title: Munich

paragraphs: Munich () is the third biggest city of Germany (after Berlin and Hamburg), and the capital of Bavaria. It has a population of 1,407,000. The metropolitan area of Munich includes the city itself, and all the suburbs around it, and has about 2.6 million people in it. It is one of the most important centres of the economy in Germany. It has an oceanic climate ("Cfb" in the Koeppen climate classification).

paragraphs: The official population of Munich city proper at 310.43 km is 1,368,840 inhabitants only with principal residence as of 31st January 2009. Around 176,000 inhabitants with secondary residence also live in administrative city limits but they are not calculated in this official census. According to some estimates that population counts around 200,000 people. The fast growing Munich urban area has 2,667,000 inhabitants (2008 estimate). Munich city with all suburbs at 12,000 km has 4,700,000 inhabitants and Munich metropolitan region that covers 27,700 km and includes Augsburg, Ingolstadt, Landshut, Rosenheim and Landsberg has around 6,000,000 inhabitants. Munich is the 12th largest city in EU by population within city limits and the 14th largest urban area in Europe. Its metropolitan area ranks among largest metro areas in Europe. As of December 2008, 47.3% of Munich's residents belong to no religious group, 38.3% are Roman Catholic, 14.0% are Lutheran Protestants and 0.3% are Jewish. There is also a small Old Catholic parish and an Episcopal Church.

paragraphs: Munich has the strongest economy of any German city. They have the lowest unemployment rate (5.6%) of any German city with more than a million people.

paragraphs: Munich is the largest publishing city in Europe. It is home to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany's largest daily newspapers. Munich is also home to Germany's largest public broadcasting network, ARD, and its largest commercial network, Pro7-Sat1 Media AG. The headquarters of the German branch of Random House, the world's largest publishing house, is in Munich.

paragraphs: The Bavaria Film Studios are in the suburb of Grünwald. They are one of Europe's biggest and most famous movie production studios.

paragraphs: Lufthansa has opened a second hub at Munich's Franz Josef Strauss International Airport. It is the second-largest airport in Germany, after Frankfurt International Airport.

paragraphs: Munich Airport - Franz Joseph Strauss (IATA: MUC, ICAO: EDDM)

paragraphs: Munich has one of the most comprehensive systems in the world. There are subways, suburban trains, trams and buses.

paragraphs: Munich is the most successful city in Bundesliga history. FC Bayern Munich have won 20 national championship along with 13 DFB Cups, 5 UEFA Champions League/European Championship, 1 UEFA Cup and 1 UEFA Cup Winners Cup for 39 trophies.

paragraphs: Munich hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics. They were one of the host cities for the 2006 Football World Cup. Munich bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games but lost to Pyeongchang. In September 2011 the DOSB President Thomas Bach said that Munich would bid again for the Winter Olympics in the future.

paragraphs: Munich has 25 boroughs (Bezirke in German, also sometimes called districts in English).

paragraphs: Munich's universities are known for their high ranking in Germany.


title: Berlin

paragraphs: Berlin is the capital city of Germany. It is also the biggest city in Germany. About 3,700,000 people live there.

paragraphs: The city is in the eastern part of Germany. It is about west of Poland. Berlin has an area of . The rivers Havel, Dahme and Spree run through Berlin. It has an oceanic climate.

paragraphs: Berlin is home to many famous buildings and monuments, like the Siegessäule, the Brandenburger Tor, the Reichstag and the boulevard Unter den Linden. On the boulevard are the Humboldt University and the State Opera of Berlin. The Governing Mayor of the city is Michael Müller (SPD).

paragraphs: Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media and science. There are a lot of technology companies in the city. They are important for the city's economy. Many planes and trains travel to and from Berlin because the city is an important place for tourism and business.

paragraphs: Berlin is an important city for the history of Germany. The King of Prussia and the Emperor of Germany lived in Berlin. The government of Germany was in Berlin for many years. Bombs destroyed many buildings in the city in World War Two. The city was split into West Berlin and East Berlin after World War Two. After the Berlin Wall was built in 1961 very few people were allowed to cross from East Berlin into West Berlin. The wall divided the city until 1989 when the East German government decided to allow anyone to cross, and people decided to destroy the wall.

paragraphs: In 2001 the 23 boroughs of Berlin were changed into 12

paragraphs: Berlin has partnerships with 17 cities. Each of the 12 boroughs also has their sister cities, sometimes called twin cities.


title: 1930s

paragraphs: The 1930s was the decade that started on January 1, 1930 and ended on December 31, 1939.

paragraphs: The 1930s was a bad time because of the depression, where people were sad.


title: 1940s

paragraphs: The 1940s was the decade that started on January 1, 1940, and ended on December 31, 1949.


title: 1950s

paragraphs: The 1950s was the decade that started on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959.


title: Hamburg

paragraphs: Hamburg or in full Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (), is a city in the north of Germany on the banks of the River Elbe, 18 km away from the North Sea. It is both a city and one of the States of Germany.

paragraphs: With a population of about 1.73 million (1730000) it is the biggest German city after Berlin and the sixth largest city of the European Union. The religion is about 37% Protestant, 10% Catholic, 8% Muslim, 38% agnostic, 2% Pagan.

paragraphs: Since it was an important member of the Hanseatic League, the city's official name still includes "Hansestadt" (Hanseatic city). Other German cities that do the same today are: Lübeck, Rostock, Wismar, Stralsund, Bremen, Greifswald and Demmin. The membership in this trade alliance has influenced the architecture of the city to a great extent. It has also left some marks in the region around the city. Strategic bombing in World War II devastated the city.

paragraphs: In 2017 a consulting company ranked it 17th for best place to live in the world.

paragraphs: The area of Hamburg is . It has an oceanic climate ("Cfb" in the Koeppen climate classification).

paragraphs: Hamburg's harbour is, by shipments, the second largest harbour in Europe (after Rotterdam) and among the ten largest in the world. It is a very important gate to the countries along the Baltic Sea and Eastern Europe.

paragraphs: There are about 120,000 businesses in Hamburg. The company Airbus has an assembly plant for large civil aircraft in Hamburg. 30,000 people are employed in Hamburg's aircraft industries. There are only two other locations worldwide in this scale, Seattle in the United States and Toulouse in France.

paragraphs: About half of Germany's nationwide newspapers and magazines are made in Hamburg. Germany's most-viewed television news "Tagesschau" is broadcast from Hamburg.

paragraphs: Hamburg's red-light district (in Sankt Pauli) is the largest in Europe.


title: Emphysema

paragraphs: It is one of the diseases that make up chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This is a set of diseases where the flow of air in the lungs is obstructed. Emphysemia is most often caused by smoking but can be caused by other diseases or have no known cause at all.

paragraphs: It occurs when the very small air sacs (called the alveoli) at the ends of the airways in the lungs start to break down from many sacs to form much bigger sacs. The alveoli are the areas of the lung where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged into and out of the blood. Emphysema makes it hard for people to blow air out of the lungs because air gets trapped inside the broken alveoli due to the collapse of the walls. The trapped air in the lungs creates the characteristic "barrel chest" of emphysema.

paragraphs: There is no cure for emphysema. Treatment includes stopping smoking and taking medicines ('broncho-dilators' and sometimes corticosteroids). Supplemental oxygen is recommended in those with low oxygen levels at rest. It decreases the risk of heart failure and death if used 15 hours per day, and may improve people's ability to exercise. In those with normal or mildly low oxygen levels, oxygen supplementation may improve shortness of breath. There is a risk of fires and little benefit when those on oxygen continue to smoke.

paragraphs: Emphysema is commonly associated with chronic bronchitis. As it is rather difficult to delineate "pure" cases of emphysema or chronic bronchitis they are classed together into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).


title: Oxygen

paragraphs: Oxygen is a chemical element. It has the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is the third most common element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium. Oxygen makes up more than a fifth of the Earth's atmosphere by volume. In the air, two oxygen atoms usually bind to make dioxygen (), a colourless gas. This gas is often just called oxygen. It has no taste or smell. It is pale blue when it is liquid or solid.

paragraphs: Oxygen is part of the chalcogen group on the periodic table. It is a very reactive nonmetal. It makes oxides and other compounds with many elements. The oxygen in these oxides and in other compounds (mostly silicate minerals, and calcium carbonate in limestone) makes up nearly half of the Earth's crust, by mass.

paragraphs: Oxygen is the element which most life uses in respiration. Many molecules in living things have oxygen in them, such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and fats. Oxygen is a part of water, which all known life needs to live. Algae, cyanobacteria and plants make the Earth's oxygen gas by photosynthesis, using the Sun's light to get hydrogen from water, giving off oxygen.

paragraphs: Oxygen gas () was isolated by Michael Sendivogius before 1604. It is often thought that the gas was discovered in 1773 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in Sweden, or in 1774 by Joseph Priestley, in England. Priestley is usually thought to be the main discoverer because his work was published first (although he called it "dephlogisticated air", and did not think it was a chemical element). Antoine Lavoisier gave the name "oxygène" to the gas in 1777. He was the first person to say it was a chemical element. He was also right about how it helps combustion work.

paragraphs: At the top of the Earth's atmosphere is Ozone (), in the ozone layer. It absorbs ultraviolet radiation, which means less radiation reaches ground level.

paragraphs: Oxygen gas is used for making steel, plastics and textiles. It also has medical uses and is used for breathing when there is no good air (by divers and firefighters, for example), and for welding. Liquid oxygen and oxygen-rich compounds can be used as a rocket propellant.

paragraphs: One of the first known experiments on how combustion needs air was carried out by Greek Philo of Byzantium in the 2nd century BC. He wrote in his work "Pneumatica" that turning a vessel upside down over a burning candle and putting water around this vessel meant that some water went into the vessel. Philo thought this was because the air was turned into the classical element fire. This is wrong. A long time after, Leonardo da Vinci worked out that some air was used up during combustion, and this forced water into the vessel.

