ejaasaari/simplewiki-2025-04-01 huggingface dataset:
A cactus (plural: cacti) is a kind of a plant adapted to hot, dry climates Plants which live this kind of life-style are called xerophytes. Most are succulents, which store water. Cacti are members of the plant family Cactaceae, in the order Caryophyllales. Cactaceae were evaluated to be the 5th most endangered plant or animal family by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. There are about 127 genera, with over 1750 known species. "Almost all of them are native to the Americas", from Patagonia in the south to parts of western Canada in the north. The species "Rhipsalis baccifera" also grows in Africa and Sri Lanka. Many cacti live in dry places, such as deserts. Most cacti have sharp thorns (stickers) and thick skin. There are many shapes and sizes of cacti. Some are short and round; others are tall and thin. Many cactus flowers are big and beautiful. Some bloom at night and are pollinated by moths and bats. Some cactus fruits are brightly coloured and good to eat: many animals eat cactus fruits. Theophrastus was the first to use the word "cactus": It comes from Ancient Greek . Theophrastus used it for a spiny plant whose identity is not known for sure. Cacti are part of an important food chain in dry, hot climates. Now cacti have spread to many other parts of the world, and many people like to grow them in pots or gardens. Adaptations. An adaptation is anything that helps a living thing survive and make more of its own kind. Cacti have many adaptations for living in places that are sometimes dry for a long time. At other times these places can get lots of rain. Cacti can have many small, thin roots near the top of the soil. These roots take in water quickly after a rain. The same cactus may have one long, thick root called a taproot. The taproot grows deep in the soil. It can reach water when the
A desert is an arid (dry) biome. They get less than of rainfall a year.  It is "any region that can have a moisture deficit over the course of a year". In other words, they can have less rainfall in a year than they give up through evaporation". Including the semi-arid regions, deserts cover about 33% of the land on Earth. That includes much of Antarctica, where large areas get no snow at all. The largest hot desert is the Sahara desert, in northern Africa, covering nine million square kilometres. Deserts land surfaces are varied. Examples are stones, sand dunes and snow. They may have some animals and plants. Deserts sometimes expand (desertification), and sometimes contract.  Deserts are mostly in the western part of the Americas, Western Asia, Central and western Australia, Namibia and North Africa. Some, such as the Sahara, are very hot during the day and have cold nights, but there are also cold deserts such as the Atacama in South America which are frozen day and night. Cold deserts. Cold deserts can be found close to the poles. That is why they are also called polar deserts. Other regions of the world have cold deserts too, for instance high altitude areas like the Himalayas. These are called montane deserts. Antarctica is the world's largest cold desert. The second largest one is the Arctic desert, but that has started to warm up now. Hot deserts. Hot deserts are mostly in the subtropics. They can be covered by sand, rock, salt lakes, stony hills and even mountains. Most non-polar deserts are hot in the day and chilly at night. The temperature in the daytime can reach or higher in the summer, and dip to or lower at nighttime in the winter. The largest hot desert in the world is the Sahara in North Africa. It is almost as large as Europe or the United States. Atacama. The Atacama Desert may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971. It may be the oldest desert on Earth. It has been a desert for at least three million years. It
"For the area of dry land, see desert." A dessert is a type of food that is eaten after lunch or dinner, and sometimes after a light meal or snack. It is usually a sweet food, like ice cream, cookies, and cakes. In some countries, cream cheese and fruit are served as dessert. Some desserts are made from natural resources like fruit juice used in sherbet. Others are simple, like pudding and birthday cake. Many desserts are baked (cooked in an oven). Some desserts are served with whipped cream as a topping. The term "dessert" can apply to many confections, such as biscuits, cakes, cookies, custards, gelatins, ice creams, pastries, pies, puddings, sweet soups, and tarts. Fruit is also commonly found in dessert courses because of its naturally occurring sweetness. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savoury to create desserts. Types of desserts. Baked desserts. Baked desserts are made by putting the ingredients in a hot oven. Baked desserts include cakes and muffins (a mixture of flour, eggs, sugar, oil, baking powder, and flavorings); sweet breads such as banana bread and raisin bread (a mixture of flour, sugar, oil, baking powder, and flavorings); cookies such as chocolate chip cookies (a mixture of flour, eggs, sugar, oil, and flavorings). Puddings and custards (a mixture of milk, eggs, sugar, and flavorings) can be made in the oven. Fried desserts. Fried desserts are made using a cooking process called deep frying. To deep-fry food, a large pot filled with oil is heated, and then the food is placed into the pot. Deep-fried desserts include doughnuts. Frozen desserts. Frozen desserts are made by blending the ingredients in a freezer. Frozen desserts include ice cream (a mixture of cream, milk, sugar, and flavorings), milk shakes (a mixture of ice cream, milk, and flavorings), and sherbet (also spelled "sorbet") (a mixture of water, sugar, and flavorings). Chilled desserts. Some desserts are made without using the oven or the freezer
