the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
The waves become larger as they move down the snake's body, and the wave travels backwards faster than the snake moves forwards.
Thrust is got by pushing their body against the water: this results in the observed slip.
In spite of overall similarities, studies show that the pattern of muscle activation is different in aquatic versus terrestrial lateral undulation, which justifies calling them separate modes.
All snakes can laterally undulate forward (with backward-moving waves), but only sea snakes have been observed reversing the motion (moving backwards with forward-moving waves).
This is most often used by colubroid snakes (colubrids, elapids, and vipers).
They use it when the environment lacks anything firm to push against, such as a slick mud flat, or a sand dune.
Sidewinding is a modified form of lateral undulation in which all of the body segments oriented in one direction remain in contact with the ground, while the other segments are lifted up.
This results in a peculiar "rolling" motion.
This mode of moving overcomes the slippery nature of sand or mud by pushing off with only static portions on the body, thereby minimizing slipping.
The static nature of the contact points can be shown from the tracks of a sidewinding snake, which show each belly scale imprint, without any smearing.
This mode of moving has very low caloric cost, less than ⅓ of the cost for a lizard or normal snake to move the same distance.
When push-points are absent, but the space is too narrow for sidewinding, such as in tunnels, snakes rely on concertina moving.
In this mode, the snake braces the back part of its body against the tunnel wall while the front of the snake extends and straightens.
The front portion then flexes and forms an anchor point, and the back part is straightened and pulled forwards.
This mode of moving is slow and very demanding, needing up to seven times the energy of laterally undulating over the same distance.
This high cost is due to the repeated stops and starts of portions of the body as well as the need to use the muscles to brace against the tunnel walls.
The slowest mode of snake moving is rectilinear moving, which is also the only one where the snake does not need to bend its body laterally, though it may do so when turning.
In this mode, the belly scales are lifted and pulled forward before being placed down and the body pulled over them.
Waves of movement and stasis pass posteriorly, resulting in a series of ripples in the skin.
The ribs of the snake do not move in this mode of moving and this method is most often used by large pythons, boas, and vipers when stalking prey across open ground as the snake's movements are subtle and harder to detect by their prey in this manner.
The movement of snakes in trees has only recently been studied.
While on tree branches, snakes use several modes of moving depending on species and bark texture.
In general, snakes will use a modified form of concertina moving on smooth branches, but will laterally undulate if contact points are available.
Snakes move faster on small branches and when contact points are present, in contrast to limbed animals, which do better on large branches with little 'clutter'.
Gliding snakes (Chrysopelea) of Southeast Asia launch themselves from branch tips, spreading their ribs and laterally undulating as they glide between trees.
These snakes can perform a controlled glide for hundreds of feet depending upon launch altitude and can even turn in midair.
Snake (organism) -Citizendium
Farrokh Bulsara (5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991), better known as Freddie Mercury, was a British singer, songwriter, record producer, and lead singer of the rock band Queen.
Regarded as one of the greatest lead singers in popular music history, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range.
Mercury wrote numerous hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", and "We Are the Champions".
He led a solo career while performing with Queen, and occasionally served as a producer and guest musician for other artists.
He formed Queen in 1970 with guitarist Brian May, bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor.
Mercury died in 1991 at age 45 due to complications from AIDS, having confirmed the day before his death that he had contracted the disease.
In 1992, Mercury was posthumously awarded the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and a tribute concert was held at Wembley Stadium, London.
As a member of Queen, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004.
In 2002, he was placed number 58 in the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
He is consistently voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music.
Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on 5 September 1946 in Stone Town in the British protectorate of the Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania).
His parents were Jer and Bomi Bulsara.
They were both Parsi.
His father worked as a cashier in the British Colonial Office, a branch of the government.
Mercury had a younger sister named Kashmira.
His friends at school gave him the name "Freddie."
His family then began calling him Freddie, too.
At age eight, Mercury was sent to a boarding school in India.
The school, St. Peters English Boarding school in Panchgani, was about 50 miles outside the city of Bombay (now called Mumbai).
He began to show talent as an artist and a sportsman.
At age ten, he was named the school champion of Table Tennis.
When he was twelve, he received a trophy called the Junior All-rounder.
Music career, personal life, and death
While in school he joined a choir and began to learn to play the piano.
He had a four-octave vocal range.
In 1964, Mercury moved to London with his family.
He studied art at Ealing Art College.
While in London, he became fond of Mary Austin, a woman he met through his guitarist, Brian May.
They lived together for several years before and after the band became famous.
They moved into a house in London nicknamed "The Court of King Freddie".
Mary still lived in that house after she and Mercury broke up.
Mercury was in love with a local barber when he died.
He had been with him in a relationship for six years when it was learned by the media that Mercury had AIDS, which he was tested positive for in 1987.
One day after the news was broadcast, Mercury died of Bronchopneumonia caused by AIDS on 24 November 1991 at the age of 45.
Queen Archives: Interviews
British LGBT people
British pianists
British rock singers
This article is about the military strategist Sun Tzu.
For the mathematician of the same name, see Sun Tzu (mathematician).
