or religious reasons. The purpose of Christian pilgrimage was summarized by Pope Benedict XVI this way:

There are also non-religious pilgrimages; they include for example:
 Seeing the Mausoleum of Vladimir Lenin on the Red Square in Moscow, or 
 Visiting the birthplace of Elvis Presley.

Related pages
 Holy Land
 World Youth Day

References

Religious behavior and experience
Religious places
A watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a plant which was first domesticated in Africa. It is a cultivated edible fruit worldwide, there are more than 1000 varieties. 

About 6% of a watermelon is sugar, which makes it  very sweet. There are many different types of watermelon. Some have a green rind on the outside and a red-pink flesh on the inside, with brown seeds. Some can have yellow flesh, and some can be seedless.  The green rind on the outside is not usually eaten, though it can be used as a vegetable. It can also be stewed or pickled. Most watermelons are oblong or spherical. In Japan, watermelons are grown in different shapes, such as hearts and squares.

Health 
Watermelons are a great source of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B1 and vitamin B6.  They also contain potassium, magnesium, carotenoid antioxidant, and lycopene. The watermelon flesh is healthy to eat.

References

Melons
Monrovia is the capital of Liberia. It is Liberia's most populous city with a population of 1,010,970. The city is named after 5th U.S. President James Monroe.

Monrovia was founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society. They wanted free slaves. Liberia has the word liberty in it and it was meant for slaves for slaves to free from America.

References
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series by Douglas Adams. It started out as a radio show series for the BBC Radio 4 in 1978. 

Between 1979 - 1992, Adams wrote a series of five books.

In 1980, a second radio series was broadcast.

In 1981, it was made into a television series. 

In 2004, the third radio series was broadcast.

In 2005, it was made into a movie, and the fourth and fifth radio series were broadcast. A CD was released following the final episode transmission of each radio series.

It has also been a computer game, and several stage plays and comic books. Douglas Adams also suggested he would write a sixth book but he died before he could complete it, so Eoin Colfer wrote the sixth book in the series.

In 2018, the sixth radio series, the Hexagonal Phase, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. 
It featured Professor Stephen Hawking introducing himself as the voice of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Mk II by saying: "I have been quite popular in my time. Some even read my books".

Books 
The six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide series are:
 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
 Life, the Universe and Everything
 So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish
 Mostly Harmless
 And Another Thing

Synopsis 
The radio, book, TV and movie versions differ from each other. The same basic plot is used but they sometimes contradict each other.  This is due to Adams rewriting the story for each new medium. 
In all versions, the story follows the adventures of Arthur Dent. He is an Englishman. His house is being bulldozed to make way for a bypass. At the same time the Earth is being demolished by the Vogons to make way for an intergalactic bypass. The vogons are a race of unpleasant and bureaucratic aliens. 

Dent's friend, Ford Prefect, is an alien. He is a researcher for the eponymous guidebook. He rescues Dent from Earth's destruction.

Zaphod Beeblebrox is Ford's eccentric semi-cousin. Beeblebrox is the Galactic President. He has stolen the Heart of Gold, a spacecraft equipped with the Infinite Improbability Drive. The depressed robot Marvin the Paranoid Android and Trillian are crew members.
Trillian was known as Tricia McMillan, a woman Arthur once met at a party in Islington. Beeblebrox saved her from Earth's destruction. She is the only other human survivor.

Arthur learns that the Earth was actually a giant supercomputer. It was created by another supercomputer, Deep Thought. Deep Thought had been built to give the answer to the "Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything".  It gave the answer as "42". The creators of Deep Thought were disappointed and Deep Thought was then instructed to design the Earth supercomputer to determine what the question actually is.

The Earth was destroyed by the Vogons just before its calculations were due to complete. Arthur becomes the target of the descendants of the Deep Thought creators, believing his mind must hold the Question. With his friends' help, Arthur escapes and they decide to have lunch at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. They have more adventures.

