title: Anna Harrison

paragraphs: Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison (1775 - 1864) was the wife of President William Henry Harrison. President Benjamin Harrison was her grandson. She was the First Lady of the United States during her husband's one-month term in 1841. But she never entered the White House.

paragraphs: She was born near Morristown, New Jersey on July 25, 1775. Her father was a judge and his name was John Cleves Symmes. Her mother’s name was Anna Tuthill Symmes. Her mother died in 1776 when Anna was hardly one year old. During the American Revolution, Anna's father dressed like a British soldier and carried her on horseback passing through the British lines to her grandparents on Long Island. They cared for the child till the end of the war with the British.

paragraphs: At the age of thirteen, she went to North Bend, Ohio to live with her father and the stepmother. After few years, she met William Harrison, a young army officer. She married him on 25th November 1795. The couple had six sons and four daughters: Elizabeth Bassett "Betsy" (1796 - 1846), John Cleves Symmes (1798 - 1830), Lucy Singleton (1800 - 1826), William Henry, Jr. (1802 - 1838), John Scott (1804 - 1878), Benjamin (1806 - 1840), Mary Symmes (1809 - 1842), Carter Bassett (1811 - 1839), Anna Tuthill (1813 - 1845), and James Findlay (1814 - 1817).

paragraphs: After an eventful career in the US Army, her husband became the President of the United States in 1841. Due to her illness, she could not attend the inauguration ceremony and remained at their home in North Bend. After a month, on April 4, 1841, she was about to move to Washington when she learned of her husband's death. Thus, she never entered the White House, even though she was the First Lady.

paragraphs: After the death of her husband, she lived in North Bend with one of her sons, John Scott Harrison. She helped raise his children. One of the children was eight-year old Benjamin who became President of the United States. She died at the age of 88 on February 25, 1864 at home in North Bend, Ohio.


title: Sarah Yorke Jackson

paragraphs: Sarah Yorke Jackson (July 1805? - August 23, 1887) was the daughter in law of US President Andrew Jackson and Rachel Donelson Jackson. She acted as the First Lady of the United States from November 26, 1834 to March 4, 1837.

paragraphs: Sarah Yorke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents were very rich. The exact date of her birth is not known. But, it was in July 1805. Her father’s name was Peter Yorke. Her father had worked as a sea captain, and then became a merchant. Her mother’s name was Mary Haines York. Her father died in 1805. While going to New Orleans, her mother died in 1820. Sarah had two other sisters. Her two aunts raised all the three children.

paragraphs: On November 24 1831, Sarah married Andrew Jackson, Jr. He was the adopted son of president Andrew Jackson. The couple lived in the family plantation farm in Tennessee. There in 1834, a fire destroyed the main house. They came to Washington, and started living in the White House. By that time, they had become parents of two children.

paragraphs: The couple and their children reached the White House on November 26 1834. She immediately started to act as the First Lady. At the same time, the President’s niece Emily Donelson was also acting as the First Lady. This is the single example of two ladies acting as the First Lady in the history of the United States. In 1836, Emily died of tuberculosis. After that, Sarah continued to act as the First Lady.

paragraphs: President Jackson’s term as president expired in 1837. Until then Sarah remained in the White House, and continued to act as the First lady. By that time, a new house was constructed at Tennessee. The couple and the former president lived there for about eight years. In 1845, Andrew Jackson died. She continued to live there with her husband. When the American Civil War broke out, the couple moved to Mississippi. She died on August 23 1887.


title: Carnivora

paragraphs: The order Carnivora is a group of mammals. The group is divided into the "cat-like" Feliformia and the "dog-like" Caniformia.

paragraphs: Animals of the order Carnivora are "carnivores", a term which applies to all flesh-eaters. If one needs to refer to members of the order, then "carnivorans" is used. Many species of Carnivora are actually omnivores, and a few of them, like the Giant Panda, eat mostly plants.

paragraphs: The order includes aquatic relatives in the superfamily Pinnipedia, the walruses and seals.

paragraphs: The Carnivores are linked with the Miacids and Viverravids in an unranked clade, the Carnivoramorpha:

paragraphs: The carnivores known as †Creodonts have some relation to these groups, but are placed outside the Carnivoramorpha. The †Mesonychids are another extinct group of early carnivores, which are also not in the Carnivoramorpha.


title: Fowl

paragraphs: Galloanserans are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl (Galliformes) and the waterfowl (Anseriformes). It happens that birds in these groups are good to eat, and often hunted by gun. So the word 'fowl' may be used for a game bird. The group is mostly of birds we hunt or farm, and which we eat. Studies of anatomical and molecular similarities suggest these two groups are close evolutionary relatives. Together, they form the fowl clade, the Galloanserae. This clade is also supported by morphological and DNA sequence data, as well as retrotransposon data.


title: Receipt

paragraphs: A receipt is usually a piece of paper, but in some parts of the world they can also be hard tokens. The word comes from "receive", which means "to get".

paragraphs: Receipts are used to show or prove that someone has got or received something. It usually shows proof that something has been paid for. It might also be used to show that something was brought in to be fixed, for example, a bicycle.


title: Error

paragraphs: An error is a mistake: that is its basic meaning. However, there are some differences in how the word is used in different subjects.

paragraphs: Elementary errors in arithmetic show a wrong pattern of thought. For example, if a child misplaces the decimal point in some decimal arithmetic, that shows he or she has not understood the idea. By explaining how decimal points should be placed, a teacher can correct all future calculations of this kind. The error is a sign of a general misunderstanding, which, when cured, may never happen again. In this way, errors can help learning.

paragraphs: This idea can be developed in many other subjects. Errors can help learning if corrected, and that is used by many textbooks with end-of-chapter questions. The idea of the questions (which often have end of book answers) is to help the reader find out what needs correcting. The principle of learning is called knowledge of results.

paragraphs: A statistical error is "the amount by which a sample differs from its expected value". The expected value is based on the whole population from which the individual was chosen.

paragraphs: The word 'error' can be used to describe a computer program that was not written in the right way. A "syntax error" is a bit of source code that does not make sense to the computer. A "logic error" is a mistake in the algorithm used, which might result in problems with the output.

paragraphs: An error may also be an "exception", which is something that happens unexpectedly. For example, it is an error to try to write more files onto a disk that is full. Careful programmers write code that can deal with errors that may happen; they can do this by labeling each error with an error code and using exception handling. Continuing to run a program when an error has not been dealt with can cause error avalanche, which means errors pile up and behavior becomes more difficult to predict.

paragraphs: In a catastrophe like a nuclear accident, even small errors in accuracy and precision can lead to very harmful consequences.


title: Union of European Football Associations

paragraphs: The Union of European Football Associations mostly called the UEFA, is the organization that controls European football (soccer) (often referred to as association football). The UEFA is one of 6 continental confederations of the FIFA. It is also the biggest one. The President of the UEFA is Florentino Pérez, who also works as the president of Real Madrid.

paragraphs: Some members of the UEFA are partly or whole not part of the European continent (Israel, Turkey, Kazakhstan,Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Cyprus and Russia). There are members that do not represent sovereign states, such as the Faroe Islands, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

paragraphs: UEFA national teams have won eleven FIFA World Cups (Italy-4, Germany-4, England, France and Spain-one trophy each), and UEFA clubs have won 21 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups. In women's, UEFA teams have won three FIFA Women's World Cups (Germany 2, Norway 1) and one Olympic gold medal (Norway).

paragraphs: The main international competition is the UEFA European Football Championship. This competition started in 1958, with the first finals in 1960. It is held every four years. The last was 2016 in France. The title was won by Portugal for their first time ever. There were also European competitions at the Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 levels. For women there was the UEFA Women's Championship.

paragraphs: There are two main club competitions. The highest is the UEFA Champions League. It started in the 1992/93 season as follower of the UEFA Champion Cup. This competition was first held in 1956. The second is the UEFA Europa League. The league started in 1999 when the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup merged. In women's football UEFA governs UEFA Women's Champions League for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009 (out of UEFA Women's Cup until 2009)

paragraphs: Since 1992 no winner of the Champions League was able to defend the title the next season.


title: Asian Football Confederation

paragraphs: The Asian Football Confederation often referred to as just AFC, is the organization that controls Asian football.

paragraphs: The AFC has 46 member associations split into four regions.


title: Micronesia

paragraphs: Micronesia is an area in Oceania. Many islands in southwest Pacific Ocean are part of it. Micronesia means "small islands" in ancient Greek language.

paragraphs: Philippines is to the west of Micronesia. Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Melanesia are to the south of Micronesia. Polynesia is to the east of Micronesia.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

paragraphs: The 2002 FIFA World Cup was a football sporting event that was held in South Korea and Japan from May 31 to June 30, 2002. 32 teams took part from many countries. Brazil won the trophy after beating Germany in the final by a score of 2-0. 69,029 people were at the finals at International Stadium, Yokohama.


title: Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol

paragraphs: CONMEBOL or CSF (CONfederación SudaMEricana de FútBOL in Spanish, CONfederação Sul-AMEricana de FuteBOL in Portuguese; "South American Football Confederation") is the governing body of football in most of South America.

paragraphs: Three countries or territories on the South American mainland—the independent countries of Guyana and Suriname, plus the French overseas department of French Guiana—are not CONMEBOL members. Instead, for cultural and competitive reasons, they are members of CONCACAF, the governing body for the rest of the Americas.


title: Monotreme

paragraphs: Monotremes are a group of mammals that form the order Monotremata. Monotremes are the only mammals that lay eggs, but they also feed their babies with milk.

paragraphs: The word 'monotreme' refers to their common rear opening, the cloaca. In amphibia, reptiles, birds and probably all early tetrapods, there is a common opening for urine, reproduction and faeces.

paragraphs: Monotremes are derived from earlier mammals than the marsupials and eutherians, but their fossil record is poor.

paragraphs: The time at which the monotreme line diverged from other mammalian lines is uncertain, but one survey of genetic studies gives an estimate of about 220 million years ago. This is in the Upper Triassic. Fossils of a jaw fragment 110 million years old were found at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales. This means they originated up to 100 million years before the Metatheria or Eutheria, so they are definitely 'living fossils'.

