title: Libertarianism

paragraphs: "This page is about free-market individualism. Some people (especially in Europe and Latin America) use the word" libertarianism "to refer to ‘libertarian socialism’ (see anarchism)"

paragraphs: Libertarianism is an idea in ethics and politics. The word comes from the word ‘liberty’. Simply put, libertarians believe that people should be able to do whatever they want as long as their actions do not hurt others. As a result, libertarians want to limit the government's power so people can have as much freedom as possible.

paragraphs: Libertarianism grew out of liberalism as a movement in the 1800s. Many of the beliefs of libertarianism are similar to the beliefs in classical liberalism. It also has roots in anarchism and the Austrian School of economics.

paragraphs: Like other people, libertarians oppose slavery, rape, theft, murder, and all other examples of initiated violence.

paragraphs: Libertarians believe that no person can justly own or control the body of another person, what they call ‘self-ownership’ or ’individual sovereignty.’ In simple words, every person has a right to control her or his own body.

paragraphs: In the 19th century, United States libertarians like William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Lysander Spooner were all abolitionists. Abolitionists were people who wanted to end slavery right away.

paragraphs: Garrison based his opposition to slavery on the idea of self-ownership. Since you have a natural right to control your own body, no one else has any right to steal that control from you. Garrison and Douglass both called slave masters ‘man stealers.’

paragraphs: If you have a right to control your own body, then no one has a right to start violence (or force) against you.

paragraphs: Some libertarians believe that all violence is unjust. These libertarians are often called "anarcho-pacifists". Robert LeFevre was a libertarian who rejected all violence. However, most libertarians believe that there are some ways violence can be justified.

paragraphs: One thing that justifies violence is self defense. If someone is violent towards you, you have a right to defend yourself with equal force.

paragraphs: The libertarian Murray N. Rothbard said that it would be wrong to kill someone for stealing a pack of gum. If you steal gum, this is an act of violence against the property owner. The owner has a right to use defensive violence to get the gum back, but killing the thief goes too far. That is too much force because it is not equal to the force used by the thief. Punishment must be equal to the crime. A student and colleague of his, Walter Block, said that a punishment should not be equal to the crime, but rather enough to make up for the damage the crime caused plus how much it cost to catch the criminal.

paragraphs: Some libertarians believe that it is your moral duty to defend yourself and your property if you can. This belief is usually held by Objectivists. These people believe that pacifism is immoral. Most libertarians disagree with this view.

paragraphs: All libertarians believe that it is wrong to start violence against any person or against what he or she owns. They call this the "non-aggression principle."

paragraphs: Ownership is the right to control something. Property is the thing that you control.

paragraphs: Libertarians believe that property rights come from self-ownership. This means that because you have a right to control your own body, you also have a right to control what you make with it.

paragraphs: The English philosopher John Locke said that a person comes to own something by using it. So, if you turn an area that no-one else owns into a farm and use it, that area becomes your property. This is called the "homestead principle."

paragraphs: Libertarians also say that you can become a legitimate owner by receiving something as a gift or by trading it with someone for something they own. You do not become a legitimate owner by stealing. You also do not become a legitimate owner by simply "saying" you own something. If you have not "homesteaded" the thing or received it through trade or gift, you do not own it.

paragraphs: Libertarians are opposed to states (or governments) creating any "laws" that tell people what they can and cannot do with their own bodies. The only legitimate laws are laws that say a person may not start violence against other people or their legitimate property. All "laws" stopping people from doing nonviolent things should be repealed, according to libertarians. (These "laws" are usually called "victimless crimes" because there is no victim if there is no harm.)

paragraphs: In most countries, the state (or government) takes tax money from the people. All libertarians support cutting taxes back, and some libertarians believe the state should not take tax money at all. Libertarians think people can take care of the poor without the government. They believe that people should pay for the things that they want to use, but not have to pay for other things that they do not want. Tax evasion (refusal to pay taxes to the state) is a victimless crime. Libertarians would prefer to see taxation replaced with lotteries, user fees, and endowments.

paragraphs: Libertarians think everyone should be allowed to decide what is good or bad for her/his own body. Libertarians think if people want to drive cars without wearing seat belts, it is their own choice. They should not be forcibly stopped from doing that, not even by the state. If a person wants to donate all of her/his money to a charity, or waste it all gambling, that is also something she/he should decide for herself/himself. No one should be forcibly stopped from doing that, not even by the state. Libertarians even say that if adults want to use harmful drugs, they should be allowed to do that, even if it spoils their lives. It is the drug user's own choice because it is the drug user's own body. As long as the drug user does not start using violence against other people or their legitimate property, no one should use violence against the drug user or the drug user's legitimate property, not even the government.

paragraphs: Many libertarians also believe that families and friends should look after people so that they will not use drugs, drive without seat belts, or do other things that are dangerous for them. But no one can force others to do things that they do not want to do, or to stop them from doing nonviolent things that they want to do.

paragraphs: There are two broad basic types of libertarians.

paragraphs: Minarchists are libertarians who believe that society should have a state with very limited power. They believe that free markets are the most moral and efficient way of providing goods and services. They typically believe that the only things the state should provide are police and judges to make sure that people obey the laws, and a military to make sure that no one attacks the country. Some minarchists believe in having a small amount of taxation and limited provision of public goods such as international diplomacy and public parks.

paragraphs: Two famous minarchist libertarians are Robert Nozick and Ayn Rand. Nozick believed that the only legitimate thing a state can do is have a police force. He called his legitimate state a "night-watchman state." Ayn Rand believed that the state should have a police force and a court system.

paragraphs: Libertarian anarchists usually call themselves anarcho-capitalists, free-market anarchists, individualist anarchists, or just anarchists.

paragraphs: Libertarian anarchists do not believe the state is needed. They believe that people can organise their own lives and businesses. They want to replace the state with voluntary organisations, including charities, private companies, voluntary unions, and mutual aid societies. They also want to end all forced taxation.

paragraphs: They say that state police can be replaced with "DROs" (Dispute Resolution Organisations) or "private protection agencies." They also say that state judges can be replaced with "private arbitration."

paragraphs: A famous libertarian anarchist thinker was Murray N. Rothbard. Others include Lysander Spooner, Benjamin R. Tucker, and Linda & Morris Tannehill.

paragraphs: Most libertarians fall under one of the two types of libertarians listed above. But there are other types, too.


title: Auction

paragraphs: An auction is a method of goods or services can be sold and bought. In an auction, the price of an item is not fixed in advance. People wanting to buy the item say how much they are willing to pay for it. This is called "bid". In each round, the bids are evaluated: If certain criteria are met, the auction is stopped and one bidder will buy the item at the specified price. Alternatively there will be another round. If certain conditions are met, the auction will stop, and the item will not be sold. There are different kinds of auctions, with different rules.

paragraphs: Auctions usually happen with a given timeframe, when the time expires, the bid that best matches will win, or the item will not be sold.

paragraphs: There are companies that specialize in doing auctions. These companies will charge fees for doing the auction; they may also get a commission that depends on the price the item is sold at.

paragraphs: Auctions can be done online, or they can be done offline. Sometimes, bids are placed by telephone, or over the internet.

paragraphs: Auctions work because of information asymmetry: The seller wants to sell at the highest possible price, and the buyers want to pay as little as possible.But the seller does not know the prices the buyers are willing to pay: Setting a price that is too hight means that there will be no sale, setting a price that is too low means that there will be less profit. Each buyer knows how much he is willing to pay, but does not know the price the other buyers are willing to pay. So buyers influence each other. The theory that models these phenomena is called auction theory. It is based on game theory and microeconmics.


title: Hong Kong

paragraphs: Hong Kong (; , , literally "Fragrant Port"), officially The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of The People's Republic of China, is one of two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (the other is Macau). It is one of the richest and most highly developed places in China and even the world. Hong Kong grew quickly in the decades after World War II. It is now a famous world class financial center.

paragraphs: The population of Hong Kong is more than seven million. The economy has rapidly grown from a trading port to a very rich city. Hong Kong also has the world's largest number of skyscrapers.

paragraphs: Hong Kong was a British colony from 1842 to 1997 because China lost the Second Opium War. After the handover, Hong Kong became a part of China but with a lot of autonomy .

paragraphs: Hong Kong has its own constitution that is different from that of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

paragraphs: Hong Kong is in a tropical area, and has monsoon winds. It is cool and wet in winter (Jan-Mar), hot and rainy from spring through summer (Apr-Sep), and warm, sunny and dry in the autumn (Oct-Dec). The rainy season is from May until September. In summer and early autumn, there is a frequent threat of typhoons.

paragraphs: As Hong Kong is located nearly at the centre of the Eurasian Plate, there are sometimes tsunamis and earthquakes.

paragraphs: The population of Hong Kong reached 7 million (7,496,98) in 2020. Most of the people in Hong Kong are Chinese. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It has an overall density of 6,300 people per square kilometre.

paragraphs: Hong Kong has one of the world’s lowest birth rates—1.11 per woman at an age of being capable to give birth as of 2012. This is far below the rate needed to replace each person, 2.1.

paragraphs: People from Hong Kong mainly speak Cantonese. Students are required to learn English at school. Ever since Hong Kong became a part of China, the number of people who speak Mandarin has increased because Mandarin is the official language of the PRC.

paragraphs: 17 days of the year are public holidays in Hong Kong:

paragraphs: There are coins from 10 cents to 10 Hong Kong Dollars; and bank-notes (paper money bills) from $10 to $1000. One American dollar is equal to about $7.75 in Hong Kong Dollars, at the official bank exchange rate.

