the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
Shia Muslims have been listed along with "Heretics,... America and Israel," as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at the ideology classes of bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization.p303
In keeping with Wahhabi beliefs (the Saudi type of Islam), bin Laden opposed music on religious grounds,p167 and his attitude towards technology was mixed.
He was interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants" on the one hand, but rejected "chilled water" on the other.p172
His viewpoints and methods of achieving them led to him been designated as a terrorist by scholars, journalists from the New York Times, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Qatari news station Al Jazeera, analysts such as Peter Bergen, Michael Scheuer, Marc Sageman, and Bruce Hoffman and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid, New York City, and Tripoli.
He stayed in hiding until he was killed by the United States in Pakistan, in May 2011.
Osama bin Laden's name can be transliterated in many ways.
Usāmah bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Lādin (Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بنلادن), shortened to Usama bin Laden (أسامة بن لادن).
The form used here, Osama bin Laden, is used by most English-language mass media.
This includes CNN and the BBC.
The FBI and Fox News use Usama bin Laden.
Often the name is abbreviated to UBL.
The bin Laden family (or "Binladin," as they like to be called) usually use the name as a surname in the Western style.
The family company is known as the Binladin Brothers for Contracting and Industry.
It is one of the largest corporations in Saudi Arabia.
Bin Laden was first married at the age of 17 to a Syrian cousin.
Her name was Najwa Ghanem.
She was probably two years younger than he.
They had 11 children.
Najwa left bin Laden just before 9/11.
He was married to Khadijah (1983–1995, divorced).
His next wife was Khairiah (1985–2011, his death).
His fourth wife was Siham (1987–2011, his death).
He was married to unknown woman in 1996 but the marriage was annulled within a few days.
His last wife was Amal (2000–2011, his death).
There were a total of nine children from these later marriages, making 20 in all.
U.S. President Barack Obama launched a mission, "Operation Neptune Spear", where United States Special Operation forces raided bin Laden's hideout compound.
On the night of 2 May 2011 (Pakistani time; 1 May 2011 U.S. time), bin Laden was killed by bullets to the chest and head.
His body was buried at sea later that day so there would be no grave.
Al-Qaeda people
Saudi Arabian people
The Mayflower was the ship that in 1620 transported 102 passengers, including a group of people seeking religious freedom.
Their original destination was the Virginia Colony but they were forced to land instead at the Cape Cod hook.
Their story is one of suffering and survival in a harsh  environment.
The voyage is one of the most famous in early American history.
The Mayflower left England with the ship Speedwell on 15 August 1620.
It carried Pilgrims from England and Holland.
The Speedwell turned out to be unseaworthy.
Both ships were twice forced to return to England.
The Mayflower finally left Plymouth, England on 16 September 1620.
On 19 November 1620, they spotted land.
Their destination was the Virginia Colony but the ship was damaged so they were forced to land Cape Cod on 21 November.
They wrote the Mayflower Compact, which made rules on how they would live and treat each other.
The Passengers lived on the ship for a few months.
They went ashore to build shelters in the day, then returned to the ship at night.
About half the people died in the winter of 1620-21.
In March 1621, there were enough shelters for everyone to live on land.
Mayflower passenger list
Pilgrim Hall Museum of Plymouth, Massachusetts
General Society of Mayflower Descendants
The Mayflower And Her Log ; Azel Ames, Project Gutenberg edition.
Mayflower Descendants Chart .
Pilgrims and the Mayflower  Mayflower Interior Pictured
1620s in the Thirteen Colonies
Irish monks come to Iceland.
Reykjavík is the capital city of the island country of Iceland.
It is also the largest city in that country.
The population of Reykjavík is over 117,000 people.
There is a geothermal bath, both natural and unnatural in appearance.
It is in the capital and people relax in this hot spring during the cooler months.
Björk, an Icelandic singer, is from Reykjavik.
Uniforms are special clothes to show that a group of people belong together.
The group of people will all be dressed in the same way ("uni" means "one", and form means "shape" one shape).
People may wear uniforms for several reasons.
The uniform will help the people to feel a team spirit so that they work well together.
They may also help members of the public to know who they are, e.g. in a department store a customer can tell who is a member of staff, or in the street people will recognize a police officer.
Uniforms may also be worn because they are practical, e.g. it might keep them safe when operating machinery or keep them clean when doing their work.
In the army soldiers wear uniform.
They also wear extra things such as badges on their uniform which show how important they are (what rank they are).
Nurses in hospitals wear uniform.
Sometimes domestic workers wear uniform when working for their employers.
Important domestic workers may wear special smart uniforms called "livery" e.g. porters (doormen) at luxury hotels.
In some countries such as India, Japan, China, Korea, Australia and United Kingdom many school children wear uniform.
The uniform would be a set of clothes with the school crest or symbol.
It helps them to feel proud of their school and children from rich families and poor families all look the same.
In Britain, for example, most young children wear school uniform.
In state schools the children may wear polo-necked T shirts with a school logo.
