ejaasaari/simplewiki-2025-04-01 huggingface dataset:
North Korea (officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)) is a country in the northern part of the Korean peninsula in East Asia. North Korea is next to China, Russia, and South Korea. The capital city of North Korea is Pyongyang, which is also the largest city. The country was founded in 1948 after it had been freed from Japanese occupation, and a socialist state backed by the Soviet Union was established. The Republic of Korea is the southern half of the Korean Peninsula, and was occupied by the United States, and the U.S. set up a democracy in the south. At first, there was a war between the north and south which is called the Korean War, but while the fighting stopped in 1953, the war never officially ended. North Korea had ties with China and Russia but never was formally allied with either and became more isolated over time. Soon afterwards, the North's main trading partners the Soviet Union, collapsed. This left North Korea stranded and isolated. Throughout the 1990s, North Korea suffered from famines and natural disasters. As South Korea got richer, North Korea got poorer and life became worse there. Afterwards, things stabilized but continued to lag behind the South. Worldwide economic sanctions and embargoes are thought to have significantly impacted the quality of life in North Korea. North Korea is described as a totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship by western media, while North Korea describes itself as a democratic worker's state. The country's leader Kim Il-sung said that the government was following his own ideology of "Juche", which means "self-reliance". Later on, the country's leaders began to remove "communism" from North Korean laws and philosophy, although Juche can be described as a variant of communism. After Kim Il-sung died during the disasters of the 1990s, his son Kim Jong-il took his place and was promoted by the government as the leader who led North Korea out of the disasters. North Korea was the only communist country in history where leadership was directly given to the former leader's son after his death. This is called hereditary rule. Kim Jong-il enacted a new policy of "Songun", or "
A parliament is a type of legislature.  The most famous parliament is probably the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which is sometimes called the "Mother of all Parliaments". The word "parliament" comes from the French word "parler", which means a talk.  The Althing, the national parliament of Iceland, was founded earlier (930 AD), so it is the oldest legislature in the world still existing. However, the Althing did not function as a legislature for four centuries, and its role as a "primary" legislature is modern.  Other parliaments. Other parliaments have copied the UK and work similarly. They have three levels - a lower house which makes the law, an upper house which reviews the law (Decides if they like it or not, and suggest changes to it), and a head of state who is mostly for show and who starts and ends each year of parliament. The Prime Minister is almost always the person whose party has the most seats, but if the lower house does not think he is doing a good job they can call a vote of no confidence and ask him to leave his job as Prime Minister or have an election. The word "parliament". Sometimes people use the word "parliament" to describe a legislature, even if it is not a real parliament. A "parliament" is a type of legislature which has a Prime Minister. Similar to a congress. A parliament is a lot like a congress but a congress cannot ask the head of the government to leave his job. Also, a congress runs for a number of years according to the country's constitution, but a parliament can be stopped as long as enough members agree. Elections are held after this happens.
The Turing test is a test to see if a computer can interact with a person. The human should not be able to realize it is interacting with a computer.  Alan Turing thought that if a human could not tell the difference between another human and the computer, then the computer had shown intelligent behavior. Test setup. A person has a telegraph, and is connected to two communication partners. One of the two correspondents is a machine. The person can ask anything with the telegraph. If the person cannot tell which of the two is the machine more than 50% of the time, then the machine is said to be "intelligent". Later on, people narrowed down the test. A human is unlikely to know everything. Therefore, both the human and the machine would be specialists in some field of knowledge (and so would the person asking). Media. The comic strip Dilbert makes several mentions to the PHB (Pointy Haired Boss) failing the Turing test.
A fuel is a substance that is changed in some way to produce heat, electricity, or other forms of energy. This is usually by being burnt in fire, although there are exceptions, such as nuclear fuel. Fuel can be divided into two main types: fossil fuels and other fuels. Fossil fuel. There are several kinds of fossil fuels: Some people do not want us to use fossil fuels because they may pollute the environment. Because all fossil fuels are made out of carbon, burning them makes carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Too much carbon dioxide in the air causes a greenhouse effect. Carbon monoxide in the air is poisonous to humans and animals. Fossil fuels are also non-renewable, or renew extremely slowly (thousands to hundreds of millions of years). This means that we will eventually run out of fossil fuels. Other fuels. Other fuels are not made from fossils. Some of these, like nuclear and hydrogen, do not have carbon in them. Others, like wood or ethanol, do have carbon in them. Some examples of these fuels are: These fuels are renewable. This means that we can make more of them if we run out. For instance, if we run out of ethanol, we can grow some more corn and make some more ethanol.