paragraphs: Hong Kong's education system is mostly based off the English system. Children are required to be in school from age 6 until completing secondary school (high school) at age 18.

paragraphs: According to the International Housing Affordability survey, Hong Kong has the most unaffordable housing market in the world.It has been ranked as most unaffordable since 2010.

paragraphs: Hong Kong has a few media companies, notably Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), HK Television Entertainment (HKTVE), and Fantastic Television. Access to television is not affected by Chinese regulations, such as the Great Firewall, which filters and blocks certain programs.


title: Blitzkrieg

paragraphs: Blitzkrieg is a German word which means "lightning war", referring to the high velocity of a lightning bolt.

paragraphs: In a "blitzkrieg" the attacking armies move very quickly, and are helped by tanks and by aircraft. Enemy slower moving units are overrun or surrounded. They are often captured with little fighting. Often the slower units might not be ready to fight when they are captured. Also blitzkrieg is a way to disorganize the enemy The strategy of blitzkrieg  was developed in the 1930s. The Wehrmacht seldom called it by that name.

paragraphs: This method worked well, early in World War II during the invasions of Poland and France. It was mostly successful in Operation Barbarossa. Later in the war, the Allies learned to defeat German blitzkrieg attacks by defence in depth and by attacking the flanks of the attackers with reserve forces.

paragraphs: The Blitz refers to the German bombing of Britain, particularly London, during World War II, which destroyed over a million homes and killed over 40,000 people. The bombing was supposed to quickly destroy industry and morale (happiness). The Blitz was in response to the bombing of German cities by the British Royal Air Force (RAF). The Blitz began in September 1940 and continued until May 1941.


title: Tank

paragraphs: A tank is an armoured combat vehicle, typically armed with a large cannon mounted on a turret and a few machine guns.

paragraphs: A tank is covered in thick armour to protect it from enemy weapons. Tanks have tracks that wrap around its wheels to spread out its weight and let it cross rough ground. Most tanks have a powerful gun and one or more machine guns.

paragraphs: A tank's crew is normally 3-5. A driver, commander and gunner are always present. There may also be a loader, who handles the ammunition for the main gun (so the gunner doesn't have to take eyes off the target). Some WWII tanks also had a separate soldier responsible for the radio.

paragraphs: The first tanks were made by the British Royal Navy and French car manufacturers during World War I as a way of attacking enemy trenches. They were called tanks to trick the Germans into thinking they were water carriers for the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. Their use in a surprise attack in the Battle of the Somme caused fear among the German soldiers but their small numbers and poor reliability prevented them from making much difference.

paragraphs: Tanks became a main weapon during World War II, where battles between great numbers of tanks were fought, especially between the Germans and the Soviet Union. The Battle of Kursk was the biggest. Well-known World War II tanks were the German Panzer IV, Panther and Tiger I, Soviet T-34 (produced in the largest numbers of any tank of the war and second most ever), British Matilda, Churchill and Cromwell, and American M4 Sherman (second most produced tank of the war) and Stuart tanks. There had also been plans for much larger and more heavily armoured tanks such as the Maus but these were determined to be of little use due to their huge weight, which would have made moving them very difficult, and the huge size, which would have made them easy targets for heavy artillery.

paragraphs: Old tanks are often modified for other uses like carrying soldiers or equipment. Combat engineers use special tank-based vehicles, for example minesweeper tanks or bridge-layer tanks.

paragraphs: The tank is a major part of all large armies today. Tanks have replaced the cavalry everywhere and do the things that soldiers on horseback did in the past. Most modern tanks are of the heavy or Main Battle Tank type, able to fight other tanks. Compared to older types MBTs are very heavy (Russian MBTS being about 40 tons and Western around 60 tons) with a 120 mm (Western) and 125 mm (Russian) calibre cannon and 2-3 machine guns. Marines and other specialized forces also use some light tanks.


title: Edinburgh

paragraphs: Edinburgh (Scottish Gaelic: "Dùn Èideann") is the capital city and second largest city in Scotland. Edinburgh lies on the east coast, where the River Forth flows into the sea.

paragraphs: The central part is Edinburgh Castle, at the top of a steep hill. The castle has a military display every year, called a "tattoo", where soldiers show their skills at marching and competitions, and there are brass bands and bands of bagpipes.

paragraphs: Edinburgh has a very large festival every year, where thousands of performers come to put on shows. The Edinburgh International Festival takes place in August and September. At the same time there is the Edinburgh Fringe. The shows are of all kinds, and range from large ones with famous people, to very small ones by new or unknown actors.

paragraphs: The city is served by Edinburgh Airport, and Haymarket and Waverley railway stations.

paragraphs: The Old Town of Edinburgh is the oldest part of the city, and with the 18th-century New Town, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has preserved its mediaeval plan and many Reformation-era buildings.

paragraphs: The city's main football teams are Heart of Midlothian F.C. and Hibernian F.C. Murrayfield stadium in the city is the home of the Scottish national rugby team and Edinburgh Rugby. The nearby Murrayfield Ice Rink is home to the city's ice hockey team, the Edinburgh Capitals. See also Leith Athletic F.C.

paragraphs: Edinburgh has lots of important buildings. The Balmoral Hotel was opened in 1902 and designed by W. Hamilton Beattie. Saint Giles' Cathedral was built in Mediaeval times. There was a big fire there in 1385. The Royal Museum was designed by architect Francis Fowke and built between 1861 and 1888. Its sister museum, the Museum of Scotland, was designed by Benson and Forsyth in 1998. Holyrood Palace was once the home of the Scottish kings, and is open to the public.

paragraphs: Sir Walter Scott who wrote many historical stories.

paragraphs: Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, was born in Edinburgh.

paragraphs: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories.

paragraphs: Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote "Kidnapped", "Treasure Island", "Doctor Jekyll" "and Mr Hyde" and many other stories.

paragraphs: Muriel Spark who wrote "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and many other stories.

paragraphs: Sean Connery who acted as "James Bond" in films.


title: Head of state

paragraphs: The head of state of a country is its highest leader. However, the head of state may not have very much real power.

paragraphs: In a modern republic, the head of state is a president, usually elected by the people or by a parliament. In a monarchy, the head of state is the king or queen. Some countries have different systems - for example Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey is both the Head of State and Head of Government which is known as an executive system.

paragraphs: In a modern monarchy, the head of state usually has little real power. Instead, the most powerful person is the head of government. This is usually the leader of the political party that wins the most seats in an election. In these cases, the king is considered to be the leader of the country, but must always take the decisions that the head of government advises them to make. The king or queen carries out national ceremonies. The United Kingdom works like this, with the Prime Minister heading the government.

paragraphs: A president may be the most powerful person in the country. This is true in the United States. However, sometimes there is a head of government, as well as a president. The president then acts very much like a king or queen, leaving the real decisions to the head of government. The Republic of Ireland works like this.

paragraphs: In older times, and in some modern countries, the head of state has absolute power, this called an absolute monarchy which the Pope in the Vatican has.


title: Vladimir Lenin

paragraphs: Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as (22 April 1870 – 21 January 1924) was a Russian lawyer, revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party and of the October Revolution. He was the first leader of the USSR and the government that took over Russia in 1917. Lenin's ideas became known as Leninism.

paragraphs: Lenin was born on 22 April 1870 in the town of Simbirsk in the Russian Empire. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father was an education official (technically, his father's job made him and his family noblemen).

paragraphs: Lenin began studying politics in high school. Lenin was good in school and learned the Latin and Greek languages. In 1887, he was thrown out of Kazan State University because he protested against the Tsar who was the king of the Russian Empire. He continued to read books and study ideas by himself, and in 1891 he got a license to become a lawyer.

paragraphs: In the same year that Lenin was expelled from University, his brother Alexander was hanged for his part in a bomb plot to kill Tsar Alexander III, and their sister Anna was sent to Tatarstan. This made Lenin furious, and he promised to get revenge for his brother's death.

paragraphs: While he studied law in St. Petersburg he learned about the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who were both philosophers from Germany. Karl Marx's thoughts were called Marxism. To talk or write about Marxism like it was a good thing was illegal in Russia, and Lenin was arrested for that and sent to prison in Siberia. This punishment was harsh because Siberia is known for being very cold and isolated, and almost impossible to escape.

paragraphs: In July 1898, when he was still in Siberia, Lenin married Nadezhda Krupskaya. In 1899 he wrote a book he called "". In 1900, Lenin was set free from prison and allowed to go back home. He then traveled around Europe. He began to publish a Marxist newspaper called "Iskra", the Russian word for "spark" or "lightning". He also became an important member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP.

paragraphs: In 1903, Lenin had a major argument with another leader of the party, Julius Martov, which divided the party in two. Lenin wanted to establish socialism right away, rather than establishing capitalism first and then making the transition to socialism. Martov disagreed, he wanted to cling to the Classical Marxist idea that in order to achieve socialism, you must go through capitalism first. People who agreed with Martov were called Mensheviks (meaning "the minority"). The people who agreed with Lenin were called Bolsheviks ("the majority").

paragraphs: In 1907 he traveled around Europe again, and visited many socialist meetings and events. During World War I he lived in big European cities like London, Paris and Geneva. At the beginning of the war, a big left-wing meeting called the Second International included the Bolsheviks. The meeting shut down when a lot of the groups argued whether or not to support the war. Lenin and the Bolsheviks were one of only a few groups who were against the war because of their Marxist ideas.

paragraphs: After Tsar Nicholas II gave up his throne during the February Revolution, Lenin went back to Russia where he was still a very important Bolshevik leader. He wrote that he wanted a revolution by ordinary workers to overthrow the government that had replaced Nicholas II.

