title: Homosexuality

paragraphs: Homosexuality is a sexual orientation. A homosexual person is romantically or sexually attracted to people of their own gender. Men who are romantically or sexually attracted to other men are called gay. Women who are romantically or sexually attracted to other women can be called gay as well, but are usually called lesbians. People who are romantically or sexually attracted to men "and" women are called bisexual.

paragraphs: Together homosexual, bisexual, and transgender people make up the LGBT community, which stands for "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender". It is difficult to say how many people are homosexual. Homosexuality is known to exist in all cultures and countries.

paragraphs: One may say that homosexuality is the term used for people that feel romantically or sexually attracted to their own sex, but other definitions also exist. When one views homosexuality as the term for people that feel romantically or sexually attracted to their own sex, more people are gay than when one might view homosexuality as only a term for people who do "have" sexual relationships with their own sex. Usually, the term is used to view all the people who are romantically or sexually attracted to their own sex, as well as those with such attractions who have not had a sexual relationship with their own sex yet. Nonetheless, the most visible form of homosexuality is the actual relationship. Most 'evidence' of homosexuality in ancient cultures comes from drawings of the men in an intimate relationship or sex, because it's the most obvious.

paragraphs: The word "homosexual" comes from the Ancient Greek word "homo", meaning "same", and the Latin word for "gender". People in the LGBT community usually say "gay" instead of "homosexual." Some people also use the term "homophile" (from Greek ' ("homos", meaning "the same") and ' ("philein"; meaning "to love"). This term emphasizes romantic interest in the same sex, rather than sexual attraction.

paragraphs: There are many different words to describe homosexual people. Some of these are used to insult homosexual people. However, the LGBT community sometimes uses these words to describe themselves because the word "homosexual" can sound too clinical. This is done to make the words less hurtful. Some words to describe homosexual men are "gay" and "queer". Words to describe homosexual women are "lesbian" and "dyke". "Lesbian" is used most often. "Dyke" is used less often and is sometimes used to describe lesbians who are more masculine (act or dress more like men). However, "queer" and "dyke" are sometimes used against gay people as insults, so they can sometimes be offensive.

paragraphs: When homosexual people keep their sexual orientation a secret, they are said to be "in the closet". "Out" or "out of the closet" is a slang term that means a homosexual person is open about their sexual orientation. This means they do not hide the fact that they are homosexual. Some gay and lesbian people stay in the closet because of fear of what would happen or because they live in a place that is not safe for homosexuals.

paragraphs: Sometimes people who are 'out' also say they are 'proud'. "Out" means they are not hiding their sexual orientation. "Proud" means that they are pleased about it. "Proud" or "Pride" has a special meaning in the LGBT community. It means they are celebrating and being happy that they are homosexual. It is not 'pride' meaning that they have done something to be proud of, but 'pride' meaning the opposite of shame. Many cities have "Pride Parades". These used to be protest marches. Today, they are usually celebrations of the LGBT community. They usually occur in June, in memory of the 'Stonewall Riots' that happened in New York City in 1969. These riots happened because police harassed and arrested people for being homosexual. 'Stonewall' or the 'Stonewall Riots' are sometimes called the start of the LGBT rights movement.

paragraphs: The causes of homosexuality and bisexuality are controversial (people do not agree on them). Some people see homosexuality and bisexuality as a choice that a person makes. However, many modern scientists have theorized that homosexuality is not a choice. The causes of homosexuality are not all understood, but genetics and the effects of prenatal hormones (when a baby is growing in its mother) and environment are sometimes thought to be causes. Scientists also show that homosexuality happens not only in humans. Some animals (like penguins, chimpanzees, and dolphins) often show homosexuality, some even for lifelong periods as is the case with humans.

paragraphs: Doctors used to treat gay people as if they had mental illnesses. However, homosexuality is no longer called a disease by doctors in many countries. There are some religious and non-religious groups who still try to 'cure' homosexuality. This is sometimes called 'conversion therapy'. In therapies like this one, homosexual individuals have tried to change themselves to heterosexual and have even claimed they were changed, but most people do not believe it is possible.

paragraphs: Conversion therapy or reparative therapy aims to change sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. It is condemned by medical and psychiatry groups such as the American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, Royal College of Psychiatrists, National Association of Social Workers, Royal College of Nursing, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. These scientific and educated groups are concerned that such therapy is a violation of the ethical principles of health care, and violates human rights.

paragraphs: Many people believe that it is unfortunate to discuss causes of homosexuality and bisexuality without discussing causes of heterosexuality, too. Although it is easy to understand why heterosexuality exists (heterosexual sex produces babies), that does not explain how the brain develops to produce heterosexual people. Heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality all have causes, and some people believe that to discuss only the causes of homosexuality and bisexuality suggests that there is something wrong with people who have those orientations.

paragraphs: Gay people can fall in love and have lifelong relationships. In most countries, they cannot legally marry their partners. However, they still have relationships in the same way as heterosexual people. They often call each other 'partners' or 'life-partners' instead of 'spouse', 'husband', or 'wife.' Instead of having a marriage ceremony, they may have a 'commitment ceremony.'

paragraphs: Some homosexual people have wedding ceremonies even though governments do not recognize or accept them. They may call their partner a spouse, wife, or husband despite the law.

paragraphs: But to them, the important part about marriage is not just the name. Married people get many benefits from being married. Depending on the country, these benefits can include paying less taxes, getting their spouse's insurance, inheriting property, social security benefits, having or adopting children together, emigrating to a spouse's country, being able to make choices for a sick spouse, or even being allowed to visit a sick spouse who is in a hospital.

paragraphs: Today there are numerous countries that allow homosexual people to marry, including: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Uruguay, the United States and Wales. The Netherlands was first in 2001. It is also legal in six Native American tribes.

paragraphs: Instead of marriage, some countries or states offer homosexuals civil unions or domestic partnerships. This gives them some of the protections and benefits of marriage, but not all. Civil unions and domestic partnerships are sometimes seen by the LGBT community as being 'second class' (not as good as 'first class'). They do offer some benefits for gay and lesbian couples, but they also suggest that these couples are not as important or valid as heterosexual couples. Some people even say this is like the "separate but equal" rules that were used to segregate people by race in the United States. They believe that separate is "never" equal and homosexuals should not accept being second class citizens.

paragraphs: Many religions teach that homosexual sex is a sin. Such religions traditionally include Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Usually, it is only the act of sexual intercourse that is considered sinful and not natural. Not all believe the attraction, is sinful, just the actions in response to the desire.

paragraphs: However, some denominations (different parts) of these religions and some eastern religions now accept homosexuality. There are several other religions that are accepting of homosexuality, particularly new religions. There are also some religions which are indifferent to homosexuality, such as Zoroastrianism and Jainism.

paragraphs: In many countries, homosexuals are discriminated against. A homosexual person can be fired from a job because they are gay, even if they are a good worker. Homosexuals can be denied renting a home or being able to eat in a restaurant because of their sexual orientation.

paragraphs: In some countries, homosexuals can experience violence. For example, Islamic law is used in some places to kill homosexuals or place them in jail. Some groups believe over 4,000 homosexuals have been killed in Iran since 1979 because of their sexual orientation. In 2005, after fourteen months of prison and torture, two teenage boys were hanged in Iran for homosexuality.

paragraphs: In modern times, homosexuality has become more accepted in Western countries. Most western countries have laws that protect homosexuals from violence and discrimination.

paragraphs: In the United Kingdom, homosexuality used to be a crime. Oscar Wilde, the famous Irish writer was imprisoned for it, and as a result, it destroyed his reputation and career as a wit and playwright. Alan Turing, the man who helped the Allies in World War II by breaking the Enigma Code used by the Germans, was convicted of this crime and according to some speculations he ultimately killed himself over the effects of the attempt to cure his homosexuality.

paragraphs: Today in the United Kingdom, homosexuals are safer. Homosexual sex between adults is not a crime. Gay and lesbian couples can marry. Gay people can be in the military.

paragraphs: In most of the world, homosexuals still do not have the same rights and freedoms that heterosexuals have.

paragraphs: Homosexual behaviour has also been seen in animals. Homosexual, transgender and bisexual behaviour includes sex, courtship, affection, pair bonding, and parenting. Homosexual behaviour is widespread among animals. Bruce Bagemihl did research in 1999. It shows that homosexual behaviour has been observed in close to 1500 species, from primates to gut worms, and is well documented for 500 of them. The sexual behaviour of animals takes many different forms, even within the same species. The motivations for these behaviours are only partly known, mainly because the respecive species has not been fully studied yet. According to Bagemihl, "the animal kingdom [does] it with much greater sexual diversity—including homosexual, bisexual and nonreproductive sex—than the scientific community and society at large have previously been willing to accept."

paragraphs: There are national and international groups or organizations for the LGBT community. These organizations are often political. They fight for the rights and safety of homosexuals.

paragraphs: Some of the more important political organizations are:


title: Dwight D. Eisenhower

paragraphs: Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower( (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 to 1961. He was known across the world for his help leading the Allied invasions in World War II.

paragraphs: Dwight David Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890, in Denison, Texas. He was the third of seven sons. His mother originally named him David Dwight, but she switched two names after his birth so that there wouldn't be two Davids in the family.

paragraphs: In 1892, the family moved to Abilene, Kansas, which Eisenhower considered his hometown. Dwight became very interested in exploring the outdoors. He learned about hunting and fishing, cooking, and card playing from a man named Bob Davis who camped on the Smoky Hill River.

paragraphs: Eisenhower went to Abilene High School. He graduated with the class of 1909. He and brother Edgar both wanted to go to college, but they did not have enough money. They decided to take different years at college while the other worked to earn money to pay the tuitions.

