title: Cornish language

paragraphs: Cornish is a very old language from Cornwall in the southwest of England. Cornish is a Celtic language and is very similar to Welsh and is related to Gaelic.

paragraphs: A long time ago, Cornish was the only language spoken in Cornwall, but more and more people began to speak English, instead of Cornish. In 1550, when the prayer book was written in English instead of Latin, the Cornish people got angry and there was a rebellion. Because many Cornish-speakers died and they would now hear the Bible in English, Cornish was used less and less.

paragraphs: By 1800, only a few people could speak Cornish, and since no one spoke it to one another any more, Cornish became endangered.

paragraphs: People say that a woman called Dolly Pentreath was the last person who could speak Cornish. That is not quite true, but she was one of the last people to use it instead of English.

paragraphs: Some people learned about Cornish by traveling around talking to people who could still speak it and by reading old plays and books. Some people wanted to learn the language and speak it and so in 1904 a learned man, Henry Jenner, wrote a book to help people. Some people then began to learn the language and speak it again.

paragraphs: No one knows how many Cornish-speakers there are now. People think that about 8,000 to 13,000 people probably speak Cornish. Some young people have grown up speaking it. Most people in Cornwall know a few sentences or words in Cornish. In 100 years, Cornish has grown from almost no speakers to many thousands, which is very exciting for many people.

paragraphs: There are now many new books, films and songs in Cornish. The Bible has now been translated into Cornish. There is an event, the open Gorseth, with a story and poetry competition. Sometimes, Cornish is used in churches.

paragraphs: There used to be a problem with Cornish: three different dictionaries had different spellings, and people did not agree about how to write words or say them. That was confusing for people when they have not been speaking for long In 2008, people who used different types of Cornish came together and agreed on a new standard form of Cornish to be used everywhere.


title: Welsh

paragraphs:
Welsh could mean many different things:
Welsh could also mean:
Places in the United States (US)


title: Watergate scandal

paragraphs: The Watergate scandal was a scandal during and after the 1972 Presidential Election.

paragraphs: United States President and Republican Richard Nixon was running for election against Democrat George McGovern. Frank Wills, a security guard, discovered clues that former FBI and CIA agents broke into the offices of the Democratic Party and George McGovern months before the election. These people listened to phone lines and secret papers were stolen.

paragraphs: When these men were found, it turned out that Nixon was involved and he had helped them cover it all up and might have even hired the men. "The Washington Post" was a newspaper which played a big role in exposing the misdoings, specifically reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. This showed the public that Nixon was not to be trusted, and society began to view him in a different light.

paragraphs: Nixon chose to resign from office on August 9, 1974 because he wished to not be impeached. This means that he might have been charged with crimes. The U.S. Congress could not impeach him if he resigned. After this, Gerald Ford, his vice-president, became the President by default. Ford later forgave and pardoned Nixon for all of his crimes. The name "Watergate" comes from the hotel in Washington, D.C. where the first crime took place and is often associated with political scandals. Nixon was stealing information and abusing his presidential power to try to stay in office.


title: Cyan

paragraphs: Cyan is the color halfway between blue and green on the color wheel. It is one of the primary (main) colors of ink in an inkjet printer, along with black, yellow and magenta.

paragraphs: Cyan is a secondary color of light, along with magenta and yellow. The primary colors of light are: blue, red and green. Cyan is made by mixing green and blue light.

paragraphs: Cyan is the opposite of red and is halfway between green and blue.


title: Purple

paragraphs: Purple is a colour that is made of two primary colors, blue and red.

paragraphs: The first written use of "purple" as a color name in English was in 975.

paragraphs: These Tyrian purple colors, all of which are also shown in the color chart above, show the original purple of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The color "imperial" shown below was made by mixing Tyrian purple with indigo dye.


title: La Liga Filipina

paragraphs: La Liga Filipina was a group created by Doctor Jose Rizal on July 3, 1982 in the Philippines.

paragraphs: Jose Rizal tried very hard to make it a peaceful group. But the Spanish authorities considered it dangerous. On the night of July 6, 1892, Rizal was secretly arrested four days after its creation. The following day, Governor-General Eulogio Despujol ordered Rizal to be deported to Dapitan.

paragraphs: After Rizal's arrest, La Liga Filipina became inactive. Then it was reorganized by Domingo Franco and Andres Bonifacio. The society broke apart into two separate groups: the Cuerpo de Compromisarios which promised to continue supporting the La Solidaridad in Spain and the Katipunan in the Philippines.


title: Elton John

paragraphs: Sir Elton Hercules John (birth name Reginald Kenneth Dwight, born 25 March 1947 in Pinner, Middlesex, England), better known simply as Elton John, is an English singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. He started his music career immediately after leaving school. Elton John was the biggest music star in the 1970s.

paragraphs: Elton John was born in 55 Pinner Hill Road, Pinner, Middlesex, He was eldest child Stanley Dwight and Sheila Eileen, He was educated in Pinner.

paragraphs: John became famous in the early 1970s when he and lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote several songs which he performed and recorded. John became a huge star, not only for his musical abilities, but for his flamboyant stage personality. He composed several musicals. He also composed the music for the animated movies "The Lion King" (1994) and "The Road to El Dorado" (2000). He is active in charity work. In 1997, in honor of Diana, Princess of Wales, John co-wrote and released a version of his hit "Candle in the Wind". That became the world's best-selling single of all time. It sold 37 million copies within two months.

paragraphs: Outside of music, John has raised millions of pounds for people living with HIV and AIDS through the "Elton John AIDS Foundation".

paragraphs: John has had treatment for alcoholism, drug abuse and bulimia nervosa.

paragraphs: In 2005, John entered a civil partnership with David Furnish. They had been together for 12 years. On 21 December 2014, John and Furnish married. Guests at their wedding included English former footballer David Beckham along with his wife Victoria Beckham and their younger sons and their daughter. Their eldest son, who is also John's godson, was not present.


title: The Who

paragraphs: The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964. The main lineup from 1964 to 1978 was guitarist Pete Townshend, vocalist Roger Daltrey, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. They became known for high energy live shows. The Who have sold about 100 million records. Many people think that The Who are the greatest live band of all time.

paragraphs: The Who rose to fame in the United Kingdom with a series of top ten hit singles including: "I Can't Explain", "The Kids Are Alright", "My Generation", "Who Are You", and "Love Reign O'er Me". The albums "My Generation", "A Quick One" and "The Who Sell Out" followed. Their fame grew with memorable shows at the Monterey Pop and Woodstock music festivals. "Tommy," released in 1969, was the first in a series of top ten albums in the United States.

paragraphs: Keith Moon died in 1978. The band released two more studio albums with drummer Kenney Jones before disbanding in 1983. They re-formed at events such as Live Aid and for reunion tours such as their 25th anniversary tour and the Quadrophenia tours of 1996 and 1997. In 2002 planning for recording an album of new material was put on hold after John Entwistle's death at the age of 57. Townshend and Daltrey continued to perform as The Who and in 2006 they released the studio album titled "Endless Wire."

paragraphs: The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.


title: Led Zeppelin

paragraphs: Led Zeppelin were an English rock band. The group was started in 1968 and broke up in 1980. The members were Robert Plant (vocals), Jimmy Page (lead guitar), John Paul Jones (bass), and John Bonham (drums). Led Zeppelin ended in 1980 after the accidental death of John Bonham. After Bonham's death, the band believed that nobody could take his place and decided not to continue. The band played together again in a tribute concert in London on 10 December 2007 with Jason Bonham, John's son, playing the drums. The band is one of the most influential rock bands of all time and one of the most successful music artists in history, selling 300 million albums around the world.


title: USB flash drive

paragraphs: A USB flash drive (USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus") is a popular way to store digital information. Flash drives are an easy way to share data (information). A USB flash drive can be attached to a USB port, and provides a certain amount of storage space, which can be used to store data. USB flash drives are used with devices found in homes, workplaces and schools. Below are some examples of these devices:

paragraphs: They are called "flash drive" because they use flash memory to store files. Flash memory is a type of computer chip. The first flash drives had 8 megabytes of storage. Each year, larger flash drives will become available. In April 2012, 256 gigabyte flash drives were introduced to the market.

paragraphs: Other common names for a flash drive include pendrive, thumbdrive or simply USB.

paragraphs: USB flash drives have some advantages over other portable storage devices. They are physically much smaller and more rugged than floppy disks. They can read data faster, and store more data than floppy disks. Floppy disks have become obsolete when the price of USBs has become cheaper.

paragraphs: Flash drives are used to store any type of data file, or to move data from one computer to another. USB flash drives have a lot of storage space. It is often easier to use a flash drive than to carry many CD-ROMs. Some computer programs can be run from a USB flash drive. These special versions of programs are called "portable" versions.

paragraphs: Computer administrators, or people who manage the computer systems, sometimes use flash drives. Sometimes flash drives are also used to run a computer virus scanner. They are often used to repair a computer system that was damaged or faulty.

paragraphs: Police in the cyber division can use flash drives to take evidence.

paragraphs: Most computers today can boot from a USB drive. Special operating systems can run from a bootable flash drive. They are called Live USB versions.

paragraphs: Many companies make small digital audio players (usually called an mp3 player). These are actually flash drives that can make sound. Examples include the Creative MuVo and the iPod shuffle. Some of these players are real USB flash drives as well as music players; others just play music.

paragraphs: Many of the smallest players are powered by a permanently fitted rechargeable battery. The battery power can be charged from the USB port.

paragraphs: Digital audio files can be moved from one computer to another. The files can be played on a software media player. Many home and car music systems have a USB port. A USB flash drive can be connected to play music files.

paragraphs: Music artists have sold or given away USB flash drives. The first time this happened was in 2004—the German band WIZO released the "Stick EP", only as a USB drive. It contained five high quality MP3s; it also included a video, pictures, lyrics, and guitar tablature.

paragraphs: Since then, artists including Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails and Ayumi Hamasaki have released music and promotional material on USB flash drives.

