title: Ned Kelly

text: Many people did not agree with the death sentence. A petition with more than 60,000 names asked the government for mercy. Ned Kelly was hanged on 11 November 1880, at the Melbourne Gaol for murder. Several newspapers including "The Age" and "The Herald" reported Kelly's last words as "Such is life". Sir Redmond Barry died after a short illness on 23 November, 1880, only 12 days after Kelly's death.


title: Ned Kelly

text: Ned Kelly was buried in an unmarked grave at the Melbourne Gaol, in an area with other criminals who had also been hanged at the gaol. The bones of 32 people were dug up in 1929 when the gaol was being redeveloped, and reburied at Pentridge Gaol in Coburg, Victoria. The burial site at Pentridge was rediscovered in 2008. DNA testing has proved that one set of bones was the skeleton of Ned Kelly. Experts from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine said that the DNA clearly matches one of Kelly's living relatives. The bones show some of the injuries Kelly got during the shoot out with the police. The Kelly skeleton does not have a skull.


title: Ned Kelly

text: A skull, said to be Kelly's, was found during the digging at the gaol in 1929. It was put on display at the Old Melbourne Gaol, but it was stolen in 1978. On the anniversary of Ned Kelly's hanging, 11 November 2009, a farmer from Western Australia gave a skull back to Heritage Victoria which he said had been taken from the gaol. It was tested for DNA to see if it was Ned Kelly's skull. These tests showed it was not, and the location of Kelly's skull is still unknown.


title: Ned Kelly

text: In 2013, the Victorian Government finally gave Kelly's remains to his family. A funeral service was held at St. Patrick's Church, Wangaratta on 18 January, 2013. During the service, family members who read from the Bible wore a green silk sash. Relatives of Constable Michael Scanlon and Aaron Sherrit also attended the service. Kelly was buried in an unmarked grave at Greta on 20 January 2013.


title: Ned Kelly

text: The DNA that was recovered from Ned's skeleton was mitochondrial DNA. That was matched with one of Ned's maternal relations (Ned's grand nephew Leigh Olver). No adequate quality Y-DNA was recovered from Ned's bones or has been recovered from any of Ned's known paternal side relatives (Y-DNA is passed from father to son). There is a chance that a Y-DNA sample may be isolated from Ned's bones one day using more advanced laboratory procedures, however, it is also possible that a Y-DNA sample could be taken from the remains of one of Ned's male relatives such as his father, his uncles or his brothers. Their graves are all well known. A Y-DNA sample would reveal exactly which Kelly line Ned belongs to. Currently the Kelly Surname Y-DNA study has the results of over 500 Y-DNA samples but no comparison can be made until a sample from one of Ned's family is obtained. Based on location, the most frequent Kelly line in south-west Ireland (Tipperary, Clare and Kerry) is the O'Brien-Kelly line (L226+).


title: Ned Kelly

text: Ned Kelly is still a major part of Australian popular culture. His story has been told in books, movies, plays and television shows. His image has been used for everything from cakes to tattoos. A recent study showed that people with a Ned Kelly tattoo were eight times more likely to be murdered. In 1980, the Australian Post Office released a set of postage stamps to remember the 100th anniversary of the siege at Glenrowan. In 2010 the National Gallery of Victoria paid AU$2.2 million for a painting of Ned Kelly by artist Sidney Nolan. It was Nolan's paintings of Ned Kelly that inspired the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In June 2011 the Williamstown Australian Rules Football Club claimed that Ned Kelly had played 11 games for the club in 1873 while serving time in the prison ship. It was also claimed that in 1928 they had found a suit of armour buried on the football ground.


title: Mate (drink)

text: Mate is a traditional drink in some countries in South America, especially in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia and Brazil. The drink, which contains mateine (an analog of caffeine), is made by an infusion of dried leaves of yerba mate ("Ilex paraguariensis"). It is usually drunk with friends and served in a hollow calabash gourd with a "Bombilla", a special metallic drinking straw. The straw is also called a "bomba" in Portuguese, and a "bombija" in Arabic. It is traditionally made of silver. The gourd is known as a "mate" or a "guampa". In Brazil it called a "cuia". Even if the water comes in a very modern thermos, the drink is traditionally drunk from "mates" or "cuias". There are now modern "tea-bag" type infusions of mate called "mate cocido" which have been sold in Argentina for many years. They are drunk from a cup. They are sold under such trade names as "Cruz de Malta" (Maltese Cross) and in Brazil under the name "Mate Leão" (Lion Mate).


title: Mate (drink)

text: Like other brewed herbs, "yerba mate" leaves are dried, chopped, and ground into a powder called "yerba". The "bombilla" is both a straw and a sieve. The end which is placed in the drink is wider, with small holes or slots that let the brewed liquid in, but block the chunky matter that makes up much of the mixture. A modern "bombilla" uses a straight tube with holes, or spring sleeve to act as a sieve. "Bombilla" means "light bulb" in Spanish, but locally it is "little pump" or "straw".


title: Mate (drink)

text: In some areas of the Middle Eastern countries of Syria and Lebanon it is also common to drink mate. The custom of drinking "mate" came from Arab emigrants from South America. Syria is the world's biggest importer of yerba mate in the world, importing 15,000 tons of yerba mate a year.


title: Mate (drink)

text: "Mate" is made differently in different places, with many arguments about which way is the best. In nearly all methods, the gourd is nearly filled with "yerba", and hot water (typically at 70–80 °C <nowiki>[</nowiki>160–180 °F<nowiki>]</nowiki> and never boiling) is added.


title: Mate (drink)

text: The most common way to make mate involves a careful arrangement of the "yerba" in the gourd before adding hot water. The gourd is filled one-half to three-quarters of the way with "yerba". Extra herbs may be added for either health or flavor benefits. This is most often done in Paraguay, where people get herbs from a local yuyera (herbalist). The "mate" is used as a base for their herbal infusions. When the gourd is filled, the preparer typically grasps it with their full hand. They cover the opening and roughly seal it with their palm. Then the "mate" is turned upside-down, and shaken vigorously, but briefly and with gradually decreasing force, in this inverted position causing the finest, most powdery particles of the "yerba" to settle toward the preparer's palm and the top of the mate.


title: Mate (drink)

text: Once the "yerba" is settled, the mate is carefully brought to a near-sideways angle, with the opening tilted just slightly upward of the base. The mate is then shaken very gently with a side-to-side motion. This further settles the "yerba" inside the gourd so that the finest particles move toward the opening and the "yerba" is layered along one side. The largest stems and other bits create a partition between the empty space on one side of the gourd and the lopsided pile of "yerba" on the other.