paragraphs: Edgar took the first turn at school, and Dwight was working a job as a night supervisor at the Belle Springs Creamery. When Edgar asked for a second year, Dwight accepted and worked for a second year. At that time, a friend named "Swede" Hazlett was applying to the Naval Academy. He wanted Dwight to apply to the school, since there was no tuition. Eisenhower asked for consideration for either Annapolis or West Point with his U.S. Senator, Joseph L. Bristow. Though Eisenhower was one of the winners of the entrance-exam competition, he too old for the Naval Academy. He then accepted an appointment to West Point in 1911.

paragraphs: At West point, Eisenhower liked the traditions and the sports. In sports, Eisenhower later said that "not making the baseball team at West Point was one of the greatest disappointments of my life, maybe my greatest". He joined the varsity football team and was a starter as running back and linebacker in 1912. He tackled the legendary Jim Thorpe of the Carlisle Indians. Eisenhower got a torn knee while being tackled in the next game, which was the last he played; he re-injured his knee on horseback and in the boxing ring, so he turned to fencing and gymnastics.

paragraphs: Eisenhower later served as junior varsity football coach and cheerleader. He graduated in the middle of the class of 1915. That class became known as "the class the stars fell on", because 59 members became general officers.

paragraphs: Eisenhower was born into a family which did not have much money. He joined the United States Military Academy at West Point as a cadet in 1911, and as an officer served in many different places including the Panama Canal Zone, Washington, D.C. and the Philippines. During World War II, he was a general. He directed the invasion of Morocco and Algeria during the North African Campaign. He became a 5-star general and was the Supreme Allied Commander for Operation Overlord (an attack on Germany which was one of the most important battles of the war).

paragraphs: After World War II ended, he was considered a war hero. In the 1952 U.S. presidential election, the American public begged Eisenhower to run for President. Eisenhower (whose political views were unknown at the time) joined the Republican Party. He chose Richard Nixon as his vice-presidential candidate and won the election by beating Adlai Stevenson II.

paragraphs: He served two terms from 1953–1961. Eisenhower was the first President of the United States to be president of all 50 states.

paragraphs: During the beginning of his first term, he oversaw a ceasefire (which stopped the fighting) during the Korean War. He created NASA (the United States space program) which began a space race against the Soviet Union. Eisenhower believed that the United States should not try to fight wars overseas, but instead that United States should make more nuclear weapons so it could have an advantage in the Cold War. The United States was able to keep the Soviet Union in check without spending a lot of money. For this reason, the U.S. government had balanced budgets during his presidency and did not have to borrow money.

paragraphs: He intimidated the Soviet Union by making them believe that the United States would respond to any act of aggression with the use of nuclear weapons. That policy is called brinkmanship, new look, and massive retaliation. He also authorized planes to spy on the Soviet Union, but when a U.S. spy plane accidentally crashed into the Soviet Union near the end of Eisenhower's term, it hurt relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.

paragraphs: McCarthyism (when Senator Joseph McCarthy was accusing hundreds of people of being communist spies without evidence) was also an issue during his presidency. Eisenhower disliked Joseph McCarthy and tried to bring him down behind the scenes, but Eisenhower did not like to make enemies, so he did not talk about McCarthy much.

paragraphs: Domestically (in the country), the economy was doing very well and the nation was prosperous. Eisenhower supervised the creation of the interstate highway system and created the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Eisenhower was a moderate conservative (near the center of the political spectrum). He wanted to continue some New Deal programs such as Social Security, but at the same time, he wanted the government to be limited. At first, many criticized him for not doing enough to give civil rights to African Americans, but later during his presidency, he signed two civil rights acts and sent federal troops to Topeka, Kansas to make sure schools were desegregated.

paragraphs: When Eisenhower's presidency ended he was not very popular with scholars. Over time his reputation slowly improved and historians now generally consider him to be a good president.

paragraphs: In September 2020, a presidential memorial will be dedicated in Washington, D.C. honoring Eisenhower.


title: Ferrocement

paragraphs: Ferrocement is both a method and a material used in building or sculpting with cement, sand, water and wire or mesh material. It is often called the thin shell. Thin shell ferrocement offers strength and economy and can be used in many ways including: building homes, creating sculptures, or building boats and ships.


title: Camera lens

paragraphs: A camera lens is the part of a camera that directs light to the film or, in a digital camera, to a computer chip that can sense the light. Many cheap lenses are plastic but better ones are made from glass. The lens makes an image by focusing the light.

paragraphs: The majority of cameras only have one lens that users cannot change or take out. This is called a "fixed lens" design. More expensive cameras usually have lenses that come off, so anyone can take out one lens and put in another. A lens may be simple, or may actually be made of several lenses.

paragraphs: Photographers can use different lenses (objectives) to make different kinds of pictures. For example, a telephoto lens can take a picture of something far away. A wide-angle lens is the opposite. A zoom lens is more versatile; it can do both. There are many kinds of lenses.

paragraphs: The study of lenses and how they work is called optics.

paragraphs: Lenses for large sheet film cameras are especially difficult to design. Cameras and their lenses have been made since the 19th century. Some from before World War II, are still usable today. Computers now let engineers make better lenses, though, because they can calculate the way that light goes through the lens and find the best design for each task.


title: Boy

paragraphs: A boy is a young male human, either a child or teenager. Little boys still have the body of a child. It is not until they reach puberty (adolescence) (which starts at age 13 on average) that their bodies start to mature and they become a man.

paragraphs: The word “boy” was used a long time ago in Anglo-Saxon English. The opposite of a boy is a girl.

paragraphs: The way boys are brought up will be vary a lot between different cultures. Boys are supposed to be tougher than girls. It is their job to do work which is physically hard, including fighting in the army when they are grown up. However, people’s attitudes are changing and nowadays many girls like to do the same things as boys. In Western cultures boys traditionally wear trousers (pants) while girls wear dresses or skirts. However, many girls also wear trousers these days, like boys, especially when dressed informally. Boys often have shorter hair than girls, although this can vary a lot according to quickly changing fashions.

paragraphs: Traditionally boys like rough games (such as soccer or rugby) and enjoy playing with mechanical things such as toy cars and trains. People today have long discussions about whether this is because they are born like that, or because that is the way society expects them to behave.

paragraphs: The traditional colour for a boy is blue. For girls it is pink. When a baby is born in a hospital it usually gets a blue or pink tag on its wrist or ankle, according to whether it is a boy or a girl.

paragraphs: Some names are boys’ names, others are girls’ names. There are some names which can be for boys and girls (although they may be spelt differently, e.g. “Lesley” for a boy and “Leslie” for a girl).

paragraphs: In some countries such as Britain an “old boy” means a grown up who used to be a pupil at a particular school (e.g. “He is an old boy of Cransbury High School”). The expression can also be used in a very informal, friendly way, e.g. “Nice to see you, old boy!”.


title: Company clerk

paragraphs: A company clerk is a person who keeps files, does secretarial work, etc., at an office or military company, camp or base.


title: Paul McCartney

paragraphs: Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and composer. He is internationally known as a singer and bassist of the Beatles. With singer and guitarist John Lennon, he contributed music and lyrics to a lot of the band's songs.

paragraphs: Paul was born at Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery (Past is Walton Hospital) in Walton, Liverpool, England, He was son of Jim and Mary McCartney, He had one brother is Michael McCertney and stepsister is called Ruth.

paragraphs: McCartney began writing songs before he was sixteen, and has written well over two hundred. His most famous song is "Yesterday", recorded by the Beatles in 1965. Since then around 2000 artists have recorded the song. Other songs written by McCartney for The Beatles include "Can't Buy Me Love", "Hey Jude", "Penny Lane", "Eleanor Rigby" and "Let It Be".

paragraphs: Often, Beatles songs would have "Lennon/McCartney" written on the record, and it would look like that they had written it together. In fact, most Lennon/McCartney songs were written by only one of them, or with one adding only small parts to the other's work. Each counted on the other to help make their songs better, so they agreed to share the credit equally.

paragraphs: Since the Beatles had stopped working together in 1971, McCartney started a new band called Wings with his wife Linda. Wings also had many hit records, including "Band On The Run" and "Mull Of Kintyre". McCartney wrote "Live and Let Die", which became the theme song to a James Bond film with the same title. Wings disbanded in 1981.

paragraphs: Later McCartney recorded a single called "Ebony and Ivory" with Stevie Wonder, then "The Girl is Mine" and "Say, Say, Say" with Michael Jackson. A song with Jackson called "The Man" was released on McCartney's fifth solo album "Pipes of Peace". He and Jackson became friends, but this ended after Jackson outbid McCartney for ownership of the publishing company which owned most of the Beatles's music.

paragraphs: McCartney had other hit songs, and also wrote and starred in the movie, "Give My Regards to Broad Street", with Linda. The theme song from the movie, "No More Lonely Nights", was also a hit, but the movie did poorly, and McCartney's popularity suffered. He had to work hard to prove his talent was still strong. He co-wrote new songs with Elvis Costello, and began touring more often than he had in years.

paragraphs: Along with popular music, McCartney also began composing classical music, including an oratorio about Liverpool. McCartney was knighted for his contributions to music and to British culture, and for his charity work. He bought John Lennon's former school, Quarry Bank, which he then turned into a performing arts school.

paragraphs: In 1990, the minor planet 4148 was named "McCartney" in his honour. In 2010, he was honoured by President Barack Obama with the Gershwin Prize for his contributions to popular music. He returned to the White House later that year as a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2012, he became the last Beatle to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

paragraphs: McCartney married Linda Eastman, a photographer, in 1969. She had a daughter, Heather, whom he adopted. McCartney and Linda had three more children together, named Mary, Stella and James. Stella became a popular fashion designer after she grew up.