paragraphs: In the arcade game "In the Groove" and "In The Groove 2", flash drives are used to transfer high scores, screenshots, dance edits, and combos throughout sessions. In later versions, players can also store custom songs and play them on any machine on which this feature is enabled. While use of flash drives is common, the drive must be Linux compatible, causing problems for some players.

paragraphs: In the arcade games "Pump it Up NX2" and "Pump it Up NX Absolute", a specially produced flash drive is used as a "save file" for unlocked songs, as well as progressing in the WorldMax and Brain Shower sections of the game.

paragraphs: In the arcade game "Dance Dance Revolution X", a special USB flash drive was made by Konami, letting players link the Sony PlayStation 2 version.

paragraphs: Flash drives are very cheap to produce. So, they are sometimes used to promote a product. At most technical trade fairs, many exhibitors will promote their products by giving away free drives.

paragraphs: In other situations, they may be sold at less than wholesale price, or included as a bonus with another product.

paragraphs: Usually, such drives will be stamped with a company's logo, as a form of advertising .

paragraphs: The drive may be blank drive, or already have documents or software loaded on to it. These are called preloaded drives.

paragraphs: Some preloaded drives are read-only, but most can be used as a normal flash drive.

paragraphs: The large memory size of newer flash drives means that they are increasingly being used for short term backup of data.

paragraphs: For example, one retail till system uses a Flash drive to record details of all of the sales for that day. The drive is used as a backup medium. At the close of business each night, the drive is inserted, and a database backup is saved to the drive. The drive is removed at night and taken offsite.

paragraphs: USB flash drives have replaced a number of other storage technologies, because they are easier to use. The replaced media include:

paragraphs: This photograph shows both sides of the printed circuit board (PCB) inside a typical flash drive (circa 2004). The flash drive in this photograph is a 64 MB USB 2.0 device with its plastic case removed.

paragraphs: One end of the device is fitted with a single type-A USB connector. Inside the plastic casing is a small, highly cost-engineered, printed circuit board. Mounted on this board is some simple power circuitry and a small number of surface-mounted integrated circuits (ICs). Typically, one of these ICs provides an interface to the USB port, another drives the onboard memory, and the other is the flash memory.

paragraphs: Flash drives are quite . They are not damaged by scratches and dust. This makes them a good choice to move data from one place to another.

paragraphs: Some flash drives can keep the data, even if they are put in water. Some data may even survive the washing machine, but this is not a designed feature, and people should not rely on it. Leaving the flash drive out to dry completely before allowing current to run through it has been known to result in a working drive with no future problems.

paragraphs: Channel Five's "Gadget Show" cooked a flash drive with propane; froze it with dry ice; submerged it in various acidic liquids; ran over it with a jeep and fired it against a wall with a mortar. A company specializing in recovering lost data from computer drives then managed to recover all the data on the drive. All data on the other removable storage devices tested, using optical or magnetic technologies, were destroyed.

paragraphs: Flash drives are available in large sizes. Currently at the start of 2020, the largest size publicly available is 2 terabytes. This will increase as the technology gets better.

paragraphs: Flash drives use little power, compared to hard drives and have no moving parts. They are small and easy to carry.

paragraphs: Most modern operating systems can use a flash drive, without the need to install special software. To most operating systems, the flash drive looks like a hard drive. The operating system can use any file system. Some computers can start from a flash drive.

paragraphs: Flash memory has a limited life. Data can only be written to and read from a device a few thousand times. People should keep this in mind when they use a flash drive to run application software or an operating system. To address this, as well as space limitations, some developers have produced special versions of operating systems (such as Linux in Live USB) or commonplace applications (such as Mozilla Firefox) designed to run from flash drives.

paragraphs: Flash drives are small and are easily lost or left behind. This can cause problems of data security.

paragraphs: Flash drives can hold a large amount of information and they are used worldwide. Many users store information on them that is personal, or that should be protected. For this reason, more and more flash drives offer biometrics or encryption to control the access to this data. Users can install passwords on to their flash drives so that when a user tries to open it, the computer prompts the user, to enter a password before they can begin using the device. There are a number of free and open source programs which can be used to encrypt data including TrueCrypt, pgpdisk and FreeOTFE. These programs have proved useful in securing data on flash drives.

paragraphs: Most USB flash drives are dumb devices that hold data. However, like other storage devices, they can carry computer viruses. Bootable flash drives, like other boot devices, can easily spread them. Some such devices also have a controller chip comparable to an embedded system. In other words, the drive is a fully functional computer, which can transmit data as it wants. There have been cases where controller chips were manipulated, and spread malware.

paragraphs: Some drives with a controller chip encrypt the data, with a secure algorithm, such as AES. In many cases, it was easy to decrypt the data, even without knowing the decryption key, because the implementation was not done properly.

paragraphs: Because of the issues above, and because the use of USB devices is difficult to monitor, many companies no longer allow USB devices.


title: Ostrich

paragraphs: The ostrich ("Struthio camelus") is a large flightless bird that lives in Africa. They are the largest living bird species, and have the biggest eggs of all living birds. Ostriches do not fly, but can run faster than any other bird.

paragraphs: They are ratites, a useful grouping of medium to large flightless birds. Ostriches have the biggest eyes of all land animals.

paragraphs: Ostriches have long legs and a long neck, but they have a small head. Male ostriches have black feathers and female ostriches have gray and brown feathers. Both males and females have white feathers on their wings and tails.

paragraphs: Male ostriches can be 1.8 - 2.7 meters / 6 – 9 feet tall, while female ostriches are 1.7 – 2 meters / 5.5 - 6.5 ft tall. They can run with a speed of about 65 kilometers per hour/40 miles per hour.

paragraphs: Ostriches now only live in Africa. They live in open grassland called savannas in the Sahel, and in parts of East Africa and south-west Africa. Some ostriches live in areas of the Sahara desert. There used to be ostriches in Middle East in the 20th century and, further back, also in Asia. Humans hunted and ate the ostriches. They are now extinct in those areas.

paragraphs: Ostriches mainly eat plant matter, but they also eat insects. The plant matter consists of seeds, shrubs, grass, fruits and flowers while the insects they eat include locusts. Ostriches do not have teeth, and so cannot grind food as mammals do. Instead, they swallow pebbles. An adult ostrich carries about 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of stones in its gizzard, a special sac just before the stomach. The pebbles grind the food, and help its digestion. When eating, their gullet is filled with food. After that, the food is passed down their esophagus in the form of a ball called a bolus. The bolus may be as much as 210 ml (7.1 US fl oz). Ostriches can live without drinking for several days.

paragraphs: Ostriches normally spend the winter months in pairs or alone. During breeding season and sometimes during extreme rainless periods Ostriches live in nomadic groups of five to 50 birds (led by a top hen) that often travel together with other grazing animals, such as zebras or antelopes.

paragraphs: With their acute eyesight and hearing, Ostriches can sense predators such as lions from far away. When being pursued by a predator, they have been known to reach speeds in excess of , and can maintain a steady speed of , which makes the Ostrich the world's fastest two-legged animal. When lying down and hiding from predators, the birds lay their heads and necks flat on the ground, making them appear as a mound of earth from a distance. This even works for the males, as they hold their wings and tail low so that the heat haze of the hot, dry air that often occurs in their habitat aids in making them appear as a nondescript dark lump.

paragraphs: Ostriches can tolerate a wide range of temperatures. In much of their habitat, temperatures vary as much as between night and day. Their temperature control mechanism relies on action by the bird, which uses its wings to cover the naked skin of the upper legs and flanks to conserve heat, or leaves these areas bare to release heat.

paragraphs: Ostriches become sexually mature when they are 2 to 4 years old; females mature about six months earlier than males. The mating process differs in different regions. Territorial males hiss and use other sounds to claim mating rights over a harem of two to seven hens.

paragraphs: Fights usually last just minutes, but they can easily cause death through slamming their heads into opponents. The successful male will then be allowed to breed with all the females in an area, but will only form a pair bond with the dominant female.

paragraphs: The females lay their fertilized eggs in a single communal nest, a simple pit, deep and wide, scraped in the ground by the male. The dominant female lays her eggs first, and when it is time to cover them for incubation she discards extra eggs from the weaker females, leaving about 20 in most cases.

paragraphs: Ostrich eggs are the largest of all eggs (and by extension, the yolk is the largest single cell), though they are actually the smallest eggs relative to the size of the adult bird. — on average they are long, wide, and weigh , over 20 times the weight of a chicken egg. The eggs are incubated by the females by day and by the males by night. This uses the colouration of the two sexes to escape detection of the nest, as the drab female blends in with the sand, while the black male is nearly undetectable in the night. The incubation period is 35 to 45 days.

paragraphs: Males and females cooperate in rearing chicks. The male defends the hatchlings and teaches them to feed. The survival rate is low for the hatchlings, with an average of one per nest surviving to adulthood.

paragraphs: When threatened, the ostrich will either hide itself by lying flat against the ground, or will run away. If cornered, it can attack with a kick from its powerful legs. Common predators of nests and young ostriches include jackals, various birds of prey, mongoose and vultures. Animals that prey on ostriches of all ages include cheetahs, lions, leopards, african dogs, and spotted hyena. Ostriches can often outrun their predators in a pursuit and can even outpace cheetahs over long distances. However, they may sometimes fight fiercely against predators, especially when chicks are being defended. They have sometimes killed lions in such fights.

paragraphs: There is no doubt that the ratites are not a monophyletic group, because they are not descended from a single ancestor. That means the taxonomy of the group is going to change, and they will not all be placed in the Order Struthioniformes as they have been. However, as ornothologists have not yet agreed on a new classification, for the time being the useful term 'ratites' is still used.

paragraphs: Ostriches are likely to be placed alone in the order Struthioniformes. They have a number of peculiarities which suggest a separate evolution from the rest of the ratites. They lack a gallbladder. They have three stomachs, and the caecum is long. Unlike all other living birds, the Ostrich secretes uric acid separately from faeces. Unlike all other birds, who store the uric acid and faeces together, and excrete them together, ostriches store the faeces at the end of their rectum. They also have unique pubic bones that are fused to hold their gut. Unlike most birds the males have a penis, which is retractable and long. Their palate (bone on the roof of the mouth) differs from other ratites.