Sun Tzu (544 BC – 496 BC) also called Sun Wu, was an ancient Chinese general, military expert and philosopher.
He is widely believed to have been the author of the most important work of military strategy and theory, The Art of War.
His name means 'Master Sun'.
His family name is Sun, Tzu is an honorific (title of respect) meaning 'master'.
Most of what we know about Sun Tzu comes from Ssu-ma Ch'ien's Shih chi, also called the Records of the Grand Historian.
According to the Grand Historian, Sun Tzu lived during the period called 'The Spring and Autumn Period of China'.
This era dates from 770 BC to 476 BC.
Sun Tzu was born in the State of Qi (modern Shandong province).
This is according to the Records of the Grand Historian.
However, the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yueh claim he was born in Wu.
Sun Tzu lived during the turbulent period of the late Chou dynasty.
He grew up in a military family and he studied military science.
Not much is known about his childhood or early life.
It is known that at some point in his life he became known as a great general and a military strategist.
He became a general for King Helü of Wu.
Sun Tzu won battles by not actually fighting his enemy when it wasn't necessary.
He recommended spies, deception and a commander having complete control of his soldiers.
When he did fight, he understood warfare better than most of his opponents.
Sun Tzu learned to win battles with the least loss of his own men.
Many historians believe he was the victor at the Battle of Boju in 506 BC.
The great historian Sima Qian (145/135–86 BC), author of Shiji (Historical Record), called Sun Tzu an exceptional strategic battlefield commander.
He also said Sun Tzu was both flexible and had unlimited surprises for his enemies.
Sima Qian wrote that in his nearly 40-years as a general, Sun Tzu never lost a battle, a campaign or a war.
The Art of War was one of the earliest books on Chinese warfare.
It remains one of the best known and most influential books ever written.
The book was widely copied in the ancient world.
An early copy was discovered in 1972.
It was written on bamboo slats that were sewn together.
It became known in the western world during the late 18th century.
It wasn't translated into English until the 20th century.
At that time the rules for warfare were based on chivalry.
War was the sport of rich noblemen.
Sun Tzu refused to see war as a sport.
He used Taoist principles and applied them to warfare.
In doing this he changed the rules of war.
Unlike generals who enjoyed long campaigns, he understood war was serious.
Sun Tzu believed that once a war started, the goal was to defeat the enemy.
Sun Tzu was unconventional in that he didn't follow the prevailing wisdom of his time.
Other generals were simply unprepared for Sun Tzu's tactics.
For at least the last two thousand years, Sun Tzu has had a tremendous influence on military thinking.
The Art of War is credited by Mao Zedong as having helped him defeat Chiang Kai-Shek in the Chinese Civil War.
Ho Chi Minh was a fan of Sun Tzu.
He led the Communist Vietnamese in their fight against American-backed South Vietnam.
American generals Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. and Colin Powell followed principals in the Art of War in the Gulf War.
544 BC births
Western world has meant various things at various times.
In the earliest history of Europe it referred to Ancient Greece and the Aegean.
During the Roman Empire, it meant the Western Roman Empire (covering the area from Croatia to Britain).
At other times, it has meant Western Europe or Europe or Christendom.
During the Cold War, it sometimes meant the democratic countries or those allied with the various NATO powers.
In this day and age, it often refers to the places that have a European heritage culture.
This European heritage itself is a combination of, Judeo-Christian ethic, Classical Greco-Roman thinking and the cultural practices of the "barbarian" peoples of Northern Europe.
Under the strictest definition, it would include North America, Australia and Western/Central Europe: with the identities of Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Philippines, Singapore, Israel and South Africa being disputed due to the mix of both western and non western culture.
A mouse (plural mice) is a small rodent, which is a kind of mammal.
It has a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail and a high breeding rate.
Most belong to the mus genus.
The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (Mus musculus).
Usually, house mice are brownish-gray.
It is also a popular pet.
In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common.
They are known to invade homes for food and occasionally shelter.
These small animals are often used in science experiments, or sometimes kept as pets.
Some mice carry diseases.
In some places they damage crops.
This causes some people to think of mice as vermin or pests.
Many other people think mice are cute and fun animals.
Mice are rodents, therefore they are related to squirrels, rats, and beavers.
Mice eat weeds, seeds, berries, and more.
They are eaten by owls, foxes, and cats, amongst others.
Types of mice
The word "mouse" should only be used for small murines, but does get used for other distantly-related small rodents.
The murines are the largest subfamily of mammals.
In fact, it is larger than almost all mammal orders.
The common house mouse is thought of as a pest.
They are found in the homes of humans.
Voles are not mice, they are in a different family of rodents.
These are not mice either, or only distantly related.
These mice live in forests.
They can run and jump better than mice, and they get their common name from this.
The aggressive grasshopper mouse rarely eats other mice, but it does like grasshoppers and insects.
It is also only a distant relative.
Mice in media
Anthropomorphism makes cartoon mice look and act more like people than like real mice.
For example, the Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse walk, talk, and act like people.
Jerry, the mouse star of Tom and Jerry cartoons, is similarly humanized.
