The first subway in South America opened in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires in 1913 (the Buenos Aires Underground). The oldest trains on the Underground were used for almost one hundred years, and were not replaced with new cars until 2013. Other cities in Latin America with rapid transit include São Paulo, Brazil (São Paulo Metro); Santiago, Chile (Santiago Metro); and Mexico City, Mexico (Mexico City Metro). Trains in Santiago and Mexico City are like Paris and Montreal as they are rubber-tired. Although there are not as many cities with rapid transit railways as there are in Europe or other places, many large cities operate bus rapid transit networks, which carry many people like railways and often have their own lane on roads, but use buses instead of trains. These systems are often designed to be converted into rail-based rapid transit in the future.
The first subway in Asia was the subway in Tokyo, Japan. The first section, part of the Ginza Line, was opened in 1927. Now, there are 13 lines run by two different companies (Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway), and many trains on these lines, called "through trains", run directly onto regular Japanese railways. Many other cities in Japan have subways of their own, like Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya. In China, the first subway, Beijing Subway, opened in Beijing in 1969. Other cities in China began to build subways, including Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. These systems, especially Beijing with its 18 lines, have become some of the largest and longest in the world. For example, the Shanghai Metro had only one line when it opened in 1993, but today has 14 of them. Both the Beijing and Shanghai systems have over 500 kilometers of track. Other cities in Asia with big subway systems are Taipei, Taiwan (Taipei Metro), Seoul, South Korea (Seoul Metropolitan Subway); Delhi, India (Delhi Metro); and Singapore (MRT). Three of Singapore's MRT lines, along with three smaller LRT lines, are automatically operated without a driver. A few more metro systems that run this way are London's Docklands Light Railway; the SkyTrain in Vancouver, Canada; and the Dubai Metro serving Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Africa does not have many cities with rapid transit. Among those that have one, the oldest is in Cairo, Egypt (Cairo Metro), in use since 1987. Some cities in South Africa, though, have commuter rail networks with trains that come at high frequencies like rapid transit. Australia was the last continent to have a rapid transit system, although its biggest cities already have large commuter rail networks, some of which run in tunnels like rapid transit. The first ever rapid transit system in Australia opened in Sydney (Sydney Metro) in 2019. It also uses driverless trains.
Municipality
A municipality is a word used for a city, a town or a village, or a small group of them. It has a clearly defined territory, and all the people living on that territory share one common local government.
In most countries, a municipality is the smallest administrative subdivision to have its own democratically elected representative leadership. A municipality is usually governed by a mayor and a city or municipal council. The municipality can be created as a municipal corporation.
In some countries, municipalities are referred to as "communes" (for example, French "commune", Italian "comune" or Swedish "kommun").
Problem
A problem is a situation preventing something from being achieved. The word comes from a Greek word meaning an "obstacle" (something that is in your way). Someone who has a problem must find a way of solving it. The means of solving a problem is called a "solution".
"John has locked his car keys inside his car so that he cannot get at them. John has a problem".
Some problems are made up for fun. These are like puzzles. Some of them can be solved with logic, others can be solved by trial and error or by a "heuristic".
Here is an example of a mathematical problem:
"John is three times as old as Mary. In three years time he will be twice as old as Mary. How old are John and Mary?" The answer to this problem is that John is 9 and Mary is 3.
Children often like to give one another problems that can be solved by "lateral thinking". This means using the imagination rather than strict logic. Here is an example:
"Peter, Ruth, Samuel and Jessica live in the same house. Peter and Ruth went out. When they returned they found Jessica lying dead, surrounded by glass. They were sure Samuel had done it. Why did they not call the police?" The answer is: Samuel was the cat and Jessica was a goldfish.
A well-known example of a problem that cannot be solved is that of squaring the circle – how to get a square that has the same area as a given circle, using geometry.
These are classic works on problem-solving:
Most of these deal with well-formulated problems. There are also a number of books on the psychology of thinking, which is obviously a large part of problem-solving:
Order
Order has many meanings (like a dictionary):
Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen is a city in Germany. It is at the north shore of the Lake of Constance. It is the second largest city at the lakeside, after Konstanz. About 58.000 people live there. The city is famous for having one of the first Zeppelins.
Zeppelin
"For the English rock group, see Led Zeppelin."
A Zeppelin is a type of airship. It is a dirigible, which means it is rigid airship, but can be directed. It was developed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, in the early 20th century. The name Zeppelin is now used as a common name for all airships. Zeppelins were used in the First World War. In the Second World War the Nazis largely used them for propaganda purposes.
One of the most well-known Zeppelins was the LZ 129 Hindenburg, which caught fire on May 6, 1937, during a landing after a non-stop trip from Germany to New Jersey in the United States. Another, the LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin was still in use after this disaster although some modifications had to be made after the disaster. After the Second World War and the fall of the Nazis in Germany, Zeppelins were not used anymore. Plans exist to use Zeppelins to lift heavy weights. Sometimes, they are also used as tourist attractions, or for advertising.
666
666 was a year in the western calendar, as counted Anno Domini.
Stanza
A stanza is a related group of lines or verses in a poem. A stanza also can be a verse in paragraph form. They can keep on going without punctuation. It may also be a line in a poem.
Two most important features of a stanza is the number of lines and the rhyme scheme. There are many kinds of stanza.
An Italian sonnet consists of two four-line stanzas and two three-line stanzas:
A French ballad is composed of three eight-line stanzas and a four-line one:
Some stanzas are named after poets, who invented or often used them. An example is Sapphic stanza that was named after famous Greek woman poet Sappho.
Joseph Berg Esenwein, Mary Eleanor Roberts, "Art of Versification". Revised edition. Springfield: 1920.
Nanga Parbat
Nanga Parbat, located in Gilgit-Baltistan, is the ninth highest mountain in the world. It is 8,126 metres (26,660 ft) above sea level. It is in Gilgit Baltistan, between Chilas and Astore. Nanga Parbat means "Naked Mountain". In 1953, an Austrian German named Hermann Buhl was the first to climb it.
Nanga Parbat is in the west of the Himalayas, and is the most western of the mountains higher than eight thousand meters. It lies just south of the Indus River, in the Astore District of the Northern Areas in the region of Kashmir. Not far to the north is the western end of the Karakoram mountains.
Nanga Parbat is the highest peak in the Nanga Parbat Range. The range covers an area of in length and in width. In the east it joins the Pir Panjal Range.