Whales have a thick layer of fat under their skin called blubber. For many years, the Eskimos of Alaska depended on these whales to live. Every part of a whale was used: the bones, the blubber, and the skin - every bit of it. In this way, one whale could feed an Eskimo community for a long time. They were important to the Eskimos. However, sometimes a good thing can get out of control and become a bad thing. This was what happened in whale hunting.
Whale blubber was not used only by Eskimos. Soon it became a product everybody wanted. This was because before electricity was invented, blubber was used as oil for lamps. They also used whale blubber to oil machines and make expensive makeup. Because of this, people hunted and killed whales to make money.
The whalers found out the paths whales liked to take in the ocean, and killed them mercilessly. It was a dangerous and frightening job. Whalers would jump into a small boat and follow the whale. Once they were close to it, they would throw a that was attached to a very long rope into the whale. The end of this harpoon was not at all like a spear. It had a switch blade on the end that would stay in the whale's skin. Once the harpoon was in the whale, the whale would start swimming as fast as it could. The whale might swim day and night with no stop for several days. Eventually, the tired and hurt whale would stop. The whalers would then kill the whale with one last harpoon. When the animal died, the whalers would haul the whale onto the ship (big or small), skin it, then boil the blubber for the oil.
Soon, boats began getting bigger. Whalers began using a harpoon like before, but the harpoon has a grenade inside. This was very cruel way of killing whales as it hurt them a lot. The whale would then have blood coming out of its blowhole. This meant the whale would die soon.
Sometimes entire whale families were found, and as many were killed as possible. Because of whaling, several kinds of whales became almost extinct.
More happily, whales are protected by conservation laws that stop people from killing too many of them. Also, chemists invented many products that take the place of whale blubber, and kerosene replaced whale oil in lamps. Now, many countries have agreed not to hunt whales, because otherwise all the whales might die. They signed a treaty agreeing on this though Norway and Japan still hunt whales. Russia and the United States also practising whaling, on a much smaller scale. (Japan still does hunt often, however).
Whaling -Citizendium
Opinion
An opinion is something a person or a group of people think. "What is your opinion?" is like saying: "What do you think about it?"
The person's answer might start with: "In my opinion..." or "I think..."
Sometimes companies try to find out what people think about something by asking many people their opinion. This is called an "opinion poll" and the people who do it are "pollsters". They might be trying to find out whether people think something is good or bad, such as electricity or exercise or Wikipedia, or whether one politician or beer or sport team is better than another.
School year
A school year is the time of year when students go to school. In some countries, it starts after summer, and goes to the next summer. The typical school year in the United States ranges from 170 days to 190 days. In the south, a school year is 180 days for students and 190 days for teachers.
Audience
An audience is a group of people that see, hear or otherwise experience the same thing. It may be many different kinds of thing, such as a play, a movie, a book, or a broadcast. Audience members participate in different ways in different kinds of art; some live performance events invite the audience to be part of the performance, while others allow only applause and criticism. Mass media seldom provide for audience participation.
An audience at a sporting event are called "spectators" or a "live audience"
Group
A group is a set of things or a number of individuals who have regular contact and frequent interaction.
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling video game or 2D game is a video game where the player goes toward one side of the screen, either to the left or the right, although this is different for each video game. A famous side-scroller is "Super Mario Bros." The character usually moves from left to right but sometimes it is the other way around. In the golden age of video games, Side scrollers were a big thing and they still are to this day.
Eating
Eating is taking in food to get energy, nutrients or for enjoyment. People and animals need to eat because they cannot make their own food inside their bodies like plants. All plants' energy comes from the sun. Plants take the sun's energy, and they are eaten by other animals as food. The animals then eat each other for the energy.
However, many people can not stop themselves from eating, and they become fat or obese. You can become fat by eating the wrong, unhealthy types of food and by eating too much. When a plant collects energy from the sun through its leaves, it is called photosynthesis. If a plant gets too much food, it can just store it until later. They use this stored food during the winter. When you are proven to be fat or obese through your body mass index (BMI), it means you are heavier than the average for your height. The taller you are, the heavier you should be, in theory. If someone is too heavy to be called fat, then they are called obese. When someone eats too much of one thing, they become fat. Someone can eat junk food, but they can also balance themselves by also eating fruits and vegetables.
Bathroom
A bathroom (also known as a restroom, washroom, toilet or lavatory) is where people go for personal hygiene activities. This includes use of the toilet, wash their hands, brush their teeth, take a bath, or take a shower. The room may also contain a sink, often called a "wash basin", “hair basin” or "hand basin" (in parts of the United States) and often a "lavatory." In the United States, "bathroom" mostly means "a room containing a lavatory." In other countries this is mostly called the "toilet". The word "bathroom" is also used in the United States for a public toilet or "restroom." Bathrooms also have bathroom cabinets.
Baths go back to 3,000 B.C. Usually, a town would have a special building for people to take baths, which sometimes were part of a religious ceremony. Starting in the 16th century, public baths started declining. People at this time started building baths inside their homes.
Usually, a full bath will have a toilet, a sink, a bathtub, and/or a shower. If a bathroom has only a toilet and a sink, then it is called a half bath or a powder room. A master bath is connected to a master bedroom for the use of whoever lives in that bedroom and no one else.
Shower
A shower is where a person cleans themself by using water. They stand up when they use a shower and usually do not wear clothes in a shower. Showers have a shower head that squirts out water usually from above.
There are different kinds of showers. One is a "power shower" where there are many jets of water from all around. Another is the one in the picture. Some are in baths, and others are on their own.
Gangtok
Gangtok is the capital of the Indian state of Sikkim, It has a population of 50,000. It is located at a height of 1,780 metres in the Himalayan Mountains . It is small town, filled with different cultures and religions living together.
The city has wide roads, flyovers, markets, a modern hospital, schools, colleges and universities, fast food shops, discothèques, and all other modern amenities. One imposing man-made landmark of the town is the 200 ft-high TV tower which overlooks the town and is near the Enchey Monastery below Ganesh Tok.
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