paragraphs: The egg-laying and the cloaca are primitive ('basal') features inherited from earlier synapsid tetrapods.

paragraphs: But the monotremes also have other features such as the production of milk, caring for their young in burrows, homeothermy and a neocortex in their brains. These are advanced ('derived') features which they share with placentals and marsupials. This mixture of basal and derived features is characteristic of the way different body parts often evolve at different rates. This is called mosaic evolution.

paragraphs: In mammals, a monophyletic group, there were a number of different lines living at the same time through the Upper Triassic to the Upper Cretaceous. Each of these lines had a mixture of basal and derived features until, at last, the placental mammals developed the whole suite of derived characters. This gave them a great advantage over the other groups wherever open competition occurred. However, because of their long seclusion in southern continents, some of the monotremes and marsupials have survived.

paragraphs: There are two surviving families of monotremes, with five living species. They all live in Australia and New Guinea. People commonly know them as the platypus and the spiny anteaters. There is only one platypus that exists now, the duck-billed platypus. The four others are the spiny anteaters, or the echidna.


title: FIFA Club World Cup

paragraphs: The FIFA Club World Cup is a competition in the sport of Club football. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) organizes the World Cup every one year. The tournament officially assigns the world title. It is normally contested between the Champions of each continent, and the champion of the host country. Real Madrid is the most successful team in the tournament, with 4 titles.

paragraphs: "See also:" Clubs of football world champions


title: Metatheria

paragraphs: Metatheria is a group in the class Mammalia which contains the marsupials and the sparassodonts.

paragraphs: First proposed by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1880, it is nearly synonymous with the earlier taxon Marsupialia, but it also contains the nearest fossil relatives of marsupial mammals. They differ from all other mammals in their dental formula, which includes about five upper and four lower incisors, a canine, three premolars, and four molars.

paragraphs: The earliest known representative, "Sinodelphys", is from the Lower Cretaceous of China.

paragraphs: The closest relatives of the metatheres are the Eutheria (also erected by Huxley in 1880). Both are conventionally united as infraclasses within the subclass Theria, which contains all living mammals except monotremes.

paragraphs: During development, metatherians produce a yolk sac placenta and give birth to 'larval-like' offspring.

paragraphs: These offspring have underdeveloped rear limbs, and after birth they migrate to the marsupium where they attach to a nipple. The mouth of newly born metatherians forms an "O" shape into which the mother's nipple fits. Then it swells to secure the offspring into place.

paragraphs: The Greek words "meta-" and "theria" roughly means the ""other beasts"", in contrast with "Eutheria" (""true beasts"").

paragraphs: Metatherians first appeared in the Cretaceous period. Some stem group metatherians persisted well into the Neogene period before becoming extinct. Crown group marsupials, the one branch of Metatheria that survives today, diversified close to the time of extinction at the end of the Cretaceous.


title: Spermatic cord

paragraphs: The spermatic cord (also known as Van Deferens or Sperm Duct) is a cord-like structure in the male reproductive system that runs from the abdomen down to each testicle. It carries sperms from the epididymis to the urethra.


title: Mixed martial arts

paragraphs: Mixed martial arts (or MMA) is a hybrid martial arts form. It includes any mixture of combat disciplines or any blend of two or more styles of martial arts. MMA can also mean the sport of mixed martial arts fighting. Bellator, WSOF, ONE Championship, and UFC are companies that promote MMA sport fighting.

paragraphs: The people who organize a MMA fight can decide the rules for that fight.

paragraphs: There is no one group of people who decides the rules for all MMA fights,in the world. Some states regulate all professional fights including MMA fights and set some rules.

paragraphs: MMA fights once had few rules, but now have many rules to protect the fighters. Boxing (and other fighting sports) also have many rules, different from those in MMA.

paragraphs: Fighters can use any martial art, or combination of arts, they like in the fight. In these fights, fighters can fight standing with punches, kicks and other strikes, in a clinch where fighters are grabbing each other while standing, or on the ground.

paragraphs: An example of an illegal strike is the 12-6 elbow strike. It is illegal under the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, where it is called "striking downwards using the point of the elbow". The ban was made for medical and safety reasons, due to it being likely there would be serious injuries to opponents if they are used.

paragraphs: Each fighter will try to defeat the other either by submission, or knock out. Each fight can last only for a period of time, after the time ends, judges decide who is the winner. The referee in the fight will make sure no one gets hurt too badly and that rules are followed.

paragraphs: The pankration was an old style of unarmed combat. The ancient Greeks introduced this sport into the Olympic Games in the 648 BC. Some public fights took place at the end of the 19th century. They represented different styles of fighting, including jujutsu, wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling and others in competitions and challenges across Europe. After World War I, wrestling was born again in two main flows. The first flow was real competition; the second flow began to depend more on the choreography and on the grand public shows that resulted in professional wrestling.

paragraphs: Modern mixed martial arts (MMA) has its roots in two kinds of competition: the Vale Tudo (Brazil) and Japanese Shootfighting.

paragraphs: Vale Tudo began circa 1930, when Carlson Gracie invited every competitor to compete in a fight. That was the so-called "Gracie's Challenge". Later, Hélio Gracie and the Gracie family continued this. Vale Tudo translates to "Anything Goes", as it had almost no rules.

paragraphs: In Japan, about 1970, Antonio Inoki organized a series of mixed martial arts fights. They were the forces that produced the Shootwrestling, and they later caused the developing of the first organization of mixed martial arts, known as Shooto. Mixed martial arts obtained great popularity in the United States in 1993, when Rorion Gracie helped create the first UFC event, one of the earliest MMA events in the USA . In 1997, in Japan, the interest for this sport resulted in the creation of the greater organization of mixed martial arts - Pride Fighting Championship.

paragraphs: The Gracie family caused the tournaments, as the UFC, to be well known. It should be noticed that the UFC is the most famous tournament, but the persons who practises Brazilian jiujitsu normally do not use blows. Undoubtedly, the Gracie family played an important role in the creation of open competitions of Vale Tudo and in causing them to be well known through the television. Nevertheless, before anyone created the UFC or Shooto, where the persons who represent every method of self-defense can fight, there had already existed such mixed martial arts.

paragraphs: About the year 1990, three styles were famous for their effectiveness in the competitions of the mixed martial arts: the wrestling, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and the shootwrestling. This can be because of their attention given to the combat by means of holds. Before the year 1990, the promoters organized a lacking amount of the competitions of the mixed martial arts, and some martial arts base on blows. Therefore, probably, most instructors of these arts had given too little attention to the holds.


title: Urarina

paragraphs: Urarina are Indigenous Peoples who live in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest


title: Sergipe

paragraphs: Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil. Aracaju is the capital and largest city. Sergipe borders two other states, Bahia and Alagoas.

paragraphs: Sergipe's land is mostly caatinga. A strip of rainforest runs down the Atlantic coast. There are also swamps near the coast.

paragraphs: Sergipe's main crop is sugarcane. Cassava is also grown. There is a small petoleum industry.

paragraphs: The first people to live in Sergipe were from the Tupi Tribe. The name "Sergipe" is the Tupi word for "crab".

paragraphs: The Portugal took over the area, and made a settlement at São Cristóvão. Later, French pirates invaded Sergipe, but they left soon after.


title: Soviet–Afghan War

paragraphs: The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a war initially fought between the forces of the Afghanistan government and afghan assistance fighters, supporter from abroad. Without proper equipment and training, the Afghanistan government was unable to resist the opposition,called the Mujahedeen, eventually seeking the aid of the Soviet Union.The entry of the Soviet Union into the country caused an immediate increase in the presence of foreign involvement. Massive military campaigns against the Mujahedeen, who blended in with the local population, caused extensive destruction of local infrastructure and death, causing the local population to side with the Mujahedeen. This change, among the local population, caused a loss of support for the Soviet military presence, creating nationwide resistance, and the eventual quagmire. The war began in December 1979, and lasted until February 1989. About 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed, and about 35,000 were wounded. About two million Afghan civilians were killed. The anti-government forces had support from many countries, mainly the United States and Pakistan.

paragraphs: The war started when the Soviet Union sent its 40th Army to fight in Afghanistan. They reached Afghanistan on 25 December 1979. The fighting continued for about ten years. Then, from 15 May 1988, the Soviet troops started to leave Afghanistan. This continued until 2 February 1989. On 15 February 1989, the Soviet Union announced that all its troops had left Afghanistan.

paragraphs: Arabs moved into this area in 731, and they were Muslim. Almost all the people of Afghanistan also started to follow Islam after that. The country has many mountains and deserts that make movement difficult. The population is made up mainly of Pashtun people, along with Tajiks, Hazara, Aimak, Uzbeks, Turkmen people, and some other small groups.

paragraphs: In 1979 Hafizullah Amin was the ruler of Afghanistan. The Soviets were told by its KGB spies that Amin's rule was a threat to the part of Central Asia that was Soviet. They also suspected that Amin was not loyal to the Soviet Union. They found some information about Amin's attempt to be friendlier with Pakistan and China. The Soviets also suspected that Amin was behind the death of president Nur Muhammad Taraki. Finally, the Soviets decided to remove Amin.

paragraphs: On 22 December 1979, Soviet advisers to the Army of Afghanistan took many steps. They stopped all telecommunication links in Kabul. No message could come inside the city, or go outside the city. Troops of the Soviet Air force also reached Kabul. Amin saw danger and moved to the Presidential palace for better safety. The palace was named Tajbeg Palace.

paragraphs: On 27 December 1979, about 700 Soviet troops took over major government and military buildings at Kabul. The troops wore uniforms similar to the army of Afghanistan. At 7:00 pm, the Soviet troops destroyed Kabul's communication. This stopped all communication among Afghan troops. At 7:15 pm, Soviet troops entered Tajbeg Palace. By morning of 28 December, the first part of the military action was over. Amin and his two sons were killed in the fighting by this time. The Soviets announced freedom of Afghanistan from the rule of President Amin. They also said that all the Soviet soldiers were there to fulfill their duty as stated in the "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighborliness of 1978."

paragraphs: An announcement came from the Kabul radio station about the killing of Hafizullah Amin. The Pro-Soviet Afghan Revolutionary Central Committee (ARCC) took the responsibility for this killing. Then, the ARCC chose Babrak Karmal as the head of government of Afghanistan. He asked the Soviet Union for military assistance.