title: Mate (drink)

text: After arranging the "yerba" along one side of the gourd, the "mate" is carefully tilted back onto its base, minimizing further disturbances of the "yerba" as it is re-oriented to allow consumption. Some avalanche-like settling is normal, but is not desirable. The angled mound of "yerba" should remain, with its powdery peak still flat and mostly level with the top of the gourd. A layer of stems along its slope will slide downward and accumulate in the space opposite the "yerba" (though at least a portion should remain in place).


title: Mate (drink)

text: All of this careful settling of the "yerba" ensures that each sip contains as little particulate matter as possible, creating a smooth-running mate. The finest particles will then be as distant as possible from the filtering end of the "bombilla". With each draw, the smaller particles would inevitably move toward the "bombilla", but the larger particles and stems filter much of this out. A sloped arrangement provides consistent concentration and flavor with each filling of the "mate".


title: Mate (drink)

text: Now the "mate" is ready to receive the "bombilla". Many people choose to pour warm water into the "mate" before adding the "bombilla", while others insist that the "bombilla" is best inserted into dry "yerba". Wetting the "yerba" by gently pouring cool water into the empty space within the gourd until the water nearly reaches the top, and then allowing it to be absorbed into the yerba before adding the "bombilla", allows the preparer to carefully shape and "pack" the "yerba"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s slope with the "bombilla"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s filtering end, which makes the overall form of the "yerba" within the gourd more resilient and solid. Dry "yerba", on the other hand, allows a cleaner and easier insertion of the "bombilla", though care must be taken so as not to overly disturb the arrangement of the "yerba". Such a decision is entirely a personal or cultural preference. The "bombilla" is inserted with your thumb on the upper end of the bombilla, at an angle roughly perpendicular to the slope of the "yerba", so that its filtering end travels into the deepest part of the yerba and comes to rest near or against the opposite wall of the gourd.


title: Mate (drink)

text: Now the "yerba" may be brewed. If the "bombilla" was inserted into dry "yerba", the mate must first be filled once with warm water as above, then be allowed to absorb it completely (which generally takes no more than two or three minutes). Treating the "yerba" with cool water before the addition of hot water is essential, as it protects the herb from being scalded and from the chemical breakdown of some of its desirable nutrients. Hot water may then be added by carefully pouring it, as with the cool water before, into the cavity opposite the "yerba", until it reaches almost to the top of the gourd when the "yerba" is fully saturated. Care should be taken to maintain the dryness of the swollen top of the "yerba" beside the edge of the gourd's opening.


title: Mate (drink)

text: Once the hot water has been added, the mate is ready for drinking. It may be refilled many times before becoming washed out ("lavado") and losing its flavor. When this happens, the mound of "yerba" can be pushed from one side of the gourd to the other, allowing water to be added along its opposite side; this revives the "mate" for additional re-fillings.


title: Mate (drink)

text: "Mate" is traditionally drunk in a particular social setting, such as family gatherings or with friends. One person (known in Spanish as the "cebador") assumes the task of server. Typically, the cebador fills the gourd and drinks the "mate" completely to ensure that it is free of particulate matter and of good quality. The server subsequently refills the gourd and passes it to the next drinker who likewise drinks it all, without thanking the server. The ritual proceeds around the circle in this fashion until the "mate" becomes "lavado" ("washed out" or "flat"), typically after the gourd has been filled about ten times or more depending on the "yerba" used (well-aged "yerba mate" is typically more potent, and therefore provides a greater number of refills). When one has had his fill of "mate", he or she politely thanks the "cebador" passing the "mate" back at the same time.


title: Mate (drink)

text: The drink has a pungent taste like a cross between green tea and coffee, with hints of tobacco and oak. Some drinkers like to add sugar or honey, creating "mate dulce" (sweet "mate"), instead of sugarless "mate amargo" (bitter "mate"). It is considered bad for the gourd (especially for the natural (squash or wood) ones) to be used for "mate dulce" so it is normal for households with drinkers of both kinds to have two separate gourds.


title: Mate (drink)

text: Traditionally, natural gourds are used, though wood vessels, bamboo tubes and gourd-shaped "mates", made of ceramic or metal (stainless steel or even silver) are also common. Gourds are commonly decorated with silver, sporting decorative or heraldic designs with floral motifs.


title: Mate (drink)

text: Both the wood vessels and the gourds must undergo "curing" to get a better taste before being used for the first time and to ensure the long life of the gourd. Typically, to cure a gourd, the inside is first scraped with the tip of a bombilla to remove loose gourd particles. "Mate" herb and hot water is added next, and the mixture poured into the gourd. The mixture is left to sit overnight and the water is topped off periodically through the next 24 hours as the gourd absorbs the water. Finally the gourd is scraped out, emptied, and put in sunlight until completely dry.


title: Mate (drink)

text: It is common for a black mold to grow inside the gourd when it is stored. Some people will clean this out, others consider it an enhancement to the mate flavor.


title: Mate (drink)

text: The Guaraní people started drinking mate in the region that now includes Paraguay, southern Brazil,Uruguay, and north-east Argentina. The Guaraní have a legend that says that the Goddesses of the Moon and the Cloud came to the Earth one day to visit it but they instead found a Yaguareté (a kind of jaguar) that was going to attack them. An old man saves them, and, in compensation, the Goddesses gave the old man a new kind of plant, from which he could prepare a "drink of friendship".


title: Mate (drink)

text: There is another drink that can be prepared with specially cut dry leaves, very cold water and, optionally, lemon or another fruit juice, called "tereré". It is very common in Paraguay. Drinking and harvesting of Mate started in Paraguay in pre-Hispanic times. (Notice its scientific name, "Ilex paraguayensis".)


title: Mate (drink)

text: In Brazil the traditional "mate" or "cuia" is usually big with a corresponding large hole. In Uruguay and Argentina (especially in the capital, Buenos Aires) the mate is small and has a small hole, and people sometimes add sugar for flavor. In Bolivia and Peru, "mate de coca" is often sipped instead of ordinary mate.


title: Mate (drink)

text: In Uruguay there is even a national law that prohibits drinking "mate" while driving, because it caused many accidents of people getting scalded with hot water while driving. For the same reason, there is also a "forbidden to drink mate" sign in all public transportation buses.