References

 

 

Science fiction
Media franchises
The iPod is a range of portable music players designed by the company Apple Inc. in California. The iPod comes with computer cables so that the user can put music from their computer onto the iPod, and play music from it using headphones. Newer iPods allow a user to play games, view pictures, watch videos and use the internet, too.

The first iPod was simply named the iPod. This was released in 2001. Apple made iPods like this until 2014, but they were then called "iPod classic".

Apple made a smaller iPod called the iPod mini. It was much smaller than the iPod, but did not hold as many songs. It used flash memory, a special kind of memory for very small electronics, instead of a hard drive. It was replaced by a version of the iPod called the iPod nano.

Another type of iPod, called the iPod shuffle, was very small, and it used flash memory, like the iPod mini but it had no screen. It was the least expensive iPod.

The most expensive iPod is called the iPod touch. It has a touch screen, like the iPhone. The first iPod touch was released in 2007 and is still available today.

iPods often contain songs downloaded from an online music store, using a program called iTunes. (The name of Apple's music and video store is the iTunes Store.) Songs are sold in AAC file format, not MP3 or WMA. These are popular formats for compressing (making smaller) music until it does not take up much space and can easily be put on a media player such as the iPod.

The App Store is an online shop that is run by Apple Inc. where people can buy software for their iPhone or iPod Touch. It opened on July 11, 2008. Over 2 million applications (or apps for short) are available for people to buy. Some apps are available for free.

Models

Timeline

References

Other websites 

 Apple iPod—Official website
 Apple's 21st century Walkman—Brent Schlender, Fortune, October 2001
 iPod Nation—Steven Levy, Newsweek, July 2004
 Behind the Music—Ken Aaron, Cornell Engineering, 2005
 The Perfect Thing—Steven Levy, Wired, November 2006
 Đồng hồ công cộng, November 2008

IPod
Dalida (real name: Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti) (January 17, 1933 - May 3, 1987) was an Egyptian-born Italian/French biggest international singing icon and actress. She was born in Cairo to an Italian family. She had Italian citizenship all her life. From 1961, she also had French citizenship. She died in 1987. She is still today the most loved singer in France.

1933 births
1987 deaths
Actors who committed suicide
Burials at Montmartre Cemetery, Paris
Drug-related suicides
French movie actors
French singers
French television actors
Italian movie actors
Italian singers
Italian television actors
Musicians who committed suicide
People from Cairo
Suicides in France
"Britcom" is short for "British sitcom". It is a situation comedy show produced in the United Kingdom. This is what they are called especially in the United States and Australia, where they have cult followings. Some of them like Till Death Do Us Part and Steptoe and Son were remade as American comedy TV shows (All in the Family and Sanford and Son).

Some famous Britcoms

 Dad's Army
 Dinnerladies
* Fawlty Towers
* The Good Life
* Last of the Summer Wine
* Mr. Bean
* Only Fools and Horses
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a Scottish actor, musician, and writer. He is known for writing country songs for other people or singing them himself. He is also a well-known actor and appeared in films like Star is Born, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Blade, He's Just Not That Into You, and Planet of the Apes.

He is the author of a number of country standards, such as "Me and Bobbie McGee" and "Sunday Morning Coming Down".

1936 births
Living people
People from Edinburgh
Country musicians from California
Scottish movie actors
Rhodes scholars
British singer-songwriters
A mathematical constant is a number, which has a special meaning for calculations. For example, the constant π (pronounced "pie") means the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. This value is always the same for any circle. A mathematical constant is often a real, non-integral number of interest.

In contrast to physical constants, mathematical constants do not come from physical measurements.

Key mathematical constants 
The following table contains some important mathematical constants:

Constants and series 
The following table contains a list of constants and series in mathematics, with the following columns:
Value: Numerical value of the constant.
LaTeX: Formula or series in TeX format.
Formula: For use in programs such as Mathematica or Wolfram Alpha.
OEIS: Link to On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS), where the constants are available with more details.
Continued fraction: In the simple form [to integer; frac1, frac2, frac3, ...] (in brackets if periodic)
Type:
 R - Rational number
 I - Irrational number
 T - Transcendental number
 C - Complex number
Note that the list can be ordered correspondingly by clicking on the header title at the top of the table.