paragraphs: The government of Afghanistan asked the Soviet Union many times to send troops. Despite the Soviet Union's treaty with Afghanistan to assist, and fearing a Vietnam-style quagmire, the Soviet Union resisted, instead telling the Afghanistan government to reach a compromise with the foreign mercenaries. The situation deteriorated between the Afghanistan government and foreign mercenaries, and the Soviet Union responded initially with only intelligence and advisors.

paragraphs: The Soviet soldiers did many things in Afghanistan. But they could never control all parts of Afghanistan. Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan lacked the proper military tactics for guerilla warfare in Afghanistan's rugged mountainous terrain and many of the Soviet troops were young conscripts untested in combat. Several Afghan groups continued to attack and fight with the Soviet troops.

paragraphs: People in most countries around the world did not like what the Soviet Union was doing in Afghanistan. They liked the way the Afghan people were fighting them. Some reactions were very serious. US President Jimmy Carter said that the Soviet action was "the most serious threat to the peace since the Second World War". Carter threatened to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in Russia unless the Soviet Union withdrew its forces by February 1980. It did not do this, and therefore the U.S. boycotted the Games.

paragraphs: By mid-1980s, many groups in Afghanistan had organized themselves to fight the Soviet troops. These groups received help from many countries like United States, United Kingdom, China, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.

paragraphs: Pakistan thought that the Soviet war in Afghanistan was also a threat to it. Through its intelligence agency, the ISI, it also started its active support to Afghans fighting the Soviet troops.n

paragraphs: The Soviet war in Afghanistan seemed like a war that would never end. The Soviet Union looked very bad in the eyes of the world for trying to control this country. Most people inside the Soviet Union did not support this war. As more and more Soviet soldiers were being killed or wounded as the war dragged on, Mikhail Gorbachev would refer to the Soviet war in Afghanistan as a "bleeding wound". Finally, after ten years with no end in sight, the Soviets decided to get out of Afghanistan.

paragraphs: The Soviet war in Afghanistan badly affected the rule of the Communist Party. Many thought that the war was against Islam. This created strong feelings among the Muslim population of Central Asian Soviet Republics. The Soviet army was really in very low spirits or "morale" because they were unable to control the people and were treated only as invaders everywhere they went. Andrei Sakharov openly said the action of Soviet Army in Afghanistan was wrong.

paragraphs: Over 15,000 Soviet troops were killed in Afghanistan from 1979 until 1989. In the war, the Soviet Army also lost hundreds of aircraft, and billions worth of other military machines. Around two million Afghan men, women and children died in the war.

paragraphs: Even after the Soviet Army left Afghanistan, civil war continued in Afghanistan. For about three years, the Communist government of Najibullah could not defend itself from the mujaheddin forces opposing it. Many groups had arisen within the government itself, and some of them supported the mujaheddin forces. In March 1992, General Abdul Rashid Dostam and his Uzbek militia stopped supporting the Najibullah’s government. Soon, Mujahideen forces won Kabul and started to rule most parts of Afghanistan.

paragraphs: During this war lasting for about ten years, Afghanistan's economy suffered badly. Grain production came down to 3.5% per year between 1978 and 1990. The Soviets also tried to bring commercial and industrial activities under state control. This also had a bad effect on the economy. With the break-up of the Soviet Union in many countries, Afghanistan’s traditional trade also suffered.

paragraphs: At the beginning, many people and countries had praised the USA for supporting groups fighting the Soviet forces. But after the September 11 attacks, people started to question the US policy of supporting and giving money to such groups. In 2001, the US occupied Afghanistan, in an effort to find Osama bin Laden. The occupation went on for almost two more years after Bin Laden was killed.


title: Emily Donelson

paragraphs: Emily Tennessee Donelson (June 1, 1807 - December 19, 1836) was the niece of President of the United States Andrew Jackson. She acted as an unofficial First Lady of the United States from 1829 to 1836.

paragraphs: Emily Tennessee Donelson was born in Donelson, Tennessee. Her father’s name was John Donelson. He was the brother of Rachel Donelson Jackson. Rachel Donelson Jackson later on married Andrew Jackson, the President. She studied at Nashville Female Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. She was a bright student and she got a very good education. At the age of seventeen, she married Andrew Jackson Donelson, called in short as A. J. Donelson.

paragraphs: With her husband, she came to the White House in 1829. At that time, she was just 21 years old. Her husband A. J. Donelson served as a secretary to the President Jackson. Her first months at the White House marked the mourning for the death of Rachel Donelson Jackson. The period of mourning ended when Emily gave a party at the White House on 1 January 1830.

paragraphs: She continued to act as the First Lady for few years. She left the White House for some time. But, she returned again on the 5th September 1831. On 26 November 1834 Sarah Yorke Jackson, the President's daughter in law arrived at the White House. She also started to act as the First lady. It was the only time in the history of USA that two women acted at the same time as the First Lady.

paragraphs: In 1836, Emily’s health became very weak. She was suffering from tuberculosis. In June 1836 she left the White House to recover and rest "Tulip Grove", her plantation. She could not recover and died on the 19 December 1836.


title: Letitia Christian Tyler

paragraphs: Letitia Christian Tyler (November 12, 1790 - September 10, 1842) was the first wife of John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States. She was the First Lady of the United States from 1841 until her death in 1842.

paragraphs: Letitia Christian Tyler was born at her family’s plantation in Virginia. She could not get any formal education. But, she learned to manage the plantation and raise a family.

paragraphs: She married John Tyler on 29 March 1813. The day was the twenty-third birthday of John Tyler. The couple had eight children. Out of the eight, one died very young.

paragraphs: After 1839, she fell ill. When John Tyler became president, Letitia Tyler was very sick. She was confined to her invalid’s chair. She lived in a second-floor room of the White House. She could not take part in social activities, but she looked after other affairs of the household.

paragraphs: She died on 10 September 1842. She was the first President’s wife to die in the White House. Her picture also appears on a postage stamp issued by the Isle of Man Post Office in her honor. After her death, Priscilla Cooper Tyler became the First Lady.


title: Julia Gardiner Tyler

paragraphs: Julia Gardiner Tyler (July 23, 1820 - July 10, 1889) was the second wife of John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States. She was the First Lady of the United States from June 26, 1844 to March 4, 1845.

paragraphs: Her parents were Juliana McLachlan and David Gardiner. Her parents belonged to a famous and wealthy family of New York. From her childhood, Juliana got training to move in high society. When she was just a girl of 15, she went to tour Europe with her family. There she saw a social life of much glamour. In late 1842, she along with her parents went to Washington DC. In Washington DC, she attracted the attention of several men. One of them was President Tyler, a widower since September 10 1842.

paragraphs: In 1843, Julia, her sister, and their father joined the President Tyler on a tour on a steam naval ship. During the tour a huge naval gun exploded, killing her father. The President Tyler comforted her. He also got her consent for a secret engagement. Marriage took place on 26th June 1844. When the news was announced, it attracted interest and publicity. Some people also criticized it as the President Tyler was 30 years older than Julia.

paragraphs: Her role as the First Lady was very decent and charming for the guests. After her husband’s term ended as the president, they retired to their home at Sherwood Forest Plantation in Virginia. The President got seven more children from her. He was already having eight children with his first wife. There her husband died on 18th January 1862. In the meanwhile, the American Civil War had broken out. She had to move to New York as a refugee. She also faced monetary problems.

paragraphs: In 1870, the US Congress granted a pension of US $ 1,200 a year to Mary Lincoln, widow of Abraham Lincoln. In 1880, Julia could also get a pension of the same amount. After Garfield's assassination, the US Congress granted a pension of same amount of US $ 5,000 a year to all the widows of the presidents. They were Lucretia Garfield, Mrs. Lincoln, Sarah Childress Polk, and Mrs. Tyler.

paragraphs: Mrs. Tyler spent her last years comfortably in Richmond, Virginia. She died there on 10th July 1889.


title: Newsround

paragraphs: Newsround is a television programme for children. It talks about the news and gives information about things that are happening at the moment. It is shown on the channels BBC One, CBBC channel and the BBC World News.

paragraphs: "Newsround" used to be called "John Craven's Newsround" before the presenter called John Craven left in 1989. "Newsround" started on 4 April 1972 and is still going on today.


title: Lancelot

paragraphs: Sir Lancelot is a legendary character in the legend of King Arthur, and was a Knight of the Round Table. Sir Lancelot of the Lake was one of the most trusted knights of King Arthur's Round Table, but this soon changed when he fell in love with the king's wife, Queen Guinevere. He was raised by the Lady of the Lake, hence his title Lancelot Du Lac. Sir Lancelot was the only knight known to defeat King Arthur during a jousting match. He is also known briefly as the father of Sir Galahad, the greatest knight of all Camelot. Sir Galahad's mother is also possibly Elaine Of Configure. Lancelot's affair with Elaine later caused him and Guinevere to part ways.

paragraphs: Lancelot was a Red Cross Knight, which meant that he was one of the knights in the quest to find the Holy Grail. He saw the ascension of Sir Galahad. His first appearance as a main character is in Chrétien de Troyes' Le Chevalier de la Charrette ("The Knight of the Cart"), written in the 12th century, where his exploits are recounted in the section known as the Prose Lancelot, often with conflicting background stories and chains of events.


title: Pitcairn Islands

paragraphs: The Pitcairn Islands are a group of islands in the southern Pacific. People only live on the second-largest of the four islands. That island is named "Pitcairn". It is governed by the United Kingdom. It has the smallest number of people of any country. In 2019, 50 people lived there.

paragraphs: The islands are best known as home of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians (or Polynesians) who accompanied them, an event retold in numerous books and films. This history still shows in the surnames of many of the islanders. There are only four family names (as of 2010): Christian, Warren, Young and Brown.

paragraphs: Originally people from Polynesia lived on the Pitcairn Islands, but there was no one living on the islands when they were discovered (found) by Captain Philip Carteret of "H.M.S. Swallow" on 2 July 1767. The island was named after Robert Pitcairn, a 15 year old midshipman who was the first person on the "Swallow" to see it. Robert is believed to have been lost at sea in early 1770 when the ship he was on, "HMS Aurora," went missing in the Indian Ocean.