title: Mate (drink)

text: In Uruguay and in the northeast of Argentina it is not uncommon to see people walking around the streets toting a "mate" and a thermos with hot water. In Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital, it is possible to see some construction worker drinking mate while riding his bicycle early in the morning, on his way to work. In some parts of Argentina, gas stations sponsored by "yerba mate" producers provide free hot water to travellers, specifically for the purpose of drinking during the journey. There are disposable mate sets with a plastic mate and bombilla, and sets with a thermos flask and stacking containers for the yerba and sugar inside a fitted case.


title: Mate (drink)

text: In Brazil, traditionally prepared mate is known as "chimarrão", although in areas near the border with Uruguay the word "mate" is also used. Nowadays, in Brazil, "mate" is often toasted with sugar and prepared in a similar manner to tea, a custom that originated in Paraguay. Supermarkets, restaurants and fast food chains sell "tea bags" and prepacked "iced tea" packages and bottles. In Argentina, "mate cocido" (cooked mate) is made with a teabag or leaves and drunk from a cup or mug, with or without sugar and milk.


title: Mate (drink)

text: At the beginning of the 21st century most urban Chileans are not mate drinkers, but travel narratives such as Maria Graham's Journal of a Residence in Chile [2003(1824):8], show that there is a long history of mate drinking in central Chile. Many rural Chileans drink "mate", in particular in the southern regions, particularly Chiloé and Magallanes, perhaps due to the influence of neighboring areas of Argentina.


title: Mate (drink)

text: According to a major retailer of mate in San Luis Obispo, California, by 2004 "mate" had grown to about 5% of the overall natural tea market in North America . Bottled iced mate is widely available in California.


title: Kung Fu Panda (movie)

text: Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American-Indian-Chinese-French computer-animated action comedy movie made by DreamWorks. It was directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne. It tells the story of Po, a giant panda (Jack Black), a kung fu fan who becomes a kung fu master. It received critical acclaim and became a box office success. A successful sequel, "Kung Fu Panda 2" was released in 2011. Another sequel, "Kung Fu Panda 3" was released in 2016. There is also two short , a Christmas special, and a .


title: Kung Fu Panda (movie)

text: A big, fat panda named Po the panda dreams of becoming a kung fu master, but he doesn't know kung fu. One day, kung fu teacher Master Shifu holds a contest to see who will become the Dragon Warrior, the most powerful kung fu master in the land. Everyone thinks one of Shifu's students, the Furious Five will become the Dragon Warrior, but Po is chosen instead and begins learning kung fu. Shifu and the Furious Five don't like Po the panda and try to make him quit, but he becomes friends with them. When Master Shifu learns that the evil Tai Lung the snow leopard is coming to the land, he quickly teaches Po kung fu so he can be given the Dragon Scroll that will help him beat Tai Lung. Nothing is written on the scroll, but Po finds out that he doesn't need the scroll to be the Dragon Warrior and beats Tai Lung without it. Po becomes a kung fu master and Dragon Warrior loved by everyone and peace returns to the land.


title: Bodhi Tree

text: The Bodhi Tree was a large and very old sacred fig tree ("Ficus religiosa"). It was at the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya. Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism, later known as Gautama Buddha, achieved "Bodhi" (spiritual enlightenment) while sitting under this tree. The Bodhi tree is easily recognised because of its heart-shaped leaves.


title: Bodhi Tree

text: The word "Bodhi tree" is also applied to some existing trees, particularly the Sacred Fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple, which is probably a direct descendant of the original tree. This tree is a frequent place for pilgrims to visit, being the most important of the four holy sites for Buddhists.


title: Bodhi Tree

text: The Bodhi tree at the Mahabodhi Temple is called the Sri MahaBodhi. According to Buddhism, after his Enlightenment, Buddha spent a whole week in front of the tree, standing with unblinking eyes, gazing at it with gratitude. A shrine was later built where he had stood.


title: Bodhi Tree

text: The spot was used as a shrine even in the lifetime of Buddha, the only shrine that could be so used. King Asoka held a festival every year in its honor in the month of Kattika. His queen, Tissarakkhā was jealous of the Tree, and three years after she became queen (i.e., in the nineteenth year of Asoka's reign), she caused the tree to be killed by means of mandu thorns. The tree, however, grew again, and a great monastery was attached to the Bodhimanda called the Bodhimanda Vihara. Among those present at the foundation of the Mahā Thūpa are mentioned thirty thousand monks from the Bodhimanda Vihara, led by Cittagutta.


title: Bodhi Tree

text: Some Part of Bodhi Tree was sent to Sri Lanka by Ashoka which was planted in 288 BC, making it the oldest verified specimen of any plant. In this year (the twelfth year of King Asoka's reign) the right branch of the Bodhi tree was brought by Sanghamittā to Anurādhapura and placed by Devānāmpiyatissa in the Mahāmeghavana. Buddha, on his death bed, had resolved "Mahavamsa" From Gayā, the branch was taken to Pātaliputta, then to Tāmalittī, where it was placed in a ship and taken to Jambukola, across the sea; finally it arrived at Anuradhapura, staying on the way at Tivakka. Those who assisted the king at the ceremony of the planting of


title: Bodhi Tree

text: According to the Ceylon Chronicles (e.g., Mhv.xv), branches from the Bodhi trees of all the Buddhas born during this kalpa were planted in Ceylon on the spot where the sacred Bodhi tree stands today in Anurādhapura. The branch of Kakusandha's tree was brought by a nun called Rucānandā, Konagamana's by Kantakānandā (or Kanakadattā), and Kassapa's by Sudhammā.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: A nuclear weapon, nuclear bomb or a nuke, is a weapon that suddenly releases the energy in the nucleus of certain types of atoms. When triggered, the device releases a huge amount of energy in the form of a nuclear explosion.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: Nuclear explosions can destroy a city and kill most of its people. They also make nuclear fallout. This is radiation left over after the explosion, which makes people ill. Nuclear weapons are the most damaging weapons mankind has created.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: The first nuclear weapons were built by the United States during World War II. Two nuclear weapons were used to attack cities in Japan. They were the only times nuclear weapons were used in war.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: There are two types of nuclear weapons: fission weapons (also called atomic bombs or A-Bombs) and fusion weapons (also called hydrogen bombs, H-Bombs, or thermonuclear weapons). They make energy for the nuclear explosion in different ways. Fusion weapons make bigger explosions. Fission weapons use a special isotope of uranium or plutonium. Fusion weapons use a special isotope of hydrogen. Nuclear weapons have been used twice in war, both by the United States in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 .