William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was the 9th president of the United States. His nickname was "Old Tippecanoe" and he was a well-respected war veteran. Harrison served the shortest term of any United States president. His term lasted for exactly one month. He was elected president in 1840, and took the oath of office on March 4, 1841. His inauguration speech lasted an hour and forty minutes. William Henry Harrison caught a serious case of pneumonia, and on April 4 that same year he died. He was the first president to die in office. Harrison was the oldest president to take office at , until it was outdone in 1981 by Ronald Reagan who assumed the presidency at the age of 69. He was the last president to be born before the United States Declaration of Independence. His grandson was the 23rd president of the United States, Benjamin Harrison. Early life. Harrison was born on February 9, 1773. He is the youngest of Benjamin Harrison V and Elizabeth Bassett's seven children. They lived in Berkeley Plantation at Charles City County, Virginia. He was the last president to be born as a British citizen before the American Independence. His father was a planter and a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–1777) who signed the Declaration of Independence. He was Governor of Virginia between 1781 and 1784. His older brother Carter Bassett Harrison was elected a representative of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives. In 1787, he attended the Presbyterian Hampden-Sydney College. He attended the school until 1790. Harrison was fluent in Latin and French. Marriage and family. In 1795, he met Anna Symmes. They had 10 children. As President. He took the oath of office on March 4, 1841 which was a cold and wet day. His inaugural address was the longest in American history at 8,460 words and lasting almost two hours. Harrison's inaugural address was a detailed statement of the Whig agenda, mainly unclaimed honest of Jackson's and Van Buren
Viacom (short for Video &amp; Audio Communications) was an American entertainment company. It started in 1970 as Viacom International, the syndication division of CBS TV (which they once owned). In 2005, Viacom split into two companies: the original company was renamed CBS Corporation, and a new company keeping the Viacom name was created. They own Paramount Pictures, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., and others. They formerly owned the movie rental giant Blockbuster Entertainment. In 2019, Viacom and CBS were merged together. This created ViacomCBS, a combination of the two companies. The merger was finished on December 4, 2019. They have also launched a streaming service called CBS All Access, which includes their library of movies and TV shows, along with original content.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is another name for a web address. URLs are made of letters, numbers and other symbols in a standard form. People use them on computers, to make the computer fetch and show some specific resource (usually a web page) from another computer (web server) on the Internet. They do this by typing the URL into a web browser, or more often clicking a link, for example one on a web page that they are already seeing. URLs consist of several parts: In some cases, the URL may also contain The URL of this page is https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Uniform_Resource_Locator A shorter form, called a ("relative") URL, is used when a computer could correctly fill in the full ("absolute") URL from context. For example, of /wiki/URL only works for a link on Wikipedia to this page on Wikipedia. Absolute URLs can be shared outside of computers, even with little or no explanation. Extensions. These are at the end of the domain name which has a period mark before it. At first there were six main extensions: Today, there are many other URL extensions. These are usually either a top level domain or interest grouping. Each country has its own top level domain, for example, .ca for Canada, .us for the United States of America or .co.uk for the United Kingdom. Many countries have a government-only extension, for example the United States uses .gov or .fed.us, .gc.ca for Canada and .gov.uk for the United Kingdom. Interest group domains would include .tv (television), .pro (professionals) and .xxx (pornography). These are not used as often as the original extensions.
A cuckoo-in-the-clock, also known as a cuckoo clock, is a kind of clock. Cuckoo clocks have a case made of wood that looks like a small house. It gets its name because at the start of every hour, a small door on the clock open up and a little wooden bird comes out. The clock then makes a noise which sounds like a bird call ( "Koo-Koo" or "cuckoo").  The clock makes the sound one time for each hour it is, and there may also be a bell that rings when the sound is made. Whether it is morning or night does not change the number of times this happens.  For example: Like many other clocks, cuckoo clocks can work using weights, springs, or electricity. Every clock is different, both in how it looks, how it works, and what it does. The sound of the "cuckoo" usually comes from bellows in mechanical clocks, or from a speaker in electric clocks. The clock may do more than just make this sound; some clocks also have figures that move around as music is played. Cuckoo clocks are some of the best-known clocks that are made in the Black Forest, an area of south-western Germany and northern Switzerland.