paragraphs: Ostriches are farmed in several countries. They used to be prized for their feathers, but are now farmed for their meat and eggs. Their skin can also be used to make leather.

paragraphs: In South Africa, hunters can get one group of feathers from one wild ostrich. When they are farmed, every seven or eight months farmers can take groups of feathers from the ostriches. They will grow back and can be collected again a in seven or eight more months.

paragraphs: When threatened, Ostriches run away, but they can cause serious injury and death with kicks from their powerful legs. Their legs can only kick forward.

paragraphs: Ostriches reared entirely by humans may not direct their courtship behaviour at other Ostriches, but toward their human keepers. Ostriches live 30 to 40 years on average.

paragraphs: It is sometimes said that ostriches will hide their heads in the ground when they are scared or threatened, but this is not true.

paragraphs: In some countries, people race each other on the back of Ostriches. The practice is common in Africa and is relatively unusual elsewhere. The Ostriches are ridden in the same way as horses with special saddles, reins, and bits. However, they are harder to manage than horses.


title: Shark

paragraphs: Sharks are a superorder of fish, the Selachimorpha. They, like other Chondrichthyes, have skeletons made of cartilage instead of bone. Cartilage is tough, rubbery material which is less rigid than bone. Cartilaginous fish also include skates and rays.

paragraphs: There are more than 350 different kinds of sharks, such as the great white and whale sharks. Fossils show that sharks have been around for 420 million years, since the early Silurian.

paragraphs: Most sharks are predators: they hunt and eat fish, marine mammals, and other sea creatures. However, the largest shark eats krill, like whales. This is the whale shark, the largest fish in the world. It is widely believed that sharks are "silent killers". However, a recent study shows that sharks emit a low growl from their throats which resonates through their scales.

paragraphs: Some common kinds of shark are the hammerhead shark, the great white shark, the tiger shark, and the mako shark. Most sharks are cold-blooded but some, like the great white shark and the mako shark are partially warm-blooded.

paragraphs: Sharks come in many different shapes and sizes, but most are long and thin (also called streamlined), with really strong jaws.

paragraphs: Their teeth are constantly replaced throughout their lives. Sharks eat so violently they often break a few teeth, so new teeth grow continuously in a groove just inside the mouth and move forward from inside the mouth on "conveyor belts" formed by the skin which they are attached to. In its lifetime, a shark can lose and regrow as many as 30,000 teeth.

paragraphs: Even with all those teeth, though, sharks can not chew. So they bite their prey and jerk it around so they can pull off a chunk to swallow. The chunks of food that a shark swallows end up in its stomach, where they are digested. This is pretty slow, however, so a meal might take several days to digest. This is why a shark does not eat every day.

paragraphs: Sharks have different-shaped teeth, depending on what they eat. For instance, some sharks have sharp, pointy teeth, while bottom dwelling sharks have cone-shaped teeth for crushing shells. Because there are so many different kinds of sharks, and because each kind has its own kind of special teeth, many people enjoy collecting shark teeth. Shark teeth collectors can guess how large a shark was by measuring the shark tooth. First, they measure the length of the tooth in inches. Every inch of tooth equals 10ft of shark length: so if a shark tooth is 2 inches long, the tooth came from a shark that was 20 ft long! Even more terrifying is that some of the "Megalodon" teeth are 6 inches long so that suggests a shark 60 feet long.

paragraphs: Sharks have skin covered in millions of tiny teeth-like scales that point to the tail. If you rub along a shark towards the tail, it feels smooth, but if you rub the other way, it is rough. Sharks' teeth can grow back if they are lost.

paragraphs: The fins of sharks are used for stabilizing, steering, lift and swimming. Each fin is used in a different manner.

paragraphs: There are one or two fins present along the dorsal midline called the first and second dorsal fin. These fins help the shark from constantly rolling around. These two fins may, or may not have spines. When spines are present, they are used for defensive purposes, and may also have skin glands with them that produce an irritating substance.

paragraphs: The pectoral fins are behind the head and extend outwards. These fins are used for steering during swimming and help to provide the shark with lift.

paragraphs: The pelvic fins are behind the pectoral fins, near the cloaca, and are also stabilizers.

paragraphs: Not all sharks have anal fins, but if they do have them, they are found between the pelvic and caudal fins.

paragraphs: The tail region itself consists of the caudal peduncle and the caudal fin. The caudal peduncle sometimes has notches known as "precaudal pits", which are found just ahead of the caudal fin. The peduncle may also be horizontally flattened into lateral keels. The caudal fin has both, an upper lobe, and a lower lobe, that can be of different sizes and the shape depends of which species the shark is.

paragraphs: The primary use of the caudal fin is to provide a "push" while the shark swims. The upper lobe of the caudal fin produces the most amount of the push, and usually forces the shark downwards. The pectoral fins and the shape of the body (like an airfoil) work together to counter this force. The strong, non-lunate caudal fin in most benthic shark species allows the shark to swim close to the seabed (such as the nurse shark). However, the fastest swimming sharks (such as the mako sharks) tend to have lunate-shaped (crescent-shaped) caudal fins.

paragraphs: Sharks have keen olfactory sense organs in the short duct between the front and back nasal openings. They can detect blood from miles away: as little as one part per million of blood in sea water may be enough.

paragraphs: Sharks have the ability to determine the direction of a given scent based on the timing of scent detection in each nostril. This is similar to the method mammals use to determine direction of sound.

paragraphs: They are more attracted to the chemicals found in the intestines of many species, and as a result often linger near or in sewage outfalls. Some species, such as nurse sharks, have external barbels that greatly increase their ability to sense prey.

paragraphs: Shark eyes are similar to the eyes of other vertebrates, including similar lenses, corneas and retinas. Their eyesight is well adapted to the marine environment. They can contract and dilate their pupils, like humans, something no teleost fish can do. A tissue behind the retina reflects light back, thereby increasing sight in darker waters.

paragraphs: Sharks have tiny holes all over the shark's snout, especially between the eye and the tip of the snout. In them are nerve receptors which are called the "ampullae of Lorenzini." They can sense electricity in the water. Animals in the water give off electricity: every time an animal's heart beats or it moves, tiny currents of electricity are made. These tiny electric currents make signals that travel through water and get sensed. Sharks may use this sense when they catch their prey, even more than they use their sight.

paragraphs: Although it is hard to test sharks' hearing, they may have a sharp sense of hearing and can possibly hear prey many miles away. A small opening on each side of their heads (not the spiracle) leads directly into the inner ear through a thin channel.

paragraphs: The lateral line detects changes in water pressure. It is open to the environment by a line of pores. This and the sound-detecting organs are grouped together as the 'acoustico-lateralis system', because they have a common origin. In bony fish and tetrapods the external opening into the inner ear has been lost.

paragraphs: This system is found in other fish as well. It detects motion or vibrations in water. The shark can sense frequencies in the range of 25 to 50 Hz.

paragraphs: Just a few million years ago, a giant shark called "Megalodon" swam in the seas. It was 18 meters long, twice as long as the closely-related great white shark, and it ate whales. "Megalodon" died out 1.6 million years ago.

paragraphs: Much of what we understand about prehistoric sharks comes from the study of their fossils. While sharks have skeletons made of soft cartilage that can fall apart before fossilizing, their teeth are harder and easily fossilized. Prehistoric sharks, like their modern descendants, would grow and shed many thousands of teeth over their lifetime. For this reason shark teeth are one of the most common fossils.

paragraphs: About 70% of all known shark species give birth to live young, with the gestation period lasting from 6 to 22 months.

paragraphs: Pups are born with a full set of teeth, and are capable of taking care of themselves. Once born, they quickly swim away from their mothers, who sometimes feed on the pups. Litters vary from one or two pups (great white shark) to one hundred pups (blue shark and whale shark).

paragraphs: Some sharks are oviparous, laying their eggs in the water. Shark eggs (sometimes called "mermaid's purses") are covered by a tough, leathery membrane.

paragraphs: Most sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning the eggs hatch inside the female's body, with the babies developing within the mother, but there is no placenta to nourish the pups. Instead the young feed on the egg's yolk. The pups eat any unfertilized eggs and sometimes each other. Very few pups in a litter survive until birth due to this form of sibling cannibalism. Great white sharks, mako sharks, nurse sharks, tiger sharks, and sand tiger sharks give birth this way.

paragraphs: Some sharks are viviparous, meaning that the females give live birth: the eggs hatch inside the female's body, and the babies are fed by a placenta. The placenta helps transfer nutrients and oxygen from the mother's bloodstream and transfers waste products from the baby to the mother for elimination. Examples of viviparous sharks include the bull sharks, the whitetip reef sharks, the lemon sharks, the blue sharks, the silvertip sharks, and the hammerhead sharks. Although long thought to be oviparous, whale sharks are viviparous, and pregnant females have been found containing hundreds of pups.

paragraphs: New sharks are still being found. Dave Ebert found ten new species in a Taiwan market. Over the past three decades he has named 24 new species. They include sharks, rays, sawfish and ghost sharks these cartilaginous fish are all related.

paragraphs: Some sharks are not endangered, but some are hunted for food (like shark fin soup) or sport fishing. In 2013 five species of shark, along with two species of manta ray, received international protection as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

paragraphs: It is thought that 100 million sharks are killed by commercial and recreational fishing. Sharks are a common seafood in many places, including Japan and Australia. In the Australian state of Victoria, shark is the most commonly used fish in fish and chips, in which fillets are battered and deep-fried or crumbed and grilled. In fish and chip shops, shark is called "flake". In India, small sharks or baby sharks (called "sora" in Tamil and Telugu languages) are sold in local markets. Since the flesh is not matured (not adult), cooking the flesh breaks it into powder. The powder is then fried in oil and spices (called sora puttu/sora poratu). The soft bones can be easily chewed. They are considered a delicacy in coastal Tamil Nadu.


title: Vulture

paragraphs: Vultures are large birds of prey that usually feed on carrion (dead or dying animals and rocks). Vultures use their large wings to soar in the air for many miles without having to flap. Vultures are also called buzzards.