paragraphs: In the late 17th century, Robert Boyle found that air is needed for combustion. English chemist John Mayow added to this by showing that fire only needed a part of air. We now call this oxygen (O). He found that a candle burning in a closed container made the water rise to replace a fourteenth of the air's volume before it went out. The same thing happened when a live mouse was put into the box. From this, he worked out that oxygen is used for both respiration and combustion.

paragraphs: Robert Hooke, Ole Borch, Mikhail Lomonosov and Pierre Bayen all made oxygen in experiments in the 17th and 18th centuries. None of them thought it was a chemical element. This was probably because of the idea of the "phlogiston theory". This was what most people believed caused combustion and corrosion.

paragraphs: J. J. Becher came up with the theory in 1667, and Georg Ernst Stahl added to it in 1731. The phlogiston theory stated that all combustible materials were made of two parts. One part, called phlogiston, was given off when the substance containing it was burned.

paragraphs: Materials that leave very little residue when they burn, like wood or coal, were thought to be made mostly of phlogiston. Things that corrode, like iron, were thought to contain very little. Air was not part of this theory.

paragraphs: Polish alchemist, philosopher and physician Michael Sendivogius wrote about something in air that he called the "food of life", and this meant what we now call oxygen. Sendivogius found, between 1598 and 1604, that the substance in air is the same as he got by heating potassium nitrate. Some people believe this was the discovery of oxygen while others disagree. Some say that oxygen was discovered by Swedish pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. He got oxygen in 1771 by heating mercuric oxide and some nitrates. Scheele called the gas "fire air", because it was the only gas known to allow combustion (gases were called "airs" at this time). He published his discovery in 1777.

paragraphs: On 1 August 1774, British clergyman Joseph Priestley focused sunlight on mercuric oxide in a glass tube. From this experiment he got a gas that he called "dephlogisticated air". He found that candles burned more brightly in the gas and a mouse lived longer while breathing it. After breathing the gas, Priestley said that it felt like normal air, but his lungs felt lighter and easy afterwards. His findings were published in 1775. It is because his findings were published first that he is often said to have discovered oxygen.

paragraphs: French chemist Antoine Lavoisier later said he had discovered the substance as well. Priestley visited him in 1774 and told him about his experiment. Scheele also sent a letter to Lavoisier in that year that spoke of his discovery.

paragraphs: Lavoisier carried out the first main experiments on oxidation and gave the first right explanation on how combustion works. He used these and other experiments to prove the phlogiston theory wrong. He also tried to prove that the substance discovered by Priestley and Scheele was a chemical element.

paragraphs: In one experiment, Lavoisier found that there was no increase in weight when tin and air were heated in a closed container. He also found that air rushed in when the container was opened. After this, he found that the weight of the tin had increased by the same amount as the weight of the air that rushed in. He published his findings in 1777. He wrote that air was made up of two gases. One he called "vital air" (oxygen), which is needed for combustion and respiration. The other (nitrogen) he called "azote", which means "lifeless" in Greek. (This is still the name of nitrogen in some languages, including French.)

paragraphs: Lavoisier renamed "vital air" to "oxygène", from Greek words meaning "sour making" or "producer of acid". He called it this because he thought oxygen was in all acids, which is wrong. Later chemists realised that Lavoiser's name for the gas was wrong, but the name was too common by then to change.

paragraphs: "Oxygen" became the name in the English language, even though English scientists were against it.

paragraphs: John Dalton's theory of atoms said that all elements had one atom and atoms in compounds were usually alone. For example, he wrongly thought that water (HO) had the formula of just HO. In 1805, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Alexander von Humboldt showed that water is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. By 1811, Amedeo Avogadro correctly worked out what water was made of based on Avogadro's law.

paragraphs: By the late 19th century, scientists found that air could be turned into a liquid and the compounds in it could be isolated by compressing and cooling it. Swiss chemist and physicist Raoul Pictet discovered liquid oxygen by evaporating sulfur dioxide to turn carbon dioxide into a liquid. This was then also evaporated to cool oxygen gas in order to turn it into a liquid. He sent a telegram to the French Academy of Sciences on 22 December 1877 telling them of his discovery.

paragraphs: At standard temperature and pressure, oxygen has no colour, odour or taste. It is a gas with the chemical formula called dioxygen.

paragraphs: As "dioxygen" (or just "oxygen gas"), two oxygen atoms are chemically bound to each other. This bond can be called many things, but simply called a covalent double bond. Oxygen gas is very reactive and can react with many other elements. Oxides are made when metal elements react with oxygen, such as iron oxide, which is known as rust. There are a lot of oxide compounds on Earth.

paragraphs: The common allotrope (type) of oxygen on Earth is called dioxygen (O). This is the second biggest part of the Earth's atmosphere, after dinitrogen (N). O has a bond length of 121 pm and a bond energy of 498 kJ/mol Because of its energy, O is used by complex life like animals.

paragraphs: Ozone (O) is very reactive and damages the lungs when breathed in. Ozone is made in the upper atmosphere when O combines with pure oxygen made when O is split by ultraviolet radiation. Ozone absorbs a lot of radiation in the UV part of the electromagnetic spectrum and so the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere protects Earth from radiation.

paragraphs: Above the ozone layer, (in low Earth orbits), atomic oxygen becomes the most common form.

paragraphs: Tetraoxygen (O) was discovered in 2001. It only exists in extreme conditions when a lot of pressure is put onto O.

paragraphs: Oxygen dissolves more easily from air into water than nitrogen does. When there is the same amount of air and water, there is one molecule of O for every 2 molecules of N (a ratio of 1:2). This is different to air, where there is a 1:4 ratio of oxygen to nitrogen. It is also easier for O to dissolve in freshwater than in seawater. Oxygen condenses at 90.20 K (-182.95°C, -297.31 °F) and freezes at 54.36 K (-218.79 °C, -361.82 °F). Both liquid and solid O are see-through with a light-blue colour.

paragraphs: Oxygen is very reactive and must be kept away from anything that can burn.

paragraphs: There are three stable isotopes of oxygen in nature. They are O, O, and O. About 99.7% of oxygen is the O isotope.

paragraphs: Oxygen is the third most common element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium. About 0.9% of the Sun's mass is oxygen.

paragraphs: Apart from iron, oxygen is the most common element on Earth (by mass). It makes up nearly half (46%

paragraphs: to 49.2% of the Earth's crust as part of oxide compounds like silicon dioxide and other compounds like carbonates. It is also the main part of the Earth's oceans, making up 88.8% by mass. Oxygen gas is the second most common part of the atmosphere, making up 20.95% of its volume and 23.1% of its volume. Earth is strange compared to other planets, as a large amount of its atmosphere is oxygen gas. Mars has only 0.1% by volume, with the other planets having less than that.

paragraphs: The much higher amount of oxygen gas around Earth is because of the oxygen cycle. Photosynthesis takes hydrogen from water using energy from sunlight, which gives off oxygen gas. The hydrogen combines with carbon dioxide to make carbohydrates. Respiration then takes oxygen gas out of the atmosphere and turns it into carbon dioxide and water. This happens at the nearly same rate, so the amount of oxygen gas and carbon dioxide doesn't change much because of it.

paragraphs: O is a very important part of respiration. Because of this, it is used in medicine. It is used to increase the amount of oxygen in a persons blood so more respiration can take place. This can make them become healthy quicker if they are ill. Oxygen therapy is used to treat emphysema, pneumonia, some heart problems, and any disease that makes it harder for a person to take in oxygen.

paragraphs: Low-pressure O is used in space suits, surrounding the body with the gas. Pure oxygen is used but at a much lower pressure. If the pressure were higher, it would be poisonous.

paragraphs: Smelting of iron ore into steel uses about 55% of oxygen made by humans. To do this, O gas is injected into the ore through a lance at high pressure. This removes any sulfur or carbon from the ore that would not be wanted. They are given off as sulfur oxide and carbon dioxide. The temperature can go as high as 1,700 °C because it is an exothermic reaction.

paragraphs: Around 25% of oxygen made by humans is used by chemists. Ethylene is reacted with O to make ethylene oxide. This is then changed to ethylene glycol, which is used to make many products such as antifreeze and polyester (these can then be turned into plastics and fabrics).

paragraphs: The other 20% of oxygen made by humans is used in medicine, metal cutting and welding, rocket fuel, and water treatment.

paragraphs: The oxidation state of oxygen is −2 in nearly every compound it is in. In a few compounds, the oxidation state is −1, such as peroxides. Compounds of oxygen with other oxygen states are very uncommon.

paragraphs: Water () is an oxide of hydrogen. It is the most common oxide on Earth. All known life needs water to live. Water is made of two hydrogen atoms covalent bonded to an oxygen atom. These hydrogen bonds bring the atoms around 15% closer to each other than most other simple liquids from only Van der Waals forces. Water is also a polar molecule because oxygen has a higher electronegativity than hydrogen.

paragraphs: Because of oxygen's high electronegativity, it makes chemical bonds with almost all other chemical elements. These bonds give oxides (for example iron reacts with oxygen to give iron oxide). Most metal's surfaces are turned into oxides when in air. Iron's surface will turn to rust (iron oxide) when in air for a long time. There are small amounts of carbon dioxide () in the air, and it is turned into carbohydrates during photosynthesis. Living things give it off during respiration.

paragraphs: Many organic compounds have oxygen in them. Some of the classes of organic compounds that have oxygen are alcohols, ethers, ketones, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, esters, and amides. Many organic solvents also have oxygen, such as acetone, methanol, and isopropanol. Oxygen is also found in nearly all biomolecules that are made by living things.

paragraphs: Oxygen also reacts quickly with many organic compounds at, or below, room temperature when autoxidation happens.

paragraphs: One hundred million tonnes of O are gotten from air for industrial uses every year. Industries use two main methods to make oxygen. The most common method is fractional distillation of liquefied air. N evaporates while O is left as a liquid.