Old World rats and mice
Advance Wars is a video game for the Game Boy Advance.
It is based on earlier games for Nintendo systems such as the Famicom and Game Boy.
It is a strategy game: players must think of ways to win.
The game can be played with two, three, or four players at a time.
Each player takes turns controlling their military-style playing pieces, called "units."
Every unit can move along the playing field, which is split up into squares.
The amount of squares a unit can move in one turn is different for each unit.
Most units can attack other units.
Each unit has its own strength and defense.
Strength is how much damage the unit can do to another unit.
Defense is how much damage it can avoid taking whenever it is attacked.
For example, the tank unit has more defense than the soldier, so even though the helicopter always has the same amount of attacking power, it can do more damage to the soldier than the tank.
Intelligent Systems games
Wars series
The Solomon Islands () are a group of islands in the South Pacific that make up a country.
They are known for their beauty and for the many languages spoken there.
The capital of the Solomon Islands is Honiara.
There was civil untrest between 1998 and 2003, commonly called the tensions or the ethnic tension; it included fighting between the Isatabu Freedom Movement (also known as the Guadalcanal Revolutionary Army) and the Malaita Eagle Force (as well as the Marau Eagle Force). (
Although much of the conflict was between Guales and Malaitans, two research papers say that the 'ethnic conflict' label is an oversimplification.
In 2006, riots broke out following the election of Snyder Rini as Prime Minister, destroying part of the capital's Chinatown and displacing more than 1,000 Chinese residents; The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), the 16-country Pacific Islands Forum initiative set up in 2003 with assistance from Australia, intervened, sending in additional police and army officers to bring the situation under control.
A motion of no confidence was passed against the Prime Minister.
Following his resignation, a five-party Grand Coalition for Change Government was formed in May 2006, with Manasseh Sogavare as Prime Minister, quelling the riots and running the government.
The army part of RAMSI was removed and rebuilding took shape.
2007 change of Prime Minister
On 13 December 2007, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare was toppled by a vote of no confidence in Parliament, following the defection of five ministers to the opposition.
It was the first time a prime minister had lost office in this way in Solomon Islands.
On 20 December, Parliament elected the opposition's candidate (and former Minister for Education) Derek Sikua as Prime Minister, in a vote of 32 to 15.
On 2 April 2007 at 07:39:56 local time (UTC+11) an earthquake with magnitude 8.1 occurred at hypocenter S8.453 E156.957, 349 kilometres (217 miles) northwest of the island's capital, Honiara and south-east of the capital of Western Province, Gizo, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).
More than 44 aftershocks with magnitude 5.0 or greater occurred up until 22:00:00 UTC, Wednesday, 4 April 2007.
A tsunami followed killing at least 52 people, destroying more than 900 homes and leaving thousands of people homeless.
Land upthrust extended the shoreline of one island, Ranongga, by up to 70 metres (230 ft) exposing many once pristine coral reefs.
On February 6, 2013, an earthquake with magnitude of 8.0 occurred at epicentre S10.80 E165.11 in the Santa Cruz Islands followed by a tsunami up to 1.5 metres.
At least nine people were killed and many houses demolished.
The main quake was preceded by a sequence of earthquakes with a magnitude of up to 6.0.
Makira-Ulawa
Malaita
Rennell and Bellona
Temotu
Honiara City
The first part of the small intestine is called the duodenum, where most food is broken down by enzymes.
Later, the small intestine absorbs useful compounds from the digested food, which is done using small villi or tiny microvilli  - hair-like structures in the walls of the intestine.
The large intestine, also called the bowel, absorbs water and any other nutrients, as well as vitamins made by the gut flora in the colon.
Finally, waste is expelled through the anus.
A chemical equation is a way to predict the way that two or more chemicals will work together.
Using what chemists know about the way chemicals act, we add the letter symbols together just like a math problem.
In this way we can correctly guess if we will get a new chemical when we mix two or more chemicals together, and what that chemical will be.
For example: An aqueous solution of sodium chloride (NaCl[aq]) and another aqueous solution of silver nitrate (AgNO3[aq]).
These mixed together form sodium nitrate (NaNO3[aq]) and silver chloride (AgCl[s])
NaCl(aq) + AgNO3(aq) → NaNO3(aq) + AgCl(s)
The solutions formed the solid AgCl.
This formation can be called a precipitate and the reaction between the two solutions a precipitation reaction, because the solid produced is not dissolved, whereas all the other products are dissolved.
More about chemical equations
Chemical equations need to be balanced to satisfy the law of conservation of matter.
Chemical equations tell that in a closed system matter is neither created nor destroyed.
The chemical equation needs to be balanced so that it follows the law of conservation of mass.
A balanced chemical equation happens when the number of the different atoms of elements on the reactants side is equal to that of the products side.
Balancing chemical equations is a process of trial and error.
To balance the equation, the amounts of the reactants and products must be changed.
As necessary, by adding coefficients in front of the appropriate formulas.
When balancing an equation, never change the subscripts, because that changes the substance.
To determine the number of atoms of each element, the coefficient is multiplied times the subscripts in each formula.