Related pages 

 Constant function
 List of mathematical symbols

References

Books

Online bibliography 
 On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS)
 Simon Plouffe, Tables of Constants 
 Xavier Gourdon and Pascal Sebah's page of numbers, mathematical constants and algorithms
 MathConstants

Other websites
WolframAlpha
 Continued Fraction Calculator
 Inverse Symbolic Calculator, Plouffe's Inverter
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a building in Pisa, Italy.  It is a bell tower.  It is famous because it is not vertical.  In 1990 the tower was leaning at 5.5 degrees and increasing.  After that, much restoration work has been done to stop it from falling over completely.  There was scaffolding all around the tower for 20 years.  On 26 April 2011, the last bit of scaffolding was removed so that the tower can be seen properly again.

The height of the tower is about 56 metres from the ground. Its weight is about 14,500 tonnes. It now leans at about 3.99 degrees. The tower has 294 steps.

When the second floor was built in 1178, the tower started to lean. This was because it had a small three-meter foundation in soft soil. The design of this tower was bad from the beginning. Construction was stopped for almost 100 years because the people of Pisa were often at war with Genoa, Lucca, and Florence.

There is an old story that Galileo Galilei used the Tower for a physics experiment.

References

Buildings and structures in Italy
Towers in Europe
Pisa
A tower is a tall structure. Towers are different from buildings because people do not live in them. Many castles have towers. Today, towers are very tall. Some things they are used for are to send radio signals, for observation, or to hold up bridges.

 

sq:Kulla
Polytheism means believing in many gods. A person that believes in polytheism is called a polytheist. A religion with polytheism can be called a polytheistic religion.

Polytheism is well documented in historical religions of classical antiquity, especially those of ancient Greeks and Romans. Other ancient people who were polytheists include German pagans, Ancient Egyptians, the Celts and the Norse. 

There are various polytheistic religions practiced today. Examples include Sanamahism (Meitei paganism), Shinto, Chinese folk religion, Thelma, Wicca, Druidism, Taoism, Asatru and Candomblé.

Usually, a polytheistic religion has a set of stories about the gods. This is called mythology. 

The opposite of polytheism is monotheism, which is the belief in only one god, practiced by the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, etc.
 

Religion
Nelvana is a Canadian animation studio. It was founded in 1971 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith. The company is now owned by Corus Entertainment. It is named after a local comic book superheroine of the 1940s.

It specialises mainly in the field of child-friendly TV shows and movies. Some of them are:

Programming

1970s
Small Star Cinema (1974–1975) – live action/animation series

1980s
Mr. Microchip (1983) – live-action
20 Minute Workout (1983–1985) – live-action
The Edison Twins (1983–1986) – live-action
Mr. Dressup (1983–1996; co-production with CBC Television)– live-action
Inspector Gadget (1983) (Series 1 only, co-production with DIC Audiovisuel, Field Communications and LBS Communications (now Fremantle (company))
The Get Along Gang (1984, pilot episode) – co-produced with DIC Audiovisuel
Star Wars: Droids (1985–1986)
Star Wars: Ewoks (1985–1987)
The Care Bears Family (1986–1988)
Madballs (1986–1987)
Cricket's Club (1986–1987) – direct-to-video series co-produced with Hi-Tops Video
My Pet Monster (1987)
T. and T. (1988–1990) – live-action
Clifford the Big Red Dog (1988) – direct-to-video release
Babar (1989–1991; 2000)
Beetlejuice (1989–1991; co-production with The Geffen Film Company and Warner Bros. Television)