Other schools, especially private schools, may have a formal uniform, or they may be free to choose their own clothes so long as they are the school colour.
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought on 21 October 1805 between the navies of France and Spain on one side, and Great Britain on the other.
The battle took place near Cape Trafalgar, which is in southwest Spain.
The battle ended with a clear victory for the British forces.
This allowed Britain to become the world's largest sea power for 100 years.
The Battle of Trafalgar was the most important sea battle of the 19th century.
Before the battle
The Napoleonic Wars had gone on for some time.
France had built the strongest army in Europe, and controlled much of the land.
Because it was an island, Britain had built a strong Royal Navy and used this to blockade France to prevent French ships from leaving their ports.
The French leader Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to invade and conquer Britain, which meant he had to sink the British navy first, otherwise it would be able to prevent his army from landing.
The British knew that France might try to attack them, and had placed ships outside the important French ports, like Toulon.
The admiral in charge of the British fleet was Lord Horatio Nelson.
He had become famous in Britain for his victories over the French, such as at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.
But the French navy managed to avoid Nelson's fleet and leave Toulon during a storm and met a group of Spanish ships.
Spain at the time was an ally (partner) of France.
This small fleet first sailed to the West Indies, then returned across the Atlantic Ocean to the Spanish port of Cadiz.
They wanted to join with more French ships to make a stronger fleet.
The British had chased them both ways across the ocean.
The battle
The French then learned that some British ships had been seen in Gibraltar, and thought this meant that the British fleet was not as strong as it had been before.
So they decided that this was the best time to leave Cadiz.
The next day, the 33 ships of the French and Spanish fleet were met by the 27 ships of the British.
Nelson had put his ships into two lines.
Before the battle started, he sent a message which was to become famous: England expects that every man will do his duty.
However, Admiral Nelson, on board his ship, HMS Victory, was hit by a musket bullet fired by a sniper from the French ship Redoutable.
The bullet entered via his shoulder, went into his lung and lodged in his spine.
He was taken below the deck and died later, shortly before 4:30pm, as the battle died down.
The French and Spanish had lost 22 ships, the British lost none.
After the battle
Because France was unable to invade Britain, British soldiers were able to fight on the European continent together with the armies of other countries against the armies of Napoleon.
In the end, Napoleon was finally defeated, in 1815, at the Battle of Waterloo.
With control of the seas, Britain was able to build up a large empire during the years that followed and its navy was the world's largest for over a hundred years.
Nelson's body was brought back to Great Britain and he was given a hero's funeral.
In 1843, the famous Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column were built in London to honor him.
19th century in Spain
1800s in Europe
Peter Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English guitarist.
He is best known for the album Frampton Comes Alive.
Peter Frampton's website
FOX Television Celebrity Duets season premier recap
Audio interview at BBC Wiltshire
Five audio interview segments with Peter Frampton from 1986
Frampton, Peter
October 12 – Edward VI of England
October 24 – Jane Seymour, queen of Henry VIII of England (born about 1507)
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya.
Its name comes from The Masaai word 'Enkare Nyorobi' meaning 'place of cool waters'.
It is far from the coastline of Kenya.
About three million people live there.
The city was founded in 1899 as a railway depot linking Uganda to Mombasa.
Nairobi is the fourth largest city in Africa with a population of more than 6 million people.
There are several popular shopping malls, including the Yaya Center,The Thika Road Mall, The Hub Karen, Junction Mall, the Village Market, and the Sarit Center.
The Israeli owned, Westgate Mall was another popular destination until it was attacked by al Shaabab terrorists in 2013.
Nairobi is headed by a governor, who is called Mike Mbuvi 'Sonko' and he's Deputy, Polycarp Igathe who were inaugurated after the August 8,2017 election.
Nairobi has become very highly populated due to high rural to urban migration rates.
Violent crime is also fairly common in many areas, leading to the nickname "Nairobbery."
1899 establishments
19th-century establishments in Africa
Derek and the Dominos was an American blues rock band.
The band's members were Eric Clapton, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock, Jim Gordon, and Duane Allman.
They made the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. "
Layla", with the well-known guitar riff, came from that same album.
The band broke up after one album.
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)
Carl Dean Radle (born June 18, 1942 Tulsa, Oklahoma, died May 30, 1980) was an American musician, best known for being the bassist in Derek and the Dominos.
Radle worked with many well-known artists and worked on many gold and platinum singles and albums.
Radle is thought by many to have been the best bass guitar sideman in the music business.
American bass guitarists
Musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel written by George Orwell in 1948.
The book is about what Orwell thought the world could have looked like in the year 1984.
It describes a terrifying world where governments control and watch everyone's lives.
The main character is Winston Smith.
He lives in a country that is ruled by a powerful "Party" and its leader Big Brother, and dreams of changing this.
He falls in love with Julia, who agrees with him, and is led into rebellion against the government.
The book is very famous.
Many of its ideas are also famous.
Among these are Big Brother, Newspeak, Room 101 and unperson.
In 2005, Time (a magazine) called it one the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.