title: Nuclear weapon

text: Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have been detonated over 2,000 times for testing and demonstration. Only a few nations possess such weapons or are suspected of seeking them. The only countries known to have detonated nuclear weapons and to say they have them are (chronologically by date of first test) the United States, the Soviet Union (succeeded as a nuclear power by Russia), the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Israel is believed to have nuclear weapons, but in a policy of deliberate ambiguity, does not say so. Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands share nuclear weapons with other countries. South Africa is the only country that has independently developed and later renounced and dismantled its nuclear weapons.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: The Treaty on the "Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons" aims to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons. Its effectiveness has been questioned.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: In 1939, physicists began to understand the theory of nuclear fission weapons, but no country knew how to build one. When World War II started, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States wanted to build nuclear weapons. The United Kingdom started working in 1939 but found it so expensive that it gave up in 1942. Later that year, the United States started a very large program to build nuclear weapons. Building upon the work done in the United Kingdom, the program was called the "Manhattan Project".


title: Nuclear weapon

text: By August 1945, the Manhattan Project had built three nuclear fission weapons. Two of the bombs were used by the United States to attack the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. People from the Manhattan Project believe that around 105,000 people were killed and 94,000 were hurt when the bombs were used. Medical professionals later came to believe that more than 225,000 people died when everyone who was affected after long periods of time has been counted. Japan announced its surrender after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: One way that nuclear weapons release energy is by breaking atoms apart. Called nuclear fission, that the basis for atomic bombs. Specific isotopes of uranium or plutonium are typically used in the weapons. Those elements can be made to undergo nuclear fission and have a nuclear chain reaction.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: Another process can be used to create nuclear weapons with even bigger explosions and then releasing much more energy by fusing atoms together. That process is called nuclear fusion, and weapons based on the process are called hydrogen bombs or thermonuclear weapons. Specialized isotopes of hydrogen are typically used in the weapons.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: Nuclear weapons produce a very large amount of energy and radiation, which can kill people or animals within several kilometers. Most of the radiation is X-rays, which heats the air to produce a huge nuclear fireball. The rapid expansion of the fireball creates a dangerous shock wave that can destroy houses or buildings several kilometers away. The radiation can cause radiation poisoning and also has the potential to cause mutations in the DNA, which can cause cancer.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: Nuclear bombs also release fallout, which is nuclear material and dust that has been irradiated and become radioactive. Over time, the radioactive fallout can potentially kill people farther away, depending on how much was released. Fallout from a nuclear explosion can be blown by the wind over large distances from the explosion and can remain dangerous for long periods of time.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: A hydrogen bomb, also known as a fusion bomb, uses hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium) in addition to uranium or plutonium. Hydrogen bombs have the potential to be much more powerful than fission bombs. Despite the name, a typical hydrogen bomb has only enough hydrogen to produce additional neutrons to detonate a casing made of natural uranium. The fuel in hydrogen bombs is thus mostly unrefined uranium.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: Nuclear weapons are difficult to build because they need special isotopes of uranium or plutonium, as well as specialized technology. This is why so few countries have them. When countries without nuclear weapons create their own, that is commonly referred to as nuclear proliferation.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: Getting a nuclear weapon to its target can be as hard as making one. The explosive material can be placed in a bomb or artillery shell or into a missile. When a nuclear device is placed on a missile it is commonly called a nuclear missile and can be carried by airplanes, submarines, or trucks or placed into underground missile silos. Some kinds of airplanes like the B-29 Superfortress, B-36 Peacemaker, B-52 Stratofortress, and B-2 Spirit have carried nuclear weapons.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: They are also carried by missiles, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) or submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). Some missiles travel to the border of space and then launch a number of separate nuclear weapons back toward the ground, with each weapon travelling to a different target. That is called a MIRV Warhead, or Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles. Very large nuclear bombs have been produced, but in practice a weapon with multiple warheads can produce much more damage by attacking more targets.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: Nuclear weapons take many resources to make because the materials they are made of are rare, and it takes many scientists to make them. However, several countries have managed to create nuclear weapons and many have them today. The countries that have nuclear weapons are listed here in the order that they were invented: United States (1945), Russia (1949), United Kingdom (1952), France (1960), China (1964), India (1974), and Pakistan (1998). Other countries are believed to secretly have nuclear weapons or develop them. Some countries used to have nuclear weapons but have since then said that they have gotten rid of them.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: Some countries have lost nuclear weapons while transporting them. There are 92 known instances of atom bombs being lost at sea by all of the countries known to posses them. Bombs have been lost in 15 different cases. However, there could be more lost bombs.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: This is a list is of the main nuclear explosions which have happened. As well as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first nuclear test of a given weapon type for a country is included, and tests which were otherwise notable (such as the largest test ever). All yields (explosive power) are given in their estimated energy equivalents in kilotons of TNT.


title: Nuclear weapon

text: Over 500 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests were done at various sites around the world from 1945 to 1980. As public awareness and concern grew over the possible health hazards associated with exposure to nuclear fallout, various studies were done. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study says that nuclear fallout might have led to 11,000 excess deaths, most caused by thyroid cancer linked to exposure to iodine-131.


title: Turkish language

text: Turkish ("Türkçe") or Anatolian Turkic is a language officially spoken in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. The language is also spoken by several million ethnic Turkish immigrants in Europe.


title: Turkish language

text: Turkish is a Turkic language. Turkish is most closely related to other Turkic languages, including Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Kazakh. Another theory is that it is one of the many Altaic languages, which also include Japanese, Mongolian, and Korean.


title: Turkish language

text: Turkish used to be written with the Arabic alphabet from about 900 to 1928. However, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk changed it to the Latin alphabet. The Turkish government justified the move as making Turkish much easier to learn to increase literacy. The literacy rate indeed increased greatly after the reform, from around 10.5% (in 1927) to over 90% (today). Some say that the move was also to distance the country from the Ottoman Empire, whose documents can no longer be read except by a few scholars.


title: Turkish language

text: The Latin alphabet was made to reflect the actual sounds of spoken Turkish, rather than simply transcribing the old Ottoman Arabic script into a new form. The Turkish alphabet has 29 letters, seven of which (Ç, Ğ, I, İ, Ö, Ş, and Ü) have been modified from their Latin originals for the phonetic requirements of the language. It represents modern Turkish pronunciation with a high degree of accuracy and specificity. It is the current official alphabet and the latest in a series of distinct alphabets used in different eras.


title: Park

text: A park is an open place in a city or town for nature. There are often trees, benches, statues, and ponds in a park. Some parks built in big cities are very large. These can have fountains or picnic areas.


title: Park

text: Sometimes, countries or regions set up "national parks". These are usually large areas of land. Those areas are made to protect the habitats of animals. Very often, a special permit is necessary to enter. Building things in the park is usually forbidden, or needs a special permit.