1990s
Little Rosey (1990)
The Adventures of Tintin (1991–1992) (co-production with Ellipse Programme)
Rupert (1991–1997)
Fievel's American Tails (1992–1993; co-production with Amblin Television and Universal Animation Studios)
Dog City (1992–1994; co-production with The Jim Henson Company)
Eek! The Cat/Eek! Stravaganza (1992–1999) (co-production with Savage Studios and Fox Children's Production)
Family Dog (1993; co-production with Universal Television, Warner Bros. Television and Amblin Television)
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (1993–1994)
Tales from the Cryptkeeper (1993–1999)
The Legend of the North Wind (1994; distribution licensing)
RoboCop: The Series (1994) – "Commander Cash" animated sequences
Free Willy (1994; co-production with Regency Enterprises, Warner Bros. Animation, Le Studio Canal+, Warner Bros. Television)
Wild C.A.T.s (1994–1995) (co-production with WildStorm Productions)
The Magic School Bus (1994–1997; co-production with Scholastic Productions)
Nancy Drew (1995) – live-action
The Hardy Boys (1995–1996) – live-action
The Neverending Story (1995–1996) (co-production with CineVox Entertainment and Ellipse Animation)
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1995–1997; co-production with Morgan Creek Productions and Warner Bros. Television)
Jake and the Kid (1995–1999) – live-action
Little Bear (1995–2003)
Tales from the Crypt (1996) – "The Third Pig"
Robin (1996)
Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles (1996–1997) (animation production for Walt Disney Television Animation)

2000s

2010s

2020s

Upcoming

References

Other websites 
 

Canadian animation studios
Toronto
1971 establishments in Canada
Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand. About 2 million people live in the Auckland region. For a short time in New Zealand's history it was the capital city. Now Wellington is the capital city.

Auckland is in the north of the North Island. It is  on two harbours: the Manukau and Waitemata harbours. It is known as the "City of Sails" because there are many sailing boats in the city. The Hauraki Gulf has many different islands and provides safe anchorage and good sailing that is recognised around the world. It has a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb in the Koeppen climate classification).

Auckland is built on a series of dormant volcanos. The youngest and largest of these is called Rangitoto. Rangitoto is an island just a few kilometres from the city centre. It has many pohutukawas, native trees also known as the New Zealand Christmas tree because of their brilliant red flowers which bloom in December.

In 2010, Len Brown became the 1st Mayor of Auckland. In 2016, he was replaced by Phil Goff.

Climate

According to the NIWA, Auckland has a subtropical climate, with warm, humid summers and mild, rainy winters. Under Köppen's climate classification, the city has an oceanic climate (Cfb). It is the warmest main centre of New Zealand and is also one of the sunniest, with an average of over 2000 sunshine hours per annum. The average daily maximum temperature is  in February and  in July. The absolute maximum recorded temperature is , while the absolute minimum is . High levels of rainfall occur almost year–round with an average of  per year spread over 136 rain days, but is most frequent in Winter. Snowfall in Auckland is extremely rare; recorded instances include 27 July 1939 and 15 August 2011, although without any accumulation.

The early morning calm on the isthmus during settled weather, before the sea breeze rises, was described as early as 1853: "In all seasons, the beauty of the day is in the early morning. At that time, generally, a solemn stillness holds, and a perfect calm prevails...". Many Aucklanders use this time of day to walk and run in parks.

Auckland occasionally suffers from air pollution due to fine particle emissions. There are also occasional breaches of guideline levels of carbon monoxide. While maritime winds normally disperse the pollution relatively quickly it can sometimes become visible as smog, especially on calm winter days. The west of Auckland is slightly wetter and cooler                                                                      than the eastern side, with the gulf islands being warmer and drier still.

References
Strawberry Shortcake is a doll. The doll has red hair and smells like strawberries. Kenner products created the first Strawberry Shortcake doll in 1979. At that time she resembled a typical rag doll, complete with freckles, a mop of red yarn hair, and a strawberry printed bonnet but the unique selling point was that, she smelt of strawberries. The Strawberry Shortcake line of characters each had their own fruit or dessert-themed name with clothing to match, and they each had a dessert or fruit-named pet. Like the Strawberry Shortcake doll, all the other characters’ dolls had hair scented to match their dessert theme.

There was Apple Dumpling, the baby and Raspberry Tart who, in the television programs, was capable of the odd cutting remark. This is what Apple Dumpling looked like back in the 1980s.

She first appeared on cards by American Greetings, and there soon were a series of dolls (each that smell like a different fruit and had a pet) and several TV specials produced by DIC and Nelvana. The characters in the collection from the 1980s were:

Strawberry Shortcake (with Custard the cat)
Huckleberry Pie (with Pupcake the dog)
Apple Dumplin' (with Teatime Turtle)
Blueberry Muffin (with Cheesecake mouse)
Raspberry Tart (with Rhubarb monkey)
Orange Blossom (with Marmalade the butterfly)
Lemon Meringue (with Frappe the frog)
Apricot (with Hopsalot the bunny)
Lime Chiffon (with Parfait Parrot)
Cherry Cuddler (with Gooseberry the goose)
Butter Cookie (with Jelly Bear)
Angel Cake (with Souffle' the skunk)
Mint Tulip (International friend from the Netherlands, with Marsh Mallard, the duck)
Crepe Suzette (International friend from France, with Eclair the poodle)
Cafe Ole (International friend from Mexico, with Burrito the burro)
Almond Tea (International friend China, with Marza Panda)
Lem 'n Ada (Twin International friends from the United Kingdom, with Sugar Woofer the dog)
Plum Puddin' (with Elderberry Owl)
Peach Blush (with Melonie Belle the lamb)
The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak (with Captain Cackle the berry bird) villain
Sour Grapes (with snake Dregs) villain

2000s revival
In 2002, after other 1980s toys (Care Bears, G.I. Joe,etc.) were brought back for youndger kids and parents who played with them and new line of dolls was released and along with several direct-to-DVD specials. 
The new dolls are:
Strawberry Shortcake - with pets Custard and Pupcake
Apple Dumplin'- with pet Apple Ducklin' 
Ginger Snap - with pet Chocolate Chipmunk
Angel Cake - with pet Vanilla Icing the lamb
Orange Blossom - with pet Marmaladebutterfly
Huckleberry Pie - with pet Shoofly frog 
Blueberry Muffin  - with pet Cheesecake mouse
Rainbow Sherbet - with pet Triple Ripple Toucan 
Seaberry Delight - with pet Kiwi Sea Turtle 
Coco Calypso - with pet Papaya Parrot

References 

Dolls
Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a term which refers to the male of a number of poultry. It is raised in many places for its meat and eggs. They are usually kept by humans as livestock. Some breeds of chickens can fly for a short distance. Some sleep in trees (if there are trees around).

A male chicken is called a rooster or a cock(erel). A female chicken is called a hen; a young chicken is called a chick. Like other female birds, hens lay eggs. The eggs hatch into chicks. 

When raising chickens, a farmer needs a chicken coop (like a little house) for the chickens to roost (sleep) in. They also need a run or yard where they can exercise, take dust baths, eat and drink. The chickens also need to be protected from predators such as foxes. Fences are often used for this. 

Chickens can also be farmed intensively. This lets farms make a lot of chicken meat and eggs.

a rooster does not have a penis.

Chicken and chickenpox 
Chickenpox has nothing to do with chickens. When chickenpox was first described, people thought that the pox spots looked like chickpeas placed upon the skin. The Latin word for chick peas is cicer. That is the original word that chickenpox got its name from.

Eggs

Chickens are well known for their eggs. Many people eat them for their breakfast. The eggs can be prepared in many different ways.

Meat 

Because of the low cost, chicken meat (also called "chicken") is one of the most used kinds of meat in the world. Americans eat 8 billion chickens every year. Some popular dishes with chicken are: Buffalo wings, butter chicken, chicken rice, chicken balls, chicken pot pie, chicken soup, fried chicken (see picture), roasted chicken and tandoori chicken.

Cuts 
There are different cuts of chicken. Chicken meat can also be bought whole. The leanest part is known as the breast. Sliced pieces of the breast are known as the tender(loin). There is also wings, thighs, and legs (also known as drumsticks).

