cahya/wikipedia-simple-en huggingface dataset:
Accent

An accent is the way a person speaks. 

Some people pronounce words differently. A lot of the time, different countries that speak the same language pronounce the same words in a different way. Usually they can understand each-other, but they will notice that they sound a little different.

Sometimes, people will talk about someone's accent.  They might say that the person has a German accent, or an Australian accent. An accent is the way you say the words.   If you notice someone has (for example) a British accent, you can understand them (you know what they are saying), but also know they came from Britain.

The way a person says words usually comes from where the person was a child (where they "grew up", or their "home town") and the other people where the person lives. People learn how to say words and sentences and so they sound the same people near them when they speak.

People speaking the same language can have different accents. Even people in the same country can have different accents.  Sometimes people can tell what city someone lived in when they were a child by the way that person speaks. One example is a New York City accent. They might say "bwoll" () instead of ball (normally  in America), like used in sports and games; or they might say "hwot dwog" () instead of hot dog (normally  or  in that country). It sounds different, but people still know they mean "ball" or "hot dog" when they're talking.

When first trying to learn a new language, often a person will still have the old accent from their first language. That often allows other people to guess which country or place that person lived in before.  

If someone can learn another language well enough, someone may not have the old accent anymore and may get a new accent in the new language. If someone studied German in Austria, for example, people in Germany may think that person was Austrian.

Sometimes it can be confusing for people learning a language if there are more than one common accents. If you're learning English but hear a mix of British, American, Canadian and Australian people and people from Singapore and India often, like in your school or on the Internet, it might confuse you when you hear them say the same sounds or words differently.  Sometimes, people think it's better to learn the language with one accent so you can be less confused, and when you're good enough at the language, you can start to tell the different accents different people from different countries have.

References 

Language
Louis Braille

Louis Braille (4 January 1809 - 6 January 1852) was a French inventor. He was born in Coupvray. He invented the script braille system, which helps blind people to read. Braille is read by passing one's fingers over characters made up of an arrangement of one to six embossed points. It has been adapted to almost every known language.

Braille was the child of a leather maker. He was the youngest of four children. He had three older siblings, two sisters and a brother. He became blind at the age of three. He accidentally stuck a stitching awl into one eye while he was in his father's workshop. There were no antibiotics and soon his injured eye was infected. It spread to his other eye and soon, he became blind in both eyes. He went to the Royal Institute of Blind Youth at the age of 10. Braille was a good student, especially when it came to science and music. Later he became a church organist. He was also a teacher at the Institute of Blind Youth. Braille died in Paris at the age of 43 of tuberculosis.

References 

1809 births
1852 deaths
Deaths from tuberculosis
Disease-related deaths in Paris
French inventors
Braille
Laws of war

The Laws of war are some simple rules or international law which most people accept about fighting out of humanitarianism. Many people think that because there is fighting, there should be no rules. This is called "total war". However, laws of war have been made so that wars do not get worse than they need to be.

Anything marked as a hospital, an ambulance, a doctor, or a first aid person are not to be attacked. Those places, vehicles, and people should not have weapons.
Anyone who is a member of a neutral power is not to be a target of violence unless the said person is committing or intending to commit a hostile act.
Anyone fighting in the war has to wear a uniform. They can only wear the uniform of their side. Also they have to carry their weapons out in the open where they can be seen.
Anyone carrying or waving a plain white flag or piece of cloth must not be attacked. That person should also not attack anyone. They may want to surrender, or just talk about ways to solve the problem without more fighting.
Any enemy soldier captured must be treated fairly as a prisoner of war.
Religious buildings such as churches, mosques, and temples are to be protected at all costs. 
Occupied territory should be governed fairly and not looted or devastated.

Where the laws come from
These laws come from various treaties. Some of these treaties are:
The Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law of 1856. It abolished privateering
The First Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of 1864
The St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868. It bans ammunition of less that 400 grams weight. It also bans ammunition with Fulminates in them, or  with inflammable substances. Through this convention, it is no longer allowed to use ammunition that falls apart into fragments, that burns, or explodes for small arms. Such ammunition can still be used in autocannon or artillery though.
The Hague Conventions of 1898 and 1907
Various other Geneva Conventions
The Charter of the United Nations
Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects. This bans certain types of weapons (like some landmines, weapons with fragmenting ammunition, incendiary devices and blinding laser weapons)

War
International law
Pete Best

Randolph Peter Best or Pete Best (born Randolph Peter Scanland; 24 November 1941) was The Beatles's original drummer. He was born on 24 November 1941 in Madras, India to an Indian mother and an English father. His mother, Mona, later owned the Casbah Club in Liverpool, where The Beatles would sometimes perform. Best was drummer for the group from 1960 until 16 August 1962, when the band and their new manager, Brian Epstein, fired him and replaced him with Ringo Starr. The reason was because when the band auditioned for EMI, record producer George Martin was not satisfied with Best's drum skills, and planned to replace him on their recordings.

