the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
During its time without humans, New Zealand was a great place for an unusual range of plants and animals to develop.
The current capital city of the country is Wellington, and the largest city is Auckland.
Both of these cities are on the North Island.
The largest city on the South Island is Christchurch.
The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand sign language.
English has never been granted official language status in the NZ laws,  but it is used as a default official language due to its wide usage.
In the Māori language, the country is called Aotearoa, which means "Land of the Long White Cloud".
Ao means “cloud”, tea means “white”, and roa means “long”.
The name "New Zealand" comes from “Zeeland” (which translates to "Sealand") in Dutch, after the islands were seen by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.
Zeeland is a province of the Netherlands.
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy.
The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II.
The Prime Minister is Jacinda Ardern, leader of the Labour Party.
New Zealand has made itself a Nuclear Free Zone: They do not use nuclear power and do not allow nuclear weapons or nuclear powered vessels in their territory.
As of the 2018 census, 4,699,755 people lived in New Zealand.
Most of them have European ancestors.
The indigenous people of New Zealand, the Māori, have a population of 775,836, or 16.5%.
The people of New Zealand often call themselves Kiwis.
This name is derived from the kiwi, a flightless native bird that is considered the country's national birds..
The North Island is smaller than the South Island, but most people (more than 3 million) live there.
This might be because the North Island is usually warmer, and has more big cities.
About half of the people in New Zealand are religious.
As of the 2018 census, 48.2% had no religion.
The main religion in New Zealand is Christianity.
Just over 2 million New Zealanders are Christian.
The second most common religion is Hinduism, with 2.6%.
Auckland is the largest city, with around 1 million people.
Other cities in the North Island include Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier/Hastings, New Plymouth, Whanganui, and Palmerston North.
South Island cities include Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson, Invercargill and Timaru.
Geological origin
New Zealand sits at the boundary between the Australian and Pacific continental plates.
When these two plates bumped into each other ('collided'), the Pacific plate moved under the Australian plate, north of the South Island.
As a result, there has been lots of volcanic activity.
South of the South Island, the Australian plate moves under the Pacific plate instead.
The plates slide past each other in the South Island, where they have pushed up the Southern Alps.
Because of these two colliding plates, New Zealand often has earthquakes.
One of the best known is the 2010-2011 group of earthquakes that hit the Christchurch area.
The diagram shows that the North Island is on the Australian plate, but most of the South Island is on the Pacific plate.
New Zealand is still geologically active, and will remain so as long as the islands are sitting above the plate boundary.
Ancient geology
The oldest rocks in New Zealand date from the Cambrian period, 512 million years ago.
New Zealand became part of the global supercontinent Pangaea.
When that split (End-Triassic/early Jurassic), New Zealand became part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana.
Finally Gondwana broke up, leaving the continents rather as they are today.
New Zealand was isolated from the rest of the world for a long time.
It split from Australia 83 million years ago.
Because of this, there are many plants and animals that only live in New Zealand.
Before humans came to New Zealand, there were no mammals, except three species of bat and marine mammals such as seals, dolphins, and whales.
Instead, New Zealand has many different kinds of bird.
New Zealand has several species of flightless bird, including the kiwi and Kakapo.
For the lizards, especially important is the Tuatara, the only living member of a whole order of reptiles.
New Zealand used to have more rare species, but some, mostly birds, were hunted to extinction early in its history.
The giant Moa, Dinornis, is a famous example.
The group of birds which the moa belongs to had been in existence since the Cretaceous period.
Humans arrived in New Zealand about a thousand years ago, when many moa were living, especially on the South Island.
Archaeological sites with evidence of moa hunting are all over New Zealand.
The moa became extinct about five hundred years ago.
Extinctions closer to today have been caused by habitat change and introduced species like rats, dogs, cats, and possums, which kill the native birds and lizards, or eat their eggs.
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb to the top of Mount Everest, was from New Zealand.
New Zealand has become more popular since New Zealander Peter Jackson made the The Lord of the Rings movies there.
Many farmers in New Zealand breed sheep.
There are many more sheep than people in New Zealand.
Many New Zealanders are interested in sports.
Their national sport is usually considered to be rugby (in winter).
They have impressive athletes in rowing, cycling, shotput, discus, iron man, triathlon, yachting, climbing, surfing, cricket, netball, softball, wind surfing, gliding, and more.
New Zealanders enjoy outdoor pursuits.
The country has a "clean, green" image, but per-person emissions are 7th worst out of 41 industrialized nations as of 2017.
Really bad air and water pollution is fairly rare, though occasional outbreaks in the past 20 years have caused problems for livestock and the surrounding waters.
Most major rivers (60% estimated as of 2017) are not safe to swim in due to farming pollution and run-off.
New Zealand, like many other small nations, has a strong local media.
New Zealand has a wide variety of musicians, television, and radio celebrities, and stand-up comedians.
Although most are simply "world-famous in New Zealand", many others have successfully made it on the international scene.
Such people and groups include Russell Crowe (actor), Kiri Te Kanawa (singer), the Flight of the Conchords, Lorde, Crowded House (bands/singers), Lee Tamahori, Taika Waititi, and Peter Jackson (movie directors).
The NZ Army mostly does peacekeeping and natural disaster support.