paragraphs: The other main method of making oxygen is by passing a stream of clean, dry air through a pair of zeolite molecular sieves. The zeolite molecular sieves soaks up the nitrogen. It gives a gas stream that is 90% to 93% oxygen.

paragraphs: Oxygen gas can also be made through electrolysis of water into molecular oxygen and hydrogen.

paragraphs: Oxygen's NFPA 704 says that compressed oxygen gas is not dangerous to health and is not flammable.

paragraphs: At high pressures, oxygen gas (O) can be dangerous to animals, including humans. It can cause convulsions and other health problems. Oxygen toxicity usually begins to occur at pressures more than 50 kilopascals (kPa), equal to about 50% oxygen in the air at standard pressure (air on Earth has around 20% oxygen).

paragraphs: Premature babies used to be placed in boxes with air with a high amount of O. This was stopped when some babies went blind from the oxygen.

paragraphs: Breathing pure O in space suits causes no damage because there is a lower pressure used.

paragraphs: Concentrated amounts of pure O can cause a quick fire. When concentrated oxygen and fuels are brought close together, a slight ignition can cause a huge fire. The Apollo 1 crew were all killed by a fire because of concentrated oxygen that was used in the air of the capsule.

paragraphs: If liquid oxygen is spilled onto organic compounds, like wood, it can explode.


title: Blood

paragraphs: Blood is a liquid in humans and many animals except insects. Blood is pushed through the organism by the heart, and brings nutrients and oxygen to our tissues. It also takes away waste and carbon dioxide from tissues.

paragraphs: Blood of vertebrates is made up of blood plasma and various cells — red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. "Platelets" help blood to clot. Hemoglobin is in red blood cells. White blood cells help fight infections and heal wounds.

paragraphs: Blood plasma is the yellow liquid in which blood cells float. Plasma is made up of nutrients, electrolytes (salts), gases, non-protein hormones, waste, lipids, and proteins.

paragraphs: These proteins are albumin, antibodies (also called "immunoglobulins"), clotting factors, and protein hormones. Plasma that does not have the protein fibrinogen is called serum and cannot clot. Adults have about 3 liters of plasma. Plasma is a liquid, mostly water (90%). Plasma takes up 55% of volume.

paragraphs: Another name for red blood cell is "erythrocyte". 'Erythro' means red; 'cyte' means cell. RBC is an acronym for red blood cells.

paragraphs: RBCs carry oxygen and carbon dioxide around our body. Cells in our body need oxygen to live. Cells also make carbon dioxide as a waste. RBCs bring oxygen into the body and carbon dioxide out.

paragraphs: RBCs are filled with haemoglobin. This is a protein. It is made to carry a large amount of oxygen. Haemoglobin has iron in it. The iron and oxygen gives haemoglobin its red color. This is why blood is red. Erythropoietin promotes the creation of RBCs. Blood type antigens are carried on the surface of red cells.

paragraphs: RBCs also help the blood stay normal pH. The blood needs a to be at a pH of 7.4. If it is much more or less than 7.4 a person can get very sick or die. RBCs are a buffer for the blood pH. Buffer means that it stops changes in pH. The proteins and the carbon dioxide in the RBC are buffers for the blood.

paragraphs: If you do not have enough RBCs, you will die.

paragraphs: White blood cells are a big part of the immune system. They attack things that do not belong in the body. They kill germs such as bacteria and viruses. They kill cancer cells. White blood cells also help to fight other toxic substances.

paragraphs: White blood cells find where the germs are, and start to destroy them. WBCs arrive in the blood. They also go out of the blood in places where there is infection. WBCs do this to fight the germs that make the infection. If they go out of the blood to fight an infection, they may return in the lymphatic system. So WBCs are in lymph nodes.

paragraphs: Another name for white blood cell is "leukocyte". Leuko means white. -cyte means cell. WBC is an acronym for white blood cell. There are three main kinds of WBCs. They are lymphocytes, granulocytes and monocytes. Some of the WBCs mature into cells which do similar work in the tissues.

paragraphs: The different WBCs work in different ways. Some WBCs kill and eat germs and cancer cells. Some WBCs make antibodies that mark a cell so other WBCs will kill it. Some WBCs make chemicals. They release these chemicals to fight things that do not belong in the body. These chemicals cause inflammation in a part of the body. When a germ makes someone sick, the body shows it. If a bacteria gets under someone's skin and causes an infection, the skin gets red, hot, and painful. This redness, heat, and pain are signs of "inflammation". This shows that WBCs are fighting the infection and killing the bacteria.

paragraphs: Platelets help make blood clot. A clot is when the liquid blood becomes solid. The body makes blood clot when the skin is cut. This stops blood from going out of the skin too much.

paragraphs: For blood to be able to clot is essential. But, rarely, some blood clots are bad. If a blood clot happens in a blood vessel going to the brain, it can cause a stroke. If it happens in a blood vessel going to the heart, it can cause a heart attack. This does not usually happen to young, healthy people.

paragraphs: Platelets are not the only things that make clots. There are proteins in the blood that help make clots. Both platelets and "clotting proteins" are needed to make good clots.

paragraphs: Blood is mesodermal in origin. Blood cells are made in the bone marrow and in the spleen. The bone marrow is the soft material in the middle of bones. Special cells in the bone marrow make most of the blood cells in your body.

paragraphs: Plasma proteins are made mostly by the liver. The water and electrolytes in plasma come from the food and water that you eat.

paragraphs: Although blood is a fluid, in some respects it is a kind of connective tissue. Its cells originate in bone marrow and the spleen, and in the blood there are potential molecular fibres in the form of fibrinogen. These are activated when a blood clot forms.


title: 1960s

paragraphs: The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960 and ended on December 31, 1969. Many things happened in the sixties, including the Space Race, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam War.

paragraphs: The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called the Sixties. This was a set of cultural and political trends around the globe. This "cultural decade" is loosely defined as beginning around 1963 and ending around 1974.

paragraphs: The social revolution of the 1960s was part of a wider counterculture. Old ways were changed, new ways taken up. Typical was the introduction of the birth control pill, and its effect on sexual activity, widespread use of certain drugs and a general disrespect for traditional ways.


title: 1970s

paragraphs: The 1970s was the decade that started on January 1 1970, and ended on December 31 1979.


title: 1980s

paragraphs: The 1980s was the decade that started on January 1, 1980 and ended on December 31, 1989.

paragraphs: This decade (group of ten years) is sometimes called the "Greed decade" in English speaking countries. Unlike the 1960s and 1970s, this is when the word "yuppie" was used to describe "young urban professionals" – young adults who lived in cities and started to get good jobs. This was also the rise of a more conservative period in these countries – Ronald Reagan was president for most of this time in the United States, Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister of Canada.

paragraphs: This decade also saw the Soviet Union fight a war that seemed endless in Afghanistan, civil war in Ethiopia, and the fall of the Berlin Wall which started the end of the Cold War and of Communism in Eastern Europe.

paragraphs: The "eighties" are also well known for their extreme fashions, such as "big hair", New Wave, punk rock, funk, or preppies. Rap music first started to get big in the 80s, and often went with breakdancing in what is now called the "old school" days. Many developments were also made in computer technology during these years, and video games became popular.

paragraphs: In sports, Italy and Argentina won the FIFA World Cup. The Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics won the World Series. The Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Raiders, Chicago Bears and New York Giants won the Super Bowl. Finally, the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the NBA, with only the Houston Rockets winning a title.


title: 1990s

paragraphs: The 1990s was the decade that started on January 1, 1990, and ended on December 31, 1999. Durning the 90s the 200th decade began On January 1, 1991 which is the last decade of the 20th century and the 2nd millennium.


title: North Rhine-Westphalia

paragraphs: North Rhine-Westphalia () is the federal state (Bundesland) with the highest population in Germany. It is in the western part of Germany and has 18,033,000 inhabitants. The capital is Düsseldorf, while the city with the most inhabitants is Cologne.

paragraphs: North Rhine-Westphalia is divided into five government regions:


title: Computer program

paragraphs: A computer program is a list of instructions that tell a computer what to do. Everything a computer does is done by using a computer program. Programs stored in the memory of a computer ("internal programming") let the computer do one thing after another, even with breaks in between. John von Neumann, a mathematician born in Hungary, came up with this idea in the late 1940s. The first digital computer designed with internal programming capacity was the EDVAC (which means Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), built in 1949.

paragraphs: A computer program is stored as a file on the computer's hard drive. When the user runs the program, the file is read by the computer, and the processor reads the data in the file as a list of instructions. Then the computer does what the program tells it to do.

paragraphs: A computer program is written by a programmer. It is very difficult to write in the ones and zeroes of machine code, which is what the computer can read, so computer programmers write in a programming language, such as BASIC, C, or Java. Once it is written, the programmer uses a compiler to turn it into a language that the computer can understand.

paragraphs: There are also bad programs, called malware, written by people who want to do bad things to a computer. Some are spyware, trying to steal information from the computer. Some try to damage the data stored on the hard drive. Some others send users to web sites that offer to sell them things. Some are computer viruses or ransomware.


title: Data

paragraphs: The word data means "known facts". Data especially refers to numbers, but can mean words, sounds, and images. Metadata is data about data. It is used to find data.

paragraphs: Originally, data is the plural of the Latin word "datum," from "dare," meaning "give". "Datum" is rarely used in English. So data often gets used as if it were a singular word. Some people like to say "data are", not "data is".


title: 2000s (decade)

paragraphs: The 2000s, also known as the noughties was the decade that started on January 1, 2000, and ended on December 31, 2009.


title: Stuttgart

paragraphs: Stuttgart is a city in Germany. It is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg and of the Administrative District of Stuttgart ("Regierungsbezirk"). Stuttgart is on the river Neckar. In December 2011, 613,392 people live there.