paragraphs: In 1917, The Kadets, a right-wing party, and elements of the Okhrana (secret police) started rumors that Lenin had got money from the Germans, because they had sent him through Germany in a special train to reach Russia. That may have made him look bad because a lot of Russians had died fighting Germany in the war. After the July Days, a popular uprising in Petrograd which was crushed by the Russian Provisional Government, he left Russia and went to Finland, where he could hide and carry on with his work on Communism.

paragraphs: In October 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, headed the Petrograd Soviet and other Soviets all over Russia in a revolution against Kerensky's government, which was known as the October Revolution. They won, and announced that Russia was a socialist country. In November, Lenin was chosen as its leader.

paragraphs: Because Lenin wanted an end to World War I in Russia, he signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in February 1918. While the treaty ended the attack by Germany, Russia lost a large amount of land that it used for farming.

paragraphs: The treaty also made Germany's other enemies angry, and together with Russian people who supported the Tsar or Kerensky's government, they attacked Russia. Lenin made rules that as much food as possible was to be given to Bolshevik soldiers in Russia's new Red Army. This meant that they won the war, but ordinary people were starving, and many died of hunger or disease.

paragraphs: After the war, Lenin brought in the New Economic Policy to try and make things better for the country and move from capitalism towards socialism. Some private enterprise was still allowed, but not much. Businessmen, known as nepmen, could only own small industries, not factories. Factories and large industry became public property to be owned by the workers.

paragraphs: A woman named Fanny Kaplan shot Lenin whilst he was making an official visit. She missed his head and instead the bullet was lodged into his neck. Fearing that he would be killed by political dissenters, he refused to have the bullet removed until a guaranteed Communist doctor could be found. As a result of his direct refusal to be treated, the bullet was never removed, and is often cited as the reason he started having strokes in May and December 1922 (both of which he recovered from). In March 1923 a stroke paralyzed him and left him unable to speak, and in January 1924 a stroke killed him. Just before he died, Lenin had wanted to get rid of Stalin because he thought he was dangerous to the country and the government.

paragraphs: The city of St. Petersburg had been renamed Petrograd by the Tsar in 1914, but was renamed Leningrad in memory of Lenin in 1924. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 Leningrad was again named St. Petersburg, which it remains to this day.

paragraphs: Before Lenin died, he said he wished to be buried beside his mother. When he died, Stalin let the people in Russia look at his body. Because people kept coming they decided not to bury him, and preserved his body instead. A building was built in Red Square, Moscow over the body so that people could see it. It is called the Lenin Mausoleum. Many Russians and tourists still go there to see his body today.


title: Disease

paragraphs: A disease or medical condition is an unhealthy state where something bad happens to the body or mind. Diseases can cause pain, parts of the body to stop working the right way, or death. The word "disease" is sometimes used to include:

paragraphs: A disease can be caused by many things. Sometimes germs enter our body through food, water or air. A person can be infected by infectious agents like bacteria, viruses or fungus. Disease can also be caused by eating bad or old foods. There are small germs in old foods that can cause diseases. Sometimes the germs produce chemicals or toxins which causes the disease.

paragraphs: One of the most common causes of disease is poor sanitation and lack of clean water. Some deadly diseases like malaria in tropical parts of the world are spread by a mosquito. Animals that spread disease are called "vectors". There are many vectors, including snails, ticks, and fleas.

paragraphs: Some people are born with 'genetic diseases'. These are diseases because of an error or mutation in a person's DNA. An example of a mutation is cancer. Living or working in an unhealthy environment can also be a cause for diseases. Diseases are more common in older people.

paragraphs: Some diseases can be helped with medicine. Infections can often be cured by antibiotics, though resistance to antibiotics is a problem. Some disease may be helped by surgery. Not every disease can be helped with medicine or surgery, though. Some diseases must be treated during the whole life; they are "chronic" (long-lasting) diseases. An example of a chronic disease is diabetes mellitus. Diabetes can be treated (made better) but it can not yet be cured (made to totally go away). People who usually treat diseases are called doctors or physicians.

paragraphs: Some diseases that are common or very bad are tested for even in people who do not show any symptoms. If these diseases are found early they can be treated before they cause problems. An example would be checking a woman for cervical cancer with a test called a pap smear. If cervical cancer is found early it can be cured. If it is found later it usually causes death.

paragraphs: Another example is immunization. The basic idea is to make the body ready for a disease. The body has its own defense against disease called the immune system. One special characteristic of the immune system is its ability to remember some diseases. If a person is sick and recovers, the immune system will produce a substance called antibodies which fight the disease if it comes back to the person.

paragraphs: The antibody is specific to a particular disease or antigen. An example of this is measles which is a virus. A person usually a child who had never been sick with measles is given a milder form of the virus, this causes the immune system to produce antibodies against the virus. If this person is exposed to the same virus in the future, the person's immune system will remember and will fight the virus.

paragraphs: Epidemiology is the study of the cause of disease. Some diseases are more popular for people with common characteristics, like similar origins, sociological background, food or nationality. Without good epidemiological research some diseases can be hard to track and to name. Some diseases can be taken for something else. This is why epidemiology takes a huge part in understanding how to protect ourselves against viruses, toxins and bacteria.


title: Carbon

paragraphs: Carbon is a very important chemical element, with a chemical symbol of C. All known life on Earth needs it. Carbon has atomic mass 12 and atomic number 6. It is a nonmetal, meaning that it is not a metal.

paragraphs: When iron is alloyed with carbon, hard steel is formed. Carbon in the form of coal is an important fuel.

paragraphs: A whole type of Chemistry, organic chemistry, is about carbon and its compounds. Carbon makes many types of compounds. "Hydrocarbons" are molecules with carbon and hydrogen. Methane, Propane, and many other fuels are hydrocarbons. Many of the substances that people use daily are organic compounds.

paragraphs: Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and some other elements like sulfur and phosphorus together form most life on earth (see List of biologically important elements). Carbon forms a very large number of organic compounds because it can form strong bonds with itself and with other elements. Because of the amounts of carbon living things have, all organic things are considered "carbon-based". Each carbon atom can form four single covalent bonds. These bonds allow carbon to form long chain-shaped molecules, called polymers, such as plastics.

paragraphs: The name of carbon comes from Latin "carbo", meaning charcoal. In many foreign languages the words for carbon, coal and charcoal are synonyms.

paragraphs: Carbon in nature is found in three forms called allotropes: diamond, graphite, and fullerenes. Graphite, with clay, is in pencils. It is very soft. The carbon atoms in it make rings, which are on top of each other and slide very easily. Diamonds are the hardest natural mineral. Fullerenes are a "soccer ball" shape of carbon. They are mostly of interest to science. A special, man-made, tube-shaped allotrope of carbon is the carbon nanotube. Carbon nanotubes are very hard, so they might be used in armor. Nanotubes might be useful in nanotechnology.

paragraphs: There are 10 million known carbon compounds.

paragraphs: A radioactive isotope of carbon, carbon-14, can be used to figure out how old some objects are or when something died. As long as something is on the surface of the earth and taking in carbon, the amount of carbon-14 stays the same. When an object stops taking in carbon, the carbon-14 amount goes down. Because the "half-life" (how long it takes for half of a radioactive isotope to go away) of carbon-14 is 5730 years, scientists can see how old the object is by how much carbon-14 is left.

paragraphs: Carbon is in many places in the universe. It was first made in old stars. Carbon is the fourth most common element in the sun. The atmospheres of Venus and Mars are mostly carbon dioxide.

paragraphs: Carbon is important to the human body and other living things, and it is the second most common element in the human body, at 23% of all body weight. It is also a key part of many biological molecules (molecules used in life).

paragraphs: Most of the carbon on Earth is coal. Graphite is in many (typically desert) areas, including Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and Russia. Diamonds are rare and are found largely in Africa. Carbon is also in some meteorites.


title: Zaza language

paragraphs: Zaza language, also called Zazaki, Kirmanjki and Dimli, is an Indo-European language spoken in eastern Anatolia above the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. It belongs to the northwest-Iranian group of Iranian language. The Zaza language is related to Sangsarī, Māzandarānī, Tātī (Herzendī), Semnānī, Tāleshī, Kurdish, Persian and Balōchi. The number of Zaza speakers is not known exactly.


title: Chemical reaction

paragraphs: A chemical reaction happens when one or more chemicals are changed into one or more other chemicals. Examples:

paragraphs: Some reactions are fast, and others are slow. Some happen at different speeds, depending on temperature or other things. For example, wood does not react with air when it is cold, but if it is made hot enough, it will start to burn. Some reactions give out energy. These are exothermic reactions. In other reactions, energy is taken in. These are endothermic reactions.

paragraphs: Nuclear reactions are "not" chemical reactions. Chemical reactions involve only the electrons of atoms; nuclear reactions involve the protons and neutrons in the atomic nuclei.

paragraphs: In a synthesis reaction, two or more simple substances combine to form a more complex substance.

paragraphs: "Two or more reactants giving one product" is another way to identify a synthesis reaction. One example of a synthesis reaction is the combination of iron and sulfur to form iron(II) sulfide:

paragraphs: Another example is simple hydrogen gas combined with simple oxygen gas to produce a more complex substance, such as water.

paragraphs: A decomposition reaction is when a more complex substance breaks down into its more simple parts. It is thus the opposite of a synthesis reaction, and can be written as:

paragraphs: One example of a decomposition reaction is the electrolysis of water to make oxygen and hydrogen gas:

paragraphs: In a single replacement reaction, a single uncombined element replaces another in a compound; in other words, one element trades places with another element in a compound These reactions come in the general form of:

paragraphs: One example of a single displacement reaction is when magnesium replaces hydrogen in water to make magnesium hydroxide and hydrogen gas:

paragraphs: In a double replacement reaction, the anions and cations of two compounds switch places and form two entirely different compounds. These reactions are in the general form:

paragraphs: For example, when barium chloride (BaCl) and magnesium sulfate (MgSO) react, the SO anion switches places with the 2Cl anion, giving the compounds BaSO and MgCl.