paragraphs: "Vultures" from the Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa) are not related to the vultures of the New World (North and South America). They look quite similar, though. Both have heads and necks with no feathers.

paragraphs: "Old World vultures" are related to eagles and hawks and use sight to find their food. "New World vultures" are related to storks and use their sense of smell to find their food. Vultures symbolize death in literature.

paragraphs: King vultures use rocks to open eggs the pick up a rock with their beak and simply drop or throw the rock onto the egg and breaks it.

paragraphs: New World vultures is a name which is used for a number of species in the Americas. The best known of these are probably the Andean condor and the black vulture.


title: Eagle

paragraphs: Eagles are large birds of prey which live in and are mostly found in Eurasia and in Africa, but also in many parts of the world. Eagles hunt during the day and have very good eyesight.

paragraphs: The golden eagle is found over most of the world and it usually eats small mammals.

paragraphs: Sometimes, "eagle" can just mean any large hawk; as a group, eagles are not closely related to one another.

paragraphs: The largest eagle that has ever lived is Haast's eagle. It is the only eagle in the world ever to have been top predator of its ecosystem. Though it is now extinct, it lived in New Zealand.

paragraphs: Almost all eagles are carnivores. This means that they eat meat from other animals, including fish, rabbits, snake

paragraphs: and squirrels. Birds that eat meat are also known as birds of prey. Eagles are birds of prey, and so are vultures and falcons. Eagles use their strong talons to catch and grab their food, and they use their sharp beaks to help them tear into their meat. Even though most eagles are carnivores, the African Vulturine Fish-Eagle mostly eats oil palm fruits.


title: Falcon

paragraphs: Falcons are small to medium-sized birds of prey and are related to hawks, eagles, and vultures. They usually have pointed wings and long tails.

paragraphs: Most falcons eat small mammals that they hunt using eyesight, although some species hunt other birds, which they take in flight. Like hawks, most falcons have dark gray or brown backs and wings, with white undersides.

paragraphs: The peregrine falcon is found over most of the world and is famous for hunting birds by diving down on them at 320 km/h (200 mi/h). It was nearly wiped out in North America by the use of pesticides, but has since made a recovery.

paragraphs: In some countries falcons are used in falconry. This means people catch the birds and make them hunt for them. Long ago this was a way for people to get more food but today it is a sport.

paragraphs: On the Moroccan island of Mogador, falcons seem to imprison small birds by trapping them in crevasses, presumably saving them to eat later.

paragraphs: Mogador has the ruins of a fortress, a mosque and a prison. Today the island is a nature reserve, where Eleonora’s falcons nest among the ruins. They hunt migrating warblers, hoopoes and other birds. Researchers came across small birds trapped in deep cavities, their flight and tail feathers removed. The birds were unable to move their wings or use their dangling legs.

paragraphs: Eleonora’s falcons have been seen building up larders of up to 20 dead birds during migration season, when prey is plentiful. But "storing snacks that are still alive could be a unique behaviour" said an expert.


title: Islington

paragraphs: Islington is a district in north London, in the United Kingdom. The area usually called Islington is only part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a fashionable area and has with large well-built houses and is close to the City of London.


paragraphs: Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT) () is an institute of technology in Thammasat University, Thailand. It was established in 1992.

paragraphs: SIIT offers education in science, technology, engineering, and management. Every education programs are "international program", all classes are in English language. Its graduates receive degrees from Thammasat University.

paragraphs: Although it is part of Thammasat University, its financial and administration system are separate from the central university system.

paragraphs: SIIT has five schools and one department for undergraduate and graduate students.

paragraphs: SIIT has two campuses (as of 2013), "Rangsit" and "Bangkadi campus". Both are in Pathum Thani province.

paragraphs: The area is known for "Technology Clusters of North Bangkok".


title: Ainu people

paragraphs: The Ainu people are the native population of northern Japan and the eastern part of Russia, mostly in the Amur river region, Sakhalin, the Kuril islands and on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The term is also used for their culture and language in the Ezo region (Hokkaido).

paragraphs: The majority of their ancestors, the Jōmon people, arrived in Japan about 30,000 – 15,000 years ago from Central Asia and southern Siberia. They were largely replaced by the proto-Japanese which arrived from southeastern China about 2,000 years ago. The Ainu have strong similarities with Palaeolithic Europeans and people of the Middle East as well as with Native American groups of the northwestern coastal culture area in North America. Some scholars think they were related to the Emishi of northern Honshu.

paragraphs: During and after the Yayoi period they were attacked by the early Japanese people. The Ainu and relative tribes lost most of their land in Honshū, many were killed or ensalved by the Yayoi-Japanese. After the rise of the Yamato, few Ainu were left in Honshu. After the Meiji restoration in the late 1800s, the Japanese began to colonize Hokkaido, sending their own people to live there. They forced the Ainu to leave the warm coast of Hokkaido and try to live in the mountains in the middle of the island. The Ainu were not allowed to fish for salmon or hunt deer. The Ainu were required to speak Japanese and use Japanese names. Japanese scientists and treasure hunters would dig up Ainu graves and steal the bodies and artifacts.

paragraphs: The Ainu in Russia had more luck and lived their traditional life until the Second World War, when they were forced to act like other Russians.

paragraphs: In April 2019, the Ainu became recognized as native population of northern Japan, and the rest of Japan has started to think of their culture as good and valuable. However, the Ainu still face discrimination in Japan. Most Japanese outside of Hokkaido mistake the Ainu for foreigners or tourists.

paragraphs: Their culture is based on the ancient Jomon culture of northern Japan and eastern Russia. Their native folk religion has some similarities to early Shinto. Their gods are named "kamuy", similar to the Japanese "Kami". They practiced agriculture but were also hunter gatherers. The Ainu are famous for their beautiful wood work and art.

paragraphs: The Ainu lived in villages called "kotan" and were often built along rivers or lakes. Every villages consisted of at least four to seven families, sometimes more than ten. The traditional house was called "cise" or "cisey".

paragraphs: They speak the Ainu language. The Ainu language is classificated as language isolate, although there exist several theories about a genetic relation. Some linguists suggest a relation to Altaic languages while others suggest a link to Indo-European languages. Some similarities also exist with northern native American languages.

paragraphs: A genetic study published in the scientific journal “Nature” by Jinam et al., using genome-wide DNA analyses, found that the Ainu have unique characteristics and are distinct from East-Eurasians. The Ainu have genes which are also found in Europeans.

paragraphs: Ainu-related DNA is found in northern Japanese, some Central Asians and several groups in southeastern Siberia.

paragraphs: Other studies found connections between the Ainu, Paleolithic Siberians and some Native Americans.

paragraphs: In 2020, ancient samples of the Koban culture in the northern and central Caucasus were found to share lineages with the Ainu people. YDNA D1a2 was found in several samples of the Koban burials.


title: Iliad

paragraphs: The Iliad is the oldest surviving work of Greek literature. It was an oral epic poem. People spoke it without reading it. It was written down in the 8th century BC. It is an epic (or very long) poem with 24 chapters written in hexameter. The poem includes early Greek myths and legends. It may have been based on a Bronze Age attack on the city Troy. People usually say that Homer wrote the "Iliad". However, scholars are not sure if the poem was really written by just one person.

paragraphs: The story happens during the Trojan War, some time around 1200 BC. It talks about the confrontations of the warrior Achilles and King Agamemnon. The story is only about a few weeks at the end of the war, but it also talks about many of the Greek myths about the war. It tells the story from the wrath of Achilles, to the death and funeral of Hector and the siege of Troy.

paragraphs: Together with another of Homer's poems, the "Odyssey", it is one of the two major Greek epic poems.

paragraphs: Some important characters in the "Iliad" are Achilles, Odysseus, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Priam, Hector, Paris, and Helen.

paragraphs: The poem starts with the god Apollo sending a plague to the Greeks, because they captured the daughter of one of his Trojan priests. Agamemnon is forced to give the daughter back. So that he has a girl of his own, Agamemnon takes the captured Trojan girl Briseis from her owner Achilles. Achilles is angry and refuses to fight in the war. When Achilles' friend Patroclus is killed by Hector, Achilles starts to fight again and kills Hector in a duel. Later, Hector's father Priam comes in secret to Achilles to take back his favorite son's body to give it a proper funeral, which Achilles allows him to do. The poem ends with the funeral of Hector.


title: Drug

paragraphs: According to the WHO, a drug is a substance that can change how a living organism works. Food is usually not seen as a drug, even though some foods may have such properties. Most of the time drugs are taken to treat a disease, or other medical condition. An example for such drugs may be Aspirin or Paracetamol. These are usually given to treat fever, as well as certain infections. If such drugs are taken over a longer time, they are usually prescribed by a doctor. Other drugs are taken for fun, because of the effect they have. Some of these drugs taken for fun are better accepted by society than others. Having or taking certain drugs may be illegal, in certain countries.

paragraphs: Drugs that are taken to treat a disease or condition are usually called "therapeutic", drugs that are taken for fun are called "recreational" drugs.

paragraphs: Drugs may have other effects than those wanted. Such effects are generally known as side-effects.

paragraphs: Drugs act differently in different amounts. It is therefore important to take the right amount. The amount of the drug taken is called a dose. Aspirin is often prescribed against fever, or as an analgesic. One of the side-effects of Aspirin is that it makes the blood thinner. For this reason, it can also be used to prevent strokes, or heart attacks - in a much lower dose than the one used to treat fever, though.

paragraphs: Taking too much of a drug ("too high a dose") can cause sickness or even death. When a doctor says how much of a drug (the right dose) to take, only that amount should be taken. It is very important to keep taking the drug until the doctor says to stop because someone can feel better but still be sick. When a doctor says what drug to take, how much of it, and for how long, it is called a prescription. Drugs may cause addiction. Some drugs are illegal because they are very addictive. These drugs are really expensive, too. It can also be sold illegally from drug sellers which may cause serious results

paragraphs: Recreational drugs can sometimes be bad for someone's health even if they make them feel good. Alcohol can also be dangerous if the person drinking it drives a vehicle after drinking. This is called drunk driving. Many countries make this against the law. Common recreational drugs include:

paragraphs: Certain recreational drugs also have uses as a therapeutic drug. Heroin can be used as an analgesic (a painkiller) and methamphetamine is used to treat narcolepsy or ADHD. Recreational drugs can be dangerous, certain countries have made it illegal to have or take them outside a medical context. Most of the time, this is because they can be addictive or that they are very dangerous when combined with other drugs. That way, Cannabis-based products are legal in the Netherlands, but illegal in many other countries.