paragraphs: Stuttgart is currently the sixth largest German city and Stuttgart Region is the nation's third largest region. The city is divided into 23 city districts.

paragraphs: Stuttgart is the home of two car manufacturers: Mercedes Benz and Porsche. Porsche is in Zuffenhausen (North) and Mercedes in Untertürkheim (Southeast).

paragraphs: Stuttgart has an oceanic climate ("Cfb" in the Koeppen climate classification).

paragraphs: Stuttgart has 613,392 people within city limits. It is the 6th largest city in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main. According to a 2005 estimate, the Stuttgart urban area had between 1,238,000 and 1,250,000 people. Its metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million (2008).

paragraphs: The University of Stuttgart is one of the city's higher education institutions.


title: Schwerin

paragraphs: Schwerin is the capital city of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It has a population of 97,000. It is the second biggest city (behind Rostock) in the state. It is the smallest capital of a German state.


title: Canton of Schwyz

paragraphs: Schwyz was one of the first cantons of Swiss canton ("Urkanton").

paragraphs: The capital is Schwyz and the main language is German (91%). It has an area of 908 km² and 130200 inhabitants. Schwyz is near to Lucerne.

paragraphs: The Canton of Schwyz is divided into six districts and 30 municipalities, although the districts Einsiedeln, Küssnacht and Gersau simply contain the municipality of the same name.


title: Russia

paragraphs: Russia (), officially called the Russian Federation () is a country that is in Eastern Europe and in North Asia. It is the largest country in the world by land area. About 146.7 million people live in Russia according to the 2019 census. The capital city of Russia is Moscow, and the official language is Russian.

paragraphs: Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has borders over water with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the United States by the Bering Strait.

paragraphs: Russia is a very large and diverse country. From 1922 to 1991, it used to be the main part of the Soviet Union. It was a country based on Communism, but today its government is a federal semi-presidential republic. It has elements of democracy. The President is chosen by direct election, but challenging candidates do not have access to the mass media, and so have almost no chance of winning. Its current President is Vladimir Putin. The President rules the country, and the Russian Parliament plays a secondary role.

paragraphs: Russia has 85 regional parliaments, and the presidents of these areas are very rarely ever displaced in an election. As a typical example, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was President of the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation from 1993 to 2010. Such a long tenure is not unusual in Russia, and suggests that the electoral system is heavily biased to keep incumbents in power.

paragraphs: At , Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the world's eighth most populous nation with 143 million people as of 2012. Russia produces a lot of energy made from oil and natural gas.

paragraphs: Extending from eastern Europe across the whole of northern Asia, Russia spans eleven time zones and has a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources, and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves, and its lakes contain about one-quarter of the world's fresh water.

paragraphs: Russia is a federal semi-presidential republic. It has a president and a parliament. Russia consists of 85 federal subjects (territorial units). All subjects of the federation shall be equal. All entities are subject to the uniform federal law. Subjects of the federation have two representatives in the parliament. Subjects of the Russian Federation do not have a right to secession from it. Important issues are decided by the Federation President; lesser powers are given to the member republics.

paragraphs: At the end of the twentieth century, Russia experienced many political changes. Some people fought to leave from the federation.

paragraphs: Elections are held at all levels. According Steve White, the present government made it clear that they had no plans of making a "second edition" of the American or British political system, but rather a system that was closer to Russia's own traditions. Richard Sakwa wrote that the Russian government is considered legitimate by the majority of the Russian people. It seeks to deliver a set of public goods without trying to fit to extra-democratic logic to achieve them. Whether the system is becoming less autocratic (dictatorial) is debatable.

paragraphs: There are four big political parties in Russia. United Russia (Единая Россия) is the biggest party.

paragraphs: The United Russia is the ruling party, which supports the government. The other parties in the Duma (Russian parliament) do not criticize the government strongly, for fear of losing their places in the Duma. Many opposition parties, such as the People's Freedom Party and the Other Russia, have been unable to register due to the strict rules. In the 2000s the government led a war in Chechnya, and in the process, civil liberties and independent media were restricted. Corruption is widespread and human rights, especially in the North Caucasus, are frequently violated. In 2008 Putin's government was in a war with Georgia in a dispute over a region with many ethnic Russians.

paragraphs: The roots of Russia's history began when the East Slavs formed a group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. The Vikings and their descendants founded the first East Slavic state of Kievan Rus' in the 9th century. They adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988. This form of Christianity influenced Russian culture greatly. Kievan Rus' eventually broke up and the lands were divided into many small feudal states. The most powerful successor state to Kievan Rus' was the Grand Duchy of Moscow. This area served as the main force in later Russian unification and the fight against the Golden Horde from Asia. Moscow slowly gained control of the regions around it and took over the cultural and political life of Kievan Rus'.

paragraphs: In the 18th century, the nation had expanded through conquest, annexation and exploration to become the Russian Empire, the third largest empire in history. It stretched from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth eastward to the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. The empire was ruled by an emperor called the Tsar.

paragraphs: Peter the Great ruled Russia from 1689 until 1725. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to a new city named Saint Petersburg. He made Russian society more modern in many ways. The government began building ships for the Russian navy.

paragraphs: The Russo-Japanese War started in 1904 and ended in 1905 with Japan winning the war. The Russian defeat was one of the reasons for later revolutions.

paragraphs: In October 1917, the Bolsheviks (later called "Communists"), influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, took over the country and murdered the Tsar and other people who stood against them. Once they took power, the Bolsheviks, under Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, created the first Marxist Communist State.

paragraphs: From the 1920s to the 1950s, Josef Stalin ruled as an absolute dictator of Soviet Russia, and destroyed anything and anyone that was against his rule, including taking the property of farmers and shopkeepers. Many millions of people starved and died in the resulting famines. Stalin also removed, or "purged", all military personnel who were not loyal to him, and many were killed or sent to prison camps, or gulags, for many years. Even in the gulags, many prisoners died.

paragraphs: Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany agreed not to attack each other in 1939. In June 1941, Germany broke the agreement and attacked in Operation Barbarossa. The attack was part of World War II. The war lasted in Europe until May 1945, and Russia lost more than 20 million people during that time. In spite of this large loss, Russia was one of the winners of the war and became a world superpower.

paragraphs: From 1922 to 1991, Russia was the largest part of the Soviet Union, or the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" (USSR). People sometimes used the name "Russia" for the whole Soviet Union, or sometimes "Soviet Russia". Russia was only one of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics. The republic was in fact named the "Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic" (RSFSR).

paragraphs: The Soviet Union fell apart in the early 1990s. Russia took over the place of the USSR in the United Nations (UN).

paragraphs: Boris Yeltsin was made the President of Russia in June 1991, in the first direct presidential election in Russian history. Wide-ranging reforms took place, including privatization and free trade laws. Radical changes "(shock therapy) were recommended by the United States and International Monetary Fund. A major economic crisis followed. There was 50% decline in GDP and industrial output between 1990–95.

paragraphs: The privatization largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to individuals with inside connections in the government system. Many of the newly rich business people took billions in cash and assets outside of the country . The depression of state and economy led to the collapse of social services. Millions went into poverty, from 1.5% level of poverty in the late Soviet era, to 39–49% by mid-1993. The 1990s saw extreme corruption and lawlessness, rise of criminal gangs and violent crime.

paragraphs: The 1990s had many armed conflicts in the North Caucasus. There were both local ethnic battles and separatist Islamist insurrections. Since the Chechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, a Chechen War was fought between the rebel groups and the Russian military. Terrorist attacks against civilians caused hundreds of deaths. The most notable of these were the Moscow theater hostage crisis and Beslan school siege.

paragraphs: Russia took responsibility for settling the USSR's external debts, even though its population made up just half of the population of the USSR at the time of its dissolution. High budget deficits caused the 1998 Russian financial crisis and resulted in further GDP decline.

paragraphs: On 31 December 1999 President Yeltsin resigned, or quit being the president. The job of president was given to the recently appointed Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. Putin then won the 2000 presidential election. Putin stopped the Chechen rebellion quickly, but violence still occurs in the Northern Caucasus at times.

paragraphs: High oil prices and initially weak currency followed by increasing domestic demand, consumption and investments has helped the economy grow for nine straight years. This improved the standard of living and increasing Russia's influence on the world stage. While many reforms made during the Putin presidency have been criticized by Western nations as un-democratic, Putin's leadership led to stability, and progress. This won him widespread popularity in Russia.

paragraphs: On 2 March 2008, Dmitry Medvedev was elected President of Russia, whilst Putin became Prime Minister. Putin returned to the presidency following the 2012 presidential elections, and Medvedev was appointed Prime Minister.

paragraphs: Russia's capital and the biggest city is Moscow. The second biggest city is Saint Petersburg, which was the capital of Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries.

paragraphs: Cities in Russia with more than one million people are, in order:

paragraphs: The most western point of Russia is near Kaliningrad, formerly named Königsberg. The most eastern point of Russia is Diomid island, 35 km from Chukotka (Russia) and from Alaska (USA). The most southern point is in Caucasus, on the border with Azerbaijan. The most northern point is on Franz Josef Land archipelago in Arctic Ocean, from the North Pole.

paragraphs: Russia has a population of 142 million citizens. Most people (73.7%) live in cities. The population decreased by 5 million people since the fall of the Soviet Union. The current population growth is close to zero, and the population went down by 0.085% in 2008.

paragraphs: Russia's area is about 17 million square kilometers (6.5 million sq. mi.). It is the largest country in the world. Its population density is about 8.3 people per square kilometer (21.5 per sq. mi.). This is among the lowest country densities in the world. The population is most dense in the European part of the country, centering around Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Siberia has a very low density.

paragraphs: The main religion in Russia is the Russian Orthodox Church. It is one of the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

paragraphs: World-renowned composers of the 20th century included Alexander Scriabin, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Russia has produced some of the greatest pianists: Anton Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Vladimir Ashkenazy are among the all-time greats.