paragraphs: Another example of a double displacement reaction is the reaction of lead(II) nitrate with potassium iodide to form lead(II) iodide and potassium nitrate:

paragraphs: A chemical reaction is being displayed by an equation:


title: Rectangle

paragraphs: In geometry, a rectangle is a shape with four sides and four corners. The corners are all right angles. It follows that the pairs of sides opposite each other must be parallel and of the same length.

paragraphs: People make many rectangular things, including most tables, boxes, books, and papers. The word comes from Latin words meaning "right" and angle".

paragraphs: A rectangle whose four sides have the same length is called a square.

paragraphs: If a rectangle has length formula_1 and width "w", then":"


title: Trafalgar Square

paragraphs: Trafalgar Square is in the heart of London. It is a large pedestrian square, bounded on three sides by roads. It serves as a refuge, and a major traffic intersection. Important roads go from the square: Whitehall goes to Parliament, the Mall goes to Buckingham Palace, and the Strand goes to the City of London. The square is also close to Covent Garden and Charing Cross station.

paragraphs: More than 15 million people go to visit there every year. It contains a large statue of Admiral Lord Nelson. The square celebrates the Battle of Trafalgar, fought in 1805. It contains Nelson's Column, a statue of Nelson mounted on a tall column, with four statues of lions around it. The column is 56 meters tall while the statue is 5 meters tall. The National Art Gallery is one of several important buildings facing the square.

paragraphs: The square is visited by many tourists. Mainly, it is used for pleasure and relaxation, but sometimes there are meetings and demonstrations in Trafalgar Square.

paragraphs: When the square was first built, demonstrations were banned. The ban lasted until the 1880s, when the new Labour movement start to hold demonstrations. One group that did this was the Social Democratic Federation. On "Black Monday", 6 February 1886, there was a major demonstration about unemployment which led to a riot in Pall Mall. There were demonstrations in the 1980s against South African apartheid. In 1990 there were riots against the Poll tax. In the 2000s there have been demonstrations against the Iraq war.

paragraphs: In recent years the square has become a gathering place for celebrations. When England won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 thousands of fans gathered in the square. This public festivities again happened when London won its bid to hold the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

paragraphs: The square was also the scene of a large gathering after the terrorist bombings in London on 7 July 2005.


title: Official language

paragraphs: An official language is a language that has special status in a country or other organization. Usually, the government does its business in the official language. They are sometimes named in a country's constitution.

paragraphs: Some countries, like Switzerland and Luxembourg, have more than one official language. Other countries, such as the United States and Australia, may not have a "de jure" official language set by law, but they may have one or more national languages that is considered "de facto" official because it is used by the government and people in the country.

paragraphs: An official language does not have to be a written language. It can be a pidgin language (like in Papua New Guinea), or a sign language (like in New Zealand).


title: Cake

paragraphs: A cake is a type of (usually) sweet dessert which is baked. Originally, it was a bread-like food, but no longer. Cakes are often made to celebrate special occasions like birthdays or weddings. There are many kinds of cakes. It can be baked in an oven. Some savory cakes are made on a griddle or a frying pan.

paragraphs: Cakes are baked from a batter. Batter is made by mixing wet ingredients (like milk and eggs) with dry ingredients (like sugar and flour). The batter is baked in an oven. This way of baking is known as the muffin method, because muffins are made this way.

paragraphs: Just like bread, cakes rise in the oven because they contain many small air bubbles. As cakes rise, the air bubbles expand. This is why the cake batter expands in the pan (often to twice its original size). There are two ways of forming the air bubbles, which create different types of cakes. Almost every kind of cake belongs to one of these families.

paragraphs: These cakes are made with butter or another fat, like vegetable shortening. The common way is to mix the fat and sugar, then add eggs, and then add flour. The fat should be soft. It should not be hard or liquid. Mixing sugar with fat creates many very small air bubbles. Most birthday cakes are made this way. Cupcakes are also made this way.

paragraphs: These cakes are not made with solid butter or vegetable shortening. Some of these cakes are made with melted butter or vegetable oil. The common way is to mix the eggs and sugar, and then add flour. These cakes are often much taller, lighter and often spongier than creamed fat cakes. Angelfood cake and chiffon cakes are egg foam cakes. Most grocery stores with bakeries sell angelfood cakes. Angelfood cakes are made by beating egg whites with sugar. This traps a lot of tiny air bubbles. The eggs and sugar are mixed with other ingredients. Then, the cake is baked.

paragraphs: A cake can be decorated with icing (also called "frosting"), chocolate, fruit, and much more. A layer cake is made by stacking cakes with icing or filling between the layers. Birthday cakes are sometimes decorated with candles. Cakes can be served with berries or other kinds of fruit.

paragraphs: A large, rich cake is often called by the French word for "cake": "gâteau" (plural: "gâteaux", both singular and plural pronounced "GA-toe"). It may have a lot of cream. Some cakes can have edible paper on the top.


title: House

paragraphs: A house is a building that is made for people to live in. It is a "permanent" building that is meant to stay standing. It is not easily packed up and carried away like a tent, or moved like a caravan. If people live in the same house for more than a short stay, then they call it their "home". Being without a home is called homelessness.

paragraphs: Houses come in many different shapes and sizes. They may be as small as just one room, or they may have hundreds of rooms. They also are made many different shapes, and may have just one level or several different levels. A house is sometimes joined to other houses at the sides to make a "terrace" or "row house" (a connected row of houses).

paragraphs: A big building with many levels and apartments is called "a block of flats" (British) or an apartment building. One of the differences between a house and an apartment is that a house has a front door to the outside world, whereas the main door of an apartment usually opens onto a passage or landing that can be used by other people in the building.

paragraphs: Houses have a roof to keep off the rain and sun, and walls to keep out the wind and cold. They have window openings to let in light, and a floor. Houses of different countries look different to each other, because of different materials, climate, and styles.

paragraphs: A house is a building for people to live in. It is usually built for a family (parents and their children).

paragraphs: Most modern houses have special areas or rooms for people to do the things that they need to live comfortably. A modern house has a place to cook food, a place to eat, places to sleep and a place to wash. These things are usually done in separate rooms, which are called the kitchen, the sitting room, the bedrooms, the bathroom, the toilet (or lavatory). Many houses have a separate dining room for eating meals and a separate laundry. In some houses the toilet is in the bathroom, and in other houses it is separate. Many houses may also have a "study" or computer room and a "family room" where the children can play games and watch television.

paragraphs: In some countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand many families live in a "detached house" which is separate from other buildings and surrounded by its own yard, but is close enough to town to have shops, good transport and entertainment nearby. In many other countries, including most of Europe, owning a house like this is something that only the richer families can afford, and is just a dream for most people.

paragraphs: In many very poor countries, a lot of people live crowded in houses with only one room. They often have to share a toilet with many other families, and have to do the cooking outside. The house might be made of materials that can be found nearby like mud bricks and grass or from second-hand materials like corrugated iron and cardboard boxes. In many cities there are thousands of small houses crowded together with narrow alleys between them.

paragraphs: A small house is often called a cottage. Apart from it, its also called small space. In England, where this word comes from, it is used to mean a house that has one main storey, with a second, lower storey of bedrooms which fit under the roof upstairs. Cottages are usually found in villages or in the countryside. They are nearly always built from material that can be found nearby. In many places the word cottage is used to mean a small old-fashioned house. In the United States the word cottage is often used to mean a small holiday home.

paragraphs: A semi-detached house is a building that has two houses side by side and covered over by just one big roof. Each house has a pathway to one side, leading from the front to the backyard. Semi-detached houses are very common in some cities, and can be single storey or several storeys high.

paragraphs: A row or terraced house (see the picture in the introduction) is a house that is part of a row of houses joined at the side walls. Many cities and towns have thousands of row houses because they are a good way to build lots of houses close together. Many row houses have two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs, with a kitchen or wash area at the back. Houses like this were built for poor factory workers and coal miners in many cities and towns. "Terrace houses" are a type of row house where each house has a similar front to its neighbours.

paragraphs: Row houses are not always small. Some cities have large beautiful row houses, such as the Royal Crescent, which was built 200 years ago at Bath in England and is a famous example of Georgian architecture.

paragraphs: In some places, the word "bungalow" is used for any house that is all on one level. The word came from India and for a long time was used for a house that is built all on one level and has a verandah where people can sit or work outdoors, but under a shady roof. A bungalow often has a hall down the middle of the house to let the breeze blow through. Bungalows are often seen in countries with hot summers, in India, South East Asia, South Africa, parts of the United States, South America, Australia and New Zealand. In regions with flooding, a bungalow is often built up on wooden "stilts" or a high basement. In the 1800s, bungalows were nearly always built of wood, but from the 1920s it became fashionable to build them of brick as well.

paragraphs: A farmhouse may look like a cottage, a bungalow or a mansion, but in many countries a farmhouse can look quite different to a house in a town, because, as well as having a place for people to live, it also has a place for animals. Three typical types of farmhouses are found. Many farm houses are long and have two doors. One door leads to the rooms used by the family. The other door opens into a stable for the cows, sheep and chickens. The stable part often has a loft where hay can be kept to feed the animals in the winter. Another type of farmhouse has two storeys with a big stable and storeroom underneath, with the rooms for the family on the upper floor. Another type of farmhouse has buildings such as the family house, the barn and the stable all joined together around a central courtyard. Old farmhouses of these three types can be found in many parts of Europe and Great Britain.

