ejaasaari/simplewiki-2025-04-01 huggingface dataset:
Isaac Asimov ( – April 6, 1992) was a writer of science fiction. He was also a biochemist with a PhD from Columbia University. Life. Asimov was born in Petrovichi, Smolensk Oblast, Russian SFSR to a Jewish family, on an unknown date between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920. Asimov celebrated his birthday on January 2. He was taken to the United States when he was three, and learned English and Yiddish as his native languages. He wrote many books. People know about Isaac Asimov because of his science fiction books and his science books for non-scientists. Writing. Asimov's most famous books were the Foundation series. He also wrote the "Galactic Empire," the "Robot" Series, mystery, fantasy, and non-fiction books. He wrote the Norby series with his wife, Janet Asimov. He wrote or edited over 500 books and about 90,000 letters. Other subjects he wrote about were history, the Bible, literature, and sexuality. Many of Asimov's early writings were short stories published in cheap science fiction and fantasy magazines. Years later, most of them were collected and republished as collections. Well-known collections include "I, Robot", "The Rest of the Robots", "Earth is Room Enough" and "The Early Asimov". Asimov's reading list. Asimov made a list of 15 of his science fiction books, which he advised should be read in this order: Numbers 1–5 are 'Robot' books; 6–8 are 'Galacticos Empire' books; 9–15 are Foundation series books. Asimov's novels have influenced science fiction on television and movie. Especially his 'Three Laws of Robotics' is a lasting contribution to our thinking. Beliefs. Although ethnically a Jew, Asimov was an atheist: "I am an atheist, out and out. It took me quite a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow ... it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic". Death. When he had heart surgery in 1983, he received blood infected with HIV. He developed AIDS, and died of the effects of the medical condition in 1992. His widow did not speak of this until years later.
1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar, the 1980th year of the Common Era (CE) and "Anno Domini" (AD) designations, .
1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday in the Gregorian calendar,
1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar, the 1963rd year of the Common Era (CE) and "Anno Domini" (AD) designations, .
1977 (MCMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday in the Gregorian calendar, the 1977th year of the Common Era (CE) and "Anno Domini" (AD) designations,
1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Monday in the Julian calendar.
1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday in the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Saturday in the Julian calendar.
1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar, the 1962nd year of the Common Era (CE) and "Anno Domini" (AD) designations, .
Evolution is a biological process. It is how living things change over time and how new species develop. The theory of evolution explains how evolution works, and how living and extinct things have come to be the way they are. Charles Darwin created the Evolution theory, yet he believed in god himself.  The theory of evolution is an essential idea in biology. Theodosius Dobzhansky, a well-known evolutionary biologist, said: "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution". Evolution has been happening since life started on Earth and is happening now. Evolution is caused mostly by natural selection. Living things are not identical to each other. Even living things of the same species look, move, and behave differently to some extent. Some differences make it easier for living things to survive and reproduce.  Differences may make it easier to find food, hide from danger, or give birth to offspring which survive. The offspring will have some of the things which made it easier for their parents to have and raise them. Over time, these good differences continue and are spread through the population. Many generations pass and living things change enough to become new species. Individuals who have differences that make it harder to find food, have offspring or avoid being eaten are likely not to have offspring at all and so will not give rise to future generations. It is known that living things have changed over time, because their remains can be seen in the rocks. These remains are called 'fossils'. This proves that the animals and plants of today are different from those of long ago. The older the fossils, the bigger the differences from modern forms. This has happened because evolution has taken place. That evolution has taken place is a fact, because it is overwhelmingly supported by many lines of evidence. At the same time, evolutionary questions are still being actively researched by biologists. Comparison of DNA sequences allows organisms to be grouped by how similar their sequences are. In 2010 an analysis compared sequences to phylogenetic trees, and supported the idea of common descent. There is now "strong quantitative support, by a formal test", for the unity of life. Evidence. The evidence for evolution is given in a number of books. Some of this evidence
This date is well known for New Year's Eve as it is the last day of a given calendar year, as the following day is January 1, the first day of the following year.
1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday in the Gregorian calendar, .
Bedfordshire is a county of England. Its county town is Bedford. It borders Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire (with the Borough of Milton Keynes) and Hertfordshire. The highest elevation point is 243 m (797 ft) on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns. The county motto is "Constant Be", which is taken from the hymn "To Be A Pilgrim" by John Bunyan. SSSIs. There are forty Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in Bedfordshire, designated by Natural England. Thirty-five are listed for their biological interest, and five for their geological interest. Three of the sites are also National nature reserves, twelve are in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and eleven are managed wholly or partly by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.
