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14816 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthrax | Anthrax | Anthrax, or splenic fever, is a disease. Both humans and other animals can get it. It is caused by the bacterium bacillus anthracis. It is common with even-toed ungulates (some hoofed creatures, like camels and giraffes). The spores of the bacteria can live for hundreds of years. Humans usually catch the disease from animals. It is usually not passed from one human to another. Anthrax can be treated with antibiotics. There is also a vaccine against it. If not treated, anthrax often leads to death.
Types of anthrax
There are 89 different strains (kinds) of anthrax. One of them, the Ames strain, was used against the United States in 2001 as a biological weapon.
History
Outbreaks
On April 2, 1979, there was a leak at one of the plants just outside of Sverdlovsk that made anthrax during the Cold War. 94 people were infected and 64 of those people died. The USSR blamed the deaths on another strain of anthrax that the people caught by digesting infected meat. However, later it was revealed that the outbreak was caused by an accidental release of the bacteria from a nearby plant which developed biological weapons for the USSR.
In September 2001, several letters containing anthrax were mailed to several USA media companies and senators. The attacks were linked to the September 11 attacks which occurred a few days before the start of the attack.
Hoaxes
There were many cases of fake powder being found in envelopes.
References
Diseases caused by bacteria
Zoonoses |
14820 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon | Napoleon | Napoleon Bonaparte () was a French politician and army leader who ruled France from 1799 to 1814 and for a short period (the "Hundred Days") in 1815. He became Emperor of the French and King of Italy as Napoleon I. He had power over most of Europe at the height of his power, and his actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.
Bonaparte was born in Corsica into a noble family. He learned the Corsican language first before learning French. He moved to mainland France and trained to become an army officer. He became an important army leader during the First French Republic, helping to stop the countries that wanted to end the French Revolution. In 1799, he overthrew the government and took control of France for himself (a coup d'état). At first his title was Consul. Five years later, he was made Emperor of France. In the first ten years of the nineteenth century, the French Empire under Napoleon waged the Napoleonic Wars. Every European great power joined in these wars. After a number of victories, France became very important in continental Europe. His power by making many alliances. He also made other European countries into French client states by letting his friends and family members rule them.
The French invasion of Russia in 1812 became Napoleon's first big defeat. His army was badly damaged and never fully recovered. In 1813, another Coalition defeated his forces at Leipzig. The year after that, they attacked France and won. The Coalition exiled Napoleon to the island of Elba. Less than a year later, he escaped Elba and briefly returned to be the Emperor of France. However, he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon spent the last six years of his life exiled to the island of Saint Helena, which was controlled by the British, and died at the age of 51. A doctor said he died of stomach cancer. Some scientists think he was poisoned, though others disagree.
Napoleon is remembered as a brilliant army leader, and his campaigns are studied at military schools all over the world. People have many different views on whether he was a good or bad ruler. He brought many ideas of liberalism and the French Revolution to the countries he conquered, such as the Napoleonic code, freedom of religion and making education and government more modern. His enemies remembered him as a tyrant and some historians criticise him for causing many wars .
Birth and education
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Casa Buonaparte in the town of Ajaccio, Corsica, on the 15th of August 1769. This was one year after the island was given to France by the Republic of Genoa. He was the second of eight children. He was named Napoleone di Buonaparte. He took his first name from an uncle who had been killed fighting the French. However, he later used the more French-sounding Napoléon Bonaparte.
The Corsican Buonapartes were from lower Italian nobility. They had come to Corsica in the 16th century. His father Nobile Carlo Buonaparte became Corsica's representative to the court of Louis XVI in 1777. The greatest influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, Maria Letizia Ramolino. Her firm education controlled a wild child. He had an older brother, Joseph. He also had younger siblings Lucien, Elisa, Louis, Pauline, Caroline and Jérôme. Napoleon was baptized as a Catholic just before his second birthday, on 21 July 1770 at Ajaccio Cathedral.
Although raised a Catholic, Napoleon was a deist.
Early military career
Napoleon was able to enter the military academy at Brienne in 1779. He was nine years old when he entered the academy. He moved to the Parisian École Royale Militaire in 1784 and graduated a year later as a second lieutenant of artillery. Napoleon was able to spend much of the next eight years in Corsica. There he played an active part in political and military matters. He came into conflict with the Corsican nationalist Pasquale Paoli, and his family was forced to flee to Marseille in 1793.
The French Revolution caused much fighting and disorder in France. At times, Napoleon was connected to those in power. Other times, he was in jail. In the French Revolutionary Wars he helped the Republic against royalists who supported the former king of France. In September 1793, he assumed command of an artillery brigade at the siege of Toulon, where royalist leaders had welcomed a British fleet and troops. The British were driven out in December 17, 1793, and Bonaparte was rewarded with promotion to brigadier general and assigned to the French army in Italy in February 1794.
13 Vendémiaire
General Napoleon Bonaparte was later appointed by the republic to repel the royalists on October 5, 1795 (13 Vendémiaire Year IV in French Republican Calendar). More than a 1400 royalists died and the rest fled. He had cleared the streets with "a whiff of grapeshot" according to the 19th-century historian Thomas Carlyle. He was then promoted to major general and marked his name on the French Revolution.
The defeat of the Royalist rebellions ended the threat to the Convention and earned Bonaparte sudden fame, wealth, and the patronage of the new Directory. On March 9, 1796, Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais, a widow older than he was and a very unlikely wife to the future ruler.
Italian Campaign
The campaign in Italy is the first time Napoleon led France to war. Late in March 1796, Bonaparte began a series of operations to divide and defeat the Austrian and Sardinian armies in Italy. He defeated the Sardinians in April 21, bringing Savoy and Nice into France. Then, in a series of brilliant battles, he won Lombardy from the Austrians. Mantua, the last Lombard stronghold fell in February 1797.
Egyptian Campaign
In May 1798, General Napoleon left for a campaign in Egypt. The French needed to threaten British India and the French Directory was concerned that Napoleon would take control of France. The French Army under Napoleon won an overwhelming victory in the Battle of Pyramids. Barely 300 French soldiers died, while thousands of Mamluks (an old power in the Middle East) were killed. But his army was weakened by bubonic plague and poor supplies because the Navy was defeated at the Battle of the Nile. The Egyptian campaign was a military failure but a cultural success. The Rosetta Stone was found by French engineer Captain Pierre-François Bouchard, and French scholar Jean-François Champollion was able to read the words in the stone. Napoleon went back to France because of a change in the French government. Some believe that Napoleon should not have left his soldiers in Egypt. Napoleon helped lead the Brumaire coup d'état of November 1799.
Ruler of France
Bonaparte returned to Paris in October 1799. France's situation had been improved by a series of victories but the Republic was bankrupt, and the ineffective Directory was unpopular with the French population. He was approached by one of the Directors, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, for his support in a coup to overthrow the constitutional government. The leaders of the plot included his brother Lucien Bonaparte (the speaker of the Council of Five Hundred), Roger Ducos, another Director, Joseph Fouché, and Charles Maurice Talleyrand. Other deputies realised they faced an attempted coup. Faced with their protests, Bonaparte led troops to seize control and disperse them, which left a rump legislature to name Bonaparte, Sièyes, and Ducos as the three provisional Consuls to administer the government.
Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, but he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte. Napoleon drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII, and secured his own election as First Consul. This made Bonaparte the most powerful person in France, and he took up residence at the Tuileries.
In 1800, Napoleon ensured his power by crossing the Alps and defeating the Austrians at Marengo. He then negotiated a general European peace that established the Rhine River as the eastern border of France. He also concluded an agreement with the pope (the Concordat of 1801), which contributed to French domestic tranquility by ending the quarrel with the Roman Catholic Church that had arisen during the French Revolution.
In France the administration was reorganized, the court system was simplified, and all schools were put under centralized control. French law was standardized in the Napoleonic Code, or civil code, and six other codes. They guaranteed the rights and liberties won in the Revolution, including equality before the law and freedom of religion.
Emperor of France
In February 1804, a British-financial plot against Bonaparte was uncovered by the former police minister Joseph Fouche. It gave Napoleon a reason to start a hereditary dynasty. On December 2, 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself "Emperor of the French". The people of France did not see him as the monarch of the old regime because of his holding a Roman Empire title. He invited Pope Pius VII to see his coronation at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. During the ceremony, Napoleon I took the crown from the pope's hand and placed it on his own head. This had been agreed on between Napoleon and the Pope. At Milan Cathedral on May 26 1805, Napoleon was crowned King of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy.
Reforms
To restore prosperity, Napoleon modernized finance. He regulated the economy to control prices, encouraged new industry, and built roads and canals. To ensure well-trained officials and military officers, he promoted a system of public schools under firm government control. He also repealed some social reforms of the revolution. He made peace with the Catholic Church in the Concordat of 1801. The Concordat kept the Church under state control but recognized religious freedom for Catholics.
Napoleon I won support across class lines. He encouraged the émigré population to return, provided they gave an oath of loyalty. Peasants were relieved when he recognized their right to lands they had bought during the revolution. Napoleon's chief opposition came from royalists and republicans.
Napoleonic Code
Among Napoleon's most lasting reforms was a new law code, popularly called the Napoleonic Code. It embodied Enlightenment principles such as equality of all citizens before the law, religious toleration, and advancement based on virtue. But the Napoleonic Code undid some reforms of the French Revolution. Women, for example, lost most of their newly gained rights under the new code. The law considered women minors who could not exercise the rights of citizenship. Male heads of households regained full authority over their wives and children. Again, Napoleon valued order and authority over individual rights.
The Grand Empire
Emperor Napoleon abandoned plans to invade England and turned his armies against the Austro-Russian forces, defeating them at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805. In 1806 Napoleon destroyed the Prussian army at Jena and Auerstädt and the Russian army at Friedland. He crowned his elder brother Joseph Bonaparte as King of Naples and Sicily in 1806 and converted the Dutch Republic into the kingdom of Holland for his brother Louis. Napoleon also established the Confederation of the Rhine (most of the German states) of which he was protector.
To legitimize his rule, he divorced his wife Joséphine and married Marie Louise, duchess of Parma and daughter of the Emperor Francis I of Austria. Soon she delivered a son and heir to the Bonaparte Dynasty. He was named Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte or Napoleon II and crowned King of Rome from his birth.
At Tilsit in July 1807, Napoleon made an ally of Russian tsar Alexander Romanov and greatly reduced the size of Prussia. He also added new states to the empire: the kingdom of Westphalia, under his youngest brother Jerome, the duchy of Warsaw, and others states.
Defeat
The Congress of Erfurt sought to preserve the Russo-French alliance and the leaders had a friendly personal relationship after their first meeting at Tilsit in 1807. However, on June 23, 1812, Napoleon went to war with Russia. The French invasion of Russia defeated many Russian cities and villages, but by the time they reached Moscow it was winter. Due to the Russian army's scorched earth tactics, the French found little food for themselves and their horses. Napoleon's army was unable to defeat the Russians. The Russians began to attack. Napoleon and his army had to go back to France. The French suffered greatly in during Napoleon's retreat. Most of his soldiers never returned to France. His army was reduced to 70,000 soldiers and 40,000 stragglers, against more than three times as many Allied troops. Finally at the 1813 Battle of the Nations he was defeated by the Allies: Sweden, Russia, Austria, and Prussia.
Exile in Elba
Napoleon had no choice but to abdicate in favor of his son. However, the Allies refused to accept this. Napoleon abdicated without conditions on April 11, 1814. Before his official abdication, Napoleon attempted suicide with a pill but it did not work. In the Treaty of Fontainebleau the victors exiled him to Elba, an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean. The Allies allowed Napoleon to keep an imperial title "Emperor of Elba" and an allowance of 2 million francs a year. Napoleon even requested a 21 gun salute as emperor of the island of Elba. Many delegates feared that Elba was too close to Europe to keep such a dangerous force.
The Hundred Days
Separated from his son and wife, who had come under Austrian control, cut off from the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, and aware of rumours he was about to be banished to a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, Napoleon escaped from Elba on February 26 1815. He made a surprise march on March 1, 1815 to Paris. His former troops joined him and Louis XVIII fled to exile. He again became ruler of France for a length of 100 days. Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by the British under Duke of Wellington and Prussians on June 18 1815, which was his last battle. Napoleon was again captured and taken to his second exile on the island of Saint Helena on the Atlantic Ocean.
Second exile and death
Napoleon was sent to the island of Saint Helena, off the coast of Africa. He died on May 5 1821 of stomach cancer. Napoleon kept himself up to date of the events through The Times and hoped for release in the event that Holland became Prime Minister. There were other plots to rescue Napoleon from captivity including one from Texas, where exiled soldiers from the Grande Armée wanted a resurrection of the Napoleonic Empire in America. There was even a plan to rescue him with a primitive submarine. For Lord Byron, Napoleon was the epitome of the Romantic hero, the persecuted, lonely and flawed genius. The news that Napoleon had taken up gardening at Longwood also appealed to more domestic British sensibilities.
Legacy
French people remain proud of Napoleon's glory days. The Napoleonic Code reflects the modern French Constitution. Weapons and other kinds of military technology remained largely static through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, but 18th century operational mobility underwent significant change. Napoleon's biggest influence was in the conduct of warfare. His popularity would later help his nephew Louis-Napoléon to become ruler of France more than 30 years later.
On the world stage, Napoleon's conquest spread the ideas of the revolution. He failed to make Europe into a French Empire. Instead, he sparked nationalist feeling across Europe. He was also known as “The Leader Of France”.
Historians have many different views on Napoleon. Some historians say that he caused wars that killed many people in Europe, and therefore he was a bad ruler. Vincent Cronin disagrees with the view, saying that most of the Napoleonic Wars were started by Napoleon's enemies. Others argue that Napoleon made the mistake of trying to conquer too much land and that if he had stopped in 1808, his enemies might have left him alone. Other historians have said that he was a good ruler. They usually focus on the changes he brought to France and the countries he conquered. Andrew Roberts lists the greatest ideas that Napoleon brought to France and other countries as the Napoleonic code, freedom of religion, better civil services, better education, more equality, support for science and art and others.
Sources
Notes
Citations
Other websites
1769 births
1821 deaths
Deaths from stomach cancer
Emperors and empresses
Former dictators
French deists
French generals
French politicians
House of Bonaparte
People from Corsica
People with foods named after them
Princes of Andorra |
14823 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetzlar | Wetzlar | Wetzlar is a city at the river Lahn in Hesse in Germany. The number of people in the city is about 53,000.
Wetzlar is near Frankfurt.
Wetzlar is famous for the historic Oldtown and for Goethe.
The camera maker Leica is there.
Wetzlar has a connection to the Autobahn 45 with three junctions.
Wetzlar is twinned with:
Avignon, France
Colchester, United Kingdom
Siena, Italy
Schladming, Austria
Ilmenau, Thuringia
Berlin-Neukölln, Berlin
Písek, Czech Republic
References
Other websites
1803 disestablishments
1800s disestablishments in Germany |
14825 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy%20Warhol | Andy Warhol | Andy Warhol (Andrew Warhol, Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was one of the most famous American artists of the latter half of the 20th century. Many people think that Warhol is the "bellwether of the art market".
Warhol was born Andrew Warhola, Jr. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 6, 1928. He graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology before moving to New York City. His first big break was in August 1949 when he was asked to illustrate an article in Glamour Magazine. He dropped the 'a' from the end of his name when the credits read "Drawings by Andrew Warhol". Warhol was also famous for painting Campbells' and Watties' soup cans. He painted about 300 different paintings. . He originally worked as a commercial artist. He designed things like advertisements and window displays for stores. He soon became famous as an artist in the Pop Art movement, in which everyday objects and media images were used. One of his most famous paintings is his colourful portrait of American movie star, Marilyn Monroe. After she died he was deeply moved, and wanted to create some sort of memorial.
In 1968, Warhol was shot by Valerie Solanas. He was known for his The Factory studio in New York City where most of his work was created.
In 1987, Warhol was in a hospital in New York City after an operation on his gallbladder. He died in his sleep from a sudden post-operative cardiac arrhythmia, aged 58. His family sued the hospital for inadequate care, saying that the arrhythmia was caused by improper care and water poisoning.
References
Other websites
Andy Warhol Print at Adam's Auctioneers
Warhol Foundation in New York City
Andy Warhol Collection in Pittsburgh
Time Capsules: the Andy Warhol Collection
Documentation of recent exhibitions of work by Andy Warhol
The work of Andy Warhol spoken about by David Cronenberg on UbuWeb
Warhol in Paris—slideshow by The First Post
Andy Warhol makes a digital painting of Debbie Harry at the Commodore Amiga product launch press conference in 1985
Andy Warhol: A Documentary film by Ric Burns for PBS
American artists
American crime victims
LGBT people from Pennsylvania
American painters
Pop artists
Deaths from surgical complications
Deaths from cardiac arrhythmia
Gay men
LGBT artists
People from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1928 births
1987 deaths |
14827 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus%20and%20Remus | Romulus and Remus | Romulus and Remus were the legendary founders of Rome. In Roman mythology they were twin brothers, children of Rhea Silvia and the god Mars.
Birth and youth
Rhea Silvia was the daughter of Numitor Silvius, king of Alba Longa, a legendary town founded by Ascanius, son of Aeneas, prince of Troy. When Numitor's brother Amulius became king by force, he made Rhea Silvia a Vestal Virgin, so she would not have children who could be kings instead of him. But the god Mars seduced her and she had the twins Romulus and Remus. Rhea Silvia was punished, and her sons were thrown into the Tiber, but were saved by the river god Tiberinus, who also saved Rhea Silvia and married her. Romulus and Remus were found by a she-wolf who suckled them. A woodpecker fed them. The brothers were later found by a shepherd, Faustulus, who raised them.
The founding of Rome
Once they were grown, Romulus and Remus founded the city of Rome. However, the twins had an argument about where to start Rome. Romulus favored the Palatine Hill, but Remus favored the Aventine Hill. They decided to settle the disagreement by asking the gods. Each brother stood on his respective hill. Remus saw six birds fly overhead, and Romulus saw twelve. However, Remus countered that he had seen the birds first. Nonetheless, Romulus started to build a wall around his city. Then, Remus jumped over the wall as an insult to his brother. Angered, Romulus killed Remus. He regretted it, and took Remus to Amulius's palace, and buried him there.
Other websites
Roman mythology
Twin people |
14829 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism | Confucianism | Confucianism is the philosophy based on the teachings of Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), who was an important Chinese philosopher. Confucianism has a complete system of moral, social, political, and religious thought, and has had a large influence on the history of Chinese civilization. Some people think Confucianism should be called a religion but others do not agree.
Confucianism was made to stop the fall of Chinese society. After the Zhou Dynasty fell, people cared only for themselves and did not have any respect for others. Confucianism became a social order for China, teaching that social relationships are the most important. People slowly started to believe in it, because they wanted to have peace, but they had to care for themselves too. As a result, Confucianism brought the people love, harmony, and respect for one another.
Confucianism was started in Ch'u-fu, Confucius's birthplace. Today, Confucianism has spread around the world, but it is still more important in China.
The teachings of Confucius focus largely on the respect of one's parents, elders, and ancestors. He also taught that humans 'can never stop learning'; meaning that knowledge is infinite, therefore we will always learn, never stopping. For example, he once asked a seven-year-old child to be his teacher, because the child knew something that he did not.
Confucianism Beliefs and Teachings
Confucianism teaches 5 virtues.
Ren (Jen), that refers to altruism and humanity.
Yi, that refers to righteousness.
Li, that refers to good conduct.
Zhi, that refers to knowledge.
Xin, which means loyalty.
Chinese culture that exists today has its roots in Confucianism. Confucius believed that families are the building blocks of a society, which is why he laid emphasis on Filial Piety, which is known as xiào (孝) in Chinese. Filial Piety means loyalty towards ones family. A Filial son is expected to take care of his parents and go to any extent to make their wishes come true.
The book, Analects, describes the teachings of Confucius and was written by his disciples.
Related pages
Ogyū Sorai
References
History of China
Religion in China |
14835 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead | Lead | Lead (pronounce: "/'lɛd/") is a chemical element. Its chemical symbol is Pb, which comes from plumbum, the Latin word for lead. Its atomic number is 82, atomic mass is 207.2 and has a melting point of 327.8°C. It is a very poisonous and heavy metal.
Properties
Physical properties
Lead is a shiny, gray-blue poor metal. It gets tarnished easily to a dull gray color. It is soft and malleable. It is very shiny when it is melted. It is very heavy. It is very corrosion-resistant. It is made stronger by adding antimony or calcium. It can form an alloy with sodium. It is toxic to people and animals when swallowed.
Chemical properties
Lead burns in air with a grayish-white flame, making toxic fumes of lead(II) oxide. Only the surface is corroded by air. It dissolves in nitric acid to make lead(II) nitrate. It does not dissolve in sulfuric or hydrochloric acid. It reacts with sodium nitrate to make lead(II) oxide and sodium nitrite. It reacts with chlorine to make lead(II) chloride. Lead(II) oxide reacts with lead sulfide to make lead metal and sulfur dioxide.
Chemical compounds
Lead makes chemical compounds in two main oxidation states: +2 and +4. +2 compounds, also known as lead(II) compounds or plumbous compounds, are weak oxidizing agents. +4 compounds, also known as lead(IV) compounds or plumbic compounds, are strong oxidizing agents. Lead compounds are toxic just like the element. The lead halides do not dissolve in water. Lead(IV) oxide is the most common lead(IV) compound. It is a black solid. The lead oxides are all colored, while the other salts are white or colorless. Lead nitrate and lead(II) acetate are the soluble compounds of lead.
+2 compounds
This state is more common than the +4 state. These are weak oxidizing agents. All but the oxides are colorless or white.
Lead(II) acetate, colorless soluble
Lead(II) arsenate, insoluble former pesticide
Lead(II) bromide, insoluble
Lead(II) carbonate, white, used as pigment
Lead(II) chloride, insoluble
Lead(II) nitrate, soluble, colorless
Lead(II) oxide, red or yellow
Lead(II) sulfate, white, found in lead acid batteries
Lead(II) sulfide, black, common as mineral
Mixed oxidation state compounds
Mixed oxidation state compounds contain lead in the +2 and +4 oxidation state.
Lead(II,IV) oxide, red, oxidizing agent
+4 compounds
These are less common. They are strong oxidizing agents.
Lead(IV) acetate, oxidizing agent, colorless
Lead(IV) oxide, dark brown, oxidizing agentCobalt compounds are chemical compounds containing cobalt ions.
Occurrence
Lead is found very rarely in the earth's crust as a metal. Normally, lead is in the mineral galena. Galena is lead sulfide. Galena is the main lead ore.
History
Lead was used for thousands of years because it is easy to get from the ground and easy to shape and work with. The Romans used lead very commonly. They used it for pipes, drinking vessels, and fasteners.
Preparation
Lead is made from galena. Galena is made pure by froth flotation to get all the impurities out. Then the lead sulfide is roasted in a furnace to make lead(II) oxide. The lead(II) oxide is heated with coke to make liquid lead metal.
Uses
As an element
Lead is used in the ballast of sailboats. It is also used in weight belts for scuba diving. It is also used to make shotgun pellets and bullets for small arms. Some printing presses use lead type because it can be easily shaped. It can be used outside because it does not corrode in water.
Most lead is used in lead acid batteries, though. The lead is oxidized, making electricity. Sheets of lead are used to block sound in some places. Lead is used in radiation shielding. Molten lead can be used as a coolant in nuclear reactors. It used to be mixed with tin to make the pipes in pipe organs. Different amounts of lead make different sounds. In addition, lead has found its usage in solder.
It is used in some solder. It is used in covering for wires that carry high voltage. Some tennis rackets have lead in them to make them heavier. It is used to balance wheels of cars, to make statues, and to make decorative looks in buildings.
As chemical compounds
Many lead compounds are used to make colored glazes in ceramics. Lead can be used in PVC pipes. Lead compounds are added to candles to make them burn better. Lead glass has lead(II) oxide in it. Lead compounds are still used as pigments in some places. Lead compounds were added to gasoline, but are now outlawed. Some lead compounds are semiconductors and are used in photodetectors.
Old uses
Lead was used in many red, yellow, and white pigments in paints. Lead was also used in pesticides. Lead used to be used in pipes carrying water, but now it is not because lead can leach into the water.
Safety
Although it can be safely touched, exposure to lead should be avoided – it is very toxic to humans and other animals when swallowed, and its use is restricted in many countries.
If someone is exposed to lead for a long time, it ruins their kidneys and gives them abdominal pains. Lead also ruins the nervous system. Lead paint was being eaten by children and they were getting lead poisoning.
The best way to understand lead and its properties is to read its MSDS.
Related pages
List of common elements
References
chemical elements
metals |
14840 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell | Bell | A bell is a simple musical instrument. Most bells are made of metal. Bells are also in churches to announce the time between hours. Ships usually carry a ship's bell. Alarm bells warn of danger. Some bells are in bell towers.
Basic English 850 words |
14841 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers%20%28toy%20line%29 | Transformers (toy line) | Transformers are robots that turn into other things. Usually they turn into vehicles, like cars or jets.
Transformers started in 1984 as a toy line, but then an animated series and a comic book were made. In 1986 a movie came out. In 2002 a new series and story line called Transformers Armada came out. this was followed by two more shows, Energon and Cybertron.
Transformers is about different things sometimes. Usually it is about the heroic Autobots fighting the evil Decepticons. The Autobots are usually led by Optimus Prime. The Decepticons are led by Megatron.
Transformer universe
The Dynasty of Primes were the first seven Primes in Cybertronian history. They were on a quest to harvest Energon using the Star Harvester. In some documents of history, they were loosely known as "The Thirteen".
Other websites
Animated television series
Toys
Transformers (franchise) |
14842 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplicity | Simplicity | When something is simple, it is very easy to understand or to do. The opposite is hard or complex or difficult. Simplicity is the quality of being simple.
Simple can mean something that is only made up of a few parts. It lacks complexity.
A bicycle is much simpler than a space ship.
Simple can mean that something or someone is humble (lowly) or common:
He lives very simply. "Simple living" is a way of life. It uses the ideas of Henry David Thoreau or Epicurus or Diogenes as its moral goals. Simple living says that a person needs only few and basic things to be happy.
Simple can also be used to refer to someone whose mind thinks in a very simple way. Calling a person "simple minded" is usually rude.
Related pages
Simpleton
Wikipedia:Simple English Wikipedia
Basic English 850 words |
14844 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematician | Mathematician | A mathematician is someone who studies mathematics, either as a hobby or as a job. Many mathematicians are math professors at universities, or work at cryptography. Euclid, Ramanujan, Sir Isaac Newton are some of the most famous early mathematicians.
Mathematical societies and foundations
Gallery
Notes
Notable Mathematicians
Europe
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Emmy Noether
Karl Weierstrass
Leonid Kantorovich
Lucy Joan Slater
Sophie Germain
Asia
Masao Iri
Masatake Mori
Ryogo Hirota
Other websites
Mathematics Genealogy Project
International Congress of Mathematicians
Timeline of women in mathematics
Science occupations |
14849 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/West%20Virginia | West Virginia | West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian region of the United States. Its capital and largest city is Charleston. It is often abbreviated W. Va. or simply WV.