paragraphs: Linda died in 1998 of breast cancer (McCartney's mother also died from the same disease in 1956). He married model Heather Mills in 2002; the couple's daughter Beatrice was born in 2003. McCartney and Mills separated in 2006, and, after a long battle over a settlement, McCartney and Mills divorced in March 2008.

paragraphs: McCartney married New Yorker Nancy Shevell, 51, in a civil ceremony at Old Marylebone Town Hall, London, on 9 October 2011. The couple had been dating since November 2007.

paragraphs: There was an urban legend that said that McCartney died in a car crash in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike.


title: Afrikaner people

paragraphs: Afrikaners are white South Africans who speak Afrikaans as mother tongue and follow the Afrikaans culture. Most of them have Dutch, German, French Huguenot, ancestors. Also known as Boere, Voortrekkers and Burgers, although under slightly different contexts. In South Africa there are about 3 million white people with Afrikaans as mother tongue, that can be assumed to be Afrikaners if they chose to follow the Afrikaans culture.


title: John Lennon

paragraphs: John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980), was an English singer and songwriter. He became famous as a singer and guitarist of the English rock band The Beatles. After the Beatles stopped making records in 1970, he lived in the United States with his wife Yoko Ono. He continued his music career up until his death in 1980.

paragraphs: Lennon was born at Liverpool Women's Hospital in Liverpool. He was son of Alfred Lennon and Julia Lennon.

paragraphs: He started the Beatles in his hometown of Liverpool, with Paul McCartney and George Harrison. After Ringo Starr joined the band, they started to be very successful. People were excited by their music, and their live performances always pleased audiences. Manager Brian Epstein and record producer George Martin helped the Beatles become the most popular act in entertainment.

paragraphs: Lennon played the guitar, and later learned to play the piano. Most of the songs the Beatles recorded were written by Lennon and McCartney. Their songs were always credited as by "Lennon/McCartney" on Beatles records, but in fact they usually wrote their songs on their own. The two men often helped to make each other's songs better, so they liked to share writing credit. Famous songs written by Lennon for the Beatles are "A Hard Day's Night", "Help!", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "A Day In The Life" and many others.

paragraphs: The Beatles grew apart as the members got older. Lennon divorced his first wife, Cynthia Powell, and married Yoko Ono, while McCartney married Linda Eastman. Each wife had different ideas, and encouraged their husbands to depend less on each other. Later, some fans blamed Yoko and Linda for breaking the Beatles up.

paragraphs: Lennon loved his wife so much that he added her surname Ono to his own name, since she became Yoko Ono Lennon when she married him. He had never liked his middle name Winston (given him by his mother after Winston Churchill) and wanted to change it, but was told he could not under British law. He could add a new name though, so he did that. He never used the name Winston again, unless he had to for legal reasons (such as when he travelled to America). Otherwise he gave his "full name" as John Ono Lennon.

paragraphs: Lennon recorded several albums and singles after the Beatles disbanded. The best-known one was "Imagine". He made many records with Yoko Ono. On some records they called themselves the Plastic Ono Band. Lennon and Ono worked with different musician friends, including Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann, Harry Nilsson, Eric Clapton and Elton John. Lennon's solo music was different from his Beatles songs. He spoke more directly about his own feelings, and sometimes used harsh language or loud sounds. This upset a few fans, who wished for more Beatles music from him.

paragraphs: Lennon and Ono moved to the United States in 1971, and settled in New York City. Ono had a daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox, from an earlier husband, Anthony Cox, a filmmaker, who took her and disappeared. It was easier to look for Kyoko, and get the law's help to look, if they stayed in America. Ono and Lennon were also hurt emotionally by the way Ono was treated by many people in England. Some insulted Ono, and asked Lennon why he was with her. On the other hand, most of the people they met in America accepted them together.

paragraphs: Lennon and Ono were also campaigners for peace in the world. They used Lennon's famous name to talk to the media (television, radio and newspapers) about their beliefs. Lennon and Ono were sometimes in trouble with people like politicians, who did not like the things they said. President Richard Nixon's administration even tried to deport Lennon, because of his political views.

paragraphs: The two things Lennon and Ono wanted most were to live permanently in the United States, and to have a child together. Their lives were stressful in the early 1970s for several reasons. There were the problems with immigrating to the United States, and with the search for Kyoko. The public were also sometimes negative toward Ono, her music, and her ideas. The couple had several miscarriages, caused partly by the stress.

paragraphs: Lennon also had business problems, because leaving the Beatles was not as simple as quitting an ordinary job. The Beatles had signed many contracts. They promised to do things in a certain way, meet deadlines, and work together, to be paid as musicians and songwriters. Many business deals had to be finished or changed, and new deals had to be made, to continue their music careers apart. This took time, and meant making many hard decisions. The four former Beatles could not always agree on what to do with the things they owned together. It took years to work out what to still own in common, what to divide up, and what to let go. The choices they had to make sometimes hurt their friendship.

paragraphs: Lennon and Ono separated for over a year, from late 1973 until early 1975, because of the stress in their lives, and their relationship. Each of them dated another person (Lennon pairing off with May Pang, his and Ono's personal assistant, and Ono with guitarist David Spinozza), and they were nearly divorced. They spoke nearly every day by telephone, however, and tried to work things out. They decided that they wanted to be together more than anyone else could want them apart, and they reunited.

paragraphs: When Richard Nixon faced the Watergate crisis in 1974, it became more important than pushing Lennon out of the country. The deportation case against him was dropped. Lennon won the right to stay in America in 1975. Lennon and Ono also finally had a son, Sean Lennon, that October. Father and son shared the same birthday.

paragraphs: Lennon and Ono stopped making music for five years, to be able to spend more time together, and give Sean as much attention as he needed. They lived on Lennon's income from the music he already made. Ono became Lennon's business manager, and invested his money in real estate and organic farming. Her office was downstairs in the Dakota, the apartment building where they lived, so they were never far apart. Lennon became a full-time father to Sean, and he was proud to call himself a "househusband". They also visited Ono's family in Japan several times, and made other trips.

paragraphs: In 1980 Lennon and Ono began to write new music, as Sean got old enough to begin school. They recorded a new album titled "Double Fantasy" that year. A single from the album, "(Just Like) Starting Over", was a hit, and people welcomed Lennon back. Even people who had not liked Ono earlier now respected her, and more of them began to like her music. Lennon and Ono planned to start fresh, do a world tour, and record more albums.

paragraphs: On December 8, 1980, Lennon was shot dead as he was going into his home, by a man named Mark David Chapman who was mentally ill. Even though he was ill, Chapman was still prosecuted for murder, because he killed Lennon. Chapman pled guilty to the murder the next year, and is still in prison today. He admitted later he was jealous of Lennon's fame and success, while his own life disappointed him. Chapman thought that killing Lennon would give his own life more meaning. He is always refused for parole, and is infamous (hated by many people).

paragraphs: Fans all over the world mourned Lennon's death. It made them feel that a special part of their lives was gone. Many met in New York's Central Park, near where Lennon and Ono lived, to say their goodbyes. Some played recordings of Lennon's music. Politicians and celebrities everywhere were sorry Lennon had died, even if they disliked him, because his music meant so much to so many people. Radio stations in the Soviet Union, where rock music was rarely allowed to be played, gave an hour over to Beatles recordings.

paragraphs: There was no funeral for Lennon, but Yoko Ono asked people everywhere to observe ten minutes of silence and prayer for him on Sunday, December 14, 1980, at 2:00 PM. At two o'clock, the music playing in Central Park stopped, and people all over the world fell silent for ten minutes. Other tributes came later, including songs by George Harrison ("All Those Years Ago"), Paul McCartney ("Here Today"), Elton John ("Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)") and Queen ("Life Is Real (Song for Lennon)").

paragraphs: Lennon's music (with and after his Beatles years) is still played everywhere, and people are still touched by it. A series of radio programs were devoted to playing demoes of his songs. Young musicians play Lennon's records, and learn his music. Yoko Ono released an album of acoustic versions of many Lennon songs, to help musicians understand them better.

paragraphs: There is now a garden in Central Park in Lennon's memory called "Strawberry Fields" after one of Lennon's most popular songs, which in turn was named after a Salvation Army orphanage near his childhood home. On October 9, 1990, on what would have been Lennon's fiftieth birthday, "Imagine" was simulcast on radio and television stations all over the world, uniting people everywhere to remember Lennon and his music.


title: Invention

paragraphs: An invention is a new thing that someone has made. The computer was an invention when it was first made. We say when it was "invented". New things that are made or created are called inventions. Cars and plastics are inventions that everyone knows. Inventions are made by inventors. Many inventions are patented.

paragraphs: Ideas are also called inventions. Writers can invent characters, and then invent a story about them.

paragraphs: Over time, humans have invented objects which make life easier for themselves. Because of this, a quote "necessity is the mother of invention", was written. The quote means that a lack of something should inspire someone to create something to fill that empty space. However, not all people believe that this is true. They think that too much of something can lead to an invention.

paragraphs: Many inventions are just a variation of something that already exists.


title: Genocide

paragraphs: Genocide is the crime of killing many people who are all part of one ethnic or religious group, or some sort of similar group, and trying to destroy that group. Genocide is done usually by a group, such as a government, or military group, not by one person or a small number of people. Usually, the motivation for genocide is based on political reason.

paragraphs: The word genocide was made up by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew, in 1944, from the words "genos" (Greek for family, tribe or race) and "-cide" (from the Latin "occidere", to kill). It was first used to the Nazi Holocaust, when many groups, including Jews and others, were killed.