Methods of balancing chemical equations
A chemical equation is a written symbolic representation of a chemical reaction.
The reactant chemicals are given on the left-hand side and the product chemical on the right-hand side.
The law of conservation of mass says that no atoms can be made in a chemical reaction.
Also, it cannot be destroyed.
So the number of atoms that are present in the reactants has to balance the number of atoms that are present in the reaction.
There are two practices of balancing a chemical equation.
The first one is balancing by Inspection.
Balancing by inspection is the most basic method used.
It works best for simple problems.
More complicated ones require experience.
The second one is Balancing by Numerical Method.
The most important parts of the numerical methotrexate, contrary to the inspection method, it gives the answer.
If the reaction can be balanced, coefficients can be seen.
If the reaction can't be balanced, it means that there are more unidentified than independent statements, or that statements are opposite.
With inspection method, it won't prove that the equation can't be balanced.
we need to balance a chemical equation because "law of conservation of mass" state that mass can neither be created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction.
(reactant = product)
Master of Chemical Equations - Real chemical equation balancer.
Chemical Equation Balancer - An open source chemical equation balancer.
Classic Chembalancer - Play Chembalancer, a free online game at FunBasedLearning.com, to learn how to balance equations
Online calculator, determines of the coefficients of a chemical equation
Online Chemical Equation Balancer Balances equation of any chemical reaction (full or half-cell) in one click.
Balance chemical equations Teaches how to balance chemical equations
Stoichiometry Add-In for Microsoft Excel for calculation of molecular weights, reaction coëfficients and stoichiometry.
Lucifer is another name for Satan.
This is because people interpret a passage in the Book of Isaiah of the Bible in a certain way.
Lucifer is Latin.
It is made of two parts, lux-lucis (light) and ferre (to bring).
There are two mentions of Lucifer in the Latin Vulgate.
is used to refer to the morning star, the planet Venus that appears at dawn: once in  to translate the Greek word "Φωσφόρος" (Phosphoros), which has exactly the same literal meaning of "Light-Bringer" that "Lucifer" has in Latin; and once in  to translate "הילל" (Hêlēl), which also means "Morning Star".
Latin name for the Morning Star
Lucifer is the Latin name for the "Morning Star", both in prose and poetry, as seen in works by Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC), Cicero (106-43 BC) and other early Latin writers
Stella Veneris, quae Φωσφόρος Graece, Latine dicitur Lucifer, cum antegreditur solem, cum subsequitur autem Hesperos
The star of Venus, called Φωσφόρος in Greek and Lucifer in Latin when it precedes, Hesperos when it follows the sun.
sidus appellatum Veneris … ante matutinum exoriens Luciferi nomen accipit … contra ab occasu refulgens nuncupatur Vesper
The star called Venus … when it rises in the morning is given the name Lucifer … but when it shines at sunset it is called Vesper
Poets also used the word "Lucifer".
Ovid has at least eleven mentions of the Morning Star in his poetry.
Virgil wrote:
Luciferi primo cum sidere frigida rura
carpamus, dum mane novum, dum gramina canent
Let us hasten, when first the Morning Star appears,
To the cool pastures, while the day is new, while the grass is dewy
et iam Mygdoniis elata cubilibus altoimpulerat caelo gelidas Aurora tenebras,
rorantes excussa comas multumque sequentisole rubens; illi roseus per nubila seras
aduertit flammas alienumque aethera tardoLucifer exit equo, donec pater igneus orbem
impleat atque ipsi radios uetet esse sorori
And now Aurora rising from her Mygdonian couch had driven the cold darkness on from high in the heavens, shaking out her dewy hair, her face blushing red at the pursuing sun – from him roseate Lucifer averts his fires lingering in the clouds and with reluctant horse leaves the heavens no longer his, until the blazing father make full his orb and forbid even his sister her beams
Lucifer as Devil character of the Bible
Lucifer is the epitome of evil in the Christian religion.
Lucifer is believed by some to be Satan's name when he was still an angel, but it is Latin for 'light bringer' and not originally in the Bible.
The word Lucifer was also used in Latin to mean the "morningstar", the planet Venus, and this word was used in the Latin version of Isaiah 14, where the Hebrew version was speaking to a king of Babylonia.
ro:Luceafăr
Astrobiology is the study of life in outer space.
The field of astrobiology looks for conditions necessary for life, like liquid water, a good temperature, or the presence of oxygen.
Some possible places to find life in the solar system are Europa, Ganymede, moons of Jupiter, or Titan, and Enceladus, moons of Saturn.
These places may have liquid water.
They may be too cold to support life on their surfaces, but if they have liquid water, the water must be warm enough to support life.
Astrobiologists suggest that there may be a liquid water ocean under their surfaces.
Astrobiology.nasa.gov
Spanish Centro de Astrobiología
UK Centre for Astrobiology
Astrobiology Research at The Library of Congress
Astrobiology Survey – An introductory course on astrobiology
Castles are medieval buildings which were defensive homes for powerful people.
They could be made from wood, stone, or brick, and some were used for hundreds of years.
Thousands of castles were built across Europe, the Middle East, and Japan with different designs.
Today, most castles are ruins and many are popular tourist attractions.
In England and Wales castles were first used by the invading Normans led by Duke William in 1066.
They provided a base for lord of the castle to control the surrounding area and govern their land.
Castles were designed to be imposing: their massive defenses deterred attackers and showed the owner's strength.
A few troops in a castle could defend themselves against a much larger army.
The most common method for taking a castle would be to besiege or storm it.
Each had problems.
Storming a castle would kill many of the attackers, but a siege would take a long time.
Both methods sometimes failed.
Time of building
Castles were first built in the 9th century and the practice continued up to the 16th century.
A castle was both a home for someone important like a king or noble, and a fort.
Castles were designed to keep people out and show how powerful the people inside were.
They were sometimes used in war, with many famous sieges like the siege of Kenilworth in 1266 which lasted for six months, or Stirling Castle which was besieged eight times.
Castles could look very strong, but sometimes the defences were mostly for show.
The moat around Bodiam Castle is not very deep and could be drained by an attacking army, so was not very practical as a defence.
But it made the castle look very impressive, and look bigger than it really is.
If the owner of a castle rebelled against their ruler they might be punished by having their castle demolished, known as slighting.
Where to find them
Castles were built in Europe and the Middle East, with similar buildings developing separately in Japan in the 15th century.
Castles were usually built from either wood or stone, and sometimes brick.
Some castles started off as wooden and were then rebuilt in stone, which was more expensive and a stronger so that the castles could be bigger.
They could be built on hills or low areas like the edge of towns or at river crossings.
There is the widely held idea that castles were always built on high hills; while there are some castles which make dramatic use of the landscape and are highly visible, there were a lot of factors in choosing where to build castles and only a minority were on hills.
For example, many castles were built along the Rhine River so they could stop people using the river without permission.
Depending on the exact definition, the number of castles varies and more castles are still being discovered.
The numbers below are rough, and it is difficult to find estimates for some countries like Italy and Spain though they have many castles.
Imitation castles have been built in the 19th and 20th century, like Neuschwanstein or some places in the United States but these are not considered genuine castles as they were not meant to be defensive.
Austria: 160
Czech Republic: 60
Denmark: 20
England: about 2,700
Finland: 6
Germany: 6,300
Hungary: 80
Japan: 5,000
Latvia: 30
Netherlands: 140
Scotland: 3,000
Slovakia: 50
Switzerland: 4,000
Wales: 700
Life in a castle
The powerful people who built castles also lived in them with their families.
They would have servants and a group of people to make sure the castle worked: people fetching water, cooking,  clearing the stables, looking after animals, cooking, lighting fires, and checking who was coming into the castle.
In peacetime, most castles only had a few soldiers who would guard the place.
Today, most castles have bare stone walls inside but in the Middle Ages they looked very different.
Important rooms had colourful tapestries hanging on the walls, and paintings on the ceiling.
Other rooms like kitchens or cupboards had plain white walls.
Fireplaces kept rooms warm, and candles were used for light at night or in dark rooms.
Glass was used later in the Middle Ages, but windows had shutters to keep out the cold and the weather.
Religion was an important of the Middle Ages, and castles usually had chapels so that the people who lived there could pray.
The end of castles
Later in the Middle Ages, important people wanted more privacy and larger homes.
It was easier to build new homes instead of trying to make the castles bigger, so some people moved out of castles into new homes.
The use of gunpowder weapons also changed warfare and made castles less effective.
Guns were introduced in the 14th century, and by the 15th and 16th centuries they were powerful enough to break castle walls.
New types of fortification were invested, with shorter thicker walls, and using earth to absorb hits from cannonballs.
Though cannons were powerful, castles were still used in war.
In the 17th century, lots of castles were used in the English Civil War, though many of them had not been lived in for decades and needed repairs.
Castles today
As castles were built hundreds of years ago, most of them are ruins.
Some are still lived in by wealthy families, or are still used by governments or armies.
Because of this they might have changed and look different to old castles which were abandoned.
Many castles have been turned into museums so the public can visit and learn about the past.
Some castles are owned by the state, and others are owned by private people.
Castles are expensive to run, so many are falling down.
Every so often lightning strikes, flooding, or earthquakes damage castles.
People have been interested in castle for centuries.
Historians and archaeologists have searched old documents and dug into castles to find out more about them.
Because of this, for some castles we know who owned them, when they were used, when bits were built, what people ate, and what kind of things happened at castles.
But there are lots of places where we know very little, not even when they were built.
This is because a lot of medieval documents do not survive.
Also,many "mock" castles have been built ( primarily in Europe and North America ), predominantly during the 19th and 20th centuries.
bailey – an area of a castle surrounded by a wall or bank to keep people out
keep – a large tower
motte – a mound of earth which had a tower on top
motte and bailey – a castle with a mound of earth with an enclosed area next to it
rampart – a bank of earth, usually next to a ditch
ringwork – a circular castle with a bank and ditch
slighting – deliberately damaging a castle
turret – a small tower
Wikimedia Commons is a website owned by the Wikimedia Foundation, based on a wiki.
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The files uploaded to Wikimedia Commons can be used by any other Wikimedia Foundation project, like Wikipedia or Wiktionary.
For example, Wikipedia uses images on Wikimedia Commons to include pictures in their encyclopedia articles.
The files can also be freely used by anyone else because they have free licenses.
Wikimedia Commons has categories, which are groups of files that have something in common or similar.
For example, there is a category for pictures of cats.
Wikimedia Commons is a multilingual website, meaning that it can be used in every language.
However, some parts of Wikimedia Commons are only in English, like names of categories.
Wikimedia Commons also has sound files.
Not all of these are music.
For example, there are recordings that read words out loud.
These files are used in Wiktionary, a free dictionary, to teach people how to say words.
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They used some of this money to make the UploadWizard, a new system for uploading files on Wikimedia Commons.
People started using the UploadWizard in December 2010.
The UploadWizard also teaches new uploaders about copyright law.
It has a tutorial for users to read so that they can check if the file they are uploading is violating copyright.
Most uploads are by the UploadWizard.
Before, Wikimedia Commons only let people upload one file at a time.
The UploadWizard lets people upload multiple files at the same time and include all the required information about each one.
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Bulgaria (officially called the Republic of Bulgaria) is a country in south-eastern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula.
Bulgaria is the south of the River Danube and west of the Black Sea.
To the south of Bulgaria is European Turkey, Greece, and North Macedonia.
To the north of the Danube is Romania, while to the west of Bulgaria is Serbia.
The capital and the biggest city is Sofia.
Their money is called the lev.
The Bulgarian government is a member of the European Union and NATO.
Rumen Radev became President in 2017.
The population of Bulgaria is a little more than 7 million people.
Bulgaria has its own language, called Bulgarian.
It is a type of Slavic language.
It is related to languages like Serbian and Russian.
Bulgaria borders Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, and the Black Sea.
One of the national heroes of Bulgaria is Vasil Levski who led the fight for independence in the late 1800s.
In what is now Bulgaria, many different people and different cultures lived over time.
This includes Neolithic, Hamangia culture, Vinča culture, eneolithic, Varna culture (5th millennium BC) and the Bronze Age Ezero culture.
Classical Antiquity
The Thracians lived in the area of modern Bulgaria (in Thrace or ).
King Tere united the people in Odrysian Kingdom around 500 BC.
The last Hellenistic Thracian kingdom became part of the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD.
The lands of Bulgaria were then part of the Roman Empire.
Medieval Bulgaria
The Bulgars arrived in Thracia in the 7th century.
The Bulgars established the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD, after a war with the Romans in which the Bulgarians had success.
In 1018, the Romans overcame the Bulgarians in war, the Bulgarian state ended, and Bulgaria became part of the Roman Empire again.
The Second Bulgarian Empire started in a rebellion about 1185 AD.
The state had Tarnovo as the capital.
Ottoman Bulgaria
The Ottoman Empire took over in 1396 and ruled Bulgaria for about 500 years.
The Ottomans had very strict rules and the Bulgarians suffered.
The Bulgarians rebelled several times against the Turkish rulers.
Under the Ottoman Rule Turks and Muslim Gypsys was settled elswhere in Bulgaria, also some of the Rhodope Mountains Bulgarians became Muslim and called Pomak.
After the loss of the Crimean Khanate in 1783 Muslim Crimean Tatars and Muslim Crimean Gypsys who called themself Turkoman went to Ottoman Bulgaria in Dobruja part.
In 1876, there was the April Uprising, a Bulgarian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire.
In the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), the Russian Empire overcame the Ottomans.
In 1878, Bulgaria became, in part, independent, although the Ottomans controlled its foreign policy.
Bulgaria pulled away from Ottoman Empire's influence with the help of the Russian Empire who were already fighting the Ottomans.
But it was not until 1908 that the whole country of Bulgaria was united as modern Bulgaria.
Bulgaria joined the side of Germany in World War I and lost.
Bulgaria had hoped to get part of the lands Bulgaria lost in the Balkan Wars.
During the first year of World War II Bulgaria said it was neutral and refused to join sides with Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.
Bulgaria's military and economy were had a close connection with Germany.
Bulgaria's leaders signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany in March 1941.
This let German forces go through Bulgaria to reach Greece.
Bulgaria's troops invaded Greece and Yugoslavia just after the governments of those countries surrendered.
Bulgaria occupied the lands of modern North Macedonia and parts of Greece. (
Both areas had been part of Bulgaria before the Balkan Wars.)
The Bulgarian government also sent Jews to concentration camps and ghettoes in the Holocaust.
The king of Bulgaria, Tsar Boris III, died after talking to Hitler in August 1943.
Before the Tsar died, the Kingdom of Bulgaria had sent at least 11,343 Jews to the extermination camps.
In 1944 when it became clear that the Allied Powers would win the war, Bulgaria had to find another solution.
Their leaders declared that they withdrew from the Axis forces and helped the German army leave the Balkans through Bulgaria.