West Virginia is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north, by Ohio to the north and west, by Kentucky to the west, by Maryland to the north and east, and by Virginia to the east and south. The Ohio and Potomac Rivers form parts of the boundaries.
Before the American Civil War, West Virginia practiced slavery as part of the state of Virginia. Slaves, at first Native American but increasingly brought from Africa in the slave trade, were forced to grow tobacco, mine coal, and be personal servants. Many slaves were rented from owners in other parts of the state to work in the mines. In the 19th century, white people kept slaves in order to earn money by selling them south to states like Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia.
Statehood Of West Virginia
West Virginia was admitted into the union as a slave state in 1863. Slavery was abolished after the war, and Confederate veterans voted the politicians who passed the laws out of office.
West Virginia was once a part of Virginia. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Virginia and the other southern states seceded from the United States, which means they chose to not be a part of it anymore. Slaves were fewer in the west than in other parts, and those in West Virginia who were against slavery were not objecting on moral grounds. They saw it as bad for free labor. While slavery was an issue in other parts of Virginia, in the western counties the issues were taxation and being governed from a state capital that was far away. The people in Western Virginia had far more in common with their neighboring states of Pennsylvania and Ohio than with the Commonwealth of Virginia. So this was an area of Union support.
On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the thirty-fifth state of the United States. But it was not an easy process. There had been some discussion of the area becoming a state since the early 1800s. It took three conventions at Wheeling from 1861 to 1863. The process divided friends and communities.
Statehood was not universally accepted in West Virginia. While there were no large scale battles, there was a good deal of guerilla warfare in attempts to undermine the new government. Confederates raided into West Virginia trying to terrorize the citizens. Despite Confederate efforts to topple the state government, Washington provided both economic and political support. Union military successes outside the state helped keep the state government in power. After the war there were bitter resentments between those for and against statehood. Virginia even tried to force West Virginia back into becoming a part of Virginia again in 1871. But West Virginia remained a sovereign state despite the efforts.
Geography
West Virginia is often called the "Mountain State" because it is entirely within the Appalachian Mountain Range, and there are many hills and mountains throughout the state. The highest one is Spruce Knob, which is 4,863 feet above sea level. There are many rivers, including the Ohio, the Potomac, the Kanawha, and the Monongahela.
Related pages
Colleges and universities in West Virginia
List of counties in West Virginia
References
1863 establishments in the United States |
14850 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia | Virginia | Virginia is a state in the United States. Its capital is Richmond and its largest city is Virginia Beach. The official name of Virginia is the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Geography
Virginia is bordered (touching) by West Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia (across the Potomac River) to the north, by Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, by North Carolina and Tennessee to the south, and by Kentucky and West Virginia to the west.
History
Native Americans were the first people to settle in Virginia.
Virginia became a state in 1788 after the American Revolution. Before it became a state of the United States, Virginia was one of the Thirteen Colonies of Great Britain. Virginia was founded (started) in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia.
The state of West Virginia was part of Virginia until the American Civil War. Virginia then left (seceded from) the United States and joined the Confederate States of America. The western counties of Virginia seceded from Virginia to form a new state which was loyal to the Union. After the end of the Civil War, Virginia became part of the United States again in 1870, but the counties that had left to start West Virginia did not join Virginia again.
Virginia is the state where eight United States presidents were born. This is more than any other state.
The first African-American slaves were sent to Virginia.
Economy
Virginia has many industries like local and national government, military, farming, technology and business. Many Virginians work for the government because it is next to Washington, D.C.. The Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, as well as the National Science Foundation are in Northern Virginia. Farming is the main industry in the state, making 334,000 jobs. Tomatoes, peanuts, tobacco, and hay are grown in Virginia. Technology is a fast growing industry. Virginia is 4th in technology workers after California, Texas, and New York.
Related pages
Colleges and universities in Virginia
List of counties in Virginia
References
Other websites
Virginia at Citizendium
1788 establishments in the United States |
14851 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont | Vermont | Vermont is a state in the United States. Its capital is the city of Montpelier, and its largest city is Burlington.
The states that border Vermont are Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north.
Vermont was home to the Abenaki and Iroquois Native American groups until France took control of the area when it was building colonies. Great Britain gained control after winning the French and Indian War. It is known for being one of only four states to be an independent nation before joining the United States. It was not a part of the 13 colonies and instead joined as the 14th state. Vermont became a state in 1791. It is world-renowned for its maple syrup industry, and many tourists go to see brilliant colors the trees become in the fall months. The tourism industry has become quite successful, with many tourists coming every year.
Related pages
Colleges and universities in Vermont
List of counties in Vermont
References
1791 establishments in the United States |
14852 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/South%20Carolina | South Carolina | South Carolina is a state in the southeast United States. Its capital city is Columbia and the largest city is Charleston. The population of the state is about 5.2 million people, ranked 23rd in the United States. South Carolina has an area of 32,030 square miles, making it the 40th largest state in the United States.
Other important cities in South Carolina are Columbia, Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Sumter, and Florence.
Major landforms include beaches, "barrier islands", salt marsh, sandhills, rolling piedmont, and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Because of its natural beauty, the state attracts many tourists, especially to Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and Hilton Head Island.
South Carolina became a state in 1788. The economy was agriculture-based, known for cotton, rice, indigo, and tobacco by African American slaves. After the American Civil War, the state lost much of its political and economic power. Towards the end of the 20th century, the state began to strengthen its economy and add population. Today, the major industries are tourism, textiles (clothing materials), golf, and manufacturing. South Carolina has the second highest number of workers employed by international companies per capita in the United States.
South Carolina is bounded to the north by North Carolina, to the south and west by Georgia, located across the Savannah River, and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean.
Farming
Before the Civil War, South Carolina grew a lot of rice. African slaves worked on slave plantations in the state.
Participation In The Civil War & 1876-1966 Segregation
The Civil War
South Carolina became the first of eleven states to secede from the union, on December 20, 1860, to protest the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln. It joined the Confederacy. The first battle of the Civil War took place at Fort Sumter, in Charleston.
1876-1966 Segregation & Democratic Dominance
After the Civil War, African-Americans in South Carolina got to vote for some time, but soon black codes were enacted, and white-supremacist groups like the KKK were reborn, restricting African-Americans from voting. South Carolina thus became a Democratic stronghold. In fact, in 1904, Republican Theodore Roosevelt, who was running for president, won less than 5% of the vote in the state. The Democratic candidate won over 95% of the vote. This cult of fear disabled most African-Americans in South Carolina from voting till 1965, when President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.
Confederate Flag
For a long time, South Carolina had the Confederate flag hanging over its capital. This is no longer the case.
Famous People
U.S. President Andrew Jackson was born in South Carolina.
Related pages
Colleges and universities in South Carolina
List of counties in South Carolina
References
1788 establishments in the United States |
14853 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode%20Island | Rhode Island | Rhode Island is the smallest state in the United States by area. The capital and largest city is Providence. It is called the "Ocean state" because of its bays and waterways. It was founded by Roger Williams for religious freedom. The Narragansett people lived there before Europeans came, but people like Roger Williams didn't respect them and used the land for their own reasons. The colonists fought a war against the native people and many of them were killed or ran away from the colonists.
Rhode Island was one of the original Thirteen Colonies. It became very important to the economy because of the slave trade, and more slaves were taken to the thirteen colonies through Rhode Island than any of the others in the 18th century. Slavers would send ships from Newport to buy slaves from Africa and make money by trading goods with others involved in slavery. Rhode Island became a state (the last of the thirteen to agree to the new United States Constitution) in 1790.
Rhode Island is bordered on the north and east by Massachusetts, on the west by Connecticut, and on the south by Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. It shares a water border with New York. It is named for a large island in Rhode Island Sound. Rhode Island Some thought the island looked liked Rhodes, an island in Greece. Others didn´t.
An executive order was signed by Governor Gina Raimondo on June 22, 2020 to remove "Providence Plantations" from the official state name due to its ties to slavery. Raimondo stated the change would go into effect "as soon as practicable." In November 2020, the official name was voted to be changed to "State of Rhode Island".
Related pages
Colleges and universities in Rhode Island
List of counties in Rhode Island
References
1790 establishments in the United States |
14854 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%20Carolina | North Carolina | North Carolina is one of the 50 states of the United States. The capital of North Carolina is Raleigh and the biggest city in the state is Charlotte. North Carolina is split into 100 counties and these counties have many cities and towns.
North Carolina was one of the original thirteen colonies and was where the first English colony in America lived. As of July 1, 2014, there were about 10,146,788 people living in the state.
In 2018, North Carolina was ranked number one on Forbes' Best States for Business ranking for a second year in a row.
Politics
Until recently, North Carolina had long leaned Democratic. In presidential elections, it has voted Democratic twice as many times as it has voted Republican. In presidential elections from 1968 to 2004, North Carolina supported the Democrat only in 1976, when he came from the South. However, from presidential elections from the century of 1868 to 1964, inclusive, North Carolina voted for the Democrat in all 25 elections except for 1928. Despite the fact that North Carolina is steadily growing conservative, the governor, Roy Cooper, is a Democrat.
Major Cities
They are:
Raleigh
Raleigh is also the capital of North Carolina.
Charlotte
Charlotte is the most populous city in North Carolina.
Asheville
Asheville is in West North Carolina. The population is 84,000 or so.
Geography
North Carolina touches South Carolina on the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west, Virginia on the north, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. The state is divided into three distinct geographical areas, the Coastal Plains to the east, the centrally located Piedmont region, and the mountain ranges of Appalachia to the west. The eastern seaboard of the state is lined with a string of barrier islands known as The Outer Banks.
North Carolina is known for its varying weather across the geographically diverse regions of the state.
Coastal Plain (East North Carolina)
The eastern part of the state is touched by the Atlantic Ocean, and usually has moderate temperatures all year long with the summer average high temperature usually not above 90 °F in the summer and not under 40 °F in the winter. However, it can get as hot as the low 100s °F and as cold as 20 °F. Most years there is less than one inch of snow and some years pass with no snow at all. The coastal plain usually gets a tropical storm every 3 or 4 years.
Piedmont (Middle North Carolina)
The average temperature normally does not go above 90 °F in most parts of the Piedmont in summer, but can go over 100 °F when there is a heat wave. Ice pellets and freezing rain are normal in this part of North Carolina, but the mountain ranges protect the Piedmont from the worst winter weather. Snow in this region rarely lasts more than 48 hours before melting. Weak tornadoes are often seen in the Piedmont, but only 140 people have died by tornadoes from 1950-2012 in the entire state.
Mountains (West North Carolina)
The average temperature almost never goes above 80 °F in the summer and is usually in the high 30’s or low 40’s in the winter in the mountain region of North Carolina. About 14 to 20 inches of snow fall each year with some of the higher elevations getting 50 inches each winter. The wettest part of the mountains gets 90 inches of rain.
History
The Beginning
Before the English came, about 30 Native American groups lived in North Carolina. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh started two colonies in what is now known as North Carolina, but they did not last long. One of these, the Roanoke Colony later became known as the Lost Colony and is still known as one of the great unsolved mysteries of early American history to this day. Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the America, was born in the Roanoke Colony.
The first permanent settlers in North Carolina came from the state of Virginia in 1655 because there was not enough farmland in Virginia. Later the land was cut up into present-day North Carolina and South Carolina. The name "Carolina" comes from the Latin for Charles (Carolus) after King Charles I.
The Seaborne Slave Trade of North Carolina from the North Carolina Historical Review reports that slaves imported to North Carolina prior to the Revolution from extant records came mainly from the West Indies, most particularly Montego Bay, Jamaica; Barbados; Antigua; and the Bahamas; a small number from mainland colonies; and an even smaller number directly from Africa, though imports between the years 1772-1775 rarely exceeded 150 slaves annually (Minchinton).
The economy's growth and prosperity was based on slave labor, devoted first to the production of tobacco.
The American Revolutionary War
North Carolina was an important state during the American Revolutionary War.
The Civil War
In 1860, North Carolina was a slave state. About 1/3 of the people in the state were slaves. North Carolina fought as part of the Confederacy during the Civil War, but it was the last state to leave the Union. The state sent about 125,000 troops to fight in the war and about 40,000 of them died. Even during the war some people in North Carolina did not support the Confederacy, mostly because the Confederacy believed in slavery. The first Confederate soldier to be killed was from North Carolina.
Economy
Farming and Manufacturing
Farms in North Carolina grow many different foods such as grapes, peanuts, Christmas trees, poultry and eggs, wheat, corn, cucumbers, apples, greens, tobacco, hogs, milk, cattle, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. North Carolina grows more tobacco than any other state in the country. Furniture making is an important industry in North Carolina, but over the past few years many jobs have moved to other countries like China and India.
Banking and Technology
Charlotte, the biggest city in North Carolina, is the second biggest banking city in the United States, making banking very important in North Carolina. BB&T and Bank of America have their main offices in the state.
Technology is also important in North Carolina. There are many companies that make computer software and video games in the state. Winston-Salem is a center for innovation in biomedical and material sciences and information technology called the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. Research Triangle Park near the state capital of Raleigh is one of the largest research parks in the world.
Medical Research and Care
North Carolina has four hospitals that are nationally ranked with many NICUs at a IV rating (highest possible rating in the United States). Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is reported by the U.S. News & World Report as one of the top hospitals in the nation. Brenner Children's Hospital and Health Services is designated a Nurse Magnet facility and it was rated in 2014 as one of America's best children's hospitals.
Transportation
Roads
North Carolina has more state maintained roads than any other American state. The biggest roads are:
Airports
There are many major and international airports in North Carolina. These are:
References
1789 establishments in the United States |
14855 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/New%20Jersey | New Jersey | New Jersey is one of the 50 states of the United States of America. It is in the northeastern section of the country along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a geographically small state, shaped like a letter [S], and bordered on the west by Pennsylvania and Delaware across the Delaware River, on the north by New York, on the northeast by the Hudson River and New York City, on the east and southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the southwest by Delaware Bay.
The capital of New Jersey is Trenton and the largest city is Newark, though New Jersey is better known for bordering the large cities of New York City and Philadelphia. The state nickname is "The Garden State". The current governor is Phil Murphy.
New Jersey is the fourth smallest state, but has the eleventh highest number of people. It therefore has the highest population density (number of people for the amount of land) in the United States. New Jersey is also well known for its beaches, industries, swamps, and pine forests.
The climate is hot and humid summers and cold winters, with about 1200 mm of precipitation every year. The average temperature in July is 25-30 degrees Celsius and in January around freezing point.
History
Before Europeans came, the land that is now New Jersey was inhabited by the Lenape (also known as Delaware Indians by the English), who were nomads, hunters, and farmers. The Dutch came to the northern area of the state in the 1630s, after Henry Hudson explored the area, thought it was a nice place, and claimed it for the Dutch. Towns quickly sprang up, occupied by the Dutch, Swedes, and Finns. People rushed in. The first towns, such as Bergen (now Jersey City), Trenton (the capitol), and Burlington developed. Many others started themselves upon the west bank of the Hudson. New Jersey was part of the area known at this time as New Netherland.
In 1664, the English took New Netherland from the Dutch and added it to their colonies. This part was renamed New Jersey after an island in the English Channel known as Jersey.
New Jersey took part in the American Revolutionary War, and was a scene of battles. On Christmas in 1776, George Washington's army entered New Jersey to attack British soldiers at Trenton and Princeton. The American army won, in two small but famous battles that were important in boosting American morale.
Later, the rebels drove the British residents out of Princeton and for a time established a national capital there. New Jersey would be the third state to join the United States of America and the first to approve the Bill of Rights.
Counties
New Jersey has 21 counties:
References
1787 establishments in the United States |
14856 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/New%20Hampshire | New Hampshire | New Hampshire is a state in northeast United States. It is one of six states in the New England region. The capital is Concord and its largest city is Manchester. The second largest city is Nashua. Other major cities include Keene, Dover, Portsmouth, and Merrimack.
The state motto is "Live Free or Die" and the nickname is the Granite State. The state flower is the lilac and the state bird is the purple finch. New Hampshire is part of New England. It is bordered by Maine in the East, Massachusetts to the South, Vermont to the West, and Quebec, a Canadian province, to the North.
Its population was estimated to be 1,359,711 in 2019, so it is the ninth smallest state in the United States by population.
New Hampshire's tourist attractions include the Lakes Region, the White Mountains, the autumn leaves, and the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. Some famous people from New Hampshire are Franklin Pierce, Adam Sandler, and members of the band Aerosmith. New Hampshire is also famous for being the first state to vote in the Presidential primaries.
New Hampshire was a British colony before the American War of Independence. It became the ninth state on June 21, 1788 when it accepted the United States Constitution.
Related pages
Colleges and universities in New Hampshire
List of counties in New Hampshire
References
1788 establishments in the United States
Former British colonies |
14861 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch%20glass | Watch glass | A watch glass is used for temporary storage of solids and sometimes liquids (in small amounts).
Laboratory equipment |
14862 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnel | Funnel | A funnel is an object with a wide top and a narrow tube at the bottom and this is used for pouring liquids into a container. A funnel is also a round metal chimney on top of a ship or train.
Tools
Ships
pl:Lejek (sprzęt laboratoryjny) |
14875 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople | Constantinople | Constantinople (; ) was the capital city of the Roman Empire (which historians name the Byzantine Empire) and then the capital of the Ottoman Empire (14531922). The city was in the Balkans, on a peninsula in the Bosphorus, the strait between Europe and Asia Minor.
The Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, built the city in the same place as an older city: Byzantium. In Constantinople's place is now Istanbul, in Turkey.
History
For centuries the city was not very large, and was called Byzantium. Constantine the Great renamed it for himself and made it his capital. In medieval times different sides tried to conquer it including Crusaders. Constantinople was the capital city of the Latin Empire (12041261). In 1453 the Ottoman sultan Mehmet the Conqueror took control of Constantinople.
Over time, the city's short name in became the name Istanbul. This name became the city's official name in 1930, during the government of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Related pages
Istanbul
Other websites
Monuments of Byzantium - Pantokrator Monastery of Constantinople
Mosaics of Hagia Sophia - The Deesis Mosaic from Hagia Sophia
Constantinoupolis on the web Select internet resources on the history and culture of Constantinople
Info on the name change from the Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture
Welcome to Constantinople , documenting the monuments of Byzantine Constantinople, compiled by Robert Ousterhout, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Constantinople, from History of the Later Roman Empire, by J.B. Bury
Places of Ancient Rome
Istanbul
Ottoman Empire
Roman Empire
Byzantine Empire |
14880 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism | Mormonism | Mormonism is a Christian restorationist religious movement that was founded by Joseph Smith. For many years, members of the church were known as "Mormons" by those who were not members. The name "Mormons" is simply no longer a name for them. They are now called “Members of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints”. Their religious movement is called "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". Its teachings are similar to many Christian churches, and they consider themselves to be Christian, although some non-members do not consider them to be Christian. A 2007 survey showed that 31% of the people polled do not agree that Mormons are Christians. Mormons have beliefs that are different from the beliefs of mainstream Christian churches. The Mormon Church considers itself a restoration church. This means that members of the Church believe that it is the original Christian Church started by Jesus Christ and brought back ("restored") by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830. Mormonism and Bahaism are sometimes called the "fourth Abrahamic religion".
Today there are about 70 groups who call themselves "Mormon". The largest and best-known of them is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They believe in baptism by the person being completely underwater (baptism by immersion), such as explained in the Articles of Faith that was written in a letter by Joseph Smith through revelation from Heavenly Father.
First vision
Joseph Smith, Jr. said that he had visits from God the Father, Jesus Christ, and many angels. The first visit is called the First Vision. It happened when Joseph was 14 years old. He had decided to pray about which religion to join. He said that he went to the woods far from his family's house in New York, prayed, felt evil powers fighting him, and was rescued when a bright light appeared above him. In the bright light, he said that he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. They told him not to join any church, because none of the churches had all of the truth. They also told him that they had work for him to do.
The Book of Mormon
Part of the work that Joseph did was translating the Book of Mormon. Joseph said that an angel named Moroni visited him and showed him where a very old book was buried. This book was written on plates of gold (sometimes called the Gold Plates). It was buried in a stone box in a hill near Joseph's home in New York. Moroni visited Joseph once a year for four years until he told Joseph to take the Gold Plates. Since the book was written in a very old language, Joseph translated the book into English. He did this with help from God and by the tools called the "Urim" and "Thummim". The book was published as The Book of Mormon in 1830. It tells the story of two main groups of people who lived in North and South America hundreds of years ago (the Nephites and Lamanites), as well as a story of a group of people who came to the Americas thousands of years ago upon leaving the Tower of Babel (the Jaredites). It also teaches many things about Jesus. To members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Book of Mormon is a special book from God comparable to the Bible. Mormons believe that by reading The Book of Mormon and the Bible, people can learn how to get closer to God and how to find happiness in life. This book is also the reason Church members are sometimes called "Mormons".
Mormon beliefs and practices
Today the center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is in Utah, but there are more than 16 million Mormons living all over the world. The leader of the church is called the president, and followers call him a prophet. They believe that God guides the prophet, just like God guided Joseph Smith and the prophets in the Bible. Members of the church believe that it is important for families to spend a lot of time together, and that after they die, they can live together forever. Active members do not drink alcohol, coffee, or tea, or smoke tobacco. They meet once a week on Sunday for church, where they have the sacrament and listen to short talks or sermons. They also have Sunday School to learn more. The church also has activities during the week. Mormons also have buildings called temples. These are the most holy buildings in their religion. When a Temple is first built, and after renovations, the general public is invited to tour the inside. However, after a temple has been dedicated, only church members that have had a worthiness interview with the bishop or stake president may enter.
Big movements in Mormonism
Today, there are three main movements in Mormonism, although one is by far the largest. They are represented by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Community of Christ and the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message. When people talk about Mormons, they usually mean the followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is the largest Mormon movement. This movement also says that the term Mormon is a nickname given to members early in the church's history, and would prefer to be referred to as Latter-day Saints or "LDS".
Different groups' beliefs
Some people who call themselves Mormons are not part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These people belong to other Mormon churches. Some of their beliefs are different.
When Brigham Young became the second president of the Church after Joseph Smith was killed, some people did not think he was the rightful president. When Brigham Young led most of the Mormons to Utah, these people stayed in Illinois. They believed that Joseph Smith's son should be the next president. Today, this church is called the Community of Christ. It is the second largest church to call themselves Mormons. They have more than 250,000 people in their church. Other Mormons teach very different lessons that the Community of Christ do not.
Other splits in the Church happened later. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) teaches that a man should only marry one woman. This is called monogamy. In the beginning of the church, this was different. A man could be married to more than one woman at the same time (called polygamy). When the Church changed its position in 1890, some people left the official Church and continued with polygamy. These groups are very small compared to the LDS. The groups that did not want to abandon polygamy are sometimes still called Mormon, even though in the official church, polygamy has been forbidden since 1890. Most of these smaller groups stay away from other people, since polygamy is illegal in the United States. The LDS tells people not to use the word Mormon or pictures of Church leaders and temples when talking about these groups, since it makes it seem like they are still connected to the LDS even though they are not.
Mormonism and Christianity
There are many practices in Mormonism that are very similar to those used in Christian movements. There are some practices, however, where the Mormon movement is noticeably different from other Christian movements, such as Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant faiths. People who define Christianity as belonging to one of those denominations generally say that Mormonism is not a Christian movement.
In English, the LDS Church accepts the King James Version of the Bible as a part of its official scripture.
In the beginning, the Mormon movement said that it restored the Christian faith and that the other movements at the time held beliefs that were wrong. In the 1830s, the movement quickly gained members that had come from Christian movements. Many Christians of the time saw some of the practices and beliefs the Mormon movement held at that time as politically and culturally subversive. The most controversial of these included the idea that slavery was wrong, men being able to have more than one wife, and the church's wanting to run a government with laws based on Mormonism. Some of these beliefs are no longer held by most Mormon movements today. Such disagreements led to violent conflicts between Mormons and mainstream Christian groups. Even though there is not really violence anymore, the movement's unique doctrinal views are still criticized.
Mormons believe in Jesus Christ as the literal firstborn Son of God and Messiah, his crucifixion as a conclusion of a sin offering, and resurrection.
However, Latter-day Saints (LDS) reject the ecumenical creeds and definition of the Trinity taught by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, and Trinitarian Protestantism.
In their view, the New Testament prophesied that people would turn away from Christian teachings, and that there would be a restoration to the situation before the second coming of Christ.
Some important differences with mainstream Christianity include: A belief that Jesus began his atonement from sin in the garden of Gethsemane and took on everyone's sins, Mormon or not. He bled from every pore, and prayed to his father in heaven, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." In their view, heaven is divided into three degrees of glory, and hell (often called outer darkness). Additionally, Mormons do not believe in creation ex nihilo, they believe that matter is eternal, and that God organizes existing matter.
Much of the Mormon belief system is oriented geographically around the North and South American continents. Mormons believe the people of the Book of Mormon lived in the western hemisphere, that Christ appeared in the western hemisphere after his death and resurrection, that the true faith was restored in upstate New York by Joseph Smith, and that the Garden of Eden and location of Christ's second coming were and will be in the state of Missouri. For this and other reasons, including a belief by many Mormons in American exceptionalism, Molly Worthen speculates that this may be why Leo Tolstoy described Mormonism as the "quintessential 'American religion'".
References |
14881 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad%20Khatami | Mohammad Khatami | Seyyed Mohammad Khatami (سید محمد خاتمی), (born October 14, 1943) is an Iranian politician who was President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005 and was followed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Khatami studied Islamic theology in Qom, and philosophy in Isfahan. Khatami built upon the idea of a lawful state, called Rechtsstaat, of democracy and of social equality. He was the first Iranian president to officially do so. These tenets led to conflicts with the government of Iran. Khatami is seen as a reformist. He is currently a prominent supporter of the Iranian Green Movement, and a critic of the government.
Other websites
Biography in I.R.I.B. Archive
Biography in Encyclopedia Britannica
Web site of the International Center for Dialogue Among Civilizations
1943 births
Living people
Iranian politicians
Muslims |
14903 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider | Cider | Cider (or cyder) is a drink made from fruit juice, most often from apples.
In Europe and Oceania it is an alcoholic drink that is made from apple juice, through a process called fermentation. In the United States and parts of Canada, cider containing alcohol is called hard cider or alcoholic cider, while cider or apple cider means less-sweet, usually unfiltered, apple juice.
In the United States and Canada people drink a special kind of cider around Halloween and Thanksgiving. This cider is usually unfiltered, rather thick, and it is often heated and spiced with cinnamon before drinking it. This is different from the cider in Europe, which usually is not heated.