New Zealand sent army engineers to Iraq to do rebuilding during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The middle of New Zealand's North Island has an almost-desert.
State Highway 1, the main north-south road, goes through that desert.
This section of the road in the desert - the Desert Road - can often be closed in winter.
It is called a desert because it has bare areas and unusual plants that normally grow on mountains.
South Korea is a country in the southern part of the Korean peninsula, in the north east region of Asia.
The capital city is Seoul.
The official name of South Korea is the Republic of Korea in English, 대한민국 (Daehan Minguk) in Korean writing (Hangeul), and 大韓民國 in Chinese characters (Hanja).
About half of the country's people live in its capital city, Seoul, or near the city in the metropolitan area.
Korea's Seoul metropolitan area is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world.
In fact, some sources say it is the second most populous after Tokyo, Japan.
Recently, South Korea has become a significant cultural power, largely due to bands like BTS, korean drama, as well as its economic miracle.
South Korea's history began with Dangunwanggeom's Gojoseon.
Gojoseon was conquered by Han China.
After Gojoseon collapsed, there were a lot of countries such as Buyeo, Okjeo, Dongyae and Samhan.
But Baekje, Goguryeo and Silla were the strongest.
So their period began, and it is called the Three Kingdoms Period.
Goguryeo and Baekje were conquered by Silla and Dang China's allied forces, and Silla unified the three kingdoms.
There was another country, Balhae.
Balhae was founded by Dae Jo-Young.
Later Silla and Balhae's period is called South and North Countries Period.
A rebellion in Later Silla caused the birth of a new nation: Goryeo, which was founded by Wanggeon.
Mongolia's invaded Goryeo.
Near the end of the Goryeo period, there was a great general Lee Seong-Gye.
The king of Goryeo directed him to occupy Yodong, but he opposed.
However, Lee Seong-Gye went to Yodong to occupy it, but he returned to Goryeo and he revolted.
His revolt succeeded, and he founded the country Joseon.
Joseon's first king, Taejo, moved the capital to Hanyang (Seoul).
Joseon's fourth king, Sejong, made the Korean alphabet, Hangeul.
Joseon's twenty-second king, Jeongjo, built Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon.
Joseon's twenty-sixth king, Gojong, changed the country's name to Daehanjeguk.
When Daehanjaeguk's power weakened, Japan occupied it for 35 years until Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945.
In 1950, there was a large and deadly war, the Korean War, which killed millions of people.
As a result, Korea was split into two countries, North and South.
South Korea is in East Asia, bordering North Korea, and is surrounded by water on three sides, as it makes up the southern part of the Korean peninsula.
It is separated from Japan by the Sea of Japan (known as East Sea by the South Koreans).
South Korea is mainly mountainous, and there are many islands off the south coast.
The capital city, Seoul, is quite close to the North Korean border.
The largest island is Jeju Island and the highest mountain is Hallasan, on Jeju.
The country is slightly smaller than Iceland and Virginia.
South Korea is a democracy, meaning that people can vote for their government.
However, this is recent.
South Korea was an authoritarian dictatorship for most of its history.
The President of South Korea is elected to a five-year term, and cannot stand in a Presidential Election for a second time.
The current president is Moon Jae-in since 10 May 2017.
The previous president, Park Geun-hye, was impeached for corruption.
South Korea known for a lot of technology.
This includes the car-makers Hyundai and Kia.
The well-known global brand Samsung and LG, which make mobile phones, semi-conductors and electric devices, is also South Korean.
South Korea has been affected by both continental culture and marine culture because it is located on a peninsula.
Ancient South Korean culture has developed with the culture of Siberia, the northern part of Central Asia, the southern part of Southeast Asia and neighboring countries like China.
South Korea's customary and official language is Korean.
Many linguists says that it is linked with Altaic languages.
Hangul, the alphabet which is used to write Korean, was published by King Sejong the Great of Joseon in 1446.
It is the only alphabet in the word whose creator, invention day and invention principle is known.
A customary South Korean regular meal is made up of rice, Korean soup, kimchi and other various dishes.
Generally, Korean dishes are seasoned with sesame oil, soy bean paste, soy sauce, salt, ginger and chilli pepper paste.
The most famous traditional food of Korea, kimchi, is eaten with nearly every meal.
There are lots of popular South Korean typical foods such as bibimbap, tteokbokki, and bulgogi.
The most representative traditional music of Korea is Arirang and every region has its own folk song.
Many South Korean singers are well known in world as K-pop is steadily developing.
Famous K-pop artists include BTS, BLACKPINK, EXO, TWICE & NCT.
77% of male are circumcised, this tradition was taken by US American.
Cities and provinces
South Korea has 1 special city (Teukbyeolsi; 특별시; 特別市), 1 special self-governing city (Teukbyeol-Jachisi; 특별자치시; 特別自治市) 6 metropolitan cities (Gwangyeoksi; 광역시; 廣域市), and 9 provinces (do; 도; 道).
The names below are given in English, Revised Romanization, Hangeul, and Hanja.
Special city
Seoul Special City (Seoul-teukbyeolsi; 서울특별시; 서울特別市)
Note: 서울 (Seoul) itself has no corresponding Hanja.