In the year 1984, the world is divided into three massive countries that are in endless war with each other: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia.
Each country has a totalitarian government, meaning that the government tries to control everything that its people do.
Great Britain is now named "Airstrip One" and is part of Oceania.
Oceania is ruled by "the Party".
They use the "Thought Police" and "telescreens" (two-way televisions) to spy on people.
People also have to show love for the Party and its leader, Big Brother.
While pictures of Big Brother are everywhere, he is never seen for real, and he may not even exist.
Winston Smith is an ordinary member of the Party.
He works for the "Ministry of Truth".
His job is to re-write history when the Party wants him to.
The Party kills anyone whom it thinks threatens its grip on power, sometimes for reasons that make no sense.
When these people are killed, the Party also hides any sign that they existed.
Winston works hard and pretends to love the Party.
His secret is that he hates the Party and dreams of fighting them.
Winston buys a diary from a shopkeeper called Mr Charrington.
He hides the diary in his room, where he writes about his secrets.
He falls in love with a woman called Julia.
The Party will not allow this, so they go out into the countryside to meet in secret.
Later, they start meeting in a room at Mr Charrington's shop.
O'Brien, an important member of the Party, tells Winston that he also hates the Party.
Winston and Julia meet O'Brien at his home, where he gives them a book.
The book is about how the Party stays in power.
It says that the Party can be stopped if ordinary people rise up against it.
Winston and Julia are betrayed.
Winston is taken to the "Ministry of Love".
This is the prison of Oceania.
O'Brien tells Winston that he was only pretending to be his friend.
Winston is hurt badly and told he must stop hating the Party and do everything they want him to do, even if he has to say that "2 + 2 = 5".
O'Brien says that once this is finished, Winston will leave the Ministry of Love and will return to a normal life for some months or years.
After this, they will shoot him.
But first, they want to make him turn against Julia.
In the end, Winston is taken to "Room 101", where he must face his worst fear: rats.
As a cage of hungry rats is pushed against his face, Winston tells them to "Do it to Julia!"
After Winston leaves the Ministry of Love, he meets Julia.
He says he turned against her in Room 101, and she says she did the same.
Winston then sits alone in a café.
The last words of the story are: "He loved Big Brother."
Orwell got the idea for the book when he saw in the newspapers of London that they listed how much the country's supplies increased (more supplies) during World War II when they were actually very low on supplies and were getting smaller.
He started writing a political satire of the possible condition of Britain in 50 years.
He wrote it in 1948, mostly during a visit to Jura, Scotland.
He sent the writing to his publishers in December 1948.
The main character, Winston Smith, lives in the town of London, United Kingdom (although in the novel, the United Kingdom is called "Airstrip One").
Airstrip One is only a small part of the mega state (big country) of Oceania.
Oceania is a very large country.
The Americas, Greenland, Iceland, South Africa, Madagascar, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, all come together to create the country of Oceania.
There are two other countries in the novel - Eurasia, and Eastasia.
Europe (not including the United Kingdom), Russia, and half of Mongolia, make up the country of Eurasia.
China, Japan, Korea, and some north-west countries in Asia, make up the country of Eastasia.
The equatorial countries (the Middle East, North Africa, etc.)
are not part of any of these three countries, as Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia are always fighting over these places.
Inner Party: The most powerful people in the country.
They live like rich people.
Outer Party: People like Winston and Julia.
They have a better life than most people.
They are always being watched.
Proles: Ordinary people.
They are poor, but have more freedom than the Outer Party.
Party workers belong to four ministries:
Ministry of Truth: They tell people what to think.
They also make all of the country's art.
Ministry of Peace: They run the military
Ministry of Plenty: They run the economy
Ministry of Love: A prison
The leader of Ocenia is Big Brother.
His picture is seen everywhere, along with the words "Big Brother is watching you."
However, it is not clear if he is a real person.
Emmanuel Goldstein and O'Brien both say that the main role of Big Brother is to be a symbol for the Party.
O'Brien also says that Big Brother will never die.
The book was an attack on totalitarianism (when a government tries to control people's lives) and dictatorship (rule by one person).
George Orwell was a democratic socialist who was against any form of dictatorship.
He once wrote:   Later he repeated that idea, writing about 1984
Newspeak is a fictional language (artlang) that appears in the book Nineteen Eighty-Four.
It is the official language of Oceania.
At the end of his book, George Orwell described Newspeak.
It started out as the English language, but the number of words gets smaller each year.
The Party are trying to stop people from rebelling, so it destroys words like "freedom" and "love", saying that people can not think of it if there is no word for it.
In the society, this is supposed to prevent thoughtcrime, which is thinking against the Party, or thinking about the past.
For example, a person could not say "I want to be free", because there was no word for "free" any more, so the person could not describe what he or she was feeling.
At the time, it was supposed to make fun of what was later called "politically correct" speech, and "thoughtcrime" made fun of censorship. "
Newspeak" is also used for military reasons, such as Oceania's Ministry of Peace (in Newspeak: "Minipax"), really the war department.