paragraphs: In 2004 charges were laid against seven men living on Pitcairn and six living abroad with sex-related offences dating back a number of years. On 25 October 2004, six men were convicted, including the island's mayor at the time. After the six men lost their final appeal, the British government set up a prison on the island at Bob's Valley. The men began serving their sentences in late 2006, as of 2010 all men have served their sentences or been granted home detention status (Pitcairn News, 2010).

paragraphs: In 2010 the island received a new and updated constitution.


title: Sun Bear

paragraphs: The Sun Bear ("Ursus malayanus" or "Helarctos malayanus") is a bear living in Southeast Asia.

paragraphs: The Sun Bear is the smallest bear. It has short black fur, and a yellow spot on its chest. Its ears are small and round. It has big feet with naked soles and long claws, which help the Sun Bear climbing. It can climb very well. It cannot see very well, but its sense of smell is very good.

paragraphs: Sun Bears mostly live in tropic rainforests. They are mostly active at night, and they stay in trees a lot of the time.

paragraphs: It eats a lot of different things: fruit and other plants, eggs, honey and insects. They also eat small vertebrate animals, like reptiles, birds and mammals.

paragraphs: After a pregnancy of 96 days the female gives birth to 1-2 babies. Young Sun Bears become mature when they are 3-4 years old. Sun Bears can become up to 28 years old when in captivity (held by humans, e.g. in zoos).


title: Priscilla Cooper Tyler

paragraphs: Elizabeth Priscilla Cooper Tyler (June 14, 1816 – December 29, 1889) was the daughter-in-law of John Tyler. John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States. She acted as the First Lady of the United States from September 10, 1842 to June 26, 1844.

paragraphs: Elizabeth Priscilla Cooper was born in New York City. Her father’s name was Thomas Apthorpe Cooper. Cooper was a successful stage actor and producer. Priscilla Cooper’s mother was Mary Fairlee Cooper. At the age of 17 Elizabeth Priscilla Cooper started to work as an actress. Her father became very successful, and the family lived in a big house on Broadway theatre. But, in the Panic of 1837, the family suffered great losses. Sometimes, they only had radishes and strawberries to eat.

paragraphs: She met her future husband Robert Tyler while performing in a play in Richmond, Virginia. They became closer and their marriage took place on 12th September 1839. John Tyler, his father in law, was a US Senator. She received a nice welcome at her husband’s home. Her father in law became the Vice President after 1840 presidential election. But, the President William Henry Harrison dies just after one month of becoming the President of the United States. After this, John Tyler became the President.

paragraphs: Letitia Tyler, wife of the President John Tyler was a semi-invalid lady. Therefore, the President asked Priscilla to assist Letitia in her duties as the First Lady. Letitia died on 10th September 1842. After Letitia’s death, Priscilla became the First Lady. People of her time has described Priscilla as attractive and intelligent.

paragraphs: In 1844, Robert Tyler moved to Philadelphia along with his wife, Priscilla. Priscilla passed her duties to the President's daughter Letitia Tyler Semple.

paragraphs: Robert Tyler and Priscilla lived in Philadelphia for 16 years. Robert worked as a lawyer. In 1861, American Civil War broke out. They declared their loyalty to the Confederate States of America. They moved to Richmond. In Richmond, Robert worked as the register of the Confederate Treasury. After the American Civil War, Robert became the editor of the "Mail and Advertiser" newspaper in Montgomery, Alabama. He died in 1877. Priscilla remained in Montgomery after Robert's death. She died in Montgomery in 1889.


title: Eliza McCardle Johnson

paragraphs: Eliza McCardle Johnson (October 4, 1810 – January 15, 1876) was the First Lady of the United States and the wife of Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States. She previously served as Second Lady in 1865.

paragraphs: She was born in Telford, Tennessee. She was the only child of John McCardle, a shoemaker, and Sarah Phillips-McCardle. Eliza lost her father when she was still a small child. She was raised by her widowed mother in Greeneville, Tennessee]. One day in September 1826, Eliza was chatting with classmates from Rhea Academy when she spotted Andrew Johnson and his family pull into town with all their belongings.

paragraphs: Andrew Johnson, aged 18, married Eliza McCardle, aged 16, on May 17, 1827, at the home of the bride's mother in Greeneville. Mordecai Lincoln, a distant relative of Abraham Lincoln, presided over the nuptials.

paragraphs: The Johnsons had three sons and two daughters, all born in Greeneville:

paragraphs: She supported her husband in his political career, but had tried to avoid public appearances. During the American Civil War, Confederate authorities ordered her to evacuate her home in Greeneville; she took refuge in Nashville, Tennessee.

paragraphs: A few months later after her husband became president, she joined him in the White House, but she was not able to serve as First Lady due to her poor health. She remained confined to a room on the second floor, leaving the social chores to her daughter (Martha Johnson Patterson). Mrs. Johnson appeared publicly as First Lady on only two occasions - at a reception for Queen Emma of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1866 and at the president's birthday party in 1867.

paragraphs: After episodes of "consumption" (tuberculosis), Eliza died on January 15, 1876, at the of age 65 in Greeneville, Tennessee. She survived her husband by five and a half months.


title: Rose Cleveland

paragraphs: Rose Elizabeth Cleveland (June 13, 1846 − November 22, 1918), was the First Lady of the United States from 1885 to 1886, during the first of her brother U.S. President Grover Cleveland's two administrations.

paragraphs: Rose Elizabeth Cleveland was born in Fayetteville, New York, on June 14, 1846. Known to her family as "Libby", Rose was the youngest of nine children born to Reverend Richard Falley Cleveland and Ann Neal Cleveland. In 1853 the family moved to Holland Patent, New York, where her father was settled as pastor of the Presbyterian church, and where he died that same year. Rose was 7 at the time of her father's death. She stayed in Holland Patent to care for her widowed mother. Grover Cleveland, Rose's elder brother, was 16 years old at the time.

paragraphs: When her elder brother, Grover Cleveland, won the election to the twenty-second presidency of the United States, Rose became First Lady and lived in the White House for two years, she stood by her brother as First Lady during his inauguration, and his two initial bachelor years in the White House.

paragraphs: During her early tenure as First Lady, Rose received front-page treatment from the New York Times about her appearance during her second reception at the White House. The Times reported that Miss Cleveland, Wore a dress of black satin, with entire overdress of Spanish lace. The satin bodice was cut low and sleeveless, and the transparent lace revealed the shoulders and arms. Rose Cleveland did not completely fit into Washington high society during her tenure as first lady. It is said that," Rose Cleveland was a bluestocking, more interested in pursuing scholarly endeavors than in entertaining cabinet wives and foreign dignitaries." Rose was an intellectual, and she preferred to lecture rather than entertain, but she made sure to perform her duties as First Lady as a favor to her brother.

paragraphs: Later on President Cleveland married Frances Cleveland. Rose resigned as the First Lady, and started her career in the field of education.

paragraphs: She died on November 22, 1918 in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, from the Spanish flu. She is buried in Bagni di Lucca.


title: Project Gutenberg

paragraphs: Project Gutenberg (PG) is an online project that offers a digital archive of copyright-free e-books in the public domain. It was started in 1971 by Michael S. Hart. The purpose of the Project is to collect in and make available cultural work (like books) using computers. These are generally free and may be used on most computers. The project gets its name from Johannes Gutenberg, a German publisher who made the first European printing press in 1439.

paragraphs: As Project Gutenberg continued to grow, in 2000, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, Inc. was created. It is a non-profit organization with main office in Mississippi, United States.


title: F. Scott Fitzgerald

paragraphs: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 - December 21, 1940) was an Irish American writer. He is remembered mostly for his novel The Great Gatsby, and for being one of the main members of the Lost Generation.

paragraphs: Fitzgerald was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He briefly went to the Nardin Academy– a private Roman Catholic school in Western New York. When his father lost his job, the Fitzgerald family returned to Minnesota. F. Scott Fitzgerald then went to the St. Paul Academy, but was thrown out of the school when he was aged 16 for not working hard enough. Fitzgerald went to another school in New Jersey and eventually went to Princeton University in 1913. While he was at Princeton, Fitzgerald wrote for a musical-comedy club at the University which led to him sending a novel off to a book publishing company, Charles Scribner’s Sons. The editor liked Fitzgerald’s writing, but did not publish the book. Fitzgerald left Princeton University to serve in the United States Navy in World War One, but the war ended shortly after he signed up.

paragraphs: Fitzgerald got engaged to Zelda Sayre in 1919. He moved into an apartment on Lexington Avenue in New York where he wrote short stories and worked in advertising. Zelda did not think that Fitzgerald’s job was good enough and she broke off their engagement. Fitzgerald went back to his parent’s home in St. Paul and worked on his first novel This Side of Paradise. "This Side of Paradise" was finally accepted by Charles Scriber’s Sons in late 1919 and Zelda and Fitzgerald got engaged again. "This Side of Paradise" was published in 1920 and was very popular. Scott and Zelda got married in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. On October 26, 1921, their daughter Frances Scott Fitzgerald was born.

paragraphs: Fitzgerald’s most famous book, "The Great Gatsby", was first sold in 1925. Fitzgerald travelled a lot at this time – mainly to France, where he met a number of other Americans who had left the United States. It was around this time that Fitzgerald first met Ernest Hemingway. They became good friends, but Hemingway did not like Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda. Hemingway said that Zelda was insane, made Fitzgerald drink alcohol and that she did not allow him to do his best work. It is generally accepted, however, that Zelda had a big influence on Fitzgerald’s writing.

paragraphs: Fitzgerald’s other novels did not sell as well as his first novel while he was alive. He and Zelda spent a lot of money on parties and Fitzgerald had to try and make money by writing short stories. In the late 1920s, Fitzgerald started working on a fourth novel, but problems arose when Zelda’s mental health got worse. The fourth novel, "Tender is the Night", was not published until 1934. Some people say that the characters in the novel are very similar to Fitzgerald and Zelda themselves. "Tender is the Night" did not sell as well as "This Side of Paradise" in Fitzgerald’s lifetime, and a number of critics said it was poor. The book is now considered to be one of Fitzgerald’s better works, however.