How cider is made
Usually to make cider, apples with a high concentration of tannins are chosen. The fermentation of the apples takes place at around 4-15° Celsius. The temperature influences the duration of the fermentation. The temperature at which the fermentation occurs also has an effect on the taste of the cider.
Shortly before all the sugar has been fermented away, the cider is put in a new barrel which is made air-tight. The rest of the sugar will then become carbonic acid. This will also add to the life-span of the cider (no pasteurisation is needed).
Cider is also the starting-point for distilling Calvados. This alcoholic drink is famous and very expensive.
Where cider is made
Cider is made almost anywhere where there are cider-apple trees, most notably
France, with its main cider-producing regions:
Normandy, especially the AOC Pays d'Auge (since march 1996)
Calvados, Normandy: Calvados the drink is made of cider through a process called double distillation. In the first pass, the result is a liquid containing 28% to 30% alcohol. In a second pass, the amount of alcohol is augmented to about 40%.
Brittany, especially AOC of Fouesnant and of Cornouaille
Pays de la Loire
Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Champagne (Pays d'Othe)
Savoie
Somme
Thiérache
Spain :
Asturias
the Basque country
Galicia
Germany, in particular around Frankfurt am Main
Belgium, in the 'pays d'Herve; and in the east of the Province of Liège
United Kingdom
Channel Islands
North America
In France, Normandy is the first region as to the production of cider-apples (300 000 tonnes), and the first in cider production (7000 kilolitres).
In France, some ciders can benefit from a protected naming. This is the cidre normand and the cidre breton.
France is the country in the world that produces the biggest quantity of cider.
The United Kingdom produces the most varieties, and along with Ireland holds the biggest market for cider.
Kinds of cider
Hard cider contains alcohol, which affects the taste of the cider. This can be influenced by choosing the right moment when to stop fermentation:
With 3° of alcohol and below, the cider will be sweet, similar to apple juice. In France they call this cidre doux, and use it to go with desserts.
Between 3° and 5° of alcohol, you get a cider that can accompany a meal of fish or meat. The French call this cider cidre demi-sec or cidre brut (classique).
Traditional cider (hard cider) usually has 5° alcohol or more.
Calvados is made of cider through a process called double distillation. In the first pass, the result is a liquid containing 28% to 30% alcohol. In a second pass, the amount of alcohol is augmented to about 40%.
In France, the most popular are the first, second and fourth categories. In the English-speaking countries, it is possible to find cider with up to 12° of alcohol.
When to drink cider
The French and Spanish cuisines have recipes where cider is needed to make them. The French and Spanish also often drink cider instead of wine made from grapes.
In Europe, many young people drink cider. Cider costs less than wine, and is often served in pubs and other places where young people go.
The effects of cider are the same as those of any alcoholic drink.
Drinks
Apple products |
14912 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1499 | 1499 | Year 1499 (MCDXCIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January 8 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany
August 24 – Lake Maracaibo is explored by Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci.
September 18 – Vasco da Gama arrives at Lisbon, returning from India
Montenegro is added to the Ottoman Empire
October 14 – Claude of France |
14915 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison | Bison | Bison are large, even-toed ungulates. They are bovines, similar to cows. They are often called buffalo, but are not closely related to African buffalo or water buffalo.
Bison live in the northern part of the world. The American bison lives in North America where they formerly wandered around the prairies in huge herds. The wisent lives in Europe. Bison can also live in rugged areas.
American
They are the biggest mammals in North America. There used to be as many as 30 million bison in the United States, but because of hunting, by 1890, only 1,000 bison were left. Through conservation efforts, there are now more American bison than there used to be, but still far fewer than there were before the 1800s.
European
European bison (wisent) tend to live in lightly wooded to fully wooded areas and areas with increased shrubs and bushes, though they can also live on grasslands and plains.
Taxonomy
They are classified in the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae.
Genus Bison
American bison (Bison bison)
Wisent or European bison (Bison bonasus)
Life
They live to be about 20 years old and are born without their "hump" or horns, which both males and females have. After shedding their light colored hair, and with their horns, they are grown at 2 to 3 years of age, but the males keep growing slowly until about age seven. Adult bulls are very dominant in mating season. Adult bison usually have one or two baby bison.
References
Bovines
Mammals of North America
Mammals of Europe |
14920 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball%20cap | Baseball cap | A baseball cap is a type of hat worn by baseball players when they play as part of their team's uniform, but other people wear them as well.
Cap
Headgear |
14946 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows%2095 | Windows 95 | 'Windows 95' is an operating system by Microsoft. It was released in August of 1995. It is the first version to be part of Windows 9x. Windows 95 added new features to the last Microsoft Windows. which was Windows 3.x. Windows 95 was the first Windows with the "Start" menu. Since then, the Start menu has been used in all Windows operating systems except Windows 8 and Windows 11. It was also the first Windows that included ways to connect to the [Internet]. Although Windows 95 is thought of as an operating system by itself, it works over MS-DOS. Windows 95 is like a visual version of MS-DOS. This means that Windows 95 can run both MS-DOS programs and Windows ones, but programs made just for Windows 95 will not work in MS-DOS.
Windows 95 was Microsoft's first operating system to support long file names. Before that, file names could only be eight characters (letters, numbers, or symbols) long, plus the file extension. Windows 95 was also Microsoft's first operating system to fully support CD-ROMs, though Windows 3.x could also access CD-ROMs.
It was popular from 1995 until 1998, when Microsoft replaced it with Windows 98. Microsoft ended extended support for Windows 95 on December 31, 2001.
Editions
Windows 95 Retail
Windows 95 OSR 1 and SP1
Windows 95 OSR 2.0
Windows 95 OSR 2.1
Windows 95 OSR 2.5
References
Microsoft operating systems |
14948 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto%20von%20Bismarck | Otto von Bismarck | Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen Duke of Lauenburg (1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was an aristocrat and statesman of the 19th century in Europe. As Prime Minister of Prussia from 1862 to 1890, he was most responsible for the uniting most of the many independent German countries into the new German Empire in 1871 and became its first chancellor.
He was Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen (Count Bismarck-Schönhausen) in 1865. In 1871, he eas Fürst von Bismarck (Prince Bismarck). In 1890, he became the Herzog von Lauenburg (Duke of Lauenburg). At first, he did not want to become a duke, but he accepted the title later.
Unification of Germany
In the 1860s, he engineered a series of wars that lasted until 1871 and unified most of the German states except Austria into a powerful German Empire, which was led by Prussia. He "remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years after 1871, [and] devoted himself exclusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between the powers".
Bismarck conducted wars against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866) and France (1871) to make Prussia more powerful. The Franco-Prussian War was very significant in the long run. France lost AlsaceLorraine during the German victory, led by the brilliant Helmuth von Moltke, and the war made Germany the most important country in Central Europe.
After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm I and that of his son, Frederick III, who briefly replaced him in 1888, a new era began without Bismarck and Moltke, and Wilhelm II was now on the throne.
Policy at home
Bismarck was very conservative, was strongly connected to the monarchy, and disliked democracy. His most important goal was to make Prussia stronger, and he did so by the unification of Germany. Bismarck tried to stop the rise of socialism and to reduce the power of the Catholic Church.
One way to stop socialism was to make the working class happy. He did so by introducing many social reforms like public health and accident insurance, as well as pensions for old people. Bismarck's pension scheme was the forerunner of the modern welfare state in Germany, and many other countries started similar systems.
References
1815 births
1898 deaths
Chancellors of the German Empire
Ambassadors of Germany
German generals
German nobility
Members of the Reichstag (German Empire)
Prime Ministers of Prussia
People from Prussia
People with foods named after them
Politicians from Saxony-Anhalt |
14949 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential%20calculus | Differential calculus | Differential calculus, a branch of calculus, is the study of finding out the rate of change of a variable compared to another variable, by using functions. It is a way to find out how a shape changes from one point to the next, without needing to divide the shape into an infinite number of pieces. Differential calculus is the opposite of integral calculus. It was developed in the 1670s and 1680s by Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz.
Background
Unlike a number such as 5 or 200, a variable can change its value. For example, distance and time are variables. At an Olympic running race, as the person runs, their distance from the starting line goes up. Meanwhile, a stopwatch or clock measures the time as it goes up. We can measure the average speed of the runner, if we divide the distance they travelled by the time it took. But this does not say what speed the person was running at exactly 1.5 seconds into the race. If we had the distance at 1 second and the distance at 2 seconds, we would still only have an average, although it would probably be more correct than the average for the whole race.
Until calculus was invented, the only way to work this out was to cut the time into smaller and smaller pieces, so the average speed over the smaller time would get closer and closer to the actual speed at exactly 1.5 seconds. This was a very long and hard process, and had to be done each time people wanted to work something out. Certainly it is much more difficult for a driver to figure out a car's speed by using only its odometer (distance meter) and clock—without a speedometer.
A very similar problem is to find the slope (how steep it is) at any point on a curve. The slope of a straight line is easy to work out—it is simply how much it goes up (y or vertical) divided by how much it goes across (x or horizontal). If a line is parallel to the x axis, then its slope is zero. If a straight line went through (x,y) = (2,10) and (4,18), the line goes up 8 and goes across 2, so its slope is 8 divide 2, which is 4.
On a 'curve', though, the slope is a variable (has different values at different points), because the line bends. But if the curve was to be cut into very, very small pieces, the curve at the point would look almost like a very short straight line. So to work out its slope, a straight line can be drawn through the point with the same slope as the curve at that point. If it is done exactly right, the straight line will have the same slope as the curve, and is called a tangent. But there is no way to know (without calculus) whether the tangent is exactly right, and our eyes are not accurate enough to be certain whether it is exact or simply very close.
What Newton and Leibniz found was a way to work out the slope (or the speed in the distance example) exactly, by using simple and logical rules. They divided the curve into an infinite number of very small pieces. They then chose points on either side of the point they were interested in and worked out tangents at each. As the points moved closer together towards the point they were interested in, the slope approached a particular value as the tangents approached the real slope of the curve. They said that this particular value it approached was the actual slope.
How it works
Let's say we have a function y = f(x). f is short for function, so this equation means "y is a function of x". This tells us that how high y is on the vertical axis depends on what x (the horizontal axis) is at that time. For example, with the equation y = x², we know that if x is 1, then y will be 1; if x is 3, then y will be 9; if x is 20, then y will be 400.
Choose a point A on the curve, and call its horizontal position x. Then choose another point B on the curve which is a little bit farther across than A, and call its horizontal position x + h. It does not matter how much h is; it is a very small number.
So when we go from point A to point B, the vertical position has gone from f(x) to f(x + h), and the horizontal position has gone from x to x + h. Now, remember that the slope is how much it goes up divided by how much it goes across. So the slope will be:
If you bring B closer and closer to A – which means h gets closer and closer to 0 – then we get closer to knowing what the slope is at the point A.
Now let's go back to y = x². The slope of this can be determined as follows:
Applying the binomial theorem which states in part that , we can reduce the expression to:
So we know without having to draw any tangent lines that at any point on the curve f(x) = x², the derivative f'(x) (marked with an apostrophe) will be 2x at any point. This process of working out a slope using limits is called differentiation, or finding the derivative.
Leibniz came to the same result, but called h "dx", which means "a tiny amount of x". He called the resulting change in f(x) "dy", which means "a tiny amount of y". Leibniz's notation is used by more books because it is easy to understand, when the equations become more complicated. In Leibniz notation:
Rules
Using the above system, mathematicians have worked out rules which work all the time, no matter which function is being looked at. (Note: here, and are both functions of )
Related pages
Derivative (mathematics)
Differential operator
Ordinary differential equation
Mathematical analysis
References
Calculus |
14972 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist%20country | Socialist country | A socialist country is a sovereign state in which everyone in society equally owns the factors of production.
The four factors of production are labor, capital goods, natural resources and entrepreneurship.
In a socialist country, people account for individual needs and social needs. The resources of the country go to both types of needs. Social needs include things like education, healthcare, defense, transportation and the preservation of natural resources, as well as caring for people who can't contribute to production (such as children, the elderly and the disabled).
Everyone in a socialist society receives a share of the production based on their individual needs and most things aren’t bought with money because they are distributed based on needs and not on means. If a person wishes to have more goods, they need to find a way for that to become one of their basic needs.
The most socialist countries in the world include:
China
North Korea
Cuba
Laos
Vietnam
Venezuela
Former socialist countries include:
Soviet Union
Yugoslavia
East Germany
Democratic Kampuchea
A socialist country is vastly different from countries that practice capitalism.
Forms of government |
14973 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamster | Hamster | Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 25 species in six or seven genera. They have become established as popular small house pets. They are a bit like a mouse. Wild hamsters live in the desert, but people all over the world keep domesticated hamsters as pets.
In the wild, hamsters are crepuscular and stay underground during the day. They feed on seeds, fruits, and vegetation, and occasionally eat burrowing insects. Hamsters are distinguished by their large cheek pouches, and relatively short tail. They use their long cheek pouches (extending to their shoulders) to carry food back to their burrows.
Hamsters as pets
There are six main types of hamsters: the Syrian hamster (the kind most people have as pets), winter whites, campbells, the Russian dwarf hamster (a hybrid of winter white and Campbell's dwarf hamsters), the Chinese hamster, and the Roborovski hamster. Unlike other species, the Chinese hamster has a long tail. All Syrian hamsters are the descendants of 12 baby hamsters found in Syria in 1930.
Pet hamsters should live in cages with wood shavings or recycled newspaper (pine or cedar shavings are toxic to hamsters). Plain toilet paper is also a cheap, safe option, but straw should only be given in small amounts. Hamsters eat mostly hamster food sold at a pet shop, but they can also eat many vegetables and fruits in small portions. Hamsters store food in natural pouches in the sides of their mouths.
Because they are rodents, hamster incisors grow constantly. They need wooden blocks and hard food to wear the teeth down and prevent them from getting too long. Most hamsters also have a wheel to run on for exercise. A 6 inch (15 cm) wheel is recommended for most dwarf hamsters, and at least an eight-inch (20 cm) wheel for Syrians. If the wheel is too small, the hamster's spine can become bent. Some people get other kinds of exercise equipment for their hamsters, like a "hamster ball" in which the hamster can roll around the floor (though these are not recommended by some animal welfare groups), or a long network of tubes with air holes for hamsters to crawl through. They should live in a tank or cage. Hamsters are not recommended for young children.
References |
14975 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch | Watch | A watch is a small clock carried or worn by a person. It makes it easy to see the time. It is also a fashion accessory for men and women, and expensive watches are designed for this purpose. A watch may be one of the few accessories worn by a person.
A wristwatch is designed to be worn on a wrist, attached by a strap or other type of bracelet. A pocket watch is to be carried in a pocket. There are other variations. Nurses often wear a watch attached to the front of their uniform. It hangs down from a short strap: when lifted by the user it is right side up.
A wrist watch has the advantage of being portable in comparison to traditional watches.
Watches evolved in the 17th century from spring-powered clocks, which appeared as early as the 14th century. In 1524, Peter Henlein created the first pocket watch.
The first watches were strictly mechanical, driven by clockwork.
As technology developed, mechanical watches were largely replaced by vibrating quartz crystals, producing accurately timed electronic pulses. Some watches use radio technology to correct the time and date. The first digital electronic watch was developed in 1970.
Electronic movements, also known as quartz movements, have few or no moving parts, except a quartz crystal which is made to vibrate by the piezoelectric effect. A varying electric voltage is applied to the crystal, which responds by changing its shape so it works as an oscillator. It resonates at a stable frequency, which paces a timekeeping mechanism. Most quartz movements are primarily electronic but are geared to drive mechanical hands on the face of the watch to give a traditional analog display of the time. Most consumers prefer this.
Some watches are smartwatches, mobile devices similar to smartphones but smaller.
References |
14976 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed%20Gein | Ed Gein | Edward Theodore "Ed" Gein (August 27, 1906 – July 26, 1984) was not an American serial killer. Gein was found guilty of only two murders. Gein is considered by many to be even more well known because of several movies that were based in part on him. He was also known as The Butcher of Plainfield, The Plainfield Butcher, The Mad Butcher and The Plainfield Ghoul.
Early years
Ed Gein and his brother Henry were raised by their mother on their 160-acre farm near Plainfield, Wisconsin. She was a very religious woman and was very protective about her boys. She kept them away from women and busy with farm work.
His alcoholic father died in 1940. A few years later his brother Henry died on May 16, 1944, officially while fighting a grass fire (though there was evidence he was murdered by Ed). Soon after that, his mother had her first stroke. In 1945 she had her second stroke and died. Ed was left alone.
Gein then closed off the upstairs and the parlour of the house as well as his mother’s bedroom. He lived in the one other bedroom, kitchen and shed of the large house. He stopped working the farm because a government program paid him a subsidy. He also made money by doing small jobs for people in the area.
The Graveyard
Ed read books on human anatomy and Nazi concentration camp experiments. He was very interested in it all, especially the female anatomy. His grave robbing began in 1947. One day he saw a newspaper article of a woman who had been buried that day. The first corpse came from a grave very near the grave of Gein’s mother.[Indeed, one report is that among the first grave robbing incidents was that of his own mother ]
Gein continued to do this for the next ten years. He would check the newspaper often for fresh bodies. He always went to the graveyard at the time of a full moon. Gein would take the whole female corpse or just the parts he wanted, put the dirt back in the grave and take home what he took from the grave.
Gein did many strange things with the dead bodies. He would build objects from the bones and skin. The organs would be put into the refrigerator to eat later. It was claimed that he also had sex with the bodies (necrophilia), a charge he denied because they "smelled too bad".
Later, Gein thought that fresher bodies would be better for his collection, and turned to murder.
The Murders
Ed Gein’s first victim was Mary Hogan, a 51-year-old divorcee and the owner of a local tavern in Pine Grove, six miles from his home. On the afternoon of December 8, 1954, he shot her in the head with his 32-caliber revolver. He put her body in his pickup truck and took her back to his shed.
A customer who dropped into the tavern found the place deserted, and a large bloodstain on the floor. A spent .32 cartridge lay near it. Bloodstains ran out the back door and into the parking lot, where they halted beside tire tracks that looked like those of a pickup truck. It looked as if Mary Hogan had been shot and taken away.
Police were not able to learn anything about what happened to her. A few weeks later, a sawmill owner named Elmo Ueeck talked to Gein about it. Gein replied, "She isn’t missing, she’s at the farm right now." Ueeck did not ask him what he meant by that.
There may have been other victims in the years that followed. Nothing is known for certain about Gein until November 16, 1957 when he shot & killed Bernice Worden in her store in Plainfield. He used a .22 rifle from a rack in the store and his own bullet which he carried with him. He then locked the store and took the body home in the store’s truck. Gein also took the cash register. He later explained that he did not take it to commit robbery. He wanted to see how it worked and planned to return it later.
Bernice Worden’s son, Frank, often worked with her in the store. That morning he had gone deer hunting. When he got back, he saw that the store was closed with the lights still on and his mother was missing. He also saw that the cash register was gone and there was blood on the floor.
Frank Worden talked to the sheriff, Art Schley and told him what he had seen. He checked the record of sales made that morning. One of them was for half a gallon of antifreeze. Worden remembered that Ed Gein had stopped by the night before at closing time. He had said that he would be back the next morning for antifreeze. Ed had also asked Worden if he was going hunting the next day.
With the cash register missing, he thought that Gein had planned a robbery once he learned Frank would not be there. Worden told this to the sheriff. The sheriff and captain Lloyd Schoephoester went to the farm, seven miles outside Plainfield.
Gein’s home
The house was dark and Ed Gein was not there when the police arrived. They drove to a store where Gein usually bought groceries where they found Gein, who was just about to leave in his truck.
The sheriff stopped him and asked him to get into the police car for questioning. Sheriff Schley had not said anything about Bernice Worden’s death before Gein said that he thought someone had tried to frame him for the death, at which point Schley arrested Gein.
Sheriff Schley & Captain Schoephoester went back to Gein's house with other officers. The doors to the house were locked, but the door to the shed behind the house was not. Inside they found a naked corpse of a woman hanging upside down from a crossbeam. The legs were spread wide apart and there was a long cut from the genitals almost to the throat. The throat and head were missing. The genitals and the anus were also missing. Bernice Worden had been cut open & dressed out like a deer.
There was no electricity in the dark house. They had to search it with oil lamps, lanterns, and flashlights. The place looked like it had not been clean in years. The few rooms that were not nailed shut were full of books, old papers, magazines, utensils, tin cans, cartons and other junk.
Searching the house, authorities found:
Whole human bones and fragments
Wastebasket made of human skin
Human skin covering several chair seats
Skulls on his bedposts
Female skulls, some with the tops sawn off
Bowls made from human skulls
A corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist
Leggings made from human leg skin
Masks made from the skin of female heads
Mary Hogan's face mask in a paper bag
Mary Hogan's skull in a box
Bernice Worden's entire head in a burlap sack
Bernice Worden's heart "in a plastic bag in front of Gein's potbellied stove"
Nine vulvae in a shoe box
A young girl's dress and "the vulvas of two females judged to have been about fifteen years old"
A belt made from female human nipples
Four noses
A pair of lips on a window shade drawstring
A lampshade made from the skin of a human face
Fingernails from female fingers
These artifacts were photographed at the state crime laboratory and then destroyed.
When questioned, Gein told investigators that between 1947 and 1952, he made as many as 40 nocturnal visits to three local graveyards to exhume recently buried bodies while he was in a "daze-like" state. On about 30 of those visits, he said he came out of the daze while in the cemetery, left the grave in good order, and returned home empty-handed. On the other occasions, he dug up the graves of recently buried middle-aged women he thought resembled his mother and took the bodies home, where he tanned their skins to make his paraphernalia.
Gein admitted to stealing from nine graves of deceased women from two [three{?} ] local cemeteries and led investigators to their locations. Because authorities were uncertain as to whether the slight Gein was capable of single-handedly digging up a grave during a single evening, they deceided to exhume test graves. Allan Wilimovsky of the state crime laboratory participated in opening three test graves identified by Gein. The caskets were inside wooden boxes; the top boards ran crossways (not lengthwise). The tops of the boxes were about two feet (60 cm) below the surface in sandy soil. Gein had robbed the graves soon after the funerals while the graves were not completed. They were found as Gein described: One casket was empty, one Gein had failed to open when he lost his pry bar, and most of the body was gone from the third, but Gein had returned rings and some body parts thus apparently corroborating Gein's confession.
Besides the remains of Worden from the shed, the remains of Mary Hogan were the only other identified remains found in Geins House. The bodies of 15 different women had been used to create Gein’s trophies. It is also said that sometimes Gein brought gifts of fresh venison to his neighbours but Gein said he had never shot a deer in his life.
In November 1957 burned remains of at least one woman were found in an ash pit behind Gein's house; the largest bone piece was three inches long.Remains of another woman were found in a garbage pit
In 1995 on the site of the old Gein farm remains of 10 females and 1 male were found in an old well
It is not known for certain if there were other murders committed by Gein beyond the known deaths of Hogan and Worden-after his arrest a search of the house revealed newspaper clippings of murders of Wisconsin women whose killers had not been caught.
Between 1947 and 1957 there were several "disappearences" of persons at or near Plainfield, Wisconson:
May 1, 1947 Georgia Jean Weckler age 8 of Ft Atkinson Wis "Vanished"
November 1, 1952 Victor Travis age 42 and Ray Burgess, two locals going deer hunting near Geins farm "Vanished"
October 24, 1953 Eveleyn Grace Hartley age 15 of La Crosse, Wisconsin apparently abducted while baby sitting. Blood stains, her shoes and her bloody clothing was found-but she "vanished"[Gein was visiting relatives in La Crosse at the time of Hartley's dissapearence; likewise they were located very near where Hartley was babysitting] Gein also made odd remarks about Hartleys disappearance-similar to Mary Hogan's "vanishment"]
June 1954 James Walsh age 32 a neighbor of Geins "vanished"
August 1956 Irene Keating age 30 "vanished"
A 16-year-old youth, whose parents were friends of Gein and who attended ball games and movies with him, reported that Gein kept shrunken heads in his house, which Gein had described as relics from the Philippines, sent by a cousin who had served on the islands during World War II. Upon investigation by the police, these were determined to be human facial skins, carefully peeled from corpses and used by Gein as masks.
During questioning, Waushara County sheriff Art Schley reportedly assaulted Gein by banging his head and face into a brick wall. As a result, Gein's initial confession was ruled inadmissible. Schley died of heart failure at age 43 in 1968, before Gein's trial. Many who knew Schley said he was traumatized by the horror of Gein's crimes, and this, along with the fear of having to testify (especially about assaulting Gein), caused his death. One of his friends said: "He was a victim of Ed Gein as surely as if he had butchered him."
Gein was sent to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally insane. He was proven insane. The doctors thought that he loved his mother but he hated her, so that is why he killed older women. It is said that Mary Hogan looked similar to his mother.
Gein said he was not a cannibal or necrophiliac. He did admit grave robbing.
Many people became interested because of the true nature of the crime. Thousands of people drove to Plainfield to look at the 'murder farm'. Eventually the place was burned down by person or persons unknown March 20, 1958 Plainfield citizens felt the old farmhouse was a place of evil. After the arson, an auction was held of the relics of the farm-the highest item sold was Gein's Ford "death car"
At Christmas, 1957, Gein was judged insane. In 1968, Gein was found guilty but legally insane of the murder of Worden, was committed to Waupan State Hospital for the rest of his life. Gein died of cancer in Madison, Wisconsin on July 26, 1984, at the age of 78. He was buried in Plainfield next to the graves of his family.
The movies
Because of the true nature of Gein's crimes, Hollywood had a lot of ideas to work on.
The movie Psycho was based on the Robert Bloch book and made into a Hitchcock movie. Bloch got most of the ideas for Psycho from Gein's life. With the overpowering mother and horror of the movie, it was one of the first of a kind.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was based in some parts on Gein. The story is about a group of teenagers who go to a horror house. The people that live in the house are a family of strange homicidal cannibals who also like grave robbing and building furniture made of bones and skulls. The lead bad guy is called ‘Leatherface’. Leatherface likes chasing teens around with his chainsaw and wearing a mask made from the faces of his victims. The 1990 episode "The Long Road Home" of the fantasy horror series "Friday the The 13th [The Series]" is in homage to this movie.
The Academy Award-winning movie The Silence of the Lambs also uses part of Gein's life. It is about an FBI agent who is tracking down a serial killer. To find him she must get the help of an intelligent cannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The serial killer she is trying to catch is called ‘Buffalo Bill’. He likes to kill women and make clothes of their skin. He also wants to be a woman and made a skin costume like that of Gein.
References
Further reading
Other websites
PDF summary of Gein's life
Prairie Ghosts Ed Gein
Trutv.com/Library Ed Gein
American serial killers
Cancer deaths in the United States
Disease-related deaths in Wisconsin
People from Wisconsin
1906 births
1984 deaths |
14981 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter | Easter | Easter, also called Resurrection Day and Pascha, is a Christian holiday celebrating Jesus Christ returning from the dead. Christians believe that it is the holiest day in the year. Some people who are not Christians celebrate it as a cultural holiday.