paragraphs: A mansion is a big grand house, usually with two stories and sometimes more. A mansion often has beautiful architecture, and shows that the person for whom it was designed and built was rich. Mansions often have beautiful gardens. Sometimes a mansion does not belong to a private family, but to a town council, to a big business company, to a church or college and is a place for a person with an important job to live and to entertain guests. A mansion often has rooms which are not found in ordinary houses, such as a drawing room, a ballroom, a library and a music room. Mansions often need servants to help keep them in order and there are often special rooms where the servants do particular jobs such as cleaning the silver tableware. Well-known mansions are the White House in Washington, D.C. where the President of the United States lives and Mansion House in London where the Lord Mayor of London lives.

paragraphs: A palace is a house that is very grand for people like Kings and Queens,or other rich people. Many palaces are homes of royal or aristocratic people. Some old palaces been changed by people who lived there over many hundreds of years.

paragraphs: One of the best-known palaces in the world is Buckingham Palace, a royal palace in London. The largest palace in the world is the Louvre which was built in Paris for the Kings of France. It now holds a famous art gallery.

paragraphs: Houses are usually built from types of material that can easily be made or bought near the place where the house is built. Because of this, old houses in different towns and different villages look quite different to each other, even in the same country. In modern times building materials can be transported easily and this means that a builder has much more choice about the types of material to use for a house.

paragraphs: In many parts of the world, mud or clay are the main building materials. Clay is a type of soil that sticks together more strongly than most other types of soil. There are three main ways of building walls with mud and clay.

paragraphs: It was discovered that if clay was used, rather than mud, very strong bricks could be made by "firing" (or baking) them in a "kiln" (a special oven). "Fired" bricks were like pottery; they did not wash away easily in rain and would sometimes last for thousands of years. The bricks were joined to each other with a type of cement called "mortar". Some houses built by the Ancient Romans are still standing 2000 years later.

paragraphs: Bricks became one of the most common building materials. In most cities, nearly all the houses are built of bricks because they are long lasting, they do not need repairing very often. Brick houses are generally made strong by having all the main walls two bricks thick. Two walls are built side by side which are "bonded" (or joined to each other) by having some bricks set so they make a bridge between the two layers. The pattern of the bonded bricks can be seen from the outside. The two main patterns are called "Flemish Bond" and "British Bond".

paragraphs: Houses made of timber are found wherever there are, or there has once been big forests. Timber houses are also often found in seaside towns where the sea air makes brick and stone houses feel cold and damp.

paragraphs: A well-known type of old-fashioned house is the "half-timbered" house. These are seen in the British Isles, France, and across northern Europe and the Alps. These houses date mainly from about 1200 to about 1800.

paragraphs: In places where there is lots of stone, many houses are built of it. In many parts of the world, little cottages are built of stone. Many mansions and palaces are also built of stone.

paragraphs: Modern houses are often made of "pre-fabricated" parts that are partly built in a factory, and are easy to put together at the site of the building.

paragraphs: Many different types of materials for making houses have been developed in the 20th century.


title: Gigabyte

paragraphs: A gigabyte (GB), sometimes abbreviated as a "gig", is a unit of measurement in computers and similar electronic devices. At first it meant exactly 1 billion bytes, usually referring to the number of bytes in a computer hard drive. Its meaning gradually changed over time, so that today it is often used to mean 1,073,741,824 (2) bytes, especially when referring to the random access memory (RAM) of a modern computer. Now international standards bodies say a gigabyte should only be used to mean exactly 1 billion bytes, and that gibibyte is a better name for 1,073,741,824 bytes. In everyday use, people use "gigabyte" to mean 1,073,741,824 bytes when talking about computer memory and 1,000,000,000 bytes when talking about computer disk space.

paragraphs: One thousand gigabytes make one terabyte.

paragraphs: This measurement is often used when measuring the capacity of computer memory, hard drives, or other storage devices.


title: Sailor

paragraphs: A sailor (or seaman) is a person who works at sea on a boat or ship. The sailor works under a captain. The term is only used when the person is working professionally (earning money or make a living).

paragraphs: Sailor is also the lowest rank in a navy.


title: Farmer

paragraphs: A farmer is a person who grows crops and raises animals to be used as food. This has been a common job for people since the beginning of civilization.

paragraphs: The word "farmer" usually refers to a person who has a field, orchard, vineyard, or garden where food is grown. This food is eaten or sold after it is harvested. Farmers may also grow raw materials for industrial purposes. Some examples of raw materials that are used in this way are:

paragraphs: Some farmers also raise animals to be used for meat, milk, eggs or other things.


title: Constellation

paragraphs: A constellation is a group of stars which make up imaginary outline or pattern in the night sky (the celestial sphere). Usually they are said to represent an animal, mythological person or creature in a shape. When seen, the group of stars seem to make a pattern.

paragraphs: The word constellation comes from Latin: "con-", meaning together and "stella-" meaning stars. Some examples of constellations are Ursa major, Orion, Leo, Draco, Cancer etc.

paragraphs: People used constellations to tell the difference in the colors. Constellations were also used to group stars. Different places in the world may have different constellations, but today astronomy has a fixed set of 88 constellations. This set is based on the Greek set and later some southern constellations were added, for example Antlia - the air pump. Most constellations have names that come from Greek mythology, like Orion or Andromeda.

paragraphs: There are 12 constellations in the Zodiac. The Sun travels through the Zodiac once each year. There is also a thirteenth constellation Ophiuchus - the carrier of a serpent, which the Sun goes through. However, most people do not think that it is in the Zodiac.


title: Flood

paragraphs: A flood is an overflow of water on normally dry ground. This is most commonly due to an overflowing river, a dam break, snowmelt, or heavy rainfall. Less commonly happening are tsunamis, storm surge.

paragraphs: The most deadly flooding was in 1931 in China and killed between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000 people. The Kerala flood in India was another flood that has destroyed people's houses.

paragraphs: During a flood, people try to move themselves and their most precious belongings to higher ground quickly. The process of leaving homes in search of a safe place is called flood "evacuation".

paragraphs: During a flood there is plenty of water logging and overflow of water, but it is mostly polluted and not safe to drink. If people drink this dirty water, they may suffer from diseases such as typhoid and cholera, hepatitis and other such diseases. People can get ready to survive a flood by filling many containers with fresh and clean drinking water and storing other emergency supplies; like: medicine and food. During flood people try to go to higher sides because the flood water wouldn't reach high areas. Also drains overflow and mix with clean water and people who drink it might fall ill.

paragraphs: Flooding is usually caused when a volume of water within a water body, such as a lake, overflows outside it. Sometimes if a dam breaks, it suddenly releases a large amount of water. The result is that some of the water travels to land, and 'floods' the area. Many rivers are in a channel, between river banks. They flood when the strength of the river causes it to flow beyond the banks. This is more common at bends or meanders. Flood damage can be prevented by moving away from places that flood. However, people have long liked to have their homes and businesses alongside water because water is good for agriculture and transport and in other ways. Floods are also caused due to improper management of drains. Rainfall is the most common cause. Snow melt is also a cause of flooding. Tsunamis and Storm Surge are less common ways that floods happen. Coastal Flooding is another common cause of flooding, and this is caused by low pressure systems or storms.


title: Hell

paragraphs: In many mythologies and religions, Hell is a place where souls (minds, separated from material body) of wicked people go after their lives on Earth end. It is a virutalized reality which accommodates the quantum mind which is administered by either God, the creator of all Life and Heaven (which is like Hell a virtual reality place where souls go, but is pleasant has human beauty truth and honor), and Earth, or by some underling deity, assigned to being the warden for beings in Hell. It is often thought of as the opposite of Heaven, and a place where no love is. In many religions, Hell is the place where the souls of dead people go if they have done evil things in life. It is used in the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew word for "the grave", "", and in the New Testament the Greek , "Hades", and , Hebrew "Gehenna".

paragraphs: Many believe that Jews do not believe in Hell, but Jews really do believe. But it does not consist of eternal torture. Rather, there are lower levels of Heaven that a person can descend to considering the number of mitzvot (commandments) that they have obeyed. Gemorah writings tell the Jews of devil beliefs, but these are stories and are taken lightly. Jews also believe that Satan did exist, but he was an angel that quarreled with God, such as the story of Job.

paragraphs: In Hebrew the word for "the grave", Sheol, is used for the place where people go when they die. Sheol Is the source of the English word "Hell" and so Hell as a place of an after-life of torment (rather than a grave In which the body lies) could be a misunderstanding as some scholars have suggested.

paragraphs: In Christianity, Hell is usually the place where the souls of people go who broke important rules set forth by God. In Hell, souls suffer and wait for the Last Judgement, a time when the souls of the dead will be judged by God. The concept of Hell in Christianity comes from the Bible and the "casting out" of Lucifer. In being cast out, he was removed from the presence of God. Therefore, if taken in its most literal sense, Hell is separation from God. Stated another way, to the Christian mind being separated from God is to be in Hell. Some Christians believe that Hell has real fire and flames, but others do not.

paragraphs: Many Christian groups believe that once a soul goes to Hell, it stays there forever and cannot leave. However, some Christian groups do not believe this and think Hell is only a temporary place, and that souls may leave Hell at some point. Others believe in a permanent Hell but a temporary Purgatory. Another group believe that those who do not go to Heaven simply stop existing and do not go to Hell. These Christians are called "annihilationists".