paragraphs: Russian composer Tchaikovsky created famous ballets such as The Nutcracker. The impressario Sergei Diaghilev was responsible for the development of ballet in the early 20th century with the Ballets Russes. Dance companies at the Mariinsky Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet produced many famous dancers.

paragraphs: Russians have contributed many famous works of literature. Alexander Pushkin is considered a founder of modern Russian literature. He was a poet from the 19th century.

paragraphs: Other famous poets and writers of the 19th century were Anton Chekhov, Mikhail Lermontov, Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol (he was born in what is now Ukraine, but during his lifetime Ukraine was a part of Russia), Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are considered by many people to be two of the greatest novelists ever. Three Russians won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the 20th century: Boris Pasternak (1958), Mikhail Sholokhov (1965) and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1980). Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" was also a novel of the highest quality.

paragraphs: Soccer, ice hockey and basketball are among the most popular sports. Boxing, gymnastics, weightlifting, and tennis are also popular sports. Track suits are popular clothing items for many Russians. Sports people to gain world fame include former tennis world number one Maria Sharapova, who has won three Grand Slam titles, and was the world's highest paid female athlete in 2008.

paragraphs: Since the 1952 Olympic Games, Soviet and later Russian athletes are in the three in gold medals collected at the Summer Olympics. The 1980 Summer Olympic Games were held in Moscow while the 2014 Winter Olympics were hosted in Sochi.

paragraphs: For the 2018 Winter Olympics which were held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, a lot of athletes could not compete because the International Olympic Committee found out they had been doping. Those who were not caught doping were able to play in the 2018 Olympics under the title of "Olympic Athletes from Russia", and they took home two gold medals, including one in ice hockey.

paragraphs: Chess is the main intellectual sport in Russia. In the 20th century there were nine Russian World Chess Champions, more than all other nations combined.


title: Moscow

paragraphs: Moscow (, ; ) is the capital city of Russia. 11.5 million people live there (1 October 2010), so it is Europe's biggest city. It is also the seventh biggest city in the world. It sits on the Moskva River. Moscow is an important political, cultural, economic, religious, financial and transportation center. It is a global city, important in the economic infrastructure of the region. Moscow was founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruki in 1147.

paragraphs: The middle of the city is an ancient walled city called the Kremlin. There are important government buildings, museums and churches in the Kremlin. Many of the buildings in Moscow, like St. Basil's Cathedral and Spasskaya Tower, are very beautiful and famous. There are also modern buildings. The many art galleries have big collections.

paragraphs: Moscow has many scientific and educational buildings, as well as some sports complexes built for the 1980 Summer Olympics. Transport includes four international airports, nine railroad stations and the second busiest (after Tokyo) metro system in the world, which is famous for its artwork.

paragraphs: Over time, the city has earned a variety of nicknames, most referring to its pre-eminent status in the nation: The Third Rome (Третий Рим), Whitestone (Белокаменная), The First Throne (Первопрестольная), The Forty Forties (Сорок Сороков), The Port of five seas (Порт пяти морей).

paragraphs: A person from Moscow is called a Muscovite in English, or a "Moskvich" in Russian.

paragraphs: It is by the Moskva River in the Moskva Oblast, in the European part of Russia. Moscow sits on the center of three parts of Earth's crust. It was once the capital of the Soviet Union (1918-1991), Russian Empire, Tsardom of Russia and the Grand Duchy of Moscow (1480-1703). It is the place of the Moscow Kremlin, one of the World Heritage Sites in the city, which is the home of the President of Russia. The Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council of Russia (Federation Council) and the Government of Russia also are in Moscow.

paragraphs: Moscow has a large economic infrastructure. It is home to the most billionaires in the world. In 2008 Moscow was named the world's most expensive city for non-Russian workers for the third year in a row. In 2009, however, Moscow went down to third after Tokyo and Osaka came in first and second.

paragraphs: The city is named after the river (old , which means "the city next to the Moskva River"). The beginning of the name is not known, but some people have a few ideas. One is that the name might be from a very old Finnic language, in which it means "dark" and "cloudy". The first Russian reference to Moscow is from 1147 when Yuri Dolgoruki called upon the prince of Novgorod-Severski (North Novgorod) to "come to me, brother, to Moscow."

paragraphs: Nine years later, in 1156, Prince Yuri Dolgoruki ordered the building of a wooden wall, which had to be redone many times, to go around the growing city. After the attack of 1237–1238, when the Mongols burned the city to the ground and killed its people living there, Moscow grew back and became the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality (an amount of land ruled by a prince) in 1327. Its good place on the start of the Volga River helped the city to grow slowly bigger and bigger. Moscow turned into a peaceful and rich principality, known as the Grand Duchy of Moscow, for many years and a large number of people from across Russia moved to live there.

paragraphs: Under Ivan I the city replaced Tver as a political center of Vladimir-Suzdal and became the only collector of taxes for the Mongol-Tatar rulers. By paying high taxes, Ivan worked out an important deal with the Khan. Unlike other principalities, Moscow was not divided among his sons but was passed whole to his oldest. However, Moscow did not like the Mongol rule. In 1380, prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a Russian army to an important victory over the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo. Only two years later Moscow was raided by the Khan Tokhtamysh. In 1480, Ivan III finally broke the Russians free from Tatar control, allowing Moscow to become the center of power in Russia. Under Ivan III the city became the capital of an empire that would eventually include all of Russia and other countries.

paragraphs: In 1571, the Crimean Tatars raided Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin.

paragraphs: In 1609 the Swedish army, led by Count Jacob De la Gardie and Evert Horn, marched from Veliky Novgorod toward Moscow to help Tsar Vasili Shuiski. They entered Moscow in 1610 and stopped the revolution against the Tsar, but left early in 1611. After that the Polish invaded. During the Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618) hetman (army commander) Stanisław Żółkiewski entered Moscow after he defeated the Russians in the Battle of Klushino. The 17th century had lots of revolutions, such as the Salt Riot (1648), the Copper Riot (1662), and the Moscow Uprising of 1682.

paragraphs: The plague of 1654–1656 killed half the population of Moscow. The city stopped being Russia’s capital in 1712, after the building of Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great near the Baltic coast in 1703. The Plague of 1771 was the last big plague in central Russia, killing 100,000 people in Moscow alone. During the French invasion of Russia in 1812, the Muscovites burned the city and ran away, as Napoleon’s army was coming near to the city on 14 September. Napoleon’s army, which was very hungry and cold, had to leave and was nearly destroyed by the freezing Russian winter and some attacks by the army.

paragraphs: In January 1905, Alexander Adrianov became Moscow’s first mayor. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, on 12 March 1918 Moscow became the capital of the Soviet Union. During World War II (known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War), after the German invasion of the USSR, the Soviet State Defense Group and commanders of the Red Army were placed in Moscow.

paragraphs: In 1941, 16 groups of national volunteers (more than 160,000 people), twenty-five battalions (18,500 people) and four engineering regiments were created among the Muscovites. That November, the German Army was stopped at the edge of the city and then driven off in the Battle of Moscow. Many factories were moved away, and much of the government was too, and from 20 October the city was declared to be under siege. Its people who stayed built and used anti-tank defences, and the city was bombed from the air. Joseph Stalin (the leader of Russia) did not leave the city, so the general staff remained in the city as well. Even with a siege going on, the construction of the Moscow Metro system continued through the war, and by the end of the war a few new metro lines were open.

paragraphs: On 1 May 1944, a medal "For the defence of Moscow" and in 1947 another medal "In memory of the 800th year of Moscow" were given to Moscow. In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, on 8 May 1965, Moscow became one of twelve Soviet cities awarded the title of Hero City.

paragraphs: In 1980, Moscow hosted the Summer Olympic Games, which the United States and several other Western countries did not go to because of the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan in the end of 1979. In 1991, Moscow was the scene of a failed overthrow attempt by government members opposed to Mikhail Gorbachev. When the USSR ended in the same year, Moscow continued to be the capital of Russia.

paragraphs: Since then, the beginning of a market economy in Moscow has caused an explosion of Western-style stores, services, architecture, and lifestyles. In 1998, it hosted the first World Youth Games.


title: Canton of St. Gallen

paragraphs: St. Gallen is a canton in Switzerland. St. Gallen is in the north-east corner of Switzerland. North of St. Gallen is the canton Thurgau. West of St. Gallen is Zürich. South of St. Gallen is Schwyz, Glarus, and Graubünden. East of St. Gallen are the countries Austria and Liechtenstein. The cantons Appenzell Innerrhoden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden are inside the canton St. Gallen (the canton St.Gallen sourrounds them).

paragraphs: St. Gallen has been a Swiss canton since 1803.

paragraphs: St. Gallen is near "Lake Constance". At the south of St. Gallen there are big mountains over 3000m high. The best known mountain in St. Gallen is the "Säntis", which is 2503m high. At the east of St. Gallen there is the river "Rhine". The people in St. Gallen speak German.

paragraphs: There are about 455,000 people (2002) in the canton St. Gallen. It has an area of 2,026 km².

paragraphs: The biggest town in St. Gallen is the town with the same name "St. Gallen". There are 70,000 people in the town St. Gallen.