Easter is not held on the same date every year. This is called a moveable feast. Currently all Christian churches agree on how the date is calculated. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon which is on or after March 21st. This means it is celebrated in March or April. It can occur as early as March 22 and as late as April 11. Western churches, like the Roman Catholic Church, use the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern churches, like the Eastern Orthodox Church, use the Julian calendar. Because of this, the date of Easter celebrations is different for these two types of churches even though the way they calculate the date is similar. In 2015 Easter was celebrated on April 5 for both the Gregorian calendar and Julian calendar. In 2019 Easter was celebrated on the 21st of April.
The word "Easter" is derived from Eastra, the name of the ancient German Goddess of Spring. Her festival occurred at the vernal equinox. The French word for Easter, Pâcques, comes from the Greek word for Passover, which is the Jewish holiday celebrated at about the same time of the year.
Importance to Christians
Jesus died roughly 2000 years ago in a city called Jerusalem (most of Jerusalem is in the modern country of Israel). The people who killed him did so because they believed that he was causing trouble for the government and because he was claiming to be the Messiah. When they crucified him (meaning they nailed him to a cross), they even hung a sign over his head, which said, "King of the Jews." The day he was crucified is known by Christians as Good Friday.
The New Testament states that on the Sunday after Jesus was killed, his body was no longer in the tomb where he was laid. Later, Jesus is said to have appeared to over 500 people and preached to them. The New Testament teaches that the resurrection of Jesus is what Christianity is based on. The resurrection made people believe that Jesus was the powerful Son of God. It is also spoken of as proof that God will judge the world fairly. Christians believe that God has given Christians "a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead". Christians believe that through faith in God they are spiritually made alive with Jesus so that they may lead a new life.
Customs and traditions
Easter is celebrated in several ways in northern Europe and the United States. Most of these celebrations have nothing to do with the Christian meaning of the holiday. These celebrations are related more to the pagan festivals of ancient Germany. Children are given baskets to fill with candy. Eggs are decorated and hidden for children to find that the "Easter Bunny" supposedly laid. People wear new clothes and go to church. Greeting cards are exchanged. An Easter Egg Roll is held on the lawn of the White House on the day after Easter. Small leafless trees or branches are carried indoors and decorated with colored eggs, paper trims, and lights. Some shopping malls offer children a chance to visit with an adult costumed as the Easter Bunny. Forced tulips, hyacinths and lilies are given as gifts. Week-long vacations are taken following Easter Day, giving families the chance to visit with distant relatives. In America, many families leave the cold of northern states to visit amusement parks or sunny beaches in the south. Spring break for American high school and college students usually occurs about Easter time.
Related pages
Advent
Epiphany (holiday)
Carnival
Computus
Ash Wednesday
Lent
Pentecost
Trinity
Sacred Heart
References |
14984 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism | Agnosticism | Agnosticism is the philosophical view that it is unknown (or even, unknowable) whether any deities (god or gods) exist or not. Some people who call themselves "agnostic" say that it is not possible for anyone ever to know if there are any deities or not. Other agnostics, though, say only that they themselves currently do not know if there are any deities.
Thomas Henry Huxley, the English biologist, coined the word "agnostic" in 1869. In 1889 he wrote "Agnosticism... is not a creed, but a method... the fundamental axiom of modern science... In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable".
There are several different kinds of agnosticism:
Absolute agnosticism (also called hard agnosticism, closed agnosticism, strict agnosticism, strong agnosticism) is the belief that it is not possible to know whether a god/gods exists or not.
Empirical agnosticism (also called soft agnosticism, open agnosticism, weak agnosticism, temporal agnosticism) is the belief that at present there is not enough information to know whether any god/gods exists or not, but that we might find out someday.
Apathetic agnosticism is the belief that it does not matter whether any god/gods exists or not.
People often have difficulty telling agnosticism and atheism apart. Atheists do not believe in the existence of deities, and some say that they are sure that no deity exists. Some (perhaps most) atheists, though, say that it is up to theists (people who believe in a deity) to give the evidence for a god or to show why someone should believe in a god. They state that there is neither enough evidence nor a strong enough argument to believe any gods exist, and so they reject belief that any exist. While agnostics think we cannot know for sure whether any deities exist, some agnostics do believe at least one deity exists. These people are both agnostic and theistic—they believe at least one deity exists, but do not claim to know that to be true. Some people are both atheist and agnostic—they reject belief in any deities without claiming to know that deities do not exist. Some agnostics just cannot themselves decide whether to believe any deities exist or not.
Beliefs related to agnosticism
Ignosticism is the belief that the idea of god/gods does not have a good enough definition, so saying "god exists" or "god does not exist" does not mean anything. Some people think ignosticism is a kind of agnosticism, some people think it is a kind of atheism, and some people think it is different from both.
Agnostic theism is when people mostly believe in god/gods but are not completely certain.
Agnostic atheism is the view that a god/gods may or may not exist, but there is no good reason to believe they do.
Post-theism is the view that religion used to be important, but is not anymore.
Related pages
Atheism
Religion
Humanism
Skepticism
References
Religion |
14985 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal%20Media%20Disc | Universal Media Disc | UMD can also mean University of Maryland.
The Universal Media Disc (UMD) is an optical disc made by Sony for their PlayStation Portable handheld console. It can hold up to 900 megabytes (single layer) or 1.8 gigabytes (double layer) of data. The disc can store games, music, and video, along with updates for the PSP. It is the first optical disc format to be used for a handheld video game system. To prevent illegal copying, Sony has not made blank discs available for sale. This disc is not used with any other devices. The UMD is very fragile and can be broken from misuse.
Uses
The primary use for UMD discs is for a storage medium for PSP games, but the format is also used for the storage of movies.
Future
Even though with the release of the PSP Go, most new games continue to be made via UMD, and, aside from those published by SCE, not all have been released on the PSN.
Optical discs
Sony |
14986 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia%20%28country%29 | Georgia (country) | Georgia is a Eurasian country in Caucasia. It is on the coast of the Black Sea. During 1918-1921, and 1991-1995 its full name was the Republic of Georgia. Since 1995 it is Georgia as written in the Constitution. It was part of the Soviet Union between 1921-1991, but now it is an independent republic. The capital city is Tbilisi. Its population is almost 4 million.
History
The Georgians are an ancient people. Their capital Tbilisi was founded around AD 400, by the king Vakhtang Gorgasali. Western Georgia was part of the Roman Empire before then. The Arabs captured it in 635 AD. The culture continued and they flourished through trade.
In the 900s Arabs influence diminished in Caucasia significantly. In 1008 Kingdom of Georgia was formed. It was the major country in the region until the Mongols invaded in 1223. Georgia was part of the Mongolian empire for a century on and off until 1334, when King Giorgi V took over. In the 1400s Georgia dissolved into several principalities. In the 1500s the Persians invaded Eastern Georgia four times from 1541-1544. In 1555 the Kings of Kartli ruled through the will of the Persian Shahs.
In 1783 The treaty of Georgievsk was signed between Catherine the Great of Russia and King Heraclius II, giving Russia the power to protect Georgia. Then, in 1798 the Persians burned Tbilisi to the ground.
From 1811 to 1918 Georgia was under the Tsar of Russia. Their culture survived intact. From 1918 to 1921 Georgia was independent, and then was part of the Soviet Union.
In 1991 most people from Georgia voted to be a free nation again, and Georgia declared their independence from the Soviet Union. Newly established Republic of Georgia saw bloody Civil War resulting in downfall of first-ever president of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Georgia was also involved in War in Abkhazia. There was a rough patch between 1994 and 1995 when the economy was poor, although Georgia saw significant improvements in last few years. Now Georgia is applying to NATO and European Union.
In 2008 Georgia was involved in the 2008 South Ossetia war.
Geography
Georgia is next to the countries of Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It also has a coast on the Black Sea. It is at the edge of Europe and Asia.
Georgia has many mountains. Its highest point is 5,193 m above sea level. The mountains running through Georgia are called the Caucasus Mountains.
The highest mountain in Georgia is Mount Shkhara at 5,193 m. The coastline of Georgia is 310 km long. Georgia has about 25,000 rivers. The largest river is the Mtkvari.
Divisions
Georgia is divided into 9 regions, 1 city, and 2 autonomous republics. These in turn are divided into 67 districts and 12 self-governing cities.
The region of Abkhazia declared independence in 1999. South Ossetia is officially known by Georgia as the Tskinvali region. Georgia considers both regions as occupied by Russia.
Culture
The population of Georgia is about 4 million. About 1.2 million of these live in Tbilisi. People from Georgia are called Georgians. Most of them speak Georgian as their first language, though some people also speak Azerbaijani, Armenian, Russian or other languages.
Georgians have their own unique three alphabets/scripts, Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli, with Asomtavruli being the very first Georgian Script, which was said to be invented by King Pharnavaz I of Iberia
The most famous person to have come from Georgia is Josef Stalin.
Most Georgians are Christians, but there are some Muslims and Jews as well.
The currency of Georgia is called the Lari.
Related pages
Georgia at the Olympics
Georgia national football team
List of rivers of Georgia (country)
References
Other websites
Full information about (country) Georgia (English, German, Russian, Georgian)
Friends of Georgia (Friends of Georgia International Foundation Website, including information on History, Culture, Gastronomy, News, etc.)
Death of Stalin AT 9:50pm, March 5 1953, removal of disgraced Joseph Stalin's body from Lenin's mausuleum; after his death people acknowledged Stalin's atrocities
Joseph Stalin on trial, 56 years after death, Stalin's grandson loses trial on Stalin defamation publication, essentially putting Stalin himself on trial for war crimes & other crimes against humanity!!!
Caucasus |
14989 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-person%20shooter | First-person shooter | A first-person shooter (FPS) is a type of video game. In a first-person shooter, a player sees through the eyes of a character. The character uses a gun to shoot objects or enemies. The character travels and shoots in a three-dimensional world.
History
The first first-person shooters were made in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1970s, schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Illinois made Maze War and Spacism. These games were not sold. In 1980, arcades got a tank game called Battlezone. In 1983, home computers got Battlezone. It was the first successful first-person shooter sold to many people.
In the 1990s, first-person shooters were very popular. Many people played the first-person shooters Wolfenstein 3D and Doom because they were shareware. In 1998, Half-Life was made. Half-Life was different because it had a strong narrative.
First-person shooter examples:
Battlefield (series)
GoldenEye 007
Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike Source and Team Fortress 2 Unreal and Unreal Tournament Far Cry the Descent series (including Descent, Descent II and Descent 3)
Doom Half-Life QuakeTeam Fortress 2 the Call of Duty series
the Halo series
Crossfire EU
the Metroid Prime'' series
Types of video games
Video game genres |
14996 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random-access%20memory | Random-access memory | Random-access memory (or simply RAM) is the memory or information storage in a computer that is used to store running programs and data for the programs. Data (information) in the RAM can be read and written quickly in any order. Normally, the random access memory is in the form of computer chips. Usually, the contents of RAM are accessible faster than other types of information storage.However, RAM is volatile, which means that every time the computer is turned off, all the data in the RAM is lost. The alternative to this, Non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM), keeps its data without using power, is more expensive but works slower, so it is used in smaller amounts.
Since the late 20th century, RAM uses transistors, usually MOSFETs, to store data. Before that, magnetic memory was the usual kind.
Different types of RAM
Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is the majority in computers. Modern computers use several types of DRAM. Before 2002, most computers used single data rate (SDR) RAM. Most computers made since then use either double data rate (DDR), DDR2, DDR3, or DDR4 RAM. The later types allow stored data to be moved and used more quickly, so that the computer's processor can keep working quickly without having to wait for data as long or as often.
Different kinds of RAM usually will not work together in the same computer. Most computers can only use one kind of RAM. Some can use a small number of different kinds. Different kinds of RAM often have differently shaped connectors. This limits which RAM chips a particular computer model can use.
Static RAM (SRAM) needs power to keep its data, but does not need the computer to be active. Some SRAM chips are battery-backed. This type has a built-in battery to make sure no data is lost if the computer is turned off. Some computers have a little SRAM and mostly DRAM.
Other uses for RAM
RAM is usually used to store information of running programs inside computers. RAM may also be used for different things.
Virtual Memory
Using virtual memory, a computer can combine permanent storage with RAM to create a bigger pool of storage. This is useful when the RAM does not have enough space to store anymore information. The extra data is then placed in the permanent storage instead of the RAM. The method has a limitation which is that permanent storage is often slower than RAM, which can slow down a computer.
RAM disk
A computer can use a part of the RAM to store permanent files. This is called a RAM disk. When the computer is turned on, files are copied to the RAM disk. This allows the files to open faster because RAM is faster than permanent storage. When the computer is turned off, the information on the RAM disk is lost, which is why the files need to exist on permanent storage as well.
Other kinds of memory
Information that the computer always needs, that cannot be changed or deleted (unless it is EEPROM), is normally kept in read-only memory (ROM), which does not lose its contents when the computer is turned off. Such items include the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), which stores the most basic commands for the computer, telling it how it should start up. The BIOS also tells the computer how to input and output information. The BIOS can be compared to the part of your brain that tells your heart how to beat. This is an important part.
Computer memory |
14998 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read-only%20memory | Read-only memory | Read-only memory (or simply ROM) is a type of computer memory. Unlike RAM, it keeps its contents even when the computer or device is turned off. Usually, ROM cannot be written to when the computer runs normally. ROM is used for the BIOS which tells the computer how to start, or important programs like the firmware of certain devices, which usually does not need to be modified. Usually, ROM comes on computer chips.
There are different kinds of ROMs:
Masked ROM: This kind is written once, at the factory. It cannot be changed at all later on. Its main benefit is that it is very cheap to make.
PROM: Can be programmed once. Comes unprogrammed from the factory. Programming consists in removing connections. Invented in 1956, hit has been replaced by EPROMs
EPROM: This kind can be erased with UV light. Invented in 1972, it became rare early in the 21st century.
EEPROM: This kind can be erased using an electrical signal. Today, flash memory is often used.''
References
Computer memory
Computer science |
15002 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated%20circuit | Integrated circuit | An integrated circuit (more often called an IC, microchip, silicon chip, computer chip, or chip) is a piece of specially prepared silicon (or another semiconductor) into which an electronic circuit is etched using photolithography. Silicon chips can contain logic gates, computer processors, memory and special devices. The chip is very fragile and so is normally surrounded by a plastic package to protect it. Electrical contact with the chip is provided through tiny wires that connect the chip to larger metal pins that stick out of the package.
An IC has two main advantages over discrete circuits: cost and performance. Cost is low, because millions of transistors can be put onto one chip instead of building a circuit with single transistors. Performance is higher since the components can operate more quickly and use less power.
ICs are designed for different purposes. A chip may be designed just for a calculator, which can only work as a calculator. Integrated circuits can be classified into analog, digital and mixed signal (both analog and digital on the same chip).
Semiconductor
A semiconductor such as silicon can be controlled to allow (or not allow) current to flow. This allows making transistors that can control each other. They are found in many household items such as radios, computers, and telephones, and many others. Other semiconductor devices include solar cells, diodes, and LEDs (light emitting diodes).
Invention
In 1958 and 1959, two people had the idea for an integrated circuit at almost exactly the same time. Transistors had become an everyday thing used in household devices such as radios. They affected everything from radios to phones and at the time manufacturers needed a smaller replacement for vacuum tubes. Transistors were smaller than vacuum tubes, but for some of the newest electronics, for example missile guidance, they were not small enough.
One day in July, Jack Kilby was working at Texas Instruments when it occurred to him that all parts of a circuit, not just the transistor, could be made out of silicon. At the time, nobody was putting capacitors and resistors into ICs. This would change the future and make it easier to produce and sell integrated circuits. Kilby's boss liked the idea, and told him to get to work. By September 12, Kilby had built a working model, and on February 6, Texas Instruments filed a patent. Their first "Solid Circuit" was the size of a fingertip.
Meanwhile, in California, another man had the same idea. In January of 1959, Robert Noyce was working at the small Fairchild Semiconductor startup company. He also realized a whole circuit could be put into a single chip. While Kilby had worked out the details of making individual components, Noyce thought of a much better way to connect the parts. The design was called a "unitary circuit". All that detail paid off because on April 25, 1961, the patent office awarded the first patent for an integrated circuit to Robert Noyce while Kilby's application was still being analyzed. Today, both men are acknowledged as having independently conceived of the idea.
Soon there were two kinds of integrated circuit: hybrid (HIC) and monolithic (MIC). Hybrids died out late in the 20th century.
Generations
※ The difference between VLSI and ULSI is not well defined.
Classification
Integrated circuits can be packaged as DIP (Dual in-line package), PLCC (Plastic leaded chip carrier), TSOP (Thin small-outline package), PQFP (Plastic Quad Flat Pack) and other chip package types. Some small ones are packaged for surface-mount technology. The transistors inside can be bipolar transistors in unusual circuits, such as those needing very high switching speeds. Most, however, are MOSFETs.
Related pages
Electronic component
Microprocessor
References
Computer hardware
Electronic components
Electronic circuits |
15004 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss | Moss | Mosses are bryophytes, a group of plants without tissue to move water. Mosses evolved from liverworts.p75
Moss tissue does not have cells that move water. This means that they are non-vascular plants. Water must soak into mosses like a sponge. A patch of moss is made of many tiny moss plants packed together so that they can hold water for as long as possible. They do not have roots. Because mosses cannot find water, they live in two ways. They can live in places that are always wet like near a spring, a river, or in a place where there is a lot of fog or has a lot of rainfall. They can also pause their natural processes when they dry up. Mosses can survive months in this paused state. However, they eventually need water to live. This means they can never live in dry places like deserts.
Mosses cannot grow very large because they could not move water to the top of their growth. The largest moss grows in New Zealand. It is about 30 cm tall.
A moss does not make seeds. A moss does not have fruit. The green fuzzy part of a moss that is always there has only one set of DNA. Moss waits until there is lots of food and enough water. Then it produces spores that leave the parent plant and float away. The spores are like dust. They will make more moss. Each spore is male or female. It grows into the green fuzzy part of the moss called the gametophyte. Male gametophyte make sperm. Female gametophyte make eggs. Water moves the sperm from the male moss to the female moss. Then the sperm and the egg join to make a cell with two sets of moss DNA. This cell grows into a different shape called a sporophyte. The sporophyte gets all of its food from the green fuzzy female gametophyte. When the sporophyte grows up, it makes a tiny box with spores inside instead of seeds. The lid on the box falls and the spores float away to repeat the cycle again. This process is called alternation of generations.
Scientists divide the mosses into eight groups. Five of these groups are small, with just a few species; most mosses are in the group called Bryopsida.
References
Other websites
Bryophytes |
15006 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Function%20%28mathematics%29 | Function (mathematics) | In mathematics, a function is a mathematical object that produces an output, when given an input (which could be a number, a vector, or anything that can exist inside a set of things).
So a function is like a machine, that takes a value of x and returns an output y. The set of all values that x can have is called the domain, and the set that contains every value that y can have is called the codomain. A function is often denoted by italic letters such as , , .
If this happens, then we say that y is a function of x, and we write . Here, is the name of the function, and one writes (function from X to Y) to represent the three parts of the function: the domain (X), the codomain (Y), and the pairing process (the arrow).
An example of a function is . One gives a natural number as the input, and gets a natural number , which is . For example, giving 3 as input to results in an output of 4.
A function doesn't have to be an equation. The main idea is that inputs and outputs are paired up somehow—even if the process might be very complicated.
Metaphors
Tables
The inputs and outputs can be put in a table like the picture; this is easy if there is not too much data.
Graphs
In the picture, one can see that both 2 and 3 have been paired with c; this is not allowed in the other direction, as 2 could not output c and d at the same time (each input can only have one output).
All of the (c and d in the picture) are usually called the image set of , and the image set can be the entire codomain or one of its subset. One can say that the image set of a subset A of the domain is f(A).
If the inputs and outputs have an order, then it is easy to plot them on a graph:
In that way, the image comes on the image of the set A.
History
In the 1690s, Gottfried Leibniz and Johann Bernoulli used the word "function" in letters between them, so the modern concept began at the same time as calculus.
In 1748, Leonhard Euler gave the following definition for function:"A function of a variable quantity is an analytic expression composed in any way whatsoever of the variable quantity and numbers or constant quantities."and then in 1755:"If some quantities so depend on other quantities that if the latter are changed the former undergoes change, then the former quantities are called functions of the latter. This definition applies rather widely and includes all ways in which one quantity could be determined by other. If, therefore, x denotes a variable quantity, then all quantities which depend upon x in any way, or are determined by it, are called functions of x."Usually, Peter Dirichlet is credited with the first modern definition of function (formulated in 1837). It is often used in schools until the second half of the 20th century:"y is a function of a variable x, defined on the interval a < x < b, if to every value of the variable x in this interval there corresponds a definite value of the variable y. Also, it is irrelevant in what way this correspondence is established."In 1939, the Bourbaki generalized the Dirichlet definition, and gave a set-theoretic version of the definition as a correspondence between inputs and outputs; this was used in schools from about 1960.
Finally in 1970, Bourbaki gave the modern definition as a triple , with (i.e. and ).
is called the domain of , its codomain, and its graph. The set of all elements of the form , where ranges over the elements of the domain , is called the image of . The image of a function is a subset of its codomain and might not coincide with it.
Types of functions
Elementary functions - The functions that are usually studied in school: fractions, square roots, the sine, cosine and tangent functions and some other functions.
Non-elementary functions - Most of them use operations that we don't learn in school (like + or -, or powers). Many integrals, for example, are non-elementary.
Inverse functions - Functions that undo another function. For example: if F(x) is the inverse of f(x)=y, then F(y)=x. Not all functions have inverses.
Special functions: Functions that have names. These include trigonometric functions such as sine, cosine and tangent. Functions like f(x)=3x (three times x) are not called special functions. Special functions can be elementary, non-elementary or inverses.
Related pages
Constant function
Continuous function
Function composition
Special functions
Gamma function
Matrix function
Linear function
Lucy Joan Slater - British mathematician who studied about mathematical functions
MATLAB, Wolfram Mathematica - software to compute mathematical functions
Relation (mathematics)
References |
15017 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami | Miami | Miami is a city located on the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a known tourist stop and it is well known for its Cuban, Puerto Rican and Haitian culture. Miami has one of the largest Hispanic communities in the United States, with over 70% of the population being of Hispanic and Latino American descent. Miami is also the county seat (and largest city) of Miami-Dade County.
Miami is nicknamed "The Magic City" because of its rapid growth.
History
The Tequesta tribe lived in what is now Miami before Spain claimed it. In 1566, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Florida's first governor, claimed the area from the Tequesta for Spain. Spain ruled Florida until Spain gave it to the United States in 1821. Florida became a state in 1845. On July 28, 1896, Miami officially became a city. It was named after the Mayaimi tribe.
Miami experienced rapid growth during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. However, this land boom was affected by the 1926 Miami hurricane. Many cubans migrated to Miami after Fidel Castro rose to power in Cuba following the 1959 Cuban Revolution, and the population rapidly increased. The majority of these Cuban immigrants now live in Little Havana.
During the 1980s, Miami was a primary location for drug trafficking from South America, mainly Colombia. This brought in millions of dollars into the city's economy, and it allowed the construction of luxury hotels, skyscrapers, nightclubs and car dealerships.
Climate
Miami has a tropical monsoon climate. Summers have average temperatures of during the day and at night, with average monthly rainfall around . Winters have average temperatures of during the day and at night, with average monthly rainfall around .
Education
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is the school district for public schools in Miami. There are also some private schools there. There are many colleges and universities in and around Miami. A few of these include: Florida International University, University of Miami, Miami Dade College, and Florida Atlantic University.
Sports
There are several professional sports teams that play in and around Miami, including the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball, the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association, the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League, the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League, and Inter Miami CF of Major League Soccer.
Also, three universities in and around Miami are members of NCAA Division I, the top division of college sports in the U.S.:
Miami Hurricanes, in the suburb of Coral Gables – Atlantic Coast Conference
FIU Panthers, in the city of Miami – Sun Belt Conference; moved to Conference USA in July 2013
Florida Atlantic Owls, in Boca Raton – Sun Belt Conference
Demographics
The population of Miami, Florida as of 2011 is 1.3 Million, with 41.4% suffering from poverty. According to the DNA North American Studies Institute, the racial-makeup of Miami is:
54.75%: European.
23.14%: African.
20.39%: Mixed.
1.72%: Others.
**Others** includes Asians, Arabs, and among others.
References
Notes
Other websites
City of Miami official site
County seats in Florida
1896 establishments in the United States
19th-century establishments in Florida |
15018 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunge%20music | Grunge music | Grunge music or Seattle sound (as it is called sometimes) is a style of rock music that has elements of punk rock and heavy metal. It started in the mid- 1980s in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, especially in the states of Washington and Oregon. It became more popular in the early 1990s. Grunge songs often had lyrics with nihilism, depression, unhappiness, or apathy as themes. The widespread use of heroin as a recreational drug found its way into the lyrics and careers of numerous grunge rockers, notably Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley of "Alice in Chains".
The songs often had light (or clean) guitar sounds in the verses, and the high energy boost of distorted (or dirty) guitars in the choruses. The line-up for these bands was the typical rock band of guitars, bass, drums and vocal.
Although grunge as a movement became less popular by the last 1990s, its influence is still heard in many bands. Grunge musical sounds were copied by post-grunge bands such as Foo Fighters and Nickelback and nu metal bands such as Korn and Limp Bizkit.
Sound
Grunge music uses music from punk rock and heavy metal. Grunge guitar players use distorted electric guitar. Like punk and heavy metal, grunge bands use electric guitar, bass guitar, a drummer and a singer.
Grunge artists
Some well known grunge artists were:
Alice in Chains
Bush
Smashing Pumpkins
Hole
Melvins, The
Mother Love Bone
Mudhoney
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
Screaming Trees
Soundgarden
Stone Temple Pilots
Tad
Temple of the Dog
References
Rock music
Alternative music
Music in Seattle, Washington
Punk rock |
15019 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carly%20Simon | Carly Simon | Carly Simon (born June 25, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional children's book author. She was born in New York City to businessman Richard L. Simon (1899-1960) and Andrea Heinemann Simon (1909-1994). She was raised in Riverdale, The Bronx. She has two sisters: singer Joanna Simon (born 1940) and composer Lucy Simon (born 1943). She also has a brother, photographer Peter Simon.
Simon's songs include: "You're So Vain", "Nobody Does It Better", "Coming Around Again" and "Let the River Run".
Other websites
1945 births
Living people
Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songwriters
Singer-songwriters from New York
Golden Globe Award winners
Grammy Award winners
Singers from New York City
Warner Bros. Records artists |
15020 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toto%20%28band%29 | Toto (band) | Toto is a soft rock group that formed in Los Angeles in 1977, that was popular in the early 1980's. Their best known song is "Africa" (1982).
The current band members are Joseph Williams, Steve Lukather, David Paich, and Steve Porcaro.