Busan Metropolitan City (Busan-gwangyeoksi; 부산광역시)
Special self-governing city
Sejong special self-governing city (Sejong-teukbyeol-jachasi 세종특별자치시; 世宗特別自治市)
Metropolitan cities
Busan Metropolitan City (Busan-gwangyeoksi; 부산광역시; 釜山廣域市)
Daegu Metropolitan City (Daegu-gwangyeoksi; 대구광역시; 大邱廣域市)
Daejeon Metropolitan City (Daejeon-gwangyeoksi; 대전광역시; 大田廣域市)
Gwangju Metropolitan City (Gwangju-gwangyeoksi; 광주광역시; 光州廣域市)
Incheon Metropolitan City (Incheon-gwangyeoksi; 인천광역시; 仁川廣域市)
Ulsan Metropolitan City (Ulsan-gwangyeoksi; 울산광역시; 蔚山廣域市)
Gyeonggi Province (Gyeonggi-do; 경기도; 京畿道)
Gangwon Province (Gangwon-do; 강원도; 江原道)
North Chungcheong Province (Chungcheongbuk-do; 충청 북도; 忠清北道)
South Chungcheong Province (Chungcheongnam-do; 충청 남도; 忠清南道)
North Jeolla Province (Jeollabuk-do; 전라 북도; 全羅北道)
South Jeolla Province (Jeollanam-do; 전라 남도; 全羅南道)
North Gyeongsang Province (Gyeongsangbuk-do; 경상 북도; 慶尚北道)
South Gyeongsang Province(Gyeongsangnam-do; 경상 남도; 慶尚南道)
Jeju Province (Jeju-do; 제주도; 濟州道)
Breen, Michael (2004).
The Koreans: Who They Are, What They Want, Where Their Future Lies, St. Martin's Griffin. .
Cumings, Bruce (1997).
Korea's place in the sun, New York: W.W. Norton. .
Hart, Dennis (2003).
From Tradition to Consumption: Constructing a Capitalist Culture in South Korea. .
Hawley, Samuel (2005).
The Imjin War.
Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China, The Royal Asiatic Society. .
KOIS (2003).
Handbook of Korea, 11 edition, Hollym. .
Nahm, Andrew C. (1996).
Korea: A history of the Korean people, 2 edition, Hollym. .
Yang, Sung Chul (1999).
The North and South Korean political systems: A comparative analysis, Hollym. .
Yonhap News Agency (2004).
Korea Annual 2004. .
Ireland ( ) is a European country on the island of Ireland.
The country is sometimes called the Republic of Ireland in order to distinguish between the territory of the Irish state and island proper, but Ireland is its official name.
It covers about five-sixths of the island of Ireland.
The other sixth is called Northern Ireland, which is still part of the United Kingdom.
The republic's capital is Dublin.
Cork is the second largest city in the country and the third largest on the island of Ireland.
The population of Ireland is 4.6 million.
English is the main language spoken.
The Irish language is widely taught in all schools, and it is still spoken as a first language in some areas of the country, known as the Gaeltacht.
Irish is the first official language, followed by English.
Several hundred years ago, the English took over the country and made it part of the United Kingdom in 1801.
After many years of revolution, Ireland gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1922 and has been an independent country since then.
It was a neutral country during World War II.
The head of State, the President, is elected for seven years by the adult citizens.
The same president can only be elected twice (14 years).
Most of the president's tasks are representing and ceremonial ones.
The president has little power over the government.
Ireland is a democracy and people vote for their representatives.
The Taoiseach (equivalent to a prime minister) is selected by the parliament.
The Taoiseach is usually the head of the biggest party.
The Oireachtas (equivalent to the parliament) consists of the Dáil Éireann (the lower House) and the Seanad (the 'upper House').
The system is similar to that of France or the United States, except that the President is not an executive.
The main political parties in Ireland are  Fine Gael 25%, Sinn Féin 22%, Fianna Fail 18%, the Labour Party 7% and others, ref RED C poll 29 th June 2014.
Ireland national football team
1949 establishments in Europe
Vietnam () is a country in Southeast Asia.
The long-form name of the country is the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The neighboring countries of Vietnam are China, Laos and Cambodia.
Vietnam is one of five remaining countries that believe in communism.
The biggest city is Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).
There are about 94,444,200 people living in Vietnam.
After the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, the Vietnamese fought French colonial rule during the First Indochina War between the Viet Minh and the French in 2 September 1945.
Hồ Chí Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France under the new name of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, but was fought by French colonialists.
In 1954, the Vietnamese declared victory in Dien Bien Phu which took place between March and May 1954 and culminated in a major French defeat.
Then Vietnam was divided into two political states, North Vietnam (officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (officially the Republic of Vietnam).
Conflicts between the two sides intensified in the so-called Vietnam War with strong influence from the US in South Vietnam.
The war ended in 1975 with a North Vietnamese victory.
Vietnam was then united under a communist government.
In 1986, the government launched a number of economic and political reforms that began Vietnam's path to integration into the world economy.
By 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with all nations.
Since 2000, Vietnam's economic growth has been among the highest in the world, and in 2011 it had the highest global growth generator index among 11 major economies.
Its successful economic reforms resulted in its becoming a member of the World Trade Organization in 2007.
It is also a member of economic cooperation between Asia and the Pacific and the International de la Francophonie Organization.
