the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to six minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean; it is figured to be the most widely observed total eclipse in human history.
August 4 – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pardons two American journalists, who had been arrested and imprisoned, for illegal entry earlier in the year, after the old U.S. President Bill Clinton meets with Kim in North Korea.
September 26 – Typhoon Ketsana hits the Philippines.
October 1 – The Ohio Turnpike gets E-ZPass.
October 2 – Rio de Janeiro is awarded the 2016 Olympic Games.
October 9 – Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
November 20 – The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland was restarted.
November 30 – The Large Hadron Collider set a new energy record for a particle accelerator.
December 1 – The EU's Lisbon Treaty enters effect.
December 25 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack on the USA while aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253.
January 1 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer (born 1924)
January 3 - Pat Hingle, American actor (born 1924)
January 12 – Claude Berry, French movie director (born 1934)
January 27 – John Updike, American writer (born 1932)
February 6 – James Whitmore, American actor (born 1921)
March 18 – Natasha Richardson, English actress (born 1963)
April 25 – Beatrice Arthur, American actress (born 1922)
May 19 – Robert Furchgott, American scientist (born 1916)
May 23 – Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean President (born 1946)
June 3 – David Carradine, American actor (born 1936)
June 7 - Kenny Rankin, pop and jazz singer and songwriter
June 8 – Omar Bongo, President of Gabon (born 1935)
June 13 – Mitsuharu Misawa, Japanese professional wrestler (born 1962)
June 25 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress (born 1947)
June 25 – Michael Jackson, American singer and entertainer (born 1958)
July 1 – Karl Malden, American actor (born 1912)
July 17 – Walter Cronkite, American news anchor (born 1916)
July 19 – Frank McCourt, Irish-American writer (born 1930)
July 31 – Bobby Robson, English football manager (born 1933)
August 1 – Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines (born 1933)
August 18 – Kim Dae-jung, South Korean President (born 1924)
August 25 – Ted Kennedy, US Senator (born 1932)
September 14 – Patrick Swayze, American actor (born 1952)
September 29 – Pavel Popovich, Soviet cosmonaut (born 1930)
October 4 – Shoichi Nakagawa, Japanese politician (born 1953)
October 31 – Qian Xuesen, Chinese scientist (born 1911)
November 10 – Robert Enke, German footballer (born 1977)
November 21 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (born 1926)
December 4 – Eddie Fatu, Samoan-American professional wrestler (born 1973)
December 5 – Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (born 1926)
December 17 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (born 1919)
December 20 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (born 1977)
December 24 – Rafael Caldera, Venezuelan President (born 1916)
December 30 – Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesian President (born 1940)
Gambling is a contest where a player bets on the result of an event.
The bet is generally in the form of money.
The rules and the amount of money bet have to be decided on before the event happens.
Playing cards appeared in the 9th century AD in China.
Records trace gambling in Japan back at least as far as the 14th century.
Poker, the most popular U.S. card game associated with gambling, derives from the Persian game As-Nas, dating back to the 17th century.
The first known casino, the Ridotto, started operating in 1638 in Venice, Italy.
The amount of the bet.
The predictability, or probability, of something that would happen in the event.
The odds agreed upon by the players.
There are many types of gambling.
Casino games, sports betting (especially horse racing), and state lotteries are some of the most common forms of gambling.
Investments, such as stocks, bonds and real estate, are also sometimes considered forms of gambling.
Generally, the odds are not in favor of the gambler.
Many people gamble for fun and entertainment.
For others it becomes an addiction and a financial burden.
Gambling addiction is a serious mental health issue that can become life-threatening.
People with a gambling problem should seek help.
Research shows that older people are more vulnerable and how the brain can get addicted to gambling.
Gambling regulation differs in different countries.
Some have established specific legal institutions.
However, some countries have only overseeing laws.
A well-known executive institution is The Gambling Commission in the UK.
Its main function is controlling commercial gambling in partnership with people in charge of licensing.
An example of strict ruling is the Gambling Law in the USA.
The law decides gaming rules for local, state, and federal businesses.
In the United States, gambling is restricted almost everywhere, except in Las Vegas and in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
New Jersey, legalised online gambling and poker in November 2013.In 2018, Swiss citizens voted that gambling should also be allowed on the Internet in the future.
A convincing 73% voted in the referendum, in which 1.8 million Swiss people took part.
The new Gaming Act was put into effect by the Federal Gaming Board on January 1, 2019.
Since then, it has been completely legal for Swiss citizens to play games of chance on the Internet.
In some places, such as mainland China, gambling is illegal.
Chinese people cannot do so inside their country, so they go outside of it, such as to Macau, which is known as the "gambling capital of the world" because of its many big casinos.
Other countries and local governments, such as Hong Kong, have some kind of gambling control board to make sure people don't gamble too much while allowing them to gamble.
Gambling has been banned in Brazil since 1946.
Gambling legislation and regulations
Monty Python, also known as The Pythons, is a group of British comic actors.
They have acted in several comedy movies (most famously, Monty Python and the Holy Grail).
They had a television show, Monty Python's Flying Circus between 1969 and 1974, which is still well-known and watched around the world.
The members of Monty Python are: John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.
Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes regularly appeared in their movies.
Monty Python started with their first movie, And Now For Something Completely Different, and finished with their final movie, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.
And Now For Something Completely Different (1971)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
Monty Python's Flying Circus – Between 1974 and 1980
Monty Python's Spamalot
Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)
Monty Python Live (Mostly)
Time zones give specific areas on the Earth a time of day that is earlier or later than the neighboring time zones.
This is because when it is daytime on one side of the earth, it is night-time on the other side.
There are 24 time zones dividing the earth into different times, each with its own name, like the North American Eastern Time Zone.
The North American Eastern Time Zone contains large cities in North America like New York City and Miami.
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) began in 1675.
This was when the Royal Observatory, Greenwich was built to help ships find their longitude at sea.
GMT was a standard reference for time keeping when each city kept a different local time.
When railways began carrying many people quickly among cities keeping different time, they adopted time zones to simplify operations.
By about 1900, almost all time on earth was in the form of standard time zones.
Greenwich Mean Time is now called UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).
UTC is the time standard of the world.
All other parts of the world are offset (plus or minus) according to their longitude.
Most of the zones are offset by a full hour, but there are some offset by half an hour or 45 minutes.
A market is a place where people go to buy or sell things.
When people have products to sell, they set up a market place.
There may be a special building for the market place, or the market may be held in an open space where the sellers can put up a stall (like a kind of tent) and then take the stall down at the end of the day.
The word market can also have a more general meaning in the economy.
It can mean the way things are bought or sold.
"There is a big market for dishwashers" means that lots of people want to buy dishwashers, so therefore a business that makes dishwashers is likely to be able to make a lot of money.
When things are sold, people buy the product, and this "stimulates the economy" (helps people to spend and earn money).
The market needs to balance supply and demand.
There is no point in supplying (making) lots of dishwashers if people do not want them.
In the market prices may change quickly if supply or demand changes.
If a seller of a good cannot supply what customers want or ask for too high of a price, other sellers may try to supply that good.
If other sellers enter the market for that good, in competition, that will tend to fulfill demand and lower prices.
Sellers who do not like competition may try to kill the competition.
This would establish a monopoly, and many countries have laws to protect the free market against such practices.
An electron is a very small piece of matter.
Its symbol is e−, it  was discovered by J. J.Thomson in 1897.
The electron is a subatomic particle.
Every atom is made of some electrons that surround the nucleus of the atom.
An electron can also be separate from any atom.
It is believed to be an elementary particle because it cannot be broken down into anything smaller.
Its electric charge is negative.
Electrons have very little mass (little weight) so very little energy is needed to move them fast.
They may move almost at the speed of light, for instance, as beta particles, and in the inner electron shells of elements with a large atomic number.
Electrons take part in gravitational, electromagnetic and weak interactions.
The electromagnetic force is strongest in common situations.
Electrons repel (push apart) from each other because they have the same electric charge.
Electrons are attracted to protons because they have opposite electric charge.
An electron has an electric field, which describes these forces.
The electricity that powers televisions, motors, mobile phones, and many other things is actually many electrons moving through wires or other conductors.
Electrons have the smallest electrical charge.
This electrical charge equals the charge of a proton, but has the opposite sign.
For this reason, electrons are attracted towards the protons in atomic nuclei.
This attraction makes electrons near a nucleus form an atom.
One way to think about the location of electrons in an atom is to imagine that they orbit at fixed distances from the nucleus.
This way, electrons in an atom exist in a number of electron shells surrounding the central nucleus.
Each electron shell is given a number 1, 2, 3, and so on, starting from the one closest to the nucleus (the innermost shell).
Each shell can hold up to a certain maximum number of electrons.
The distribution of electrons in the various shells is called electronic arrangement (or electronic form or shape).
Electronic arrangement can be shown by numbering or an electron diagram. (
A different way to think about the location of electrons is to use quantum mechanics to calculate their atomic orbitals.)The electron is one of a type of subatomic particles called leptons.
The electron has a negative electric charge.
The electron has another property, called spin.
Its spin value is 1/2, which makes it a fermion.
While most electrons are found in atoms, others move independently in matter, or together as cathode rays in a vacuum.
In some superconductors, electrons move in pairs.
When electrons flow, this flow is called electricity, or an electric current.
An object can be described as 'negatively charged' if there are more electrons than protons in an object, or 'positively charged' when there are more protons than electrons.
Electrons can move from one object to another when touched.
They may be attracted to another object with opposite charge, or repelled when they both have the same charge.
When an object is 'grounded', electrons from the charged object go into the ground, making the object neutral.
This is what lightning rods (lightning conductors) do.
Chemical reactions
Electrons in their shells round an atom are the basis of chemical reactions.
Complete outer shells, with maximum electrons, are less reactive.
Outer shells with less than maximum electrons are reactive.
The number of electrons in atoms is the underlying basis of the chemical periodic table.
Electric charge can be directly measured with a device called an electrometer.
Electric current can be directly measured with a galvanometer.
The measurement given off by a galvanometer is different from the measurement given off by an electrometer.
Today laboratory instruments are capable of containing and observing individual electrons.
'Seeing' an electron
In laboratory conditions, the interactions of individual electrons can be observed by means of particle detectors, which allow measurement of specific properties such as energy, spin and charge.
In one instance a Penning trap was used to contain a single electron for 10 months.
The magnetic moment of the electron was measured to a precision of eleven digits, which, in 1980, was a greater accuracy than for any other physical constant.
The first video images of an electron's energy distribution were captured by a team at Lund University in Sweden, February 2008.
The scientists used extremely short flashes of light, called attosecond pulses, which allowed an electron's motion to be observed for the first time.
The distribution of the electrons in solid materials can also be visualized.
Anti-particle
The antiparticle of the electron is called a positron.
This is identical to the electron, but carries electrical and other charges of the opposite sign.
When an electron collides with a positron, they may scatter off each other or be totally annihilated, producing a pair (or more) of gamma ray photons.
The effects of electrons were known long before it could be explained.
The Ancient Greeks knew that rubbing amber against fur attracted small objects.
Now we know the rubbing strips off electrons, and that gives an electric charge to the amber.
Many physicists worked on the electron.
J.J. Thomson proved it existed, in 1897, but another man gave it the name 'electron'.
The electron cloud model
The uncertainty principle means a person cannot know an electron's position and energy level at the same time.
These potential states form a cloud around the atom.
The potential states of electrons in a single atom form a single, uniform cloud.
Chile (officially called Republic of Chile) is a country on the south-western side of South America.
Most people there speak Spanish.
Chile, which claims a part of the Antarctic continent, is the longest country on earth.
The Atacama Desert, in the north of the country, is the driest place on earth.
The average rainfall there is less than  per year.
The center of Chile, with the two cities Santiago and Valparaíso, has a Mediterranean climate with an average temperatures of  in January and  in July.
In the middle of Chile, the country is very good for growing things.
There are about 16.9 million people living in Chile in 2009.
About 10 million people live in the center of Chile around Valparaíso and Santiago, on about 20% of the total land.
Chile is a well-educated country.
Only 2.7% are not able to read or write.
Some believe that Chile has one of the best school systems in South America.
About 95% of Chileans are people with a combination of European descent, mostly Spanish, but also German, English, Italian and Arab people.
Around 2% of the population is Native American, but most people have native ancestors.
Immigrants are 7% of the population.
including Peruvians, Bolivians, Colombians, Haitians, Chinese and Europeans.
The majority of people are Roman Catholic (62.8%), but many do not go to church.
About 10% are Protestant, and there are some Jews and Muslims as well.
The country's official language is Spanish.
Chili peppers, first cultivated by Native Americans from other Latin American countries and the United States, did not come from this country, although it has a similar name.
Chile's currency is the Chilean peso.
Chile borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south.
It is over  north to south, but only  at its widest point east to west.
The northern Atacama Desert has great mineral wealth, mostly copper and nitrates.
Chile is the largest producer of copper.
The Andes Mountains are on the eastern border.
Animals and plants
Only a few of the many distinctive South American animals are found in Chile.
Among the larger mammals are the puma or cougar, the llama-like guanaco and the fox-like chilla.
In the forest region, several types of marsupials and a small deer known as the pudu are found.
There are many species of small birds, but not most of the larger common Latin American types.
Few freshwater fish are from Chile, but North American trout have been successfully introduced into the Andean lakes.
The coast of Chile is close to the Humboldt Current, so ocean waters have many fish and other forms of marine life.
This in turn supports a rich variety of waterfowl, including several penguins.
There are many whales, and six species of seals in the area.
Just over 3,000 species of fungi are recorded in Chile.
This number is far from complete.
The true total number of fungal species in Chile is likely to be far higher.
The generally accepted estimate is that only about 7 percent of all fungi worldwide have so far been discovered.
The northernmost coastal and central region is largely empty of vegetation.
It is the most close to an absolute desert in the world.
On the slopes of the Andes, besides the scattered tola desert brush, grasses are found.
The central valley has several species of cacti, the hardy espinos (a kind of acacia tree), the Chilean pine, the southern beeches and the copihue, a red bell-shaped flower that is Chile's national flower.
The cold temperatures and winds of the extreme south make it impossible for heavy forestation.
Grassland is found in Atlantic Chile (in Patagonia).
Much of the Chilean plant life is different from that of neighboring Argentina.
This shows that the Andean barrier existed during the formation of Chile.
Chile is divided into 16 regions.
The regions are then divided into provinces.
Each province is divided into communes.
Chileans call their country país de poetas-country of poets.
Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin American to receive a Nobel Prize for Literature (1945).
Chile's most famous poet, however, is Pablo Neruda.
He also received the Nobel Prize for Literature (1971).
Among the list of other Chilean poets are Lily Garafulic, Vicente Huidobro, Pablo Simonetti, and Paulo Coloane.
Isabel Allende is the best-selling Chilean novelist, with 51 millions of her novels sold worldwide.
Novelist José Donoso's novel The Obscene Bird of the Night is said by critic Harold Bloom to be one of the important works of 20th century Western literature.
Another internationally recognized Chilean novelist is Roberto Bolaño.
His translations into English have had an excellent reception from the critics.
Chilean food shows the differences in the land across the country.
There is an assortment of seafood, beef, fruits, and vegetables.
Traditional recipes include asado, cazuela, empanadas, humitas, pastel de choclo, pastel de papas, curanto and sopaipillas.
Crudos is an example of the mixture of culinary additions from the various ethnic groups in Chile.
Onions were brought by the Spanish colonists, and the use of mayonnaise and yogurt was introduced by German immigrants, as was beer.
Chile's most popular sport is association football.
Chile has been in eight FIFA World Cups which includes hosting the 1962 FIFA World Cup.
Other results by the national football team include four finals at the Copa América, one silver and two bronze medals at the Pan American Games, a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics and two third places finishes in the FIFA under-17 and under-20 youth tournaments.
The top league in the Chilean football league system is the Chilean Primera División.
It was named by the IFFHS in 2011 as the ninth strongest national football league in the world.
Tennis is Chile's most successful sport.
Its national team won the World Team Cup clay tournament twice (2003 & 2004).
They played the Davis Cup final against Italy in 1976.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics the country took gold and bronze in men's singles and gold in men's doubles.
Marcelo Ríos became the first Latin American man to reach the number one spot in the ATP singles rankings in 1998.
Anita Lizana won the US Open in 1937.
She was the first woman from Latin America to win a grand slam tournament.
Luis Ayala was twice a runner-up at the French Open and both Ríos, Nicolas Massu Friedt and Fernando González Ciuffardi reached the Australian Open men's singles finals.
González also won a silver medal in singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
At the Summer Olympic Games Chile has a total of two gold medals (tennis), seven silver medals (athletics, equestrian, boxing, shooting and tennis) and four bronze medals (tennis, boxing and football).
In 2012 Chile won its first Paralympic Games medal (gold in Athletics).
Rodeo is the country's national sport.
It is practiced in the more rural areas of the country.
A sport similar to hockey.
Skiing and snowboarding are practiced at ski centers in the Central Andes.
Surfing is popular at some coastal towns.
Polo is professionally practiced  in Chile.
In 2008 Chile won top prize in the World Polo Championship.
Basketball is a popular sport.
Chile earned a bronze medal in the first men's FIBA World Championship held in 1950.
They won a second bronze medal when Chile hosted the 1959 FIBA World Championship.
Chile hosted the first FIBA World Championship for Women in 1953 finishing the tournament with the silver medal.
Other sports such as marathons and ultramarathons are also increasing in popularity.
San Pedro de Atacama is host to the yearly "Atacama Crossing," a six-stage, 250-kilometer footrace which has about 150 competitors from 35 countries each year.
The Dakar Rally off-road automobile race has been held in both Chile and Argentina since 2009.
Immigration to Chile
A few European immigrants settled in Chile during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, mainly from Spain.
The general picture is as follows:
The national flower is the copihue (Lapageria rosea, Chilean bellflower), which grows in the woods of southern Chile.
The coat of arms shows the two national animals: the condor (Vultur gryphus, a very large bird that lives in the mountains) and the huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus, an endangered white tail deer).
It also has the saying Por la razón o la fuerza (By reason or by force).
The flag of Chile has two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red.
There is a blue square the same height as the white band.
The square has a white five-pointed star in the center.
The star is a guide to progress and honor.
Blue is for the sky, white is for the snow-covered Andes, and red stands for the blood spilled to get independence.
An ambassador is a person sent by the government of a country to a different country.
The ambassador is the official representative of their country.
The ambassador speaks to officials of the other country about any problems and issues between the two countries.
In past years, communication between countries could take days or weeks.
It was necessary to have a person in each foreign capital to have meetings and make negotiations between countries.
Nowadays, communication is much faster, and often governments can be in direct contact with each other.
However, it is still true that many problems need person-to-person meetings, so ambassadors are still needed.
Often an ambassador will live in the foreign country for a number of years.
An embassy is where the ambassador lives.
Embassies are most often in the capital of the foreign country.
An ambassador may bring people with him to help him and work at the embassy.
Some of the high ranking people may be called embassy officials.
It is both tradition and law that the ambassador and many embassy officials have diplomatic immunity.
They cannot be arrested or prosecuted in the foreign country.
The only possibility is to send a person back to their own country.
Monday is a day of the week.
In some countries, it is the second day of the week.
In other parts of the world, including some countries in Europe, Monday is the first day of the week.
A nuclear war is a war in which countries fight with nuclear weapons.
Because nuclear weapons are extremely powerful and could cause destruction throughout the world, the possibility of nuclear war has had a great effect on international politics.
So far, two nuclear weapons have been used during warfare.
They were used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and resulted in the deaths of approximately 120,000 people.
Thousands of much more powerful bombs were made in later years.
They have not yet been used in war.
Nuclear bombs were invented by the United States with Canadian and British help during World War II to help make that war stop.
The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria caused Japan to surrender.
They are still the only nuclear weapons that have ever been used in fighting a war.
At that time only the United States had the technology needed to make the bomb, but within a few years the Soviet Union had developed it too.
In the new Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union were enemies and each had many nuclear weapons, but they did not dare to use them against each other, either directly or by attacking the other country's allies.
Since either country could be completely destroyed by the other's weapons, nuclear war could no longer be limited to the use of only one or two bombs; if they were used anywhere by one side, the other would attack with its own nuclear weapons, and the fighting would almost certainly become greater.
This situation came to be known as the "balance of terror," or Mutually Assured Destruction, and stopped conflicts between the two superpowers from leading to a third world war.
Since the end of Communist rule in Russia and Eastern Europe, tensions between America and Russia have eased and war has become less likely.
However, today there is more worry about nuclear proliferation.
Countries around the world who already have their own bombs include Britain, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea; as all kinds of technology tend to become cheaper and easier to get and use, there is a fear that nuclear weapons could become available to countries with unstable governments.
There is also the possibility that terrorists might be able to capture or build nuclear weapons and use them.
Nuclear war in fiction
Ever since the end of World War II, writers, film-makers, and artists have created works of fiction imagining how a nuclear war might happen and what life would be like afterwards.
Most have pictured widespread death and destruction, and a grim post-armageddon world where a few survivors struggle to live without power, medicine, or food.
Some have pictured civilization breaking down completely, and primitive societies developing; with the past world becoming forgotten.
The government uses the money it gets from taxes to pay for things.
For example, taxes are used to pay for people who work for the government, such as the military and police, provide services such as education and health care, and to maintain or build things like roads, bridges and sewers.
Types of taxes
There are many different kinds of taxes.
They may be direct tax or indirect  tax.
Taxes that are based on how much money a company earns are called corporate taxes
Taxes that are based on how much money a person earns are called income taxes.
Taxes that are based on how much a person buys are called sales taxes.
Taxes that are based on how much a person owns are called property taxes.
Things like houses have a property tax on them.
Taxes that are paid when official documents are approved are called stamp duties (because in the past the document would have a stamp put on it).
Changing who owns a house will often need a document approving.
Taxes that are paid when somebody dies are called inheritance or estate taxes.
Flat taxes: Everybody pays the same percentage.
Russia has a flat income tax and everybody in Russia has to pay 13% of the income.
Progressive taxes: The more money a person makes, the higher percentage of their income they have to pay.
Most countries have progressive income taxes.
Regressive taxes: The less money a person makes, the higher percentage of their income they have to pay.
Sales taxes are usually called regressive as poor people spend a higher percentage of their money than rich people.
Paying lots of different taxes
In the United States, for example, the national government has an income tax; most states have an income tax or a sales tax, or both; and cities and towns may have a sales tax or a property tax.
In some states such as Ohio, the sales tax is different in each county.
In ancient times, people from one city or area would attack another place, and make the people there pay tribute.
Tribute meant that the attacked people would pay money (or other things), and the attacker would stop attacking them.
A famous tribute was the Danegeld, when people from Denmark conquered part of England and made the English pay thousands of silver coins.
Groups who are against taxes
Anarchists and Libertarians are against all taxes or against high taxes.
As people are paying them unwillingly and under the threat of sanctions, they say that taxation is the same as robbery.
Florida (), officially the State of Florida, is a state in the southeast part of the United States.
It is the 22nd largest US state by total area with 65,757.70 sq mi (170,312 km2) and the third most-populous with a 2015 population of more than 21 million.
It is a peninsula, which means that water surrounds the state on three of four possible sides.
To the west is the Gulf of Mexico, to the south is the Florida Straits, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean.
The highest elevation in Florida is Britton Hill.
Many Cubans, Haitians and other Caribbeans live in state.
Native Americans first settled in Florida before the arrival of the Europeans.
Florida had many residents from many tribes and nations living in almost all parts of it for thousands of years.
These include the Timucua, the Tequesta, the Calusa, the Seminole, the Miccosukee, and many more.
Florida was first discovered by a European in 1513 by the Spanish Ponce De Leon, who called this peninsula "Tierra de la Pascua Florida" (Land of the Easter flowered) because it was discovered on Easter: in the next centuries only the last word remained.
Northern Florida contains hills because it is at the very end of the Appalachian Mountains.
The highest hill in Florida is Britton Hill, in northern Walton County near the town of Lakewood, Florida.
It is the shortest of the highest points in all other states.
Florida has the longest coastline in the continental United States.
The Gulf Stream ocean current goes through the Atlantic Ocean near the east coast of Florida, so the water is warmer than the Pacific Ocean.
The Gulf of Mexico is on the west coast of Florida.
In the center of southern Florida is a lake called Lake Okeechobee.
It is the seventh largest freshwater lake in the United States  and the second largest freshwater lake entirely within the lower 48 states.
Okeechobee is 730 square miles (1,890 km²), about half the size of the state of Rhode Island, and is very shallow for a lake of its size, with an average depth of only 9 feet (3 m).
A lot of south Florida used to be covered by a swamp called the Everglades.
When Florida was first being settled, farmers found out the soil there was fertile, so they drained some of the wetlands in 1882 for farming.
In 1947, the state constructed levees and canals to make more room for farming and houses.
The Everglades is now about half the size it used to be.
Most of what is left is now the Everglades National Park.
Lots of animals live there, including alligators and Florida panthers.
Recently, Florida has been trying to restore the Everglades.
At the southernmost tip of Florida is a chain of islands called the Florida Keys.
There are 4500 islands in the Keys.
The most famous one is Key West.
Florida is nicknamed the Sunshine State.
During the summer, temperatures may rise up to as high as 109 degrees Fahrenheit (or 40.5 degrees Celsius).
Its annual average temperature is much warmer than many of the other states, but during winter, temperatures occasionally fall below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
In Florida, a dozen palm tree species are native to the state.
Florida has both a rainy season and dry season.
Southern Florida does not have four separate seasons.
Florida's sunny climate attracts visitors.
The summer is great for surfing the waves and enjoying the beaches.
The most popular sport in Florida is fishing.
Florida is vulnerable to hurricanes due to its proximity to the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane season is from June 1 to November 30, but sometimes a hurricane will occur outside of this period.
Hurricane Andrew was a destructive hurricane that hit Florida on August 23, 1992.
Florida's most active recorded hurricane seasons were in 2004 and 2005, when it was hit by hurricanes Charley (August 13), Frances (September 4–5), Ivan (September 16), Jeanne (September 25), Katrina (August 25), and Wilma (October 24).
Marine Mammals: Bottlenose Dolphin, Short-finned Pilot Whale, North Atlantic Right Whale, West Indian Manatee
Reptiles: American Alligator and Crocodile, Eastern Diamondback and Pygmy Rattlesnakes, Gopher Tortoise, Green and Leatherback Sea Turtles, Eastern indigo snake
Mammals: Florida panther, Northern River Otter, Mink, Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, Marsh Rabbit, Raccoon, Striped Skunk, Squirrel, White-tailed deer, Key Deer, Bobcats, Gray Fox, Coyote, Wild Boar, Florida Black Bear, Nine-banded Armadillos
Birds: Bald Eagle, Northern Caracara, Snail Kite, Osprey, White and Brown Pelicans, Sea Gulls, Whooping and Sandhill Cranes, Roseate Spoonbill, Florida Scrub Jay (state endemic), and others.
One subspecies of Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, namely subspecies osceola, is found only in the state of Florida.
Many species of eastern North American birds go to Florida in the winter.
Invertebrates: carpenter ants, termites, and American cockroach.
In the 1930s, the Red imported fire ants were accidentally brought from South America to North America.
Since then, they have spread to most of the Southern United States, including Florida.
They are more aggressive than most native ant species and have a painful sting.
A lot of non-native snakes have been released in the wild.
In 2010 the state created a hunting season for Burmese, Indian and African rock pythons, green anacondas, and Nile monitor lizards.
The capital of Florida is Tallahassee, and Jacksonville is the state's largest city.
Tallahassee is in the part of Florida called the panhandle, or the narrow part in the northwest.
There are other big cities in Florida, like Tampa, Orlando and Miami.
Orlando is home to many amusement and theme parks, like Walt Disney World Resort, Sea World, and Universal Studios.
Millions of tourists visit Orlando each year.
There is also Busch Gardens in Tampa, which is another tourist attraction.
Florida has eleven state universities.
They are Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida.
The University of Central Florida has the most students.
There are 28 private universities in Florida.
List of cities in Florida
1845 establishments in the United States
is a fictional Italian plumber who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom.
The video game character was made by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.
Mario is the main mascot of Nintendo.
He has been in more than 200 games by the company.
In the Mario games, he tries to stop the evil Bowser from taking Princess Peach away.
He is helped by his brother Luigi in most games.
He has other enemies like Donkey Kong, Waluigi, and Wario, but they are friends in some spinoffs.
Mario is one of the most famous video game characters.
Over 200 million Mario games have been sold.
Concept and creation
Mario first appeared in the arcade game Donkey Kong as a carpenter named Jumpman.
In Japan, he had the name "Mr. Video."
Later, he was named "Mario," after Mario Segale, who was a lot like Mario.
Mario Segale owned the land where Nintendo of America's office was built.
Mario later appeared with his younger brother Luigi in an arcade game called Mario Bros. The game Super Mario Bros. was released at the same time as the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Super Mario Bros. was a very well liked game, along with Super Mario Bros. 3  and Legend Of Zelda.
At that time, video games were hard to make and Nintendo could not make Mario move without making his arms "disappear".
Changing his clothes fixed it.
They also did not have the space to give him a mouth or ears.
They also could not make hair on his head.
To fix this, the makers of the game gave Mario a moustache, sideburns, and a cap so it would not look like he was bald.
Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, said that he gave Mario a cap,  because it is hard for him to draw hair.
Mario is voiced by (his voice is made by) Charles Martinet, who also voices Luigi, Wario, Waluigi and other characters like Toadsworth.
Mario is Nintendo's mascot (the face of the company).
Mario's rival was Sega's mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared in 1991.
At first, Sega and Nintendo competed with each other.
But then, in Sonic Adventure 2: BattleSega made a game for a Nintendo machine.
Mario and Sonic appeared together in a sports game, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, and again in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as well as Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Playable appearances
Donkey Kong (series debut) (1981)
Mario's Cement Factory (1983)
Mario Bros. (1983)
Mario's Bombs Away (1983)
Golf (1984)
Donkey Kong Hockey (1984)
Wrecking Crew (1985)
Super Mario Bros. (1985)
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan) (1986)
Famicom Grand Prix: F-1 Race (1987)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Doki Doki Panic in Japan) (1988)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
Super Mario Land (1989)
Dr. Mario (1990)
Super Mario World (1990)
Mario Teaches Typing (1991)
Mario the Juggler (1991)
Yoshi (1991)
Mario Paint (1992)
Super Mario Kart (1992)
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992)
Yoshi's Cookie (1992)
Mario is Missing (1992)
Yoshi's Safari (1993)
Mario & Wario (1993) (Japan only)
Mario's Time Machine ( 1993)
Super Mario All-Stars (Super Mario Collection in Japan) (1993)
Hotel Mario (1994)
Donkey Kong (1994)
Fun with Letters (1994)
Fun with Numbers (1994)
Preschool Fun (1994)
Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World (1994)
CD-ROM Collection (1995)
Mario's Picross (1995)
Mario's Tennis (1995)
Mario Clash (1995)
Mario's Game Gallery (1995)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996)
Super Mario 64 (1996)
Mario Teaches Typing 2 (1996)
Mario Kart 64 (1996)
Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Stadium (1997) (Japan only)
Game & Watch Gallery (1997)
Wrecking Crew '98 (1998) (Japan only)
Mario's FUNdamentals (1998)
Mario no Photopi (1998) (Japan only)
Mario Party (1998)
Super Smash Bros. (1999)
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (1999)
Mario Golf (1999)
Mario Party 2 (1999)
Mario Tennis (2000)
Paper Mario (2000)
Mario Tennis (handheld) (2000)
Mario Party 3 (2000)
Super Mario Advance (2001)
Mobile Golf (2001)
Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001)
Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
Super Mario Sunshine (2002)
Mario Party 4 (2002)
Mario Party-e (2003)
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (2003)
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (
Mario Party 5 (2003)
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003)
Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2004)
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Mario Pinball Land (2004)
Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party (2004) (Japan only)
Mario Power Tennis (2004)
Mario Party 6 (2004)
Super Mario 64 DS (2004)
Mario Party Advance (2005)
Yakuman DS (2005) (Japan only)
Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix (2005)
Mario Superstar Baseball (2005)
Mario Tennis: Power Tour (2005)
Mario Party 7 (2005)
Mario Kart DS (2005)
Dr. Mario & Puzzle League (2005)
Mario Kart Arcade GP (2005)
Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party 2 (2005) (Japan only)
Super Mario Strikers (2005)
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005)
New Super Mario Bros. (2006)
Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (2006)
Super Paper Mario (2007)
Mario Strikers Charged (2007)
Mario Party 8 (2007)
Itadaki Street DS (2007) (Japan only)
Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 (2007)
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (2007)
Mario Party DS (2007)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
Mario Kart Wii (2008)
Dr. Mario Online RX (2008)
Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again (2008)
Mario Super Sluggers (2008)
Dr. Mario Express (2008)
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (2009)
Mario Party Fushigi no Korokoro Catcher (2009) (Japan only)
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (2009)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010)
Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary Edition (2010)
Mario Sports Mix (2010)
Super Mario 3D Land (2011)
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (2011)
Mario Kart 7 (2011)
Fortune Street (2011)
Mario Party 9 (2012)
Mario Tennis Open (2012)
New Super Mario Bros. 2 (2012)
Paper Mario: Sticker Star (2012)
New Super Mario Bros. U (2012)
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013)
New Super Luigi U (2013)
Super Mario 3D World (2013)
Mario Kart Arcade GP DX (2013)
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games (2013)
Mario Party: Island Tour (2013)
Mario Golf: World Tour (2014)
Mario Kart 8 (2014)
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014)
Mario vs Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (2015)
Mario Party 10 (2015)
Super Mario Maker (2015)
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (2015)
Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure (2015)
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015)
Mini Mario and Friends Amiibo Challenge (2016)
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (2016)
Minecraft: Wii U Edition (2016)
Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016)
Mario Party: Star Rush (2016)
Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS (2016)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017)
Super Mario Odyssey (2017)
Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle (2017)
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (2017)
Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Version (2017)
Mario Tennis Aces (2018)
Super Mario Party (2018)
Super Smash Brothers Ultimate (2018)
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (2019)
New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe (2019)
Super Mario Maker 2 (2019)
Mario Kart Tour (2019)
Luigi's Mansion 3 (2019)
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (2019)
Paper Mario: The Origami King (2020)
Super Mario Bros. 35 (2020)
Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2020)
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (2021)
Mario Golf: Super Rush (2021)
Mario was first seen as "Jumpman" in Donkey Kong in 1981.
He was first named "Mario" in the arcade game Donkey Kong Junior in 1982, the only game where he is a villain.
His twin brother Luigi was first seen in 1983 in Mario Bros. He was next seen in Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), which would quickly be one of the most famous games on the console.
By 2007, more than 200 million copies of Mario games had been sold all over the world.
The game that was best sold was Super Mario Bros. 3.
Mario was also seen in some Game & Watch games.
Mario has appeared in almost every type of video game, like platform, puzzle, racing, sports, fighting, role-playing and educational games.
Mario has been seen in many games, and is seen in games that are not Mario games as well, like Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
where he is a referee.
He is also a character you can play as in the Super Smash Bros. series.
Mario has even appeared as a secret character which any player can play as in GameCube version of NBA Street V3 and SSX on Tour, which are both from Electronic Arts.
In some games, he only makes very small appearances: in both The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a picture of Mario can be seen, and in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes small Mario and Yoshi statues can be seen.
After the Game & Watch game Mario Bombs Away, the first Mario non-platformer game, Dr. Mario, was sold in 1990.
There are two educational Mario games that have been made.
They are called Mario Paint, was sold in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Mario Pinball Land for the Game Boy Advance.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was released in 1996 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
It is the first Mario role-playing game.
Since then, other Mario role-playing games have been released, such as Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64;  and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance.
Both of these games were made into their own series later on.
There have been more series based on the original Mario series.
The Mario Kart series' first game was Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
The Mario Kart series is the most successful racing video game series of all time.
The Mario Kart series is a type of Mario sports game.
There have been other Mario sports games like Mario Golf and Mario Tennis, and the baseball and soccer games Mario Superstar Baseball and Super Mario Strikers.
In 1999, the Mario Party series started on the Nintendo 64.
There has been a few TV shows and a movie for the Mario series.
The name of the first TV show is The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
and the movie is called Super Mario Bros.. The TV show starred "Captain" Lou Albano as Mario, and the movie starred Bob Hoskins as Mario.
There have also been Mario toys sold in some places.
Mario was first a 2D character but since technology has changed, Nintendo has remade Mario in 3D. He is a plumber who lives in the land of Mushroom Kingdom.
He is the older, shorter brother of Luigi, and they are both plumbers.
In the television series, Mario and Luigi are from Brooklyn, although Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island says he was born in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Physical appearance
Mario's looks have changed over the years although he has several staple features.
He is a short, stubby man wearing a hat with an "M" on it, brown hair, black moustache, a very large nose, white gloves, and denim overalls.
In most appearances, Mario wears a red hat and shirt with blue overalls.
However, in the original Super Mario Bros. video game, Mario wears a brown shirt and red overalls.
Mario's clothes depend on the game he is in.
For example, in the Super Mario Strikers soccer game, Mario wears a football kit instead of overalls, and in Super Mario Sunshine, a very sunshiny tropical game, the character wears a red T-shirt and can also put on sunglasses and a Hawaiian-style shirt.
In some games, Mario can turn into different forms, each with different clothes.
Mario is a kind-hearted and brave hero, with a love of pasta and pizza.
People know Mario has a great, happy, personality since he has a high pitched, funny voice.
Since Mario's Game Gallery, Charles Martinet has been his voice actor.
In the games, Mario speaks in English with a thick Italian accent.
In other things like TV shows, he has a more Brooklyn-styled accent.
Mario does not say many things.
He usually says: "Okey dokey!", "
Woohoo!", "
Let's a-go!", "
It's-a me!
Mario!", "
Here we go", "Mama mia!"
and more, though in sports games, he says things relevant to the sport, in Mario Golf he says "Fore!"
for example.
Mario hardly ever speaks properly in any games, leaving the talking to other characters.
He does speak normally in the DiC animated cartoons and the anime series.
Occupation and hobbies
Mario is a plumber (he was a carpenter).