title: Park

text: A park can also be an amusement park or water park in which the rides and shows are the main attractions.


title: Bass (fish)

text: Bass is the name of some species (types) of fish that are often caught for food or sport. There are freshwater bass (that live in rivers and lakes) and saltwater bass (that live in the ocean). Many bass live in or near North America. Bass are from the order of Perciformes or "perch-like fish". Their name comes from the word for perch.


title: Stygimoloch

text: Stygimoloch was a plant-eating dinosaur that had bony spikes and knobs on its skull. This bipedal dinosaur lived during the late Cretaceous period, about 68 million to 65 million years ago.


title: Stygimoloch

text: Like other pachycephalosaurids, Pachycephalosaurus was a bipedal herbivore with an extremely thick skull roof. It had long hindlimbs and small forelimbs. Pachycephalosaurs probably head-butted as a defense and in rivalry.


title: Stygimoloch

text: 22% of all domes examined had lesions suggesting osteomyelitis. This is an infection of the bone resulting from trauma. So pachycephalosaurid domes were probably used in intra-species combat.


title: Stygimoloch

text: "Stygimoloch" fossils were first discovered in North America, in Montana and Wisconsin. The first was discovered in Hell Creek, Montana and was named in 1983 by Peter M. Galton, a British paleontologist and Hans-Dieter Sues, a German paleontologist.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Anglo-Saxon mythology refers to the Migration Period Germanic paganism practiced by the English peoples in 5th to 7th century England before conversion to Christianity.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: The Anglo-Saxons, composed of tribes of the Angles, Saxons, Friesian and Germans, arrived in Britain from southern Scandinavia, the Netherlands and northern Germany. It is from these people that the modern English language (Angle-ish) derives. An impression, but only that, of the Anglo-Saxon mythology can be obtained from reading about Scandinavian mythology. The latter was written down much later, by Snorri Sturluson, because Iceland remained pagan until well into the Christian era (c.1000). The Norse of Iceland and the English certainly shared a common ancestry in 6th century Denmark. The Anglo-Saxons were a largely illiterate society and tales were orally transmitted between groups and tribes by the Anglo-Saxon traveling minstrels, the scops, in the form of verse


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: The chief literary source is Bede, a Christian monk who wrote of the old English calendar in his "De Temporum Ratione". Only a little Old English poetry has survived, and all of it has had Christian editors. The epic poem "Beowulf" is an important source of Anglo-Saxon pagan poetry and history, but it is clearly addressed to a Christian audience, containing numerous references to the Christian God, and using Christian phrasing and metaphor. The monster Grendel, for example, is described as a descendant of the biblical Cain. In fact, the only fragment of poetry dating to the pagan era that has not undergone edits by Christian editors is the "Finnsburgh Fragment".


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: The Anglo-Saxons believed in supernatural creatures such as elves, dwarves and giants ("Etins") who often brought harm to men. It is likely that they believed in "Wyrd" (German "werden"), usually translated as "fate," although the modern term fate does little justice to the true meaning of wyrd.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Being a Germanic people, the Anglo-Saxons worshiped the same gods as the Norse and other Germanic peoples. The names are slightly different due to the differences in language among the Germanic peoples. For example, Thunor of the Anglo-Saxons was the same god as Thor of the Norse and Donar of the Germans. Likewise, Woden of the Anglo-Saxons is the same as Odin among the Norse and Wotan of the Germans.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Wōden, the leader of the Wild Hunt and the one who carries off the dead, is one of the chief gods of the Anglo-Saxons before the Christian era. He was held to be the ancestor of Hengest and Horsa, two legendary figures from early English history and most of the early Anglo-Saxon kings claimed descent from Wōden. He gives us the modern Wednesday ("Wōden's day").


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Þunor, is the god of thunder, who rules the storms and sky. He also protects mankind from the giants. He was the god of the common people within the heathen community. His name gives rise to the modern Thursday ("Thunor's Day").


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Frīġ is the goddess of love, wisdom, and sīden magic, and is the wife of Wōden. She is one of the most powerful Goddesses, this position being threatened only by Freya, who might be one in the same with Frīġ as argued by many.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Tīw is the god of warfare and battle, and gives us Tuesday ("Tiu's day"). Some people believe that he was a sky-god figure and formerly the chief god, replaced over the years by Wōden, but is likened to Mars in Roman religion when looking at his known traits.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Ingui Frēa was one of the most popular Gods, after Þunor and Wōden - there is evidence to suggest that Ingui was the most popular of the Anglo-Saxon deities, his cult later being replaced in popularity by that of Wōden. He is above all the god of fertility, bringing fruitfulness to the crops, herds, and folk. Though he is a fertility god, he is also connected to warfare to a degree; however, this warfare is believed to be defensive, as opposed to offensive, and is not to create havoc. After all, peace is necessary for a good harvest and a productive community, while needless warfare destroys any prospect of peace and fruitfulness. The Yngling royal line of Sweden claimed descent from him.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Freya, or Frēo, is said to be the most beautiful of all the goddesses, and is therefore described as the goddess of love. She might be the same as Frīġe, however; As Frīġe's is love and marriage. It is likely that Frēo directed Wōden's Wælcyrġe onto the battlefield to claim the dead soldiers. Like her brother, Frēa, she is connected to abundance and wealth; however, her wealth is more thought of as metals and gems. She is also a goddess of magic, having taught Wōden "seiðr", or Sīden in Old English.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Neorð is Frēa and Frēo's father, and is a god of the seas and commerce. He is called upon by fishermen and sailors who depend upon good seas. Like his son and daughter, his realm is that of wealth; namely, the wealth of the sea. He married the giantess Sċeaþa, albeit the marriage was not successful as neither of them could accept the other's element; Neorð his sea, and Sċeaþa her mountains.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Hengest and Horsa, who are named in historical sources as leaders of the earliest Anglo-Saxon raids and settlements in the south, may also had deific status. The name Hengest means "stallion" and Horsa means "horse"; the horse in the Anglo-Saxon mythology is an important symbol, and there's also the broader Indo European reconstructed Gods, The Divine Horse Twins, who are reflected in many Indo European derived religions.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Wēland is a mythic smith. Originally, he is an elvish being, a shape-changer like his wife, a swan maiden and Wælcyrge. His picture adorns the Franks Casket, an Anglo-Saxon royal box and was meant there to refer to wealth and partnership.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Ēorðe, whose name means "Earth," is the wife of Wōden and mother of Þunor. She is also the daughter of the Goddess Niht. Her worship is generally passive, as opposed to active, though she is called on for "might and main." Her latent strength can be seen in her son, Þunor.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Ēostre, according to St. Bede, was a Goddess whose feast was celebrated in Spring. Bede asserts that the current Christian festival of Easter took its name from the Goddess's feast in "Eostur-monath" (April/Aprilis).