American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron, is a team sport. It is played by two teams with 11 players on each side. American football is played with a ball with pointed ends. Points are scored in many ways, usually by one team getting the ball into the end zone of the other team. The game started in the late 19th century as college football, an American version of rugby football. The main leagues that play American football are the professional National Football League (NFL), and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which plays college football. In the National Football League, players can be paid millions of dollars. In the National Collegiate Athletic Association, players simply play for the pride of their school, scholarships, or for the chance to join a national team. Over a million boys (and a number of girls) play high school football. There is also a closely related sport called Canadian football (CFL). Gameplay. An American football game is played with a ball called a football. The sport is played on a grass (or artificial turf) field. The field is exactly long and wide. The end zones, one at each end of the field, are long. The players wear protective equipment, including a helmet with face mask, shoulder pads, thigh pads, and often a mouth guard. A team has four chances, or "downs", to advance the ball while the opposing team tries to stop it. Certain players advance the ball by carrying or throwing it. Teams can score by advancing the ball to the other team's end zone or by kicking the ball through a goalpost placed at the back of the end zone. American football is carefully regulated by time and rules, which are enforced by officials, who also determine when a team scores. A college or professional football game is 60 minutes long, and is divided into 15-minute quarters. In some high schools, the quarters are 12 minutes long, and games for younger children are often shorter still. After the first two quarters, the teams rest during halftime. In NFL football, if the game is tied after the four quarters, the two teams compete in at least one more
"The Ugly Duckling" () is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Andersen lavished great care on this story, spending a year perfecting it. It was first published in 1844 with "The Angel", "The Sweethearts", and "The Nightingale" in "New Fairy Tales". The critics liked these stories. Andersen considered the story "a reflection of my own life." The moral of the tale: "it does not matter if you were born in a duck yard if you have lain in a swan's egg." The tale has been adapted to various media such as animated movies. Story. A mother duck hatches six pretty little ducklings. A seventh bird is hatched. He is homely. The other ducks abuse him. He runs away. He is given a home by an old woman. Her cat and hen do not like him. He runs away again. Winter comes and a kind farmer gives him a home. The little bird almost dies. Spring comes. The "ugly duckling" has grown into a beautiful swan. The other swans welcome him as their own. They bow to him. He is happy for the first time in his life.
General relativity is a theory of space and time. The theory was published by Albert Einstein in 1915.  The main idea of general relativity is that space and time are two different parts of spacetime. In general relativity, gravity does not work the same way that Sir Isaac Newton said gravity worked. According to Einstein, gravity changes not only space, but also time. (Time dilation) Idea. An important idea in general relativity is the "principle of equivalence". An example is that two people, one in an elevator on the surface of the Earth, and the other in an elevator in outer space but accelerating upwards at the speed of Earth's gravity will each observe the same behavior of an object they drop from their hands. The object will accelerate to the floor at the speed of Earth's gravity (9.8 m/s2) in either case. This makes it impossible for either to tell whether or not they are at rest in a gravitational field. Other versions of this type of "thought experiment" were used to show that light would curve in an accelerating frame of reference. The force pulling the Earth towards the Sun is about the same as a second force. This second force is called the centrifugal force. The centrifugal force exists because the Earth moves sideways. This sideways motion makes the distance between the Earth and Sun increase. Since the Earth is being pulled towards the sun and moving away at the same time, it stays at about the same distance. This is also how the Moon orbits the earth. In this second case, Earth is the ball and the Moon is the object.  The Sun and other objects with mass curve four dimensional spacetime fabric. Predictions. General relativity has predicted many things which were later seen. These include:
Rutland is the smallest county of England. It is surrounded by the counties of Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. The main towns of Rutland are Oakham and Uppingham. In the mid-1970s, it was the inspiration for Eric Idle's TV show, Rutland Weekend Television.