The Labrador Retriever (or Lab and Labrador for short) is a breed of dog. It is a kind of gun dog. Labrador Retrievers are very gentle dogs with family-friendly personalities. They are the most popular breed of dogs for pets in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.  They enjoy attention and exercise with their owner. They love to run around in big, open spaces, have a natural love of bringing things back, and learn to retrieve easily. They love to be active. They like the water no matter what temperature outside as their coat protects them. They are strong swimmers as they have webbing between the toes on their paws. They have coats that can be in any of three colours: black, chocolate and yellow. This tough, hardy breed of retriever is a great choice as a family pet. They are playful, easy to train, and naturally obedient. Labrador Retrievers do require regular amounts of daily exercise and are prone to obesity. As a pet, they can be demanding of attention and are best suited in a home where they can have a daily workout. They like water and have a unique otter-like tail, which they use like a rudder when they swim. History. Labradors are descended from dogs bred on the island of Newfoundland, in Canada. Its ancestor is the St. John's water dog, a breed that developed through breedings by early settlers of the island in the 16th century. These dogs were trained to bring in the fishing nets from the icy waters for the fishermen. In the early 19th century, they were brought to Poole in Great Britain. These dogs had short strong legs and were good swimmers. Their coats were thick and they had a broad tail. Englishmen had many offers to buy them from fishermen because they were so attractive. The breed was instantly successful as a gun dog. The Earl of Malmesbury was interested and amazed by these dogs, and he started breeding them. He bred them for duck shooting on his estate. He established the new breed of retrievers, which he named Labrador. In 1903, the Labrador Retriever was recognized by the English
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (13 October 19258 April 2013) was a British stateswoman. She served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 until her resignation in 1990, longer than any other British prime minister in the 20th century. She led the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. Thatcher was the first female British prime minister and was often known by the nickname "The Iron Lady", given to her by a journalist from the Soviet Union. Her birth name was Margaret Hilda Roberts. Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist, before becoming a barrister. She was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath made her a Secretary of State in his government of 1970 to 1974. In 1975, she beat Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition and the first woman to lead a major British political party. In 1979, she was elected Prime Minister, and won a landslide re-election in 1983 after victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a revival of support. Thatcher was re-elected for a third term with another landslide in 1987, but her support for the Community Charge ("poll tax") was very unpopular, and her more Eurosceptic views on the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet. She resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990, after a challenge was made by Michael Heseltine to her leadership. After retiring from the House of Commons in 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, which gave her the right to sit in the House of Lords. In 2013, she died of a stroke in London, at the age of 87. Thatcher is a controversial figure in British political culture, but is still viewed positively in most opinion polls of British prime ministers. The debate over her neoliberal policies and legacy continues in the UK into the 21st century. Early life. Margaret Roberts was born in North Parade, Grantham, Lincolnshire, on 13
Firefighters are people who help put out fires. They can also help with many other emergencies. Firefighters use different types of equipment to deal with each type of emergency they are called to. They work for the fire service, which is one of the three main emergency services. Firefighters are based in and respond to emergency situations from a fire station (also known as a fire house or fire hall).  Firefighters deal with many different emergencies. When somebody needs their help, the firefighters will drive to the location of the emergency on a vehicle called a fire engine (also known as a fire truck).  Fire engines have lots of equipment to deal with different emergency situations. They have water hoses, water pumps, ventilation, fans and many other items that help them put out fires.  Fire engines also carry some equipment for medical incidents, hazardous material incidents, and they have equipment that can help firefighters rescue people. To help with medical emergencies, fire engines have cardiac monitors, defibrillators, intubation and airway management supplies, emergency medicines and other medical items on board. To help the firefighters rescue people, fire engines have many rescue tools such as spreaders, cutters and rams. Their rescue equipment also includes air bags, electric and battery powered breaching, special rescue saws, torches, ropes, and other specialized rescue tools and equipment on board. In response to hazardous material incidents, fire engines have protection equipment to keep the firefighters safe from the hazards. It also carries non sparking tools, generators and other hazardous material tools and equipment on board.  Modern fire engines have flashing emergency lights, loud sirens and horns. This helps to warn people that a fire engine is coming down the road to a emergency.  Radios, computers and other devices are used by firefighters on fire engines to talk with their dispatcher and other emergency service vehicles, including mutual aid, Fire and Rescue units, police units and Emergency Medical Services units.  Firefighters wear heavy clothing to protect them from the heat of a fire. This is called bunker gear or turnout gear. They wear equipment to help them breathe in areas that are filled with smoke. They may also wear a mask to protect themselves from breathing in smoke and/or hot air
Random is a term used in mathematics (and less formally) to mean that there is no way to reliably predict an outcome (to know what will happen "before" it happens) or sense a pattern. Something that is chosen at random is not chosen for any conscious reason, and therefore thought to be purely by chance. An example of a random event is winning a lottery. A computer can make lists of apparently random numbers. Humans are unable to do this, because the brain works in patterns. If someone is asked to keep saying "heads" or "tails" at random, a smart human observer or properly programmed computer might eventually be able to tell which one the person is likely to say next because the computer notices the patterns. On a website such as English Wikipedia the user can click on "Random page" to get a random article. The chances of any one page appearing are exactly the same as for any other page. Sometimes the word "random" is used more loosely. There are websites of random jokes, which just means: a variety of jokes about all sorts of things. In recent years young people have started to use the word "random" even more loosely to describe anything which is rather strange or has no logic. Sentences such as "the mouldy cheese is escaping" or "I like pie and spam" might be described as "random", although this is not the proper dictionary or mathematical meaning of the word. Making random numbers. There are several ways in which a process or system can be seen as "random": There are many uses for random numbers. The need has led to methods for generating data which is more or less random (pseudorandom). These methods vary as to how unpredictable (statistically random) they are, and how quickly they can generate random numbers. There are computational random number generators, generating large amounts of sufficiently random numbers. Before then, tables were published as pseudo-random number tables. There are two ways computers can make what appear to be random numbers. In cryptography. Keys for encryption must be random in order to be secure. Key generation by a faulty random number generator has sometimes led to successful cryptanalysis.