Words like "Peace", "Truth", "Love", and "Plenty" were used in Newspeak a lot to mean their exact opposites.
Another "Newspeak" word, joycamp, means "forced labor camp".
Other "Newspeak" words were used for political reasons.
Words like "crimethink" were defined by the "Party", and became laws of the land.
2 + 2 = 5: The idea that if a government is so powerful, it can make people think that "2 + 2 = 5".
Big Brother: The leader of Oceania, though he is never seen and he may not even be real.
Emmanuel Goldstein (who may not be real either) says that the Party makes people think Big Brother is its leader because people find it easier to love one person than a group of people.
doublethink: When someone can think that two opposing things are true. (
e.g. "Oceania is winning the war." "
Oceania will lose the war unless it sends more soldiers.")
endless war: These large wars are being fought just to keep people busy.
The sides in the wars sometimes change.
When this happens, they pretend there was no change and that the sides were always the same.
Ingsoc: This is short for "English socialism".
This is the Party's idea on how Oceania should be run.
memory hole: A hole that things can be thrown down, which leads to a furnace.
Room 101: A room in the Ministry of Love where someone faces their worst fear.
telescreen: A type of television.
People can watch things on the telescreen, but it is also has a camera for watching people.
Thought Police: A police who catch people who commit thoughtcrime.
thoughtcrime: When someone has thoughts that the Party does not want them to think.
unperson: A person who has been killed by the Party.
When this happens, all signs that this person existed are destroyed.
vaporized: When someone is turned into an unperson.
Book magazine ranked the character of Big Brother as #59 on its "100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900" list.
[[Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century|Le Monde'''s 100 Books of the Century]]
Aubrey, Crispin & Chilton, Paul (Eds). (
Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1984: Autonomy, Control & Communication.
London: Comedia. .
Hillegas, Mark R. (1967).
The Future As Nightmare: H.G. Wells and the Anti-Utopians.
Southern Illinois University Press.
Afterword by Erich Fromm (1961) pp.
324–337.
Orwell's text has a "Selected Bibliography", pp.
338–9; the foreword and the afterword each contain further references.
Shelden, Michael. (
Orwell — The Authorised Biography.
London: Heinemann.
Smith, David & Mosher, Michael. (
Orwell for Beginners.
Tuccille, Jerome. (
Who's Afraid of 1984?
The case for optimism in looking ahead to the 1980s.
New York: Arlington House. .
West, W. J. The Larger Evils – Nineteen Eighty-Four, the truth behind the satire''.
On-line comic version of 1984
1949 books
Books by George Orwell
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was the 22nd (1885–1889) and also the 24th (1893–1897) president of the United States.
He was the only president to serve a second term that did not begin as soon as the first had ended.
Cleveland was the first Democrat elected as President after the Civil War.
He was known for his honesty, integrity, and having a firm stance against corruption.
He believed in small government (he wanted the government to tax less and spend less).
He used the presidential veto power over 500 times, far more than most other presidents, to reject bills he disagreed with.
He did not want the United States to get its military involved in Latin America.
Cleveland was born on March 18, 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey.
He was raised in Cleveland, Ohio.
Cleveland studied at New York Institute for the Blind.
He was married to Frances Folsom, who was over 20 years younger.
In fact, many people expected Cleveland to marry her mother Emma.
He was the first president to marry in the White House.
They had one child, Ruth Cleveland, during his presidency.
During his second term, he had an emergency surgery for jaw cancer on a boat in the middle of a river to avoid publicity.
Cleveland died on June 24, 1908 from a heart attack in Princeton, New Jersey, aged 71.
Grover Cleveland's White House biography
1837 births
1908 deaths
Disease-related deaths in New Jersey
A bassist is a musician whose musical instrument is a bass guitar or a double bass.
In rock, pop, country, metal, jazz fusion, and funk music, most bassists play a bass guitar.
In some types of jazz, and in rockabilly, bluegrass, and in symphony orchestras, bassists play a double bass.
Bassists who play in symphony orchestras, or who play jazz or jazz fusion often learn to play the bass in a conservatory, music school, college, or university.
College or university degrees in double bass include the Bachelor of Music degree (which takes four years) and the Master of Music degree (which takes two years).
There are fewer Bass players than traditional guitar players.
Some believe the bass is harder to play, although it has fewer strings
Bassists, like other musicians, have a much lower average income than many other job categories, such as accountants or administrators.
Although a tiny number of famous bassists make a large amount of money, and a small number of bassists have full-time jobs in bands or orchestras, most bassists have low incomes.
Many bassists do not earn enough from playing, so they do other music-related jobs, such as teaching bass.
The Presidents of the United States of America (band), a rock band, or
The Presidents of the United States of America, the first album of that band.
Fascism is a far-right form of government in which most of the country's power is held by one ruler.
Fascist governments are usually totalitarian and authoritarian one-party states.
Under fascism, the economy and other parts of society are heavily and closely controlled by the government, usually by using a form of authoritarian corporatism.