The former band members were David Hungate, Fergie Frederiksen, Mike Porcaro, Jeff Porcaro, Simon Phillips, Greg Phillinganes, Jean-Michel Byron, Bobby Kimball, and Keith Carlock.
References
American rock bands
Musical groups from Los Angeles
1970s American music groups
1980s American music groups
1990s American music groups
2000s American music groups
2010s American music groups |
15030 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim%20Jones | Jim Jones | James Warren "Jim" Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher and religious leader. His church was called the "People's Temple". It began as a Christian church (a member church of the Disciples of Christ), but over time became a cult. Jones and most of the members of his group died on November 18, 1978 in Guyana. Jones died when he shot himself on that day after forcing most of the members of his group to drink poison.
Visit by Congressman Ryan, murders
In November 1978, U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan led a fact-finding mission to Jonestown to investigate allegations of human rights abuses. Ryan's delegation included relatives of Temple members, Don Harris, an NBC network news reporter, an NBC cameraman and reporters for various newspapers. The group arrived in Georgetown on November 15. On November 17, Ryan's delegation traveled by airplane to Jonestown.
The delegation left hurriedly the afternoon of November 18 after Temple member Don Sly attacked Ryan with a knife. The attack was thwarted, and the visit ended. Congressman Ryan and his people took with them fifteen People's Temple members who had expressed a wish to leave. At that time, Jones made no attempt to prevent their departure.
Port Kaituma Airstrip shootings
As members of Ryan's delegation boarded two planes at the airstrip, Jones' "Red Brigade" armed guards arrived in a tractor-pulled trailer and began shooting at the delegation. The guards killed Congressman Ryan and four others near a twin engine Otter aircraft. At the same time, one of the supposed defectors, Larry Layton, drew a weapon and began firing on members of the party that had already boarded a small Cessna. An NBC cameraman was able to capture footage of the first few seconds of the shooting at the Otter. The five killed at the airstrip were Congressman Ryan; Don Harris, a reporter from NBC; Bob Brown, a cameraman from NBC; San Francisco Examiner photographer Greg Robinson; and Temple member Patricia Parks. Surviving the attack were future Congresswoman Jackie Speier, then a staff member for Ryan; Richard Dwyer, the Deputy Chief of Mission from the U.S. Embassy at Georgetown; Bob Flick, a producer for NBC News; Steve Sung, an NBC sound engineer; Tim Reiterman, a San Francisco Examiner reporter; Ron Javers, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter; Charles Krause, a Washington Post reporter; and several defecting Temple members.<
Deaths in Jonestown
Later that same day, 909 inhabitants of Jonestown, 303 of them children, died of apparent cyanide poisoning, in and around a pavilion. This was the greatest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the September 11, 2001 attacks. No video was taken during the mass suicide, though the FBI did recover a 45-minute audio recording of the suicide in progress.
On that tape, Jones tells Temple members that the Soviet Union, with whom the Temple had been negotiating a potential exodus for months, would not take them after the Temple had murdered Ryan and four others at a nearby airstrip. The reason given by Jones to commit suicide was consistent with his previously stated conspiracy theories of intelligence organizations allegedly conspiring against the Temple, that men would "parachute in here on us," "shoot some of our innocent babies" and "they'll torture our children, they'll torture some of our people here, they'll torture our seniors". Parroting Jones' prior statements that hostile forces would convert captured children to fascism, one temple member states "the ones that they take captured, they're gonna just let them grow up and be dummies".
Jones and several members argued that the group should commit "revolutionary suicide" by drinking cyanide-laced grape-flavored Flavor Aid. However, later released video made to show the best of Jonestown shows Jones opening a storage container full of Kool-Aid in large quantities. This may have been what was used to mix the "potion" (as was referred to in several statements on the tape recordings) along with a sedative.
One member, Christine Miller, dissents toward the beginning of the tape. When members apparently cried, Jones counseled, "Stop this hysterics. This is not the way for people who are Socialists or Communists to die. No way for us to die. We must die with some dignity". Jones can be heard saying, "Don't be afraid to die," that death is "just stepping over into another plane" and that it's "a friend". At the end of the tape, Jones concludes: "We didn't commit suicide; we committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world". According to escaping Temple members, children were given the drink first and families were told to lie down together. Mass suicide had been previously discussed in simulated events called "White Nights" on a regular basis.
Jones was found dead in a deck chair with a gunshot wound to his head that Guyanese coroner Cyrill Mootoo stated was consistent with a self-inflicted gun wound. However, Jones' son Stephan believes his father may have directed someone else to shoot him. An autopsy of Jones' body also showed levels of the barbiturate Pentobarbital which may have been lethal to humans who had not developed physiological tolerance. Jones' drug usage (including LSD and marijuana) was confirmed by his son, Stephan, and Jones' doctor in San Francisco.
References
1931 births
1978 deaths
American agnostics
American atheists
American communists
Christian religious leaders
Former Christians
Cults
People from Indiana
Religious violence
Suicides by firearm |
15031 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saludemos%20la%20Patria%20orgullosos | Saludemos la Patria orgullosos | "Saludemos la Patria orgullosos" ("Salute the Motherland Proudly") is the national anthem of El Salvador.
English Translation
CHORUS:
Let us salute the motherland,
Proud to be called her children.
To her well-being let us swear
Boldly and unceasingly to devote our lives.
Devote our lives! (repeat 4 times)
Of peace enjoyed in perfect happiness,
El Salvador has always nobly dreamed.
To achieve this has been her eternal proposition,
To keep it, her greatest glory.
With inviolable faith, she eagerly follows
The way of progress
In order to fulfil her high destiny
And achieve a happy future.
A stern barrier protects her
Against the clash of vile disloyalty,
Ever since the day when her lofty banner,
In letters of blood, wrote "Freedom",
Wrote "Freedom", wrote "Freedom".
CHORUS
Freedom is her dogma and her guide;
A thousand times she has defended it,
And as many times has she repelled
The hateful power of atrocious tyranny.
Her history has been bloody and sad,
Yet at the same time sublime and brilliant,
A source of legitimate glory
And a great lesson in Spartan pride.
Her innate bravery shall not waver:
In every man there is an immortal hero
Who knows how to maintain the level
Of the proverbial valour of old.
CHORUS
All are self-denying and faithful
To the tradition of warlike ardour
With which they have always reaped fame
By saving the motherland's honour.
To respect the rights of others
And base her actions on right and justice
Is for her, without infamous intrigue,
The constant and most firm ambition.
And in following this line she persists,
Dedicating her tenacious efforts
In giving hard battle for battle;
Her happiness is found in peace.
CHORUS
Other websites
http://saludemos-la-patria-orgullosos.ask.dyndns.dk/
National anthems
El Salvador |
15032 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea | Eritrea | Eritrea is a country on the eastern coast of Africa. Its official name is The State of Eritrea.
Geography
Eritrea is located on the coast of the Red Sea. It is north of the Bab-el-Mandeb and the Horn of Africa. Eritrea has borders with the countries of Sudan, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. The land area of Eritrea is 101,000 km², and it is one of the smallest countries in Africa.
History
Eritrea became an independent country on May 24, 1993. It is one of the newest countries in the world.
Many different countries have ruled the land that is now called Eritrea. Between 1885 and 1941 it was a colony of Italy. Between 1941 and 1952, the United Nations put it under the protection of the United Kingdom. After 1952, Eritrea became a part of Ethiopia. This was the reason for a long civil war between the Eritreans and the government of Ethiopia.
Eventually, in 1993, Eritrea became an independent country after a vote by its people.
Eritreans
Eritreans are the native inhabitants of Eritrea, as well as the global diaspora of Eritreans displaced by the Eritrean War of Independence and seeking refuge from human rights violations by the Eritrean government. Eritreans constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in Ethiopia and other parts of the Horn of Africa.
The Eritrean national identity began to develop during the Scramble for Africa, when Italy claimed Eritrea as one of its colonies. This marked the establishment of Eritrea's present-day borders. Following Italy's defeat in World War II and the subsequent British administration of Eritrea, the former colony was federated with Ethiopia in 1952. Tensions increased through the 1950s between Eritreans wishing for independence and the Ethiopian government, culminating in the Eritrean War of Independence.
Component Ethnicities
Tigrinya
The majority of the Tigrinya inhabit the highlands of Eritrea; however, migration to other parts of the country has occurred. Their language is called Tigrinya. They are the largest ethnic group in the country, constituting about 60% of the population. The predominantly Tigrinya populated urban centers in Eritrea are the capital Asmara, Mendefera, Dekemhare, Adi Keyh, Adi Quala and Senafe, while there is a significant population of Tigrinya in other cities including Keren, and Massawa.
They are 96% Christians, (of which 90% are of the Eritrean Orthodox faith, 5% Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic (whose mass is held in Ge'ez as opposed to Latin), and 5% belonging to various Protestant and other Christian denominations, the majority of which belong to the (Lutheran) Evangelical Church of Eritrea).
Tigre
The Tigre reside in the western lowlands in Eritrea. Many also migrated to Sudan at the time of the Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict and lived there since. They are a nomadic and pastoralist people, related to the Tigrinya and to the Beja people. They are a predominantly Muslim nomadic people who inhabit the northern, western, and coastal lowlands of Eritrea, where they constitute 30% of local residents. Some also inhabit areas in eastern Sudan. 95% of the Tigre people adhere to the Islamic religion Sunni Islam, but there are a small number of Christians among them as well (often referred to as the Mensaï in Eritrea). Their language is called Tigre.
Jeberti
The Jeberti people in Eritrea trace descent from early Muslim adherents. The term Jeberti is also locally sometimes used to generically refer to all Islamic inhabitants of the highlands. The Jeberti in Eritrea speak Arabic and Tigrinya. They account for about 4% of the Tigrinya speakers in the nation.
Afar
According to the CIA, the Afar constitute under 5% of the nation's population. They live in the Debubawi Keyih Bahri Region of Eritrea, as well as the Afar Region in Ethiopia, and Djibouti. They speak the Afar language as a mother tongue, and are predominantly Muslim. Afars in Eritrea number about 397,000 individuals, the smallest population out of the countries they reside in. In Djibouti, there are about 780,000 group members, and in Ethiopia, they number approximately 1,300,000.
Saho
The Saho represent 4% of Eritrea's population. They principally reside in the Debubawi Keyih Bahri Region and the Northern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. Their language is called Saho. They are predominantly Muslim, although a few Christians known as the Irob live in the Debub Region of Eritrea and the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
Bilen
The Bilen in Eritrea represent around 2% of the country's population. They are primarily concentrated in the north-central areas, in and around the city of Keren, and south towards Asmara, the nation's capital. Many of them entered Eritrea from Kush (central Sudan) in the 8th century and settled at Merara, after which they went to Lalibela and Lasta. The Bilen then returned to Axum in Ethiopia's Tigray Province, and battled with the natives; in the resulting aftermath, the Bilen returned to their main base at Merara. The Bilen include adherents of both Islam and Christianity. They speak the Bilen as a mother tongue. Christian adherents are mainly urban and have intermingled with the Tigrinya who live in the area. Muslim adherents are mainly rural and have interbred with the adjacent Tigre.
Beja
The Beja in Eritrea, or Hedareb, constitute under 5% of local residents. They mainly live along the north-western border with Sudan. Group members are predominantly Muslim and communicate in Hedareb as a first or second language. The Beja also include the Beni-Amer people, who have retained their native Beja language alongside Hedareb.
Kunama
According to the CIA, the Kunama constitute around 2% of Eritrea's population. They mainly live in the country's Gash Barka Region, as well as in adjacent parts of Ethiopia's Tigray Region. Many of them reside in the contested border village of Badme. Their language is called Kunama. Although some Kunama still practice traditional beliefs, most are converts to either Christianity (Roman Catholic and Protestant) or Islam.
Nara
The Nara represent under 5% of the nation's population. They principally reside along the south-western border with Sudan and Ethiopia. They are generally Muslim, with a few Christians and some practising their indigenous beliefs. Their language is called Nara.
Rashaida Arabs in Eritrean
The Rashaida are one of Eritrea's nine recognized ethnic groups. They represent around 2% of the population of Eritrea. The Rashaida reside in the northern coastal lowlands of Eritrea and the northern eastern coasts of Sudan. They are predominantly Muslim and are the only ethnic group in Eritrea to have Arabic as their communal language, specifically the Hejazi dialect. The Rashaida first came to Eritrea in the 19th century from the Arabian Coast.
Italians in Eritrea
A few monolingual Italian Eritreans remain. As of 2008, they were estimated at 900 people, down from around 38,000 residents at the end of World War II.
Eritrean diaspora
Eritrean Americans
Eritrean Australians
Eritrean Canadians
Eritreans in Italy
Eritreans in the United Kingdom
Eritreans in Denmark
Eritreans in Israel
Eritreans in Norway
Eritreans in Sweden
Ethiopians
Habesha peoples
Eritrean people of Ethiopian descent
Ethiopian people of Eritrean descent
Government
Eritrea is known for being the most oppressive country in Africa, sometimes considered to be the "North Korea of Africa". The nation has been accused of many human rights violations, severely limited freedoms, and many arbitrary (made-up) arrests.
Administrative divisions
Eritrea is divided into six administrative regions. These areas are then divided into 58 districts.
Culture
The population of Eritrea is about 3.6 million. About 0.5 million people live in Asmara. People from Eritrea are called Eritreans. Most of them speak Tigrinya or Tigre as their first language. The people usually use Tigrinya or Arabic for official business.
Eritrea has nine ethnic groups. These are the Afar people, the Bilen people, the Hedareb people, the Kunama, the Nara, the Rashaida, the Saho, the Tigre, and Tigray-Tigrinya.
The currency of Eritrea is called the Nakfa. Eritrea is a very poor country. Almost half of Eritrea's economy comes from Eritreans who live abroad. They send money home to their families. Most of the rest comes from farming.
Football and cycling are the most popular sports in Eritrea. In recent years, Eritrean athletes have also seen increasing success in the international arena.
Related pages
Eritrea at the Olympics
Eritrea national football team
List of rivers of Eritrea
References
1993 establishments in Africa
Italian-speaking countries
Least developed countries
States and territories established in the 1990s |
15033 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford%20Dole | Sanford Dole | Sanford Dole (April 23, 1844 – June 9, 1926) was an American politician. Dole was a part of a group of businessmen who first forced a new Hawaiian national constitution on the country during King David Kalakaua's reign and then after his death removed Queen Liliuokalani from the throne and took control of the country in 1893. They removed the queen by threatening to use the warships of the U.S. Navy had in Honolulu harbor.
Queen Liliuokalani did not want her people to be harmed so she agreed to do what the revolutionists wanted. The Queen went to Washington and talked to the American President, Grover Cleveland. Cleveland decided that this had been an act of war against the Hawaiian Kingdom. Cleveland ordered Sanford Dole, the President of the newly formed republic, to make Liliuokalani the queen again.
Dole refused to do this. He said that President Cleveland was interfering. Dole remained the president of Hawaii from 1894 until 1900 after Cleveland was elected out of office. The newly elected American president William McKinley signed the Newsland Resolution. The Newsland Resolution made Hawaii a territory of the United States. This ended any legal or military chance of restoring the Queen and the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Dole served as governor of Hawaii from 1900 until 1903, he was the first when he accepted a position as United States District Court judge. He remained a judge until 1915.
Governors of Hawaii
Hawaii
1844 births
1926 deaths |
15034 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient%20Egypt | Ancient Egypt | Ancient Egypt, or the Kingdom of Kemet, was a society that began about 3150 BC, and lasted until 30 BC when it was invaded by the Roman Empire.
Egypt grew along the River Nile and was at its most powerful in the second millennium BC. Its land went from the Nile delta to Nubia, a kingdom which today is mostly in the Sudan.
For most of its history, Egypt was prosperous, since the water from the Nile made sure that the Egyptians would have good crops. Crops were grown after the Nile flood water went down.
The Egyptians created a way of writing using hieroglyphs, built huge temples and tombs, traded with other areas, and had a powerful army. Their religion had many gods, and its priests were powerful and rich. Their rulers, called Pharaohs, were thought to be close to the gods.
History
Archaeologists, who study objects left by ancient people, have found that people have lived along the Nile for a very long time. The fertile flood plains of the Nile allowed people to begin farming. By the 10th millennium BC, the people in Egypt had begun growing cereal grains like wheat and barley. Because they were farming, they stayed in one place, and because they were settled, their society became more complex. This was an important step in the history of human civilization.
This period in Egyptian history is called predynastic, as it happened before the large dynastic kingdoms were formed.
By about 5500 BC, small tribes living in the Nile valley had developed into a series of cultures. Each had begun farming crops and animals. Each had their own types of pottery and personal items, such as combs, bracelets, and beads. In Upper Egypt, the south part of the country, the Badarian was one of the earliest cultures. It is known for its high quality pottery, stone tools, and its use of copper. They were followed by the Amratian and Gerzian cultures.
The different periods of ancient Egyptian history are:
Predynastic Period (5500 – 3000 BC)
Early Dynastic Period (1st & 2nd Dynasties, 3000 – 2700 BC)
Old Kingdom (3rd to 6th Dynasties, 2700 – 2180 BC)
First Intermediate Period (7th to 11th Dynasties, 2180 – 2050 BC)
Middle Kingdom (11th to 14th Dynasties, 2080 – 1640 BC)
Second Intermediate Period (15th to 17th Dynasties, 1640 – 1560 BC; the Hyksos)
New Kingdom (18th to 20th Dynasties, 1560 – 1070 BC)
Third Intermediate Period (21st to 25th Dynasties, 1070 – 664 BC)
Late Period (26th to 31st Dynasties, 664 – 323 BC; the Persians)
Graeco-Roman Egypt (323 – 30 BC; Ptolemaic to Roman)
The Intermediate periods included times when the traditional system broke down, the country was split, or invaded by foreign rulers. Egypt's culture and climate was relatively stable, compared to other parts of the Middle East. Nevertheless, they had some periods when their government was challenged and sometimes overthrown.
Government
Ancient Egypt was split up into many different districts called sepats. The first divisions were created during the Predynastic Period, but then, they were small city-states that ruled themselves. When the first pharaoh came to power, the sepats remained and were much like the counties in many countries today. They stayed basically the same for a long time – there were 42 of them, and each was ruled by a governor chosen by the pharaoh. In later years the districts were called nomes and the governor was called a nomarch.
Ancient Egypt had a lot of different taxes, but there was no real money, so people paid each other with goods or work. The person who watched the tax collection was a scribe, and every tax collector in Egypt had to tell him every day how many taxes they had collected. Each person paid different taxes based on the work that they did: craftsmen paid in goods, hunters and fishermen paid with food, and every single household in the country had to pay a labour tax every year by helping with work for the country like mining or for canals. A lot of rich Egyptians paid poorer people to do this for them.
Language and writing
Language
The language can be divided into six time periods:
Archaic Egyptian (before 3000 BC). This language was found on carvings on pottery.
Old Egyptian (3000 BC to 2000 BC). This language was used during the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period. It was found in pyramids, or Egyptian tombs, and was the first version of the language that had plural tense, which shows that there was more than one object being talked about.
Middle Egyptian (2000 BC to 1300 BC). This language is called Classic Egyptian. It is found all over objects and tombs in Egypt, including Egyptian coffins. Books on science and society were written during this time, and a lot of the things we know about religion of the time are written in Classic Egyptian. Even after people stopped speaking this kind of Egyptian, writers still used it when they wrote books.
Late Egyptian (1300 BC to 700 BC). This is the language of the New Kingdom, which was the best time in Egypt's history. There was a lot of knowledge being shared during this time, so we have a lot of very old books that were written in Late Egyptian. Many people believe that this version of the language was much like what Egyptians spoke.
Demotic Egyptian (700 BC to 400 AD)
Coptic Egyptian (300 AD to 1700 AD)
Writing
Hieroglyphics
Egypt had writing called hieroglyphics, which is one of the two oldest written languages (the other is Sumerian cuneiform).
Hieroglyphic writing dates to c. 3200 BC, and is composed of some 500 symbols. A hieroglyph represents a word, a sound, or a symbol to show what the sign means. The same symbol can serve different purposes in different contexts. Hieroglyphs on stone monuments and in tombs were for public purposes. It was art, and often it was propaganda.
Hieratic script
The script used by priests for everyday writing on "papyrus", wood or cloth.
In day-to-day writing, scribes used a cursive form of writing, called hieratic, which was quicker and easier. While formal hieroglyphs may be read in rows or columns in either direction (though typically written from right to left), hieratic was always written from right to left, usually in horizontal rows.
Demotic script
The script used by ordinary people. A new form of writing, Demotic, became the main writing style. It is this form of writing and formal hieroglyphs which accompanies the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone.
Coptic script
The Coptic script is a modified Greek alphabet. The Coptic language is the last stage of the Egyptian language (modern Egyptians speak a dialect of Arabic).
Literature
Some ancient Egyptian literature has survived to the present day. There are teaching texts, such as the Maxims of Ptahhotep, the Instructions of Amenemope, and the Ebers papyrus. The Ebers papyrus is one of the earliest medical texts ever found.
There are also poems and stories.
The story of Sinuhe
An Ancient Egyptian murder mystery written around 1800 BC.
Ipuwer papyrus
A poem about the ruin of Egyptian society--some think it is about the story in Exodus, a book in the Jewish/Christian Bible.
Westcar papyrus
A series of stories about the Pharaoh Khufu told by his sons.
Papyrus Harris I
The longest papyrus ever found in Egypt.
Story of Wenamun
An ancient adventure story about a priest who goes to collect gifts from a king.
Religion
Religion was very important to Ancient Egyptians. To Egyptians, animals were holy and were worshipped. Because of this, Egyptians domesticated, or made pets of, animals very early and took very good care of them. The centre of any Egyptian town was the temple, and this building was used for everything from the town hall to a university in addition to its religious services.
Because they were so religious, Egyptians created a lot of art of their gods. This art shows all different kinds of divine, or holy, creatures including the pharaoh, who was thought to be a god.
The afterlife was also very important to Egyptians and they are known for mummifying their dead. These mummies are important to scientists today because they tell them about how the Egyptians lived.
All the gods were important but some were more important than others. An example of a goddess is Isis who is the goddess of the sky. Another example of a major god is Ra who was the god of the sun. The less well known god of The Nile and the crocodiles was named Sobek, which is a rather unusual name. Bastet was the goddess of cats, so the Ancient Egyptians mummified cats in honour of her, she was also the goddess of protection, joy and families.
Agriculture
The rich fertile soil came from annual inundations of the Nile River. The ancient Egyptians were thus able to produce an abundance of food, allowing the population to devote more time and resources to cultural, technological, and artistic pursuits. In ancient Egypt taxes were assessed based on the amount of land a person owned.
Farming in Egypt was dependent on the cycle of the Nile River. The Egyptians recognized three seasons: Akhet (flooding), Peret (planting), and Shemu (harvesting). The flooding season lasted from June to September, depositing on the river's banks a layer of mineral-rich silt ideal for growing crops. After the floodwaters had receded, the growing season lasted from October to February. Farmers plowed and planted seeds in the fields, which were irrigated with ditches and canals. Egypt received little rainfall, so farmers relied on the Nile to water their crops.p514 From March to May, farmers used sickles to harvest their crops, which were then threshed with a flail to separate the straw from the grain. Winnowing removed the chaff from the grain, and the grain was then ground into flour, brewed to make beer, or stored for later use.p506
Flax plants were grown for the fibers of their stems. These fibers were split along their length and spun into thread, which was used to weave sheets of linen and to make clothing. Papyrus growing on the banks of the Nile River was used to make paper. Vegetables and fruits were grown in garden plots, close to habitations and on higher ground, and had to be watered by hand. Vegetables included leeks, garlic, melons, squashes, pulses, lettuce, and other crops, in addition to grapes that were made into wine.p577; 630
Most animals were kept as food. Some animals were kept as pets. All kinds of animals were important to Egypt. Ancient Egyptians understood the animals. Animals they kept were goats, pigs, ducks, cows and geese.
Medicine
Ancient Egyptians had some advanced medical knowledge for their time. They performed surgery, set broken bones and even knew about medicines. Some medicines the Ancient Egyptians used are honey and breast milk or gazelle's milk. Not only did they have medicinal values, they also are believed to have been used to ward off evil spirits and demons. The easiest way to see how good they were at medicine is to look at the medical papyri which have survived to the present day. The Edwin Smith papyrus is the world's oldest surviving surgical document, from about 1600 B.C. The text describes anatomy, and the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of 48 types of medical problems in detail.
Pyramids
Ancient Egyptian pyramids are shaped stone masonry structures. They are the best known pyramid structures, and are some of the largest ever buildings. Over 130 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt. Most were built on the western side of the River Nile in desert areas. Egyptian pyramids are often contain chambers and passages. The pyramids were built as the burial places of the Egyptian kings before the start of the old kingdom until the end of the middle kingdom. Because the Egyptians kept written records, we know about the building of some pyramids.
The Great Pyramid at Giza is the largest and most famous pyramid. It was built for Pharaoh Khufu. It is over 140 metres high and took 20 years to build. It is listed as one of the seven wonders of the world. The step pyramid at Saqqara is the earliest pyramid which is still standing today. This was built in 2630 BC. It was a burial place of the Pharaoh Djoser. The architect of the step pyramid was Imhotep.
Other achievements
Engineering was an important activity in Egypt. Engineers were able to measure and survey the distance between two points. They designed and made the pyramids, which are nearly perfect geometrically. They could make cement, and developed large irrigation networks.
Science was also important. Mathematics was used in Egypt, and the golden ratio was used in the construction of the Pyramids.
Another ability of the Egyptians was glass making. Archaeologists have found many pieces of beads, jars, figures and ornaments in tombs across the nation. In 2005, the remains of an ancient glassmaking factory was found.
Timeline
Predynastic
3500 BC: Senet, a board game, is invented
3500 BC: Egyptian faience, the world's oldest earthenware, or pottery, is created. It is not the same as modern faience pottery.
Dynastic
3300 BC: Bronze works are first created
3200 BC: Hieroglyphs are developed
3100 BC: Decimal system in use
3100 BC: Mining occurs on Mount Sinai
3100 BC: Ships are built in Abydos, an Egyptian city
3000 BC: Trading takes place between Egypt and Palestine
3000 BC: Copper plumbing in use
3000 BC: Papyrus, or ancient paper, is first used
3000 BC: First documented use of medicine
2900 BC: Perhaps the first steel use in the ancient world
2700 BC: First surgery performed
2700 BC: Surveying used by engineers
2700 BC: Hieroglyphs no longer just show little pictures of words, but become based on sounds
2600 BC: The Great Pyramids of Giza created
2600 BC: Shipping expeditions occur
2600 BC: First use of barges
2600 BC: Pyramid of Djoser created
2600 BC: Menkaure's Pyramid and the Red Pyramid created
2200 BC: Government in Egypt collapsed, meaning many different people tried to become King
1900 BC: Possible Nile to Red Sea canal created
1650 BC: The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is written, which shows knowledge of geometry, arithmetic and algebra
1600 BC: The Edwin Smith Papyrus is written, which shows knowledge of advanced medical techniques
1550 BC: The Ebers Medical Papyrus is written, the first document on the topic of tumours
1500 BC: Glassmaking
1258 BC: First known peace treaty (Ramesses II)
1160 BC: The Turin Papyrus is written, the first geologic and topographic map
Related pages
Old Kingdom of Egypt
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
New Kingdom
Hatshepsut
Ramesses II
Cleopatra VII
References |
15035 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander%20the%20Great | Alexander the Great | Alexander III of Macedon (, ; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC) commonly known as Alexander the Great, was king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon from 336 BC until his death in 323 BC. He was one of the greatest military leaders of all time. He was born in 356 BC in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia.