1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday in the Gregorian calendar, the 1943rd year of the Common Era (CE) and "Anno Domini" (AD) designations,
Toledo is the fourth largest city in Ohio, USA. It was named after Toledo, Spain. It is a large industrial city and has many factories that make things like car parts and glass. Toledo is about an hour (by car) south of Detroit, Michigan. The main highways in and out of Toledo are Interstate 75, Interstate 80, Interstate 90, and U.S. Highways 20, 23, and 24. It is the 85th most populous city in the United States. Location. Toledo is in the Northwest part of Ohio. The city is at the west end of Lake Erie, where the Maumee River meets the lake. The area of Ohio where Toledo sits is very flat and is known for its many farm fields. History. Toledo was started as a village in Michigan in 1833. In 1835 and 1836, Ohio and Michigan both claimed to own the city and surrounding territory. Michigan gave up its claim and got the Upper Peninsula in exchange. In 1837, Toledo was made part of Ohio. The city first started growing because it was on a canal and had many railroads. Later, Toledo became the home of factories and industry. The city grew much more in the 20th century and had its highest population in 1950. By the end of the century, factories closed and jobs were lost, causing Toledo to lose people. Its population in the year 2020 was 270,871. Economy. The economy of Toledo is still based on factories and industry. Car assembly, glass, iron ore, oil refining, and solar panels are important parts of the area economy and provide many jobs. Also, many warehouses and trucking companies are in Toledo because of its location in the midwestern United States. A large port on the Maumee River handles a variety of cargo, such as iron ore, grain, salt, and industrial equipment. It is the 5th largest port on the Great Lakes. Transportation. Toledo has many highways and railroads. Travelers can use interstate highways, Amtrak passenger trains, or the major airport near Detroit to get in and out of the area. Toledo is within a five-hour drive
1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar, the 1990th year of the Common Era (CE) and "Anno Domini" (AD) designations,
The Bee Gees was a British pop group. For most of its history, the band consisted of three brothers all of whom were born on the Isle of Man, a British Crown dependency. The brothers, Barry Gibb (born 1 September 1946), and twins Maurice Gibb (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) and Robin Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012), started singing at a young age when living in Manchester. In the late 1960s, the band briefly expanded to include Australian born Vince Melouney and Colin Petersen. When the band reformed after splitting in 1969, Australian born Geoff Bridgford briefly became a member. The Bee Gees existed for almost 40 years They are most famous for their album, "Saturday Night Fever", the soundtrack for the movie of the same name. They stopped performing after Maurice died. The two other brothers reunited as a duo in 2009. In 2012 Robin died. They had a younger brother, Andy Gibb (1958–1988), who was also a singer. Group history. The Gibb brothers were born on the Isle of Man, then lived in Manchester, England, before moving to Australia in 1958. It was in Australia that the Bee Gees' band was formed. In January 1967, the Gibb brothers returned to England where their band the Bee Gees started to become internationally famous. In 1967, Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney joined the band but by the end the decade both had left and the brothers themselves had briefly gone their separate ways, only to reform in 1970. Between 1970 and 1972, Geoff Bridgford was a member of the Bee Gees. In 1975, the brothers relocated to the United States.
The Improverts are an improvised comedy group based in Edinburgh, Scotland. They are a part of the Edinburgh University Theatre Company. Their home is the Bedlam Theatre. It has been their home since they were created 18 years ago. The group is similar to "Who's Line is it Anyway?", Comedy Store Players, and Keith Johnstone in that they use short improvised games.  They have taken part in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival almost every year since they were formed. Also they have played every Friday night during the school year (as their main audience is Edinburgh University students).  Because they are always in Bedlam Theatre, the theatre technicians improvise the sounds, music and lights along with the scenes the performers are doing. The sounds can be loud and annoying at times. The technicians show off their very big iTunes library of songs and sound effects. British 80's children's programmes' themes are a favourite of theirs. Past players have gone on to many different things. They have created an improv group in London, joined the Stand Players' "Who's Lunch is it anyway" free improv show at Edinburgh's The Stand comedy venue and become successful stand up comedians. Some have starred in British sitcoms, television dramas, movies and popular children's programmes