"Annam", which originated (or started) as a Chinese name in the 7th century, was the common name of the country during the colonial period
Xích Quỷ (赤鬼)
Văn Lang (文郎/Orang)
Âu Lạc (甌雒/Anak)
Nam Việt (南越)
Giao Chỉ (交趾/交阯)
Vạn Xuân (萬春)
An Nam (安南)
Tĩnh Hải (靜海)
Đại Cồ Việt (大瞿越)
Đại Việt (大越)
Đại Ngu (大虞)
Đại Nam (大南)
In Vietnam, the approximate population is 97,094,658.
25.2% of these people are aged between 0-14, with 11,954,354 being male and 10,868,610 being female.
69.3% of the population are between the ages of 15-64.
The male-to-female ratio is almost evenly split, with 31,301,879 being male and 31,419,306 being female.
5.5% are 65 and over, with 1,921,652 being male and 3,092,589 being female.
So within the older two categories, there are more women than men.
The population is not from one origin.
There are many ethnic tribes that developed in the history of Vietnam.
This makes Vietnam's history and culture very diverse.
It's not the same as a country where every family landed on the country's shores in the same century.
French and Chinese colonization didn't involve an excessive migration of people to Vietnam.
Nowadays, the blend of cultures has been increasing with the influence of globalization and world interest.
Many Vietnamese that have been living overseas are described as the Viet Kieu.
The population has several communities in many countries around the world.
The length of the country, from North to South, is 1,650 kilometers (1,025 miles). "
At its narrowest point, Vietnam is only 30 miles (48 kilometers) wide".
Due to the long and narrow shape of Vietnam, the weather in the country varies considerably from north to south.
Northern Vietnam offers a humid subtropical climate with four distinct seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall) while Southern Vietnam is hot year-round.
The country is covered in rainforests that are currently going through rapid deforestation.
It borders the South China Sea to the east, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and China to the north.
The country is slightly larger than Malaysia and smaller than Japan.
Vietnam's history has long been characterized by the neighborhood of China in the north.
For about 1,000 years, northern Vietnam belonged to China, but from 938 the country became independent and later expanded southward at the expense of the Champa kingdom.
In the 19th century the country was colonized by France and during the Second World War, the country was occupied by Japan.
After this war, the colonial empire did not have the resources to restore the regime and lost the military battle against the liberation forces.
This led to the division of the country, which in turn led to the Vietnam War with major human and material losses for the country.
The war ended on 30 April 1975 by the fact that North Vietnam took the southern part.
After experimental planning in the 1970s and 1980s, the economy was reformed in a market economy direction.
About 5000 years ago, the two ethnic tribes of the Lac Viet and Au Viet lived together in many areas with other inhabitants.
Due to increasing needs to control floods, fights against invaders, and culture and trade exchanges, these tribes living near each other tended to gather together and integrate into a larger mixed group.
Among these Lac Viet tribes was the Van Lang, which was the most powerful tribe.
The leader of this tribe later joined all the tribes together to found Van Lang Nation in 2897 BC, addressing himself as the King Hung.
The next generations followed in their father's footsteps and kept this appellation.
Based on historical documents, researchers correlatively delineated the location of Van Lang Nation to the present day regions of North and north of Central Vietnam, as well as the south of present-day Kwangsi (China).
The Van Lang Nation lasted to the 3rd century B.C.
The Dong Son civilization that covered much of Southeast Asia was also the beginning of Vietnam's history.
In 221 BC, the Qins invaded the land of the Viet tribes.
Thuc Phan, leader of the alliance of Au-Viet tribes managed to expel the enemies and declared himself King An Duong Vuong and his territory Au Lac Nation (257-207 BC).
In 208 BC, a Qin Dynasty general named Triệu Đà invaded Au Lac.
An Duong Vuong failed this time.
As a result, the northern feudalist took turns dominating the country over the next eleven centuries, establishing their harsh regime in the country and dividing the country into administrative regions and districts with unfamiliar names.
However, the country's name of Au Lac could not be erased from the people's minds in their everyday life.
In 207 BC Triệu Đà established a state called Nam Việt which encompassed southern China and the Red River Delta.
The historical significance of the original Nam Việt remains controversial because some historians consider it a Chinese occupation while others believe it was an independent era.
For most of the period from 111 BCE to the early 10th century, Vietnam was under the rule of successive Chinese dynasties.
Sporadic independence movements were attempted, but were quickly suppressed by Chinese forces.
IndoChina
In September 1858, France occupied Đà Nẵng.
Cochinchina was a French colony from 1862 to 1948.
In 1930 Nguyễn Ái Quốc established the Vietnamese Independence League (Việt Nam Ðộc Lập Ðồng Minh Hội) which is also known as the Việt Minh.
The Japanese took over Vietnam in World War II.
The Việt Minh fought against both the Japanese and the Vichy French.
On 2 September 1945, Nguyễn Ái Quốc (who was now calling himself Hồ Chí Minh, meaning 'Hồ (a common last name) with the will of light') read the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Ba Ðình Square, in Hànội.
It was based on the American Declaration of Independence.
The "Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina" (République Autonome de Cochinchine) was proclaimed 1 June 1946 to frustrate the Việt Minh's desire to rule all of Vietnam.
The War between France and the Việt Minh lasted from 1946 to 1954.