Canton


title: Saarland

paragraphs: Saarland is a Bundesland (state) of Germany. It has an area of and 1,014,000 people living in it (2011). Saarland lies in the south-west of Germany, near the French border near Metz. The capital is Saarbrücken.

paragraphs: In 1920, the Treaty of Versailles made Saarland from parts of the Prussian Rhine Province () and the Rhine Palatinate (). The area was put under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years. After a plebiscite (vote) in 1935, Germany got the land back. After World War II the Saarland came under French administration. The Saar Protectorate was allowed its own government for most things in 1947 but not independence. Germany got the Saarland back in 1957 and it became a Bundesland.

paragraphs: In the south is France, in the north-west Luxembourg and in the north and east is Rhineland-Palatinate.


title: Iceland

paragraphs: Iceland (; , ) is an island country in the North Atlantic, between Greenland and Norway, formerly a possession of Denmark. It is culturally considered to be part of Europe. Iceland is 301 kilometers east of Greenland and 1001 kilometers west of Norway. There are about 329,100 people who live in Iceland. Iceland has an area of 103,000 km².

paragraphs: The first people who lived on Iceland are thought to have been Irish monks. They came to Iceland around the year 800.

paragraphs: In the 9th century, Norsemen went to live in Iceland. The first Norseman who lived in Iceland was Flóki Vilgerðarson. He was also the one who gave Iceland its name. Ingólfur Arnarsons was the first permanent settler on the island. This chieftain from Norway went to live in South West Iceland and founded the city of Reykjavík.

paragraphs: In 930, the Icelandic rulers wrote a constitution. They created the Althing, a kind of parliament in a place called Þingvellir. Therefore, Iceland is the oldest existing republic.

paragraphs: In 985, Erik the Red was sent away from the island because he had killed someone. He sailed to the west and discovered Greenland. Eric's son Leif Ericson discovered America in the year 1000. He called it Vinland. The voyages of Eric, Leif and others were written down in the sagas (long stories).

paragraphs: In 1262, Iceland became part of Norway. This lasted for 400 years. In 1662, it became part of Denmark. In the 19th century, many Icelandic's wanted to be independent from Denmark. In 1918, Iceland got many powers of its own, but the king of Denmark was still king of Iceland.

paragraphs: When Germany took over Denmark on April 9 1940, the Althing decided that Icelandic’s should rule the country themselves, but they did not declare independence yet. British and later American soldiers occupied Iceland to prevent it from being attacked by the Germans. In 1944, Iceland finally became fully independent.

paragraphs: After World War II, Iceland became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but not of the European Union. Between 1958 and 1976, there were three debates between Iceland and the United Kingdom about the rights to catch codfish. They were called the Cod Wars.

paragraphs: In 1980, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected president of Iceland. She was the first woman ever to be elected president of a country.

paragraphs: In 2016, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson become president of Iceland.

paragraphs: Iceland has a multi-party system. Since the 2013 election, the center-right Independence Party and Progressive Party are the biggest political parties in Iceland. Other powerful parties in Iceland include the center-left Social Democratic Alliance and Left-Green Movement. See also: List of political parties in Iceland.

paragraphs: Iceland is a representative democracy and a parliamentary republic. Iceland has a president (Guðni Th. Jóhannesson) and a prime minister (Katrín Jakobsdóttir). The parliament, Althing, has 63 members and each member can only be in there for four years. The president is elected by Icelanders, and is in government for four years. The president can be elected an unlimited amount of times.

paragraphs: Iceland has no standing army. The United States Air Force had a base near Reykjanesbær, but they left in 2006. Since 2008, NATO nations have occasionally had their air force patrol Iceland. This was requested by the Icelandic government.

paragraphs: Iceland is divided into 8 regions, 6 constituencies and 74 municipalities (since 2013). The regions are mainly used for statistics. The constituencies are used for selecting politicians who will represent them in parliament. Lastly, the municipalities give services to the people that live there. These services include education, waste management, public transportation, and so on.

paragraphs: Before 2003, the constituencies were the same as regions, but this was changed because it meant that a vote in Reykjavik meant less than one in a rural area. Even though this was addressed, the problem still exists.

paragraphs: Fishing and fish processing is the main economic activity in Iceland. Despite effort to diversify, particularly into the travel industry, seafood exports continue to account for nearly three-quarters of merchandise exports and approximately half of all foreign exchange earnings.

paragraphs: Geothermal Energy produces the vast majority of Electrical Power consumed on Iceland, due chiefly to the island's position atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and exhibits plentiful hot water reservoirs and geysers. This has the effect of drastically reducing the price of electricity in Iceland, and has attracted several energy-intensive industries.

paragraphs: Aluminum Smelting (The reduction of Aluminum ores to Aluminum metal) is the largest energy-intensive manufacturing sector in Iceland, and the country produced over 800,000 Metric Tonnes per Year in 2013, making it the 10th largest producer of Aluminum metal worldwide.

paragraphs: Iceland is very geologically active and combined with large amounts of rain and snow caused by the warm waters of the gulf stream current which flow toward it, many interesting and unusual geographic features have developed which make it different from any other island so close to the Arctic Circle.

paragraphs: Some of these features are Iceland's numerous mountains, volcanoes, hot springs, rivers, small lakes, waterfalls, glaciers, and geysers. The word geyser is, in fact, derived from Geysir, the name of a particularly famous geyser on the southern side of the island. Glaciers cover approximately 11% of the island and the largest, Vatnajökull, is up to 1 km thick and, by far, the largest glacier in Europe.

paragraphs: Iceland, though considered to be a European country, sits partly in North America since it straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which marks the boundary between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. The ridge runs directly through the populated Reykjavik and Thingvellir historic areas, and the tectonic activity of these plates separating is the source of the abundant geothermal energy in the region.

paragraphs: Reykjavík is the capital city of Iceland. Reykjavík is also the most important port in Iceland. Other important towns in Iceland are Akureyri, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður, Keflavík, Seyðisfjörður and Vestmannaeyjar.

paragraphs: The people in Iceland are mostly of Scandinavian origin. The language they speak is Icelandic. The language has not changed much in 1,000 years, so Icelanders are still able to read the sagas about the Vikings without many problems. Most people in Iceland are Christian. Most of them are Lutheran.

paragraphs: Icelandic people are considered to be the happiest people on Earth. Iceland has the highest birth rate in Europe, highest divorce rate and the highest percentage of women working outside their home.

paragraphs: There are no real surnames on Iceland. Children get the first name of their father (sometimes mother) with -s+son if it's a boy, and -s+dóttir if it's a girl.

paragraphs: For example, a man named Jón Stefánsson has a son named Fjalar. Fjalar's last name will not be Stefánsson like his father's, it will become Fjalar Jónsson.

paragraphs: The same goes for women. Jón Stefánsson's daughter Kata would not have the last name Stefánsson, she would have the name Jónsdóttir.

paragraphs: In most countries people use to call other people by their surname, but in Iceland people call other people by their first name. So when people talk about Halldór Ásgrímsson they do not call him Ásgrímsson, but Halldór.


title: Saarbrücken

paragraphs: Saarbrücken (French: "Sarrebruck") is a German city and a district in the state of Saarland.

paragraphs: The city is also the capital of the Saarland. Saarbrücken has 180,000 inhabitants and is on the river Saar.


title: Saarlouis

paragraphs: Saarlouis is a town in the Saarland, Germany. It has 38,400 inhabitants and is on the Saar. From 1936 to 1945 it was called Saarlautern. Ford Motor Company has a plant here; it produces the Focus, C-Max and Kuga.


title: Brandenburg

paragraphs: Brandenburg is a state ("Bundesland") in Germany. It has been a state since 1990. It is 29,056 km² in area. It has about 2.6 million inhabitants.

paragraphs: Until 1945 it was the biggest province in Prussia, with 38,278 km² and 3 million inhabitants. From 1949 to 1952 it was a state in the German Democratic Republic. In 1952 it became divided into three "Bezirke" (Potsdam, Frankfurt and Cottbus). The capital of Brandenburg is Potsdam.

paragraphs: Berlin is in the middle of Brandenburg. But it is not part of Brandenburg. It is a city state.

paragraphs: Brandenburg is divided into fourteen "Kreise" (districts):

paragraphs: Also Brandenburg has four "Kreisfreie Städte" (district-free city):

paragraphs: Brandenburg is divided into fourteen (rural) counties ("Landkreise"),

paragraphs: and four urban districts ("kreisfreie Städte"),


title: Russian language

paragraphs: Russian (Russian: , transliteration: "russkiy yaz'ik") is a Slavic language. It is the main language spoken in Russia. It is also spoken in by many people in other parts of the former Soviet Union, such as in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkmenistan and Estonia.

paragraphs: Russian, like other Slavic languages, are Indo-European languages. Russian is one of the three main East Slavic languages; the others are Ukrainian and Belarusian. More people speak Russian than any other Slavic language.

paragraphs: Written Russian does not use the Latin alphabet that English and the West Slavic languages do. It uses the Cyrillic alphabet, whose letters, like those of Latin, came from Greek, but are different from them. The other East Slavic languages and some of the South Slavic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet as well.

paragraphs: Russian is an official language of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, along with English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Chinese.

paragraphs: Standard Russian is also called modern literary Russian (Современный русский литературный язык). It first appeared at the beginning of the 18th century. Peter the Great was then working to make the state more modern. Standard Russian grew out of the dialect of Russian spoken by people in and around Moscow. In some ways, Standard Russian was also like the Russian used in government offices in earlier centuries.

paragraphs: Mikhail Lomonosov wrote the first book on Russian grammar in 1755. The Russian Academy of Sciences published the first full dictionary of Russian in 1783. The grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of Russian became stable and were standardized at the end of the 18th and during the 19th century. This was the "Golden Age" of Russian literature, which became famous throughout the world.

paragraphs: All of Russia began to use Russian as the language of literature, education, and official communication. Until the 20th century, only the upper classes and people in cities spoke the literary language. Russians from the countryside continued to speak their local dialects. In the 20th century, all children were then required to go to school. Many people had radios and televisions, which helped spread Standard Russian. In the 20th century, Russian dialects mostly disappeared by the middle of the century. Standard Russian replaced them almost completely.

paragraphs: In Russian, a person's name has three parts: the first name, the second name and the family name.

paragraphs: Parents choose the first name for their child. Some common Russian names for boys are Ivan, Vladimir, Mikhail and Nikolai. Some common Russian names for girls are Anna, Anastasia, Svetlana and Yekaterina.