paragraphs: Alcohol and Nicotine are legal almost everywhere, but there are a lot of taxes on the sale of these. In other words, they are expensive to buy. Being expensive to buy because of taxes has two benefits; one is that the taxes collected from the sale of the drugs goes into helping to pay for assistance the drug user may experience later. A smoker, for example, may develop cancer later in life and need treatment at a place that is granted a certain amount of tax money from the government to keep it operating. Another benefit to the taxing of "legal" drugs, is that the high price may stop people from beginning the habit in the first place, which will help them avoid the negative medical or addictive side effects of the drug. In some cases, not everyone is allowed to buy these drugs unless they are a minimal age to do so. The age at which someone is allowed to buy a legal drug is most often decided by the government of a country, state or province, and is usually the age where a person is considered by the law to be an "adult". Some of the most common ages this happens is at 18, 19 or 21 years of age.

paragraphs: Therapeutic drugs are also called "medicinal drugs", "medicine", or "medication". Doctors will give therapeutic drugs to someone who is ill to make you better. You can buy these drugs at a pharmacy. Some drugs need a prescription to be bought, other drugs do not. Drugs that do not require a prescription are called "over the counter" medications. There are lots of these drugs for different illnesses. These include:


title: Bill Watterson

paragraphs: William B. Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American artist and cartoonist. He is most famous for his comic strip, "Calvin and Hobbes" which was published between 1985 and 1995. He is a very private person and not much is publicly known about him. He also did not want people to sell things with the pictures of his characters on them, and the only things he allowed to be made using his characters were books with collections of Calvin and Hobbes strips.


title: Centimetre

paragraphs: A centimetre (the American spelling is centimeter, symbol cm) is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI) measurement system. It is equal to one hundredth of a metre. Centi- is placed in front to say 'a hundredth'. The centimetre is the base unit of length in the old centimetre-gram-second (CGS) system of units.

paragraphs: The centimetre is usually used to measure things that are too big for millimetres but too small for metres. A centimetre is close to the length of a fingernail.

paragraphs: 1 cubic centimetre is equal to 1 millilitre, under the SI system of units.

paragraphs: The centimetre has Unicode symbols so it can be written in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters.

paragraphs: They are placed into one character, and it is mostly used with East Asian fonts.


title: Marilyn Manson (band)

paragraphs: Marilyn Manson is a rock band, and also the name of the lead singer of the group. The name Marilyn Manson was taken from the first name of actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe and the last name of cult leader and serial killer Charles Manson. Some of the earlier band members also created stage names by taking the first name of a female sex symbol and the last name of a serial killer.

paragraphs: When the band started in 1989 it was originally called "Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids". The band had four bandmembers and a drumming machine. They played small concerts in their home state Florida (the Warner family had moved from Ohio to Florida when Manson was a teenager).

paragraphs: In 1993 frontman Manson met Trent Reznor, lead singer for Nine Inch Nails. Reznor liked their style and offered them a record deal and the chance to tour with Nine Inch Nails. To get the deal, the band had to change its name to just "Marilyn Manson". They also had to find a real drummer.

paragraphs: In 1995, their cover of Sweet Dreams (originally by Eurythmics) became a hit, and the band was suddenly very popular.

paragraphs: The band is very good friends with Nat Morley who is often featured in their music videos.

paragraphs: Their first album was "Portrait of an American Family", which was released in 1993.

paragraphs: Some of their greatest hits are "The Beautiful People", "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", "The Dope Show", "Disposable Teens", "Tainted Love", and "Personal Jesus".

paragraphs: Marilyn Manson's songs about drugs, violence and anti-Christianity caused a lot of trouble, especially among Christians. There were protests at his concerts and they were not allowed to play in some cities.


title: Aubrey Beardsley

paragraphs: Aubrey Beardsley (21 August 1872–16 March 1898) was a English illustrator. He is best known for his drawings for Oscar Wilde's Salome. Beardsley is one of the famous people who appears on the cover of The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

paragraphs: Beardsley was born in Brighton where his mother taught him to be interested in books and music. He was very good at music and drawing by the age of ten, but he was already sick with tuberculosis. After leaving school he worked as a clerk for an insurance company in London. He had to stop working at the end of 1889 because of his illness. He tried writing, but in 1891 he started to work full-time as an artist.


title: Odyssey

paragraphs: The Odyssey is a major Ancient Greek epic poem. It was written by Homer, as a sequel to the "Iliad". In its origin it was an oral epic poem from Mycenaean Greece, about the 11th century BC. The hero of the poem is Odysseus, or "Ulysses" as he is called in Latin; the poem is mythological, not historical.

paragraphs: The poem is the story about Odysseus's ten-year-long voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. The Trojan War is the subject of the "Iliad". At the same time, his wife Penelope has to fight off a lot of men who want to marry her; and his son Telemachos searches for him.

paragraphs: Along the way, Odysseus and his men have to fight monsters and many other dangers. The main events (places he goes, creatures and people he meets) of Odysseus' journey are:

paragraphs: On his journey home, Odysseus lands on the island of the Cyclops Polyphemus. They go inside his cave at the sight of sheep, cheese and milk. Polyphemus catches them and eats some of Odysseus' men. Odysseus tricks and blinds him and they escape. The Cyclops prays to his father Poseidon that Odysseus would not get home to Ithaca and if he was fated to make it home, Odysseus would lose all of his men, his ship and find trouble at home. This prayer became the plot line of the Odyssey.

paragraphs: Odysseus and his ship have to pass the Sirens' island. The Sirens were always singing very beautifully, so sailors would try to go to them, but their ships would get destroyed, and they would die.

paragraphs: Odysseus tells his men to put wax in their ears, so they will not hear the song of the sirens. He also tells his men to bind him to the ship's mast, so he cannot go to the sirens when he hears their song. His men can then look at Odysseus and see when he cannot hear the sirens anymore, because he is calm again. Then they can take the wax out of their ears, and free Odysseus.

paragraphs: After escaping from the sea, and the death of his men, Odysseus comes to the island Ogygia. On this island lives the nymph Calypso, and Odysseus stayed with her for seven years. But then the god Hermes came and told her that the gods said that she had to let Odysseus go. Calypso promised Odysseus immortality (that he would live forever) if he stayed, but he wanted to go back to his wife Penelope. So Odysseus built a raft and left her.

paragraphs: After a storm, Odysseus comes to the island of the Phaeacians. There he is found by the king's daughter Nausicaä. Nausicaä brings him to the palace of her father, King Alkinoos. During his time there, Odysseus tell the story of his journey. After this, Alkinoos gives Odysseus a ship and sends him home to Ithaca.

paragraphs: During all this time, Penelope has been keeping the suitors at bay with a ruse (trick). She promises "I will choose when I have finished weaving this cloth", the cloth being a burial cloth for Odysseus' father. However, every night her servant unpicks the work of the previous day. The story is made more real by Penelope becoming restless. The goddess Athena causes Penelope to feel the need to display herself, and fan the flames of the suitors' desire.

paragraphs: Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca, where he disguises himself as a beggar. He goes to his home and meets his son Telemachus. Together they kill the suitors, who are trying to marry Penelope in order to gain his kingdom. Later, the families of the suitors come to kill Odysseus for revenge. The goddess Athena helps Odysseus by making them stop and give up the fight.


title: Mae West

paragraphs: Mae West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress. She worked in vaudeville and later in movies. She is best-remembered for her dirty jokes and comedy movies.

paragraphs: Her name when she was born was Mary Jane West. She was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and died in Hollywood, California. Her mother was a German immigrant and former model.


title: Lenny Bruce

paragraphs: Lenny Bruce (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), was an American comedian. His real name was Leonard Alfred Schneider. He is considered an innovator of modern stand-up comedy and changed the way many people see comedians. His jokes and routines were very improper and off limits for the time and he got in a lot of trouble for them. He is considered a hero for the defense of the First Amendment rights in the United States, especially for free speech.

paragraphs: In the 1960s he was the last person arrested for impersonating and swearing, overwatched by martial law and police and banned from many cities and comedy clubs.

paragraphs: He appeared on the cover of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.

paragraphs: He died in 1966 of an accidental morphine overdose whist on trial.

paragraphs: In 1970 the New York's highest court of appeals decided that he is "not guilty for using bad words".


title: Kimchi

paragraphs: Kimchi (; ; ), also spelled kimchee or gimchi, is a traditional fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables with many seasonings. In traditional preparation, kimchi was stored underground in jars to keep cool during the summer months and unfrozen during the winter months. There are hundreds of varieties of kimchi made from napa cabbage, radish, scallion, or cucumber as a main ingredient.

paragraphs: Kimchi is usually very strong for non-Koreans. There are many different types and Koreans typically eat kimchi in every meal. It is a staple of Korean food. Kimchi can be stored for a long time and it does not go bad easily. However, when it is exposed to hot weather for certain time, kimchi turns sour. So, it should not be put out unless it is going to be eaten soon. In Korea kimchi pots are a common sight. They are large terra cotta pots where the kimchi is stored until it can be eaten or until it ferments. Kimchi usually takes about 2 weeks to ferment, but some varieties can be eaten right away. Some must be stored for over a year to be finished.

paragraphs: The fermentation gives the kimchi a pickle-like quality and generally soggy or limp kimchi is not good.