paragraphs: Ustashe of Croatia are another example of genocidial horror. About a million of Serbs were killed in WWII in Ustashe concentration camps. Another example of genocide was when about a million of the Tutsi group of people of Rwanda were killed along with Hutus who were against the genocide in 1994.

paragraphs: In 1933 Lemkin made a speech to the Legal Council of the League of Nations conference on international criminal law in Madrid, for which he prepared an essay on the "Crime of Barbarity" as a crime against international law. The purpose of the crime, which later evolved into the idea of genocide, was based mostly on the experience of Assyrians massacred in Iraq on 11 August 1933. The event in Iraq reminded him of earlier similar events of the Armenian Genocide during World War I.

paragraphs: Today, any genocide is prohibited by the Genocide Convention and actor or inciter of genocide is judged by the International Criminal Court.

paragraphs: Some people do not agree that all of these events are genocides, but the events listed here are recognized as genocides by many people.


title: Yoko Ono

paragraphs: Both of her parents came from wealthy families. Her father, who was a descendant of a former Emperor of Japan, had been a concert pianist, but gave up music to become a banker. Ono was tutored privately, then sent to exclusive private schools, studying classical music and art, and also learning English. She visited the United States before World War II with her family. Her father was on a business trip to the U.S. when the war began, and was with many other Japanese in the country. He was not able to communicate with his family for many years. Ono's mother took her, her brother and sister away from Tokyo, and they stayed in a rural area.

paragraphs: After the war ended, the family was reunited, and moved to New York for her father's job. Ono enrolled in Sarah Lawrence College, but quit during her third year. She became interested in art and music, and began writing poetry. Many of her poems were instructions, for creating pieces of art. She later published some of these in a book, titled "Grapefruit". Her parents were not happy that Ono chose to make her own way, rather than following her family's wishes for her life. When she married Toshi Ichiyanagi, a young pianist, her parents her.

paragraphs: The marriage did not work out, and Ono rented a loft apartment of her own. She became friends with local artists in New York, including Andy Warhol and a group called Fluxus. She hosted small parties and "happenings" for her artist friends, and began to do artwork of her own. This brought her some notoriety in time, but not fame. She remarried, to Tony (Anthony) Cox, and they had a daughter, named Kyoko.

paragraphs: Ono went to London with Cox and Kyoko during 1966, to promote her career as an artist. John Lennon, who was a member of The Beatles, went to one of her art shows. He enjoyed the (fantasy-like) quality of her work. Ono and Lennon became friends, and later lovers, as each lost interest in their spouses. Lennon wanted them to be together as much as possible. He broke a rule the Beatles had never to bring a wife or girlfriend to their recording sessions. He brought her along anytime he could. They were married in March 1969, after they were both divorced.

paragraphs: Many Beatles fans blamed Ono for "breaking up" the band through her influence on Lennon. He seemed to many people to have "gone crazy" since meeting her. Some suggest that Ono simply encouraged Lennon to do things he'd already wanted to do, but let himself be talked out of doing in the past – including quitting the Beatles. Ono and Lennon started a new, part-time group they called the Plastic Ono Band. They also tried to have a baby together. Ono miscarried several times, until their son Sean Lennon was born in 1975, on Lennon's 35th birthday. Ono was also able to with her family, during the 1970s.

paragraphs: Ono was Lennon's "muse", inspiring his music and his creative side, for the rest of his life. The two worked together on both his post-Beatles records, and Ono's wish to also have a music career. She was more interested in "experimental" music than in classical or popular music. Ono's songs and unique style sounded strange to most listeners. It was offensive to many people, who thought Lennon should have either stayed with the Beatles, or made more music in their style. Ono changed her style, and began to write and record more pop songs, but her music never became popular. Years later, some younger musicians (such as The B-52's) admitted they had liked Ono's music. They were inspired by it, as Lennon had been.

paragraphs: After Lennon's death in 1980, Ono recorded several solo albums. The first was titled "Season of Glass". Her later records were praised by some music critics. They were even enjoyed by some Lennon fans, but the albums never sold well. Ono gave up her own musical career, and became the "caretaker" of Lennon's estate (the things he left when he died) and his non-Beatles work.

paragraphs: When Sean Lennon grew up, he also became a musician. He helped Ono to compile (collect and put in order) her old recordings, and make some new ones. She also revived some of her earlier artwork, and gave the money made from sales and exhibits to charities. Ono recently (2006) appeared at the opening of "Love", a Cirque du Soleil show featuring Beatles music, to help promote it.


title: Coast

paragraphs: The coast also means the land next to the sea, which can also be called the shore, or sea-shore. However, coast is not used to describe where rivers or lakes meet the land - it is only used to describe the sea meeting the land.

paragraphs: If a house is near to the coast we say it is "on the coast". When we talk about a long part of the coast we call it "the coast-line".

paragraphs: Sometimes, 'coast' can be part of a place name or the description of a large area. For instance, the East Coast of the United States describes the all of the Eastern side of the United States that is next to the Atlantic Ocean.

paragraphs: In some countries like England or Australia the people sometimes use the word sea-side for the coast.

paragraphs: Coasts often have many living things living there and provide habitat for many animals and plants.

paragraphs: An example of a coast in Great Britain is the Holderness Coast near Bridlington. This is one of Europe's fast eroding coasts.


title: George Harrison

paragraphs: George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. After the group broke up in 1970, he had a solo career. He made many albums and worked with other musicians including Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Phil Spector, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Ravi Shankar. He was also interested in Eastern mysticism and charitable causes.

paragraphs: Harrison was born in 12 Arnold Grove in Wavertree, Liverpool, He was youngest of four children of Harold Hargreaves (or Hargrove) Harrison and Louise Harrison, He had one sister and two brothers.

paragraphs: George's best-known album was "All Things Must Pass," which he made just after the Beatles broke up. Harrison owned a mansion in England called Friar Park, where he lived from 1970 until he died. He built his own recording studio inside the mansion, which for a time was better than Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles had made their records. Having a private studio meant Harrison could work on songs and recordings anytime he wanted.

paragraphs: Ravi Shankar came to Harrison during 1971 with news about a war in Bangladesh, where thousands of people had died and millions more were refugees and starving. Shankar asked for Harrison's help to give a benefit show to buy food for them. Harrison called on many of his musician friends, who put together a charity concert with famous people to help the refugees. The "Concert for Bangla Desh", a live recording, became a best-selling album, raised money for the refugees, and brought worldwide attention to the problems in their country. It also inspired later benefits, including Live Aid in the 1980s.

paragraphs: Harrison found a new musical partner in the 1980s, when Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra began to write and record songs with him. The two men worked well together and became close friends. Harrison and Lynne formed another band, the Traveling Wilburys, with fellow musicians Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison. The Traveling Wilburys recorded two albums, which became hits.

paragraphs: In 1966, Harrison married a model, Pattie Boyd, but they were divorced in 1971, and had no children. Boyd left Harrison to be with his friend, guitarist Eric Clapton, but all three remained friends. Harrison married again in 1978, to American-born Olivia Trinidad Arias, who had worked for his record company. Arias became the mother of Harrison's son Dhani, whose name is comprised of the names of two notes in the Indian music scale. Dhani grew up to be a musician like his father, fronting the band thenewno2. He went to Brown University in the United States.

paragraphs: In the late 1970s Harrison formed a movie production company, Handmade Films, which produced movies including Monty Python's "Life of Brian" and Terry Gilliam's "Time Bandits".

paragraphs: The grounds of Harrison's home, Friar Park, had been more or less open to the public, until the murder of his former bandmate John Lennon late in 1980. Harrison was very hurt and shocked by Lennon's death, and was afraid someone might try to harm him or his family. Afterwards, the gates were locked, and no-entry notices were posted. In December, 1999, an intruder broke into his home, stabbing him with a knife. Harrison and his wife Olivia stopped the intruder and called the police. Harrison recovered. The man who attacked him is schizophrenic and was acquitted of attempted murder by reason of insanity in November 2000 at Oxford Crown Court. He was sent to a mental hospital and released in 2002.

paragraphs: In the 1990s, decades of smoking cigarettes caused Harrison to develop throat cancer. He later developed lung cancer, which caused his death in 2001. His family issued a last statement from him: "Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another." Even music was not as important to Harrison as his wanting people to learn to get along with each other, and to make the world a better place.

paragraphs: A year after Harrison's death, Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison, the two remaining Beatles (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr), and other musicians held the "Concert for George", which remembered Harrison's music, his life, and his gifts to humanity. All the profits from the concert were given to charity.


title: Ravi Shankar

paragraphs: Ravi Shankar (7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was one of India's most famous musicians. Shankar was one of the first to bring aspects of traditional Indian music into Europe and United States|American culture in the 1960s. He was a major influence on George Harrison, who was a member of The Beatles. Shankar is famous for playing the sitar, an Indian stringed instrument. He performed until his death. In 2005 he played at The Proms. His daughters Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar are also well-known musicians.


title: Sentence

paragraphs: A sentence is a group of words that are put together to mean something. A sentence is the basic unit of language which expresses a complete thought. It does this by following the grammatical basic rules of syntax. For example:"Ali is walking".

paragraphs: A complete sentence has at least a subject and a main verb to state (declare) a complete thought. Short example: "She walks". A subject is the noun that is doing the main verb. The main verb is the verb that the subject is doing. In English and many other languages, the first word of a written sentence has a capital letter. At the end of the sentence there is a punctuation mark depending on whether it is a statement, a question, a command, a request or an exclamation.