The Soviet Union didn't respect Bulgaria's claim to be neutral.
The Red Army invaded Bulgaria in September 1944.
At the same time, a new pro-Soviet government took power in Sofia.
At this point, the Jews were released from the ghettoes and concentration camps in Bulgaria.
The new government joined the Allies, and the military started to attack the German army, which the Bulgarian government had helped to leave Bulgarian lands.
The Soviets replaced the royal monarchy with Communism in 1947 before they withdrew from Bulgaria in 1949.
For 40 years, under their leader Todor Zhivkov, Bulgaria was very close to the Soviet Union and followed their instructions.
Bulgaria invaded Czechoslovakia to stop the Prague Spring in 1968.
Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, on 10 November 1989, the Bulgarian Communist Party gave up their rule and allowed the country to elect leaders of their own choice.
But in a few years, Bulgaria had serious money problems under the new socialist government.
Since that time Bulgaria has recovered in many ways and is much more stable.
It is still one of the poorest countries in Europe.
Problems in the administration, a weak court system, and organized crime are the biggest issues for Bulgaria.
Economy and Social Welfare
Bulgaria's economy was dependent on the COMECON market.
This was a group of communist countries (Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania) that agreed to work together.
This group fell apart in 1989 with the fall of communism in Europe.
While this was good for personal freedom, it was too much of a change for the businesses and jobs.
Also, Yugoslavia, their neighbor, fell into a civil war as their country broke apart, and that did not help Bulgaria.
Living standards fell by 40 percent as people lost their jobs and their savings were not worth much, and even some newborn babies were sent to orphanages when their parents could not take care of them.
In 1994 Bulgaria had a short economic boom.
But that slowed down in 1996 from bad finance deals and other banking problems.
In 1997 there was high inflation (the money could not buy as much as it did before).
Retired people had little income (their pension did not go up as fast as inflation did) and their savings were not worth very much.
Many retired people were begging in the streets for food.
But since then the economy has grown steadily.
People from outside the country started putting money into businesses and houses, and Bulgarians learned how to make their own businesses.
Today Bulgaria has Europe's lowest income and corporate tax, 10 percent for both individuals and businesses.
This makes Bulgaria a very good place for business.
Bulgaria also has skilled and educated workers.
The average monthly salary in Bulgaria is still cheap at 400 euro or $541 USD.
The state no longer has free health care.
This system has been replaced by an insurance plan that people pay for, and drug costs are based on income.
Private health care is encouraged nowadays.
Help for people who lose their jobs is no longer automatic, but some help is available, based on family status and length of unemployment.
The retirement age for men is 64 years and for women 61 years.
It will be 63 years and 9 months for woman and 65 years and 3 months for man in 2032.
Since 1999, Bulgaria has been divided into 28 provinces or regions.
Each province is named after its local capital.
The provinces are divided into municipalities, there are 264 in total.
There are 6 Bulgarian development regions of 27 smaller provinces.
See List of settlements in Bulgaria for a list of all large locations.
In Bulgaria there are 5,664,624 citizens of Christian Bulgarians and Muslim Pomaks, 1,200,000 citizens of Muslim Turks and Crimean Tatarians and 800,000 Citizens of Christian and Muslim Roma/Gypsies.
Number of people living in Bulgaria: 7,351,234
Female: 3,770,897 (51%)
Male: 3,580,337 (49%)
Those living in cities: 5,357,633 (73%)
Those living in villages: 1,993,601 (27%)
Number of dwellings (houses, apartments, summer house/villa, any place where people can live): 3,898,688
Number of households (people living together - families, roommates, etc.):
2,826,740
The Alps (, , , , , , ) is the greatest mountain range of Europe.
It reaches from Austria and Slovenia in the east; through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany; to France in the west.
The original meaning of the word was 'white'.
The mountains are divided into the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps.
The division is along the line between Lake Constance and Lake Como, following the Rhine.
The Western Alps are higher, but their central chain is shorter and curved; they are located in Italy, France and Switzerland.
The Eastern Alps (main ridge system elongated and broad) belong to Austria, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Switzerland.
The highest peaks of the Western Alps are Mont Blanc, 4,808 metres (15,774 ft), Mont Blanc de Courmayeur 4,748 metres (15,577 ft), the Dufourspitze 4,634 metres (15,203 ft) and the other summits of the Monte Rosa group, and the Dom, 4,545 metres (14,911 ft).
The highest peak in the Eastern Alps is Piz Bernina, 4,049 metres (13,284 ft).
Perhaps the most famous location for tourist to the Alps are the Swiss Alps.
Main chain
The main chain of the Alps follows the watershed from the Mediterranean Sea to the Wienerwald, defining the northern border of Italy.
It then passes over many of the highest and most famous peaks in the Alps.
From the Colle di Cadibona to Col de Tende it runs to the west before turning to the northwest and then,  to the north, near the Colle della Maddalena.
Upon reaching the Swiss border, the line of the main chain goes about northeast, a heading it follows until its end near Vienna.
Common passes
The Alps do not make an impassable block; they have been traveled by for war and commerce, and later by pilgrims, students and tourists.
Mountain passes give paths between mountains, for road, train or foot traffic.
Some are famous, being used for thousands of years.
Four-thousanders
The Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) has defined a list of 82 "official" Alpine 4,000-meter (13,123 ft) peaks.
The list has many sub-peaks with little prominence, but good for mountaineering.
Here are the twelve four-thousanders with at least 1 km prominence.
Geology and orogeny
The reason mountains form is usually the moving together of continental plates of the Earth's crust.
The Alps rose as a result of the slow but gigantic pressure of the African plate as it moved north against the stable Eurasian landmass.
In particular, Italy (which had been a separate island) got pushed into Europe.
This all took place in the Tertiary period, mostly in the Miocene and Pliocene.
That's about 35 to 5 million years ago.
The Alps are just a part of a larger orogenic belt of mountain chains, called the Alpide belt.
It reaches through southern Europe and Asia from the Atlantic Ocean most of the way to the Himalayas.
A gap in these mountain chains in central Europe separates the Alps from the Carpathians off to the east.
Subsidence is the cause of the gaps in between.
A great and ancient ocean was once between Africa and Europe, the Tethys Ocean.
Now sediments of the Tethys Ocean basin and its Mesozoic and early Cenozoic strata sit high above sea level.
Even metamorphic basement rocks are found high on Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, and other high peaks in the Pennine Alps and Hohe Tauern.
Travel and visitors
The Alps are popular both in summer and in winter.
The Alps as a place for sightseeing and sports.
Winter sports (Alpine and Nordic skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing, snowshoeing, ski tours) can be learned in most regions from December to April.
In summer, the Alps are popular with hikers, mountain bikers, paragliders, and mountaineers.
There are also alpine lakes which attract swimmers, sailors and surfers.
The lower places and bigger towns of the Alps are well served by motorways and main roads, but higher passes and by-roads can be bad even in the summer.
Many passes are closed in winter.
Many airports around the Alps (and some within), as well as long-distance rail links from all bordering countries, afford large numbers of travelers easy access from abroad.
The Alps normally has more than 100 million visitors a year.
The Alps is split into five climate zones, each with a different kind of environment.
The climate, plant life and animal life vary on different sections or zones of the mountain.
The section of the Alps that is above 3,000 metres is called the névé zone.
This area, which has the coldest climate, is permanently coated with compressed snow.
Plants are therefore scarce in the névé zone.
The alpine zone lies between the height of 2,000 and 3,000 metres.
This zone is less cold than in the névé zone.
Wildflowers and grasses grow here.
Just below the alpine zone is the subalpine zone, 1,500 to 2,000 metres high.
Forests of fir trees and spruce trees grow in the subalpine zone as the temperature slowly goes up.
At about 1,000 to 1,500 metres high is the arable zone.
Millions of oak trees sprout in this area.
This is also where farming takes place.
Below 1,000 metres are the lowlands.
Here, a larger variety of plants are produced.
Aside from plants, villages are also in the lowlands because the temperature is easier for humans and farm animals.
The Alps is a classic example of what happens when a temperate area at lower altitude gives way to higher land.
A rise from sea level into the upper regions causes the temperature to decrease.
The effect of mountain chains on winds is to carry warm air belonging to the lower region into an upper zone, where it expands and loses heat, and drops snow or rain.
The typical trees—oak, beech, ash and sycamore maple have a natural height limit: the 'tree line'.
Their upper limit matches the change in climate which comes with increasing height.
The change from a temperate to a colder climate is also shown true by a change in the wild flowering plant life.
This limit normally lies about  above the sea on the north side of the Alps.
On the southern slopes, it often reaches to , sometimes even to .
The Alps do not always have the typical trees.
People have felled them in many places.
Except for the beech forests of the Austrian Alps, forests of the typical deciduous trees are hardly found.
Where such woods were, Scots pine and Norway spruce now grow.
These trees are less sensitive to the attacks of goats who eat the saplings of deciduous trees.
Above the tree line, there is often a band of dwarf pine trees (Pinus mugo), which is taking place of dwarf shrubs.
These shrubs are Rhododendron ferrugineum (on acid soils) or Rhododendron hirsutum (on non-acid soils).
Above this is the alpine meadow.
Above the alpine meadow is where plant life becomes less and less common.
At these great heights, the plants are likely to make separate groups.
In the Alps, many species of flowering plants have been recorded above .
These are like Ranunculus glacialis, Androsace alpina and Saxifraga biflora.
Rwanda is a country in Africa.
It is near Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, Uganda, and Tanzania.
In the Rwandan genocide of 1994, over one million (1,000,000) people were killed.
During the Scramble for Africa, Belgium conquered Rwanda.
The Belgians then began to divide Rwandans into groups: Hutu, and Tutsi.
The Belgians picked people that they thought looked more European to be Tutsi.
The rest became Hutu.
The Belgians told Rwandans that Tutsi were superior to Hutu.
They helped Tutsi rule over Hutu using their army.
On July 1, 1962, Rwanda became independent and Hutu were given power.
Thus, anti-Tutsi purges occurred frequently.