paragraphs: Every different kind of kimchi has a special taste and a different amount of time to ferment. Baechu Kimchi is one of the most famous kimchi. Kkakdugi is made of cubed Korean radish (mu). It’s especially contains more water and is hard to chew. Baek kimchi uses milder ingredients. It’s not spicy. Chonggak kimchi has a smallish white radish that comes with a ponytail. Gat kimchi is made from dark green Korean mustard (gat) leaves and stems. These can be kept for months or even longer. As these age, they taste like lemons. Oi Sobagi has a refreshing, cool, and hot taste. Cucumber is the main ingredient for it. It can be kept for about a week. As it ages, it also taste like a lemon. Dongchimi is a food and a beverage all in one. When it ferments, it becomes sweet and taste a lot like lemon water. It can be kept for about a month.

paragraphs: The most common variety of kimchi is made from cabbage, radish, garlic, red pepper, salt and sugar. The cabbage is soaked in salt water for a few hours. Coarse rock salt is then rubbed in between the leaves of the cabbage. Red peppers are also rubbed in and most Kimchi has a lot of pepper in it. The radish is usually cut into long thin strips and added to the mix. A little sugar is added to help the fermentation process along much in the same way beer is made. The amounts of each ingredient vary between the type of kimchi you are making and the personal taste of the maker. Most kimchi has a special taste with shrimp or fish. The kimchi is allowed to ferment for a period of time, usually outdoors in a large kimchi pot. It is also quite common for these pots to be buried under ground. Kimchi can be kept for a long time and does not go bad. Koreans make kimchi with their families in December.


title: Robert Altman

paragraphs: Robert Bernard Altman (February 20, 1925 - November 20, 2006) was an American movie director. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri and died of leukemia in Los Angeles, California. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.

paragraphs: His movies "MASH" (1970), "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (1971), and "Nashville" (1975) have been selected to keep in the United States National Film Registry.

paragraphs: In the 1960s, Altman lived for nine years with his second wife in Mandeville Canyon in Brentwood, California. He moved to Malibu but in 1981 sold that home and the Lion's Gate production company. "I had no choice", he told the "New York Times". "Nobody was answering the phone" after the flop of "Popeye". He moved his family and business headquarters to New York. Eventually he moved back to Malibu, where he lived until his death.

paragraphs: In November 2000, he said he would move to Paris if George W. Bush were elected. He joked that he had meant Paris, Texas when Bush became president. Altman was an outspoken marijuana user. He was a member of the NORML advisory board. He was against the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

paragraphs: Altman died on November 20, 2006, at age 81 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He died of complications from leukemia.

paragraphs: Altman is survived by his wife, Kathryn Reed Altman; six children, Christine Westphal, Michael Altman, Stephen Altman (his production designer of choice for many movies), Connie Corriere, Robert Reed Altman, and Matthew Altman; 12 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

paragraphs: The movie director Paul Thomas Anderson dedicated his 2007 movie "There Will Be Blood" to Altman.


title: Vietnam Veterans Memorial

paragraphs: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, also called the Wall, honors the men and women who died in the Vietnam War. It is a black granite wall which has the names of every American killed in the war. It was designed by Maya Lin in 1981 and is in Washington, DC.


title: Maya Lin

paragraphs: Maya Ying Lin (born October 10, 1959) is a Chinese-American architect and artist. She is most famous for her Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC and the Civil Rights Monument in Montgomery, Alabama.


title: Manslaughter

paragraphs: Manslaughter is the crime of killing a person. When a person is killed, lawyers also look at the reasons, and motives why this person was killed. If the death of a person was not on purpose, but the killer did something that resulted in the death of the other person, this is usually called manslaughter, in English. It is punished less severely, than if a person was killed on purpose (sometimes with planning involved), which is called murder, in English. Killing someone in self-defence may be manslaughter. Depending on the circumstances, killing in self-defence may be no crime at all. Negligent homicide is an even lesser crime.

paragraphs: Manslaughter is a relatively new legal concept. It was first mentioned in an English statute in 1547, but was interpreted very loosely and not earnestly enforced, instead usually charging with murder. Very few countries had manslaughter on their books until the latter half of the 20th century. In fact, no jurisdiction in the United States had manslaughter on its books until the 20th century. England and the United States were the first two countries to introduce manslaughter into their laws.

paragraphs: The Catholic Church does make this distinction; killing another person is always a mortal sin.


title: Bangkok

paragraphs: Bangkok (Thai: กรุงเทพมหานคร) is the most populated capital city of Thailand. In 2010, the city had a population of 9,100,000 people. Since Bangkok has more than 55 times as many people as the second largest city, Nonthaburi, it is a primate city.

paragraphs: In Thailand Bangkok is known as "Krung Thep" or, its full name; Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. Nicknames for Bangkok are the City of Angels and the Big Mango.

paragraphs: Bangkok has a tropical savanna climate ("Aw" in the Koeppen climate classification).

paragraphs: The main airport is Suvarnabhumi, located 30 kilometers east of Bangkok.


title: Silicosis

paragraphs: Silicosis is a disease that is caused by small particles of silica (glass) getting trapped in the lungs. When people have silicosis, the changes in their body often are cyanosis (when skin goes a blueish color), a fever, when the body gets hotter or being not able to breathe properly. Sometimes doctors do not realize that someone has silicosis, and think that they have other illnesses like pneumonia, tuberculosis or fluid in the lungs.

paragraphs: It was first noticed in 1705 by "Bernardino Ramazzini" (an Italian doctor). He saw something that looked like sand in the lungs of stonecutters. The name silicosis is from Visconti in 1870. The name comes from the Latin "silex" which means flint.


title: Torquay

paragraphs: Torquay (pronounced: "tor-KEE") is a coastal town in Devon, South West England. It is perhaps most famous as birthplace of writer Agatha Christie and setting of the TV show, Fawlty Towers.


title: Andrew Sachs

paragraphs: Andrew Sachs (Andreas Siegfried Sachs, 7 April 1930 – 23 November 2016) was a German-British actor.

paragraphs: Sachs was born in Berlin. His family was Jewish. In 1938, they left Germany for London, shortly after Adolf Hitler became Germany's leader.

paragraphs: Sachs is best known for his role as Manuel on "Fawlty Towers". He also played Albert Einstein in a 1996 episode of Nova on PBS, and provided all the voices in the English version of the 1994 movie version of "Faust".

paragraphs: He was involved in a controversy when Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross left obscene phone messages on his answerphone stating that Brand had had sex with his granddaughter Georgina Baillie, a member of the Satanic Sluts.

paragraphs: Sachs died on 23 November 2016 at a nursing home in Northwood, London from vascular dementia, aged 86.


title: The Seven Samurai

paragraphs: The Seven Samurai is a Japanese movie, written and directed by Akira Kurosawa, and released in 1954.

paragraphs: The fictional plot is set in Japan in 1587, which is the 15th year of "Tenshō".

paragraphs: People in a village are worried about thieves and decide to get samurai to help defend them. It is hard to get enough samurai. The samurai that help do it for different reasons. There is a lot of planning while they are waiting for the thieves. There is a big fight with the thieves at the end.

paragraphs: "The Magnificent Seven" was an American movie Western with a similar story. This is called a remake.

paragraphs: The movie was also adapted into an Japanese anime series in 2004 by GONZO, entitled Samurai 7. The anime series takes a more futuristic and fantasy take at the original story, replacing robots for thieves and bestowing superhuman abilities to the 7 samurais.


title: Vacuum tube

paragraphs: A vacuum tube, also called a valve in British English, is an electronic device used in many older model radios, television sets, and amplifiers. The cathode is heated, as in a light bulb, so it will emit electrons. This is called thermionic emission. The anode is the part that accepts the emitted electrons. The device may have other parts. Vacuum tubes must be hot to work. Most are made of glass, thus are fragile and can break. Vacuum tubes were used in the first computers like the ENIAC, which were large and need much work to continue operating.

paragraphs: Although the vacuum tube was invented by John Ambrose Fleming, it was Thomas Edison who later discovered the "Edison effect," which states that electricity does not necessarily need a solid material to move through; it can move through gas or vacuums as well. Without this realization, vacuum tubes would never have been invented.

paragraphs: John Ambrose Fleming invented the first vacuum tube, the diode, in 1904. Lee De Forest invented the "audion" in 1906 (which was improved by others as the triode in 1908) and used in the first telephone amplifiers. Many other kinds were invented for various purposes.

paragraphs: The transistor became cheaper in the 1960s and was much smaller, worked on lower voltages, and used less power. In addition, unlike vacuum tubes, they were much less likely to be damaged by being dropped and had extremely long life. Eventually, they were also much cheaper than glass vacuum tubes. At this time, most radios, television sets, and amplifiers began using transistors instead. High powered electronics such as broadcasting transmitters were transistorized more slowly. Television receivers continued using the cathode ray tube until the mid-2000s.

paragraphs: In the 21st century, vacuum tubes are rarely used in common electronic equipment. Many devices today rely on the transistor over the vacuum tube. Some devices that still use the vacuum tube, however, include:


title: Tupac Shakur

paragraphs: Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 - September 13, 1996) was an American hip-hop artist, who sold many records. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2010. Shakur began his career as a roadie, backup dancer, and MC for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground, eventually branching off as a solo artist.

paragraphs: He was born in East Harlem, New York. Tupac lived in California from age 17. He was the son of Afeni Shakur, who was a member of the Black Panther party. She had just been released from jail a month before his birth. On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot several times in a drive-by shooting at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane in Las Vegas, Nevada. He died six days later at the Southern Nevada University Medical Center.

paragraphs: He was also called 2Pac, Pac, Makaveli and also called himself The Don Killuminati. He also holds the Guinness World Record for the highest selling rap/hip hop artist, selling 165 million worldwide and 43 million in the US alone. Shakur was convicted of assault and sexual assault in separate incidents.

paragraphs: In 2014 a movie about Tupac's life is going to be made.


title: Skagerrak

paragraphs: Skagerrak is a sea in the northern part of Europe between Norway and Denmark. Skagerrak is a part of the North Sea. To the east is Kattegat.

paragraphs: Close to the Norwegian coast is a deep trench (700 m), the rest of the sea is shallow. Oil and gas are produced from rigs in the Skagerrak.


title: Kattegat

paragraphs: Kattegat is a sea in the northern part of Europe between the Danish peninsula Jutland, the Danish island Zealand, and the western coast of Sweden.