The government uses violence to arrest, kill or otherwise stop anyone it does not like.
Mussolini invented fascism in Italy in the late 1910s and developed it fully in the 1930s.
When Hitler came to power in Germany in the 1930s, he copied Mussolini.
Mussolini wrote a political paper, which is called The Doctrine of Fascism in English.
He started writing it in 1927, but it was only published in 1932.
Most of it was probably written by Giovanni Gentile, an Italian philosopher.
Not all scholars agree on what fascism is.
Philosopher Jason Stanley of Yale University says it is "a cult of the leader who promises national restoration in the face of humiliation brought on by supposed communists, Marxists and minorities and immigrants who are supposedly posing a threat to the character and the history of a nation."
That is, fascism focuses on one person as leader, fascism says communism is bad, and fascism says that at least one group of people is bad and has caused the nation's problems.
This group could be people from other countries or groups of people within the country.
Under Hitler's fascist Germany, the government blamed Jews, communists, homosexuals, the disabled, Roma and other people for Germany's problems, arrested those people, and took them to camps to be killed.
In 2003, Laurence W. Britt wrote "14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism":
Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
Disdain for the importance of human rights.
Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
The supremacy of the military/avid militarism.
A controlled mass media.
Obsession with national security.
Religion and ruling elite tied together.
Power of corporations protected.
Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.
Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
Obsession with crime and punishment.
Rampant cronyism and corruption.
Fraudulent elections.
The name fascism comes from the Italian word fascio for bundle.
This word comes from the Latin word fasces which was an axe surrounded by a bundle of sticks.
In Ancient Rome, leaders carried the fasces as a symbol of their power.
A journalist named Benito Mussolini invented fascism.
He started Italy's fascist party in 1919.
He became Italy's prime minister in 1922.
His supporters walked into Rome in large numbers, and the king of Italy made him prime minister.
Although, officially, the fascist party in Italy was ruled by a "grand council" from 1922 until the end of World War II, Benito Mussolini really had almost all the power in the country.
According to scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Mussolini believed democracy had failed.
He had been a Socialist but left the movement because he thought it was not good either.
He believed democracy failed because of social class.
Under fascism, Mussolini would say, people would focus on the nation and people would not think about social class.
However, Mussolini also believed that to make fascism work, he and his followers had to remove anything that could distract people from the nation.
He also believed he should get to decide who in Italy counted as part of the Italian nation and he should get to throw out or arrest anyone he said did not count as a real Italian.
He believed it was right to use violence to remove those distractions and those people.
Groups of people with weapons would go out into the streets and beat up or even kill people Mussolini did not like.
Fascism vs other types of totalitarianism
One of the reasons fascism spread in the early 20th century was because the Russian Revolution had just happened and people were afraid of communism.
Sometimes landowners and business owners would support fascists because they were afraid of what would happen if the country became communist instead.
In her work, The Origins of Totalitarianism, published in 1951, Hannah Arendt compared National Socialism, Stalinism and Maoism.
She does not talk about these regimes being fascist; according to her, they are totalitarian.
In 1967, German philosoper Jürgen Habermas warned about a "left-wing fascism" of a protest movement in Germany of the 1960s, commonly known as Ausserparlametarische Opposition, or APO.
There is more than one reason why people living in democratic states oppose fascism, but the main reason is that in a Fascist government the individual citizen doesn't always have the option to vote, nor do they have the option to live a lifestyle which may be seen as immoral, useless, and unproductive towards society.
If you are not heterosexual (homosexual, cross-dressing, changing genders, etc.)
you can be arrested and put on trial.
Third Reich
The term erection is most often used to refer to an erection of the penis.
It is widely believed that a man's penis needs to be erect in order for him to take part in sexual intercourse and penetrate his partner's vagina and to ejaculate semen, but all are possible without an erection.
In a healthy male, an erection will usually occur if the man is sexually aroused (made sexually excited) or stimulated.
This can happen if he is touched sexually, or even if he is not touched – for example, if he sees a naked person or thinks about having sex with someone else.
Erections can also occur without thinking about sex or being touched.
Most boy teenagers have unexpected erections.
Erections happen several times during the night.
This happens to all healthy adult males of all ages.
This also happens when a man wakes up.
That is normal too.
Tissues in the penis called the corpus spongiosum penis and corpora cavernosa penis fill with blood, causing the penis to become longer, thicker, harder and to stand upright.
A man's erection usually stops if he is no longer sexually aroused, or after he has had an orgasm and has ejaculated.
An erection will usually not be possible immediately following ejaculation, although adolescent males may be able to achieve erections immediately following ejaculation.
The time period during which an erection cannot be repeated following ejaculation is called the refractory period.
Animals can have an erection.
Erect penises have appeared in erotic (sexually exciting) art for a very long time.
Pictures of men with erections appear on ancient objects and in paintings.
In the past, the erect penis was also a symbol or sign of health and fertility (the ability to give life).
Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans believed in gods that had erect penises.