Estonia (), officially the Republic of Estonia () is a small country in the Baltic Region of Northern Europe. The capital city is Tallinn. Estonia's neighbors are Sweden, Finland, Russia and Latvia. Its population is 1,332,893. The territory of Estonia has the mainland and 2,222 islands in the Baltic Sea. History. People have lived in Estonia since at least 9,000 BC. The oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the Pärnu River. Estonia became independent from Russia in 1920 after a brief War of Independence at the end of World War I. During World War II (1939–1945), Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and Germany. It then became the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and lost its independence. Estonia had its independence restored in 1991. It became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on 29 March 2004. It joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. Politics. In January 2021, Estonia became the only country in the world led by women by having a female president (Kersti Kaljulaid) and female prime minister (Kaja Kallas). A few months later, Alar Karis replaced Kaljulaid as president and in 2024 Kristen Michal replaced Kallas as Prime minister. The foreign intelligence service warned in 2024 that Russia intended to double the number of its troops stationed along its border. Estonia plans to spend more than 3% of GDP on defence. Geography. Estonia is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland with Finland on the other side, to the west by the Baltic Sea with Sweden on the other side, to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6 km). Average elevation reaches only . The country's highest point is the Suur Munamägi in the southeast at . Estonia has many forests, almost 50% of the land is covered with forests. The most common tree species are pine, spruce and birch. Estonia has over 1,400
Cyprus (officially the Republic of Cyprus) is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. Cyprus is in Asia, along with being apart of the Middle East and the Levant. The north part of the island is governed by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.  It is also closer to Africa than to Europe. The capital is Nicosia. The country of Cyprus does not include the whole island. There are two small British territories on the island named Akrotiri and Dhekelia. However, most countries do not accept Northern Cyprus as a legitimate country. The official languages are Greek and Turkish. In 2019, 4 million tourists visited the country. It is estimated that Cyprus earned 2.7 billion euros in that year. Tourism is very important to the country, as tourism made up 23% of its economy in 2020. History. Cyprus has had people for some 13,000 year. During the Bronze Age its copper mines became important. Cyprus was conquered in turn by various mainland empires, and became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1570. Greece had already been conquered. The British Empire took control of Cyprus from 1878 until 1960.  Cyprus became independent from the British Empire in 1960 following the London and Zürich Agreements of 19 February 1959. Makarios III became its first president. In 1960-1974 there was tensions between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and in 1974, Turkey sent troops to occupy northern Cyprus. Greek Cypriots moved south to get away from them, and Turkish Cypriots moved north to get away from the Greeks. Negotiations for a unified island have been held several times without success. In 2004, Cyprus joined the European Union. On 1 January 2008 Cyprus adopted the Euro, the single European currency. Although the official currency of Northern Cyprus is the Turkish Lira, many shops accept Euros and British pounds. Geography. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia. There are two mountain ranges, the Troodos Mountains and the smaller Kyrenia Range. The
Latvia (Latvian: "Latvija"), officially the Republic of Latvia ("Latvijas Republika"), is a country in Northern Europe. The capital is Riga. It is one of the Baltic States, together with Estonia in the north and Lithuania in the south. Latvia's neighbours to the east are the countries Russia and Belarus. Latvia is split into four parts: Kurzeme, Vidzeme, Zemgale, and Latgale. People from Latvia are called Latvians. They speak the Latvian language, which is a little like the Lithuanian language, though not close enough to be understood. There are other peoples that live in Latvia, including the Germans and the Russians. History. Latvia was settled by the Baltic tribes thousands of years ago. They mainly fished, hunted, and traded. German traders and crusaders came to Latvia at the end of the 12th century. Latvians lost control of their homeland. Over the next 800 years, Germans, Danes, Swedes, Poles, and Russians all invaded Latvia. Latvia finally became independent in 1918. Between the 13th and the 15th centuries, there was the Teutonic Order state occupied Latvian territory. Before World War I, the aristocracy were mainly German. During the Great Northern war from 1700 to 1721, modern-day Latvia became the part of the Russian empire. There were organized Courland and Livonia. Latvian workers took part in the revolutionary struggle in 1905.  In 1940 Latvia became the Soviet republic was incorporated in Soviet Union. It was briefly under Nazi occupation during World War II in from 1941 to 1944.  After the war a lot of factories were opened. Latvia became one of the successful Soviet republics. In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and the independent Latvian republic was restored. Politics. In Copenhagen on 13 December 2002, Latvia and nine other countries were invited to join the European Union. On 20 September 2003, Latvians held an election to vote on joining. Two thirds of Latvians voted to
Lithuania is a country in Europe. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland to the south and Russia to the southwest. It is one of the Baltic states. The country's area is 65,300 km² and there are about 2.8 million people who live in Lithuania. The national language is the Lithuanian language, which is spoken by around 3 million people. Vilnius is the capital and largest city. Lithuania is a member of the European Union, NATO, and several other organizations. The colors of the Lithuanian flag are yellow (at the top), for the sun, green (in the middle), for the fields, and red (at the bottom), for the blood of Lithuanians fighting for its independence. History. Lithuania began to turn into a country in the 7th–9th centuries from Baltic nations group. The Balts, the ancestors of Lithuanians and Latvians, came to the area between Nemunas, Daugava rivers and the Baltic Sea, from a supposed original homeland of the Proto-Indo-European languages. Many scientists think they came there sometime in the 3rd millennium BC. The traditional date of the beginning of the country is 1236 when the Lithuanians won the Battle of Šiauliai (Battle of Sun). Lithuania (at that time - The Grand Duchy of Lithuania) made a Treaty with Poland in 1569. The country was taken over by the Russian Empire in 1795, ending the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It got back its independence on February 16, 1918.  In 1940 the country became a Soviet republic and joined to the Soviet Union. On June 22, 1941, after German invasion, the republic was occupied. It continued until 1944.  Lithuania re-declared its independence on March 11, 1990. Currently, Lithuania is an independent, semi-presidential, democratic republic. Politics. Lithuania has been a member of NATO and the European Union since 2004. Lithuania is a semi presidential republic, that restored its independence and democracy in 1990. Since then, very
Malta is a country in Southern Europe, and a member of the European Union. It is an island near the center of the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily. Although it is geologically located on the African Plate, Malta is recognized as a European country. The capital of Malta is Valletta. Around 500,000 people live in Malta and it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Malta is 316 sq km, which makes it one of the smallest countries and the smallest in the European Union. Its many cities and towns grew close to each other over time. Language. Maltese is the national language of Malta. It is a Semitic language similar to the Maghrebi Dialects of North Africa, with a high amount of influence from Romance languages, in particular Italian, and more recently English. Maltese and English are the official languages in line with the constitution of the country. A majority of the people of Malta can speak three languages; Maltese, English and Italian. Money. Malta had its own currency, called the Maltese Lira until 2008. The Maltese "Lira" was better known as the Maltese "Pound" because of the strong links to the United Kingdom. One Maltese Lira consisted of 100 "cents". In 2008 Malta joined the Euro countries in adopting the Euro as the National Currency. History. People have lived in Malta since at least 5200 BC. The island has some key archaeological sites dating from early times. Malta became well known as the base of the Knights Hospitaller. They moved to Malta after being forced to leave Palestine and then Rhodes, in Greece. In 1565 they survived a great attack by the Ottoman Empire. The history of the knights at Malta continued the strong Roman Catholic beliefs in the country that were started by the Norman and Spanish rulers. In 1798, Napoleon took control of Malta. The French rule was not popular and in 1800 Maltese rebels invited the British Royal Navy to come to the island. This led to 200 years as a British colony and independent Commonwealth member. During World War II, Malta was attacked this time by the Axis forces. The entire island was symbolically given the George Cross for heroism. Malta became independent in 1964 and a republic in 1974. In 2004 Malta joined the European Union and in 2008 Malta joined the Euro.
In normal cosmology, 'comoving' distance or 'proper distance' is one of several distances measured by cosmologists to define distances between objects.  Method. To talk about the shape of the Universe, scientists want to forget that the Universe is expanding. So they separate the shape from time and pretend that the Universe is not expanding. They remember that, really, the Universe is expanding, but they write this in a variable called the scale factor. Then, the distances they talk about, while putting the scale factor to the side, are called comoving distances. When they think about the Universe using comoving distance, they think of the Universe as not expanding. This way, some calculations are easier. Purpose. When the part of the Universe which we can see today started, it was very small. Everything in this part of the Universe was much closer together than today. It was also very hot and photons (particles of light) were moving in different directions. Light moves very fast, but the light speed is limited and the Universe was expanding very fast. Comparison. Think of two ants on the surface of an expanding balloon. One ant starts moving towards another, but the balloon itself is also expanding. After a long time the balloon starts expanding more slowly. Eventually one ant reaches another. That's like photons in our universe. Some of the light from the stars you see at night traveled for billions of years to reach your eye. Surprisingly, it started very close to where you were (or the atoms of which your body consists), but just could not keep up with the universe expansion. Of course, if something else started out very close to where you were, but was not traveling toward you, it would be very far away from you now because of the expansion.