paragraphs: To the north-west is Skagerrak. Kattegat is connected to the Baltic Sea through the Danish Straits and Belts.

paragraphs: The sea is shallow, and life conditions are threatened by loss of oxygen in the water. The oxygen loss is caused by pollution. The pollution originates from farming. A century ago, the sea was very rich in cod, herring, and salmon, which were important sources of food in the countries around the sea.


title: Baltic Sea

paragraphs: The Baltic Sea is a sea in northern Europe between Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, the Baltic countries, Poland, and Germany.

paragraphs: Many big rivers in the surrounding countries drain into the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea is connected to the ocean through the narrow and shallow Danish straits and belts. For this reason, the water has a low amount of salt, so the northern parts of the sea freeze over in the winter. The ice can carry cars, and roads are established every winter between the islands in the archipelagos between Sweden and Finland.

paragraphs: For several thousand years, the Baltic Sea has connected the countries at her shores. For that reason there are many cultural similarities in these countries. Since all of these countries are European, this sea is also considered European.


title: Scandinavia

paragraphs: Scandinavia is a group of countries in northern Europe. Scandinavia is Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Some people also think Finland is part of Scandinavia. Others also say Iceland and the Faroe Islands should count. Most of the time, "Scandinavia" is used to mean places where people speak Scandinavian languages (also called North Germanic languages). The Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish) are very similar to each other, and many Scandinavians understand some of the other languages.

paragraphs: What people mean when they say "Scandinavia" depends on what they think is important at the time. Mostly, when people want to talk about about maps, natural land formations and how the economy works, they say Finland is part of Scandinavia but Iceland isn't. When people want to talk about history and what languages people speak, they say Iceland is part of Scandinavia but Finland isn't.

paragraphs: The Scandinavian Peninsula is a large peninsula reaching west from northern Europe over the north side of the Baltic Sea. Norway, Sweden and some of Finland are on this peninsula. However, Denmark is considered part of Scandinavia in the ethnic sense more often than Finland is. This is because Danish is a Scandinavian language but Finnish is not.

paragraphs: Some people like to say "Nordic countries" instead of "Scandinavia" because they think it is more correct about geography, but the Nordic countries include Norway, Sweden, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands), Finland, and Iceland. These five countries use the Nordic Council to work together on political and cultural activities. Denmark, Sweden, and Finland are also members of the European Union, but only Finland is part of the eurozone, meaning that it uses the Euro as its money. The other Nordic countries still use their own money, called "krone" or "krona" (from the word "crowns"). Norway and Iceland, which are not members of the EU, are members of NATO and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Only Denmark is a member of both the EU and NATO.

paragraphs: Most of the Scandinavian Peninsula has only a few people in it. It has large forests of pine, birch, and spruce trees. The western and northern parts are mountainous; the Scandinavian mountains are some of the oldest in the world. The tallest mountain is Galdhøpiggen in Norway. Denmark (43,098 km) is the smallest of the Scandinavian countries. It is more densely populated, and most of the land is farmland. Sweden (449,964 km) is the largest of the Scandinavian countries. It has the most lakes, and the landscape ranges from plains in the south to mountains in the west (along the border with Norway) to tundra in the north. The far north of Scandinavia and Finland is called Lapland, where the Sami people live. Some of them still herd reindeer, but most Sami live in modern houses and have modern jobs, like other Scandinavians.

paragraphs: The most famous group of Scandinavians is the Vikings of the Middle Ages. The Vikings attacked and raided but they were also traders, traveling to the Ukraine and starting trade routes to the Middle East.

paragraphs: Vikings from Norway were explorers, crossing the North Atlantic in their longships. They came to Iceland and Greenland and built towns and farms there. The Norwegian explorers also came to the east coast of Canada, where they set up at least one settlement, but it did not last into modern times.

paragraphs: The Vikings from Denmark came to England, where they affected the history and politics and even the English language. Danish raiders attacked England many times with great violence. Sometimes the Danes would ask that the English pay them to go away. These payments were called "Danegeld" (Danish gold). The priests and bishops of churches on the east coast of England wrote a famous prayer: "deliver us, O Lord, from the wrath of the Norsemen!" "Norsemen" is another way to say "men from the north," or the Danes.

paragraphs: Much later, in the 19th century (1800s), Richard Wagner and other artists in the Romantic period made operas and other artwork about ancient Germanic culture. They liked the Vikings because they were not Greeks or Romans. They were the first to have the idea of Vikings wearing helmets with wings or horns on them and drinking out of hollowed-out animal horns. Some ancient Germans wore helmets with horns on them, but real Vikings did not. Wagner and his partners deliberately dressed the actors in the opera "Ring des Nibelungen" so they would look like ancient Germans and so the audience would feel like modern Germans came from medieval Vikings.

paragraphs: During the 10th through 13th centuries, when the Christian religion spread through Scandiavia, modern countries started to form there. They came together into three kingdoms:

paragraphs: These three Scandinavian kingdoms made the Kalmar Union in 1387 under Queen Margaret I of Denmark. However, in 1523, Sweden left the union. Because of this, civil war broke out in Denmark and Norway. Then, the Protestant Reformation happened, and Catholic and Protestant Christians fought each other. After things settled, the Norwegian Privy Council was abolished: it assembled for the last time in 1537. Denmark and Norway formed another union in 1536, and it lasted until 1814. It turned into the three modern countries Denmark, Norway and Iceland.

paragraphs: The borders between Denmark, Sweden and Norway came to the shape they have today in the middle of the seventeenth century: In the 1645 Treaty of Brömsebro, Denmark–Norway gave some territory to Sweden: the Norwegian provinces of Jämtland, Härjedalen and Idre & Särna and the Baltic Sea islands of Gotland and Ösel (in Estonia). The 1658 Treaty of Roskilde forced Denmark–Norway to give the Danish provinces Scania, Blekinge, Halland, Bornholm, and the Norwegian provinces of Båhuslen and Trøndelag to Sweden. In 1660, the Treaty of Copenhagen forced Sweden to give Bornholm and Trøndelag back to Denmark–Norway.

paragraphs: Finland used to be part of Sweden in medieval times. During the wars fought by Napoleon, it became part of Russia.


title: Minerva cars

paragraphs: In 1883 a young Belgian called Sylvain de Jong settled in Antwerp, Belgium. He started a bicycle factory over there. By the end of that century he started producing motorbikes, and after a while cars as well. In 1903 he grounded the NV Minerva Motors' in Berchem (Antwerp).

paragraphs: A certain Charles S Rolls was Minerva dealer in England. The small 1 cylinder "Minervette" was there with its 105 Pound, the cheapest car.

paragraphs: In the years after the fame of the cars was rising enormous. Most important market for the constructor remained however England that took the biggest part of the production, followed by the Netherlands and France.

paragraphs: From 1908 Minerva got a worldwide Knight licence. The Knight motor was a motor without valves, developed by Charles Y Knight in the United States. These motors were extremely silent. The company did well in several car racing competitions in Europe.

paragraphs: After worldwar I, during which Sylvain de Jong and his engineers headed to Amsterdam, where they kept on developing parts, they returned to start up the production of luxury cars. The constructors star rose in the United States as well, American filmstars, politicians and industrials liked them cars as well (even Henry Ford had before the WW already one!). The car had the same qualities as the Rolls Royce, but was a little cheaper. With the economical crisis in the 30's, the company went bankrupt in 1936. The remains were taken over by another Belgian constructor named Imperia. Imperia putted the name Minerva on their cars for export to England and France and for the trucks (which Minerva had made before too).

paragraphs: After worldwar II the company produced Land Rovers under licence for the Belgian army. Production of these 4Wheel Drives stopped in 1953. The company struggled for survival and made some Land Rover-like cars till 1956. But than the constructor diappeared completely. Nowadays are still several Minerva's all over the world in a driveable condition.


title: E. B. White

paragraphs: Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985) was an American writer.

paragraphs: He is most famous for his 1959 manual about how to write well in English, "The Elements of Style" (which was first written by William Strunk Jr. in 1918), and also for his three children's books "Stuart Little" (1945), "Charlotte's Web" (1952), and the "Trumpet of the Swan" (1970).

paragraphs: He also wrote for magazines and newspapers in the United States.

paragraphs: E.B. White won many awards, including a Pulitzer Prize. "The Trumpet of the Swan" may be his best-selling book, but "Charlotte's Web" was voted the top children's novel in a 2012 survey, and not for the first time.


title: Raffles Institution

paragraphs: Raffles Institution is a highly regarded secondary school in Singapore, often considered the best school in the country. Only boys can go to this school. It has been performing well in studies and sports. It was founded in 1823 as Singapore Institution by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore. It is the school with the longest history in Singapore. Its name was changed to "Raffles Institution" in 1868. It has two sections, Raffles Institution and Raffles Institution Junior College.

paragraphs: The current principal of Raffles Institution is Mr Frederick Yeo, who replaced Mr Chan Poh Meng when he left the school at the end of 2017.

paragraphs: Sir Stamford Raffles founded Raffles Institution on 5 June 1823, making it the school with the longest history in Singapore. Raffles Institution was along Bras Basah Road at first, where Raffles City is now. The school moved to Grange Road in 1973, and then moved to its current location at Bishan in 1990. The Grange Road campus is now the MOE Teacher's Network.


title: Archipelago

paragraphs: An archipelago () is a chain or group of islands. The word "archipelago" means "chief sea", from Greek "arkhon" ("arkhi"-) ("leader") and "pelagos" ("sea").

paragraphs: Archipelagos are usually found in the open sea; less commonly, a big landmass may neighbor them, an example being Scotland which has more than 700 islands surrounding the mainland. Many archipelagos are volcanic, forming along mid-ocean ridges or hotspots. Others are island arcs neighboring an oceanic trench. Many other processes create archipelagos, including erosion, deposition, and land elevation.

paragraphs: The four biggest countries that are mainly archipelagos are Japan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Indonesia (the world's biggest archipelagic country according to the CIA World Factbook). The biggest archipelago in the world by size is in Northern Canada, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, which is in the Arctic Ocean.