Today, erect penises do not often appear in artworks or movies because many people think that showing a man's penis when it is erect is obscene (not decent).
Men with larger penises are often thought to be more handsome, manly and powerful.
A lot of people also believe that men with bigger penises are better at making their partners feel good when they are having sex.
Like a man's penis, a woman's clitoris can also become erect.
This happens in a similar way to an erection of the penis.
The clitoris also has a corpora cavernosa, and when a woman is sexually excited this part of the clitoris fill with blood.
This causes the clitoris and other parts of the woman's sex organs to become larger, harder, redder in colour, and very sensitive to being touched.
The nipples of men and women can also become erect.
Women's nipples become erect when they are breastfeeding (giving milk to their babies from their breasts).
Men and women may also have an erection of their nipples when they are sexually excited, or if they feel cold.
Nipples do not have any tissue in them that fills with blood.
Instead, the body's nervous system makes muscles in the nipples contract (become shorter), causing them to stand up and become slightly harder.
Blood flows out of the corpus spongiosum and corpora cavernosa penis, and the penis goes back to its normal size.
A man who often has problems having or keeping an erection of his penis is said to have erectile dysfunction (ED).
On the other hand, an erection that lasts too long is also a dangerous condition called priapism.
Men who want to get less erections sometimes take anaphrodisiacs.
A man's penis is usually soft, quite short and hangs down.
When the penis is like this, it is said to be flaccid ().
In order for the man to take part in sexual intercourse by putting his penis inside a woman's vagina, his penis needs to become longer, thicker, harder.
For many men it stands upright.
It is okay if it points out or down.
When the penis is hard, it is said that the penis is erect or that the man has an erection.
The scrotum (the bag containing a man's testicles or "balls") will usually tighten during erection.
The penis usually needs to be at least mildly erect before the man can have an orgasm and ejaculate semen.
The scientific name for an erection is tumescence (which means "swelling").
Some slang terms for having an erection are getting hard, getting wood and having a hard-on, and an erect penis is informally called a boner, hard-on, stiffy, wood or woody.
How it happens
The penis is shaped like a banana or sausage.
It has a duct or tube called the urethra running right through it.
Semen and urine pass along the urethra to get out of the body.
Around the whole urethra is tissue called the corpus spongiosum penis (which is Latin for "body of the penis that is like a sponge").
It is near the lower surface of the penis.
Also inside the penis near its upper surface are two cylindrical tissues called the corpora cavernosa penis (Latin for "bodies of the penis that are like caves"). (
One of these tissues by itself is called a corpus cavernosum.)
The corpus spongiosum penis and corpora cavernosa penis are filled with many blood vessels called arteries which carry blood.
When a man is sexually aroused or stimulated (made sexually excited) by touch – for example, if he masturbates or another person touches him in a sexual way – the touching is picked up by nerves in the arteries of the corpus spongiosum penis and corpora cavernosa penis.
The nerves then cause a chemical called nitric oxide to be released into the arteries.
This makes the arteries dilate (become wider), and they fill up with blood.
Thus, the corpus spongiosum penis and corpora cavernosa penis all fill with blood and become larger and harder.
This makes the penis grow longer, thicker and harder.
The corpora cavernosa penis press against blood vessels called veins that let blood flow out of the penis.
Since less blood can flow out of the penis through the veins, more of it stays in the penis, which remains hard.
During an erection, a valve stops urine from entering the urethra so that only semen flows along it.
This is why it is difficult for a man to urinate when he is having an erection.
A man can also become sexually aroused without being touched, for example, if he sees a naked person or thinks about having sex with someone.
In this case, his brain sends messages through his spinal cord (which is inside his vertebral column or backbone) to his penis and makes an erection happen.
The brain can also stop an erection from happening, even if the man is being touched sexually.
After a man has had an orgasm and has ejaculated, his erection usually ends.
How long this takes depends on the length and thickness of his penis.
A man can also stop having an erection without having an orgasm and ejaculating, if he is no longer sexually aroused.
Nerves in his body cause the arteries in the penis to constrict (become narrower).
This forces blood out of the corpus spongiosum penis and corpora cavernosa penis.
As they go back to their normal size, they do not press so much on the veins leading out of the penis.
This lets blood flow faster out of the corpus spongiosum penis and corpora cavernosa penis.
The scientific term for this process is detumescence.
Shape and size
The angle that an erect penis makes varies from one man to another.
If it is imagined that a man is standing upright and there is a horizontal line stretching out from the base of his penis, most men's erect penises point upwards from the line at a certain angle.
However, it is common and normal for an erect penis to point nearly vertically upwards, nearly vertically downwards.
The angle depends on how long a man's suspensory ligament is.
The suspensory ligament is a band of tough, stringy tissue that joins a man's penis to the front of his pelvis.
The following table shows how common various erection angles are for a standing male.
In the table, zero degrees (0°) is pointing straight up against the abdomen, 90° is horizontal and pointing straight forward, and 180° is pointing straight down to the feet.
An upward pointing angle is most common and the average erection angle is 74.3 degrees.