The French were defeated in 1954 after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
North and South Vietnam
The nation was then divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
After independence was achieved, the French gave the land of the Mekong delta that was part of Cambodia to South Vietnam.
The anti-communist United States had a lot of influence in the South, and the communist and nationalist Việt Minh controlled the North.
Hồ Chí Minh was extremely popular in the whole nation, as he was the only remaining leader after years of fighting, so he became President of the Democratic Republic of (North) Việtnam.
It was agreed that the nation would be reunited by elections in 1956.
But, the Americans and the Southern government stopped the elections from happening because they expected Hồ Chí Minh to win because communist North Vietnam refused to hold free elections.
Dwight Eisenhower said he thought Hồ would win with around 80% of the vote if elections were held because of the majority of the population being in the north added with Ho's few supporters in the South.
Soon, the USA was at war with Vietnam.
This war was known as the American War, the Vietnam War, or the Second Indochinese War.
Soon, South Vietnam became a military dictatorship with some basic freedoms.
The Southern army removed the controversial Ngo Dinh Diem from power and killed him.
On 30 April 1975, the National Liberation Front with the help of the N.V.A. overtook Sàigòn, which was the capital of South Vietnam and quickly renamed it Hồ Chí Minh City.
The nation was fully reunified as Socialist Republic of Vietnam on 2 July 1976.
Vietnam is divided into 58 provinces.
There are also five city municipalities which have province authority.
1975 establishments in Asia
Lance Edward Armstrong (born September 18, 1971 in Plano, Texas, USA) is an American former bicycle rider.
He used drugs which helped him in competition.
In 2012 the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) took away all his titles from 1998 to 2006.
In 2012, he was also banned forever from cycling competitions.
Before his titles were taken away, he won the Tour de France seven times in a row, from 1999 to 2005.
He did this several years after having brain surgery, testicular surgery, and a long course of chemotherapy in 1996.
The chemotherapy was to treat testicular cancer that spread to his brain and lungs.
Armstrong used to race for the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, but was only team leader during the Tour de France.
Teams and victories
Major results
1992 - Motorola
Settimana Bergamasca (stage 6)
Vuelta a Galicia (Stage 4a)
Trittico Premondiale (Stage 2) (or GP Sanson)
First Union Grand Prix (Atlanta)
Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic (overall, 1 stage win)
1993 - Motorola
World Cycling Champion - UCI Road World Championships
US National Cycling Champion - CoreStates USPRO National Road Championships
Tour de France (Stage 8)
Tour of America (overall)
Trofeo Laigueglia
Tour du Pont (2nd overall, 1 stage win)
Tour of Sweden (3rd overall, 1 stage win)
Thrift Drug Classic
Kmart West Virginia Classic (overall, 2 stage wins)
1994 - Motorola
Tour du Pont (1 stage win)
1995 - Motorola
Tour de France (Stage 18)
Paris-Nice (Stage 5)
Tour du Pont (overall, mountains, 3 stage wins)
1996 - Motorola
Tour du Pont (overall, 5 stage wins)
1997 - Cofidis
Sprint 56K Criterium (Austin, TX)
1998 - U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt (overall)
Tour de Luxembourg (overall, 1 stage win)
Cascade Classic
Vuelta a España (4th overall)
1999 - U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 4 stage wins)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT) (Prologue)
Route du Sud (Stage 4)
Circuit de la Sarthe (ITT) (Stage 4)
2000 - U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 1 stage win)
GP des Nations
GP Eddy Merckx (with Viatcheslav Ekimov)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT) (Stage 3)
Bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics Individual Time Trial, Men
2001 - U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Tour de Suisse (overall, 2 stage wins)
2002 - U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (Stage 6)
GP du Midi Libre (overall)
Profronde van Stiphout (post-Tour criterium)
2003 - US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 1 stage win, Team Time Trial)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (overall, Stage 3 ITT)
2004 - US Postal Service pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 5 stage wins, Team Time Trial)
Tour de Georgia (overall, 2 stage wins)
Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon (Stage 5)
Volta ao Algarve (ITT) (Stage 4)
2005 - Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (points classification)
2009 - Astana Prop Cycling Team
Tour of California 7th place
Amateur cycling and triathlon years
1991 - Subaru-Montgomery / US National Team
National Amateur Road Race Champion
Settimana Bergamasca (overall and youth classifications)
Tour de Gastown criterium (Vancouver, BC)
Challenge of Champions Triathlon (Monterey, CA)
1990 - Subaru-Montgomery
National Sprint Triathlon Champion
Stonebridge Ranch Triathlon (McKinney, TX)
Waco Triathlon (Waco, TX)
Athens YMCA Triathlon (Athens, TX) (course record)
River Triathlon (Shreveport, LA) (course record)
Hillcrest Tulsa Triathlon
IronKids Triathlon National Champion
1971 births
American adoptees
American cyclists
American Olympic bronze medalists
Cancer survivors
Doping cases in cycling
Sportspeople from Texas
Tour de France cyclists
People from Plano, Texas
The common ton or short ton, defined as 2,000 pounds avoirdupois (1000kg)
The long ton, defined as 2,240 pounds (1 016 kg)
The ton, called a metric ton in the United States, is defined as 1,000 kilograms (2,204 pounds).
This unit is also called a "mega-gram" (1 000 000 g) but "tonne" is more convenient.
Phoebe is a moon which goes around (orbits) the planet called Saturn.
It takes eighteen months for Phoebe to go all the way around Saturn.
It is half made out of rock, and half made out of ice.
The ground on Phoebe is black, which means that it is very dark when seen from Earth.
Phoebe does not have any air, and there is no water on its surface.
There are many craters on Phoebe.
These are from asteroids and other things crashing into it, and leaving round marks on the surface.
Phoebe is slightly irregular, which means that it is not perfectly round like a ball.
It has an average diameter of 213 km.
This means that the Earth's moon is 15 times bigger than Phoebe.
The duration between two sunrises (rotation period) is only 9 hours and 16.5 minutes long.
Saturn's moons
The Three Peaks Challenge is a challenge (a hard task or job) which involves climbing three British mountains (a peak is the top of a mountain) in less than 24 hours.
The three mountains are the highest of each of the three countries in the island of Great Britain.
Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Scotland (1344 m)
Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales (1085 m)
Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England (978 m)
Each year many people attempt (try) to do the challenge to raise money for charity.
They do this by getting their friends and family to sponsor them (give them money).
Many people do not do the challenge for charity.
They do it simply because they enjoy walking in the mountains and they want to try something hard.
These people usually do it in small groups.
Some of them will do the walking, and others will do the driving and the cooking for them.
Some people have completed the challenge very quickly.
The record is fifteen hours.
Reasons why some people do not like the challenge
Recently, the challenge has become more popular.
People who live near the mountains often do not like having cars around in the middle of the night.
Conservation groups blame people doing the challenge for dropping litter and damaging the landscape.
Some people park their cars in inconsiderate places.
Thousands of people attempt the challenge each year.
Supporters of the challenge say that only a few people cause these problems, and most behave well.
The usual route
Most attempts are made in the summer, because the days are long and the weather is good.
In the winter it is dark for most of the day and can be very cold.
The weather up the mountains can change very quickly, and some people die in blizzards (storms of snow) in the winter.
Most people who attempt the challenge use the same route, because it is the easiest way of doing the challenge in 24 hours.
They start with Ben Nevis at about five o'clock.
It takes about three hours to climb this mountain, so they reach the summit (the top) at about eight o'clock, and return to the bottom at about ten o'clock.
In the summer it is still light in Britain at this time.
If people start climbing Ben Nevis too early they will arrive at Scafell Pike too early the next morning and it will still be dark.
It is important to be quick at the bottom of the mountains.
There is not much time so food is usually prepared by others waiting at the bottom.
When the climbers arrive they usually leave immediately and eat while they are on the road.
The next mountain is Scafell Pike, in the Lake District of northern England.
The journey between Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike is longer than the journey between Scafell Pike and Snowdon.
This is why it is done at night, when it is too dark to climb.
The journey takes six or seven hours, and the walkers usually go to sleep.
The next morning they arrive at Scafell Pike at about half past four.
In the summer it is light by this time.
Scafell Pike is not as high as the other mountains, but is harder.
If it is climbed quickly enough and the walkers do not get lost they can return to the bottom by about nine o'clock.
It takes several hours to get to Snowdon in Wales.
The walkers are usually very tired and worried that there is not enough time.
If they arrive at the bottom of Snowdon at half past one in the afternoon they can climb it in two hours.
This leaves them an hour and a half to get back to the bottom.
If they were too slow on the other mountains or the journeys in between they might have to run!
You need to be quite fit to do the challenge in 24 hours, but people who are young and active, and people who are used to hillwalking, can do it.
Compared to some mountains in the world, all the mountains in Britain are small.
If the weather is bad or the drivers are slow it is very hard.
A BBC report about the problems of the challenge
A popular guide to the challenge
Pennsylvania is one of the 50 states in the United States of America.
It is in the northeastern part of the country.
It has a border with Ohio on the west, West Virginia on the south and west, Maryland and Delaware on the south, New Jersey on the east, and New York and Lake Erie on the north.
The state capital of Pennsylvania is Harrisburg.
The state nickname of Pennsylvania is "The Keystone State".
The current governor of Pennsylvania is Tom Wolf.
Pennsylvania was home to many Native American groups before Europeans settled there.
These include the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Iroquois.
The first European settlers in Pennsylvania were from Sweden.
They arrived in 1643.
The area was later ruled by the Netherlands and Great Britain.
In 1681, Charles II of England, gave the land to William Penn.
Penn used the land to create a home for Quakers.
The land became known as "Penn's Woods", as Pennsylvania has many forests.
In Latin this is "Pennsylvania".
This became adopted as the name of the colony.
Meanwhile, in the western part of the state, armies from France and Great Britain fought for control of the source of the Ohio River.
This conflict was part of the French and Indian War.
Great Britain eventually won the conflict for this location and built a fort called Fort Pitt.
The fort grew into a city which is now called Pittsburgh.
The state of Delaware was once part of Pennsylvania.
In 1704, Delaware formed when three Pennsylvania counties left the colony and created their own government.
Pennsylvania was one of the 13 colonies that fought Great Britain in the American Revolution.
The United States Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia.
Benjamin Franklin, an important figure in the Revolution, was also from Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania was the second state to join the United States.