Shaanxi (Chinese:陕西, also sometimes called Shenshi) is a province in east China. The word "Shaan" (viz Shanzhou) is a place in Henan Province. "Xi" means "west". So "Shaanxi" means "the place to the west of Shaan".  Although in pinyin, "Shaanxi" is spelled exactly the same as "Shanxi", the only difference in how the two words are pronounced is that the first syllable in "Shanxi" is said using the first tone in Mandarin, while the first syllable in "Shaanxi" is said with the third tone. Since tone markers are not usually used to show how to pronounce the two different names, the first word in "Shaanxi" is spelled using the Gwoyeu Romatzyh method instead, which indicates tones by adding extra letters to a syllable. The river Wei He runs across it. It has a large population of more than 30 million people. The capital of Shaanxi is Xi'an. It abbreviates as Shan (陕) or Qin (秦), also known as SanQin (三秦, meaning "Three Qins"). History. January 23, 1556 – A massive earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, strikes Shaanxi, killing over 850,000 people. This is the most devastating earthquake in recorded history. Political divisions. Shaanxi Province is divided into ten municipalities:
Lisbon () is the capital city of Portugal. It is the largest city of Portugal. The city has a population of about half million people. In Lisbon's urban area live around 2.8 million people, being the 10th-most populous urban area in the European Union.  Lisbon is placed on the right bank (western) of the Tagus River, near the outfall. It has a pleasant climate and has about 220 days of sunshine each year. There are many beautiful beaches close to the city. There are also many seafood restaurants, historical sites and monuments, being one of the oldest cities in the world. Geography. Civil parishes. The municipality of Lisbon have 24 "freguesias" (civil parishes). Transportation. Metro. The Lisbon Metro connects the city centre to different districts, it also reaches some suburbs around the Lisbon metropolitan area, like Amadora and Loures. Trams. Trams are a traditional public transport in Lisbon. It was first introduced in 1901, many of the electric trams were originally imported from the US, and were called "americanos". Trams in Lisbon are coloured yellow and is one of the tourist icons of the city, and their size is great for steep hills and narrow streets of the central city.
Surfing is a water sport done in the ocean or sea. The surfer uses their surfboard to catch a wave and ride in towards the shore. Surfing was invented by the Polynesians at least 4000 years ago. Surfing made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. It has become a popular sport among both men and women of all ages. With lifestyles and regimens freer than those of most sports, surfers comprise a unique culture. Though surfing is practiced in many other Pacific nations, its center remains Hawaii, where many rounds of the international surfing championships (the ASP) are held annually. Surfing is popular in Australia, the US, and Northern Europe.
Lyon (Arpitan: "Liyon") is a city in the southeast of France. It is the third-largest city in the country (behind Paris and Marseille), with about 513,000 people living there in 2015. It is the second largest "metropolis", or metro area, in France (behind only that of Paris), with about 2.3 million people in 2014.  In ancient history, the name of Lyon was "Lugdunum". Someone who lives in Lyon is called a "Lyonnais" (male) or a "Lyonnaise" (female) in French. Lyon has a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa" in the Koeppen climate classification). It is between the Rhône and the Saône. It is about west of the Italian border.  The central part of Lyon, located on the peninsula between the Rhône and the Saône, was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Sports. Famous sports clubs from Lyon are:
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman. He was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He is the son of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and former U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush. Before becoming president, he was the Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. Bush is a member of the Republican Party. He flew warplanes in the Texas and Alabama Air National Guard. After graduating from Yale College in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, he worked in the oil industry. In 1977, he married Laura Welch and ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, but lost. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team. In 1994, he was elected Governor of Texas, defeating the incumbent governor, Democrat Ann Richards. As governor, Bush successfully backed legislation for tort reform, gave more money for education, set higher standards for schools, and changed the criminal justice system. Bush also helped make Texas the leading producer of wind powered electricity in the U.S. In 2000, Bush was elected President of the United States when he defeated Democratic incumbent Vice President Al Gore in an extremely close election. He became the fourth person to be elected president without winning the popular vote. He is the second son of a former United States president to himself become president, the first being John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams. Bush was inaugurated in January 2001. As president, his earlier focus was on domestic issues. He cut taxes, passed an education reform bill, made changes to Medicare, and changed abortion laws. On September 11, 2001, the United States was attacked by Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization, via the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. As a result of these attacks, Bush created the Department of Homeland Security and started a "War on Terror" that began with a war in Afghanistan in 2001. He also signed into law the Patriot Act in order to inspect on people believed to be terrorists. In 2003, he ordered an invasion of Iraq, which started the Iraq War.