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Niht is the Goddess of Night, and also the mother of Ēorðe. The Norse night was the daughter of Narvi. She was married three times; the first to Naglfari by whom she had Auðr; the second, to Annar by whom she had Ēorðe; and the third to Dellinger, Dæġ.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Since Anglo-Saxon religion a subset of Germanic paganism in general, many of its central practices are also shared by other religions such as the religion of the Norse peoples.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: The Germanic gods have affected elements of every day western life in most countries that speak Germanic languages. An example is some of the names of the days of the week. The names for Tuesday through Friday are named after Germanic gods. In English and Dutch, Saturday was named after the Roman god Saturn. This is because the 7-day week was invented by the Romans which ultimately shaped the calendar we use today and the English and the Dutch never substituted a god’s name for this day. Saturday is named after the Sabbath in German, and is called "washing day" in Scandinavia. Sunday and Monday are named after the Sun (or "Sunne" in Old English) and the Moon ("Mōna" in Old English).


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: Also, many place names such as Woodway House, Wansdyke, Thundersley and Frigedene are named after the old deities of the English people.


title: Anglo-Saxon mythology

text: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was influenced by the myths of the Northern Europeans. As it became popular, parts of its fantasy world moved into how people see the fantasy genre. In almost any modern fantasy novel, you can find Germanic creatures like elves, dwarves, and giants. Tolkien was also strongly influenced by his experiences fighting during the First World War and created his own mythology, drawing heavily from Anglo Saxon myths as well as Irish and Welsh. Thus he wrote the books in which he created over 30,000 years of history within The Simarillion, of which the entire Lord of the Rings storyline only takes up a small part of.


title: Alabama

text: Alabama is a state in the United States. Its capital city is Montgomery. The largest city is Birmingham. It became a state in 1819. Native American tribes such as Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek first lived in Alabama.


title: Alabama

text: Alabama is the thirty-first largest state in the United States with of total area. 3.19% of the area is water, making Alabama twenty-third in the amount of surface water, also giving it the second largest inland waterway system in the United States. About three-fifths of the land area is a plain with a general downward slope towards the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. North Alabama has mostly mountains, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley creating many creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes.


title: Alabama

text: The states bordering Alabama are Tennessee to the north; Georgia to the east; Florida to the south; and Mississippi to the west. Alabama has coastline at the Gulf of Mexico, in the very southern edge of the state. Alabama ranges in elevation from sea level at "Mobile Bay" to over in the Appalachian Mountains in the northeast. The highest point is "Mount Cheaha", at a height of . Alabama's land has of forest or 67% of total land area. "Suburban Baldwin County", along the Gulf Coast, is the largest county in the state in both land area and water area.


title: Alabama

text: The state is classified as subtropical Cfa under the Köppen climate classification. The normal annual temperature is . Temperatures are often warmer in the southern part of the state because it is close to the Gulf of Mexico, while the northern parts of the state, mostly in the Appalachian Mountains in the northeast, tend to be slightly cooler. Most of the time, Alabama has very hot summers and mild winters with lots of rain throughout the year. Alabama receives an average of of rainfall annually and enjoys a lengthy growing season of up to 300 days in the southern part of the state.


title: Alabama

text: Summers in Alabama are among the hottest in the United States, with high temperatures averaging over throughout the summer in some parts of the state. Alabama also gets many tropical storms and even hurricanes. Areas of the state far away from the Gulf of Mexico can still feel the effects of the storms, which often dump big amounts of rain as they move inland and weaken.


title: Alabama

text: The United States Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2008, estimated Alabama's population at 4,661,900, which is an increase of 214,545, or 4.8%, since the 2000 census. This is a natural increase since the last census of 121,054 people (that is 502,457 births minus 381,403 deaths) and an increase because of a net migration of 104,991 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 31,180 people, and migration within the country got a net gain of 73,811 people. The state had 108,000 foreign-born (2.4% of the state population), of which an estimated 22.2% were illegal immigrants (24,000).


title: Alabama

text: According to the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis, the 2008 total gross state product was $170 billion, or $29,411 per capita. Alabama's 2008 GDP increased (went up) 0.7% from the past year. The single largest increase came in the area of information. In 1999, per capita income for the state was $18,189.


title: Alabama

text: Alabama's agricultural outputs are poultry and eggs, cattle, plant nursery items, peanuts, cotton, grains (such as corn and sorghum), vegetables, milk, soybeans, and peaches. Although known as "The Cotton State", many reports say that Alabama is between eight and ten in national cotton making, with Texas, Georgia and Mississippi making up the top three.


title: Alabama

text: Alabama's company outputs are iron and steel products (like cast-iron and steel pipe); paper, lumber, and wood items; mining (mostly coal); plastic things; cars and trucks; and apparel. Alabama also makes aerospace and electronic things, mostly in the "Huntsville" area, location of NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the US Army Aviation and Missile Command, headquartered at "Redstone Arsenal."


title: Alabama

text: "Public primary and secondary education" in Alabama is under the review of the Alabama State Board of Education as well as local oversight by 67 county school boards and 60 city boards of education. Together, 1,541 separate schools have education for 743,364 elementary and secondary students.


title: Alabama

text: Alabama's programs of higher education are 14 four-year public universities, two-year community colleges, and 17 private, undergraduate and graduate universities. In the state are two medical schools, University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of South Alabama, two veterinary colleges, Auburn University and Tuskegee University, a dental school, University of Alabama, an optometry college, two pharmacy schools, Auburn University and Samford University, and five law schools, University of Alabama School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, Cumberland School of Law, Miles Law School, and the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law. Public, post-secondary education in Alabama is overseen by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. Colleges and universities in Alabama offer degree programs from two-year associate degrees to 16 doctor level programs.


title: Alabama

text: The governor of Alabama is Kay Ivey, a Republican. The lieutenant governor of Alabama is Will Ainsworth, a Republican, and the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court is Sue Bell Cobb, a Democrat.


title: Zhuyin

text: Zhuyin Fuhao, often shortened as zhuyin and commonly called bopomofo, is a type of sound-based writing for the Chinese language. In Chinese, "bo", "po", "mo" and "fo" are the first four of the conventional ordering of available syllables. As a result, the four syllables together have been used to refer to many different phonetic systems. For Chinese speakers who were first introduced to the Zhuyin system, "bopomofo" means "zhuyin fuhao".