Philadelphia was capital of the United States before Washington, D.C..
Later, Pennsylvania became an important center of industry.
Kerosene was discovered in Titusville in the 19th century.
This was the start of the oil industry in the United States.
Large deposits of coal were found in and around Pittsburgh.
This caused Pittsburgh to become a major industrial city.
Industry began leaving Pennsylvania in the late 20th century, because most heavy industry was being transferred to other nations.
Many people left, too.
It also caused many of its cities and towns to decay.
Most of Pennsylvania is part of the Appalachian Mountains, including the south central and northeastern areas of the state.
Much of the rest of the state is very hilly, partly due to the closeness to mountains and partly due to the steep river valleys in the state.
The Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio rivers are in the western part of the state, and the Susquehanna is in the central part of the state.
The northwestern and southeastern parts of the state are mostly flat and low-lying.
Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest states in the United States, with a land area of 44,817 square miles.
The highest point in the state is Mount Davis, at 3,213 feet above sea level.
The lowest point is the Delaware River, which is at sea level.
Pennsylvania is the 5th most populated state.
In 2020, there were 13,002,700 people.
More than half of the people live in the areas of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Few people live in the north central area of the state.
Towns and cities tend to be small in size and densely populated, more so than in other states.
This is because many of the towns and cities in Pennsylvania were built around a specific factory or factories.
Pennsylvania has many colleges and universities.
Officially, the state's public university is Pennsylvania State University.
Best known are a few private university systems which are partially (around 10%) funded by the state, like University of Pittsburgh.
The state's most well-known private university is the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution.
Pennsylvania also has a number of state run colleges in Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester.
Those fourteen schools make up one of the largest state run higher education systems in the country.
Other significant private universities are Carnegie-Mellon University, known for its computer science research, and Bucknell University.
1787 establishments in the United States
A box is a container used to put things in.
It is mainly a cuboid (square) shape, but it can be other shapes too.
Boxes are usually made out of cardboard, wood, plastic or metal.
Many boxes are made of cardboard, and a lot of them are made.
They are primarily used for packaging commercial goods or storing goods and materials.
They can be made from bent or wrinkled cardboard.
In their most obvious life stage, they are popularly used as a cheap material to hold a range of projects, among them being science experiments, children's toys, costumes and other things.
A box also means a rectangle, e.g. userbox.
But rectangles are mainly referred to as rectangles, the term box is the outline, or perimeter of the rectangle.
The Philippines is an island country in Southeast Asia in the Pacific Ocean.
It has 7,641 islands.
Spain (1521-1898) and the United States (1898-1946), colonized (controlled) the country and Palau, which is on the eastern side of the Philippine Sea.
The capital city of the Philippines is Manila.
The Philippines and East Timor are the only nations in East Asia where most people are Christians.
The Philippines achieved independence after the United States left in 1946.
The Philippine Islands are surrounded on the east by the Philippine Sea, on the west by the South China Sea, and on the south by the Celebes Sea.
Borneo island is a few hundred kilometers to the southwest, Vietnam is to the west, and Taiwan is directly north.
The government of the Philippines, is similar to the Government of the United States of America.
The President of the Philippines works as the head of state, the head of government, and the commander in chief of the Military of the Philippines and the armed forces.
The president is elected by voting just as in America except by popular vote as there is no electoral voting.
He stays as the president for 6 years.
He is the leader of the cabinet.
The bicameral Philippine legislature, the Congress of the Philippines, consists of the Senate of the Philippines and the House of Representatives of the Philippines; members of both are elected by popular vote.
There are 24 senators serving 6 years in the Senate while the House of Representatives consists of no more than 250 congressmen each serving 3-year terms.
The Philippines is a founding and prominent member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
It is also an active participant of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a member of the Group of 24 and one of the 51 founding members of the United Nations on October 24, 1945.
Regions and States
Local Government.
The parts of Philippines are "local government units" (LGUs).
The province is the top unit.
There are 79 provinces in the country (2002).
In the provinces there are cities and municipalities (towns).
In these municipalities there are smaller barangays (villages).
The barangay is the smallest local government unit.
All provinces are in 17 regions for administration (organisation).
Most government offices have regional offices for the provinces.
The regions do not have a separate local government, except for the Muslim Mindanao and Cordillera regions, which have their own power (autonomous government).
The Philippines has 7,701 islands.
Together there are about 300,000 square kilometers of land.
The islands are in three groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Luzon is the largest island and Mindanao is the second largest.
The Visayas are the group of islands in the central part of the Philippines.
The busy port of Manila, on Luzon, is the country's capital and it is the second-largest city after Quezon City.
Cebu City and Davao City are the largest cities in Visayas and Mindanao, respectively.
The climate is hot, humid (there is a lot of water in the air), and tropical.
The average temperature all year is around 26.5 °Celsius.
Filipinos usually say there are three seasons: Tag-init or Tag-araw (the hot season or summer from March to May), Tag-ulan (the rainy season from June to November), and Tag-lamig (the cold season from December to February).
The Philippines is in the Pacific Ring of Fire (zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions).
Most of the mountainous islands had a lot of tropical rainforests a long time ago.
They started as volcanoes.
The highest place is Mount Apo on Mindanao at 2,954 m. Many volcanoes in the country, for example Mount Mayon, are active.