paragraphs: A "phrase" or "clause" is part of a sentence.

paragraphs: In this sentence, 'The dog' is the subject, and 'is' is the verb.

paragraphs: There is no verb, so we do not know anything about what the happy dog is doing. Therefore, it is not a sentence.

paragraphs: A clause is a sentence within a sentence. Example:

paragraphs: Here are some sentences written in Basic English:

paragraphs: Read a book about the history of America.

paragraphs: There are beautiful flowers growing in the garden.

paragraphs: The cushions are new and I feel the comfort they give me.


title: James Joyce

paragraphs: James Augustine Aloysius Joyce () (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish writer and poet of the modernist movement. He was from Dublin, Ireland. He wore an eyepatch, because of eye damage. He could not see well.

paragraphs: His books are written in a special style. At first he wrote in a way which describes very accurately how life is, in the short story collection called "Dubliners". In his next book, called "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", he started a new style. It is called stream of consciousness, which is writing all the thoughts that a character has. His work influenced many other writers in the 20th century.

paragraphs: James Joyce was the oldest of ten children. He went to a boarding school called Conglowes Wood College and later to Belvedere College. (College here refers to secondary school not to university as it can in the U.S.) Conglowes was run by Jesuit priests.

paragraphs: When he was very young, his family was rich. Later his father lost most of their money so he had to change schools and go to Belvedere College, which was cheaper.

paragraphs: Joyce met Nora Barnacle in 1904 and they began to have a long relationship until his death in 1941. The couple moved out of Dublin to Zürich in 1904, then to Trieste, Paris then back to Zürich. They married in 1931. They had a son and a daughter. Their daughter had a mental illness later in her life. Because he was smart, his parents wanted him to go to college. He studied modern languages at University College Dublin.

paragraphs: Joyce became a very famous writer after he published "Ulysses". He also began to have a lot of problems with his eyes and his family. But he completed his last book, "Finnegans Wake" by 1939. He died in Zurich.


title: Andes

paragraphs: The Andes are a mountain range along the western coast of South America.

paragraphs: They stretch over 7,000 km / 4,400 miles from the south of Argentina and Chile to the north of Colombia. They are also found in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.

paragraphs: The Amazon river system has its sources in the eastern flanks of the Andes.

paragraphs: The Andes are the longest exposed mountain range of the world, and the second-highest after the Himalayas. The Andes mountain range is the highest mountain range outside Asia.

paragraphs: Aconcagua, the highest peak, rises to 6,962 m (22,841 ft) above sea level. The top of Mount Chimborazo in the Ecuadorean Andes is the point on the Earth's surface most distant from its center. Mount Chimborazo is an inactive volcano in Ecuador, which last erupted over a thousand years ago.

paragraphs: The northern part has two parallel ranges. They are the "Cordillera Occidental" (western) and the "Cordillera Oriental" (eastern). The term "cordillera" comes from the Spanish word meaning 'rope'.

paragraphs: In Colombia, north to the border with Ecuador, the Andes split in three parallel ranges, western, central and eastern.

paragraphs: In the north the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Snowy Mountain Range of Saint Martha) is an isolated mountain range apart from the Andes chain that runs through Colombia. Reaching an altitude of 5,700 metres above sea level just 42 km from the Caribbean coast, the Sierra Nevada is the world's highest coastal range.

paragraphs: The western range of the eastern Cordillia Oriental is the only one which reaches Colombia .

paragraphs: The Andes range is about wide throughout its length, except in Bolivia where it is wide. The islands of the Dutch Caribbean Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, which lie in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela, represent the submerged tops of the northern edge of the Andes range.

paragraphs: The Andes are a Mesozoic–Tertiary orogenic belt of mountains along the Pacific Ring of Fire.

paragraphs: The Andes are the result of plate tectonics processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American continental plate. South America, like North America, has been moving west since the Cretaceous period.

paragraphs: The formation of the modern Andes began with the events of the Triassic and Jurassic when Pangea begun to break up and several rifts developed. It was during the Cretaceous period that the Andes began to take their present form, by the uplifting, faulting and folding of sedimentary and metamorphic rock of the ancient cratons to the east. The rise of the Andes has not been constant and different regions have had different degrees of tectonic stress, uplift, and weathering.

paragraphs: The climate in the Andes differs depending on which area, the altitude, and how close it is to the sea. The southern section is rainy and cool. The central Andes are dry. The northern Andes are normally rainy and warm, with an average temperature of in Colombia. The climate is known to change very much in rather short distances. Rainforests exist just miles away from the snow covered peak Cotopaxi. The mountains have a large effect on the temperatures of nearby areas. The snow line depends on the location. It is at between 4,500 and 4,800 m (14,800–15,800 ft) in the tropical Ecuadorian, Colombian, Venezuelan, and northern Peruvian Andes, going up to 4,800–5,200 m (15,800–17,060 ft) in the drier mountains of southern Peru south to northern Chile south to about 30°S, then going down to on Aconcagua at 32°S, at 40°S, at 50°S, and only in Tierra del Fuego at 55°S; from 50°S, many of the bigger glaciers go down to sea level.

paragraphs: The Andes of Chile and Argentina can be put in two climatic and glaciological zones; the Dry Andes and the Wet Andes.

paragraphs: Rainforests used to hold much of the northern Andes but are now reduced, especially in the Chocó and inter-Andean valleys of Colombia. Farming, deforestation, illegal crops, and population growth has done this.

paragraphs: A direct opposite of the humid Andean slopes are the mostly dry Andean slopes in most of western Peru, Chile and Argentina. That area, and many Interandean Valles, normally have deciduous woodland, shrub and xeric vegetation, up to the mostly lifeless Atacama Desert.

paragraphs: About 30,000 species of vascular plants live in the Andes. About half of those are endemic to the region: it is a hotspot. The small tree "Cinchona pubescens" is a source of quinine used to treat malaria. It is found widely in the Andes as far south as Bolivia. Other important crops that came from the Andes are tobacco and potatoes.

paragraphs: The high-altitude "Polylepis" forests and woodlands are found in the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. These trees are called Queñua, Yagual and other names. They grow at altitudes of above sea level. It is still unclear if the patchy distribution of these forests and woodlands is natural, or the result of clearing which began during the Incan time. Regardless, in modern times the clearance has had a faster pace, and the trees are now highly endangered. Some think as little as 10% of the original woodland is still here.

paragraphs: The Andes has a lot of wildlife. With almost 1,000 species, of which about 2/3 are endemic to the region, the Andes is the most important region in the world for amphibians.

paragraphs: Animal diversity in the Andes is high, with almost 600 species of mammals (13% endemic), more than 1,700 species of birds (1/3 endemic), more than 600 species of reptiles (45% endemic), and almost 400 species of fish (1/3 endemic).

paragraphs: The Vicuña and Guanaco can be found living in the Altiplano, while the closely related domesticated Llama and Alpaca are commonly kept by locals as pack animals and for their meat and wool. The nocturnal chinchillas, two threatened members of the rodent order, live in the Andes' alpine regions. The Andean Condor, the largest bird of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, lives throughout much of the Andes but mostly in very low numbers. Other animals found in the mostly open habitats of the high Andes are the huemul, cougar, and foxes in the genus "Pseudalopex". And for birds, some species of tinamous (they are members of the genus "Nothoprocta"), are the Andean Goose, Giant Coot, flamingos (mainly associated with hypersaline lakes), Lesser Rhea, Andean Flicker, Diademed Sandpiper-plover, miners, sierra-finches and diuca-finches.


title: Meal

paragraphs: A meal is a serving of food eaten by human beings. Meals usually include several different types of food, such as grains, vegetables, fruit, and in some cases, meat. Meals have different names by time they are taken or by the type of food that is eaten.

paragraphs: In North America and in Europe, people usually eat three meals a day. The morning meal is called breakfast. It usually includes foods made from grain (cereal, porridge, or bread), fruit (apple, banana, or an orange), and milk products (milk, yogurt, or cottage cheese). Many people drink coffee or tea with their breakfast.

paragraphs: Around noon, people eat their lunch. People who are working at jobs are given a break to eat their lunch. The lunch meal includes foods such as a sandwich, soup, vegetables, fruit, and milk. In some countries, such as Italy, people serve an alcoholic drink with lunch. In England, some people have a glass of beer with their lunch.

paragraphs: In the evening, people eat their supper or dinner. Dinners are different in different countries. Usually dinners include a "main course" such as roast beef, a grain (such as rice or pasta), a vegetable (such as carrots or cauliflower) and a dessert (called a "sweet" or "pudding" in England).

paragraphs: In some cases, a starter or appetizer is served before the dinner. Appetizers are a small serving of food such as olives, cheese, or bread. In many countries, people serve an alcoholic drink with dinner, such as wine or beer.


title: Leipzig

paragraphs: Leipzig is the biggest city in the state of Saxony (eastern Germany). When Germany was divided into East and West Germany, Leipzig was one of the three biggest industrial cities in the East Germany.

paragraphs: Leipzig occupies and is still an industrial city. 510,651 people are living in Leipzig as of 29 February 2008.

paragraphs: Its Latin name is "Lipsia" and the German name "Leipzig" came from this name. Leipzig has a long history. Its name was first recorded as Leipzig Castle (Leipziger Burg) in 1015, and the official founding of the city occurred later in 1165. It was an economic center of , famous with its market (Leipziger Messe).

paragraphs: In 1409, was started. Theology was its major faculty. In 1519, Martin Luther had a discussion in Leipzig against . Reformation came to Leipzig in 1539 and the city people became Lutheran.

paragraphs: It is famous for , where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as music director (Kantor) from 1723 until his death in 1750.

paragraphs: In 1813 near Leipzig, the Battle of Leipzig was fought between the French army led by Napoleon Bonaparte and the allied armies of Austria, Prussia and Russia.

paragraphs: In 1839, the railway between Dresden and Leipzig was opened. It was the first long distance railroad in Germany.

paragraphs: As a result of industrialization, the number of people living in Leipzig grew during the 19th century. Before World War II, there were about 750,000 people in Leipzig.

paragraphs: After the war, Leipzig belonged to the part of Germany occupied by the Soviet Union, and later to East Germany.

paragraphs: In 1989, the took place in Leipzig. Every monday after a Christian mess in the the Leipzig people demonstrate for freedom to travel and democracy. These demonstrations became bigger and bigger and reached their peak on 23 October when 320,000 people came. The demonstrations are one of the things that lead to the end of communist dictatorship in East Germany.

paragraphs: Today, Leipzig is still known as a city of fairs, media and university, but is less important than it was before World War II.

paragraphs: Before World War II, Leipzig was a famous center of commerce (Leipzig exhibition) and industry. Now, there are big companies in Leipzig like Porsche, BMW, Siemens and DHL, as well as the .

paragraphs: With almost 511,000 people, Leipzig city proper is the 12th biggest city in Germany and the 2nd biggest in what was East Germany (DDR), smaller than East Berlin and bigger than Dresden. Leipzig urban has 567,000 people. The total population of Leipzig metropolitan area is 1,389,000.

paragraphs: Leipzig, Chemnitz, Dresden, Halle, and Zwickau form an area called the , which has about 3,500,000 people.

paragraphs: Leipzig has a university where famous people studied (e.g. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Edvard Grieg, Erich Kästner, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Angela Merkel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner.) The (Central Station) is the biggest terminal station in Europe. It sees about 150,000 passengers each day. It is 293 meters wide.


title: Evil

paragraphs: Evil means something which is morally bad or wicked. It is the opposite of good. People may say that an action which hurts people or breaks certain rules such as the Ten Commandments is evil. A person or a group that does evil things may also be called evil.

paragraphs: A version of the problem of evil, perhaps by Epicurus, goes as follows:

paragraphs: Arguments such as these are about the "logical" problem of evil. They attempt to show that the assumed propositions lead to a logical contradiction and so cannot all be correct.

paragraphs: A common response is that God can exist with and allow evil in order to achieve a greater good. Some philosophers accept that arguments such as "God allows evil in order to achieve the greater good of free will" are logically possible and thus solve the logical problem of evil. Since the aim is only to defeat the assertion that God and evil are "logically incompatible", even a highly implausible instance of God's coexistence with evil is sufficient for the purpose.

paragraphs: In theology, there is a question: "If there is a God, why does God let evil happen?" Some think that evil proves that there is not a God. Others think that God lets evil happen so that people can choose "not" to do evil.

paragraphs: Philosophies of science have approached the problem from the angle of empiricism. For logical positivism the issue with God is the lack of any independent method of verification. In their view, this makes the proposition "God exists", not true or false, but meaningless. A similar position points to the lack of any way the proposition might be falsified.

paragraphs: The study of good and evil in philosophy is called ethics. Ethics tries to explain why some actions are good and other actions are evil. It attempts to give all kinds of answers for how to tell evil from good. Christians believe that at the Second Coming of Christ, God will put an end to evil and the works of the Devil- see the end of the Book of Revelation. In movies or TV series evil people are often called villains. Political actions are sometimes viewed as evil such as authoritarianism, ableism or censorship. People disagree on why people do evil things. Religious people may think that it is the result of listening to an evil being such as the devil or sin. Others think it happens because of mental issues like anger, mental illness or revenge. Certain types of behavior are also sometimes seen as evil such as killing or lying to be punished. Sex crimes such as rape, hebophilia or pedophilia are also often seen as evil.


title: Poznań

paragraphs: Poznań (German name: "Posen") is the biggest city and capital of Greater Poland Voivodeship in Poland, one of the oldest and the biggest cities in Poland. Its population is about 560,000 and its area is 262 square kilometers.

paragraphs: Poznań was one of the 4 Polish cities where the UEFA European Football Championship matches were played in 2012. Poland co-hosted the championship together with Ukraine.


title: Cartoonist

paragraphs: A cartoonist is a person who draws cartoons. Cartoons can be pictures on a printed page (also called comics or comic strips) or moving pictures on film (also called animation). Both kinds of cartoons can be found on the internet. Examples of some famous cartoonists are:


title: Jim Henson

paragraphs: James Maury "Jim" Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American artist, animator, puppeteer, and television. He was best known for his work with the Muppets, which he helped to create.

paragraphs: Henson's best known puppet is Kermit the Frog. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show", movies such as "The Muppet Movie" and "The Great Muppet Caper". He also made puppets for projects like "Fraggle Rock", "The Dark Crystal", and "Labyrinth".

paragraphs: The Jim Henson Company and the Jim Henson Foundation continued after his death, making new series and specials. Jim Henson's Creature Shop, founded by Henson, also continues to build creatures for a large number of other movies and series (e.g. the science-fiction production "Farscape", the movie adaptation of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and the movie "MirrorMask") and is said to be one of the most advanced and well respected creators of movie creatures.

paragraphs: His son Brian and daughter Lisa are the co-chairs and co-CEOs of the company. His daughter Cheryl is the president of the foundation. Steve Whitmire, a veteran member of the Muppet puppeteering crew, plays the roles of Kermit the Frog and Ernie, the most famous characters formerly played by Jim Henson.

paragraphs: One of Henson's last projects is a show attraction in Walt Disney World and Disneyland. It is called Muppet*Vision 3D. It opened in 1991, shortly after his death.


title: Game Boy Advance Video

paragraphs: Game Boy Advance Video is a format of cartridges for the Game Boy Advance. They work the same as normal cartridge but play television shows instead of games. They generally contain 45 minutes of TV, for example, a show from Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. They were first made in early 2004, but gradually stopped being made shortly before there were no more Game Boy Advance games made in 2008, with the final game for it being Samurai Deeper KYO.


title: Butterfly

paragraphs: A butterfly is a usually day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera. They are grouped together in the suborder Rhopalocera. Butterflies are closely related to moths, from which they evolved. The earliest discovered fossil moth dates to 200 million years ago.

paragraphs: The life of butterflies is closely connected to flowering plants, which their larvae (caterpillars) feed on, and their adults feed and lay their eggs on. They have a long-lasting history of co-evolution with flowering plants. Many of the details of plant anatomy are related to their pollinators, and vice versa. The other notable features of butterflies are their extraordinary range of colours and patterns, and their wings. These are discussed below.

paragraphs: Angiosperms (flowering plants) evolved in the Lower Cretaceous, but did not become common until the Upper Cretaceous. Butterflies were the last major group of insects to appear on the planet. They evolved from moths in the latest Cretaceous or the earliest Cainozoic. The earliest known butterfly fossils date to the mid Eocene epoch, between 40–50 million years ago.

paragraphs: Like moths, butterflies have four wings covered with tiny scales. When a butterfly is not flying, its wings are usually folded over its back. The wings are patterned and are often brightly coloured. There are many different kinds of butterflies. The males and females of each kind are often slightly different from each other. Butterfly watching is a popular hobby. Some people also keep collections of dead butterflies that they have caught.

paragraphs: Like all insects with complete metamorphosis, a butterfly's life goes through four distinct stages. It begins as an egg, which hatches into a larva (a caterpillar). After some time, the larva turns into a chrysalis. While it is in the chrysalis stage, it changes to become an adult butterfly. To complete the cycle, adults mate and the females lay the eggs.

paragraphs: Butterfly, (superfamily Papilionoidea), any of numerous species of insects belonging to multiple families. Butterflies, along with the moths and the skippers, make up the insect order Lepidoptera. Butterflies are nearly worldwide in their distribution.

paragraphs: The main predators of butterflies are birds, just as the main predators of the crepuscular moths are bats. Also monkeys and tree-dwelling reptiles are predators, and some insects and spiders. All reptiles and monkeys have good colour vision, so that butterfly coloration works just as well on them as it does on birds.

paragraphs: The extraordinary colours and patterns on the wings and body can only be understood in terms of their function. Some of the most obvious functions of colour are:

paragraphs: The details vary from group to group, and from species to species. The caterpillars also have colours with similar functions. The poisonous substances which make some butterflies noxious to eat are got from the plants eaten by their caterpillars.

paragraphs: Like most insects, butterflies have three main body parts. These parts are the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The body is protected by the exoskeleton. The body is made up of sections, known as segments. In between the segments there are flexible areas that allow the butterfly to move. All three parts of the body are covered in very small scales. The scales give the butterfly its colour.

paragraphs: Butterflies have a very characteristic flying style. They usually do not fly in straight lines. Their style is well described by the children's version of their name: 'flutter-by'. Some species are capable of strong, long flights (see monarch butterfly migration) and others never leave the woods they were born in. They can survive bird pecks on the wings quite well. Late in the season damage to their wings can often be seen, though they continue flying quite well.

paragraphs: The head is the first part of the body. It has the eyes, mouth parts, and antennae.

paragraphs: The eyes of a butterfly are large. The eye is made up of smaller eyes or optical units. Eyes that are made up of optical units are called compound eyes. Butterflies do not see as many colours as humans, but they can see ultraviolet light.

paragraphs: The mouth of an adult butterfly does not have jaws. It has a kind of mouth that is made to suck liquids. This mouth is called a proboscis. The proboscis is made up of two hollow tubes. The tubes are locked together in the middle. When the butterfly is not using its proboscis, it is coiled up in the head. It can uncoil the proboscis when it wants to feed.

paragraphs: The antennae of a butterfly are used for smell and balance. The antenna in most butterflies is clubbed at the end. In some butterflies (like the Skippers), there is a hook at the end of the antenna, instead of a club.

paragraphs: The thorax is the second part of the body. It is made up of three segments. The legs and wings are connected to the thorax.

paragraphs: The legs of a butterfly are made for walking, holding onto things, and tasting. There are three pairs of legs. There are four main parts of the leg. They are the trochanter, the femur, the tibia, and the foot. At the end of each foot, there is a pair of claws. Butterflies in the family Nymphalidae have very short front legs. They keep there front legs close to their bodies. This makes it look like they only have two pairs of legs. In some species, there is a movable body part on the tibia that is used to clean the antennae.

paragraphs: A butterfly has two pairs of wings. Each wing has hollow tubes called veins. The colors and patterns of butterflies are made by tiny scales. The scales overlap each other. They are connected to the wing. If a butterfly is handled, the tiny scales may rub off.

paragraphs: The abdomen is the third part of the body. It is made up of ten segments. The abdomen is much softer than the head and the thorax. At the end of the abdomen are the reproductive organs. In the male, there is a pair of claspers. They are used to hold on to the female during mating. In the female, there is a tube made to lay eggs.

paragraphs: Butterflies go through complete metamorphosis. This means that there are four parts in a butterfly's life. The first part is the egg. The second part is the caterpillar (sometimes called the larva). The third part is the chrysalis (sometimes called the pupa). The fourth part is the adult (sometimes called the imago).

paragraphs: A female butterfly will lay her eggs on or near the food plant of the caterpillar (the food plant is the plant that the caterpillar feeds on). The female will choose a place to lay her eggs using smell, taste, touch, and sight. Most species will lay just one egg on the food plant. Others will lay groups of five to over 100 eggs on the food plant. Most species will lay their eggs on the leaves of the food plant. Others will lay them on the flowers, stems, bark, or fruit of the food plant.

paragraphs: The eggs come in many different shapes and colours. They may be round or oval, and flattened. In some species, the egg shell is ribbed. The most common colours in butterfly eggs are yellow and green. The eggs will turn dark just before hatching. Also, some butterflies take a day to come out of eggs, while others could take months.

paragraphs: Butterfly caterpillars can vary in size, colour, and shape. They may have spines, bristles, or soft body extensions. All caterpillars have 13 body segments. The first three segments make up the thorax. The thorax has three pairs of legs. These legs are called true legs. The other 10 segments make up the abdomen. The abdomen has five pairs of soft legs called prolegs. The prolegs have tiny hooks at the end of each of the foot. They are used to hold on to things. The hooks are called crochets.

paragraphs: A caterpillar's skin does not grow. As the caterpillar grows inside its skin, the skin becomes too tight. In order for the caterpillar to grow bigger, it sheds its too-tight skin. After the old skin is shed, there is a new, larger skin. This is known as moulting. A caterpillar will moult four to five times before turning into a pupa. Each part between moults is called an instar.

paragraphs: All caterpillars can make silk. The silk is made from the salivary glands. Silk starts out as a liquid in the salivary glands. The caterpillar draws out the silk into a small thread. The silk hardens as soon as it is exposed to the air. Caterpillars use silk to make nests or cocoons.

paragraphs: Most caterpillars feed on leaves of plants or trees. Most species of caterpillars will feed only on a small number of certain kinds of plants. If the caterpillar's food plant is not found, it will starve to death.

paragraphs: Some species of caterpillars (in the family Lycaenidae) are tended by ants. The caterpillars have special glands that make a sweet liquid called honeydew. The ants like the honeydew. In return for the honeydew, the ants protect the caterpillars from predators. The caterpillars also have special body parts that make sounds. The caterpillar will make sounds with the body parts and "call" the ants when the caterpillar is being attacked by predators. The ants hear the sounds and come to protect the caterpillar.

paragraphs: Caterpillars in the subfamily Miletinae eat insects in the order Hemiptera. This includes aphids, mealybugs, leafhoppers and treehoppers.

paragraphs: Caterpillars in the family Papilionidae have a special organ. This organ is called an osmeterium. It is a bad-smelling gland that is shaped like a snake's tongue. It is kept behind the inside of the head. When a predator tries to eat the caterpillar, the caterpillar will release the osmeterium. This scares the predators away.

paragraphs: The pupa (plural, pupae) is formed after the last moult. The caterpillar will find a special place to pupate (pupate means to turn into a pupa). The digestive tract is emptied. The caterpillar sheds its skin. The pupa is now exposed. The caterpillar's tissues are broken down and rebuilt into the butterfly's tissues.

paragraphs: The pupa cannot move. It is attached to an object by tiny hooks on the end of the abdomen. These hooks make up what is called the cremaster. There are many tiny holes on the pupa. They allow respiratory gases to move in and out of the pupa.

paragraphs: Many pupae are easy for predators to attack. Some caterpillars (in the family Hesperiidae and the subfamilies Parnassiinae and Satyrinae) make shelters out of silk and leaves to protect themselves when they become pupae. These shelters are called cocoons. Most butterfly pupae do not have cocoons to protect themselves. Instead, the pupae have brown or green colours to camouflage themselves among leaves and branches. Pupae that do not have cocoons are called chrysalids or chrysalises.

paragraphs: Some butterflies may be in trouble because of habitat loss. Because of the destruction of forests and grasslands, some types of butterflies have nowhere to feed and lay eggs. To help, some people plant a butterfly garden with flowers having lots of nectar for butterflies to feed on. Some people also keep plants that butterflies lay eggs on, and enjoy watching the caterpillars hatch out and feed on the plant. Chemical sprays that are used to keep pests away from garden plants, also kill butterflies.


title: Nazism

paragraphs: Nazism (or National Socialism; ) is a set of political beliefs associated with the Nazi Party of Germany. It started in the 1920s. Party gained power in 1933, starting the Third Reich. They lasted in Germany until 1945, at the end of World War II. Nazism, while occasionally associated with it, is not a form of socialism. While it has certain similarities and parallels, in that it seeks to socialize the 'Aryan Race' at the expense of races the Nazis deemed inferior and oppressive, just as socialism seeks to socialize the proletariat at the expense of the bourgeoisie, National Socialism is an , ideology that rejects all forms of left-wing socialism and instead is heavily inspired from the works of and removed from the ideological legacy of socialism. The Nazis believed that only the Aryan race was capable of building nations and other races, notably the Jewish race, were agents of the corruptive forces of capitalism and bolshevism, both of which the Nazis opposed. The Nazis blamed the Jewish people for Germany's defeat in World War I. This is known as the Stab in the Back Myth. The Nazis also blamed the Jewish people for rapid inflation and practically every other economic woe facing Germany at the time as a result of their defeat in World War I. For this reason the Nazis not only viewed the Jewish people as inferior to but as oppressors of the Aryan people. The nazi's tactic of lazily albeit effectively blaming the Jewish people for all of Germany's problems is a propaganda tactic known as scapegoating and was used to justify the great atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jewish people.

paragraphs: To implement the racist ideas, in 1935 the Nuremberg Race Laws banned non-Aryans and political opponents of the Nazis from the civil-service. They also forbid any sexual contact between 'Aryan' and 'non-Aryan' persons.

paragraphs: The Nazis sent millions of Jews, Roma and other people to concentration camps and death camps, where they were killed. These killings are now called the Holocaust.

paragraphs: The word "Nazi" is short for "Nationalsozialist" (supporter of the "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei") in the German language. This means "National Socialist German Workers' Party".

paragraphs: Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, wrote a book called "Mein Kampf" ("My Struggle"). The book said that all of Germany's problems happened because Jews were making plans to hurt the country. He also said that Jewish and communist politicians planned the Armistice of 1918 that ended World War I, and allowed Germany to agree to pay huge amounts of money and goods (reparations).

paragraphs: On the night of the 27 February 1933 and 28 February 1933, someone set the Reichstag building on fire. This was the building where the German Parliament held their meetings. The Nazis blamed the communists. Opponents of the Nazis said that the Nazis themselves had done it to come to power. On the very same day, an emergency law called "Reichstagsbrandverordnung" was passed. The government claimed it was to protect the state from people trying to hurt the country. With this law, most of the civil rights of the Weimar Republic did not count any longer. The Nazis used this against the other political parties. Members of the communist and social-democratic parties were put into prison or killed.

paragraphs: The Nazis became the biggest party in the parliament. By 1934, they managed to make all other parties illegal. Democracy was replaced with a dictatorship. Adolf Hitler became leader ("Führer") of Germany.

paragraphs: As the German leader (Führer) of Nazi Germany, Hitler began moving Nazi armies into neighboring countries. When Germany attacked Poland, World War II started. Western countries like France, Belgium, and the Netherlands were occupied and to be treated by Germany as colonies. However, in Eastern countries, such as Poland and the Soviet Union, the Nazis planned to kill or enslave the Slavic peoples, so that German settlers could take their land.

paragraphs: The Nazis made alliances with other European countries, such as Finland and Italy. Every other European country that allied with Germany did it because they did not want to be taken over by Germany. Through these alliances and invasions, the Nazis managed to control much of Europe.

paragraphs: In the Holocaust, millions of Jews, as well as Roma people (also called "Gypsies"), people with disabilities, homosexuals, political opponents, and many other people were sent to concentration camps and death camps in Poland and Germany. The Nazis killed millions of these people at the concentration camps with poison gas. The Nazis also killed millions of people in these groups by forcing them to do slave labor without giving them much food or clothing. In total, 17 million people died, 6 million of them Jews.

paragraphs: In 1945, the Soviet Union took over Berlin after beating the German army in Russia. The Soviet Red Army met the American and British armies, who had fought right across Germany after invading Nazi Europe from Normandy in France on June 6,1944. The Nazis lost because the Allies had many more soldiers and more money than them.

paragraphs: During the invasion of Berlin, Hitler may have shot himself in a bunker with his new wife, Eva Braun. Other Nazis also killed themselves, including Joseph Goebbels just one day after Hitler named him as his successor. The Nazis surrendered after the Red Army captured Berlin.

paragraphs: After the war, the Allied governments, namely the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, held trials for the Nazi leaders. These trials were held in Nuremberg, in Germany. For this reason, these trials were called "the Nuremberg Trials." The Allied leaders accused the Nazi leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murdering millions of people (in the Holocaust), of starting wars, of conspiracy, and belonging to illegal organizations like the "Schutzstaffel" (SS). Most Nazi leaders were found guilty by the court, and they were sent to jail or executed by hanging.

paragraphs: There has not been a "Nazi" state since 1945, but there are still people who believe in those ideas. These people are often called "neo"-Nazis, (which means "new"-Nazis). Here are some examples of modern Nazi ideas:

paragraphs: After the war, laws were made in Germany and other countries, especially countries in Europe, that make it illegal to say the Holocaust never happened. Sometimes they also ban questioning the number of people affected by it, which is saying that not so many people were killed as most people think "who wrote this?" There has been some controversy over whether this affects people's free speech. Certain countries, such as Germany, Austria, and France also ban the use of Nazi symbols and it is also banned to make a nazi pledge position on a popular media source to stop Nazis from using them.


title: Pork

paragraphs: Pork is meat that comes from pigs. It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC.

paragraphs: A simple meal to make which contains pork is afelia. Sausages, bacon and ham are the most common uses of pork in the United Kingdom, the United States, and other parts of the Western world. Pork is forbidden by the food taboos of kosher and halal.


title: Mike Farrell

paragraphs: Mike Farrell (born February 6, 1939) is an American actor, writer and producer. He played BJ Hunnicutt on the television series "M*A*S*H". He played Michael "Mike" Hawks in the television movie "Battered" in 1978. He played Chicago real estate developer Lee Miglin in the limited crime series "".

paragraphs: Farrell was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was raised in Hollywood, California. He was part of the United States Marine Corps. Farrell was married to Judy Hayden from 1963 until they divorced in 1983. Then, he married Shelley Fabares in 1984. He has two children with Hayden.

paragraphs: Farrell is also an activist for various causes, including animal rights and world peace. He was Vice President of the Screen Actors Guild.


title: David Ogden Stiers

paragraphs: David Allen Ogden Stiers (October 31, 1942 – March 3, 2018) was an American actor, director, singer, musician, conductor, voice artist, and comedian. He was most famous for his role as Charles Emerson Winchester III in "M*A*S*H". He also provided the voices in several Disney animated movies. This included playing Cogsworth in "Beauty and the Beast", John Radcliffe in "Pocahontas", and Jumba Jookiba in the "Lilo & Stitch" franchise.

paragraphs: He also played the voice of Escher in the "Myst V" (End of Ages) video game.

paragraphs: Stiers was born in Peoria, Illinois on October 31, 1942. He attended Urbana High School at the same time as Roger Ebert. He went to Eugene, Oregon, where he graduated from North Eugene High School and attended the University of Oregon.

paragraphs: Stiers was openly gay. He was a Democrat.

paragraphs: On March 3, 2018, Stiers died at his home in Newport, Oregon of bladder cancer-related complications at the age of 75.


title: Beauty and the Beast

paragraphs: Beauty and the Beast is a French folk story. It tells the story of a merchant who is lost in the woods. He finds the palace of a beast who wants to kill him, and makes a deal with the beast, to have his daughter in exchange. The daughter goes to live in the Beast's castle; the two fall in love; and the beast turns into a prince.

paragraphs: The story has been published and revised in many versions, most notably Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve's 1740 retelling and its revision in 1756 by Madame Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont.

paragraphs: It was the inspiration for many other stories, as well as a 1980s TV series starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Pearlman. Several movies have been based on it, most famously Jean Cocteau's 1946 version and the 1991 animated version by Disney, which was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award and inspired a long-running Broadway musical.


title: Wayne Rogers

paragraphs: William Wayne McMillan Rogers III (April 7, 1933 – December 31, 2015) was an American television and movie actor. He played the role of "Trapper" John McIntrye on the TV series "M*A*S*H". (The role was played by Elliott Gould in the 1970 movie version and Pernell Roberts on the 1979-1986 TV show, "Trapper John MD"). He left the show in 1975 and was replaced by Mike Farrell as BJ Hunnicutt. He graduated from Princeton University with a degree in history and served in the Navy before becoming an actor.

paragraphs: Since retiring from acting, Rogers works as an investor and appears on many financial news shows.

paragraphs: Rogers died from complications of pneumonia in Los Angeles, California on December 31, 2015 at the age of 82.


title: McLean Stevenson

paragraphs: McLean Stevenson (November 14, 1929 – February 15, 1996) was an American actor. He is best known for his role as Henry Blake on the TV show, "M*A*S*H". He left the show in 1975 and his character was killed off.

paragraphs: His grandfather Adlai E. Stevenson was Vice-president of the United States to Grover Cleveland, and his second cousin, once removed Adlai Stevenson II was Governor of Illinois and unsuccessfully ran for President twice in the 1950s losing to Dwight D. Eisenhower both times.

paragraphs: Stevenson, while recovering from bladder cancer, died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, aged 68. Ironically, Roger Bowen, who played Henry Blake in the 1970 movie version of "M*A*S*H", died the day after Stevenson did.


title: Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve

paragraphs: Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve (15 April 1793 – 23 November 1864 (Julian calendar: 11 November)) was a German-born Russian astronomer. He was born in Altona (now an area of Hamburg), Germany, but later lived in Russia. He was an expert on double stars and one of the first astronomers to measure stellar parallax (closely related to the work by Friedrich Bessel).

paragraphs: While director of Dorpat Observatory (1817–39) he wrote "Stellarum Duplicum et Multiplicum" (1837), which proved that double stars are not exceptional and that star systems are governed by the laws of gravity. Struve added a lot to the study of galactic structure and also engaged in notable geodetic operations such as the triangulation of Livonia and the measurement of an arc of the meridian. In 1839 he became director of the new Pulkovo Observatory and was one of the first three astronomers who almost simultaneously obtained an approximate stellar parallax. (One of the others being Bessel)

paragraphs: In 1822 he published the first of many double-star catalogues, the identifying numbers of which are still used today. Struve's stars, however, are now often named in his honor (for example, Struve 2398), whereas the original catalogue prefix was the Greek letter sigma. In 1833 he moved to Russia to set up the Pulkovo Observatory near St. Petersburg, of which he was director until his retirement in 1862, when his son took over in the post. In total, Friedrich Struve produced 272 astronomical works and 18 children; his great-grandson Otto, by contrast, produced 907 works but zero children.

paragraphs: His son, Otto Wilhelm von Struve (1819–1905) succeeded him as director (1862–89) of the Pulkovo Observatory.


title: Mario Party (series)

paragraphs: Mario Party is a series of video games made by Nintendo. The idea of each games is for Mario and his friends to travel across each game boards. Each games contain every characters, playing boards and minigames. Every few turns, each character must participate in a mini-game. A winner will be the superstar.


title: Helsinki

paragraphs: Helsinki () is the capital city of Finland. Helsinki is the largest city in Finland. 604,380(31.12.2012) people live in Helsinki, and 1,360,000 live in the Helsinki metropolitan area.

paragraphs: Helsinki is in the south of Finland, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. City is in the Uusimaa region. When one looks from Helsinki, Tallinn is on the opposite side of the sea, but it is too far away to see. A poetic name for Helsinki is "the daughter of the Baltic Sea".

paragraphs: In 1550, Swedish king Gustav Vasa commanded people to build a new city and move there. His idea was to build a new place to trade, which would be more popular than Tallinn. The idea did not work well, and many people returned from Helsinki to their homes. Later Sweden built the fortress Suomenlinna in Helsinki. After Russia had taken Finland from Sweden in several wars, they started developing Helsinki. Helsinki became the capital of autonomous province of Finland. When Finland became independent in 1917, Helsinki stayed as the capital city.

paragraphs: Helsinki spreads around several bays and over several islands. Some famous islands include Seurasaari, Lauttasaari and Korkeasaari - which is also the country's biggest zoo - as well as the fortress island of Suomenlinna (Sveaborg).

paragraphs: The metropolitan area of Greater Helsinki also includes two of Finland's biggest cities, Espoo to the west of Helsinki, and Vantaa to the north. These two cities, along with Helsinki itself and the small town of Kauniainen (which is in fact surrounded by Espoo), make up the Capital Region ("Pääkaupunkiseutu" in Finnish or "Huvudstadsregionen" in Swedish). There are other towns nearby that are part of Greater Helsinki, including Järvenpää, Kerava, Tuusula, Nurmijärvi, Sipoo, Kirkkonummi, Mäntsälä and Vihti. They have become popular places for Helsinki commuters to live.

paragraphs: The public transportation network in Helsinki and its area consists of

paragraphs: Helsinki Airport is located in Vantaa about 20 kilometers north of Helsinki city center. The airport offers both domestic flights within Finland and international flights to Europe, Asia and North America.

paragraphs: Helsinki offers several boat services to Tallinn and Stockholm every day, along with ferries to places including the island of Suomenlinna.