title: Zhuyin

text: The zhuyin characters are represented in typographic fonts as if drawn with an ink brush (as in Regular Script). They are encoded in Unicode in the bopomofo block, in the range U+3105 ... U+312D.


title: Zhuyin

text: After the overthrow of China's last emperor during the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the new government in China created Zhuyin to help the common people read more easily. However, the Chinese Communist Party, including Mao Zedong himself, wanted to ban writing Chinese characters altogether and replace them with the Latin alphabet. When the People's Liberation Army defeated the Kuomintang (the founding party of the Republic of China) in 1949 and sent them off to exile in Taiwan, the use of Zhuyin dropped in mainland China because the CPC was interested in using the Latin alphabet for writing Chinese phonetically. However, Zhuyin is still widely used in Taiwan as it is used to type Chinese on computer and phone keyboards.


title: Zhuyin

text: Zhuyin was made to closely represent the sounds of Mandarin Chinese. Symbols are divided into two categories, the initials (the first sounds in a syllable) and the finals (the main vowel, the glide consonants ([y/i; IPA:/j/] and [w/u; IPA:/w/]) that come before the main vowel and all the sound that comes after it). There are 4 tone marks to represent the 5 Mandarin tones.


title: Fox

text: A fox is a small mammalian carnivore. They hunt and eat live prey, mostly rabbits and rodents (squirrels and mice). They may also eat grasshoppers, birds' eggs, and even fruit and berries. Sometimes they eat carrion. Foxes are the smallest members of the dog family Canidae.


title: Fox

text: Twelve species belong to the "Vulpes" genus of monophyletic "true foxes". There are about another 25 living or extinct species which are sometimes called foxes.


title: Fox

text: Foxes are swift and agile runners which live in family groups. A female fox is called a "vixen", and a male is called a "dog". Foxes' tails are multi-purpose organs. Their bushy tail helps them keep warm while they are sleeping in cold weather. It is also part of the animal's food store for wintertime. Foxes' plump, bushy tail is easily seen, and is used for sending signals to its family members. The tail is also used for balance while running.


title: Fox

text: Foxes are found on all continents (except Antarctica), mostly living in forest, shrubland, and desert regions. They were not native to Australia, but were introduced in some way. The most common fox species is the red fox. In the United Kingdom, it was a common sport for people to hunt foxes with horses and dogs. This is now banned.


title: Fox

text: The arctic fox is included in this genus as "Vulpes lagopus". There is genetic evidence that shows it is probably a true fox.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The Spanish Empire (), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy () or the Catholic Monarchy () was one of the largest empires in history and became one of the first global empires in world history.


title: Spanish Empire

text: Soon after the Reconquista, Spain became the biggest global empire. It led European exploration of the New World, building the large Viceroyalties in the New World at the time. Spain also created the first intercontinental trade routes across the oceans. The Spanish traded goods across the Atlantic Ocean, between Spain and its viceroyalties in the Americas. They also traded across the Pacific Ocean, between Asian-Pacific countries and Mexico throughout the Spanish treasure fleet and Manila galleons.


title: Spanish Empire

text: Spanish Conquistadores conquered the Aztec, Inca, and Maya Empires together with the help of other native American tribes. They took large territories in North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Spain made these territories into Viceroyalties until the 19th century. Spain, especially the kingdom of Castile, became much more powerful. Also, through royal marriages, the Spanish monarchs created alliances with other European powers. This allowed the Spanish Empire to gain control of many territories in Europe. With all these territories and colonies across the world, the Spanish Empire became the greatest and richest empire in the world.


title: Spanish Empire

text: For a time, the Spanish Empire was a great power in the oceans, with its experienced Navy. Its infantry known as Tercios, recruited from many countries under the rule of the Spanish monarchy, was undefeated for a century a half. Spain enjoyed a cultural golden age in the 16th and 17th centuries. Cervantes, who was the creator of the first modern novel Don Quixote, and many others such as Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca, and Francisco de Quevedo were prominent in different branches of Literature, Architecture, Theology, Philosophy and so on.


title: Spanish Empire

text: However, eventually, the French, Portuguese, and British tried to undermine the Spanish monarchy. Starting in the second half of the 17th century, the Spanish Empire began to suffer bankruptcies, and its military began to lose battles. In the 19th century, Spain lost its last major territories overseas in the Spanish-American War.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The Spanish Empire was the second global empire in world history and was scattered all over the world. It was constantly fighting with other powers about territories, trade, or religion. For example, the Spanish Empire fought:


title: Spanish Empire

text: Many of these different powers fought constantly, often at the same time, for long periods. They fought about both political and religious differences, and for ambition as well.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The Spanish Empire slowly lost power, as it gradually lost territory to other empires. In 1648, Spain and many other powers signed the Peace of Westphalia, which ended both the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War. In 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees ended fighting between France and Spain. With these treaties, Spain began to lose its status as hegemonic power in Europe.


title: Spanish Empire

text: In 1713, Felipe V signed the Peace of Utrecht. In this treaty, Spain gave up its territories in Italy and The Netherlands. Spain was no longer Europe's greatest power. However, it would still have an important role in European politics and a huge empire in America and the Pacific.


title: Spanish Empire

text: However, during this time, Spain kept its large overseas empire, and even made it larger. The Spanish Empire fought against Britain, which was trying to take over more of America; France and the United Provinces in the New World. Spain remained a major economic power until it lost its colonies in the Americas through civil wars for some and revolutions for others.


title: Spanish Empire

text: Spain kept control of two colonies in its empire in America: Cuba and Puerto Rico. It also held onto the Philippines and some preserved islands in Oceania, including the Caroline Islands (including the Palau Islands) and the Marianas (including Guam). However, when Spain lost the Spanish-American War of 1898, it lost almost all of these last territories. Spain kept control only of small islands of Oceania (not including Guam). Spain sold these islands to Germany in 1899 .