paragraphs: Zelda’s mental health did not improve and she went to live in a mental hospital while her husband worked on more short stories and his fifth novel.

paragraphs: Fitzgerald’s health got worse; possibly due to the fact that he drank a lot of alcohol during his life. On December 21st 1940, he had a heart attack and died. The last words of "The Great Gatsby" are written on Fitzgerald’s gravestone. His fifth and last novel, "The Love of the Last Tycoon", was released after he died.


title: Cupertino, California

paragraphs: Cupertino is a small town in Silicon Valley in the U.S. state of California. According to the 2000 census, Cupertino has a population of 50,546. The headquarters of Apple Computer and Symantec are in Cupertino.


title: The A-Team

paragraphs: The A-Team is an American action television series which ran from 1983 - 1987. It is set in Los Angeles. It is about four former US Army commandos who are running from the military (who think that the commandos committed a crime that they did not) and make money by helping people with their problems.


title: Philadelphia (movie)

paragraphs: Philadelphia is a 1993 American drama movie starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. It is about Andrew Beckett (Hanks), a gay lawyer who has AIDS. The people he works with find out and fire him. He thinks this is unfair and hires another lawyer (Washington) who does not like gay people.


title: Forrest Gump

paragraphs: Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance movie. It is based on the 1986 book of the same name by Winston Groom. Forrest Gump is the main character of both the movie and book. The movie earned much money in theaters. It earned $677 million worldwide during its theatrical run. It earned more money than any other movie in North America that year. The movie was nominated for a total of 13 Academy Awards. It won six of these, including Best Picture, Best Visual Effects, Best Director (Robert Zemeckis), and Best Actor (Tom Hanks).

paragraphs: The movie is set in Alabama. It tells the story of a man with an IQ of 75 and his epic journey through life. It tells about him meeting historical people, affecting popular culture and being a part of historic events. While all this happened, Forrest does not know the importance of the events were because of his naiveté and much lower than average intelligence. There are many differences between the story in the movie and the story in the novel.

paragraphs: The movie won six Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Visual Effects, Film Editing and Adapted Screenplay. The film was nominated for an additional six Academy Awards, including Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan. The other nominations were for Best Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound Editing, Makeup, Original Score and Sound Mixing. At the Golden Globes the film won for Best Motion Picture in the Drama Category, Best Direction of a Motion Picture and Best performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture and was nominated for Best Original Score, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Screenplay. The movie has a 71 percent rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes with 40 positive and 16 negative reviews. The audience gave the film a rating of 4.1 out of 5 on the website with 93% of the audience liking the film.


title: Ted Kennedy

paragraphs: Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (February 22, 1932 - August 25, 2009) was the Senator for the U.S. state of Massachusetts from 1962 to 2009.

paragraphs: Ted Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, which is a neighborhood in Boston. He was the youngest son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. He was the younger brother of former President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated, as well as Joe Kennedy, who was killed in World War II. A lot of other sad things happened in his life: he almost died in a plane crash, he was involved in a car crash that took the life of a campaign worker, and one of his sons had cancer as a child.

paragraphs: Ted Kennedy went to Harvard and served in the Army before entering politics. He ran for and won the seat given up by his brother when he became President. While in the Senate, he fought for the working class, mainly for health care and the minimum wage. In 1980, he ran for President, but lost in the primaries to Jimmy Carter.

paragraphs: On July 18, 1969, Senator Kennedy and passenger Mary Jo Kopechne were driving in Chappaquiddick Island where the car crashed over the bridge into the ocean. Kennedy left the scene leaving Kopechne to drown to death as she was trapped in the car. Kennedy plead guilty. Many believe this is why he decided not to run for President in 1972 or 1976.

paragraphs: In 2008, he found out he had glioblastoma, a rare form of brain cancer. Despite the cancer, he campaigned for Barack Obama and sometimes appeared in the Senate.

paragraphs: He died from the cancer at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts just before midnight on August 25, 2009.


title: Flag of Singapore

paragraphs: The Flag of Singapore consists of two horizontal halves, red above white. Red symbolises universal brotherhood and equality of man; white stands for pervading and everlasting purity and virtue. In the upper left corner, a white crescent moon and five white stars form a circle. The five stars stand for the ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality.

paragraphs: For 140 years (1819-1959), the Union Jack flew over Singapore. Then, on 3 December 1959, the National Flag was unveiled at the installation of the new Head of State, the Yang di-Pertuan Negara, when Singapore was granted self-rule (but not complete independence) by the British Government. Also unveiled that day were the State Crest and the National Anthem. The flag was conceived and created by a committee headed by then Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Toh Chin Chye.

paragraphs: Guidelines for the use of the flag have been relaxed in recent years to encourage greater usage.

paragraphs: Singaporeans and non-governmental buildings may display or fly the national flag to identify with the nation. Singaporeans are encouraged to do this during occasions of national celebration or national significance.


title: Bess Truman

paragraphs: Elizabeth Virginia "Bess" Truman (née Wallace; February 13, 1885 — October 18, 1982) was the wife of Harry S. Truman and First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953. Before becoming First Lady, she was Second Lady of the United States in 1945.

paragraphs: Her birthplace was Independence, Missouri, and her birth name was Elizabeth Virginia. Her parents were Margaret ("Madge") Gates and David Wallace. Her nickname was "Bessie." Harry Truman’s family came to live in Independence, Missouri in 1890. Elizabeth Virginia and Harry Truman attended the same school from fifth grade through high school. Once Truman remembered her childhood days, and described her as a girl with “golden curls” and “the most beautiful blue eyes.”

paragraphs: After completing her schooling, she studied in Miss Barstow's Finishing School for Girls in Kansas City, Missouri. Her father died in 1903. She returned to Independence, Missouri to live with her mother.

paragraphs: By the outbreak of the First World War, Harry S Truman had become a Lieutenant. He proposed to her and she accepted. After their engagement, Lieutenant Truman left for the battlefields of France in 1918. After the War ended, they married on June 28, 1919. In 1924, their only daughter, Margaret Truman, was born. Before that she had many miscarriages.

paragraphs: By this time, Harry Truman had become active in politics. Mrs. Truman always traveled with her and shared the public platform with her husband. Harry Truman became a member of the United States Senate in 1934. The Truman couple came to live in Washington, DC. In 1944, Harry Truman became the Vice President of the United States of America. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Harry Truman became the President of the United States. Elizabeth Virginia Wallace Truman became the First Lady.

paragraphs: When Harry Truman became the President of the United States, Truman took the role of the First Lady. But, she felt the absence of privacy in the White House. She continued to attend to social functions, but to a minimum level.

paragraphs: Sometimes, people compare her with Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the First Lady before her. Mrs. Roosevelt was very active in press. But, Mrs. Truman did give only one press conference. She got the questions in advance. Her replies were written replies. When one reporter asked her whether she wanted her daughter, Margaret, to become President. Her reply was: "most definitely not". To a question, she replied that after her husband’s retirement as President, she wanted to "return to Independence". However, once she had thought of living in Washington after 1953.

paragraphs: After the President retired, the Truman couple returned to Independence, Missouri, in 1953. Truman spent his time building his library. In 1959, Mrs. Truman underwent an operation. In 1972, her husband died. Mrs Truman continued to live a quiet and private life. Her daughter and son-in-law, Clifton Daniel, and their four sons, often visited her.

paragraphs: She died in 1982. She lies buried beside her husband in the courtyard of Harry S Truman Library. She lived up to the age of 97 years, and at the time of her death, she was the longest-lived First Lady of the United States, setting a record, which still stands today.


title: Margaret Taylor

paragraphs: Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor (September 21, 1788 – August 14, 1852), wife of Zachary Taylor, the President of the United States. She was First Lady of the United States from 1849 to 1850. Some people called her Peggy Smith.

paragraphs: She was born in Calvert County, Maryland. Her mother’s name was Ann Mackall and her father’s name was Walter Smith. Her father was a major in the American Revolutionary War. When she was visiting her sister in Kentucky in 1809, she met Zachary Taylor. Taylor was a lieutenant at that time. They married in June 1810. For sometime, she stayed in a farm she had got as a marriage gift from her father. There she gave birth to her first baby. But, then she started to live with her husband. Taylor’s garrison moved from one location to other on the western front, and she also moved with him.

paragraphs: Their two small daughters died in 1820. As described by Taylor, the children had died of “a violent bilious fever.” They had three other girls and a boy. All four grew to adulthood. Taylor knew the difficult life of a military man. He was always against their daughters marrying military men, but all the three married military persons from the United States Army.

paragraphs: At the White House, Peggy Taylor participated in the household activities and personal functions. She did not participate in formal and official functions. Her youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth Bliss, acted as the official hostess for her mother.


title: Persian Gulf

paragraphs: The Persian Gulf is the name of a geographical place. Its location is in the Middle East. It is an extension of the Gulf of Oman. It is between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, and the Arabs prefer to call it the "Gulf of the Arabs".

paragraphs: During the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), the Persian Gulf came into news. Both sides attacked oil tankers of each other. Later, when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991, the new war got the name of "Gulf War" but major fighting happened on land.

paragraphs: The water in the Persian Gulf is rich in fishes; it has long beautiful coral reefs. Deep inside the water of the Persian Gulf, there are many pearl oysters. Due to this, the area attracts a lot of activities.

paragraphs: In Persian language, the term khalīj-e-Fars means the Persian Gulf. On October 2018, the World Intellectual Property Organization of the United Nations registered Persian Gulf as a place of origin, based on the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration.

paragraphs: The sea waters of the Persian Gulf covers an area of 233,000 km². On the east, it connects with the Gulf of Oman by Strait of Hormuz. On the west, it connects a major river delta of Shatt al-Arab. In this river delta, waters of two big rivers of the area flow into: the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers.

paragraphs: The length of the Persian Gulf is 989 kilometers, and the shortest distance between two land points are 56 kilometers. The waters are generally not very deep. The maximum depth is only 90 meters. The average depth is only 50 meters.