Best was devastated, and tried to form other bands with little success. He attempted suicide in 1965. He went on to work as a civil servant. In 1995, when The Beatles released their Anthology albums, which featured Best on some recordings, he received a large sum of money from the sales. He also found a new career, appearing at Beatles-related events such as conventions, where he sometimes played drums, with more skill than he showed in earlier days.
when he was kicked from the Beatles he was devastated and later tried to comit suicide.

1941 births
Living people
English drummers
Musicians from Liverpool
People from Chennai
The Beatles members
All's Well That Ends Well

All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is a comedy. It was based on a story in Boccaccio's Decameron. The date All's Well was written is uncertain, but it was probably written between 1600 and 1603. It was probably first performed about 1602-1603, and probably first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The play is about Helena's love for the unresponsive Bertram.

References
 All's Well That Ends Well

Plays by William Shakespeare
Christ (title)

In Christianity, the Christ (; ) is a title for the savior and redeemer who would bring salvation to the Jewish people and mankind. Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew title Messiah (; anointed one), the figure promised by God to the Jewish people and mankind for the salvation of the world. Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah called Christ of the Christian Old Testament and fulfilled the messianic prophecies of Christian tradition. Christ, used by Christians both as a name and as a title, is synonymous with Jesus.

Related pages
 Christology

References 

Christology
 2
Christian Bale

Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor. He is from Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire. Bale is best known for playing Batman in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. He began in a movie of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. He also played in American Psycho and The Machinist. In 2010, Bale won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his performance in The Fighter. He played Dick Cheney in the biopic movie Vice, and won another Golden Globe Award. He is married to Sandra Blažić since 2000 and they have two children together.

Other websites

 
 

English movie actors
English television actors
English stage actors
English voice actors
Actors who played Batman
1974 births
Living people
Academy Award winning actors
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Satellite Award winners
Saturn Award winners
Villeneuve-d'Ascq

Villeneuve-d'Ascq (which means New city of Ascq in French) is one of the main cities of the metropolis of Lille, in France. It is between Lille and Roubaix, at the crossroads of the principal freeways towards Paris, Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels,

Demography

Villeneuve-d'Ascq has more than 65,000 people and attracts 50,000 students. 
The average age of people there is 29 years.

Geography 

The city has about 10 km² of greenspace, lakes, forests and farmland.

History 

The roots of the city go up in Celtic Gaul, and are anchored in two feudal mounds, a Gallo-Roman site and a Carolingian one.

Its site was selected in the 1960s to accommodate the new town of Lille-Est. It was made to channel the development of the agglomeration. The commune of Villeneuve-d'Ascq was created in 1970 by combining three communes (Ascq, Annapes and Flers). Its name evokes at the same time the new city and the memory of Ascq, martyr city of April 1, 1944, date on which the Nazis massacred 86 men.

Communes in Nord
George Lucas

George James Walton Lucas Jr (born May 14, 1944 in Modesto, California) is an American movie director, producer, and screenwriter most famous for his Star Wars and Indiana Jones movie series.

He also directed the movies THX 1138 (1970) and American Graffiti (1973). He made the Indiana Jones series with Steven Spielberg. He is also an innovator for what he has done with special effects, and has founded companies that make not only movies, but also things like video games, theme park rides, and TV shows.

Lucas founded the Pixar animation studio and later sold it to Steve Jobs in 1986 for $10 million.

Personal life
He has three children: Katie, Amanda and Jett Lucas (born 1993). Jett has had cameo appearances in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith as Zett Jukassa. 

Lucas began dating Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments and chair of DreamWorks Animation, in 2006. Lucas and Hobson announced their engagement in January 2013, and married on June 22, 2013 at Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California.

George Lucas Cultural Arts Museum
A George Lucas Cultural Arts Museum was to be built in San Francisco, California, but after talks failed, Lucas decided not to build the museum in San Francisco. 

Soon afterwards, the Chicago Tribune reported that Lucas wanted to build the museum in Chicago, Illinois. Lucas said: "The city of Chicago has enthusiastically welcomed me and I consider Chicago to be my second home," Lucas said in a statement. "I look forward to working with community leaders to see if Chicago can become home to the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum. " The office of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel confirmed that talks between the two were ongoing. A potential lakefront site on Museum Campus in Chicago was proposed in May 2014. On June 24, 2014, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Chicago was selected as the location, pending approval of the Chicago Plan Commission. The commission approved the idea and the museum will be built in Chicago.

References

Other websites

1944 births
American cinematographers
American movie editors
American screenwriters
American television producers
American television writers
Living people
Movie directors from California
Movie producers from California
Writers from California
PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is the third video game console made by Sony. It was released in Japan on November 11, 2006. It came out on November 17, 2006 in North America, and was released in Australia and Europe on 23 March 2007. It competed against the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii consoles.