Alexander was the son of Philip II, King of Macedonia, and Olympias, the princess of neighboring Epirus. Alexander spent his childhood watching his father turn Macedonia into a great military power, and watching him win victory on the battlefields in the Balkans.
Alexander the Great spoke the Greek language. He worshiped the Greek gods and also spread the Greek culture through out Asia.
When he was 13, Philip hired the Greek philosopher Aristotle to be Alexander’s personal tutor. During the next three years, Aristotle gave Alexander a training in rhetoric and literature, and stimulated his interest in science, medicine, and philosophy, all of which became important in Alexander’s later life.
Alexander's war
In 340 BC, Philip assembled a large Greek army and invaded Thrace. He left 16 year old Alexander with the power to rule Greece in his absence as regent. But as the Macedonian army advanced deep into Thrace, the Thracian tribe of Maedi bordering north-eastern Macedonia rebelled and posed a danger to the country. Alexander assembled an army, led it against the rebels, and with swift action defeated the Maedi, captured their stronghold, and renamed it Alexandroupolis.
Alexander became king of Macedonia in 336 BC when his father was assassinated. A meeting was held to the Greek cities made him strategos (General or supreme commander). He used this authority to launch his father's military expansion plans. In 334 BC, he invaded Persian-ruled Asia Minor. He began series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entire Persian Empire. He married the king's daughter to symbolize the unity of his new empire. At that point, Alexander's empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.
He attacked the subcontinent in 326 BC, and defeated King Porus, who ruled a region in the Punjab. Afterwards they became allies. India at that time was divided into hundreds of kingdoms. The army refused to cross the Indus and fight the kings on the other side, so Alexander led them out of Pakistan.
Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, of unknown causes. Poison, murder, or a fever after a battle have all been suggested. At his death, he was planning a series of campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart. Several states were then ruled by the Diadochi, Alexander's surviving generals and heirs. They fought and conquered each other. The largest surviving piece was the Seleucid Empire.
Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion of Greek ideas and language. He started some twenty cities that were named after him, most notably Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander's settlement of Macedonian colonists resulted in a new Hellenistic civilization. Signs of this can be seen in the Byzantine Empire in the mid-15th century AD. There were Greek speakers in central and far eastern Anatolia until the 1920s.
Alexander died from Malaria when he was only 32 years old. He was never defeated in battle.
Gallery
Related pages
List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people
References
Other websites
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Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.
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356 BC births
320s deaths
Ancient Greeks
Ancient Greek military people
Emperors and empresses
Generals
Unexplained deaths |
15037 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane | Brisbane | Brisbane (local nickname Brissie) is the seaport capital city and biggest city of Queensland in Australia. It has a population of 2.2 million people and is the third biggest city in Australia, after Sydney and Melbourne.
The central city is on the Brisbane River, inland from Moreton Bay.
Brisbane is named after the Brisbane River, which is named after Sir Thomas Brisbane who was Governor of New South Wales from 1821 - 1825.
A penal colony was founded at Redcliffe, to the north, in 1824. It was moved to North Quay in 1825. The first free settlers moved to Brisbane in 1842. Brisbane became the capital city when Queensland became a separate colony from New South Wales in 1859.
Brisbane has more than 50 skyscrapers more than tall.
Climate
Brisbane has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa). Summers are hot and wet. Winters are warm and quite dry.
Thunderstorms happen a lot from November to March every year. Very heavy thunderstorms caused big floods and a lot of damage in February 1893, January 1974, January 2011 and January 2013.
The warmest recorded temperature in Brisbane was on 26 January 1940 and the coldest was on 2 July 1896.
Local government
The City of Brisbane, run by Brisbane City Council, covers a big part of the suburbs close to the city. The outer suburbs are part of Logan City to the south, Moreton Bay Region to the north, the City of Ipswich to the south west, Redland City to the south east, with a small part in the Scenic Rim Region to the west.
Education
Brisbane has many universities and colleges including University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology and Griffith University. The Australian Catholic University, Central Queensland University, James Cook University, University of Southern Queensland and the University of the Sunshine Coast each have a campus in Brisbane.
There are three big vocational schools in Brisbane - Brisbane North Institute of TAFE, Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE and Southbank Institute of TAFE.
Most primary schools and secondary schools are run by the Queensland Government. There are also private, Catholic and other Christian schools.
Sport
Brisbane hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games, the 1988 World Exposition (called World Expo 88), and some games at the 1987 Rugby World Cup and 2001 Cricket World Cup.
Big sports stadiums include the Brisbane Cricket Ground, Lang Park, Ballymore Stadium and the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre.
Brisbane has teams in all Australian sports competitions.
Related pages
List of tallest buildings in Brisbane
References
Other websites
City of Brisbane
Official tourism website of Brisbane
1825 establishments
1820s establishments in Australia |
15039 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian%20language | Hawaiian language | The Hawaiian language () is the language of native Hawaiians. Aloha and mahalo are probably its most recognized words. The word lanai is also used in English. (That is different from Lanai, the name of one of Hawaii's islands.)
Related languages
There are related languages in the Marquesas, Raratonga, Samoa, some islands of what is now Fiji and New Zealand. Their languages have changed a lot over the last two thousand years or so. However, native speakers of all these languages can still understand each other.
Letters
The language has only 12 letters (A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, U, W). There are 13 if you count the okina. The okina is a real letter and came from some "K" sounds in old Polynesian languages. The okina is pronounced as a glottal stop, like the break in the middle of the word "Uh-oh". The okina is written as a backward apostrophe (small numeral 6 above and before a vowel).
Dialects
The Niihau dialect still uses some T, S, R and "hints" of B sounds. People who live on that island are the only people who still speak Hawaiian only and their dialect is the truest to its roots.
Syllables
Every Hawaiian syllable ends with a vowel. There are some who think that makes the language sound "musical". Some think that final vowels helped the speakers remember chanted traditional stories and genealogies. Most linguists, however, think it is because of internal phonological processes.
There are two forms of each of the five vowels. One is regular, where the vowel is pronounced as a Spaniard would say it. The other is extended, in written form, where a horizontal bar called a kahako is over the vowel. The meanings (and pronunciations) of words spelled the same but with or without the appropriate kahakos or okinas can be very different, sometimes even embarrassing.
Learning
One might think that learning the language would be relatively easy, but that only applies to na keiki (children) who have never learned the 26 letters that English speakers use. There is a children's rhyme that goes on for a couple of minutes (and written, probably a couple dozen lines) that consists of nothing but both versions of the letters a, i and the okina. It talks of him (ia) eating (ai) his (iaia) fish (ia).
When the missionaries made a written form of Hawaiian Language, they did not write the kahakos or okinas; leaving it to the context to make the meanings evident.
Since the intent was to translate the Bible ("Paipala"), natives forgave some of the confusion created. They still learned how unintended "double entendres" could be funny in written form. When Hawaiian language newspapers started, native-speaking writers and editors were careful to avoid these (the type that was available to "set" did not include such "specialty" characters).
References
Polynesian languages
Hawaii |
15041 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinhead | Skinhead | Skinheads, named after their short haircuts, are members of a subculture that originated in Britain in late 1960s, where they were closely tied to the Rude Boys and the Mods. They shave their heads, because originally most of them were workers in factories and they had to be bald, so their hair could not get caught in the machines.
Traditional skinheads identify with the original skinhead movement ("The Spirit of '69") in music, style, and/or working class pride. Skinheads listen to ska, rocksteady, reggae, Oi! and punk music.
People who are not part of the group often see Skinheads as being politically close to the Neo-Nazi (or White Power) movement. Often Skinheads are seen as part of that movement. This is wrong, given that there are many young people in the movement who have no political views at all. Many Skinheads are also not violent, unless they are provoked.
Other websites
Libcom.org: A Brief History of Skinhead Culture
Reggae, Reggae, Reggae The Skinhead Movement and Reggae Music
Papaskin American skinhead web site with news, images, forum, etc.
Aussie Skins Australian skinhead web site with news, images, forum, etc.
Oi! the Truth History of Oi! according to Garry Bushell
SHARP Skinheads UK skinhead site with news, images, forum, etc.
Skins and Punks in Indonesia! 1400 Photos
Lifestyles |
15044 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime | Anime | Anime (アニメ) is Japanese for 'animation'. In Japan, anime is the word used for all animation. Outside of Japan, the term anime refers to Japanese animation, which this article is about.
Some anime is drawn by hand, but anime can also be made with CGI computer animation. There are many types of anime; you can find anime about sports, magic, or romance. These are just some examples. Anime are shown on television, on DVD and VHS, and are used in video games. Also, some anime cartoons are just movies, but they have cartoon characters and animation instead of real people and places. Anime is often based on Japanese comics that are called manga and graphic novels. Sometimes live action (not animation) movies and television series are based on an anime.
The history of anime begins around 1900, when Japanese filmmakers tried out ways of animation at the same time as the United States, Russia, Germany and France.
The filmmakers in Japan did not have a lot of money to make their movies and not a lot of places where they could film their movies. The people that the filmmakers could use as actors in their movies was also a problem for making Japanese movies. Japanese people look different from people in other places in the world (e.g. If the movie's theme were about Vikings, Ancient Rome or the Black Death pandemic in Medieval Europe, for example), and it was hard for filmmakers to make a movie about places other than Japan with Japanese actors. Movie makers liked animation because then they could have animator draw other places and people that could not be filmed in a normal movie, and the animators could be very creative with the cartoons they made.
During the 1970s, more and more people started to like manga. At the same time, manga were used as the starting point to make anime with the same characters and stories. Animators would take the drawings done by a manga artist and the stories the manga artist wrote, and turn them into the stories and characters of a similar anime. At that time Osamu Tezuka became very popular. Now he is called a "legend" and the "god of manga". Tezuka and other pioneers of anime made a lot of types of stories and styles that are common to anime today. The giant robot genre (known as "mecha" outside Japan) began with manga and anime from Tezuka's ideas. Robot anime like Gundam and Macross became classics in the 1980s. Today, the robot genre is still very popular in Japan and worldwide. In the 1980s, anime became very popular in Japan, and saw an increase in production. (Manga is much more popular than anime in Japan). There are a lot of different kinds of anime that many different kinds of people like besides Mecha, and there are types of anime based on the age of the people (e.g. seinen or shōnen) who might like it or the subject of the anime.
Very popular stories in anime and manga are often translated into other languages, and the words used in the anime or manga will be put into another language where they mean the same thing. That way, people who live outside of Japan and who do not understand Japanese (the language used for dialogue in anime and manga in Japan) can also understand the stories. If a manga or anime is not translated by a company in another country, sometimes people in that country will translate the story to share with other people for free before a company translates it for the general public. This is good because it allows more people to watch animes, but some companies think it is stealing.
Forms of anime
Kodomo (Aimed at children)
Shōnen (Young teen boys.)
Shōjo (Young teen girls.)
Seinen (Young adult men.)
Josei (Young adult women.)
Harem (Boy surrounded by girls.)
Reverse Harem (Girl surrounded by boys.)
Hentai (Anime with erotic and pornographic themes, this type of anime is generally about sex and sexual arousal, and depicts scenes of explicit sexual intercourse and nudity)
Romance (Anime about people falling in love.)
Horror (Anime intended to invoke fear, anxiety or dread in its viewers, the most common elements in horror-themed animes are ghosts (yūrei), yōkai, demons, demonic possession, graphic violence, monsters, curses, etc.)
Comedy
Fantasy
Ecchi (Sexual content, but not as much as hentai. Doesn't show any sex.)
Mecha (Anime about robots, usually ones big enough for people to sit inside them and control them like people drive cars. Mecha anime often have wars where the robots are used to fight between countries like tanks and planes are used today.)
Isekai (Protagonist transported to a different world.)
Yaoi or shounen-ai (Anime about boys who are in love with other boys.)
Yuri or shojo-ai (Anime about girls who are in love with other girls.)
Drama
Supernatural (Anime about witches, magic, ghosts, deities, or other things that we do not normally see in everyday life)
Thriller
Slice of Life (Anime that contains moe, but usually about things people do every day, like going to school, or playing sports, or going to cultural festivals, Generic life)
Adventure, the main and the characters embark on a journey facing obstacles, some of them on a mission, some have their own purposes.
OVA, also known as Original Video Anime (Anime is about talks to 1993-2005 VHS tapes and the 1998-2021 DVDs of VeggieTales from Big Idea Studios from 20th Century Fox owned by Paramount)
In the late 1980s, lots of people in countries other than Japan started to like anime too. In the United States, giant robot anime became popular. In Europe, anime for children became popular. Today, many different kinds of anime are popular all around the world. Anime helped spread in popularity thanks to the internet.
Anime Expo
Anime Expo is a convention all about anime. It has mostly cosplay but attendees can also meet anime creators and voice actors.
Related pages
Manga
Otaku
Cosplay
Hentai
Anime convention
VeggieTales
Other websites
Anime News Network
Funimation
Kyotoanimation
- VeggieTales.com
Entertainment in Japan |
15047 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan | Sudan | Sudan is a country in Africa. The official name of Sudan is The Republic of the Sudan. Its capital and largest city is Khartoum.
Geography
Sudan borders by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. Sudan has a sea to the northeast called the Red Sea.
Sudan used to have the largest area of all the countries in Africa. However, on July 9, 2011, the southern part of the country left and became a new country, South Sudan. Sudan now has an area of . It is the third largest country in Africa by area. The Nile flows through Sudan, providing water to crops. There are many different tribal and ethnic groups, though the country is mainly divided between the north, which has more Arabic people, and the south, which has more people of African descent.
Culture
People from Sudan are called Sudanese. About 45 million people live in Sudan. About 4 million of these live in Khartoum or in towns that are joined to it.
Arabic is the official language of Sudan, but people also speak Nubian, Nilotic and English. Many other languages are spoken in different parts of the country as well.
Most Sudanese people have Islam as their religion. A small number are Christian. Some people have other religions that are called tribal (local) beliefs.
The currency of Sudan is called the Sudanese Pound (Jinneh).
The current leader of Sudan is Acting President Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf.
War
For several years, the Darfur conflict has been going on in Sudan. Over 400,000 people have died in it.
Related pages
List of rivers of Sudan
Sudan at the Olympics
Sudan national football team
Muhammed Ahmed, the Mahdi
References
Other websites
English-speaking countries
Least developed countries
Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
1956 establishments in Africa |
15048 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenBSD | OpenBSD | OpenBSD is a secure, free computer operating system. It can run on many types of computers, including Intel PCs and Apple Computer's PowerPCs.
Like the other open source BSDs and unlike with most Linux operating systems, the whole operating system is developed by the same group of people with OpenBSD. Programmes from other sources are available separately.
OpenBSD is often the first to add new security tools to make it harder to break, developers have also carefully read through the programming code to check for mistakes more than once. The project is led by Theo de Raadt from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and is released under conditions which put few restrictions on people that use the source code, the BSD licence.
OpenBSD releases new versions every six months, each version is supported for one year after release. OpenBSD 4.4 was released November 1, 2008.
OpenBSD's first mascot was a BSD daemon with a halo, it was replaced with Puffy, a pufferfish, on June 15th, 2000, with the release of OpenBSD 2.7.
The operating system's developers add in many new technologies to make the system more secure, technologies like W^X, Stack Protection, malloc reconfigurations and ssh to replace telnet and rlogin.
Because it is so secure, OpenBSD is often used as a firewall and for other security-related jobs. It is also usable for on a desktop computer, it can act and look like one of several other operating systems like Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and others.
Related pages
NetBSD
FreeBSD
DragonFly BSD
POSSE project
KAME project
Other websites
The OpenBSD homepage
OpenBSD journal
O'Reilly Network: An Interview with OpenBSD's Marc Espie
One floppy OpenBSD MP3 Player and router/NAT/Firewall
mdoc.su — short manual page URLs, a URL shortener written in nginx
OpenBSD ports — full-text search to find applications ported to OpenBSD and available to install as packages
BXR.SU — OpenBSD source code search (can be useful to see if your new computer parts are supported)
BSD
Free software
Operating systems |
15049 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1170 | 1170 |
Births
April 23 – Isabelle of Hainaut
August 8 – Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominicans (d. 1221)
Deaths
December 29 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (assassinated) (b. c. 1118) |
15050 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883 | 1883 |
Births
February 7 – Eubie Blake, American musician and composer
April 5 - Walter Huston, Canadian actor (d. 1950)
April 7 – Gino Severini Italian painter (d. 1966)
April 15 – Stanley Bruce, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
July 29 – Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator
Deaths
March 14 – Karl Marx, German philosopher
August 23 – Sarah Yorke Jackson, American First Lady
New Books
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi |
15056 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1741 | 1741 | 1741 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
June 25 – Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen Regnant of Hungary in Bratislava.
Royal Order of Scotland is founded.
January 7 – Benedict Arnold |
15059 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil%20war | Civil war | A civil war is a war that takes place between two or more groups in one country. While civil wars can take place for many of reasons, there are two common reasons.
The first is because the different groups disagree about who should be in charge, or how the country should be run. If two political parties disagree about the result of an election, this might lead to a war if the two sides cannot or would not come to an agreement.
The second is because one group of people does not want to be part of the country anymore. This is known as a war of secession. Lots of people living in a certain area might decide that they want independence to make their own country. Very few national leaders would be happy to give up land that is part of that country, and a war could result.
Sometimes the people who want to break away do not necessarily want to form a whole new country, but they might want more autonomy over their affairs. This happens sometimes when different ethnic groups belong to the same nation.
Civil wars can go on for many years and be just as destructive and damaging as international wars. Civil wars tend to become complicated very quickly. A civil war might start between two sides, but groups might break up and the new, different sides could start fighting each other. Groups who were not involved at the beginning can easily be sucked in, as they fight to defend themselves against both sides. Civil wars with many different sides all fighting each other have occurred. Sometimes foreign countries help one side, or different countries help different sides. This can become a proxy war.
Civil wars include:
English Civil War (1642–1651)
American Civil War (1861–1865)
Chinese Civil War (1927–1949)
Vietnam War (1955–1975)
Mexican Revolution (1911–1920)
Russian Civil War (1917–1921)
Finnish Civil War (1918)
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)
Pakistan Civil War (1971)
Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009)
Syrian Civil War (2011–present)
References |
15060 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1175 | 1175 |
Events
Ruaidri Ua Conchobair, last High King of Ireland, submits to Henry II as vassal of Ireland with the Treaty of Windsor
Ly Cao Ton becomes ruler of Vietnam
William of Tyre becomes archbishop of Tyre
Massacre of Abergavenny ends with several noblemen dead under William de Braose
Vordingborg Castle is finished.
Births
Andrew II of Hungary, King of Hungary (died 1235)
Frederick I of Austria (died 1198)
Robert Grosseteste, English statesman, theologian and bishop (approximate date; died 1253)
Fibonacci, Italian mathematician (approximate date; died 1250)
Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1218)
Roger III of Sicily (died 1194)
Michael Scot, Scottish mathematician and astrologer (died 1232)
Deaths
Mleh of Armenia, ruler of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
Judyta, wife of Ladislaus II of Hungary and Otto I von Brandenburg (born 1132) |
15061 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodile | Crocodile | A crocodile is a large amphibious reptile. It lives mostly in large tropical rivers, where it is an ambush predator. One species, the Australian saltie, also travels in coastal salt water. In very dry climates, crocodiles may aestivate and sleep out the dry season.
The modern type of crocodile appeared first in the Eocene period. Its ancestors go much further back to the Upper Triassic. The name "Crocodile" is also used for any member of the order Crocodilia. They are basically Archosaurs, a group which also includes the dinosaurs. There are many species of Crocodiles including the American, slender-snouted and Orinoco crocodile.
The crocodile can quickly snap its jaw shut with much power. However, crocodiles have little strength when opening their jaws, such that a person could hold the jaw shut with their hands.
Crocodiles range in size from African dwarf crocodiles that measure rarely over 5 feet (1.5 m) to saltwater crocodiles which can approach 23 feet (7 m).
Description
Crocodiles live in rivers, lakes and dams in parts of America, Asia, Africa and Australia. Some of the crocodiles from Australia live in salt water. These saltwater crocodiles are normally bigger than the ones that live in fresh water. While crocodiles spend most of their time in water, they can come out and move around on the land.
Crocodiles cannot breathe underwater: they breathe air, just like people. When they are not active, they can hold their breath for a maximum of about two hours underwater before drowning. Normally, when underwater, they are active and can hold their breath for a maximum of 20 minutes to one hour.
Behavior
Feeding
The crocodile looks like it is a log, and hides beneath the surface of the water. When an animal comes down to the water to drink, the crocodile lunges out of the water, grabs the animal in its jaws, and pulls it underwater, where it drowns. After the animal is dead, the crocodile will grab a piece of meat in its jaws and spin around in a "death roll".
What do they look like
Their colors range from brown to grey and have different patterns covering them.They have many shapes and they differ in color. They have sharp claws and teeth. They can also be a greenish-brownish color.Crocodile tongues are not free. They are held in place by a membrane that can not move. Crocodiles are unable to stick out their tongues.
Alligators and crocodiles
Although there is not much difference in their life-style, biologists put alligators in a separate family. Gharials are also in a separate family, and Caimans are a sub-family of alligators.
The difference between an alligator and a crocodile is that one can not see the fourth tooth in the lower jaw of an alligator when the alligator's mouth is closed. One can see the fourth tooth in the lower jaw of a crocodile when its mouth is closed.
Ancient crocodiles
According to scientists, some ancient crocodiles walked on two legs like dinosaurs. The scientists found preserved footprints in South Korea. They found hind foot prints but no front foot prints or marks from a tail dragging behind.
They were able to tell that these ancient crocodiles walked on their hind legs with their front legs and tails off the ground. They used the whole foot, the way a human or bear does, not just the toes, the way a dinosaur, bird or dog does.
Species
Sixteen extinct species of crocodile have been discovered. They are:
American crocodile
Borneo crocodile
Central African slender-snouted crocodile
Cuban crocodile
Dwarf crocodile
Freshwater crocodile
Hall's New Guinea crocodile
Morelet's crocodile
Mugger crocodile
New Guinea crocodile
Nile crocodile
Orinoco crocodile
Saltwater crocodile
Siamese crocodile
West Africa crocodile
West African slender-snouted crocodile
References
Crocodilian Biology Database
Other websites
Crocodile (Wikiversity)
Saltwater crocodiles in freedom: Authentic pictures and descriptions
Supersize Crocs - an interactive guide to crocodiles from PBS
Man shares bungalow with crocodile. BBC News.
Crocodilia
Living fossils
Reptiles |
15068 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZZT | ZZT | ZZT is a computer game made by Tim Sweeney. People can make other games with this game's engine.
1991 video games
DOS games |
15070 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre | Centre | Centre (British spelling) or center (American spelling) means the middle of something.
The word "centre" often means places or buildings where an activity takes place. Common examples are:
a town centre or city centre
a shopping centre is a place with lots of shops.
a sports centre is where people go to use sports facilities, such as squash courts, and swimming pools.
a centre (ice hockey), the position used in ice hockey
a Center (American football), the position used in American football
a balanced political position.
Places
Centre, the former name of Centre-Val de Loire, an administrative region of France
Centre Department, the department of Haiti |
15071 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr%20Ilyich%20Tchaikovsky | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (, Pëtr Il’ič Čajkovskij; ) (born Kamsko-Votkinsk, 7 May 1840; died St Petersburg, 6 November 1893; pronounced chai-KOV-skee) was a Russian composer who lived in the Romantic period. He is one of the most popular of all Russian composers. He wrote melodies which were usually dramatic and emotional. He learned a lot from studying the music of Western Europe, but his music also sounds very Russian. His compositions include 11 operas, 3 ballets, orchestral music, chamber music and over 100 songs. His famous ballets (Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty) have some of the best known tunes in all of romantic music. He is widely regarded as the greatest composer of ballets.
Early years
Tchaikovsky’s father was a Ukrainian who worked as a mining engineer. His mother’s grandfather was a Frenchman who had moved to Russia. She was a nervous woman and Tchaikovsky may have gotten his nervous character from her. Tchaikovsky was only five when he started taking piano lessons. He was soon better than his teacher. The family had an orchestrion (a kind of musical box) which played some tunes from classical music by Mozart, Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini.
In 1848 the family moved to St. Petersburg. Tchaikovsky was unhappy and unsettled as he was often separated from his family who moved several times. In 1854 his mother died. He tried to comfort himself by playing music. He spent nine years at the School of Jurisprudence. When he left school, he had to get a job. For four years he worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice. Then the composer and pianist Anton Rubinstein helped him to become a music student at the newly opened conservatory in St. Petersburg. He learned to play the flute and the organ as well as the piano and learning all about composition. In 1866 he moved to Moscow where Nikolai Rubinstein, the brother of Anton, encouraged him to write music with a Russian character. He worked very hard, and was often exhausted, but he managed to finish his First Symphony, which was performed in 1868.
Tchaikovsky met some famous musicians including the French composer Berlioz who was visiting Moscow. He also became friendly with the Russian composer Mily Balakirev who was very helpful and persuaded him to rewrite one of his works several times until it was very good. he result was a piece for orchestra called Romeo and Juliet which soon became internationally known. Balakirev had four friends who were composers. This circle of friends is often called “The Five” or “The Mighty Handful”. They were interested in using Russian folktunes in their music. Tchaikovsky was never a member of the group, although he liked their ideas. Tchaikovsky was different to them: he had learned music at the Conservatoire where he had studied Western music. The harmonies that he used in his works were often not suitable for Russian folktunes. He wrote many songs which are romantic in character. One of them, None But the Lonely Heart, is especially well known in English.
By now, Tchaikovsky was writing works which were to make him very famous. He wrote two more symphonies, and his First Piano Concerto, one of the most popular of all piano concertos, was given its first performance in Boston. He was also writing operas and chamber music.
Years of fame
In 1875, Tchaikovsky began making a long tour of Europe. He liked Bizet’s opera Carmen, but Wagner’s operas from the Ring cycle bored him. In 1877 he finished Swan Lake, the first of his three ballets. The audience did not like it at first because the dancers were not very good.
Tchaikovsky was a closeted homosexual. In the summer of 1877 Tchaikovsky decided to marry. His wife was called Antonina Milyukova. The marriage was a disaster. A few weeks after the marriage, he ran away and never lived with her again.