paragraphs: There are many countries with borders touching the Persian Gulf. If taken in a clockwise direction, these countries are from the north: Iran, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar on a peninsula off the Saudi coast; Bahrain on an island; and Kuwait and Iraq in the northwest. Many small islands lie within the Persian Gulf.

paragraphs: The area in and around the Persian Gulf has world’s largest crude oil. Industries relating to crude oil are the main industries in this area. Al-Safaniya, the world’s largest offshore oil field is in the Persian Gulf. Many countries with large crude oil are in this area. They are called Persian Gulf States, that is, the countries around the Persian Gulf. These countries are Iran, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iraq (with its small portion touching the Persian Gulf) is not called a Persian Gulf State.

paragraphs: For about 200 years, from 1763 until 1971, the United Kingdom kept some control over some of the Persian Gulf countries. These countries were the Trucial States and at various times Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar. Upon independence most of the Trucial States made a new United Arab Emirates.


title: Khalistan movement

paragraphs: The Khalistan movement is a Sikh nationalist movement that wants to create an independent country for Sikh people inside the current Punjab State of the North-Western India.

paragraphs: On April 12, 1980, Jagjit Singh Chauhan, a prominent supporter of the movement, declared that he had formed the "National Council of Khalistan", at Anandpur Sahib. He said he was the President of organization, and Balbir Singh Sandhu was its Secretary General. In May 1980, Chauhan traveled to London and announced the formation of Khalistan. A similar announcement was made by Sandhu, in Amritsar.

paragraphs: The movement reached its peak in the 1980s.


title: World Trade Organization

paragraphs: The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a large international organization to regulate trade that was established in 1995. As of 2018, there are 164 members and 23 observer nations. In the WTO, agreements are made on trade between countries. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) means that countries have to lower barriers to international trade, such as tariff on goods crossing borders. This lets businesses operate in many different countries.

paragraphs: There are about 30 such agreements. Based on these agreements, the member countries trade with each other. They sell items to each other and follow a set of rules. They have to give a special job to the other country. The phrase used (for such and many alike items) is to give the other country a special job – this is known as to give the other country "a most favored country job". From 2004, if a member sells any item to another member country, the same type of item should be offered to all other member countries.

paragraphs: While it is highly regarded, from its beginning the WTO has also received criticism.


title: Międzyrzec Podlaski

paragraphs: Międzyrzec Podlaski is a city in the east of Poland, in Lublin Voivodeship. It is on the Krzna rivers. It has 17 283 people.


title: Qing dynasty

paragraphs: The Qing dynasty () was a dynasty of rulers of China from 1644 to 1912. The dynasty was founded by the Manchus and so its other name is the Manchu dynasty. The surname of the Qing emperors was Aisin Gioro.

paragraphs: In 1580, Nurhaci became the Jian Zhou general of the Ming dynasty. He unified the Manchu tribe and organised the Eight Banners. In 1616, Nurhaci declared himself Khan (King) and founded the Jin dynasty in Liao Ling. In 1626, Nurhaci led armies to attack Ning Yuan. Unluckily, Nurhaci was wounded by Yuan Chonghuan's Portuguese cannon and he died 2 days later. Huang Taiji, the son of Nurhaci, then succeeded to the throne and became the Khan of the Manchu tribe. In 1643, Huang Taiji was dead, caused by apoplexy. Shunzhi Emperor inherited Huang Taiji's throne. Prince Dorgon became the regent. In 1644, the Manchu armies conquered the north of China. The capital was changed to Beijing. The Ming dynasty was overthrown, though fighting continued until 1683.

paragraphs: The self-strengthening movement ( or ; 1861 - 1895) was a reform organised during the late Qing. With the defeat in the Opium Wars and the outbreak of Taiping Rebellion, the emperor and the imperial officials realised that it was necessary to improve the country's state with a series of reforms. Therefore, the Self-Strengthening Movement was started.

paragraphs: The movement could be divided into three phases: the first phase (1861 - 1872), the second phase (1872 - 1885) and the third phase (1885 - 1895). The major leaders are Yixin, Prince Gong (Chinese: 恭親王), Wenxiang (Chinese: 文祥), Zeng Guofan (Chinese: 曾國藩), Li Hongzhang (Chinese: 李鴻章), Zuo Zongtang (Chinese: 左宗棠), Shen Baozhen (Chinese: 沈葆禎) and Zhang Zhidong (Chinese: 張之洞). However, owing to the conservatives opposition and the problems of modernization, it failed finally.

paragraphs: With the failure of the Self-Strengthening Movenment, the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War and the scramble for concessions, many Chinese leaders realised that reforms were urgently needed. Thus, the Hundred Day's Reform (Chinese: 戊戌變法; 11 June 1898 - 21 September 1898) was started in 1898. The leaders of the reform were Guangxu Emperor, Kang Youwei (Chinese: 康有為) and Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啟超). Eventually, it ended in a coup d'état led by Empress Dowager Cixi.

paragraphs: The Manchus changed their ways to be more like the Chinese in order to rule them better. The Manchus started wearing Chinese clothes and writing in Chinese. They began to enjoy Chinese food and art. One of the Manchu emperors, Qianlong Emperor, began to worry about how much like the Chinese the Manchus were becoming and he tried to get Manchus to be more Manchu. Qianlong Emperor made Manchus ride horses and shoot bows and arrows so that they would remember where they came from. The Chinese people used different types of clothes like maccukau, konaha, schinin and sakahn.

paragraphs: In the early Qing, Guangdong was a province. There were totally 79 counties. In 1911, it was checked that there were 5,041,780 households, approximately 28,001,564 people. The famous mountains in Guangdong were Lingchau, Huangling and Luofu. Dongjiang, Beijiang and Xijiang were the most important rivers in Guangdong. Guangzhou, Zhaoqing, Xiamen and Fujian were the major Guangdong cities.


title: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

paragraphs: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a video game developed by BioWare. It was released in 2003. The game has a sequel, titled "".

paragraphs: The game, also known as "KotOR", is a role-playing game. Developed using BioWare's engine "Aurora", the game is set in the fictional universe of "Star Wars". The story takes place four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, 40 years after the war with Exar Kun (circa 3,956 BBY).

paragraphs: Darth Revan has been killed by his apprentice, Darth Malak, who has taken the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith. Malak is continuing the war against the Old Republic, using numerous battleships. The Jedi Order sees its hope in Bastila Shan, a young female Jedi who is skilled in the art called "Battle Meditation". With that power, she can optimize the performance of the Jedi troops and the battleships. Also, an unnamed soldier (the player chooses the name) comes under attention of the Jedi Council.

paragraphs: Since it is a roleplaying game, the player can choose which class he wants to be. He can choose between soldier, scout, and scoundrel. The choice affects the statistics of the character (strength, agility, etc.). Also, the player can choose their character's gender and face.

paragraphs: The player must follow several main objectives, with many other minor missions. The player, while travelling on several planets, will meet some people who join him in his quest. A number up to 8 companions can join the player: Trask Ulgo, Carth Onasi, Bastila Shan, Mission Vao, Zaalbar, Canderous Ordo, Juhani, Jolee Bindo.

paragraphs: The main goal is to find the Star Forge, a powerful battle station that builds an endless fleet, which is used against the Republic. The player also has to kill Darth Malak.

paragraphs: The main character (the player) is entirely customizable. Face, gender and class can be chosen from a series of menus. One later discovers that they are Darth Reven, but still go by the original own name.

paragraphs: The player will meet some companions (playable characters, or PCs) during the adventure.

paragraphs: The player will also meet other minor characters (non-playable characters, or NPCs).


title: Hypnosis

paragraphs: Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination".

paragraphs: It is an altered state of consciousness.

paragraphs: Usually, one person (the "hypnotist") talks to another (the "subject") in a special way that puts the subject into a trance. While the subject is in this state, he can be influenced by suggestions. The hypnotist can tell him to forget his name, or that the room is hot (he will start sweating), or that he is someone else. Hypnotic suggestions may be delivered by a hypnotist in the presence of the subject, or may be self-administered ('self-suggestion' or 'autosuggestion'). The use of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes is referred to as 'hypnotherapy', while its use as a form of entertainment for an audience is known as 'stage hypnosis'.

paragraphs: Contrary to a popular misconception—that hypnosis is a form of unconsciousness resembling sleep—some contemporary research suggests that hypnotic subjects are fully awake and are focusing attention, with a corresponding decrease in their peripheral awareness. Subjects also show an increased response to suggestions. However, the behaviour of subjects under hypnotism goes so far beyond normal focused attention that the description of "altered state of consciousness" is more used.

paragraphs: Hypnotherapy is when a hypnotist uses hypnosis to help the subject heal emotionally, or to heal a sick mind. Hypnotherapy is hypnosis used for therapy.

paragraphs: Hypnosis can also be done by one person acting alone. Then he is acting as both hypnotist and subject. This is called "self-hypnosis," or sometimes "auto-suggestion." In some cases, this is simply a form of using trance.

paragraphs: Almost every pre-modern society had practices which were somewhat like hypnotism. Often a special person in a society (witchdoctor, shaman, priest...) would conduct a ceremony. The ceremony might use incantations (spells), chants, repetitive music, mind-altering substances, darkness, fire, and other settings. The purpose was to send a person or group into an altered state of mind like a trance. Even literate societies such as ancient Greece had phenomena suggestive of hypnosis. The Delphic oracle was in a trance of some kind as she uttered her famous predictions. Whether that was self-hypnosis or just the effects of volcanic gas will never be known.

paragraphs: There seem to be many ideas about how hypnosis started. Historic records in modern Europe start with the work of Franz Mesmer, though he did not invent the word 'hypnotism'. Mesmer and his followers practised what was first called 'animal magnetism', and later mesmerism. Descriptions of his work leave no doubt that he had discovered for himself what we now call 'hypnotism'.

paragraphs: The words "hypnosis" and "hypnotism" both derive from the term "neuro-hypnotism" (nervous sleep) coined by the Scottish surgeon James Braid around 1841. Braid based his practice on that developed by but differed in his theory as to how the procedure worked.

paragraphs: The main hypnosis discoveries came in 1842 when Braid started to learn more about its effects. He did not think that 'mesmerism' was the cause of hypnosis, and in the end he thought that trances were only a 'nervous sleep'. In 1843 he wrote a book about this with the title "Neurypnology". In this book Braid described hypnotism as a state of physical relaxation accompanied and induced by mental concentration ("abstraction").