Few men's penises are completely straight when they are erect.
It is common for an erect penis to have a slight curve in it.
The curve can be up or down, or to the left or right.
A curve of up to 30° is considered normal, and medical treatment is usually not needed unless the angle of curvature is more than 45°.
A curved penis does not usually cause a man any problems when he is having sex.
However, if the curvature of a penis changes, this could be caused by an illness called Peyronie's disease (see below).
An erection that pokes through clothing is sometimes called a manbulge.
A survey of 300 men over the age of 18 carried out between 11 March and 17 March 2001 in Cancún, Mexico, found that among those men the average erect human penis was about 14.928 centimetres (5.877 inches) long, and that most of them had an erect penis length of between 14 and 16 centimetres (5.5 and 6.3 inches).
The typical girth or circumference (the length around the outside of the penis) was about 12.63 centimetres (4.972 inches), and most erect penises had a girth of between 12 and 13 centimetres (4.7 and 5.1 inches).
As this survey was only done in one city, its findings may not apply to men from other countries.
The size of an erect penis generally does not change after puberty, the time when a boy becomes sexually mature.
Some people have surgery to make their penises larger.
However, a study that came out in 2006 found that only 35% of men who had gone for such surgery were happy with the results.
Erections when sleeping
An erection of the penis can also happen by itself when a man is asleep, often when he is dreaming.
The scientific term for this is nocturnal penile tumescence (which means "swelling of the penis at night").
It is also common for a man to wake up after a night's sleep to find that he has an erection.
This is often caused by his bladder being full of urine, which presses on the tissues in the penis.
Such an erection is sometimes informally called a morning glory or morning wood.
Unexpected erections
Sometimes adult men have unexpected erections.
Unexpected erections are involuntary and are normal.
People call this a spontaneous (sudden or surprise) erection.
Sometimes it happens in school.
Sometimes it happens walking.
Sometimes it happens taking clothes off for a shower or bath or swimming.
Such erections can be embarrassing if they happen in public.
Erections can occur unexpectedly at any time of day.
Difficulty having an erection
A man who often has problems having or keeping an erection of his penis is said to have erectile dysfunction.
Erectile dysfunction is also known as ED, impotence or male impotence.
The study of erectile dysfunction comes within andrology, the field of science dealing with men's health.
ED is not uncommon.
For example, about 10% of all men in the United Kingdom will have ED happening to them regularly at some time in their lives.
It can be due to both physiological and psychological reasons.
Physiological reasons are those dealing with how the body works.
Psychological reasons are those involving human behaviour and how people think.
Problems with the brain and nerves – diseases affecting the brain, spinal cord and nerves, such as Alzheimer's disease, clinical depression, diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, panic disorders, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and stroke.
Circulatory problems – diseases that affect the way blood circulates (moves around) the body, such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and blood vessels becoming blocked.
Such diseases can lead to less blood flowing into the penis.
Smoking can lead to ED as it causes arteries to become narrower.
Research shows that the number of men who have ED among those who smoke is about 85% higher compared to men who do not.
Hormonal problems – diseases affecting the testicles or pituitary gland such as a tumor in the pituitary gland. (
A tumor, also spelled tumour, is a bunch of cells growing out of control that can sometimes lead to cancer.)
This can cause hypogonadism, which means that there are low levels of testosterone in the body.
Testosterone is a hormone (chemical made by the body) that is important in libido (wanting to have sex).
Problems with the corpora cavernosa penis – for example, Peyronie's disease ().
When a man with this disease has an erection, his penis is very curved.
The curvature is caused by scar tissue growing inside the penis.
Peyronie's disease can make having an erection painful and lead to ED.
Problems caused by medical treatment and surgery – the nerves and blood vessels involved in erection can be damaged by some types of medical treatment such as using radiation to kill cancer cells; and surgery of the bladder, colon (large intestine), prostate or rectum.
For instance, if men have prostate and bladder cancer surgery they are more likely to suffer from ED because nerves and other tissue around tumors usually need to be taken out together with the tumors.
Some drugs (medicines) may also cause ED.
One such drug is lithium, which is made of chemicals called lithium salts.
Lithium is given to people who suffer from bipolar disorder, a kind of mental illness.
People who have bipolar disorder suffer from mood swings – they sometimes feel very happy and friendly, then become angry or very sad.
Lithium helps to reduce the number of mood swings.
However, it also seems to lower the amount of nitric oxide in the blood vessels of the corpora cavernosa.
Lifestyle and growing older – ED is more common in people who take too much alcohol and illegal drugs, people who are obese (fat in an unhealthy way), and older people.
ED can also happen for psychological reasons.
For example, a man can find it difficult to have an erection:
if thinking about having sex with someone makes him feel anxious or nervous, because he is worried that his sexual partner will think he is not sexy or not good at sexual intercourse;
if there are problems in his relationship with his partner, such as having arguments, no longer being in love, or facing a divorce;
if he is feeling a lot of stress due to his job, or big changes in his life like the death of someone close to him; or
if he is not sure about his gender identity (though he is a man he may feel like a woman) or his sexual identity – whether he is heterosexual (straight) or homosexual (gay).