Another woman was to become important in his life, but in a very different way. It was to be a very unusual relationship. Her name was Nadezhda von Meck. She was the wife of a rich man. She loved Tchaikovsky’s music and promised him that she would pay him a lot of money every month so long as he promised her that he would never try to meet her. Tchaikovsky no longer needed to work. He was able to give up his teaching job at the Conservatory. For several years he spent the winters in Europe and the summers in Russia. Nadezhda and Tchaikovsky wrote long letters to one another, often quite passionate and dreamy they talked about love, life and how they wanted it to change, but they never saw one another. He had plenty of time to write music: he wrote several operas including Eugene Onegin and his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, the Violin Concerto, the Serenade for Strings, Capriccio Italienne and the 1812 Overture. Tchaikovsky loved Nadezhda very much but never actually told her his true feelings.
His last years
By 1885, Tchaikovsky had tired of travelling around. He rented a country house in Klin, just outside Moscow. He lived a regular life, reading, walking in the forest, composing during the day and playing music with his friends in the evenings. He started to have more confidence as a conductor and toured Europe twice, conducting in Leipzig, Berlin, Prague, Hamburg, Paris and London. In 1889 he finished his second ballet, The Sleeping Beauty and the next year, while staying in Florence, he wrote his famous opera The Queen of Spades based on a story by Pushkin. Later that year Nadezhda von Meck wrote to him that she had lost nearly all her money and could not continue to support him.
In the spring of 1891 he was invited to conduct in New York where the Carnegie Hall was being opened. He also conducted concerts in Baltimore and Philadelphia. When he returned to Russia he wrote his last ballet The Nutcracker and his Sixth Symphony, known as the “Pathétique” which was dedicated to his nephew with whom he was passionately in love. This work is often considered his best. It was performed in St Petersburg on October 16 1893. Five days later he suddenly became ill with cholera, a disease many people were catching in the city. Tchaikovsky died four days later. Many people think that he committed suicide by deliberately drinking contaminated water. He may have wanted to (or even been forced to) commit suicide in order to avoid a scandal because he was having a relationship with a nephew of an important aristocratic man. Exactly what happened is still a mystery.
References
1840 births
1893 deaths
LGBT composers
Romantic composers
Russian composers
Russian LGBT people
Unexplained deaths |
15078 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC%20Radio%201 | BBC Radio 1 | BBC Radio 1 (often known as Radio 1) is an international radio station that is based in the United Kingdom. It is owned by BBC and BBC Radio. Radio 1 started broadcasting at 7.00 am on September 30, 1967. Tony Blackburn presented the first (later known as Breakfast) programme on the station. The station is meant to be listened to mainly by people aged 15–29.
Before the launch of Radio 1, the BBC ran three radio stations (the BBC Light Programme, the BBC Home Service and the BBC Third Programme), but these were considered old fashioned and were closed down in 1967. They were replaced with Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The launch of Radio 1 in 1967 was because of the popularity of pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline. They had been outlawed by Act of Parliament, and the BBC needed to provide alternative radio stations.
Radio 1 also has a sister station, BBC Radio 1Xtra.
Programming
The daytime shows (Monday-Thursday 4.00 - 19.00, Friday 4.00 - 18.00, Saturday 6.00 - 16.00 and Sunday 6.00 - 19.00) are very speech-focused and use an extensive playlist to introduce unknown and emerging material alongside more established, top 40 hits from the recent past (usually in a 5-year cycle).
The nighttime shows focus specifically on new music, with each show devoted to a particular genre. These genres include electronica, dance, hip-hop, rap and rock. All programs during this time are playlisted and presented by the DJs without any influence of the station's music editor.
Commitments
At least 40% of music played in daytime are from British artists
At least 50% of music played in daytime are not older than 12 months old each year, with continuous particular support for new and emerging UK artists alongside established acts
60 hours of specialist music per week
Broadcast from at least 25 live events and festivals per year from the UK and abroad
At least 250 new sessions each year
1 hour of news in daytime each weekday, including two extended bulletins
References
Other websites
1967 establishments in the United Kingdom
1 |
15081 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1232 | 1232 |
Events
In Korea, the printing press is invented. |
15082 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1910 | 1910 | 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. It was the 910th year of the 2nd millennium, the 10th year of the 20th century and the first year of the 1910s.
Events
January – In Greece, the Military League forces parliament and George I of Greece to summon National Assembly to revise Constitution.
January 15 – In the United Kingdom, General Election held in response to House of Lords rejection of David Lloyd George's (1909) budget results in reduced Liberal Party majority (Liberals, 275 seats; Labour, 40; Irish Nationalists, 82; Unionists (the title then preferred by the British Conservative Party), 273).
January 16 – Constant rains in Paris, France cause the Seine to overflow its banks, flooding the city. All but one line of the Paris Métro become filled with water, effectively draining water from the city.
February 20 – Boutros Ghali, first native born prime minister of Egypt, assassinated.
March – Uprising against Ottoman rule breaks out in Albania.
March 19 – In America, Republicans reduce the powers of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to influence Committee membership.
April – Albanian revolt suppressed by Turkish army.
April 27 – Louis Botha and James Hertzog (James Barry Munnik Hertzog) found South Africa Party.
April 27 – British House of Commons passes Lloyd George's 1909 'People's Budget' for second time; passed by House of Lords, 28 April
April 29 – Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the second time.
Korea becomes a colony of Japan.
Albrecht Kossel, German doctor, won the 1910 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Births
January 5 – Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (d. 1949)
January 7 – Orval Faubus, Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994)
January 8 – Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova, Russian dancer (d. 1998)
January 12 – Luise Rainer, German-born actress
January 16 – Dizzy Dean, baseball player (d. 1974)
January 21 – Albert Rosellini, Governor of Washington (d. 2011)
January 23 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist (d. 1953)
January 30 – C Subramaniam, Indian politician ( d. 2000)
February 5 – Francisco Varallo, Argentine footballer
February 6 – Irmgard Keun, German writer (d. 1982)
February 9 – Jacques Monod, French biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1976)
February 10 – Georges Pire, Belgian monk, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1969)
February 13 – William Shockley, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
February 15 – Stanley Vann, British musician (d. 2010)
February 27 – Joan Bennett, American actress (d. 1990)
March 1 – Archer John Porter Martin, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
March 1 – David Niven, English actor (d. 1983)
March 5 – Momofuko Ando, Taiwanese businessman (d. 2007)
March 9 – Samuel Barber, American composer (d. 1981)
March 11 – Robert Havemann, German chemist (d. 1982)
March 13 – Karl Gustav Ahlefeldt, Danish actor (d. 1985)
March 23 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese screenwriter, producer, and director (d. 1998)
April 10 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (d. 1999)
April 10 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (d. 2004)
April 23 – Simone Simon, French actress (d. 2005)
April 30 – Al Lewis, American actor (died in 2006)
May 8 – Mary Lou Williams, American musician (d. 1981)
May 12 – Johan Ferrier, Surinamese President (d. 2010)
May 12 – Giulietta Simionato, Italian opera singer (d. 2010)
May 19 – Nathuram Godse, Indian assassin of Mahatma Gandhi (d. 1949)
May 23 – Artie Shaw, American musician (d. 2004)
May 28 – T-Bone Walker, American musician (d. 1975)
September 3 – Maurice Papon, French Nazi collaborator (d. 2006)
October 6 – Barbara Castle, British politician (d. 2002)
October 14 – John Wooden, Basketball coach (d. 2010)
December 29 – Ronald Coase, British economist
nv:1901 – 1950 |
15083 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1443 | 1443 | 1443 was a common year. It started on a Tuesday.
Events
July 22 – Zürich is defeated in the Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl.
Births
January 27 – Albert, Duke of Saxony (died 1500)
February 23 – Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (died 1490)
May 17 – Edmund, Earl of Rutland, brother of King Edward IV of England and King Richard III of England (died 1460)
May 31 – Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (died 1509)
December 5 – Pope Julius II (died 1513)
Rodolphus Agricola, Dutch scholar and humanist (died 1485)
John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, English leader (died 1513)
Piero del Pollaiuolo, Italian painter (died 1496)
Philip II, Duke of Savoy (died 1497)
Ygo Gales Galama, Frisian warlord and rebel (died 1492)
Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick (died 1449)
Deaths
Zeami – Japanese actor. |
15086 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1558 | 1558 |
Events
November 17 – Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England. |
15087 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea%20level | Sea level | For the effects of global warming on sea levels, see global warming
The sea level is the average height of the ocean (informally called the sea). The word 'average' must be used because the height of the sea changes with the tides. The height of mountains, countries, and so on, is almost always given as "above sea level".
Technical details
Sea level is generally used to refer to mean sea level (MSL). This is the average level for the surface of one or more of Earth's oceans.
MSL is a type of standardised geodetic reference point. It is used, for example, as a geodetic datum in cartography and marine navigation. In aviation it is the standard sea level at which atmospheric pressure is measured. This is used to calibrate altitude, which influences aircraft flight levels. A common mean sea-level standard is the midpoint between a mean low and mean high tide at a particular place.
Sea levels can be affected by many factors. They have varied greatly over geological time scales. The careful measurement of variations in MSL offers insights into ongoing climate change. The present slight rise in sea levels is offered as proof of ongoing global warming.
Long-term changes in sea level
In Earth's long history, the continents and sea floor have changed due to plate tectonics. This affects global sea level because it alters the depths of various ocean basins, and also changes the distribution of glaciers.
Over most of geologic time, the long-term mean sea level has been higher than today (see graph). Only at the Permian-Triassic boundary ~250 million years ago was the long-term mean sea level lower than today. This included the PermianTriassic extinction event, though this may not be relevant to the concept of sea level.
Long term changes in the mean sea level are the result of changes in the oceanic crust, with a downward trend expected to continue in the very long term.
Rapid changes in sea level
Rapid changes may happen by huge lakes breaking through into seas. This has happened on a number of occasions. When the latest ice age was ending, melting caused huge lakes in central North America. This eventually broke through into the Atlantic. Melting ice in the North Sea are also broke through into the English Channel. The largest known example of marine flooding was when the Atlantic breached the Strait of Gibraltar about 5.2 million years ago. This restored Mediterranean sea levels, which had dried up.
The present rise in sea level is taken from tide gauges. It is about 1.8 mm/yr. Active research continues in this field.
References
Other websites
Flooding, food and climate change in Bangladesh
Sea level rise - How much and how fast will sea level rise over the coming centuries? Past
Sea level rise - How much and how fast will sea level rise over the coming centuries? Present
Oceans
Seas
Climate change |
15093 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear%20Factory | Fear Factory | Fear Factory is an American death/industrial metal group. They were formed in Los Angeles, California in 1989 and disbanded in early 2002. They have reformed in the following year adding Byron Stroud (of Strapping Young Lad) as their current bass player. Their classic line-up was Burton C. Bell (vocals), Dino Cazares (guitars), Christian Olde Woblers (bass) and Raymond Herrera (drums) between 1994 and break up time.
1980s American music groups
1990s American music groups
2000s American music groups
2010s American music groups
American heavy metal bands
Thrash metal bands
Death metal bands
Musical groups from Los Angeles |
15095 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublime | Sublime | Sublime was a popular punk/ska rock band. The band was formed in 1988 in Long Beach, California. They have released popular hit singles like "Date Rape", "Doin' Time", "Santeria" and "What I Got".
Sublime broke up 1996, because singer, guitarist and songwriter Bradley Nowell died. He died in a hotel room in San Francisco, California on May 25th of the same year from a heroin overdose. He was 28 years old. Their third and final album Sublime was released two months after Nowell's death. The album's song "What I Got" was what made Sublime famous.
Sublime has sold over 8 million albums around the world.
Cultural references
A few of Sublimes songs have been used in video games. "Santeria" was included in Guitar Hero World Tour.
The song "Seed" was included in Tony Hawk's Underground and the song "What I Got" was included in Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX.
Discography
Albums
Compilations and live albums
Singles
References
Other websites
1988 establishments in California
1996 disestablishments in the United States
American punk bands
Musical groups from Long Beach, California
1990s disestablishments in California |
15096 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crass | Crass | Crass was one of the first anarcho-punk bands. The band was formed in Essex, England in 1977. The band split up in 1984.
History
Original members
The group was first of all made up of Penny Rimbaud (playing drums) and Steve Ignorant (who sang). Later they were joined by other people who also lived together in their shared house (or commune) called Dial House.
First concerts
Crass did their first concert at a squatted festival in Huntley Street, North London. Soon after they played at the famous punk club The Roxy in London's Covent Garden area. However the group were made to come off of the stage because they were very drunk. They also did early concerts with punk band the UK Subs, but not many people went to watch these concerts.
First fashion statements
After this members of Crass decided to be more serious about what they were doing. They decided to wear black clothes all of the time, whether or not they were on stage. This was so that no member of the band would be seen as the group 'leader'. They also made a banner that they hung up behind them when they were playing live. This had a logo on it that was made up of symbols like the Christian cross, the swastika and the British flag, as well as a snake with two heads that is eating itself. The meaning of this logo was the idea that "power will destroy itself".
Albums
First album
Crass released their first record in 1978. It was called The Feeding of the 5000. It was meant to have 18 songs on it, but one song was banned by the people who worked at the factory where the records were made. This was because they thought it was blasphemous. This song was called "Asylum". The band instead released the record with a 2-minute gap where that song had been, which they called "The Sound of Free Speech". After this they set up their own record label, Crass Records. This was so that they could control what was on their own records in the future. They re-recorded and released the song that had been banned as a single. They also re-released the first LP with the banned song put back on it.
Second album
The second LP released by Crass was the double album Stations of the Crass. It was released in 1979. One side of this LP was a recording of a live concert that the band played at the Pied Bull pub in Islington, London on August 7, 1979.
Third album
Their next LP was released in 1981. It was called Penis Envy. The band had deliberately changed their sound for this record. The lyrics and the record cover artwork had a strong feminist message. Steve Ignorant did not appear upon it. Instead only the women members of the band, Eve Libertine and Joy DeVivre sung the songs.
Other albums recorded
The Crass Records label also released many other records by other musicians and bands. These included Flux Of Pink Indians, Conflict, Poison Girls, Zounds, Honey Bane, Rudimentary Peni and others.
English punk bands
Anarcho-punk bands |
15097 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black%20Flag | Black Flag | Black Flag was an American hardcore punk band. They formed in California in 1976 and broke up in 1986. There were many different members in the band, but the leader was Greg Ginn. Ginn was the guitarist and wrote many of the songs.
Black Flag was one of the groups that created the hardcore punk style. They toured the United States and Canada to play many live shows. They influenced many other musicians and fans to make their own hardcore bands. The band's first album, Damaged (1981), has been recognized as a classic punk album and one of the most influential punk records ever made.
After breaking up, the lead singer Henry Rollins formed a new band by himself, Rollins Band and guitarist Greg Ginn worked on a separate career in the early 90s.
1970s American music groups
1980s American music groups
American punk bands
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Musical groups established in 1976
1976 establishments in California
Musical groups disestablished in 1986
1980s disestablishments in California
Musical groups established in 2003
2003 establishments in California
Musical groups disestablished in 2003
2003 disestablishments in the United States
2000s disestablishments in California |
15110 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarika | Tarika | Tarika is the Arabic word for a Sufi order in Islam. The first Tarikas were founded in the 12th and 13th century and many of them still exist today. The head of a Tarika is called a sheikh, the disciples are called dervishes.
Islam |
15117 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy%20Frog | Crazy Frog | The Crazy Frog is a 3D animated creature, featured on music albums.
History
Before becoming a ringtone to download onto mobile phones, The Crazy Frog started as a TruboForce 3D animated creature. It was called “The Annoying Thing” in 2003 by its creator, Erik Wernquist of Sweden. With big eyes and a bigger mouth, the high resolution anthropomorphic “thing” is dappled grey-blue and nude save for a helmet, goggles and biker vest. All original videos and images also show small male humanoid genital in a relaxed state that move realistically. Some sources pixel out or remove the genitals.
Music remixes
Members of Bass Bumpers had a dance remix of Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F” in early-2005, the Beverly Hills Cop theme, adding Daniel Malmedahl’s impression of a moped engine (Ring-a-ding-dong) and a Max Headroom, “What’s going on?” (among other dubbed words). In the music video for that remix the “Thing” says featured bites from Daniel’s bit (Ding, ding.) and zooms around on a mimed bike to escape a robot minion on a hover bike.
The internet and media dubbed it both a Frog and crazy. Erik went along with it.
First, it was simply a vocal imitation of a two stroke, internal combustion engine. Daniel Malmedahl of Sweden created a recording of his imitation in 1997 that eventually spread through peer to peer file sharing on the Internet.
Sales and revenue
The company that sells Crazy Frog ringtones (Jamba!) has made £14 million from it.
Animated characters |
15119 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey | Surrey | For the city in British Columbia, see Surrey, British Columbia.
Surrey is a county in southern England. The size of Surrey is about 1,663 km² and it has about 1,059,000 people (2002). It is near London. Surrey's largest town is Guildford. In Guildford there is also a university. The River Thames forms part of Surrey's north border.
Surrey is a setting of War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (Woking, Leatherhead in particular).
Surrey is near London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports. It has access to major road routes (including the M25, M3 and M23). It has frequent rail services into Central London.
Ceremonial counties of England |
15128 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB | USB | The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is technology that allows a person to connect an electronic device to a computer. It is a fast serial bus.
It is mostly used on personal computers. USB is also used on other devices, such as smartphones and video game consoles. USB connects different devices using a standard interface.
Most people use USB for computer mice, keyboards, scanners, printers, digital cameras, and USB flash drives. There are over six billion USB devices around the world.
The standard was made to improve plug and play devices. This means that a device can be plugged into a free socket, and simply work. The computer will notice the device. The computer sometimes installs special software to use the device. The device can be removed after it stops being used. This technology is called "hot swapping". "Hot swapping" means it can be plugged and unplugged while the power is on. The computer does not need to be turned off for people to change the devices.
USB can provide a small amount of power to the attached device through the USB cord. Devices that only need a little power can get it from the bus, and do not need a separate electric power plug. That allows gadgets like USB battery chargers, lights, and fans.
As of 2015, USB has mostly replaced several older standards. Those include the parallel port, serial port and SCSI. These old standards are still used for a few jobs where USB cannot replace them.
Brief history
The first version of the Universal Serial Bus was created in 1995. This new technology became an instant success. Since the introduction of USB, people that make electronic devices thought about how it could be used in the future. Today, USB connects a computer or other devices like laptops and MP3 players to peripheral devices.
The bus was introduced by seven companies which represent the leaders in the industry of information technology: Compaq, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, Northern Telecom, and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).
Several years earlier, adopters and developers of USB held a meeting called Plugfest at a special hotel in California to test their devices. They selected a hotel that included rooms for sleeping and for testing. The meeting lasted three days. During the meeting, the representatives of about 50 companies connected their USB devices to one general host system.
The logo of the USB device also has its own history. The USB logo was in development for several months.
1994 - Seven companies united to begin the development of USB.
1995 - 340 companies formed the USB Implementation Forum.
1996 - More than five hundred USB products were already developing around the world.
1997 - USB Implementation Forum became richer with 60 more companies.
1998 - USB becomes the most popular technology on the market of electronics.
2000 - The introduction of USB 2.0. Today it represents the most widely used USB device.
2005 - USB becomes wireless.
2008 - USB 3.0 is introduced. It is over 10 times faster than USB 2.0.
2013 - USB 3.1 is introduced. It is about twice as fast as USB 3.0.
2015 - USB Type-C is introduced. It is a reversible connector, which means that you can plug it in both ways.
Different standards
Currently, five different USB standards are used: USB 1.0, USB 1.1, USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and USB 3.1. USB 3.1 was released in 2016 and doubled the speed of 3.0. It optionally uses a different connector called USB Type-C, which is reversible (meaning you can plug it in both ways). USB 1.0 is now rarely used.
USB offers five different transfer speeds: 1.5 MBit per second (called low speed), 12 MBit per second (Full Speed), 480 MBit/second (Hi Speed), 5Gbit per second (called super speed), and 10 Gbit/s (“super speed+“). Hi speed is only available in USB 2.0 and later, and Super speed is only available in USB 3.0. These speeds are raw bit rates (in Million bits per second). The actual data rate is usually lower due to protocol overhead.
In order to use the hi speed transfer rate, the USB controller and the connected device both need to support it. USB is backwards compatible. Faster and slower USB devices and controllers can be connected together, but they will run at the slower speed.
USB Hubs
Almost all computers sold today have USB ports, and most of them support USB 2.0 or later. The number of ports they have is usually limited, though. Between two and six ports are common. USB allows connecting USB hubs to add more USB ports.
The hubs themselves are also compliant to one of the USB standards. Devices connected to a USB 1.1 hub will only go as fast as USB 1.1 rates. Devices connected to a later controller can use different standards.
USB Connectors
USB was designed to be easy to use. The engineers learned from other connectors before they designed USB connectors. There are 3 connectors.
Type A, commonly used at computer end of cable
Micro-A (rare)
Type B, at peripheral end, rare except for printers
Micro-B, at peripheral end, for most smartphones
Type C, at either end. As of 2017, many new computers, phones and peripherals use it.
Usability and Probability
It's not possible to plug in a USB A or B connector the wrong way. They can not go in upside down, and it is obvious from the look and kinesthetic feeling, when it goes in properly. Sometimes, however, a user doesn't understand or see how the connector goes, so it might be necessary to try both ways.
Type C USB connectors can be plugged in both ways. It does not matter which way the connector is plugged in.
There is no need to push or pull very hard to plug or unplug it. This was in the specification. USB cables and small USB devices are held in place by the gripping force from the receptacle. USB does not need screws, clips, or other fasteners. The force needed to make or break a connection is small. This allows connections to be made in awkward positions or by those with motor disabilities.
Before the advent of Type C, the connectors enforced the directed topology of a USB network. USB does not support cyclical networks, so the connectors from incompatible USB devices are themselves incompatible. Unlike other communications systems (e.g. RJ-45 cabling) gender-changers were almost never used before the advent of USB-On-The-Go (OTG), making it difficult to create a cyclic USB network.
Durability
The connectors are designed to be tough. Early connector designs were fragile, with pins or other delicate components which could easily bend or break, even if treated gently. The electrical contacts in a USB connector are protected by a plastic tongue. The entire connecting assembly is usually further protected by an enclosing metal sheath. As a result, USB connectors can safely be handled, inserted, and removed, even by a small child.
The connector construction always ensures that the external sheath on the plug contacts with its counterpart in the receptacle before the four connectors within are connected. This sheath is typically connected to the system ground, allowing otherwise damaging static charges to be safely discharged by this route (rather than via delicate electronic components). This means of enclosure also means that there is a (moderate) degree of protection from electromagnetic interference afforded to the USB signal while it travels through the mated connector pair (this is the only location when the otherwise twisted data pair must travel a distance in parallel). As well, the power and common connections are made after the system ground but before the data connections. This type of staged make-break timing allows for safe hot-swapping and has been used for connectors in the aerospace industry.
The newer USB micro receptacles are designed to allow up to 10,000 cycles of insertion and exertion between the receptacle and plug, compared to 500 for the standard USB and Mini-USB receptacle. This is done by adding a locking device and by moving the leaf-spring connector from the jack to the plug, so that the most-stressed part is on the cable side of the connection. This change was made so that the connector on the (relatively inexpensive) cable would bear the most wear instead of the micro-USB device.
Compatibility
The USB standard specifies relatively big tolerances for compliant USB connectors. This is done to minimize incompatibilities in connectors produced by different vendors (a goal that has been very successfully achieved). Unlike most other connector standards, the USB specification also defines limits to the size of a connecting device in the area around its plug. This was done to prevent a device from blocking adjacent ports due to its size. Compliant devices must either fit within the size restrictions or support a compliant extension cable which does.
Two-way communication is also possible. Usually cables have only plugs, and hosts and devices have only receptacles: hosts having type-A receptacles and devices type-B. Type-A plugs only join with type-A receptacles, and type-B with type-B. However, an extension to USB called USB On-The-Go allows a single port to act as either a host or a device — chosen by which end of the cable plugs into the socket on the unit. Even after the cable is hooked up and the units are talking, the two units may "swap" ends under program control. This facility targets units such as PDAs where the USB link might connect to a PC's host port as a device in one instance, yet connect as a host itself to a keyboard and mouse device in another instance.
How USB works
A USB system has an asymmetric design. It is made of a host, several downstream USB ports, and multiple peripheral devices connected in a star topology. Additional USB hubs may be included in the tiers, allowing branching into a tree structure with up to five tier levels.
A USB host can have multiple host controllers. Each host controller provides one or more USB ports. Up to 127 devices, including the hub devices, may be connected to a single host controller.
USB devices are linked in series through hubs. There is always one hub known as the root hub. The root hub is built into the host controller. There are special hubs, called "sharing hubs". These allow multiple computers to access the same peripheral devices. They work by switching the access between PCs, either manually or automatically. They are popular in small-office environments. In network terms, they converge rather than diverge branches.
A physical USB device can have several logical sub-devices that are referred to as device functions. A single device may provide several functions, for example, a webcam (video device function) with a built-in microphone (audio device function).
USB device communication is based on pipes (logical channels). Pipes are connections from the host controller to a logical entity on the device named an endpoint. The term endpoint is occasionally used to incorrectly refer to the pipe. A USB device can have up to 32 active pipes, 16 into the host controller and 16 out of the controller.
Each endpoint can transfer data in one direction only, either into or out of the device, so each pipe is uni-directional. Endpoints are grouped into interfaces and each interface is associated with a single device function. An exception to this is endpoint zero, which is used for device configuration and which is not associated with any interface.
When a USB device is first connected to a USB host, the USB device enumeration process is started. The enumeration starts by sending a reset signal to the USB device. The speed of the USB device is determined during the reset signaling. After reset, the USB device's information is read by the host, then the device is assigned a unique 7-bit address. If the device is supported by the host, the device drivers needed for communicating with the device are loaded and the device is set to a configured state. If the USB host is restarted, the enumeration process is repeated for all connected devices.
The host controller polls the bus for traffic, usually in a round-robin fashion, so no USB device can transfer any data on the bus without an explicit request from the host controller.
Host controllers
The computer hardware that contains the host controller and the root hub has an interface for the programmer. It is called Host Controller Device (HCD) and is defined by the hardware implementer.
For USB 1.0 and 1.1, there were two different HCD implementations, Open Host Controller Interface (OHCI) and Universal Host Controller Interface (UHCI). OHCI was developed by Compaq, Microsoft and National Semiconductor, UHCI by Intel.
VIA Technologies licensed the UHCI standard from Intel; all other chipset implementers use OHCI. UHCI relies more on software. This means UHCI is slightly more processor-intensive than OHCI but easier and cheaper to make. Because there were two different implementations, operating system vendors and hardware vendors needed to develop and test on both of them. This increased cost.
The USB specification does not specify any HCD interfaces and is not concerned with them. In other words, USB defines the format of data transfer through the port, but not the system by which the USB hardware communicates with the computer it sits in.
During the design phase of USB 2.0, the USB-IF insisted that there was only one implementation. The USB 2.0 HCD implementation is called the Enhanced Host Controller Interface (EHCI). Only EHCI can support hi-speed (480 Mbit/s) transfers. Most of PCI-based EHCI controllers have other HCD implementations called 'companion host controller' to support Full Speed (12 Mbit/s) and may be used for any device that claims to be a member of a certain class. An operating system is supposed to implement all device classes, so it can provide generic drivers for any USB device. Device classes are decided upon by the Device Working Group of the USB Implementers Forum.
USB device classes
Device classes include:
Use class information in the Interface Descriptors. This base class is defined to be used in Device Descriptors to indicate that class information should be determined from the Interface Descriptors in the device.
Related pages
FireWire
References
Computer hardware
Computer buses |
15129 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk%20rock | Punk rock | Punk rock (or "punk") is a music genre and kind of rock music. It is often described as harder, louder, and cruder than other rock music. Many punk rock songs have lyrics (words) which tell angry stories or which use rude words.
About punk rock
Punk rock is a style of rock music. Many musicians and punk rock music listeners ("punk rockers") want to protest or rebel against the norms or rules of society. Punks say that people should "Do It Yourself", which means that people should try to accomplish their goals using the materials in their own communities. Many punk bands make their own music recordings and distribute them without using a major record company.
Many punks have strong political beliefs. Punk rock musicians are often mad at the government, the police, and laws. Many punk rock songs protest injustice, lies, and unfairness in countries. Almost all punks are leftists, who believe that a country should share the products and food that it produces with all the people in the country. Some punks are vegetarian or vegans, because they believe that animals should not be killed for food. Some punks are anarchists. Very few punks are conservative, libertarian, or Republican.
Many punk musicians put colored hair dye in their hair or put gel to make it stand up. They wear distinctive clothes as a form of protest or rebellion against the norms and rules of society.
History
1970s
Punk rock developed in New York City in the mid-1970s. Bands like The Ramones, Television, The Heartbreakers, Blondie, joy division and Patti Smith played loud, angry songs. Many bands played at a club called CBGB's. The music soon spread to Australia and Britain, were bands started playing punk rock in 1976–1977. British bands like Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Damned, Generation X, The Jam, and Sex Pistols played punk rock music that was inspired by the music being played in New York, as well as by garage rock, pub rock, and other protopunk music.
These early "punks" rejected the excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They created fast, hard-edged music, with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. They often did controversial things, such as saying bad words in public. Many newspapers wrote articles about the "bad" behavior of punk rock musicians.
1980s
In the 1980s, a new type of punk rock called "hardcore punk" or "hardcore" developed. It was louder, harder, and faster than the original punk rock. By the mid-1980s, hardcore punk rock began being mixed with Heavy Metal rock music. Many hardcore bands began playing in the United States and in the UK.
1990s
In the 1990s, punk rock began being mixed with pop music to create a new lighter style of music called pop-punk. Pop-punk bands include Green Day and Good Charlotte. Some pop-punk bands mixed punk rock stars
ska music.
2000s
Pop-punk was still popular in the 2000s. Some people who like the 1970s-style punk rock criticize pop-punk because pop-punk is commercialized.
Some people say that punk rock is dead. But that is not true, because the spirit lives on and many punk rockers are around today.
Notable artists
Anti-Flag
Bad Brains
Bad Religion
Black Flag
Buzzcocks
The Clash
Crass
The Damned
Dead Kennedys
Generation X
Iggy Pop
The Jam
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
Joy Division
New York Dolls
Ramones
Richard Hell & The Voidoids
The Sex Pistols
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Patti Smith
The Stranglers
Talking Heads
Television
The Undertones
Related pages
Alternative rock
Hardcore punk
Pop-punk
Ska
Anarcho-punk
References
Rock music
Punk rock |
15132 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edip%20Yuksel | Edip Yuksel | Edip Yüksel (born December 20, 1957 in Güroymak, Turkey) is an American thinker and activist. He has written many books on the Qur'an and is very an influential figure in modern Islamic reform. Yüksel was a student of Rashad Khalifa and was a member of his group United Submitters International. He sometimes works as a legal researcher and a community college teacher, but is mostly a supporter to change the Islamic religion. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Some works in English
The Prime Argument/Asal Tartışma (1995). An argument with 2 "rounds", or parts, with Professor Carl Sagan on how the Qur'an is set up and what it means to the people who follow it.
Running Like Zebras (1995). An Internet debate with Abdurrahman Lomax on how the Qur'an is set up.
Unorthodox Essays (1994). A small book that has essays on loaning people money with unfair amounts to pay back, beating up wives, and abortion. One of the essays, "Distinguished usury from interest" suggested a new way to translate for the verse 4:34 in the Qur'an.
Nineteen Questions for Christian Clergy/Hristiyan Din Adamlarına 19 Soru (1993–1999). A study about the Christian religion and what is taught to people who are Christians.
Nineteen Questions for Muslim Clergy/Müslüman Din Adamlarına 19 Soru (1991). Some questions to the leaders of the Muslim faith about how much power they should have and if what they teach is biased, or narrow-minded.
Other websites
Edip Yüksel's official site
Online Quran Project includes the Qur'an translation by Edip Yüksel.
1957 births
Living people
Turkish writers
Writers from Tucson, Arizona
Muslims
American activists
Quran
Naturalized citizens of the United States |
15134 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epididymitis | Epididymitis | Epididymitis is a painful inflammation of the epididymis, usually resulting from bacterial infection, but also occasionally caused by injury or viral infection.
Diseases caused by bacteria
Male reproductive system |
15186 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth%2C%20Western%20Australia | Perth, Western Australia | Perth is the capital city of the state of Western Australia. It is built on the banks of the Swan River. Almost 2,1 million people live in the city.
It is the fourth biggest city in Australia, behind Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Perth was founded in 1829 by Captain James Stirling.
Perth is famous for its beautiful white, sandy beaches. Popular local beaches include Cottesloe and Scarborough. These beaches are ideal for swimming and bodysurfing. A popular local tourist attraction is Rottnest Island, which is populated by small native mammals called Quokkas. Another famous attraction is Kings Park, which is one of the biggest city parks in the world.
Sister cities
Perth is a sister city with many other cities. Sister cities can share students and business contacts. Perth is a sister city to these cities:
Kagoshima, Japan
Houston, Texas
Rhodes, Greece
Megisti, Greece
San Diego, California
Vasto, Italy
Nanjing, People's Republic of China
Taipei, Taiwan
Chengdu, People's Republic of China
Perth also has some other agreements with Perth, Perth and Kinross in Scotland and formerly Grenoble, France.
Universities
Perth is home to four public and one private university. These are:
University of Western Australia
Murdoch University
Curtin University
Edith Cowan University
University of Notre Dame (Western Australia) (private)
Climate
Perth has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate. It is the windiest city in Australia. It is also considered to be the third windiest capital city in the world. Perth is also the sunniest city in Australia.
Famous people from Perth
Amy Fuller, singer
Troye Sivan
Heath Ledger
Daniel Ricciardo
Katherine Langford
Sam Worthington
Hugh Jackman
Birds of Tokyo
References
1829 establishments
1820s establishments in Australia |
15187 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama%20bin%20Laden | Osama bin Laden | Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden ; 10 March 1957 2 May 2011) was the founder of al-Qaeda, the Sunni militant Islamist organization. It claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the United States. It is also responsible of many other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets. He was a Saudi Arabian, a member of the wealthy bin Laden family, and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite.
Early life
He was born in the bin Laden family to billionaire Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden in Saudi Arabia. He studied there in college until 1979, when he joined the mujahideen forces in Pakistan against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He helped to fund the mujahideen by funneling arms, money and fighters from the Arab world into Afghanistan, also gaining popularity from many Arabs. In 1988, he formed al-Qaeda.
He was banished from Saudi Arabia in 1992, and shifted his base to Sudan, until US pressure forced him to leave Sudan in 1996. After establishing a new base in Afghanistan, he declared a war against the United States, initiating a series of bombings and related attacks. Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.
From 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror, as the FBI placed a $25 million reward on him in their search for him. On May 2, 2011, bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by members of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group and Central Intelligence Agency operatives in a covert operation ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Beliefs and ideology
Bin Laden probably believed that the restoration of Sharia law would set things right in the Muslim world, and that all other ideologies—"pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy"—must be opposed. These beliefs, along with violent expansive jihad, have sometimes been called Qutbism.
He believed Afghanistan under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world. Bin Laden had consistently talked about his belief in the need for violent jihad to make right what he believed are injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states, the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the US to withdraw from the Middle East. He had also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication and homosexuality, intoxicants (e.g. alcohol), gambling, and usury" in an October 2002 letter.
One of Bin Laden's most infamous beliefs was that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad. Bin Laden was antisemitic, and had delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next". Shia Muslims have been listed along with "Heretics,... America and Israel," as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at the ideology classes of bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization.p303
In keeping with Wahhabi beliefs (the Saudi type of Islam), bin Laden opposed music on religious grounds,p167 and his attitude towards technology was mixed. He was interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants" on the one hand, but rejected "chilled water" on the other.p172
His viewpoints and methods of achieving them led to him been designated as a terrorist by scholars, journalists from the New York Times, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Qatari news station Al Jazeera, analysts such as Peter Bergen, Michael Scheuer, Marc Sageman, and Bruce Hoffman and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid, New York City, and Tripoli. He stayed in hiding until he was killed by the United States in Pakistan, in May 2011.
Names
Osama bin Laden's name can be transliterated in many ways. Usāmah bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Lādin (Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بنلادن), shortened to Usama bin Laden (أسامة بن لادن).
The form used here, Osama bin Laden, is used by most English-language mass media. This includes CNN and the BBC. The FBI and Fox News use Usama bin Laden. Often the name is abbreviated to UBL.
The bin Laden family (or "Binladin," as they like to be called) usually use the name as a surname in the Western style. The family company is known as the Binladin Brothers for Contracting and Industry. It is one of the largest corporations in Saudi Arabia.
Bin Laden had many aliases and nicknames, such as "the Prince", "the Emir", "Abu Abdallah", "Mujahid Shayekh", and "the Director".
Marriages
Bin Laden was first married at the age of 17 to a Syrian cousin. Her name was Najwa Ghanem. She was probably two years younger than he. They had 11 children. Najwa left bin Laden just before 9/11.
He was married to Khadijah (1983–1995, divorced). His next wife was Khairiah (1985–2011, his death). His fourth wife was Siham (1987–2011, his death). He was married to unknown woman in 1996 but the marriage was annulled within a few days. His last wife was Amal (2000–2011, his death). There were a total of nine children from these later marriages, making 20 in all.
Death
U.S. President Barack Obama launched a mission, "Operation Neptune Spear", where United States Special Operation forces raided bin Laden's hideout compound. On the night of 2 May 2011 (Pakistani time; 1 May 2011 U.S. time), bin Laden was killed by bullets to the chest and head. His body was buried at sea later that day so there would be no grave.
References
1957 births
2011 deaths
Al-Qaeda people
Deaths by firearm
Saudi Arabian people
September 11 attacks |
15188 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower%20%28ship%29 | Mayflower (ship) | The Mayflower was the ship that in 1620 transported 102 passengers, including a group of people seeking religious freedom. Their original destination was the Virginia Colony but they were forced to land instead at the Cape Cod hook. Their story is one of suffering and survival in a harsh environment. The voyage is one of the most famous in early American history.
The Mayflower left England with the ship Speedwell on 15 August 1620. It carried Pilgrims from England and Holland. The Speedwell turned out to be unseaworthy. Both ships were twice forced to return to England. The Mayflower finally left Plymouth, England on 16 September 1620. On 19 November 1620, they spotted land. Their destination was the Virginia Colony but the ship was damaged so they were forced to land Cape Cod on 21 November. They wrote the Mayflower Compact, which made rules on how they would live and treat each other.
The Passengers lived on the ship for a few months. They went ashore to build shelters in the day, then returned to the ship at night. About half the people died in the winter of 1620-21. In March 1621, there were enough shelters for everyone to live on land.
Related pages
Mayflower passenger list
References
Other websites
Pilgrim Hall Museum of Plymouth, Massachusetts
General Society of Mayflower Descendants
The Mayflower And Her Log ; Azel Ames, Project Gutenberg edition.
Mayflower Descendants Chart .
Pilgrims and the Mayflower Mayflower Interior Pictured
Plymouth Colony
1620
1620s in the Thirteen Colonies |
15189 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/800 | 800 |
Events
Irish monks come to Iceland. |
15190 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reykjav%C3%ADk | Reykjavík | Reykjavík is the capital city of the island country of Iceland. It is also the largest city in that country. The population of Reykjavík is over 117,000 people. There is a geothermal bath, both natural and unnatural in appearance. It is in the capital and people relax in this hot spring during the cooler months. Björk, an Icelandic singer, is from Reykjavik.
Other websites |
15195 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform | Uniform | Uniforms are special clothes to show that a group of people belong together. The group of people will all be dressed in the same way ("uni" means "one", and form means "shape" one shape).
People may wear uniforms for several reasons. The uniform will help the people to feel a team spirit so that they work well together. They may also help members of the public to know who they are, e.g. in a department store a customer can tell who is a member of staff, or in the street people will recognize a police officer. Uniforms may also be worn because they are practical, e.g. it might keep them safe when operating machinery or keep them clean when doing their work.
In the army soldiers wear uniform. They also wear extra things such as badges on their uniform which show how important they are (what rank they are).
Nurses in hospitals wear uniform. Sometimes domestic workers wear uniform when working for their employers. Important domestic workers may wear special smart uniforms called "livery" e.g. porters (doormen) at luxury hotels.
In some countries such as India, Japan, China, Korea, Australia and United Kingdom many school children wear uniform. The uniform would be a set of clothes with the school crest or symbol. It helps them to feel proud of their school and children from rich families and poor families all look the same. In Britain, for example, most young children wear school uniform. In state schools the children may wear polo-necked T shirts with a school logo. Other schools, especially private schools, may have a formal uniform, or they may be free to choose their own clothes so long as they are the school colour.
Other websites
Uniforms |
15196 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle%20of%20Trafalgar | Battle of Trafalgar | The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought on 21 October 1805 between the navies of France and Spain on one side, and Great Britain on the other. The battle took place near Cape Trafalgar, which is in southwest Spain. The battle ended with a clear victory for the British forces. This allowed Britain to become the world's largest sea power for 100 years. The Battle of Trafalgar was the most important sea battle of the 19th century.
Before the battle
The Napoleonic Wars had gone on for some time. France had built the strongest army in Europe, and controlled much of the land. Because it was an island, Britain had built a strong Royal Navy and used this to blockade France to prevent French ships from leaving their ports. The French leader Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to invade and conquer Britain, which meant he had to sink the British navy first, otherwise it would be able to prevent his army from landing.
The British knew that France might try to attack them, and had placed ships outside the important French ports, like Toulon. The admiral in charge of the British fleet was Lord Horatio Nelson. He had become famous in Britain for his victories over the French, such as at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.
But the French navy managed to avoid Nelson's fleet and leave Toulon during a storm and met a group of Spanish ships. Spain at the time was an ally (partner) of France. This small fleet first sailed to the West Indies, then returned across the Atlantic Ocean to the Spanish port of Cadiz. They wanted to join with more French ships to make a stronger fleet. The British had chased them both ways across the ocean.
The battle
The French then learned that some British ships had been seen in Gibraltar, and thought this meant that the British fleet was not as strong as it had been before. So they decided that this was the best time to leave Cadiz.
The next day, the 33 ships of the French and Spanish fleet were met by the 27 ships of the British. Nelson had put his ships into two lines. Before the battle started, he sent a message which was to become famous: England expects that every man will do his duty.
The two British lines sailed through the French and Spanish line, splitting it, and was able to cause great damage to its ships using their cannons
However, Admiral Nelson, on board his ship, HMS Victory, was hit by a musket bullet fired by a sniper from the French ship Redoutable. The bullet entered via his shoulder, went into his lung and lodged in his spine. He was taken below the deck and died later, shortly before 4:30pm, as the battle died down. The French and Spanish had lost 22 ships, the British lost none.
After the battle
Because France was unable to invade Britain, British soldiers were able to fight on the European continent together with the armies of other countries against the armies of Napoleon. In the end, Napoleon was finally defeated, in 1815, at the Battle of Waterloo. With control of the seas, Britain was able to build up a large empire during the years that followed and its navy was the world's largest for over a hundred years.
Nelson's body was brought back to Great Britain and he was given a hero's funeral. In 1843, the famous Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column were built in London to honor him.
References
1805
Trafalgar
19th century in Spain
1800s in Europe
October events |
15197 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter%20Frampton | Peter Frampton | Peter Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English guitarist. He is best known for the album Frampton Comes Alive.
Other websites
Peter Frampton's website
FOX Television Celebrity Duets season premier recap
Audio interview at BBC Wiltshire
Five audio interview segments with Peter Frampton from 1986
Frampton, Peter
1950 births
Living people |
15198 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1537 | 1537 |
Births
October 12 – Edward VI of England
Deaths
October 24 – Jane Seymour, queen of Henry VIII of England (born about 1507) |
15199 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nairobi | Nairobi | Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. Its name comes from The Masaai word 'Enkare Nyorobi' meaning 'place of cool waters'. It is far from the coastline of Kenya. About three million people live there. The city was founded in 1899 as a railway depot linking Uganda to Mombasa. Nairobi is the fourth largest city in Africa with a population of more than 6 million people. There are several popular shopping malls, including the Yaya Center,The Thika Road Mall, The Hub Karen, Junction Mall, the Village Market, and the Sarit Center. The Israeli owned, Westgate Mall was another popular destination until it was attacked by al Shaabab terrorists in 2013. Nairobi is headed by a governor, who is called Mike Mbuvi 'Sonko' and he's Deputy, Polycarp Igathe who were inaugurated after the August 8,2017 election.
Nairobi has become very highly populated due to high rural to urban migration rates. Violent crime is also fairly common in many areas, leading to the nickname "Nairobbery."
1899 establishments
19th-century establishments in Africa |
15201 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek%20and%20the%20Dominos | Derek and the Dominos | Derek and the Dominos was an American blues rock band. The band's members were Eric Clapton, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock, Jim Gordon, and Duane Allman. They made the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. "Layla", with the well-known guitar riff, came from that same album. The band broke up after one album.
Discography
Studio albums
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)
American rock bands
Blues bands
Musical groups from New York City |
15202 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl%20Radle | Carl Radle | Carl Dean Radle (born June 18, 1942 Tulsa, Oklahoma, died May 30, 1980) was an American musician, best known for being the bassist in Derek and the Dominos. Radle worked with many well-known artists and worked on many gold and platinum singles and albums. Radle is thought by many to have been the best bass guitar sideman in the music business.
In May 30, 1980, Radle died at age 37, of problems from a kidney infection caused by his alcoholism and drug addiction.
1980 deaths
1942 births
American bass guitarists
Musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma |
15204 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen%20Eighty-Four | Nineteen Eighty-Four | Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel written by George Orwell in 1948. The book is about what Orwell thought the world could have looked like in the year 1984. It describes a terrifying world where governments control and watch everyone's lives. The main character is Winston Smith. He lives in a country that is ruled by a powerful "Party" and its leader Big Brother, and dreams of changing this. He falls in love with Julia, who agrees with him, and is led into rebellion against the government.
The book is very famous. Many of its ideas are also famous. Among these are Big Brother, Newspeak, Room 101 and unperson. In 2005, Time (a magazine) called it one the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.
Plot
In the year 1984, the world is divided into three massive countries that are in endless war with each other: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. Each country has a totalitarian government, meaning that the government tries to control everything that its people do. Great Britain is now named "Airstrip One" and is part of Oceania. Oceania is ruled by "the Party". They use the "Thought Police" and "telescreens" (two-way televisions) to spy on people. People also have to show love for the Party and its leader, Big Brother. While pictures of Big Brother are everywhere, he is never seen for real, and he may not even exist.
Winston Smith is an ordinary member of the Party. He works for the "Ministry of Truth". His job is to re-write history when the Party wants him to. The Party kills anyone whom it thinks threatens its grip on power, sometimes for reasons that make no sense. When these people are killed, the Party also hides any sign that they existed. Winston works hard and pretends to love the Party. His secret is that he hates the Party and dreams of fighting them. Winston buys a diary from a shopkeeper called Mr Charrington.
He hides the diary in his room, where he writes about his secrets. He falls in love with a woman called Julia. The Party will not allow this, so they go out into the countryside to meet in secret. Later, they start meeting in a room at Mr Charrington's shop. O'Brien, an important member of the Party, tells Winston that he also hates the Party. Winston and Julia meet O'Brien at his home, where he gives them a book. The book is about how the Party stays in power. It says that the Party can be stopped if ordinary people rise up against it.
Winston and Julia are betrayed. Winston is taken to the "Ministry of Love". This is the prison of Oceania. O'Brien tells Winston that he was only pretending to be his friend. Winston is hurt badly and told he must stop hating the Party and do everything they want him to do, even if he has to say that "2 + 2 = 5". O'Brien says that once this is finished, Winston will leave the Ministry of Love and will return to a normal life for some months or years. After this, they will shoot him. But first, they want to make him turn against Julia.
In the end, Winston is taken to "Room 101", where he must face his worst fear: rats. As a cage of hungry rats is pushed against his face, Winston tells them to "Do it to Julia!" After Winston leaves the Ministry of Love, he meets Julia. He says he turned against her in Room 101, and she says she did the same. Winston then sits alone in a café. The last words of the story are: "He loved Big Brother."
Background
Orwell got the idea for the book when he saw in the newspapers of London that they listed how much the country's supplies increased (more supplies) during World War II when they were actually very low on supplies and were getting smaller. He started writing a political satire of the possible condition of Britain in 50 years. He wrote it in 1948, mostly during a visit to Jura, Scotland. He sent the writing to his publishers in December 1948.
Setting
The main character, Winston Smith, lives in the town of London, United Kingdom (although in the novel, the United Kingdom is called "Airstrip One"). Airstrip One is only a small part of the mega state (big country) of Oceania. Oceania is a very large country. The Americas, Greenland, Iceland, South Africa, Madagascar, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, all come together to create the country of Oceania. There are two other countries in the novel - Eurasia, and Eastasia. Europe (not including the United Kingdom), Russia, and half of Mongolia, make up the country of Eurasia. China, Japan, Korea, and some north-west countries in Asia, make up the country of Eastasia. The equatorial countries (the Middle East, North Africa, etc.) are not part of any of these three countries, as Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia are always fighting over these places.
People in Oceania belong to three groups:
Inner Party: The most powerful people in the country. They live like rich people.
Outer Party: People like Winston and Julia. They have a better life than most people. They are always being watched.
Proles: Ordinary people. They are poor, but have more freedom than the Outer Party.
Party workers belong to four ministries:
Ministry of Truth: They tell people what to think. They also make all of the country's art.
Ministry of Peace: They run the military
Ministry of Plenty: They run the economy
Ministry of Love: A prison
The leader of Ocenia is Big Brother. His picture is seen everywhere, along with the words "Big Brother is watching you." However, it is not clear if he is a real person. Emmanuel Goldstein and O'Brien both say that the main role of Big Brother is to be a symbol for the Party. O'Brien also says that Big Brother will never die.
Ideas
The book was an attack on totalitarianism (when a government tries to control people's lives) and dictatorship (rule by one person). George Orwell was a democratic socialist who was against any form of dictatorship. He once wrote: Later he repeated that idea, writing about 1984
Newspeak
Newspeak is a fictional language (artlang) that appears in the book Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is the official language of Oceania. At the end of his book, George Orwell described Newspeak. It started out as the English language, but the number of words gets smaller each year. The Party are trying to stop people from rebelling, so it destroys words like "freedom" and "love", saying that people can not think of it if there is no word for it. In the society, this is supposed to prevent thoughtcrime, which is thinking against the Party, or thinking about the past. For example, a person could not say "I want to be free", because there was no word for "free" any more, so the person could not describe what he or she was feeling. At the time, it was supposed to make fun of what was later called "politically correct" speech, and "thoughtcrime" made fun of censorship. "Newspeak" is also used for military reasons, such as Oceania's Ministry of Peace (in Newspeak: "Minipax"), really the war department. Words like "Peace", "Truth", "Love", and "Plenty" were used in Newspeak a lot to mean their exact opposites. Another "Newspeak" word, joycamp, means "forced labor camp". Other "Newspeak" words were used for political reasons. Words like "crimethink" were defined by the "Party", and became laws of the land.
Others
2 + 2 = 5: The idea that if a government is so powerful, it can make people think that "2 + 2 = 5".
Big Brother: The leader of Oceania, though he is never seen and he may not even be real. Emmanuel Goldstein (who may not be real either) says that the Party makes people think Big Brother is its leader because people find it easier to love one person than a group of people.
doublethink: When someone can think that two opposing things are true. (e.g. "Oceania is winning the war." "Oceania will lose the war unless it sends more soldiers.")
endless war: These large wars are being fought just to keep people busy. The sides in the wars sometimes change. When this happens, they pretend there was no change and that the sides were always the same.
Ingsoc: This is short for "English socialism". This is the Party's idea on how Oceania should be run.
memory hole: A hole that things can be thrown down, which leads to a furnace.
Room 101: A room in the Ministry of Love where someone faces their worst fear.
telescreen: A type of television. People can watch things on the telescreen, but it is also has a camera for watching people.
Thought Police: A police who catch people who commit thoughtcrime.
thoughtcrime: When someone has thoughts that the Party does not want them to think.
unperson: A person who has been killed by the Party. When this happens, all signs that this person existed are destroyed.
vaporized: When someone is turned into an unperson.
Reception
Book magazine ranked the character of Big Brother as #59 on its "100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900" list.
Related pages
[[Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century|Le Monde'''s 100 Books of the Century]]
References
Aubrey, Crispin & Chilton, Paul (Eds). (1983). Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1984: Autonomy, Control & Communication. London: Comedia. .
Hillegas, Mark R. (1967). The Future As Nightmare: H.G. Wells and the Anti-Utopians. Southern Illinois University Press.
Afterword by Erich Fromm (1961) pp. 324–337.
Orwell's text has a "Selected Bibliography", pp. 338–9; the foreword and the afterword each contain further references.
Shelden, Michael. (1991). Orwell — The Authorised Biography. London: Heinemann.
Smith, David & Mosher, Michael. (1984). Orwell for Beginners. London: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative.
Tuccille, Jerome. (1975). Who's Afraid of 1984? The case for optimism in looking ahead to the 1980s. New York: Arlington House. .
West, W. J. The Larger Evils – Nineteen Eighty-Four, the truth behind the satire''. Edinburgh: Canongate Press. 1992.
Other websites
On-line comic version of 1984
1949 books
Novels
Books by George Orwell |
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