paragraphs: The second name is the "patronymic" (Russian: "otchestvo") and comes from one's father's first name. For example, a boy whose father is "Ivan" would havae as patronymic is "Ivanovich". If a boy's father is "Nikolai", his patronymic is "Nikolaevich". If a girl's father is "Ivan", her patronymic is "Ivanovna". If her father is "Nikolai", her patronymic is "Nikolaevna". The patronymic of a boy ends with -"ovich" or "-evich". The patronymic of a girl ends with "-ovna" or "-evna".

paragraphs: Boys have the same family name as their fathers. Girls use their father's family name but an "-a" is added to the end of the name. A man whose family name is "Romanov" would have a son with the family name "Romanov" and a daughter with the family name "Romanova".

paragraphs: If a man's name is "Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov" and has a son, "Aleksei", and a daughter, "Anastasia", the son's full name is "Aleksei Nikolaevich Romanov", and the daughter's full name is "Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova".

paragraphs: There are also many people in Russia whose family names are not Russian. Some of the family names have only one forma and so is the same for both sons and daughters. Some examples are "Glushko" (a Ukrainian name), "Rubinstein" (a German/Jewish name) or "Shevardnadze" (a Georgian name).

paragraphs: Like Latin, Greek, and German, Russian has a case system. In Russian, it applies to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, numerals and participles with a set of word endings (sounds/letters attached to the ends of words) that show the grammatical roles of words in a sentence. Because the grammatical roles are shown by the endings, word order is freer in than in English. There are six cases in Russian.

paragraphs: The nominative case, the form listed in the dictionary, is used for the subject of the sentence. The genitive case often shows ownership. The accusative case is used for a direct object, the dative case for an indirect object. The instrumental case is used for the tool or instrument with which something is done. The prepositional case is used after certain prepositions, such as "in" and "on", but other prepositions may require the use of other cases. Each case has other uses than those listed.

paragraphs: In Russian, nouns have one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Masculine nouns usually end in consonants, neuter nouns usually end in -o or -e, and feminine nouns usually end in -a or -я. The plural acts much like a fourth gender. since gender does not alter plural words.

paragraphs: In Russian, an adjective must agree with the word that it describes in gender and number. In the nominative case, adjectives that describe feminine words usually end in -ая or -яя. Those that describe masculine words usually end in -ый, -ий or -ой. Those that describe neuter words usually end in -ое or -ее. Those that describe plural words usually end in -ые or -ие. The endings change depending on case.


title: Professor

paragraphs: Professor (commonly abbreviated as "prof.") is an academic rank at most universities and colleges. The word "professor" comes from Latin. It means a "person who professes", being usually an expert in arts or sciences. A professor is a teacher of the highest rank. Professors are often active in research. In many institutions, the job title 'professor' is synonymous with that of an instructor.

paragraphs: A professor is an accomplished and recognized academic. In most Commonwealth nations, as well as northern Europe, the title "professor" is the highest academic rank at a university. In the United States and Canada, the title of "professor" is also the highest rank, but a higher percentage achieve it. In these areas, professors are scholars with doctorate degrees (typically Ph.D. degrees) or equivalent qualifications. Most professors teach in four-year colleges and universities. An emeritus professor is a title given to selected retired professors with whom the university wishes to continue to be associated due to their stature and ongoing research. Emeritus professors do not receive a salary. However, they are often given office or lab space, and use of libraries, labs, and so on.

paragraphs: The term professor is also used in the titles assistant professor and associate professor, which are not considered professor-level positions in some European countries. In Australia, the title "associate professor" is used in place of "reader", ranking above senior lecturer and below full professor.

paragraphs: Beyond holding the proper academic title, universities in many countries also give notable artists, athletes and foreign dignitaries the title "honorary professor", even if these persons do not have the academic qualifications typically necessary for professorship and they do not take up professorial duties. However, such "professors" usually do not undertake academic work for the granting institution. In general, the title of professor is strictly used for academic positions rather than for those holding it on honorary basis.

paragraphs: An adjunct professor, also called an adjunct lecturer or adjunct instructor is a non-tenure position in the U.S. and Canada. They usually rank below a full professor. They are usually hired on a contract basis. They are often hired as part-time instructors especially at universities and colleges with tightening budgets. The position of an adjunct can often lead to a full-time professorship. It is also an opportunity for professionals to teach part-time.

paragraphs: A professor's salary can vary by education, school, subject taught and country. A professor typically earns a base salary and a range of benefits. In addition, a professor who undertakes additional roles in her institution (e.g., department chair, dean, head of graduate studies, etc.) earns additional income. In the United States, in 2014, a tenured Law professor made an average of $143,509 a year. By comparison, those teaching history, English, the Arts or Theology make about half that amount.


title: California

paragraphs: California is a state in the western United States. It is the third largest state in size and largest state in terms of population. Its largest cities are Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco. The capital is Sacramento. It became a state on September 9, 1850. It is bordered by Arizona to the southeast, Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east and the Mexican state of Baja California to the south.

paragraphs: California produces the most walnuts in the United States. California produces artichokes, avocados, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, dates, figs, grapes, strawberries, lemons, lettuce and plums. California’s major cash products are cattle, milk, cotton, and grapes.

paragraphs: California has the largest Latino population in the country. Many are of Mexican descent.

paragraphs: California is known for it’s palm trees, beaches and Mediterranean-like weather.

paragraphs: The geography of California varies depending on region. Southwestern California has small mountain ranges and the cities of San Diego and Los Angeles. Southeastern California has the Mojave Desert and Death Valley, the lowest place in the United States. The eastern part of the state has the highest point in the United States outside of Alaska, Mount Whitney, in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

paragraphs: The cities of Sacramento, Bakersfield, and Fresno are in the Central Valley. The valley has the Sierra Nevada to the east and the Pacific Coast Ranges to the west. It is California's single most productive agricultural region and one of the most productive in the world. It produces more than half the fruit, vegetables, and nuts grown in the United States. More than seven million acres (28,000 km) of the valley are irrigated by an extensive system of reservoirs and canals.

paragraphs: The west-central part of the state has some small mountains and the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. Northern California has the Cascade Range, the Klamath Mountains, and the Modoc Plateau. Far northern California does not have many people, but the San Francisco region and the Sacramento region are often thought of as part of northern California.

paragraphs: Animals such as coyotes, bears, birds and snakes live in California.

paragraphs: The state is a leader in three businesses: farming, movie-making, and high technology, mostly software and websites. Aerospace used to be a large industry there, but it has been downsized in the last 20 years.

paragraphs: There are many earthquakes in California. They happen when two tectonic plates (parts of the Earth's crust) shift underground. Californians need to be prepared for earthquakes and often store extra food, water, flashlights, and first aid supplies in case of such an emergency.

paragraphs: California has more people than any other state in the United States. If California was a separate country, it would have the sixth largest economy in the world. California is probably the state with the most ethnic groups. It also has many different geographic features – mountains, deserts, and coasts. It is often called "The Golden State". The state flower is the golden poppy. The post office uses "CA" as a shorthand for California, and the Associated Press uses "Calif." or "Cali."

paragraphs: West Coast hip hop is popular. West Coast rappers include Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Kendrick Lamar, The Game, YG and Sacramento native Mozzy, just to name a few.

paragraphs: In-N-Out Burger is a popular restaurant in California.

paragraphs: California cuisine has Mexican and Hispanic influence. Burritos, tacos, tortas, and nachos are prevalent in Southern California. Mexican dishes such as tamales, mole, tostadas, menudo, and chile rellenos also dominate Southern Californian cuisine. California is known for it’s seafood.

paragraphs: In 2019, Gavin Newsom became the governor of California. Before him, the governor was Jerry Brown.

paragraphs: On November 4, 1992, Dianne Feinstein became one of California's United States senators. On January 3, 2017, Kamala Harris became the other one.

paragraphs: California was more conservative during the 1960s and 1980s when its former governor, Ronald Reagan, ran for president as a Republican. Today, California is more liberal and less conservative.

paragraphs: The first explorers and settlers of Coastal California were Native Americans. In the past, the area that was called "California" was not just today's California. This area covered the Mexican lands south of it, as well as Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona and Wyoming. The Spanish called the part of the land that later became part of the United States "Alta California" (Upper California) when it was split from what became "Baja California" (Lower California). In these early times, the borders of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific coast were not well known, so the old maps wrongly showed California to be an island. The name comes from "Las sergas de Espladián" (Adventures of Spladian), a 16th-century book by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, where there is an island paradise called California.

paragraphs: The first European who visited parts of the coast, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, came from Portugal in 1542. The first European who saw the entire coast was Sir Francis Drake, in 1579, and he decided that the British owned it. But starting in the late 1700s, Spanish religious leaders of the Roman Catholic Church ("missionaries") got large gifts of land in the area north of Baja California, from the Spanish king and queen. These religious people set up small towns and villages, the famous California Missions. When Mexico was no longer controlled by Spain, the Mexican government took over the villages, and they soon became empty.

paragraphs: In 1846, as the Mexican-American War was starting, some Americans in California hoped to create a California Republic. These men flew a "Bear flag" that had a golden bear with a star on it. This Republic ended suddenly, however, when Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into San Francisco Bay. He said that California was now part of the United States. After the war with Mexico ended, California was split between the two countries. The Mexican portion became the Mexican states of Baja California Norte (north) and Baja California Sur (south). ("Baja" means "lower" in Spanish.) The western part of the part given to the United States became today's state of California.

paragraphs: In 1848, there were about 4,000 Spanish-speaking people in today's California on the American side. (Today the state has a total of nearly 40,000,000 people.) In 1849, gold was suddenly found and the number of people went up very fast as the Gold Rush took hold. In 1850, California became a state in the Union (the United States).

paragraphs: During the American Civil War (1861-1865), many people in California, especially in the southern part of California, thought the South was right. Some people in Southern California even wanted Southern California to leave the rest of the state and join the Confederate States of America. However, this did not happen. California joined the war to and helped the North (the Union) and sent many troops east to fight the Confederacy.