Taipei 101 () is a 101-floor building in Taipei, Taiwan. In 2004, it replaced the Willis Tower (which used to be called the Sears Tower) as the tallest completed building in the world. However, in 2010, it was surpassed by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Taipei 101 holds records for: Taipei 101 does not hold the record for tallest building from ground to pinnacle. The Willis Tower has two television antennas on top of it, making its height from the ground to the top of the taller antenna 527 m (1,729 ft). Effect on Taipei's economy. Taipei 101 is one of the recognized symbols of Taipei city and it brings many tourists every day to the city. The location of Taipei 101 is at the southern end of the Xinyi District, the newest area of Taipei city. Besides the tower, the base of the building houses includes a multi-level shopping mall, food court, various restaurants and stores, and a global grocery store. Every New Year's Eve, Taipei 101 is host to an impressive fireworks display that attracts people from all over Taiwan and other neighboring countries like Japan and Singapore to the area. Observatory Information. The Taipei 101 Observatory is open every day from 9AM to 10PM. The observatory is spread over 4 floors where visitors can enjoy the fantastic scenery and learn about the engineering marvel that is Taipei 101, the tallest green building in the world. Visitors can buy the tickets on the 5F Taipei 101 Mall, the general ticket costs NT $500 per each and the student ticket (with valid ID) costs NT $450 per each, all children (under 115 cm) are free. After purchasing the tickets, visitors may take the Guinness World Record breaking high-speed elevator to the observatory on the 89TH floor. The 88th floor is the Beauty of Taiwan Multimedia Corridor, Super Big Wind Damper, Treasure Sky, the hallway connecting the two decks is designed to setting the natural beauty of Taiwan, providing 270-degree views of well-known scenic locations in Taiwan, leading to the engineering marvel known as a wind damper, a 5.5
1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and "Anno Domini" (AD) designations,
Tobacco is a product prepared from the leaves of the tobacco plant by curing them. The plant is part of the genus "Nicotiana" and of the Solanaceae (nightshade) family. It is used as a drug, mostly by inhaling the smoke of, but also by using snuff or chewing. People use cigarettes, cigars, and pipe to make tobacco smoke. Tobacco contains the chemical nicotine, which causes pleasure as a stimulant drug. It also causes addiction — after people start using nicotine, it is difficult to stop. Tobacco use can cause diseases, such as many types of cancer. History. Native Americans used tobacco before Europeans arrived in the Americas. The earliest know use of tobacco comes from nicotine residue from a pipe in the Southeastern United States. It is Radiocarbon dated at 1685-1530 BC. Europeans in the Americas began to smoke and brought it back to Europe, where it became fashionable. At that time tobacco was usually smoked in a pipe.  The Europeans who moved to America started to farm tobacco so that they could sell it in Europe. This became one of the main causes of the African slave trade. In 1610 a European man called John Rolfe arrived in the American state of Virginia and set up a tobacco farm which made him very rich. Rolfe was the first non-native farmer to use "nicotiana tabacum", which is the type of tobacco most commonly smoked today.  In the 17th and 18th centuries tobacco made farmers very rich and towns quickly grew in the states of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In 1883 one third of United States tax money came from tobacco. In 1864 the first American tobacco factory opened to produce 20 million cigarettes annually. By 1964 the cigarette contained over 500 added chemicals. Today tobacco manufacturers are still not required by law to list the 500+ ingredients. Tobacco and health. Tobacco users (especially those who inhale) and people around them (with passive inhalers) risk many very serious and often deadly illnesses, such as cancer, strokes, heart disease, and lung disease. The United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes tobacco use
Jerusalem (; ; ) is one of the oldest cities in the world that people have lived in continuously. Jerusalem serves as the capital of Israel, although many international views do not recognize it as such. Jerusalem is important to many major religions. Jews consider Jerusalem a holy city because it was their religious and political center during Biblical times and was the place where the Temple of God stood. Christians consider Jerusalem holy because many events in the life of Jesus took place there. Muslims believe that Muhammad rose to heaven from Jerusalem, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the first Qibla of Muslims after Mecca. Jerusalem is considered the capital city of both Palestine and Israel, under their laws. Most other countries disagree with either claim. Most countries have their embassies with Israel in Tel Aviv. Jerusalem is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a hilly city with many valleys around it. History. Jerusalem is a very old city. It has great importance for three religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Bible says King David, the second king of Israel, took this city from pagans and settled his palace there. King Solomon, David's son and the next king, built the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Later, as capital of Judah, Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II, the king of Babylon. The Palace of King David and the Temple of Solomon were burned, and the Jews were captured and taken to Babylon. Seventy years later, the Persian King Cyrus allowed them to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the Temple. Classical antiquity. The area was later colonized by Romans. King Herod the Great, who ruled for the Roman Emperor, made the Temple larger to try and win Jewish favor. The Temple was famous for its greatness and beauty. Jesus died in Jerusalem around 33 CE. In 70 CE, the Jews rebelled against the Romans, but the Romans destroyed the city and the Temple. Jewish people who lived in Jerusalem were caught and became slaves. The Romans renamed Jerusalem with a Latin name. Since then, the Temple has not been rebuilt, and only a part of its wall remains until today. After the Roman Empire was split