The political status of Taiwan is a difficult situation that many people disagree about. There are two countries in the world that call themselves China. The People's Republic of China (PRC) is the country most people think of when they hear the name China. The Republic of China (ROC) also calls itself China. It is better known in most of the world as Taiwan. Taiwan was never a part of China as China has been only a country established since 1912. Prior to 1912, half of Taiwan was occupied by Chin Dynasty during the 18th and 19th centuries and beyond it, Taiwan was self ruled by a number of indigenous kingdoms and tribes for thousands of years. After the First Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan and Penghu was officially transferred to Japan. After World War II, the Japanese gave up any claim to Taiwan, but did not say who they were giving control to. At the time, the Republic of China governed all of China, and represented China in the United Nations. After losing a civil war in 1949, the ROC government fled to the island of Taiwan, leaving the PRC to control mainland China. The PRC says it owns the island of Taiwan (which is also known as Taiwan province) and the other islands. The ROC says that it was—and is—the rightful government of China, including mainland China, Taiwan, and Mongolia. In 1971, the ROC lost its United Nations seat as China. The seat was given to the PRC instead. This made the PRC the recognized government of China internationally. However, UN never decided the status of Taiwan but only let PRC to represent China. And Thus, CCP China's claim about Taiwan was illegal and an invasive behaviour.  The major issue is whether Taiwan is a part of the PRC or is (as it claims) an independent country. Current status. Today, the ROC (Taiwan) is a fully democratic society, with its own economy, currency, military, and elected officials. The Chinese mainland is ruled by the communist PRC government. Most countries have accepted the PRC as the leaders of China. Several countries, including the United States, have been careful to not say officially which
Cellular respiration is what cells do to break up sugars to get energy they can use. Cellular respiration takes in food and uses it to create ATP, a chemical which the cell uses for energy.  Usually, this process uses oxygen, and is called aerobic respiration. It has four stages known as glycolysis, Link reaction, the Krebs cycle, and the electron transport chain. This produces ATP which supplies the energy that cells need to do work. When they do not get enough oxygen, the cells use anaerobic respiration, which does not use oxygen. However, this process produces lactic acid, and is not as efficient as when oxygen is used.  Aerobic respiration, the process that does use oxygen, produces much more energy and does not produce lactic acid. It also produces carbon dioxide as a waste product, which then enters the circulatory system. The carbon dioxide is taken to the lungs, where it is exchanged for oxygen. The simplified formula for aerobic cellular respiration is:  C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy (as ATP) The word equation for this is:Glucose (sugar) + Oxygen → Carbon dioxide + Water + Energy (as ATP) Aerobic cellular respiration has four stages. Each is important, and could not happen without the one before it. The steps of aerobic cellular respiration are: Glycolysis. In glycolysis, glucose in the cytoplasm is broken into two molecules of pyruvate. Ten enzymes are needed for the ten intermediate compounds in this process. Productivity of the cycle. Biology textbooks often state that 38 ATP molecules can be made per oxidised glucose molecule during cellular respiration (two from glycolysis, two from the Krebs cycle, and about 34 from the electron transport chain). However, the process actually makes less energy (ATP) because of losses through leaky membranes. Estimates are 29 to 30 ATP per glucose. Aerobic metabolism is about (see sentence above) 15 times more efficient than anaerobic metabolism. Anaerobic metabolism yields 2 mol ATP per 1