The country also has about 19 typhoons per year.
Taal Volcano is an island in Taal Lake.
It is in an ancient caldera in Batangas Province.
It is about 2 hours by bus going south from Manila.
The jump-off point in Talisay is suitable for day trips and overnighters.
There are many environmental problems in the Philippines.
One of them is overfishing in many areas, which lead to pitiful catches.
Another problem is that only ten percent of sewage is treated and cleaned, while the other 90% is dumped back to nature and the ocean, which leads to pollution.
Deforestation is a serious problem, and after decades of cutting down forests, illegal logging and forest fires, there is only 3% left of original forest cover.
Forest losses have also affected the Philippines with serious soil erosion, which is threatening the Philippines biodiversity.
The Philippines is a developing country.
In 1998 the Philippine economy — a mixture of agriculture, light industry, and support services — deteriorated because of the effects of the Asian financial crisis and poor weather conditions.
The economy's growth fell to 0.6% in 1998 from 5% in 1997, but recovered to about 3% in 1999 and 4% in 2000.
As of 2012, it's estimated at 6.6%.
The government has promised to continue its economic reforms to help the Philippines match the pace of development in the newly industrialized countries of Southeast Asia.
The strategies are improving infrastructure, fixing the tax system to help the government income, supporting deregulation (to remove government control) and privatization of the economy, and increasing trade within the region.
Future prospects depend heavily on the economic performance of the three major trading partners, China, the United States and Japan.
Around 109,6 million people live in the Philippines as of 2020.
Most people in the Philippines are of Austronesian stock.
The ethnic Chinese, who have helped run businesses since the 9th century, also live in the country.
Its now 105 million people there.
The Negritos live in the mountains of Luzon and Visayas.
Luzon has a lot of mestizo people, a Spanish term for someone of mixed Hispanic and native blood.
The people of the Philippines are known as Filipinos.
Filipinos are divided into many groups, the three largest are the Tagalogs, Cebuanos, and the Ilocanos.
When the Philippines was a colony, the term "Filipino" used to mean the Spanish and Spanish-mixed minority.
But now everyone who is a citizen/national of the Philippines is called "Filipino".
Even then, it is still has the most diverse ethnic groups in Asia, the other being Indonesia.
People also call Filipinos "Pinoy" for short.
Filipino and English are the official languages.
Filipino is based largely on Tagalog, a native language spoken in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.
The Filipino language, is a cousin of the Malay language.
Other local languages and dialects are Cebuano and Ilocano and many others.
English is used in government, schools and business.
Other languages are Chinese which is spoken by the ethnic Chinese population and the Chinese-Filipinos.
Most of the Muslims living deep in southern Mindanao and the smaller islands off of the southern Philippine mainland near Malaysia's northeastern tip.
They also speak Arabic as a second language but to a very small extent.
Spanish, once the official language of the Philippines in the 1970s is also spoken by a notable minority of Filipinos.
Before the Spanish arrived, the Filipinos did not think of themselves as one culture.
Most of the Philippines were Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu.
The Spaniards came in 1565, and brought with them Spanish culture.
They soon spread to the islands making forts and schools, preaching Christianity, and converting most of the native people to the Catholic religion.
When the United States colonized the islands in 1898, the Americans brought with them their own culture, which has the strongest influence up to now.
This makes the Philippines the most Westernized country in eastern Asia.
The Spanish culture in the Philippines though, is not directly from Spain but from Mexico, since the Philippines was ruled by Spain, through Mexico.
It was governed from Mexico City which explains much of the Spanish influence in the Philippines that one could only find in Mexico and not in Spain.
Also, the Spanish that was spoken in the Philippines was Mexican Spanish, not European Spanish.
A lot of the foods in the Philippines can also be found in Mexico.
Filipinos, as a tradition, usually eat with hands, like that of Malay tradition.
And most of Filipino cuisine is also of Malay influence for the most part.
Each year major festivities called barrio fiestas are held.
They commemorate the Patron saints of the towns, villages and regional districts.
The festivities includes church services, street parades, fireworks displays, feasts, dance/music contests, and cockfights.
Circumcision of males is a tradition and a big cultureal event, nearly 91,7% are circumcised.
Most of the people in the Philippines are Christians.
About 92% of the people are Christians.
Most people in the Philippines belong to the Roman Catholic faith (70%).
A sizable percentage of the people are Protestants (many diverse Christian denominations) (17%), Iglesia ni Cristo (2%), Muslims (5-10%), Buddhists (2%).
There are also some Hindus and some other minor religions with fewer adherents (6.6%).
Philippines on English Wikipedia
Government Portal
Office of the President
1946 establishments in Asia
Fawlty Towers is a British television sitcom.
It was broadcast by the BBC in two series, one in 1975, the other in 1979.
Only twelve episodes were ever broadcast.
However, the show is still liked by millions of people.
Fawlty Towers has influenced other comedies.
Basil is a rude, angry man, who fought in the Korean War.
He has been married to Sybil for fifteen years.
Sybil and Basil do not love each other.
Polly has a talent for painting, and this is shown in some episodes when her artwork is laid upon the front desk, annoying Basil.
Manuel speaks only a little English and he often makes mistakes due to misunderstanding things.