title: Baltic states

paragraphs: The Baltic states are three countries in Northern Europe to the east of the Baltic Sea and the south of the Gulf of Finland. They are, from north to south, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The languages that are spoken in these countries are different: while Lithuanians and Latvians speak Baltic languages (Latvian and Lithuanian), Estonians speak an Uralic language (Estonian).

paragraphs: By their culture and history, the Baltic countries are close to the Nordic countries. The biggest difference in the history was that the Baltic countries were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 (during the Second World War), but not the Nordic countries (with the exception of Karelia, a part of Finland which later joined the Russian SFSR). The three countries would become republics of the Soviet Union as the Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR.

paragraphs: All three Baltic states had their freedom back in 1991, when the Soviet Union came to an end. However, the states all consider the Soviet occupation to be illegal, which has been supported by the United States, European Union, and United Nations. Today, the Baltic countries are some of the richest and most advanced countries which were part of the Soviet Union. They became members of the European Union and NATO in 2004, joined the Schengen Area in 2007, and became part of the eurozone by 2015.

paragraphs: Paganism was the religion of Baltic people before most of them took Christianity during the Middle Ages. Baltic paganism never died out and some people are still pagans.


title: Topography

paragraphs: Topography means "the description of shape". The word comes from Greek: ' "place" and ' "(I) write". It is an important part of earth science.

paragraphs: When you talk of the topography of the land, you refer to the landscape features like valleys, hills and mountains, rivers and lakes, or the coastline. Everything that describes the form of the landscape, is part of the topography. Topographic maps show topography.


title: Bornholm

paragraphs: Bornholm is a small, rocky island in the Baltic Sea. Bornholm is a Danish island.

paragraphs: The island is a popular holiday resort for Scandinavians, Germans and Poles. Many yachters come here in the summer.

paragraphs: At the end of World War II, the island was "liberated" by the Soviet red army, and held for several months after the German surrender. The island lies far east of the demarcation line between the allied forces in Europe. For some time the Soviet presence looked like an occupation. It was not until April 5th, 1946 that the island at last was free.

paragraphs: But then the Danish government took over and the island is today a Danish colony. But the struggle for a free island still goes on as it can be seen on this page Free Bornholm


title: Budapest

paragraphs: Budapest is the capital and the largest city of Hungary. It was made as such in 1873. In that year three towns on the River Danube, namely "Buda", "Óbuda (Old Buda)" and "Pest" were united. The city has a population of about 1.7 million people. Its highest place is "János Hill (527 m.)".

paragraphs: The history of the city started with Celtic tribes who settled here before 1 AD. Later Roman empire transformed the first settlements into the Roman town of Aquincum. The Hungarians arrived in the territory of modern Hungary only in the end of 9th century AD.

paragraphs: Budapest also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a great power that dissolved in 1918 after World War I. The city was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Battle of Budapest in 1945, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

paragraphs: The main sights in Budapest are the Castle Hill (Várhegy), the Parliament House (Országház) and St. Stephen's Basilica. Budapest is also known for the ruins of Aquincum, the capital city of the Roman Province of Pannonia. The city has a great atmosphere with nice cafes, spas and the traditional Hungarian hospitality.

paragraphs: It has the oldest subway-line in Europe.

paragraphs: Budapest has a humid subtropical climate with relatively cold winters and quite warm summers.


title: Santa Monica, California

paragraphs: Santa Monica is a beach town in California. It is next to Los Angeles, California, US.

paragraphs: It was made a city in 1886. In 2000, there were 88,050 people living there.

paragraphs: It is famous for the Santa Monica Pier that has many fun rides.


title: Kuwait

paragraphs: Kuwait is a small Arab country (about 17,819 square kilometers) in the Middle East.

paragraphs: Kuwait is the most socially progressive country in the Gulf region. It has a small and rich economy. It has about 96 billion barrels of crude oil reserves. Crude oil reserves are the oil that is still under the ground and has not yet been cleaned up. Kuwait has 10% of all of the oil reserves in the world. The country makes a lot of money by selling oil. This money is almost half of all the money the country makes. The oil money is also 95% of the money made by selling things to different countries (people call that exports). Also, the oil money is 80% of the money the government makes. Kuwait is now talking with oil companies of other countries to make oil fields in the northern part of the country.

paragraphs: Kuwait's weather makes farming hard (too little rain). Instead of farming, the country catches fish and buys food from other countries. About 75% of the country's water to drink has to be distilled (have the salt removed) or purchased from other countries.

paragraphs: In 1990, Iraq invaded (brought an army in to fight against) Kuwait. This started the first Gulf War. Kuwait's official religion is Islam, although 15% of its population are Christian or Hindu. Arabic is mostly spoken in Kuwait but English is widespread among Kuwaitis (residents of Kuwait). Kuwait is one of the few nations that has education for every age.

paragraphs: Population (in thousands) for 2004 2595.

paragraphs: CDR (per 1000) for 2004 1.9. Growth Rate(%) for 1992-2002 2.1. the Total Fertility Rate for 2002 is 2.7. Percent population is living in urban in 2003 96.2.Per capita gross national income ($) 2002 612. Population Density( per square kilometer) in 2000 107.4

paragraphs: Infant Mortality Rate (per 1000)for 2005 9.95. Adult literacy rate (85%) female literacy rate (81%) (2002).

paragraphs: Kuwait is divided into 6 governorates. The governorates are divided into districts.


title: Tiny Tim

paragraphs: Herbert Buckingham Khaury, better known as Tiny Tim (April 12, 1932–November 30, 1996), was an American singer and musician. He became popular in the late 1960s due to his appearances on television, and songs played on ukulele with a falsetto voice. His most famous song was "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". His best-remembered television appearances were on "Laugh-In" and "The Tonight Show". His first wedding took place on "The Tonight Show" in 1969, at host Johnny Carson's suggestion.

paragraphs: Not just a performer, he was also an expert , who studied American music from the earliest days of the United States, and performed many historic songs in his act. Over time, he used his falsetto voice less, and performed most songs in his natural, baritone voice.

paragraphs: When his popularity as a "" lessened, he performed in small nightclubs and other places, as he had earlier. During the 1980s, he toured with a circus, and appeared in a movie as a circus performer who turned to crime. In the 1990s, he recorded new music (including a Christmas album), and joined comedian Pat Paulsen in his latest mock campaign to become President of the United States, as Paulsen's .

paragraphs: Married three times, his last wife was a former fan, who met him when she made a documentary about his life and career. One of his later supporters was radio talk show host Howard Stern. Tiny Tim died in 1996, after suffering a heart attack during a performance.


title: Kelvin

paragraphs: The Kelvin scale (symbol: K) is the SI unit of temperature. It is named in honour of the physicist William Thomson, the first Lord Kelvin (1824–1907).

paragraphs: The Kelvin scale is defined by a specific relationship between the pressure of a gas and the temperature. This says that "the pressure of the gas is directly proportional to the temperature in Kelvin". This means that Kelvin is an absolute temperature scale, and scientists use this scale more than any other.

paragraphs: The kelvin is a base SI unit of measurement, defined as the fraction 1/273.16 of the temperature of the triple point of water, which is the temperature at which water in solid, liquid, and gaseous state coexist in equilibrium.

paragraphs: The temperature of the triple point of water is a hundredth of a degree Celsius above the freezing point, or 0.01 °C. The coldest possible temperature is called absolute zero and is equal to -273.15 degrees Celsius, or zero kelvin (0 K). By writing temperatures in kelvins one does not need to use negative numbers.

paragraphs: The absolute temperature scale was designed so that a change in temperature of 1 kelvin is equal to a change of 1 degree Celsius. This means that it is easy to convert a temperature from degrees Celsius to kelvin.

paragraphs: It is important to notice that the name of this unit is simply "kelvin" (with a lowercase initial), not "degree Kelvin". In English, it undergoes normal plural inflection as "kelvins". For example, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen is 77 kelvins.

paragraphs: In everyday use, the kelvin is most commonly used to measure very low or very high temperatures, such as the temperature of liquid nitrogen or the temperature of a light bulb filament.


title: Tourism

paragraphs: Tourism means people traveling for fun. It includes activities such as sightseeing and camping. People who travel for fun are called "tourists". Places where many tourists stay are called "resorts". Places that people go to for tourism are called tourist destinations.

paragraphs: There are a lot of reasons why people travel for fun:

paragraphs: The tourism industry has different parts. Some of these are:

paragraphs: Tourism can bring damage to the local area, and/or the tourists. Litter, scuba-diving and deforestation are problems for popular places such as St. Lucia, Hawaii and others. Scuba-diving can damage coral reefs which are home to hundreds of species of sea animals. Tourism can change culture when people learn each others’ ways, and certain local traditions are being put aside for tourists.


title: Berkshire

paragraphs: Berkshire is a county in southeast England. It is west of London. Its county town is Reading. In the past, a town named Abingdon was the county town, but this town is not in Berkshire any more.

paragraphs: Berkshire is also known as the Royal County of Berkshire.

paragraphs: The towns below are not part of Berkshire now, but were in the past.


title: Buckinghamshire

paragraphs: Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is a county in central England, near the south and London. The county town is named Aylesbury.

paragraphs: Locations marked with a (*) are a part of the cerimonal county of Buckinghamshire, but are governed by the Borough of Milton Keynes.


title: Computer monitor

paragraphs: A computer monitor is an electronic device that shows pictures for computers. Monitors often look similar to televisions. The main difference between a monitor and a television is that a monitor does not have a television tuner to change channels. Monitors often have higher display resolution than televisions. A high display resolution makes it easier to see smaller letters and fine graphics.

paragraphs: There are three types of computer displays:


title: Diameter

paragraphs: In geometry, the diameter of a circle is a line from one side directly to the opposite side through the centre. It can also be defined as the longest chord of a circle. The same explanations can be also used to describe the diameter in a sphere.

paragraphs: The letter "d" or the symbol ⌀ are often used as a symbol for the diameter. The diameter's length is often called the diameter itself.

paragraphs: The diameter's length is twice the radius, and therefore the relationship between the diameter's length and radius can be shown with the equations: