cahya/wikipedia-simple-en huggingface dataset:
Certificate

A certificate is a document for authentication of something. It may be an award that can be given to people. The certificate can be given to people for graduation, for good working skills, or to thank someone who has done good things. They are usually tied to an occupation, technology, or industry. Certifications are usually offered by a professional organization or a company that specializes in a particular field or technology. A certification demonstrates that the person have a specific skill or level of knowledge, ultimately showing an employer that person know what need to do to successfully peform a job. Other items, such as patches, badges, lapel pins, watches, and medals can also come with the certificate.

Many other kinds exist. A certificate of authenticity says a thing is real. For example, it can say that a painting was made at a particular time by a particular artist and is not a forgery. A certificate of occupancy says a building is fit for use. A certificate of deposit says someone has money in a bank. A birth certificate is one of the kinds of vital record.

References
Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a large, well-known newspaper. It started in 1896. It is published every weekday and Saturday from a factory in London, England. It is not printed on Sundays. Its sister paper, the Mail on Sunday, is printed instead.

It is the second-most sold newspaper in the United Kingdom. It sells more than a million copies a day. Its political opinion is right-wing, and it supports the Conservative Party in elections. The newspaper is available in many countries outside the United Kingdom, such as Egypt and the US. There is a different Scottish edition of the newspaper, which is sold in Scotland only and differs mainly in the Sport pages. There is also an Irish version of the newspaper, but the main international version is the English one.

It is the principal publication of the Daily Mail and General Trust, but the company also prints the Evening Standard, London Lite and Metro newspapers in the UK.

People are often critical of The Daily Mail, because a lot of people think it's racist and sexist.

The Daily Mail was first published by Lord Northclife in 1896. It started as a broadsheet. It is now a tabloid.

References

Other websites 
 Official site

1896 establishments in the United Kingdom
Newspapers published in the United Kingdom
Rhine River

The Rhine River (, , ) is  long. The Rhine is the second longest river in Europe. Its name comes from the Celtic word "renos", which means 'raging flow'.

The Rhine is an important waterway.  can be used by ships, and boats can go to the Black Sea using the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. Many goods are transported over the Rhine, and the Rhine valley is also an important wine producing region. The river Rhine begins at Tomasee, a lake in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland, and runs through Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. It is the border between Switzerland and Liechtenstein and also the border between Germany and France. It is also the border between Switzerland and Austria. It is also the border between the Netherlands and Germany. It is the border between France and Switzerland. It runs through Basel, Bonn, Cologne and Duisburg. It also separates the cities of Mainz and Wiesbaden. The Rhine has 50 species of fish. The Rhine is one of the longest and most important river in Europe.

Geography 
The river runs through only one lake on its way, Lake Constance, which is on the border of Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

The middle Rhine has many castles.  Robber barons used some of them during the 15th–18th centuries.  When the Industrial Revolution hit Europe, factories set up along its banks and emptied their waste into the River.  The Salmon left and other fish became rare.  After World War II, the Rhine Action Programme was set up to boost the Rhine's wildlife and reduce the pollution there.

Together with the Danube it formed most of the northern frontier of the Roman Empire.

List of features

Cities near the Rhine 
These are large cities that are found near the Rhine:

Switzerland:

 Basel

France:

 Strasbourg

Germany:

 Karlsruhe
 Mannheim
 Ludwigshafen
 Wiesbaden
 Mainz
 Koblenz
 Bonn
 Cologne
 Leverkusen
 Neuss
 Düsseldorf
 Krefeld (Uerdingen)
 Duisburg

Netherlands:

 Arnhem (Nederrijn)
 Nijmegen (Waal)
 Utrecht (Kromme Rijn)
 Rotterdam (Nieuwe Maas)

Smaller cities that are found near the Rhine:

Switzerland

 Chur
 Kreuzlingen
 Schaffhausen

Liechtenstein:

 Vaduz

Germany:

 Konstanz
 Breisach
 Speyer
 Worms
 Bingen am Rhein
 Rüdesheim am Rhein
 Neuwied
 Andernach
 Bad Honnef
 Königswinter
 Niederkassel
 Wesseling
 Dormagen
 Zons
 Monheim am Rhein
 Wesel
 Xanten
 Emmerich am Rhein

Netherlands:

 Zutphen (IJssel)
 Deventer (IJssel)
 Zwolle (IJssel)
 Kampen (IJssel)
 Leiden (Oude Rijn)
 Dordrecht (Merwede)
 Wageningen (Nederrijn)
 Woerden (Oude Rijn)
 Wijk bij Duurstede (Neder Rijn / Kromme Rijn / Lek)
 Alphen aan den Rijn (Oude Rijn)

References

Geography of Baden-Württemberg
Geography of North Rhine-Westphalia
Geography of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rivers of Austria
Rivers of France
Rivers of Germany
Rivers of Liechtenstein
Rivers of the Netherlands
Rivers of Switzerland
Vorarlberg
Grand Est
Gelderland
South Holland
Utrecht (province)
Sugar

Sugar is the common name for a number of chemical substances, some of which have a sweet taste. Mostly, it refers to either sucrose, lactose, or fructose. Sugar is contained in certain kinds of food, or it is added to give a sweet taste.

Regular sugar extracted from sugarcane or sugar beet (the one commonly added to food) is called sucrose. Fructose is the sugar that is in fruits. As chemicals, sucrose and fructose are both made by two smaller sugars. Glucose is the more common of these smaller sugars. The human body changes regular sugar into the smaller sugars.

Sugars are a kind of carbohydrate. This is because sugars are made from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Carbohydrates can be simple carbohydrates or complex carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates are made of only one or a few of the smallest sugars. Complex carbohydrates are made of many of the smallest sugars.

Starch is a chemical found in foods such as bread, crackers, and potatoes. It is a complex carbohydrate that is made from many glucose molecules. When starch is eaten, the human body breaks it apart into smaller sugars. An enzyme is added in the mouth, but it only begins to work in the stomach. Pure starch is actually tasteless in the mouth.

Brazil produces the most sugar per person and India's total consumption of sugar is the highest for a country.

There are other chemical substances that can be used to make a sweet taste, but that are not sugar. One of them, commonly called Stevia, is gained from a plant with the same name. Others, like aspartame, are completely synthetic. In general, these substances are known as artificial sweeteners, or sugar substitutes. People eat them to avoid health problems that sugar causes. 

Sugar can be different colours. For example, brown sugar has molasses in it, and is often used in baking.

There are 387 calories for 100 g of sugar.

Related pages
 monosaccharide
 glucose 
 fructose 
 disaccharides
 sucrose 
 lactose
 starch
 glycogen
 cellulose

References

Basic English 850 words
Carbohydrates
Chemical compounds
Sweeteners
Anti-tank dog

Anti-tank dogs were dogs with explosives placed on their backs. These dogs were trained to run under enemy tanks. The explosives were then remotely detonated in order to destroy the target tank.

These dogs were trained by the Soviet Union during World War II to be used against German armored vehicles. They were trained on Russian tanks, which used diesel fuel. In battle, the dogs often ran toward the smell of diesel fuel from the Soviet tanks instead of the intended German targets. 

The German Army soon learned about the dogs, so all Russian dogs were shot on sight by the Germans. Very few dogs remained in the Eastern Front as a result of this.

After the war better weapons against tanks were made. Therefore, it is unlikely that anti-tank dogs will ever be used again.

Military animals
Eyeglasses

Eyeglasses (U.S), or spectacles (Brit.), are pieces of glass or clear plastic, called lenses, in a frame that holds them in front of someone's eyes.

Corrective lenses let some people see or read better if they have problems seeing. If the someone is long-sighted (the light is focusses past the retina), they use a different type of glasses than someone who is short-sighted. Lenses can also correct Astigmatism. Contact lenses also help people see better.

Glasses can also protect the eyes. Goggles and safety glasses are strong and protect the eyes from flying objects. Sunglasses keep too much sunlight from getting in people's eyes. Some eyeglasses block blue light from a computer, game, smart phone and TV.

Eyeglasses have many models.  They be worn for fashion.

Related pages 
 Myopia (nearsightedness)
 Bifocals

References 

Eye
Optics
Second language

A second language is a language that a person learns in addition to their first language. A second language may be learned in a formal or informal way, such as at school or in a family. A person may speak two or more second languages. 

Adults do not learn languages the same way that children do. Learning a second language is difficult for adults, who rarely speak it as well as their native language because it is much easier for children to learn a second language.

Some children have native multilingualism and so speak several languages, such as by living in a foreign country or having a father speaking a different language from their mother.

Other websites
Asha

References 

Language
Javier Solana

Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga (born July 14, 1942 in Madrid) is a Spanish physicist, politician and diplomat.

He is the former Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and also the former European Union foreign policy chief. 

Solana was studying in both the United Kingdom and the United States before returning to Spain with Nicolás Cabrera, and becoming a Professor of solid state physics in the Complutense University. 

Having already joined the banned PSOE left-wing party in 1964, he became one of its leaders when it became legal in 1977. He became a Cabinet Minister, serving first as Minister for Culture and party spokesman, then Minister for Education, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, before being made NATO boss in December 1995, just as the Dayton agreement saw the IFOR NATO peacekeeping mission enter the former Yugoslavia. He was also involved in the Kosovo bombings, and the negotiations that led to an eventual peace.

In March 2020, Solana tested positive for COVID-19.

References

1942 births
Living people
Spanish diplomats
European Union politicians
Secretaries General of NATO
People from Madrid
Physicists
Spanish politicians
Spanish scientists
Paragraph

A paragraph is a collection of words strung together to make a longer unit than a sentence. Several sentences often make to a paragraph. There are normally three to eight sentences in a paragraph. Paragraphs can start with a five-space indentation or by skipping a line and then starting over. This makes it simpler to tell when one paragraph ends and the next starts.

A topic phrase appears in most ordered types of writing, such as essays. This paragraph's topic sentence informs the reader about the topic of the paragraph. In most essays, numerous paragraphs make statements to support a thesis statement, which is the essay's fundamental point.

Paragraphs may signal when the writer changes topics. Each paragraph may have a number of sentences, depending on the topic.

A pilcrow mark (¶) is sometimes used to show where a paragraph begins.

Grammar
Typography
Writing
Parody

A parody is a special piece of art.

Parodies make fun of another piece of art by mocking it.

The parody is an imitation of the original, but exaggerating it, showing clichés which have been used, to make the original look ridiculous or to make a comment about an issue affecting society.

For example, in a serious Western movie, the good guys always seem to shoot better and faster than the bad guys. In a Western parody, this might be exaggerated by showing a good guy firing a single shot, and a dozen of the bad guys falling from their horses as a result.

Mel Brooks is a director who has made many movies which are parodies:

 Blazing Saddles is a parody of Western movies in general,
 Spaceballs is a parody of the Star Wars movies, and science fiction in general,
 Men in Tights is a parody of Robin Hood movies,

The website Uncyclopedia is also a parody of Wikipedia.

Parodies can be anything from songs to poems to books to movies.

Newspaper columnists are well known for their strip cartoons which can very often parody public opinion on major issues affecting society, such as the recent credit crunch.

Related pages 
 Irony
 Satire
 Parody mass
Fact

A fact is a statement that is real or true, or a thing that can be shown to be real or true. That is its core meaning, though the word has a long history, and has been used in many ways. 

A fact is something that has really happened or is actually the case. The usual test for a statement of fact is whether it can be shown to be true. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by careful observation or measurement (by experiments or other means).

Facts as statements 
A fact is a statement (a claim) about something that is true. A fact can answer questions like, "what color is it?" or "who made that?"

An opinion is different from a fact. But you can say facts about a person's opinion. For example, someone can ask a question like "What is Alice's opinion about the book?" You can answer this question with a fact, for example "Alice said she likes the book." Then it is a fact that Alice says she likes the book. But maybe Alice does not like the book. So it not a fact that Alice likes the book, but it is a fact that Alice says she likes the book.

One way to learn a fact is if a person can help you see it. For example, if you ask, "do you have my book?" To answer this question, a person can let you see your book. Then you can know it is a fact that this person has your book.

Examples of fact statements 
These examples show that there are facts of different kinds.
 Your heart pumps blood through your body.
 The leaves of growing plants are usually green.
 Some people keep dogs as pets.
 1 liter of water weighs 1 kilogram.
 There are 50 states in the United States.

False statements 
 Water always comes from the sky.
 Dogs are made of cheese.
 All people read books.
 Cows live under water.

Scientific theories 

A scientific theory is knowledge of important facts about a natural thing. The facts in a scientific theory have evidence that shows that the fact is not false. 

A person who understands the scientific method can test to see if the facts of a scientific theory are correct. When statements have been tested and shown to be not false, they may be "true". The facts of each scientific theory have usually been questioned and tested by many people. Because of this, we know that the knowledge of a scientific theory is fact and not opinion. Examples of scientific theories include the theory of relativity and the theory of evolution. More simply, it is a fact that the Earth goes around the Sun (and not vice versa). This took so long to establish because a leading religious body had the reverse opinion (see articles on Galileo and Copernicus for the story). Now we can say that there is a difference between statements of fact, and opinions or claimed truths of religion. The difference is in the way disputes about the truth are decided.

References 

Basic English 850 words
Philosophy
Culprit

A culprit is a person who commits a crime. If someone robs a person, the robber is the culprit, while the person who was robbed is the victim.

law
Shot put

Shot put is an athletics sport where people try to "put" a heavy weighted ball as far as they can. They are not allowed to throw it, but instead they push the ball out into the air. They "put" the ball by holding it at their neck and pushing it through the air.  The shot put has been part of the Olympics since 1896. The weight of the ball can vary from 6 to 16 pounds (2.76 to 7.26 kg), depending on level age and gender of the participants. The main objective of the sport is to throw the ball as far as possible.

The Shot put is similar to the javelin. It is an official Olympic event and can be seen at the Olympic games. The athlete cannot wear gloves when they are participating. If wearing gloves, the athlete will be disqualified.

The shot put event was first seen in the Middle Ages, when they would throw cannonballs at their enemies.

It is an outdoor event and cannot be played inside. It is a track and field event.

Throwing technique 
There are two types of putting styles: glide and spin (rotation). The glide was invented in the US in the year 1876. The spin was also developed in the US. It was invented by Parry O'Brian and made famous by Brian Oldfield.

Rules 
The athlete must only use one hand and it must not drop below the shoulder or it could cause damage.
The athlete can be disqualified for leaving the circle before the shot hits the ground, or leaving the sector lines.
The athlete must not put a foot past the toe board, or it is a disqualification.
The athlete must not take longer than 60.00 seconds to take a shot.it is compulsory to put the shot in the given time.

History 
Shot put was originally used in the Olympics to see who was the strongest athlete. Each athlete threw from a wooden square, and could only stand to throw. The shot put was a large stone ball. That is now a metal not softer than brass.

Warm up

Under hand toss
Stand facing landing area. 
Hold shot in front of body with both hands. 
Bend knees and throw shot up and out, away from body, using an underhand toss.

Chest pass
Stand facing landing area. 
Hold shot with both hands with fingers behind shot. 
Push shot out like a basketball chest pass.

Record holders 

Cameron George, 23.12m United Kingdom 2013
Natalya Lisovskaya, 22.63m RUS 1987
Mark Robinson, 24.60m USA 2009

Events in athletics
Magic

Magic can mean:

Magic (illusion), tricks that fool people into thinking they see something they really did not see
"Magic" (Pilot song), a song by the Scottish band Pilot
Apotropaic magic, protection against harmful influences
Black magic
Magic: The Gathering, a collectible card game
Witchcraft, the action of using magic powers.
International Women's Day

International Women's Day is celebrated every year on March 8.  International Women's Day has been observed since 1909 in the United States.  After a while the people of United States stopped celebrating this holiday. In the 1920s Soviet Union, and then some other Communist countries like China and Cuba, started celebrating this day as a holiday for women and world peace. Since then the holiday has become more and more popular around the world.

In many places, the day does not have a political aspect, and is simply a time for men to express their love for women. It is similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. Men present their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc. with flowers and small gifts. In some countries International Women's Day is observed like Mother's Day, where children give small gifts to their mothers and grandmothers. In some countries, women get a half day off work. Often, schools will have a celebration where students will honor their teachers.

In 1975, the United Nations also started to recognize this holiday for women's rights. The UN chooses a political or social theme for the holiday each year.  For example, the 2011 theme was ""Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women." and the 2012 theme is "Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world". In this way, the holiday is a time to look at the social and economic problems women have around the world.

International Women's Day is now an official holiday in Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Georgia, Italy, Israel, Laos, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Other websites

Other page 
Women's History Month

Observances
Human rights
May Day

May 1 is known in many countries as May Day or International Labor Day for human rights of workers. This day is a holiday in most countries, including UK,China, Cuba, Czech republic, France, Russia, Brazil, Austria, Germany, Serbia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenya, Slovenia, Slovakia, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, Bulgaria, Vietnam and Argentina.

Holidays
May events
Beirut

Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world. It is on a hilly promontory on the eastern Mediterranean surrounded to the east by the snow-capped mountains of Lebanon. Before the civil war it was a cultural center of the Arab World, a major international financial, banking and media center and was called the Switzerland of the Middle East. It was called the Paris of the Middle East.

Gallery

References

 Linda Jones Hall, Roman Berytus: Beirut in Late Antiquity, 2004.
 Samir Kassir, Histoire de Beyrouth, Fayard 2003.
 Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, (), p. 69.

Other websites 

 Official website of Beirut 
 Downtown Beirut
 Discover Lebanon - Beirut photos and images, virtual tour, Allenby street, parliament, museum

Phoenicia
Fairuz

Fairuz (born Nouhad Haddad (, November 21, 1935) is a Lebanese singer. She is a living legend who has been performing for over 50 years all over the world. Her vocal range is contralto. Her first album was released in 1952. She has released 98 more albums since then.

Fairuz was born Nuhad Haddad in 1933 in Beirut, Lebanon. 

1935 births
Living people
Lebanese Christians
Lebanese singers
Canaan

Canaan was an ancient country in the Levant. In the Bible, it was the land promised to Abraham and his children by God. The Canaanite people lived in this area from about 2000 BCE until the time of the Bible. It covers part of the area that is now Israel, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.

Ancient Israel and Judah
Former countries in the Middle East
History of Jordan
History of Lebanon
History of Syria
Prophet

Prophets are people who said that God or gods talked to them. They freely teach other people what they learned. Most of them warn people that something very good will happen if they change their lives.

There are prophets in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Sanamahism, Zoroastrianism, and in other religions. 

For the main Abrahamic religions, there are two kinds of prophets, major and minor. Major prophets gave a lot of teachings while minor just re-teach things other prophets taught or they do not have many teachings.

Related pages
 Nevi'im
Isaiah
John the Baptist
 Oracle
 Prophecy
 Prophets of Islam

Theology
Cotopaxi

Mount Cotopaxi is a volcano in Ecuador. The mountain's altitude (height) is . That is high enough for snow to fall on it, even though it is near the equator (a very warm part of the world). If the volcano erupted, it would be very bad for the people living around it because of the destruction and damage it could cause.

Cotopaxi began showing new activity. As of 25 June 2015, it was under active watch by the National Polytechnic School Geophysics Institute.

The Geophysics Institute at the National Polytechnic School in Quito houses an international team of seismologists and volcanologists whose responsibility is to monitor Ecuadors numerous active volcanoes
and the constant seismic activity in the Andean Volcanic Belt and the Galapagos Islands.

References 

Andes
Volcanoes of Ecuador
Mountains of Ecuador
Flag of the People's Republic of China

The Flag of China has one big star and four small stars on a red background. The big star stands for the communist government, and the four small stars stand for the workers, peasants, middle-class citizens and soldiers. The red background stands for the blood lost while the history of China was made.

China
People's Republic of China
The Prince

The Prince is a book written by Niccolò Machiavelli, who lived in the city of Florence in the country of Italy. The book was published in 1513. 

The book talks about politics and government. During his life, Machiavelli saw many changes in the government of Florence. He thought a lot about what a king or prince should do to make a strong government. In the book, he said the ruler had to get a lot of power. 

One of the things he said that made people worried, was that ethics and politics are different. A person might have to do things that are wrong to get power. This thought made his works scandalous.

Some people think that Machiavelli was being honest with his advice and saying what he really thought. Other people think that Machiavelli was playing a joke on princes who wanted too much power and did not care about what was right.

Other websites 
 Il Principe (HTML e-book)
 The Prince Book  Read the book online or download for free. Suitable for e-readers

Works of philosophy
512



Events 
 Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Anastasius I ends a period of moderate ecclestical policy, and starts strongly favoring his own monophysitist beliefs.
 Flavian II, Patriarch of Antioch, is deposed and replaced with Severus.
 The island nation of Usan-guk is conquered by the Korean Silla Dynasty general Lee Sabu.
 Earliest known dated text in the Arabic alphabet, at Zebed in Syria

Births 
 Saint David
United Russia

United Russia (Russian: Единая Россия) is a Russian political party, which usually labels itself centrist and conservationist. Dmitry Medvedev is leader of this party.

The party has most of the seats in the State Duma and in the Regional Parliaments. Because of this, United Russia is the most powerful political party in Russia. Two large parties merged in 2001 to form United Russia.

Political parties in Russia
Leopard

A leopard (Panthera pardus) is a big feline of the genus Panthera. It lives in Africa and Asia.

Unlike lions, it does not live in groups. The adult males live separately, and the females live only with their cubs. Leopards live in habitats where there are some trees. They climb trees well, and do so regularly. They can carry prey up a tree and keep it safe from hyaenas and lions. Trees are its main escape from attacks by lions or packs of dogs. It is an ambush predator, and operates best where it has some cover.

The most similar cat in its lifestyle is the jaguar, which lives in Central and South America.

Appearance 
Leopards generally have yellow fur with dark rosettes and spots, and a lighter colored underside. But there can be a lot of differences in the different leopard subspecies. There are also often leopards who are completely black, those are also called black panthers. Male leopards are about 30% larger than female leopards.

Habitat 
Originally the leopard lived in all of Africa (but not in the Sahara) and southern Asia. But today many leopard subspecies, especially in Asia, are endangered. Leopards live in a lot of different environments: rainforests, forests, mountains and savannas.

Life style 
The leopard is mostly active at night. It is basically an ambush hunter. It can climb very well, and it stays up in trees a lot of its time. Leopards usually live alone and try not to meet another leopard. They only come together to mate. Young leopards leave their mothers after 13 – 18 months.

Hunting and diet 
Leopards hunt at different times, and they also use different methods for hunting. Most often leopards will secretly move towards their prey and attack it when they are close, or hide and wait for it to come close.

Leopards are versatile, opportunistic hunters, and have a very wide diet. Leopards are carnivores.Leopards are apex predators. They prey on antelope, zebras, warthogs, buffalo, wildebeest, wild boar and deer, but they also prey on rodents, hares, fish, birds, snakes, lizards, turtles, monkeys and even jackals. Leopards are the only natural predators of adult chimpanzees and gorillas, though probably not the large male silverback gorillas. Leopards do not usually eat humans, but sometimes leopards that are hurt or sick can eat people when they do not have enough to eat. A leopard in India is believed to have eaten more than 125 people.

Subspecies 
There are nine subspecies of leopards recognized today, one in Africa and eight in Asia. They are:

 African leopard P.p pardus
 Amur leopard P.p orientalis
 Arabian leopard P.p nimr
 Indian leopard P.p fusca
 Indo Chinese leopard P.p delacouri
 Javan leopard P.p melas
 North Chinese leopard P.p japonensis
 Persian leopard P.p saxicolor
 Sri Lankan leopard P.p kotiya

References 

Panthera
Mammals of Africa
Mammals of Asia
Jaguar

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a big cat (feline) which lives in South America and Central America.

The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion. It is also the largest and most powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere.

Because of its spots, jaguars look like leopards, though it is usually larger and stronger, and its behavior is more like that of a tiger. It likes to stay near water, and like the tiger, it is famous for being a big cat that enjoys swimming. It usually hunts alone.

The jaguar has a very powerful strong bite, even compared to other big cats. Because of its strong bite, jaguars can bite through armoured reptiles like caimans, crocodiles, turtles and tortoises. Jaguars kill their prey in an unusual way: they bite directly through the skull between the ears and into the brain.

Appearance 
Jaguars have yellow or sometimes yellow-orange fur with brown and black rosettes and spots. They are big and heavy and also have very strong muscles which makes them really powerful.They cannot climb well, but they can swim.

Sometimes there are jaguars who are completely black, but if you look closely you can still see the spots. They are called "black panther" or just "panther".
This is a 'colour morph' of the same species, a kind of polymorphism.

Habitat 
Jaguars live in South America and Central America. They mostly live in rainforests, but also in savannas, swamps, grasslands, forest, deserts and open areas.

Life 
Jaguars are not specialized with their food, but eat almost anything they get: big and small mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and livestock. It is an ambush predator. When hunting, they usually try to secretly get very close to the prey, and then the jaguar suddenly jumps at it and throws it down. The jaguar bites the skull of its prey to kill it. It then takes the prey to a safe place and eats it.

After a pregnancy of about 100 days the female gives birth to usually 1 - 4 babies. The young leave their family after 1–2 years, and they become mature at about 3 years. Jaguars can live up to 10–12 years old in freedom, but in captivity (such as in zoos) they can live to 20–22 years old.

References

Other websites 

 BBC videos on Jaguars 

Panthera
Mammals of South America
1794



Events 
 Whiskey Rebellion

Births 
 February 21 – Antonio López de Santa Anna
Pope John Paul I

Pope John Paul I (; , 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978), born Albino Luciani, was an Italian priest of the Roman Catholic Church and the 264th Pope for 33 days in 1978.  His name was a combination of the names of the two popes who came before him.  The name "John Paul" honors Pope John XXIII who made him a bishop and Pope Paul VI who raised him to the rank of cardinal.

Early life
Luciani was born in Canale d'Agordo, a small town between Venice and the Austrian border with Italy.  His father was a migrant worker in Switzerland.

Priest
Luciani began his priesthood in the parishes of his home region.  In 1937, he became a professor of theology and vice-rector of Belluno seminary.

Bishop
He was made Bishop of Vittorio Veneto in 1969.  He understood his role as bishop in a modest way:

Cardinal
In 1972, Pope Paul VI made Luciani a cardinal. and the Patriarch of Venice.

Pope
Cardinal Luciani was elected Pope in 1978, John Paul I was the first pope to combine the names of John and Paul as a Pope as his way of paying tribute to Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI.  He was the first Pope to call himself by a new name since Pope Lando in 913.

He was known as "the Smiling Pope".

Death 
John Paul I died of a heart attack on 28 September 1978, 33 days after his election.

Selected works
 In a list made of writings by and about John Paul I, OCLC/WorldCat has over 250 works in 370 publications in 17 languages and 11,300 library holdings.
 Illustrissimi (1978)

Related pages
 List of popes
 List of popes by length of reign

References

More reading
 Cornwell, John. (1989). A Thief in the Night: the Death of Pope John Paul I. New York: Simon & Schuster. ;  OCLC 20013469
 Seabeck, Raymond, ed. (2004). The Smiling Pope: the Life and Teaching of John Paul I. 	Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division. ;  OCLC 438570516

Other websites

  Catholic Hierarchy,  Pope John Paul I
 Vatican webpage, John Paul I biography
  Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church,  Cardinal Luciani

1912 births
1978 deaths
Deaths from myocardial infarction
Italian popes
People from Veneto
Servants of God
1912

1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events 
 January 1 – Establishment of Republic of China.
 January 5 – Prague Party Conference
 January 6 – New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
 January 17 – British polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott and a team of four begin the second expedition to reach the South Pole.
 January 23 – The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
 February 8 – Mexican Revolution – Military rebellion against the rule of Francisco Madero begins in Mexico City. Battles last for 10 days
 February 12 – Republic of China adopts the Gregorian calendar
 February 14 – Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
 February 14 – In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.
 February 18 – Francisco Madero is forced to resign – battle ends. All members of Madero's government are arrested.
 February 19 – Prizes are included in Cracker Jack candy boxes for the first time
 February 22 – Francisco Madero and Pino Suarez are shot, allegedly when they "tried to escape"
 March 1 – Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.
 March 1 – Georg Ritter von Trapp, head of the famous Austrian singing family memorialized in the musical The Sound of Music marries Agathe
 March 5 – Italian forces are the first to use airships for a military purpose by using them for reconnaissance west of Tripoli behind Turkish lines.
 March 7 – Roald Amundsen announces discovery of the South Pole
 March 7 – French aviator Henri Seimet makes the first non-stop flight from Paris to London in three hours
 March 12 – The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts) are founded.
 March 16 – Lawrence Oates, ill member of Scott's South Pole expedition leaves the tent saying, "I am just going outside and may be some time"
 March 27 – Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo gives 3,000 cherry blossom trees to be planted in Washington, D.C. to symbolize the friendship between the two countries.
 March 30 – France establishes a protectorate over Morocco.
 April 14–15 – The R.M.S Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Over 1500 people died.
 Alexis Carrel, French surgeon, won the 1912 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Births 
 January 28 – Jackson Pollack (d. 1956)
 March 12 – Pat Nixon, 39th First Lady of the United States (d. 1993)
 March 27 — James Callaghan, British Prime Minister (d. 2005)
 June 23 – Alan Turing (d. 1954)
 September 5 – John Cage (d. 1992)
 October 17 – Pope John Paul I (d. 1978)
 December 22 – Lady Bird Johnson, 38th First Lady of the United States (d. 2007)

Deaths 
 February 12 – Gerhard Armauer Hansen, Norwegian doctor and scientist (b. 1841)
 May 30 – Wilbur Wright of the Wright brothers, American co-inventor of the airplane.
 April 15 – Over 1500 people die on the R.M.S Titanic
 December 11 - James Otis, American children's writer

Art, music, theatre, literature, movies 
 May 29 - Premiere of Nijinsky's ballet The Afternoon of a Faun in Paris
Ted Cassidy

Ted Cassidy (July 31, 1932 - January 16, 1979) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Lurch and Thing on The Addams Family.

Other websites 
 

American television actors
American movie actors
American stage actors
American voice actors
Actors from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1932 births
1979 deaths
Deaths from surgical complications
Cardiovascular disease deaths in the United States
1485



Events 
 August 22 – Battle of Bosworth Field ends the War of the Roses, Henry VII becomes King of England.
 The first appearance of the sweating sickness in England.

Births 
 16 December – Catherine of Aragon, later first Queen-consort of King Henry VIII of England.
 Thomas Cromwell, English statesman (approximately).
 Hernán Cortés, conqueror of Mexico
 Clément Janequin, French chanson composer (approximate date)
 Hugh Aston, English composer (approximate date)
 Pierre Moulu, French composer (approximate date)

Deaths 
 March 16 – Anne Neville, Queen consort of Richard III of England.
 22 August – King Richard III of England.
 October 28 – Rodolphus Agricola, Dutch scholar
Noon

Noon is the time exactly halfway through the day (12.00-12:00 in the 24-hour clock and 12:00 PM-12:00 PM in the 12-hour clock). Midday also means noon, although this also means around noon, or very early afternoon.

Solar noon is when the sun appears the highest in the sky, compared to its positions during the rest of the day. It occurs when the Sun is exactly halfway between sunrise (dawn) and sunset. This is also the origin of the terms a.m. and p.m., ante meridiem and post meridiem.  At solar noon, the sun is due south seen from the Northern Hemisphere, and due north seen from the Southern Hemisphere. The sun is directly overhead at solar noon at the Equator on the equinoxes; at Tropic of ♋  (latitude 23½°N) on the summer solstice in June; and at Tropic of Capricorn (23½°S) on the winter solstice in December.

Because of the use of time zones and daylight saving time, the highest point of the sun and a clock time of noon are usually different. 

The opposite of noon is midnight.

Cultural meanings 
In traditional magical thinking, noon represents with heaven, order and life. 

Parts of a day
24-hour clock

The 24-hour clock is a way of telling the time in which the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours, numbered from 0 to 24. It does not use a.m. or p.m. This system is also referred to (only in the US and the English speaking parts of Canada) as military time or  (only in the United Kingdom and now very rarely) as continental time. In some parts of the world, it is called railway time. Also, the international standard notation of time (ISO 8601) is based on this format.

A time in the 24-hour clock is written in the form hours:minutes (for example, 01:23), or hours:minutes:seconds (01:23:45). Numbers under 10 usually have a zero in front (called a leading zero); e.g. 09:07. Under the 24-hour clock system, the day begins at midnight, 00:00, and the last minute of the day begins at 23:59 and ends at 24:00, which is identical to 00:00 of the following day. 12:00 can only be mid-day. Midnight is called 24:00 and is used to mean the end of the day and 00:00 is used to mean the beginning of the day. For example, you would say "Tuesday at 24:00" and "Wednesday at 00:00" to mean exactly the same time.
However, the US military prefers not to say 24:00 - they do not like to have two names for the same thing, so they always say "23:59", which is one minute before midnight.

24-hour clock time is used in computers, military, public safety, and transport. In many Asian, European and Latin American countries people use it to write the time. Many European people use it in speaking.

Many digital wristwatches and clocks can display the time of day using the 24-hour clock.

In railway timetables 24:00 means the end of the day. For example, a train due to arrive at a station during the last minute of a day arrives at 24:00; but trains which depart during the first minute of the day go at 00:00.

To write shop opening hours until midnight use, for example,  "00:00–24:00", "07:00–24:00".

Advantages over the 12-hour clock system:
 Fewer confusions between morning and evening; e.g. 7 o'clock in the evening is called 19:00.
 People do not have to figure out if noon is 00h00.m.24 or 12hmr to calculate duration.

References 

Time
Ulster Volunteer Force

The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is a loyalist paramilitary (civilians trained as soldiers) group based in Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1966. Its name comes from the UVF of World War I. The Ulster Volunteer Force was started as a Protestant/Unionist militia (citizen military force) in 1912 to oppose the Home Rule campaign for a separate Irish parliament. Many UVF members formed the 36th (Ulster) Division that fought with the British Army in World War I. The Progressive Unionist Party is the political wing of the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando. Although the PUP is called a loyalist fringe party, it has more moderate unionist views than any of the traditional unionist parties.

Crimes
During the Troubles in Northern Ireland (1969-1998), the UVF carried out many attacks:
In 1971, they bombed McGurk's Bar in Belfast which was in a mostly Catholic area of the city. The blast killed 15 Catholics and destroyed the building.
In 1974, they placed three car bombs in the centre of Dublin and another in Monaghan, which were deliberately exploded at rush hour to kill as many people as possible. The bombs killed 33 people and injured over 300, making it the worst atrocity of the conflict.
In 1975, they shot dead three members of the Miami Showband, a popular showband from Dublin, as they were travelling home from doing a show in County Down, Northern Ireland.
In 1994, they attacked a bar in Loughinisland County Down and fired on the customers. The attack killed six Catholics and injured five others.
Following the murder of a Catholic taxi driver in Portadown in July 1996, the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the UVF was expelled. They immediately set up the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF).

Ceasefire and decommissioning
After a continuous campaign of 28 years, the UVF called a ceasefire in October 1994. They stated in October 2007 that they had ended their campaign and in June 2009 they announced they had decommissioned (destroyed their weapons), however the UVF have been involved in a number of incidents since then, which has put the announcement in doubt.

Deaths as a result of campaign
From the organization's creation in 1966 and ending of campaign in 2007, the UVF were responsible for at least 400 murders, however it is believed the actual figure is closer to 1,000. The UVF stated that their mission was to destroy Irish republican paramilitary groups, however over 80% of their victims were Catholic civilians.

References 
 Steve Bruce, The Red Hand, 1992, 
 Jim Cusack & Henry McDonald, UVF, 2000, 
 Martin Dillon, The Dirty War
 Brendan O'Brien, The Long War - the IRA and Sinn Féin
 Peter Taylor, Loyalists
 Tony Geraghty, The Irish War

Other websites
 History of the 1912 UVF
 History of the YCV
 CAIN - University of Ulster Conflict Archive
 Photographs of UVF murals
 Ulster Volunteer Force 

1966 establishments in the United Kingdom
20th-century establishments in Northern Ireland
Nationalist organisations in the United Kingdom
1254


Year 1254 (MCCLIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Births 
 September 15 – Marco Polo, Italian explorer (d. 1324)

Deaths 
 December 7 – Pope Innocent IV
1473

Year 1473 (MCDLXXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. It was the 473rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 73rd year of the 15th century and the 4th year of the 1470s decade.

Events 
 February 12 - The first complete edition of Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine (in Latin translation) is published in Milan.
 August 11 - Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Mehmed II defeats the White Sheep Turkmens led by Uzun Hasan at Otlukbeli.

Unknown dates 
 Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, in present-day Mexico, invades the territory of the neighbouring Aztec city of Tlatelolco. The ruler of Tlatelolco is killed and replaced by a military governor, and it loses its independence in the process.
 The city walls of Celje, Slovenia, are built.
 Marsilio Ficino becomes a priest.
 Nicolo Marcello becomes Doge of Venice.

Births 

 February 19 – Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer and mathematician (d. 1543)
 March 16 – Henry IV, Duke of Saxony (d. 1541)
 March 17 – King James IV of Scotland (d. 1513)
 August 14 – Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (d. 1541)
 August 17 – Richard, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower (d. 1483)
 September 24 – Georg von Frundsberg, German Knight and landowner (d. 1528)
 October 26 – Friedrich of Saxony (d. 1510)
 date unknown – Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Tudor politician (d. 1555)
 probable
 Jean Lemaire de Belges, Walloon poet and historian (d. 1525)
 Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales, only son of Richard III of England (d. 1484)

Deaths 
 January 24 – Conrad Paumann, German composer (b. c. 1410)
 February 23 – Arnold, Duke of Gelderland (b. 1410)
 April – Alessandro Sforza, condottiero
 May 8 – John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (b. 1420)
 July 10 – James II of Cyprus (b. c. 1440)
 December 24 – John Cantius, Polish scholar and theologian (b. 1390)
 date unknown
 Jean Jouffroy, French prelate and diplomat (b. c. 1412)
 Hosokawa Katsumoto, Japanese nobleman (b. 1430)
 Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1448)
 Yamana Sōzen, Japanese daimyo and monk (b. 1404)
 probable – Patriarch Gennadios II of Constantinople (b. c. 1400)
Spanish–American War

The Spanish–American War was a war fought between Spain and the United States of America in 1898. The war was fought in part because many people wanted Cuba, one of the last parts of the Spanish Empire, to become independent. Many Americans also wanted their country to get a colonial empire.

Spain lost the sea war and so had to give up its colonies of Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and part of Guam. All of those colonies, except for Cuba, became US colonies after the war.

Causes 
Following reports of Spain abusing and killing Cubans, the US sent warships to Cuba. Spain was losing control of Cuba and had been putting Cubans into concentration camps. The US sent ships to Cuba to try to force Spain to give up Cuba. The USS Maine (ACR-1) exploded in Havana harbor, killing about 260 people on board. "Remember the Maine" became a common wartime saying. US newspapers blamed Spain for the explosion. Spain tried to avoid going to war, but pressure from US newspapers, called "yellow journalism," and ordinary people, persuaded the US government to go to war. Some of them wanted Cuba to become independent, but others hoped that the US could build a colonial empire overseas, as many European countries had already done so.

Fighting 
Volunteers throughout the country signed up for the war. Future US President Theodore Roosevelt raised troops and became famous in leading the Rough Riders during the Battle of San Juan Hill. 

In a big naval battle in Manila Bay, an American fleet, commanded by George Dewey, destroyed the Spanish fleet. Ground battles took place in Cuba and Puerto Rico.

The US won the war and soon began to occupy and take control of the colonies after Spain surrendered. Almost 400 American soldiers died during fighting, but more than 4000 Americans died from diseases such as yellow fever, typhoid, and malaria.

End of war
The war stopped when the Treaty of Paris was signed on December 10, 1898 by the United States and Spain. The United States became the owners of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, Later, it got the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

References

1898
1898 in the United States
Wars involving Spain
Wars involving the United States