title: 1-1-2

paragraphs: The telephone number 1-1-2 (or 112) is the standard European Union (EU) emergency telephone number, it works in every country of the EU, for land lines and mobile phones. It is also used in some other countries as an emergency telephone number for both mobile and fixed-line telephones.

paragraphs: 112 is also the international emergency telephone number for all GSM mobile phone networks. It does not necessarily work on other mobile phone technologies outside the EU.

paragraphs: Countries which use the 112 number for emergencies include:


title: Government-in-exile

paragraphs: A government-in-exile is a group of people who claim they are the real government of a country, but who live in another country. These were common during World War II. The Germans took over several countries, and the leaders of those countries went to England for refuge.

paragraphs: Today, there are some governments-in-exile. They include:

paragraphs: Few countries recognize (accept) these groups.


title: Stonehenge

paragraphs: Stonehenge is a prehistoric World Heritage Site eight miles (13 kilometers) north of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. It is made of a henge, with standing stones in circles.

paragraphs: There were three main building phases, each between about 3100 BC and 1950 BC. The first circle, ~3000 BC, was made of timber. The post holes for the timber have been found. Around 2600 BC, the builders gave up timber in favour of stone. Most of the construction took place between 2640 and 2480 BC. Scientists have discovered that the Stonehenge builders originated from modern day Turkey from DNA analysis.

paragraphs: The first stone circle was a set of 'bluestones'. The holes held up to 80 standing stones (shown blue on the plan), only 43 of which can be traced today. The bluestones (made of dolerite, an igneous rock), are thought to have been brought from the Preseli Hills, away in modern-day Pembrokeshire, Wales.

paragraphs: This, the long distance human transport theory, was bolstered in 2011 by the discovery of a megalithic bluestone quarry at Craig Rhos-y-felin, near Crymych in Pembrokeshire. This is the most likely place where some of the stones were got. Another theory is that they were brought much nearer to the site as glacial erratics by the Irish Sea Glacier. This theory is not preferred, because there is no evidence of glacial deposition within southern central England.

paragraphs: Later, ~2400 BC, 30 huge grey sarsen stones were brought to the site. They were erected in a circle 33 metres in diameter, with lintels on top of the standing stones. The remaining bluestones were placed as an inner circle. The site was in use until the Bronze Age. The modern Stonehenge consists entirely of original stones, some of which have been replaced in upright position.

paragraphs: The stones may have come from a quarry about 25 miles (40 km) north of Stonehenge on the Marlborough Downs, or they may have been collected from a "litter" of sarsens on the chalk downs, which are closer.

paragraphs: The stones were 'dressed' (worked on) and given mortice and tenon joints. 30 were erected as a 33 metres (108 ft) diameter circle of standing stones, with a ring of 30 lintel stones resting on top. The lintels were fitted to one another using another woodworking method, the tongue and groove joint. Each standing stone was about 4.1 metres (13 ft) high, 2.1 metres (6 ft 11 in) wide and weighed about 25 tons.

paragraphs: There are also several passage tombs and many tumuli nearby.

paragraphs: Stonehenge, however, does have a number of satellite structures which are part of the 'ritual landscape':

paragraphs: No one knows who built Stonehenge or why they built it. During the summer solstice, the sunrise lines up with some of the stones in a particular way. This suggests that the arrangement of stones may work as a calendar. In Egypt and South America, similar ancient buildings can be found. They also show the time of the solstice.

paragraphs: Stonehenge itself is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage. The surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.

paragraphs: The World Heritage Site includes Avebury and Stonhenge together, though they are quite distinct.


title: Granite

paragraphs: Granite is a kind of igneous rock, found on Earth but nowhere else in the Solar System. It is formed from hot, molten magma. Its colour can be dark or light grey, brown, or even pink, according to the proportions of its minerals.

paragraphs: The magma is forced between other layers of rock by the pressure under the Earth's surface. The magma cools and turns slowly into solid stone. Granite has many different types of minerals in it. These include quartz, feldspar, hornblende, and sometimes mica. As the magma cools, these minerals form crystals. The crystals can be seen easily if the granite is cut and polished.

paragraphs: Granite is a common stone on Earth, and makes up a big part of the crust (the Earth's outer layer). It is usually found in the continental plates of the Earth's crust. Although it forms under the surface of the Earth, there are many places where it has been forced upwards by tectonic movement. When plates in the Earth's crust move together, they get bent and pushed upwards. When this happens, granite mountains can be formed.

paragraphs: A worldwide average of the chemical composition of granite, by weight percent, based on 2485 analyses:

paragraphs: Granite is dense, and can be cut, carved and shaped. It is resistant to water and pollution, and has a range of different colours.

paragraphs: Kitchen benches are often made of polished granite. Granite is found in many countries of the world. Some countries have beautifully patterned granite which is quarried (cut in open mines) and sold for building material.


title: Syracuse, New York

paragraphs: Syracuse is a city in the U.S. state of New York with a population of 147,306 in 2000, and a metropolitan area population of 732,117. It is often called the "Salt City" because salt used to be the main industry. Today, Syracuse is mostly known as a university city, but many companies have offices there, also.


title: Soap opera

paragraphs: A soap opera is a television or radio program that airs in episodic series. This means that each episode continues telling a story, which, in turn, tells more of the last episode's story. A single story on a soap opera can be told for weeks, months, or sometimes even years.

paragraphs: In America, each soap opera airs every day, Monday through Friday, in the afternoon. Because they air at this time, they are sometimes called daytime serials. In the U.K. and other countries, the soap operas air in the evening, twice or three times a week.

paragraphs: This is a list of soap operas that air in America, in their current order of popularity:

paragraphs: There are still two soaps that air in Australia, Network Ten's "Neighbours" and the Seven Network's "Home and Away". Strangely, "Neighbours" is more popular in England than it is in Australia.

paragraphs: In the U.K., the most popular soap operas are "Coronation Street" and "EastEnders". "Coronation Street" is about people who live in Manchester, in the northern part of England. "EastEnders" is about people who live in an imaginary place called Albert Square in the East End of London. Another popular soap opera is "Emmerdale", and it is about people who live in a small village in Yorkshire, also in the northern part of England. In the 1970s Crossroads became the most watched soap in England. It was shown from 1964 to 1988.

paragraphs: In Latin America (including Brazil) and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa (like Angola), soap operas are called "telenovelas".


title: The Young and the Restless

paragraphs: The Young and the Restless is a very popular American soap opera. The show is the highest-rated soap opera, which means that more people watch it than any other soap opera. It aired its first episode on March 26, 1973. It is set in fictional Genoa City, Wisconsin. In the beginning, the show was about the Brooks family, who were very rich, and the Foster family, who were poor. Today, very few members of either family are still on the show.

paragraphs: Today, the show tells stories about two cosmetics companies: Newman Enterprises and Jabot Cosmetics. Newman's president is Victor Newman (played by the actor Eric Braeden) and Jabot's president is Jack Abbott (played by Peter Bergman). These two men hate each other very much and would like to see the other fail. This hatred is the root of much of the story on the show.


title: Georgia (U.S. state)

paragraphs: Georgia is a state in the southeastern part of the United States. It is bordered by Florida to the south, Alabama to the west, Tennessee and North Carolina to the north, and South Carolina to the east. All of Georgia's coastline is on the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean borders Georgia to the southeast.

paragraphs: Georgia was established in 1732 and became a state in 1788. It was the last of the original 13 colonies and eventually joined in the growing rebellion against Britain. Georgia was named after George II of Great Britain.

paragraphs: There are 5 regional habitats of Georgia. They are the Georgia mountains, Okeefenokee marsh/swamp area, the Georgia coastal region, the Georgia Piedmont, and Atlantic Coastal region .

paragraphs: The capital and largest city in Georgia is Atlanta. The 1996 Olympic Games took place there, and the book and movie "Gone with the Wind" was set in and around Atlanta in the 1860s. Other big cities in the state include Augusta, Columbus, Savannah, and Macon. Georgia has a total of 159 counties.


title: Prem Rawat

paragraphs: Prem Pal Singh Rawat (in India called Maharaji and in the past called Guru Maharaj Ji and Balyogeshwar) was born in India on December 10, 1957. He teaches inner peace by the use of what he calls "Knowledge". Groups that have helped him are the Divine Light Mission, Elan Vital (1983), and The Prem Rawat Foundation (2001).

paragraphs: His father was a guru (or teacher of religious matters) in India for three million people. Prem Rawat took over at the age of eight when his father died. Prem Rawat went to England and the United States when he was 13 years old, in 1971. He got married when he was 16 years old. In 1975, he had a fight with his mother and brother. They took over in India while Prem Rawat took over in America and the West. Now he lives in California and flies all over the world to share his "Knowledge" with people.

paragraphs: People who like him say that he teaches them how to feel peace by looking within.


title: Immanuel Kant

paragraphs: Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher. He was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, and also died there. Kant studied philosophy in the university there, and later became a professor of philosophy. He called his system "transcendental idealism". Kant's thorough writing about epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics have made him one of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy.

paragraphs: Today the town Königsberg is part of Russia, and is renamed Kaliningrad. When Kant was alive, it was the second largest city in the kingdom of Prussia.

paragraphs: Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724. In 1740 he entered the University of Königsberg and studied the philosophy of Gottfried Leibniz and his follower Christian Wolff. He studied there until 1746 when his father died, then left Königsberg to take up a job as tutor. He became the tutor of Count Kayserling and his family. In 1755 Kant became a lecturer and stayed in this position until 1770. He was made the second librarian of the Royal Library in 1766. Kant was eventually given the Chair of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Königsberg. In his entire life Kant never travelled more than seventy miles from the city of Königsberg. Kant died on February 12, 1804 with the final words "Es ist gut" ("It is good").

paragraphs: After finishing his study in the university, Kant hoped to be a teacher of philosophy, but it was very difficult. He could have lived a life of private lecturer as interested in physics, both astronomical objects (such as planets and stars) and the earth. He wrote some papers about this, but he became more interested in metaphysics. He wanted to learn the nature of human experience: how humans could know something, and what their knowledge was based on.

paragraphs: Under the strong influence of the philosophical system of Leibniz and Wolff, Kant began to doubt the basic answers of past philosophers. Then, Kant read a Scottish philosopher, David Hume. Hume had tried to make clear what our experience had been, and had reached a very strong opinion called "skepticism", that there was nothing to make our experience sure. Kant was very shocked by Hume, and saw the theory he had learned in a new point of view. He began to try finding a third way other than the two that Kant called "skepticism" and "dogmaticism".

paragraphs: Kant read another thinker, named Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His thought on human beings, especially on morals, human freedom and perpetual peace, impressed Kant.

paragraphs: Some scholars like to include Kant as one of the German idealists, but Kant himself did not belong to that group.

paragraphs: The most-known work of Kant is the book "Critique of Pure Reason" ("Kritik der reinen Vernunft") that Kant published in 1781. Kant called his way of thought "critique", not philosophy. Kant said that critique was a preparation for establishment of real philosophy. According to Kant, people should know what human reason can do and which limits it has. In the "Critique of Pure Reason" Kant wrote several limits of human reason, to both feeling and thinking something. For sensation, there are two limits inside of human perception: space and time. There are no physical objects, but the limitations of our mind that work whenever we feel something through our senses. For thinking, he said there are twelve categories or pure rational concepts, divided into four fields: quantity, quality, relation and modality. Kant thought human reason applied those ideas to everything.

paragraphs: Is what we think only our fantasy? Kant said "No", although without those sensual and rational limitations, we can think nothing, then Kant was convinced there would be something we could not know directly behind our limitations, and even with limitations we could know something. It can not be a personal fantasy either, since those limitations were common to all human reason before our particular experience. Kant called what we could not know directly "Ding an sich" -- "thing itself". We can think "thing itself" but cannot have any experience about it, nor know it. God, the eternity of soul, life after death, such things belong to "thing itself", so they were not right objects of philosophy according to Kant, although people had liked to discuss them from ancient times.

paragraphs: Kant wrote two other books named "Critique": "Critique of the practical reason" (1788) and "Critique of the Judgement" (1790). In "Critique of the practical reason" Kant wrote about the problem of freedom and God. It was his main work of ethics. In "Critique of the Judgement" Kant wrote about beauty and teleology, or the problem if there was a purpose in general, if the world, a living creature had a reason to exist, and so on. In both books, Kant said we could not answer those problems, because they were concerned with "thing itself".

paragraphs: Kant had a great influence on other thinkers. In the 19th century, German philosophers like Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer and writers like Herder, Schiller, and Goethe were influenced by Kant.

paragraphs: In the early 20th century Kant's ideas were very influential on one group of German philosophers. They became known as the new-Kantians. One of them, Windelband, said, "every philosophy before Kant poured into Kant, and every philosophy after Kant pours from Kant".

paragraphs: Kant has influenced many modern thinkers, including Hannah Arendt, and John Rawls.


title: Aunt

paragraphs: An aunt is relationship that describes a woman who is a sibling of a parent or is married to a sibling of a parent. Aunts are sometimes called Auntie or Aunty. A man is a nephew to their Aunt and a woman is a niece. An aunt is part of an extended family. The child of an aunt's is a cousin. Often the word aunt is used with people who are not related to show closeness or respect.

paragraphs: In many cultures there are different words to describe a person's mother's sister and father's sister. In Latin a mother's sister is "matertera" while a father's sister is "amita".

paragraphs: A maternal or paternal relative is one who is related through one's mother or father, respectively. For example, a maternal aunt is the subject's mother's sister. An in-law is a relationship that is not by blood, but instead by marriage. The in-law shares the in-law relationships of the spouse's relatives. For example a aunt in-law could be the wife of the subject's uncle.


title: Homer

paragraphs: Homer is the name of the Greek poet who wrote the epic poems the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey". These are the earliest works of Greek literature which have survived to the present day, and are among the greatest treasures of the ancient world. They are a product of Mycenaean culture. The Iliad tells the story of the Trojan war, which took place around 1190 BC. The manuscripts of Homer were written much later, probably later than 800 BC.

paragraphs: What makes the history of this period so difficult is that the Mycenaean civilization was followed by several hundred years of decline, from which little or no writing has survived. This period, the Greek Dark Age, ended around 800 BC, when once again we find Greek writing, though this time in their newly developed alphabetic script. Therefore, there is a distinct possibility that the Homeric epics had a life, perhaps a long life, as oral literature, spoken by story-tellers.

paragraphs: We know little about Homer, and the later Greeks also knew little about him. Some have doubted he was a real person; others think he was a woman.

paragraphs: A legend, has it that he was a blind poet who lived in Ionia. There is no definite evidence for any of these ideas.

paragraphs: There is archaeological evidence that Troy existed. The site of Troy has been discovered, and excavated. Therefore, it is a fair guess that the epic began as a long oral poem based on the siege of Troy, but with details added and changed as time went on. Virtually every feature of Homer's poetry is due to the economy forced on it by oral methods of composition.

paragraphs: The date of Homer's existence is not known. Herodotus said that Homer lived 400 years before his own time, which would place him at around 850 BC; but other ancient sources gave dates much closer to the time of the Trojan War. The date of the Trojan War was given as 1194–1184 BC by Eratosthenes.

paragraphs: Today, "the date of Homer" means the date of the writing down the oral poems, rather than the life of Homer. This is called the "transcription date". The language suggests that the earliest possible date for the transcription is 800 BC, and the latest possible date is 600 AD.


title: Marquis de Sade

paragraphs: Donatien Alphonse François, Comte de Sade, (2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), better known as the Marquis de Sade) was a French nobleman, writer and philosopher who was born in Paris. The de Sade family were French nobility, who came from Provence. Different members of the house held positions in the Church, and the French state at different times.

paragraphs: Once Donatien had grown up, he had troubles with the authorities several times. He was bisexual. He spent many years in prison and at a mental asylum.

paragraphs: On one of his escapades, he ""accidentally"" raped a close relative of his, who was a nun. This caused his family to drop him, and to hand him over to the authorities.

paragraphs: For this, he was sentenced to death (while being absent). He later escaped the death penalty by moving to Italy. The death penalty against him was later changed to a prison sentence.

paragraphs: In prison, he started to read about philosophy. He also started to write down his ideas. He tried to hide his writing, and also wrote in a very small print, so that the consumption of paper would not be noticed.

paragraphs: In later years, he was moved to an asylum (for the mentally ill), and gave his wife the possibility of a divorce.

paragraphs: After the French Revolution, he got out of the asylum, but in 1803 was declared mentally ill (and again was sent to the asylum). He died in the asylum in Val-de-Marne in 1814 at the age of 74.

paragraphs: The term 'sadism' was named after him. It refers to the habit of getting pleasure from giving pain.


title: Eurozone

paragraphs: The Eurozone (also called Euro area or Euroland) is the set of countries in the European Union which have adopted the Euro (€) currency. The European Central Bank is responsible for managing the supply of money within the eurozone and political decisions are taken by the "euro group", which is a meeting of the politicians from each euro country in charge of that country's economy.

paragraphs: EU members that are not part of the Eurozone are Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania.

paragraphs: There are other countries outside the European Union which use the euro as well, but these are not officially in the eurozone.


title: Ordinal number

paragraphs: Ordinal numbers (or ordinals) are numbers that show something's order, for example: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th.

paragraphs: Suppose a person has four different T-shirts, and then lays them in front of the person, from left to right.

paragraphs: If the person then starts counting the shirts from the left, he would first see the red shirt. So the red shirt is the first T-shirt. The blue shirt is the second T-shirt. The yellow shirt is the third one, and the orange T-shirt is the fourth one.

paragraphs: The "first", "second", "third", and "fourth" in this case are ordinal numbers. They result from the fact that the person has many objects, and they give them an order (hence 'ordinal'). The person then simply counts those objects, and gives the ordinal numbers to them.

paragraphs: In set theory, ordinals are also ordinal numbers people use to order infinite sets. An example is the set formula_1 (or formula_2 for short), which is the set containing all natural numbers (including 0). This is the smallest ordinal number that is infinite, and there are many more (such as formula_2 + 1).


title: Gnome

paragraphs: The word Gnome can mean different things:


title: Republic

paragraphs: A republic is a king-less form of government that has no monarchy and no hereditary aristocracy. It originates from Rome, in 509 B.C. when the Romans overthrew the Roman kingdom. Once free, the Romans established a republic, a government in which citizens elected representatives to rule on their behalf.

paragraphs: The national sovereignty lies in the authority of the government and not in an emperor or monarch. The word republic comes from the Latin language words "res publica", which means a "public thing". For example, the United States is a republic and India is a republic, but North Korea and Cuba are also called republics. However, Britain and Canada are "not" republics, since they have a monarch (Queen Elizabeth II in both cases).

paragraphs: Countries with a king or other monarch and free elections is called a constitutional monarchy and are not called republics. A constitutional monarchy resembles a republic because the constitution has been amended to remove power from the monarch and install institutions conforming to a philosophy of republicanism. This includes the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, the Netherlands, Thailand, Scandinavian and various other countries. What makes a republic different, is that laws are made and enforced without royal authority.

paragraphs: The Head of State in a republic is generally a person who has been chosen by the citizens, either by direct election or by a group of elected representatives to act as the top representative of the people. In most republics, the Head of State is called the president. In some countries, the president is elected and has a lot of political power. In others, the president does not hold much direct power, but is important in the legal system for other reasons.

paragraphs: Sometimes a state is called a "republic" when its head is not called "king" but something else. For example, the Roman Empire had an "Emperor" and the Dutch Republic had a "Stadholder" but they worked as hereditary monarchs.

paragraphs: Licchavi in India was the first republic in the 6th and 5th century BCE. The earliest republics that were much imitated later were Greek cities in the eastern Mediterranean area. The biggest difference from other city-states at that time was that people chose their leaders by voting. The votes were counted, and the person with the most votes won.


title: Martin Luther

paragraphs: Martin Luther (10 November 1483 in Eisleben - 18 February 1546 in Eisleben) was a German monk and theologian of Christianity. He is credited with starting the Protestant Reformation. As this happened, what are now called Protestant churches split from the Roman Catholic church. He started the Lutheran Church, the first Protestant church.

paragraphs: Luther studied philosophy at the University of Erfurt. In 1505, he entered into the Augustinian Order as a monk. Luther studied theology and ancient languages in Erfurt. In 1512 he became a doctor of theology in Wittenberg and began his lectures on the Psalms and Letters of Paul.

paragraphs: In October 1517, Luther wrote his 95 Theses. Many people think that he put them on the door of a church in Wittenberg, but this is not sure. Instead, he published a copy. He presented these to church officials at Worms Cathedral. Luther called them "The Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences". It questioned the teaching of the western Church and its ideas about penance, the authority of the Pope and the usefulness of "indulgences". At that time, the Catholic Church was selling indulgences to get out of purgatory, and go right to Heaven after death. They were selling indulgences for money for the dead so they could go to Heaven faster. If that was true, it would mean that poor people would not be able to go to Heaven as quickly, but that the priests in the church would be rich from selling these things. Luther thought that this was all wrong, and was against the Bible.

paragraphs: After studying the Letters of Paul, especially the Letter to Romans, Luther came up with an idea called "sola fide". This means that faith is the only way that people can get salvation from God. According to sola fide, this would mean that many church customs were useless, and should be cast away.

paragraphs: First, Luther believed that he could reform (change) the Roman Church from the inside (while still being a part of the Church) with his Theses, but the Papacy took his attitude as heresy and excommunicated him on June 15 1520 with a paper saying he did not have their permission to go to Heaven. In October, Luther burned the paper in public, and showed he would not obey the Church unless they accepted his words.

paragraphs: Emperor Charles V Opened the imperial Diet of Worms on 22 January 1521 to hear the case. For Luther, it was the last chance to say he had been wrong. But he did not change his mind. The Diet declared Luther an outlaw.

paragraphs: With the help of a friend, Luther hid in Wartburg Castle, near Erfurt. In the castle, he translated the Bible. First, he wrote the New Testament in German instead of the original Greek. Later, he translated the Old Testament into German, too. Until then, the Mass and the Bible were in Latin. Very few people understood it. Most people went to Mass, and did not understand what the priest said because they did not speak Latin. Luther translated the Bible so that more people could read and understand it. That way they were no longer depending on the priest to tell them what was in the Bible, but could read it themselves.

paragraphs: Luther started his own church, called the Lutheran Church, with his friend Philip Melanchthon. Luther died in 1546.

paragraphs: From the Bible, Luther formed firm ideas about families. Luther knew that what a child learned at home would greatly influence his life. He said in "Table Talks", "Sermons very little edify children, who learn little thereby; it is more needful they be taught and well instructed in schools, and at home, and that they be learned and examined what they have learned; this way profits much; 'tis very wearisome, but very necessary". Luther also preached against the Catholic Church's demands that ministers cannot marry. After hearing his preaching, many nuns wrote to him to ask for help in escaping their convents. Luther helped nine nuns escape from a convent. On April 4, 1524, Luther had a friend help the nuns sneak over the wall and then hid them in barrels on a wagon until they were out of the city. One of these nuns was Katherine von Bora.

paragraphs: After finding husbands for the nuns whose families would not accept them, Luther had to find a husband for Katherine von Bora. Katherine, however, not only rejected a match Luther arranged for her, but said she would accept only Luther or another pastor named Amsdorf as her husband.

paragraphs: At first Luther did not really like Katherine and thought "she was proud and haughty." His feelings changed, though, and they married on June 13, 1525. Luther later said, "And thank God it hath turned out well; for I have a pious (holy, God-loving) and faithful wife, to whom one may safely commit (give) his heart".

paragraphs: They had six children. On June 6, 1526, Luther wrote, "I am a happy husband...for from the most precious woman, my best of wives, I have received, by the blessing of God, a little son, John Luther, and, by God's wonderful grace, I have become a father."

paragraphs: The firstborn was John Luther. The next was a daughter, Elizabeth; but Elizabeth died when she was just eight months old, and Luther wrote in a letter, "My little daughter Elizabeth is taken from me, and hath left me with a bleeding and almost womanly heart, so sad am I on her account. I never thought the heart of a father was so tender towards his children. Pray the Lord for me." A third child, Magdalene, also died young. After Magdalene came Martin, then Paul, and finally Margaret. It was for his children that Luther wrote the Small Catechism - a book showing the basics of Lutheran beliefs.

paragraphs: Since the time of the silent movies 28 movies about Martin Luther have been made. The newest movie is titled Luther, released in 2003.


title: Noh

paragraphs: Noh or No (Japanese:能 Nō) is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama. It started in the 14th century and continues today. Noh is made up of "mai" (dances), "hayashi" (music) and "utai" (words usually in songs). The performers use masks and dance slowly. Zeami and his father Kan'ami brought Noh to its present-day form during the Muromachi period.

paragraphs: Theater pieces of Noh are classified into 5 groups.

paragraphs: All Noh players are men. They have been taught their skills by their fathers. When a woman or girl appears in the drama, a male actor plays her role with a woman mask.

paragraphs: There are three types of Noh players: "shite", "waki" and "kyogen". "Shite" plays the hero or the heroine. He talks, sings and dances. "Waki" (meaning "Side") and plays the sidekick of "Shite". The Waki usually plays the role of a traveller role. He introduces us into the world in the drama. "Kyogen" appears in the middle of the drama if it has two parts, and plays the role of the local citizen. He talks to "Waki" and makes him notice something new or realize what has happened.

paragraphs: "Hayashi" means musical instrumentals. Two kinds of drum ("Tuzumi", "Taiko") and a flute ("Fue") are used in the theater.


title: Manga

paragraphs: Manga is drawn by a "mangaka" () (Japanese for cartoonist: an artist of comics). Manga is usually read from right to left.

paragraphs: The word manga can be both singular and plural, and mean both the medium of comics or a single comic. It is a form of art that is used to draw comics and develop Anime (animated cartoons of manga art). Colors and symbols are important.


title: Spree

paragraphs: The Spree is a river in the north-east of Germany.

paragraphs: It runs through the centre of Berlin. The river is long.


title: Liberalism

paragraphs: Liberalism is a way of thinking about politics and government.

paragraphs: Some liberals believe that freedom is impossible without equality, and that governments should promote egalitarianism by providing education and health care supported by taxes. Other liberals believe that taxes are bad, and that people should provide their own education and health care; these people are usually called libertarians today. Most liberal governments today do provide at least some education and health care, though not necessarily equally for all citizens.

paragraphs: Other concepts important to some liberals include:

paragraphs: In the old days, kings or queens told people what to do (a form of government called a Monarchy), and there was very little freedom. A few hundred years ago, philosophers such as John Locke, Simón Bolívar, John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham began to write about freedom. Earlier writers, such as Marcus Aurelius, had written about freedom, but this time the idea caught on. The United States of America was the first country to have a constitution which was based on the ideas of John Locke which were similar to those of Mill and Bentham, and which guaranteed certain rights to all citizens, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, the right to assemble (get together in groups), the right to bear arms (weapons), and the right to ask their government to take action (right of petition) or to remove from office rulers they did not like (right of referendum).

paragraphs: Another idea that became popular around this time was the idea of free trade. A leading philosopher who promoted free trade was Adam Smith.

paragraphs: Most of the wealthy countries in the world today are liberal democracies with more or less free trade. An exception to this rule are the oil-rich countries, not all of which are liberal or democratic. Most of the poor countries in the world are dictatorships, with heavy restrictions on trade. China is a poor country which is rapidly becoming rich, and is trying the experiment of combining dictatorship with free trade. Whether it is possible to have the advantages of free trade without other freedoms remains to be seen.

paragraphs: While all liberal governments support free elections, other ideas of liberal government vary a great deal from country to country. For information about liberalism in a particular country, look for an article called "Liberalism in..." and then the name of the country.

paragraphs: The government of the United States was created based on a belief in Democracy and personal freedom. However the word "liberalism" has taken on a different meaning in modern times. Liberals in the United States still believe in supporting democracy and freedom, however many liberals also support other ideas. While not all liberals agree on everything, most liberals in the United States agree:

paragraphs: Liberals in the United States are also sometimes called "Progressives". The biggest liberal political party in the United States is the Democratic Party. But the Green Party is seen to be more 'left', or liberal than the Democrats.

paragraphs: Liberals in Australia have many different ideas about government than liberals in the United States. Most liberals in Australia believe that government should not increase taxes, and would like a government that has lower taxes and less power over the economy. The main liberal political party in Australia is the Liberal Party of Australia. The Liberal Party also believes that government should support traditional values and morals, something which many conservatives believe as well.