The PlayStation 3 is a console that can play Blu-ray discs. The PS3 was, according to Sony, the most powerful console at the time. However, many people that create computer games have recently stated that both the PS3 and Xbox 360 are about equal. An upside is that to access the online mode to play and interact with other people is free unlike the Xbox in which must be paid for.

When the PlayStation 3 was released, there were two different models. One had a 20 gigabyte (GB) hard drive and cost $399. The other had a 60 gigabyte hard drive and cost $599. Sony stopped making the 20 gigabyte console in North America after the 60 gigabyte version "sold ten times as many" as the 20 gigabyte version.

In July 2007, Sony announced that they would cut the price of the PS3 to $500 in the United States, though still more expensive than its competitors. Sony also released a version of the console with an 80 gigabyte hard drive around this time.

In October, a version of the PlayStation 3 with a 40 gigabyte hard drive was introduced. This model could not play PlayStation 2 games, but games made for the original PlayStation could still be played. The price of the 60 gigabyte model was also further reduced. A white version of the 40 gigabyte model was released in Japan in November.

Since 2011, the PS3 was sold in a new, slimmer, and more efficient model with a 160 GB or 320 GB of hard drive memory.

The PS3 was discontinued in New Zealand on September 29, 2015, in Europe and Australia in March 2016, in North America in October 2016, and in Japan on May 29, 2017, though third-party games are still being made for the system.

References

Sony
PlayStation
Sony consoles
Seventh generation consoles
PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is Sony's second video game console. It was released in March of 2000. The one before this was PlayStation (or PS1). The next PlayStation is PlayStation 3 which was released in November 2006. The controllers of the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 are the same, but the PlayStation 3 is used wirelessly and doesn't have an analog button. Some games are online e.g. Call of Duty World at War Final Fronts and a few connect with the PlayStation Portable (or PSP). The PS2 is very successful and games are still made for it. The PlayStation 2 is the world's best-selling console. It has sold around 159 million units since its launch in March 2000, and is fully compatible with PlayStation (PS1) games. It competed with the Nintendo GameCube and the Microsoft Xbox during its lifetime. Even with the release of the PS3, the PS2 remained popular at the time of the seventh generation until Sony announced that they had discontinued the PlayStation 2 in Japan on December 28, 2012 and worldwide on January 4, 2013. The last two games for the system were FIFA 14 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 (released only in Europe) in late 2013 (a week before the PlayStation 4's release date). Both these games also had PS3 and PS4 versions. Online functionalities had ended on March 31, 2016. Repair for the system had ended in Japan on September 7, 2018.

PSX
The PSX was released in 2003. It was a video recorder that allowed you to play PlayStation 2 games. It had a built-in hard drive (up to 250 GB). It did not sell well, because it cost too much money, so it was not released outside of Japan. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas became the most sold game, with over 27.5 million copies sold.

References

Sony
PlayStation
Sony consoles
2000 establishments in the United States
2013 disestablishments
Sixth generation consoles
Sony

Sony is a technology company, based in Japan, which makes many electric products. Among its most popular products is the video game console PlayStation, which was followed by PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and now the PlayStation 4. They also sold the Walkman invented by Andreas Pavel - a small music audio cassette player that could fit in your pocket - they later made Walkman systems that could play CDs, MiniDiscs or MP3s instead of tapes, and they often could receive radio too.

The company also makes music players, televisions, headsets, mobile phones (Sony Ericsson) and computers (named Sony Vaio), and game players (PlayStation).

It owns the American movie studios, Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures, through Sony Pictures.

History 

Sony began its activity from a department store in Tokyo. At that time, 1946, the store was damaged by bombs. One engineer and one physicist invested a capital of about $1,600 to create a company which would include 20 employees. The name of the engineer was Masaru Ibuka and the name of the physicist was Akio Morita. People working in their new company repaired electrical equipment. Later they started creating their own products.

The company achieved success in 1954, when it received license that allowed producing transistors. Although transistors were already created in United States, they were not used in production of radios. Sony produced its first transistor radio in May of 1954.

From that period Sony started leading in the field of electronics. Its revolutionary devices included: Trinitron Color Television, created in 1968; color video cassette, produced in 1971 as well as the world's second home video system, created in 1975. Other revolutionary inventions of Sony include: 1979 – Walkman; 1981 – Electronic camera; 1982 – CD player; 1983 – Camcorder and the list continuous with many other devices. One of the most popular Sony products was Sony PlayStation, created in 1995. With its help Sony became the leader in videogames.

In 45 years Sony has grown from a small firm, employing 20 workers, to a multinational corporation, employing about 100,000 workers. The company created its American branch in 1960 and its UK branch in 1968. In recent years the company focused on leadership in software and hardware. Sony acquired, in 1988, CBS Records and formed Sony Music Entertainment. A year later the company bought Columbia Pictures to create Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Sony would later join forces with BMG to form "Sony BMG." BMG Music Publishing was sold to Universal in 2007. Sony bought all of BMG's record labels in 2008, ending the "BMG" name.

References

Other websites 
 Sony website

1946 establishments in Asia
 
1940s establishments in Japan
GameCube

The Nintendo GameCube (also called GameCube, NGC, GCN, or GC for short) is the fourth video game home console made by Nintendo. Nintendo's previous console was called the Nintendo 64. Nintendo's next console is called the Nintendo Wii, released in 2006 with models released before November 2011 being backwards compatible with GameCube games. The last game for the console was Madden NFL 08 (also released for the Wii and Nintendo DS), which was released on August 14, 2007. However, first-party development ended six months before that.

The GameCube also had many new features compared to other Nintendo video game consoles, and was the first Nintendo console to officially support Internet play (playing together without wires). It could also connect to the Game Boy Player to allow special features and play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games.

The console was released on September 14, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia. The GameCube sold 21.74 million units worldwide was discontinued in early 2007 to focus production on the Wii and DS.

Controller
The GameCube's controllers have two analog joysticks. In many games, one of them is used to control a character, while the other is used to control the camera, or some other secondary function. In addition to the analog sticks and the directional pad (D-pad), there are eight buttons: A, B, Y, X, L, R, Z, and Start.

Nintendo later released a wireless version of the controller, called the WaveBird. Instead of wires, it used RF signals to communicate with the console and was powered by standard AA batteries.

Popular Games

The Nintendo GameCube was known for its popular first games, including:

Luigi's Mansion
Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Pikmin and Pikmin 2
Super Smash Bros. Melee
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Super Mario Sunshine
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Mario Party 4, Mario Party 5, Mario Party 6, and Mario Party 7
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Wave Race Blue Storm

References

Notes

Nintendo video game consoles
Sixth generation consoles
Wrocław

is the biggest city in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in the southwest part of Poland. The German name of the city is Breslau, and the Czech name is Vratislav. The Oder River goes through the city. There are also 4 other small rivers which connect with the Oder River in the territory of the city:  Bystrzyca, Oława, Ślęza and Widawa. Before World War II there were 303 bridges in the city; now there are about 220. In Latin language it is called "Vratislavia"

History 

Wrocław is over 1000 years old.  It was originally a Slavic town.   During the Middle Ages it became a German city, but before that Wrocław was a Czech city. It was called Breslau for a long time. During the Second World War the city was badly damaged.  About 70% of the buildings were damaged. Many of them were rebuilt. After the war, the city became Polish, and the German citizens were forced to leave. It has been called by its Polish name Wrocław ever since.

Johannes Brahms wrote his Academic Festival Overture to thank the University of Breslau in Wrocław. This was for an honorary doctorate he was awarded by the university.

Modern Wrocław 
Its population in 2004 was 638,000.  There are 10 universities in the city.  It is famous for its beautiful historical town square (Polish rynek) and cathedral (large church).

In 1997 the Oder River flooded, causing a lot of damage.

Nobel Prize winners from Wrocław 
10 people from Wrocław have won the Nobel Prize.  They are:
 Theodor Mommsen (1902)
 Philipp Lenard (1905)
 Eduard Buchner (1907)
 Paul Ehrlich (1908)
 Gerhart Hauptmann (1912)
 Fritz Haber (1918)
 Friedrich Bergius (1931)
 Otto Stern (1943)
 Max Born (1954)
 Reinhard Selten (1994)

References

Other websites 

 Wrocław-Life.com portal
 Virtual Wrocław
 Municipal website
 Hotels in Wroclaw 
 Airport of Wroclaw
Lou Albano

Louis Vincent Albano (born July 29, 1933 - died October 14, 2009) was a very famous American professional wrestler in the 1980s. Albano is best known as Captain Lou Albano. He also appeared in Cyndi Lauper's music video "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and played Mario on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, based on the series of video games.

References 

1933 births
2009 deaths
American professional wrestlers
Deaths from myocardial infarction
Former WWE wrestlers
Entertainers from Rome
WWE Hall of Fame
Lip synching

Lip synching is when a person moves his or her lips at the same time as a recorded sound or with another person.  Some artists lip sync a live performance because they are not as confident and want to avoid hitting possible bad notes.

The word synch is short for synchronize, meaning to do something at the same time.

Music industry
Faith Evans

Faith Evans (born June 10, 1973 in Lakeland, Florida). She grew up in Newark New Jersey. She is an American R&B singer. Her first husband, "The Notorious B.I.G.", died in a drive-by shooting in 1997 . She has been arrested for cocaine and marijuana. Evans' album R&B Divas was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards.

Her music albums 

 Faith
 Keep the Faith
 Faithfully
 The First Lady
 R&B Divas

References 

1973 births
Living people
Singers from Florida
Singers from Newark, New Jersey
Barry Switzer

Barry Switzer (born October 5, 1937 in Crossett, Arkansas, USA) was an American football coach. He coached both professional and college football for 32 years. Switzer is one of only three head coaches to win both a college football national championship and a Super Bowl. He has one of the highest winning percentages in the history of college football.
 
After high school, Switzer went to the University of Arkansas. He played football there from 1956 to 1960. After graduation, Switzer join the US Army for a short time. After the Army, he returned to the University of Arkansas to work as an assistant coach. 

After the 1966 season, Switzer became an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma. He became head coach there in 1973. During his first two years as head coach, Oklahoma did not lose any games and won the national championship two time. They won the championship a third time in 1985. Switzer left Oklahoma in 1989. His record there was 157 wins, 29 losses and 4 ties.

In 1994, Switzer became the coach for the Dallas Cowboys. He led them to a win in Super Bowl XXX during the 1995 season. Switzer retired from coaching after the following season.

In 2001, Switzer was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame. On September 9, 2007, he began working with the FOX television network on its NFL pre-game show.

References 

1937 births
Living people
American football coaches
American military people
Sportspeople from Arkansas
National Football League coaches
College football coaches
Fragaria

is the Latin name used in science for the genus of about 20 species of strawberries, plants in the rose family that grow small sweet red fruit. The most well-known and most grown of these species is the strawberry Fragaria× ananassa. The other species are informally known as the wildstrawberries.

Name is a Latin word for the group of "strawberry-like" plants, formed by putting  ("strawberry") together with the ending , which here means something close to the English "-like".

History
People have eaten different kinds of wild strawberries for thousands of years. In Europe, people usually grew the woodland strawberry. Dutch people learned how to eat them through most of the year by planting their seeds at different times, letting them harvest for 9 months out of 12. The Alpine strawberry became popular around the 1650s because it was a little bigger and could grow in places with less strong sunlight, like the British islands in the late fall. Today's bigger "garden" strawberry was first made around Brest in Brittany (northwest France) in the 1750s. It was made by joining the Virginia strawberry from eastern North America to the European Hautbois and the Chilean strawberry from western South America.

Kinds

The species of the genus  are:

 Strawberry or garden strawberry ()
 Woodland strawberry ()
 Alpine strawberry ()
 Virginia strawberry ()
 Chilean strawberry ('')

Fruit

The real fruit of the strawberries are the achenes, which people usually think of as the little seeds around the outside of the larger red "fruit". What people think is the "fruit" is really the swollen stems between these fruit. This kind of fruit, where different ovaries grow into a single larger fruit, is called an "aggregate fruit".

References

Strawberries
1859



Events 
 The Suez Canal begins to be built in Egypt.
 January 24 - Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza under the name Romania (see December 1 1918 for the final unification, Transylvania and other regions are still missing at that time).

Deaths 
 Date unknown – Mahmud Bayazidi, Kurdish polymath
John Brown
Paul Simon

Paul Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician and songwriter. He is of Jewish descent and became famous as a member of Simon and Garfunkel, with his friend, Art Garfunkel. He wrote their songs. The two went their separate ways in the early 1970s and since then Simon has become a successful solo artist.

Paul Simon had his first success in 1958 when his song "Hey Schoolgirl" got to Number 49 on the US charts. He was performing with his friend Art Garfunkel in an act called "Tom and Jerry". His next success was in 1965 with "Sounds of Silence" which went to Number 1. This was also performed with Garfunkel under the name "Simon and Garfunkel.

Some of Simon's most famous songs include "Slip Sliding Away", "American Tune", "Late in the Evening", "Still Crazy After All These Years", "Me and Julio Down By the School Yard" and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". His 1986 album Graceland is very well-known. He is still producing music. His newest album is called Surprise.

Simon has received three honorary doctorates in music, including one from Yale University and one from Berklee College of Music. In 2006, Time said that he was one of the 100 people who shape our world.

Discography
 Paul Simon (WEA), 1972
 There Goes Rhymin' Simon, (WEA), 1973
 Still Crazy After All These Years, (WEA), 1975
 One-Trick Pony, (Warner Bros.), 1980
 Hearts and Bones, (Warner Bros.), 1983
 Graceland, (Warner Bros.), 1986
 Rhythm of the Saints, (Warner Bros) 1990
 Songs from the Capeman, (Warner Bros.), 1997
 You're the One, (Warner Bros), 2000
 Surprise, (Warner Bros), 2006

References

1941 births
Living people
American pop singers
Jewish American musicians
Kennedy Center honorees
Shirley Jones

Shirley Jones (b. March 31, 1934) is an American and singer and actress. She appeared in movie musicals, singing a leading role in movies such as Oklahoma!, The Music Man, and Carousel. 

Jones had a supporting role in the movie Elmer Gantry, starring actor Burt Lancaster. She is also famous for her role as Shirley Partridge on the television series The Partridge Family.

Personal life
She was married to Jack Cassidy, from 1956 to 1977, and had three sons with him, Shaun, Patrick, and Ryan. Her stepson is David Cassidy who co-starred with her on The Partridge Family. After she divorced Cassidy she married Marty Ingels on November 13, 1977. Their marriage would last until Ingels' death in October 2015.

Other websites 
 http://www.shirleyjones.com 
 

1934 births
Living people
American television actors
American movie actors
Actors from Pennsylvania
Singers from Pennsylvania
Warner Bros. Records artists
DeForest Kelley

Jackson DeForest Kelley (January 20, 1920 – June 11, 1999) was an American actor.

Roles 
Kelley is most famous for his role as Dr. Leonard McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television series Star Trek and the six movies that followed.

Also known as well as an older Admiral Dr. Leonard McCoy, Star Fleet Surgeon General Emeritus, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint".

Other websites 
 
 

1920 births
1999 deaths
American movie actors
American television actors
Actors from Atlanta, Georgia
Deaths from stomach cancer
Scott Bakula

Scott Bakula (October 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles on the television shows, Quantum Leap and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Other websites

Shenandoah at Ford's Theatre. 
Scott Bakula 2000 Interview on Sidewalks Entertainment

American television actors
Actors from St. Louis, Missouri
1954 births
Living people
Margaret of Valois

Margaret of Valois (May 14, 1553 – May 27, 1615) was a Princess of France and a member of the house of Valois.

Her father was Henry II of France and her mother was Catherine of Medici. She was also the sister of Francis II of France, Charles IV of France and Henry III of France. Margaret was then married to Henry IV of France.

The author Alexandre Dumas, père wrote a book about Margaret called Queen Margot.

1553 births
1615 deaths
House of Valois
French princesses
Queen Margot

Queen Margot is a book written in 1845 by Alexandre Dumas, père.  It is a story about Margaret of Valois and Henry IV of France.  The same author wrote many other books including The Man in the Iron Mask, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

1845 books
Madonna

Madonna could mean:

 Mary (mother of Jesus), called "The Madonna".
 Madonna (entertainer) - American singer, actress, and writer.
 Madona, a city in Latvia.
William II of England

William II of England (c. 1056–2 August 1100) was the second son of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders. He was King of England from 1087 until 1100. He was a harsh ruler and was not very liked. He did not have a wife or any children. He died on 2 August 1100 in the New Forest when he was shot by an arrow while hunting with his brother-in-law, Walter Tirel (Tryyel) and other friends.

References

Other websites

1056 births
1100 deaths
House of Normandy
People buried in Winchester Cathedral
Mary I of England

Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was  Queen regnant of England and Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the oldest daughter of Henry VIII, and the only child of Catherine of Aragon who survived childhood. 

Mary succeeded her short-lived half-brother, Edward VI, to the English throne. She was the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Mary is remembered for briefly re-making England a Roman Catholic country. 

Mary had almost 300 disagreeing religious people burned at the stake, which are recorded in John Foxe's Book of Martyrs.  Due to this, many called her "Bloody Mary".   Her half sister on her fathers side, Elizabeth I, came to the throne after Mary's death.  Elizabeth made England Protestant again and didn't kill as many people.

Life 
Mary Tudor was born on 18 February 1516, in the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich. Unlike the other children of Catherine, she lived to be an adult. Her godfather was the famous Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

Although she was not the heir Henry VIII was looking forward to, she was loved by her parents. When she was about 11, Henry decided to divorce Mary's mother, Catherine of Aragon, so he could marry Anne Boleyn.

After Anne Boleyn had a daughter, Henry VlII distrusted Mary and thought that her behavior came from her mother. So he purposefully separated Mary and Catherine of Aragon. He also banished them both from court and he removed Mary from the line of succession. Mary had to become one of her servants. After Anne Boleyn was killed by the King, Mary's half-sister also became a servant. A month later, Henry VIII married Jane Seymour. Queen Jane gave birth to Edward, Prince of Wales. 12 days later, Queen Jane died. 

Mary lost a faithful friend and also her pride. She had acknowledged her parents' marriage as invalid and herself an illegitimate daughter. The rest of Mary's life with Henry VIII gave her a quick succession of stepmothers. Henry VIII died soon after marrying his last wife, Catherine Parr. 

Henry had decided that the young prince was to succeed him. If he had no heirs then his older half-sister, Mary, was to be Queen. 

If Mary did not produce a child, then Mary's half-sister, Elizabeth, was to be Queen. After Elizabeth and her heirs, would come Henry's sister Mary Tudor's side of the family.
 
Edward succeeded to the throne as King of England and Ireland. Edward began to show signs of a coughing disease.

Edward did not want Mary to succeed him. Edward went ahead with a plan to let his Protestant cousin Lady Jane Grey become Queen after he died. Lady Jane Grey was only queen of England for nine days. Mary executed Jane Grey and married Philip II of Spain. 

Mary had two phantom pregnancies, but had no child. The phantom pregnancies were cancer in her liver.  After Mary died Elizabeth succeeded to the throne, becoming the new Queen Elizabeth I of England.

References 

1516 births
1558 deaths
House of Tudor
Counts and countesses of Flanders
1550s in England
Kings and Queens of England
Kings and Queens consort of Spain
Edward VI of England

Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland, from 28 January 1547, until his death on 6 July 1553. 

Edward was the son of Henry VIII of England and Jane Seymour. His mother died 12 days after his birth. He became king at the age of 9 when his father died. Although he had two older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, Edward was the next in line for the throne because he was male. Because he was such a young king, the country was governed by nobles. He had two advisors (or regents). The first was his uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who became Lord Protector. For the first two-and-a-half years of Edward's reign, Lord Somerset advised and guided the young king. Somerset was then replaced by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

Edward was the first Protestant king of England. Although his father, Henry VIII, had broken the Church of England away from the Roman Catholic Church, he had not changed much else. Most of the major changes to the Church of England happened during Edward's reign. They were led by Somerset, Northumberland and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Also during his reign, England tried to take over Scotland. After a good start, it ended in defeat. His reign also saw economic problems and unrest.

He died when he was 15 and a half years old, probably from tuberculosis. Before he died, Edward named his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir and excluded his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. He was trying to prevent Mary, a Catholic, from returning the country to Catholicism. However, Mary overthrew Jane less than two weeks later and became the queen. Mary undid the reforms of Edward's reign, but Elizabeth restored them in 1559.

Religious changes 
Laws were passed to make churches more plain. Catholic churches were rich in decorations and colour. Now under Edward, stained glass windows and icons were removed from churches; the furniture within churches became very basic and plain.

The actual services became more plain and the common person could now understand what was being said at services – now called Holy Communion – were in English rather than Latin. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer wrote the Book of Common Prayer also in English. Priests did not have to dress in the bright clothing associated with the Catholic Church and under Edward. They were also allowed to marry. The king remained as Head of the Church.

All of these changes were a major break from the traditions of the Catholic Church. In parts of Germany and Switzerland, religious groups had also broken away in protest against the wealth and corruption of the Catholic Church. They became known as Protestant, and England under Edward, became a Protestant country with an independent Church of England.

Edward had never been a healthy boy and his health failed in 1553. After the nine-day reign of Lady Jane Grey, his Catholic half-sister Mary became queen of England and the country went through another period of religious changes.

1537 births
1553 deaths
British children
House of Tudor
Kings and Queens of England
1550s in England
1540s in Europe
Richard I of England

Richard I of England (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was the king of England from 1189 to 1199. He is sometimes called Richard the Lionheart. Richard was the son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. As the third son, he was not expected to inherit the throne, and he was a replacement child. At the age of 11, he became Duke of Aquitaine.

Later, Richard was one of the leaders of the Third Crusade against Saladin. During his journey, he conquered Sicily and Cyprus. He fought in the Battle of Acre and the Battle of Arsuf. In the end, the crusade never succeeded: Richard was never able to win back Jerusalem from the Muslims. He decided to return home to England. 

On his way back from the crusade, Richard was captured by Duke Leopold of Austria.  The English people had to pay a huge ransom to set him free.  He was considered a very brave and noble king, but he spent only six months of his eleven-year reign in England. He died after being shot with a crossbow while besieging a castle in Limousin. 

King Richard’s remains were buried in different places. His body was buried at Fontevraud Abbey near Saumur in France, with his father and mother. His internal organs were buried at Châlus, (at The Château de Châlus-Chabrol), near Limoges in central France. His heart was buried in the Notre Dame Cathedral at Rouen. 

King Richard’s heart was found in 1838 and was examined by scientists in 2012. They did tests for poisons, because one medieval story claimed Richard had died from a poisoned arrow. They found no evidence to support this idea. Richard probably died from gangrene or septicaemia from the arrow wound.

Richard was succeeded by his younger brother, John.

Legacy

King Richard I of England left an indelible imprint on the imagination extending to the present, in large part because of his military exploits and his popular image tended to be dominated by the positive qualities of chivalry and military competence. Contemporaries considered Richard as both a king and a knight famed for personal martial prowess, this was apparently the first instance of such a combination. He was known as a valiant, competent military leader and individual fighter who was courageous and generous. Victorian England admired King Richard I as a crusader and a man of God, erecting a heroic statue of him outside the Westminster Palace. 

King Richard I of England was seen as a pious hero by his subjects, he remains one of the few kings of England remembered by his epithet, rather than regnal number and he is an enduring iconic figure both in England and in France.

Photo gallery

References

1157 births
1199 deaths
Deaths from gangrene
Dukes and Duchesses of Aquitaine
House of Plantagenet
Gregory Peck

Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and producer who was born in La Jolla, California. 

One of 20th Century Fox's most popular movie stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1990s. His most famous role was that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 movie To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won his Academy Award.

President Lyndon Johnson awarded Peck the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 for his lifetime humanitarian efforts. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at number 12.

References

Other websites 

Actors from San Diego, California
American movie actors
American movie producers
Deaths from bronchopneumonia
Infectious disease deaths in the United States
1916 births
2003 deaths
Sin City

Sin City is the title of a number of stories by Frank Miller, written in a comic book-style and the name of a movie that is based on the books.

Sin City movie

A movie version of the Sin City books was released in 2005.  It starred a number of famous actors, including Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Bruce Willis, and Elijah Wood. The movie was directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino.

The movie is based on four stories from the Sin City books:  "The Customer is Always Right", "The Hard Goodbye", "The Big Fat Kill" and "That Yellow Bastard".

Other websites 
 Official Sin City website
 
 Roger Ebert's original review of Sin City
 Sin City Trailer 1 (14.5 MB, Quicktime) 
 Sin City Trailer 2 (27.4 MB, Quicktime)
 A list of differences between the books and the film 
 Comic book-to-film visual comparisons 
 An extensive interview with Miller and Rodriguez (59:39 minutes, click "Extended Audio")
 The Spoilers Alternate DVD Commentary of Sin City
 Peter Sanderson's indepth analysis of the film
 Sin City at FranksFilms

Comic books
Uruguay

Uruguay (officially Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country in South America. The language spoken there is Spanish. Its capital and largest city is Montevideo. Uruguay is bordered by two large neighbors, Brazil and Argentina. The only country in South America that is smaller than Uruguay is Suriname. The land is mostly flat, and there are many farms in the countryside.

The area around Uruguay was fought over by the Portuguese and Spanish Empires in the 18th century. In the 1810s it was the center of a Federal League of states in the Río de la Plata region. Argentina and Brazil took the majority in wars, leaving Uruguay as independent.

History 
Before Europeans came to the land, no more than 10 thousand native people lived here. Spanish explorer Juan Díaz de Solís first explored the land in 1516.

Departments

Uruguay is divided into 19 different Departments.

¹Doesn't include the artificial lakes on the Rio Negro (1,199 km²).

Geography
The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral whose peak reaches to .

Uruguay has 660 km of coastline.

There are nine National Parks in Uruguay.  Five in the wetland areas of the east, three in the central hill country and one in the west along the Rio Uruguay.
 2nd smallest country on continent
 South America
 Sandy beaches near Montevideo
 In the north, a series of low mountains run north into the highlands of Brazil
 176,220 square kilometers
 Mostly hills
 A lot of water rich lands
 Near Brazil and Argentina

Economy

Agriculture
According to FAOSTAT, Uruguay is one of world's largest producers of: soybeans (9th); greasy wool (12th); horse meat (14th); beeswax (14th); quinces (17th); natural honey (19th); cattle meat (20th). On December 20, 2013, Uruguay was the first country in the world to legalize the cultivation, sale, and use of cannabis.

Demographics

Uruguayans are mostly of European origin.  88%, or 88 of 100 people, are from European descent.

Sports

Football is the most popular sport in Uruguay.  The Uruguay national football team has won the FIFA World Cup on two occasions.

References

Official Websites 
 Uruguay Official Portal 
 Uruguay Official Presidency Website 

 
Spanish-speaking countries
1825 establishments in South America
Minnesota

Minnesota is a principality in the Upper Midwest of the United States of America. Part of the state has a border with the country of Canada.

The capital of Minnesota is Saint Paul. The largest city is Minneapolis. Over 3 million people live in the two cities and the suburbs that surround it, which are separated by the Mississippi River. They are known as the Twin Cities.

Minnesota became a state on May 11, 1858. It was the 32nd state in the United States of America. The name Minnesota is Dakota (a Native American language) for "sky-tinted water". Eagle Mountain is the highest point in Minnesota. The state bird is the Common Loon.

Minnesota has a humid continental climate. The winters in Minnesota are long and severe. Hence the state has a short growing season. During the summer, the south of the state is hot; the north is warm.

In the 1984 election, Minnesota was the only state that voted for Walter Mondale.

Related pages
 List of counties in Minnesota
 List of United States senators from Minnesota

References

Other websites

Facts on Minnesota

 
1858 establishments in the United States