paragraphs: At first, travel between the far west and the east coast of the United States was dangerous and took a lot of time. Going by land was very difficult, because there were no roads and no trains, and many Native Americans were attacking American people heading West in wagons. The only other way was to travel by boat around the Cape Horn, at the southern end of South America. This took months, since the trip was thousands of miles long and the Panama Canal had not yet been built either. But in 1869, the connection got better quickly, because the first railroad across the continent was finished. Meanwhile, more people in California were learning that the land there was very good to grow fruit and other crops. Oranges were grown in many parts of California. This was the beginning of the huge farming business that California has today.

paragraphs: In 1900, there were only a million people in California and 105,000 in Los Angeles. Today, California has more people than any other U.S. state. Starting in 1965, the variety of people became much greater as many different people from around the world came to the United States and often decided to live in California. California is thought to be a very liberal state, but there are still a lot of people who are Republicans and view Ronald Reagan as a hero. Technology is very advanced and many new cultural trends begin there. Engineering and computers play a big part in the state's life. For over a hundred years, film has been one of the most important businesses in California. By the 1950s, television had also become an important business in California. The vast majority of California’s immigrants were born in Latin America (50%) or Asia (40%). California has sizable populations of immigrants from dozens of countries; the leading countries of origin are Mexico (4.1 million), China (969,000), the Philippines (857,000), Vietnam (524,000), and India (507,000). California is a multicultural state with many Mexicans, Filipinos, Salvadorans, Koreans, Armenians, Persians and more living there. California produces the most almonds in the world.


title: Propaganda

paragraphs: Propaganda is a form of communication to distribute information. It is always biased. The information is designed to make people feel a certain way or to believe a certain thing. The information is often political.

paragraphs: It is hard to tell whether the information is true or false. Very often, the information is confusing and unfair. Propaganda does tend to make disputes last longer, and be more difficult to resolve. It can take the form of posters, TV advertisements, and radio announcements.

paragraphs: The word 'propaganda' comes from Latin. At first, it meant 'ideas to be spread around'. But in the First World War, it came to mean political ideas that are supposed to be misleading.

paragraphs: Propaganda is like advertising in some ways. For example, it uses the mass media to spread its ideas. But advertising is usually trying to sell something, whereas propaganda is about ideas. It is often political, and used by states or political parties, not private companies.

paragraphs: Propaganda is often used during wars. There it can be very useful. Sometimes it keeps the people of a country happy telling them that their country is fighting well and telling them how important it is that the enemy is defeated. Sometimes it tries to make people hate the enemy. The information could tell people that the enemy is evil or make them seem not human. Sometimes a government gives propaganda to the enemy telling them that the war is going badly for them and that they should stop fighting.

paragraphs: When a country is not at war, propaganda can still be used. The government may use propaganda to change what people think about a political situation. A group may try to change the way people act towards an issue.

paragraphs: Propaganda under some countries, like dictatorships, is used along with censorship. While propaganda tries to give people false ideas, censorship forces the ones who disagree with propaganda to keep quiet. Then the propaganda can say everything, because nobody can question it in public.

paragraphs: Propaganda is also used to win people by tricking them. Some people say that cults use propaganda to get people to join them.

paragraphs: Propaganda has been used in every known civilisation. It was used by Rameses II on his monuments in Ancient Egypt; it was used by Ancient Greek orators; it was used by Julius Caesar, and all Roman Emperors. The word itself is formed from "propagate", meaning to multiply.

paragraphs: Propaganda was carried much further by the "Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide" of the Catholic Church. This committee, founded in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, had action branches in most European countries. These were the local branches of the Inquisition, which sought out heretics. With torture and the threat of death by burning at the stake, they forced heretics to recant (to publicly withdraw their previous beliefs). The objective was to remove all challenges to the supremacy of the Church in matters of belief. The 1578 handbook for inquisitors noted "Punishment does not take place primarily and for the correction and good of the person punished, but for the public good in order that others may become terrified and weaned away from the evils they would commit".


title: Topology

paragraphs: Topology is an area of Mathematics, which studies how spaces are organized and how they are structured in terms of position. It also studies how spaces are connected. It is divided into "algebraic topology", "differential topology" and "geometric topology".

paragraphs: Topology has been called rubber-sheet geometry. In a topology of two dimensions there is no difference between a circle and a square. A circle made out of a rubber band can be stretched into a square. There is a difference between a circle and a figure eight. A figure eight cannot be stretched into a circle without tearing.

paragraphs: The spaces studied in topology are called topological spaces. They vary from familiar manifolds to some very exotic constructions.

paragraphs: In many problems, we often divide a large space into smaller areas. For instance, a house is divided into rooms, a nation into states, a type of quantity into numbers, and so on. Each of these smaller areas (room, state, number) is next to other small areas (other rooms/states/numbers). The places where the areas meet are connections. If we write down on paper a list of spaces, and the connections between them, we have written down a description of a space -- a topological space. All topological spaces have the same properties such as connections, and are made of the same structure (a list of smaller areas). This makes it easier to study how spaces behave. It also makes it easier to write algorithms. For instance, to program a robot to navigate a house, we simply give it a list of rooms, the connections between each room (doors), and an algorithm that can work out which rooms to go through to reach any other room.

paragraphs: We can go further by creating subdivisions of subdivisions of space. For instance, a nation divided into states, divided into counties, divided into city boundaries, and so on. All this kind of information can be described using topology.


title: Los Angeles

paragraphs: Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles (also called L.A.), is a city in Southern California, in the United States. There are 3,847,400 people living in the city, and over 18 million people in the L.A. region. The city has an area of . Los Angeles has the second biggest population of any city in the United States, the first being New York, overtaking Chicago in this category in the 1970s. It is also the biggest city of California. Due to being built on a fault line, which runs through the downtown, it is quite lacking in skyscrapers and tall structures and is one of the most spread out cities in the world. Greater Los Angeles is home to many of the biggest rock bands in the history of the United States. Los Angeles is surrounded by East Los Angeles, Huntington Park, Maywood, Walnut Park, Commerce, Bell, Glendale, South Pasadena, Monterey Park, South Gate, Cudahy, West Hollywood, Alhambra, Bell Gardena and Westmont.

paragraphs: The area comprising present-day Los Angeles County was first settled by small groups of Native Americans for centuries before the first European contact in 1769 when Gaspar de Portola and a group of missionaries camped on what is now the banks of the Los Angeles River. The name Los Angeles comes from the Spanish language,and it means "The Angels". The name is an abbreviation from the original name of the place. The original name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula" (in English, "town of our lady the Queen of Angels of the River Porciúncula"), giving it both one of the longest and shortest (referring to its shortening of "LA") place names in the world. Los Angeles was founded in 1781 while the area was within the borders of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area had earlier been explored by two Franciscan priests named Junipero Serra and Juan Crespi and following the Mexican War of Independence the region passed into the hands of Mexico which subsequently ceded control of California to the U.S. in 1848. On April 4, 1850 California became a State of the USA. Los Angeles began half a century of rapid growth after railroads arrived in the city in the 1870s. Los Angeles was home to the Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984. It will host the Olympic Games in 2028. Three times the city broke out in riots, in 1943, in 1965, and in 1992, all due to racial tensions. In 1994, an earthquake killed 72 people and damaged many buildings.

paragraphs: Los Angeles is a very large city, and the edges of the city are very far from the center, going from the beaches to the mountains. The Santa Monica Mountains run through the city, separating it into the San Fernando Valley to the north and the Los Angeles Basin to the south. The Los Angeles River also runs through the city some . Los Angeles moves about one-quarter of an inch (6.3 millimeters) to the east every year. It is caused by the city's tectonic plates and rough ground geography and since Los Angeles is at a close distance with the San Andreas Fault. This brings Los Angeles and San Francisco 2.5 inches closer together each year.

paragraphs: The climate in Los Angeles is a Mediterranean climate. The weather is usually warm and dry during the summer, and it is mild and more rainy in the winter. The weather is different depending on how far away from the ocean you are, so places near the beach usually do not get as hot in the summer. It is very rare for temperatures to go below freezing. The city receives about 15 inches (386 mm) of rain each year, although the amount can change a lot from year to year.

paragraphs: L.A. has many famous sights. There are many very long beaches, such as Venice Beach. Many visitors go to Hollywood, home to the Hollywood Walk of Fame the Mann's (Grauman's) Chinese Theater, a large cinema and L.A. Live, an entertainment complex. Los Angeles also has many fine museums such as the L.A. County Museum of Art, California Science Center and the Getty Museum. Another sight is the Los Angeles City Zoo. Los Angeles is the only major city in the world with an active population of wild mountain lions.

paragraphs: Los Angeles is known for its large movie and television industry. Much of this is located in Hollywood. Some military aircraft are also made there, as well as spacecraft. The music industry is also concentrated in the area. The city is also a banking center. The San Pedro area has a busy port.

paragraphs: Los Angeles has dozens of neighborhoods and named areas, including:

paragraphs: As of December 2019, the mayor of Los Angeles is Eric Garcetti.

paragraphs: Los Angeles has a rich history and culture of popular music. Many of the most notable recording artists in the history of the United States either started or flourished in Los Angeles or Greater Los Angeles. The surf music scene is largely associated with Los Angeles and suburbs like Malibu. Motown Records moved from Detroit, Michigan to Los Angeles in the 1970s. The West Coast Hip-hop scene and genres such as G-funk are largely centered in Greater Los Angeles.


title: Census

paragraphs: A census means getting information about every member of a population. It is usually used meaning a population of people, but can be used to mean a population of animals.

paragraphs: Both the United States and United Kingdom have a census every 10 years, or decade. But in Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand they have it every 5 years.

paragraphs: A census produces a large database and sometimes new information technology, such as the use of punched cards for data, has been invented to handle it.