Gaming 

In some parts of the world people breed chickens to fight. They bet money on which of two birds will win. In many places this is illegal.

References

Other websites

Phasianidae
Domesticated animals
The floppy disk (or a 3 1/2 floppy for today's standard) is a removable magnetic storage medium.  Floppy disks are used for moving information between computers, laptops or other devices. Some early digital cameras, electronic music instruments and older computer game consoles use floppy disks.  Floppy disks are inserted in to a floppy disk drive or simply floppy drive to allow data to be read or stored.

Floppy disks store much less data than a CD-ROM disk or USB flash drive. A normal 3½ inch disk can store 1.44 megabytes of data.  This is usually enough for simple text documents.

A special type of floppy disk was made in the late 1980s.  It could store 2.88 MB of data.  They did not become popular. Larger size floppy disks became available in the 1990s.  The two most popular were the Zip drive and the Jaz drive, both made by Iomega.

Floppy disk technology has been around since the early 1970s (the 8-inch floppy was the first). Today, floppy disks have been replaced by other storage media, like USB flash drives. Floppy disks and drives are no longer manufactured, but are still widely-available as new old stock.

The floppy drive 

A floppy drive (often called drives “A” and “B” on a computer running DOS or Windows) can be connected to or installed in a personal computer (PC). It is the part of a computer that reads and writes the disk that can be removed. A disk, often called a floppy disk, is used to store files and carry them from one computer to another by using the floppy drive. The floppy drive reads the disk (or diskette) and the user is then able to open and change the files saved on the disk.

Capacities 

Storage devices
The Voice of America (VOA) is the official broadcasting service of the United States government. It is one of the best-known stations in international broadcasting. Along with English, VOA broadcasts in many other languages. VOA's broadcasts are made to share a positive view of the United States with the world. Americans in the United States are not part of VOA's intended audience, but many Americans do listen to the program.

History 

VOA was organized in 1942 under the Office of War Information with news programs aimed at Europe and North Africa occupied by Germany. VOA began broadcasting on February 24, 1942, but VOA noted in its site that it began broadcasting on February 1, 1942. Transmitters used by VOA came from shortwave transmitters used by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Voice of America began to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union on February 17, 1947.

During the Cold War, VOA's budget was reduced. On August 1, 1953, VOA was separated from the Department of State and it was included under the Information Agency. VOA moved its headquarters from New York to Washington, DC. next year. In 1959 VOA started "Special English" programs. In the 1980s, VOA also added a television service, as well as special regional programs to Cuba, Radio Marti and TV Marti.

One of VOA's famous programs was remembered as "Jazz Hour" presented by Willis Conover.This program continued for 40 years, and its record remains at the National Museum of American History, also known as ""Smithsonian".

Languages
The Voice of America broadcasts in 46 different languages. Television broadcasts are marked with a star:

Related pages
Special English

Notes

Other websites 
 Voice of America website

Communication
Radio
1942 establishments in the United sisterStates
A diphthong (pronounced "DIF-thong" or "DIP-thong") is a vowel where the speaker has to move their mouth into two different positions to make. It is a vowel where two different vowel qualities can be heard. Examples are:
waist, die, noise, road, house, fierce, bear, sure. Each of these is a different vowel sound.

A monophthong is a simple vowel sound that a person does not have to move his or her mouth to make, like the "oo" sound in "book." In a diphthong, the person combines two different monophthongs, as with the "oi" sound in the word "oil". The speaker starts with the mouth in the position to make an "o" sound, then quickly moves the mouth to make a hard "e" sound. Another example is the "ou" sound in the word "house". The mouth starts out making a sound like the soft "a" sound in "flat", then moves to make the a hard "oo" sound like the one in "caboose".

Just like with every other part of language, the exact way to pronounce a diphthong is a little different for different accents.

The word diphthong is derived from the old Greek language. Here, di means two or double, while the part -phthong means sound or tone, from the basic word phthalein, which means speak, creating sound by the voice. 