paragraphs: Hypnosis is used to treat fears, addictions, emotional trouble, pain control, stress, and so on.

paragraphs: The hypnotist must do two things to do hypnosis. First, he must put the subject into a trance. Second, he must lead the subject through the trance process (for therapy, or whatever effect is needed). Often, he will switch between these, first making sure the subject is in the proper state of mind, and then leading him through the process. These steps are repeated in a cycle throughout.

paragraphs: In trance, the subject does not make decisions about the truth of the hypnotist's suggestions: If trance is reached—it is not always—the subject will accept as true anything the hypnotist says, unless it goes against the subject's deepest beliefs. This is the heart of hypnosis: to put the subject in trance so he will accept suggestions.

paragraphs: Stage hypnotists get truly amazing effects from good subjects: they can make them forget their names, believe they are someone else, make them see people who are not there, make them forget letters or numbers, and so on. This happens because the subject actively follows the hypnotist's suggestions, because he trusts the hypnotist and he believes it is safe. If the trust is broken or the subject believes it is not safe, the subject may emerge from trance.

paragraphs: Hypnosis is not truly a power resting in the hypnotist. Instead, the power rests in the mind of the subject. The hypnotist simply knows how to guide the subject through trance.


title: Krusty Krab

paragraphs: The Krusty Krab is a fictional fast food restaurant in the television series, ""SpongeBob SquarePants"". It is in the city of Bikini Bottom. The restaurant is run by a crab, Eugene H. Krabs. The other two workers at the restaurant are SpongeBob SquarePants (fry cook), and Squidward Tentacles (cashier). The fast food that is sold are the popular Krabby Patty (which are similar to hamburgers but made of krill), and others such as French fries, and drinks.


title: M6 motorway

paragraphs: The M6 is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is also one of the busiest motorways in the country. It is often referred to as "The Backbone of Britain".

paragraphs: The M6 is part of the unsigned E-road E24 from the M1 to the M6 Toll near Birmingham. The E5 joins the M6 Toll from the M42 and then uses the M6 to its north end at Carlisle. Then it continues along the M74. The motorway is 230 miles (370km) long. This is 37 miles longer than the M1 motorway.

paragraphs: The first section of the motorway was the Preston by-pass, opened on 5 December 1958. It was built by a company called Tarmac Construction. It was the first motorway in the United Kingdom. It was opened by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. The motorway was later extended in both directions.

paragraphs: Junction 6 in Birmingham has the name Spaghetti Junction. This is because it looks very complex from the sky.

paragraphs: On the high ground between Shap and Tebay, the north and south-bound carriages split apart. Strangely, at this point a local road runs between the two carriageways without a link to the motorway.

paragraphs: The section of the M6 which runs over Shap Fell in Cumbria is 1050 ft (320 m) above sea level. This is one of the highest points on any motorway in the UK. The West Coast Main Line railway follows the same course. It runs alongside the M6 for much of its length.

paragraphs: The motorway starts at the M1 in Rugby. It passes through Birmingham and Spaghetti Junction. The motorway continues to the north, passing Liverpool and Manchester. It goes around Preston and up to Lancaster. It then follows through a valley past the Lake District and Penrith. It finishes at Carlisle.

paragraphs: At the end of the M6 motorway at Carlisle, there is a 6-mile stretch of the A74 which links England to Scotland. This is called the "Cumberland Gap". This was caused by an argument between the British Parliament and the Scottish Parliament, which left neither the M6 or the A74(M) being built. After a lot of controversy, building started on the remaining six miles. When it is completed, there will be a complete motorway going from London to Glasgow.

paragraphs: The M6 Toll is a toll road which was opened in 2003. It starts at Junction 11A and runs around Birmingham to Junction 3A. It is the first toll road to be built in the United Kingdom. It was opened on 9 December 2003. It is reported to save 45 minutes from the average journey.


title: Sloth bear

paragraphs: The sloth bear ("Melursus ursinus") is a bear that lives in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

paragraphs: Sloth bears have long and shaggy black fur, but its fur can also be brown. On its chest it has a white or yellow mark, which is shaped like an Y or V. They have big feet with long claws. The long claws are also the reason for its English name, because the claws look like the claws of a xloth.

paragraphs: Sloth bears are omnivores and eats mostly termites and ants. But they also eat fruit, honey, eggs, carrion, grasses and occasionally rodents. Sloth bears use their claws to dig up ants from the dirt. They also use their claws to fight predators such as tigers, leopards and jackals. Bengal tigers prey on sloth bears of all ages. Indian leopards, dholes and Indian wolves may also be a threat.

paragraphs: Female sloth bears usually have 1-2 babies, sometimes 3. Young sloth bears stay with their mother for 2–3 years. In captivity they can live to be 40 years old.

paragraphs: Sloth bear adults can weigh anywhere from 60-70 kilograms (120-130 pounds) and measure anywhere from 152-178 centimeters (60-70 inches) in length.


title: Inclined plane

paragraphs: An inclined plane is a simple machine. It allows one to use less force to move an object.

paragraphs: Examples of inclined planes are ramps, sloping roads and hills, plows, chisels, hatchets, carpenter's planes, and wedges. The typical example of an inclined plane is a sloped surface; for example a roadway to bridge at a different height.

paragraphs: Another simple machine based on the inclined plane is the blade, in which two inclined planes placed back to back allow the two parts of the cut object to move apart using less force than would be needed to pull them apart in opposite directions.

paragraphs: To calculate the forces on an object placed on an inclined plane, consider the three forces acting on it.

paragraphs: We can break the force from gravity into two vectors, one perpendicular to the plane and one parallel to the plane. Since there is no movement perpendicular to the plane, the component of the gravitational force in this direction ("mg" cos "θ") must be equal and opposite to normal force exerted by the plane, "N". Therefore, formula_1.

paragraphs: If the component of the force from gravity parallel to the surface ("mg" sin "θ") is greater than the static frictional force "f" – then the body will slide down the inclined plane with acceleration where "f" is the force of friction – otherwise it will remain stationary.

paragraphs: When the angle of the slope ("θ") is zero, sin "θ" is also zero, so the body will not move.


title: Jamestown, New York

paragraphs: Jamestown is a city in southwestern New York State, United States.


title: Lego

paragraphs: LEGO is a type of building toy created and made by the Lego Group, a company from Denmark. LEGO bricks are colorful plastic building blocks that can be joined together easily to make a tower, house, and more. LEGO bricks are joined together by studs on the top, and holes in the bottom of the brick commonly known as the brick-and-knob connection. LEGO is the most popular building toy in the world.

paragraphs: The LEGO Group was started by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish toy maker, in 1935. Christiansen made wooden toys for children. He made and sold his first plastic LEGO sets in the 1940s. Since then, LEGO has become very popular and are known and loved by people around the world kids and adults alike.

paragraphs: LEGO bricks come in many shapes, sizes and colors. There are wheels, car screens, and plants. LEGO bricks can be joined together in many ways. Vehicles, buildings and even robots can all be built with LEGO bricks.

paragraphs: All the bricks from LEGO sets can fit together. New bricks made today can fit with old bricks made years ago. The bricks can join together no matter which set they come from. LEGO has become so popular that people sometimes use the word "Lego" to talk about any sort of building blocks. There are millions of LEGO fans and many LEGO conventions around the world.

paragraphs: Many LEGO video games are being created for different video game systems. LEGO video games usually come from LEGO themes, such as LEGO Star Wars. LEGO Star Wars has five video games, and the sixth LEGO Star Wars will come out in 2020. Other LEGO video games include LEGO Indiana Jones, LEGO Harry Potter, and LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean.

paragraphs: A LEGO Cartoon Network show "" was aired from 2011 to 2012, and a second Cartoon Network LEGO show aired in 2013. In 2014 "The LEGO Movie" was released, starring Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, and Liam Neeson. The movie was released on February 7, 2014. Since then, three other LEGO movies have been made, like The LEGO Batman Movie, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, and .


title: Giant panda

paragraphs: The giant panda, "Ailuropoda melanoleuca", is a bear. It lives in south central China.

paragraphs: Although it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo. Pandas in the wild occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity, they may get honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.

paragraphs: The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.

paragraphs: As a result of farming, deforestation and other development, the panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.

paragraphs: Giant pandas are bears. They have black and white fur. The black fur is on their ears, around their eyes, on their legs, and on their shoulders.

paragraphs: Giant pandas are about the size of an American black bear. They are about tall at the shoulder when they are standing on all four legs. They are about long. Males weigh up to in the wild. Females usually weigh less than .

paragraphs: Wild giant pandas have lived in the mountains of central China. They live in forests of tall trees. They eat the bamboo that grows under the trees. The weather is rainy and misty in these mountain forests. There are thick clouds almost all the time.

paragraphs: Bamboo is the main diet of panda . Ninety-nine percent of the food they eat is bamboo. They eat as much as of bamboo every day. They spend 10 to 16 hours every day looking for food and eating it.

paragraphs: Bamboo is a grass. Sometimes giant pandas eat other grasses. They also eat little rodents or musk deer babies (fawns). In zoos, giant pandas eat bamboo, sugar cane, vegetables, and fruit.

paragraphs: Giant pandas get a lot of water from the bamboo they eat. They need more water though. They drink from the fresh water streams and rivers in the mountain. Melting snow high in the mountains runs into these streams and rivers.

paragraphs: There are two kinds of giant panda. They both live in China. The best known is the black and white panda. Its scientific name is "Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca".

paragraphs: The other giant panda has dark brown and light brown fur. Its skull is smaller than the other giant panda. It has larger molars. This panda lives only in the Qinling Mountains. Its scientific name is "Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis".

paragraphs: Giant pandas are ready to have babies (cubs) when they are between the ages of four and eight years. They may be able to have babies until about age 20. Female pandas are ready to have a baby only once a year. This is in the springtime. There are only two to three days she is ready for a baby. Calls and scents bring the males and female pandas to each other.

paragraphs: Female pandas may give birth to two young. Usually only one lives. Giant panda cubs may stay with their mothers for up to three years. Then they leave her for a life of their own.