Having erections is seen by many people as a very important part of being a man.
Therefore, a man who has ED often feels that he is not manly enough and not successful in life.
This can lead to him feeling ashamed and not as good as other men.
The matter is made worse because men often do not like talking about their personal problems with other people, so they keep their unhappy feelings to themselves.
However, talking to a doctor or psychiatrist (a doctor who knows a lot about mental problems) is helpful, as he or she may be able to suggest ways of dealing with the problem.
How ED may be treated depends on the cause.
If it is caused by a disease, sometimes treating the disease will reduce the problem.
For example, if a man is unable to have erections because his body does not make enough testosterone, he can be given pills to take which help his body to do so.
If the blood vessels or nerves in the corpora cavernosa penis are damaged, a full cure may not be possible.
However, there are some temporary treatments that allow a man to have an erection for long enough to have sex:
Medicines – Medicines in the form of pills that are swallowed such as sildenafil (which is sold as Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis) and vardenafil (Levitra) make the arteries in the corpora cavernosa penis relax, which allows more blood into the penis.
There are also other medicines in cream or liquid form that are put into the opening at the tip of the penis, rubbed on the outside of the penis, or injected into the penis using a syringe (a medical tool with a needle at one end that is poked into the body).
An example of such a medicine is alprostadil, which also works by making the arteries in the penis become wider.
Vacuum pumps – If medicines do not work, a vacuum pump can sometimes help.
This device is made up of a plastic cylinder that fits over the penis, which is joined to a pump.
The pump can be electrical or worked by hand.
When the pump is used, it draws air out of the space around the penis.
This causes more blood to flow into the penis, making an erection happen.
Once the penis is erect, the device is taken off.
To slow down the flow of blood out of the penis, a tight ring is worn around the base of the penis.
Surgical implants – If other treatments do not work, a last method may be for the impotent man to go for surgery and have a penile implant put into his penis.
Modern implants are made up of cylinders that are put inside the corpora cavernosa penis.
The cylinders are connected by tubes to a pump that is put under the skin near the testicles.
When the pump is used, it pushes fluid into the cylinders, which become hard and cause an erection.
After the man has finished having sex, he can press a valve that allows the fluid to flow out from the cylinders.
Counselling – If a man's ED is caused by a psychological problem, counselling can often help.
This means talking to a psychiatrist to try and understand what is making the man feel anxious or worried and to find ways of dealing with the matter.
Even if the ED is not caused by a mental problem but some disease, talking to a psychiatrist can also be useful if the man is very worried.
Erection lasting too long
If a man's erection lasts for more than four hours even though he is no longer sexually excited, this is a medical problem called priapism ().
The man must go to a doctor or hospital quickly if it happens.
The condition is named after the Greek god Priapus, whose penis was believed to always be erect (see below).
Priapism is painful, and is a medical emergency because the blood stuck in the penis can become thick and form clots.
This can damage the blood vessels of the penis and lead to erectile dysfunction (ED).
In serious cases the tissues of the penis can die, and the penis may have to be amputated (cut off) so that the tissue death does not spread to the rest of the body.
It is not really known what causes priapism.
Men who suffer from priapism sometimes have blood diseases like leukemia (a type of cancer of the blood; in the United Kingdom and some other countries it is spelled leukaemia) or sickle-cell disease (which makes the blood cells crescent-shaped).
Problems with the nervous system such as injury to the spinal cord or abnormal growths on it can also lead to priapism.
Certain medicines can make priapism happen, including some used to treat ED such as alprostadil.
A 2008 study suggests that too much of the chemical adenosine in the body may cause priapism since it makes blood vessels widen which lets more blood flow into the penis.
When a man with priapism is brought to the emergency department of a hospital, a doctor will usually try to remove blood from the corpora cavernosa penis by aspirating it (sucking it out) using a syringe.
If this is not enough, a chemical called phenylephrine (/feen-il-eff-rin/) may be injected into the penis to try and make the blood vessels become narrower.
If this also does not work, the doctor will make a shunt (a hole or passage) between the corpora cavernosa penis and corpus spongiosum penis.
This allows blood to flow away from the corpora cavernosa penis into the corpus spongiosum penis.
For men who have priapism again and again, it has been found that medicines such as sildenafil (Viagra) and tadalafil (Cialis) may help.
Symbol of sex and fertility
When an erect penis is shown in art, it is often called a phallus.
Erotic (sexually exciting) art has shown phalluses for a very long time.
The erect penis was also a symbol or sign of health and fertility (the ability to give life).
The Hohle Fels phallus was found in a cave in Germany.
It is a piece of stone carved to look like a penis that archaeologists believe is about 28,000 years old. (
Archaeologists are scientists who study the past by looking for things that people have left behind.)
From the fourth millennium B.C. (4000–3001 B.C.), Ancient Egyptians worshipped Min as the god of reproduction and the maker of all things.