A diphthong can be a lexeme of a language and as such it may be one syllable, but rarely.

References 

Language
The Price is Right is a USA game show on  CBS. The current version started in 1972, and was hosted by Bob Barker for a long time. However, in 2006, Bob Barker announced that he would leave the show. His last episode aired in June 2007. Comedian Drew Carey is now the host; his first episode aired in October 2007.

In this game, a person uses his shopping skills to correctly guess the price of different products, like in a market. Some products are simple household items, like toothpaste and vitamins. Other items are more expensive products, like furniture and cars. After the third and sixth games, the "Showcase Showdown" is played. The three players who got on stage in both halves of the show spin a wheel. They get two spins of the wheel. They have to be closest to $1.00 without going over. The person with the highest total moves on to the Showcase at the end of the show. If a player gets $1.00, they win $1,000 and get another spin. If they hit the $1.00 space on that spin, they win another $25,000. If they hit the 5¢ or 15¢ space, they win another $10,000. In the Showcase, the winners of the two Showcase Showdown games are shown prize packages. They make a bid on them, and whoever comes closest to the price of their showcase without going over wins it. If they are $250 or less from the price of their showcase, they win both showcases. If someone's bid was higher than the price of the real price, that person went over, and was disqualified from winning in that round.

From 1956 - 1963, the show aired on NBC and was hosted by Bill Cullen. From 1963 - 1965, the show aired on ABC and was also hosted by Bill Cullen.

Three nighttime syndicated versions of the show aired. The first one aired from 1972 to 1980. Until 1977, it was hosted by Dennis James. For the rest of its run, it was hosted by Bob Barker. From 1985 - 1986, another nighttime version of the show, named The Nighttime Price Is Right, was made and was hosted by Tom Kennedy. A third nighttime version, The New Price Is Right, was made from 1994 - 1995 and was hosted by Doug Davidson. Also special million dollar prime-time episodes where people could play different versions of games for $1,000,000 were made due to CBS shows being canceled.

Television game shows
CBS network shows
NBC network shows
First run syndicated television programs
A monophthong (pronounced "Mono-F-thong") is simply a vowel. The word monophthong comes from the old Greek language. Mono means one or single, and the -phthong means sound or tone, from the basic word phthalein, which means to speak, create sound with the voice. The word monophthong shows that a vowel is spoken with exactly one tone and one mouth position. For example, when you say "teeth", then while you are creating the sound of the "ee", nothing changes for that sound.

A monophthong can be a lexeme of a language and as such it can as well be a syllable. There is no shorter syllable than a single monophthong.

Related pages
 Diphthong

Language
Ornithology is the study of birds. A person who studies birds is called an ornithologist.

Aspects
Several aspects of ornithology differ from other disciplines, because they are easy to see and are often attractive. Many studies of birds have been done by amateurs working in a scientific manner.

History
Konrad Gesner wrote his Vogelbuch and Icones avium omnium around 1557. Later, England developed a tradition of ornithology. Francis Willughby, John Ray, Gilbert White, John Gould (who studied the birds of Australia) and Peter Scott are good examples.

 
Branches of zoology
Sir Roderick David Stewart,  (born 10 January 1945) is a British pop singer, known professionally as Rod Stewart. He was born in London to an English mother and Scottish father. When he started singing in the 1960s, he was player for Brentford F.C., a football team. He started singing in local R&B groups, in the 1970s he began a solo career which made him very famous.

==References==

1945 births
English rock singers
English singer-songwriters
Living people
Singers from London
Warner Bros. Records artists
The Specials were an English new wave/ska band. They were originally from Coventry, England and formed in 1977. They were part of the ska revival in Britain in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

During the ska revival, bands began playing 1950s-style Jamaican ska music. The Specials often mixed other popular music styles from the 1970s and 1980s into their music, such as pop music and rock and roll.

1977 establishments in the United Kingdom
1970s British music groups
1980s British music groups
1990s British music groups
2000s British music groups
2010s British music groups
Coventry
English musical groups
Musical groups established in 1977

New wave bands