paragraphs: Today, the giant panda is a symbol for China. It is protected by the Chinese government. Killing a giant panda is a crime. The giant panda may become extinct. It will die out if the forests of bamboo continue to disappear.

paragraphs: People outside of eastern Asia did not know about the giant panda until 1869. The first "Westerner" to see a live panda was a German zoologist in 1916. In 1936, Ruth Harkness became the first Westerner to bring a live giant panda out of China. It was a cub (baby panda) named Su-Lin. The cub was taken to live at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.

paragraphs: In the 1970s, China began showing giant pandas in zoos in the United States and Japan as a type of diplomacy. This happened until 1984, when China changed how this was done. Starting in 1984, China would allow zoos to keep the giant pandas for 10 years, but the zoo would have to pay China up to $1,000,000 each year. Also, the zoo would have to agree that any cubs born would belong to China.

paragraphs: 17 cities outside China have zoos with giant pandas.

paragraphs: The Adelaide Zoo in Adelaide, Australia received two giant pandas in 2009.

paragraphs: The giant panda is an endangered species. It may become extinct. In 2013, it was estimated that there were less than 2,500 mature giant pandas living in the wild. Illegal hunting is no longer a problem. Hunting for pandas is a crime. The penalties are harsh if you hunt pandas.

paragraphs: The greatest threat to survival is the loss of living areas. People are ruining the areas where pandas live. They are cutting down trees. They are building farms. Groups of pandas are forced to live in small areas. They are isolated. They cannot mix other panda groups.

paragraphs: Giant pandas eat bamboo. Sometimes the bamboo dies off. At one time, pandas could move to an area where bamboo was still growing. Moving has become more and more difficult. People are living and working in panda areas. Pandas cannot move about as freely as they once did.

paragraphs: China set up the first giant panda nature reserve in 1963. Other nature reserves were also set up. There were 40 giant panda reserves in 2006.


title: Game Boy Color

paragraphs: The Game Boy Color (often said as GBC) is a video game console manufactured by Nintendo. It was first introduced in Japan in October 1998 and released in North America, Europe and Australia in November 1998. It is the successor to the original Game Boy, but it precedes the Game Boy Advance (which is backwards compatible with "GB" and "GBC" games). The biggest innovation of the Game Boy Color was its colorful graphics. The Game Boy Color is almost as powerful as the Nintendo Entertainment System. With the exception of the Pokemon Mini, it was the last 8-bit console made by a mainstream company. The last game released for Game Boy Color was "Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets" in 2002.

paragraphs: The GBC has a color screen rather than a monochrome, but it is not backlit. It is clearly thicker and bigger and has a slightly smaller screen than the Game Boy Pocket, its last model in the Game Boy line. As with the original Game Boy, it has a 8-bit processor made by Sharp Corporation that is a hybrid between the Intel 8080 and the Zilog Z80. The spelling of the system's name, Game Boy Color, remains used throughout the world, with its American English spelling of "color".

paragraphs: The Game Boy Color is part of the fifth generation of video game consoles. The GBC's competitors in Japan were the grayscale 16-bit handhelds, Neo Geo Pocket and the WonderSwan, though the Game Boy Color outsold them by a wide margin. SNK and Bandai countered with the Neo Geo Pocket Color and the Wonderswan Color, this did little to change Nintendo's sales. With Sega discontinuing the Game Gear in 1997, the Game Boy Color's only competitor in the United States was its last one, the Game Boy, until the short-lived Neo Geo Pocket Color was made in August 1999. The Game Boy and the Game Boy Color together have sold 118.69 million units worldwide making it the third-best-selling system of all time.

paragraphs: It was discontinued on March 23, 2003, shortly after the Game Boy Advance SP was made. Its best-selling game was "Pokémon Gold and Silver", which sold 23 million units worldwide.


title: Hula

paragraphs: Hula is a word in the Hawaiian language. Male dancers and female dancers can both dance hula. A long time ago, hula dance was used only in special ceremonies. Now, hula dance is mainly for entertainment.

paragraphs: A hula dancer usually wears a grass skirt or a leaf skirt, a flower necklace (called "lei" in Hawaiian), and sometimes a flower in the hair.

paragraphs: Traditionally, the hula dancer dances to a chant (a poem that is sung to a rhythm). The chanter beats his or her hand on a gourd (dried, empty squash) to create the rhythm.

paragraphs: There are many kinds of hula dance. For example, the Hawaiian hula dance style is slow and the Tahitian hula dance style is fast.


title: Herakles

paragraphs: Herakles (Ancient Greek: Ἡρακλῆς, "Hēraklēs" - “one glorified of Hera”) is a divine hero in Greek mythology. The greatest of the Greek heroes, Herakles was a demigod, son of Zeus and the mortal Alkmene as well as the twin brother of Iphicles. As a god, Herakles served as a paragon of masculinity, and was a patron of heroic endeavor. In Ancient Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The figure is most well known for his famous Twelve Labors, a series of seemingly impossible tasks he was made to complete in order to atone for the crime of murdering his family. As a culture hero, he was said to have started the Ancient Olympic Games and marked out the length of the Olympic stadium. He was the subject of much ancient and modern art, and remains a popular figure in modern times, being the subject of various films and television series, such as Walt Disney's "Hercules".

paragraphs: A major factor in the tragedy surrounding Herakles was the hatred that the goddess Hera, wife of Zeus, had for him, as he was one of the god’s illegitimate children, born to him by the mortal woman Alkmene. Zeus, lusting after her, took the guise of Alkmene’s husband Amphityron (he had been away fighting a war at the time) and lay with her. The real Amphitryon returned to Thebes later that night, and Alkmene became pregnant with his son, Iphicles. On the night Herakles and his twin Iphicles were slated to be born, Hera made Zeus swear an oath that the next descendant of Perseus to be born would become High King (ruler of Tiryns and Mycenae). Once the oath was made, Hera hurried to Alkmene’s house in Thebes, where Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth, had come to help deliver the twins; Hera arranged for Eileithyia to keep her legs and arms crossed, causing Herakles and his twin to be trapped in the womb. Hera then caused Eurystheus (son of Sthenelus and Herakles’ cousin) to be born prematurely, making him the one to become the High King instead. Alkmene wouldve remained in labor, had it not been for her maidservant Galanthis, who came out of Alkmene's room to announce (falsely) that Alkmene had just given birth. Eileithyia jumped up in surprise, allowing Herakles and his twin to be born. Hera angrily turned Galanthis into a weasel. (Herakles was given the name Alkeides, meaning "of the line of Alcaeus", father of Amphitryon).

paragraphs: Shortly after Herakles was born, Alkmene, fearing Hera might take vengeance on her, took her infant child to a desolate plain outside of Thebes and abandoned him. The goddess Athena saw Herakles and swooped down to Earth, taking him up to Olympus. She took the baby to Hera, who, not knowing it was Herakles, took pity on the child and began to nurse him at her breast. Herakles suckled so hard that it hurt Hera, who pushed him away; the goddess' divine milk then spilled across the night sky, forming the Milky Way. This bestowed upon Herakles the godlike strength for which he is famous for. When Herakles was only eight months old, Hera placed two enormous serpents in the crib where Herakles and Iphikles slept. As Iphicles cried out in fear, Herakles took a serpent in each hand and strangled them to death.

paragraphs: Herakles became a strong teenager. He learned to use weapons and to drive a chariot. One day he killed his music teacher Linus because the man had tried to whip him. Herakles was charged with murder, but said he had acted in self defense. He was freed. People feared him though, so he was sent far out of town to work on a farm. Herakles became stronger with the hard work. He was seven feet tall. He was eighteen when he left the farm.

paragraphs: Herakles was eighteen when he hunted the large and powerful Lion of Kithaeron. This lion was killing cows in a land near Thebes. The hunt lasted fifty days and ended when Herakles smashed the lion's skull with a club of olive wood. This club is seen in pictures of Herakles. He dressed in the lion's skin.

paragraphs: Herakles slept in King Thespius' palace while the hunt progressed. He had sex with the King's fifty daughters and became the father of fifty-two sons. One of the girls did not have sex with him. She became a priestess in his shrine.

paragraphs: Herakles was going back to Thebes when he met the heralds of King Erginus. They were on their way to Thebes to collect tribute. They treated Herakles with contempt. Herakles cut off their ears, noses, and hands. Erginus made war on Thebes, but was defeated and killed by Herakles. For saving Thebes, King Kreon gave his daughter Megara in marriage to Herakles.

paragraphs: Hera could not rest easily because Herakles was becoming more and more famous. He was loved by everyone. Her anger and hatred made her look foolish. She tricked Herakles into thinking his sons were his enemies and, insane with anger, he murdered them.

paragraphs: When he came to his senses, he was overcome with grief. He ran from other people and lived for a time in exile. He looked for advice from the Oracle of Delphi. The priestess sent him to serve King Eurystheus, King of Tyrins in Mycenae. In this way, she said, he would be washed clean of his crimes.

paragraphs: Eurystheus was a dull and bad man. Herakles hated him. Eurystheus set some tasks for Herakles to do. These tasks came to be called "The Labors of Herakles". It was said that Hera designed them. She hoped the tasks would kill him. Zeus would grant Herakles immortality with the successful completion of the Labors.

paragraphs: Herakles was married to a beautiful woman named Deianeira. They lived in Trachis and had a son named Hyllus. In a war with a neighboring city, Herakles made the king's daughter Iole his captive. Herakles had met her sometime in the past and had fallen in love with her. Deianeira was jealous, and used a mix of blood and semen from the centaur Nessus to get her husband back. She put the mix on a shirt and sent it to Herakles. He put the shirt on. Unknown to Deianeira, the mix was really a poison and burned Herakles' skin and flesh. Deianeira learned of this and killed herself. Herakles died in great pain. Before he died, he ordered Hyllus to marry Iole. Herakles' body was set on fire at the funeral ceremonies. His ghost fell to the underworld while his immortal part rose to Mount Olympus. The gods welcomed him, even Hera. He married Hebe, his fourth wife, and became the father of two sons. According to Homer's "Odyssey", Herakles became the porter (keeper of the gates) on Mount Olympus.