title: Spanish Empire

text: Spain still kept territories in Africa. Spain controlled Morocco, Western Sahara, and Equatorial Guinea, until decolonization in the 1960s and 1970s. The last colony to gain independence was the Western Sahara, in 1975.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The "Spanish Empire" generally means Spain's overseas provinces in the Americas, Africa, the Pacific and Europe. For instance, traditionally, territories such as the Low Countries or Spanish Netherlands were included as they were part of the possessions of the King of Spain, governed by Spanish officials and defended by Spanish troops. Many historians use both "Habsburg" and "Spanish" when they speak of the empire of Charles V or Philip II. However, the Low Countries were effectively part of Spain during that period.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The Portuguese colonial empire joined Spain and was ruled by the same monarch in "personal union", but Portugal remained a separate state. The Portuguese empire continued to be ruled from Lisbon during this period. Therefore, there was a joint Spanish-Portuguese rule for some time. These jointly run empires have sometimes been called the Spanish-Portuguese Empire.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The 1469 marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile created a dynastic union of Aragon and Castile. Spain became a modern state in the early modern period with the union of the Catholic Monarchs.


title: Spanish Empire

text: In 1492, Spain finished a 781 years period of Reconquest with the fall of the last Moorish kingdom of Granada. that same year the Catholic monarchs financed Christopher Columbus voyage to reach India by sailing westwards. Columbus instead found America. That was the start of the Spanish colonization of the continent.


title: Spanish Empire

text: By the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, the globe was divided into two hemispheres between Spain and Portugal. Therefore, Spain had the right to start colonies in all of the New World from Alaska to Cape Horn (except Brazil), as well as Asia. The Castilian Empire was the result of a period of rapid colonial expansion into the New World, as well as the Philippines and colonies in Africa: Melilla was captured by Castile in 1497 and Oran in 1509.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The Spanish language and the Roman Catholic Church were brought to the Americas and to the Spanish East Indies (Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marianas, Palau and the Philippines) by the Spanish colonization which began in the 15th century. Together with the Portuguese empire, the Spanish empire laid the foundations of a globalized trade and culture by opening up the great trans-oceanic trade routes. The laws of the Indies regulated social, political and economic life in the Americas over centuries to protect the indigenous native people of the Americas which started a miscegenation process that other "so called" "Empires" never reached. the mix between Spaniards, Native Americans and Black people could be seen nowadays in most of the countries that became part of that Universal Catholic Spanish Monarchy also called Spanish Empire.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The Spanish monarchy or the Spanish Empire never created "Colonies" but Viceroyalties or Overseas provinces.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The Spanish Empire left a huge cultural, urban and architectural legacy in the Western Hemisphere. Hundreds of towns and cities in the Americas were founded during the Spanish rule. The tangible heritage includes universities, forts, cities, cathedrals, schools, hospitals, missions, government buildings and colonial residences, many of which still stand today. A number of present-day roads, canals, ports or bridges sit where Spanish engineers built them centuries ago. The oldest universities in the Americas were founded by Spanish scholars and Catholic missionaries. The Spanish Empire also left a vast cultural and linguistic legacy. With over 470 million native speakers today, Spanish is the second most spoken native language in the world, as result of the introduction of the language of Castile—Castilian, ""Castellano"" —from Iberia to Spanish America, later expanded by the governments of successor independent republics. Another cultural legacy of the Spanish empire overseas is the Catholic Church, which remains the main religion in the Spanish Americas. The cultural legacy is also present in the music, architecture, cuisine and fashion of much of Spanish America.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The Spanish language (the second most widely spoken language in the world) and the Roman Catholic faith were brought to America, parts of Africa and the Spanish East Indies, by Spanish colonization which began in the 15th century. It also played a crucial part in sustaining the Catholic Church as the leading Christian denomination in Europe when it was under extreme pressure.


title: Spanish Empire

text: The long colonial period in Spanish America resulted in a mixing of some of the peoples. Most Hispanics in the Americas have mixed European and Indigenous ancestry. While some might also have African ancestry.


title: Spanish Empire

text: In concert with the Portuguese Empire, the Spanish Empire laid the foundations of a truly global trade by opening up the great trans-oceanic trade routes. The Spanish Dollar became the world's first global currency.


title: Spanish Empire

text: One of the features of this trade was the exchange of a great array of domesticated plants and animals between the Old World and the New and vice versa. Some that were introduced to America included wheat, barley, apples, cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys, and many others. The Old World received from America such things as maize, potatoes, chili peppers, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, squash, cacao (chocolate), vanilla, avocados, pineapples, chewing gum, rubber, peanuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, pecans, blueberries, strawberries, quinoa, amaranth, chia, and agave. The result of these exchanges, known generally as the Columbian Exchange, was to significantly improve the agricultural potential of not only in America, but also that of Europe and Asia.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: A mortar is an artillery weapon which fires explosive shells. The shells are known as (mortar) bombs. They are fired at targets which are close, as mortars do not have long range. It has a short barrel which fires the mortar bomb at a low speed high into the air to reach its target. They have been used since medieval times. Mortars are made in different sizes, from large and heavy mortars to infantry mortars which can be carried by just one soldier. They are called an indirect fire weapon because the bomb drops onto the target from above, rather than being aimed straight at it. Soldiers firing a mortar do not need to be able to see their target.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: A mortar is quite simple and easy to use. Most are muzzleloaders made up of a tube that a gunner drops a bomb into. The tube is usually set at between 45 and 90 degrees angle to the ground. The higher the angle, the shorter the range. When the bomb reaches the bottom of the tube it hits a firing pin. The mortar bomb's weight is enough to set off the firing pin which ignites the round and fires it. Some larger mortars have a firing pin that is set off by using a string instead of automatically.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: From the 18th to the early 20th century, very heavy siege mortars were used. These were very difficult to move around. These had up to one metre calibre. They were often made of cast iron. Smaller designs that were easier to move around were brought in during the First World War. Mortars are still used today.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Light and medium mortars are easy to move around. They are usually used by infantry units. Mortars can fire from a trench or .


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Heavy mortars are usually between 120- and 300-mm calibre. These weapons are usually towed or put on to vehicles. They are sometimes loaded from the back (breech-loaded). They are usually used by infantry in battalions or divisions. Even mortars this large are simpler and cheaper than howitzers and field guns.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: A mortar can be moved around by one or more people (bigger mortars can usually be broken down into parts) or moved around in a vehicle. An infantry mortar can usually be set up and fired from a mortar-carrier. A mortar-carrier is a modified armoured vehicle or one built especially to be a mortar-carrier. They have a big hatch on the roof. Mortars with two barrels—like the AMOS PT1—are the latest kinds of heavy mortar. They are put on carriers such as armoured personnel carriers, tank chassis and patrol boats.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Light versions of mortar are usually used by at least two men. Heavier mortars are fired by three to five men. Lighter mortars can be fired from anywhere that gives a good firing position. However, medium mortars are usually fired from prepared, well fortified positions.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Mortars are mainly medium calibre weapons. However, mortars both bigger and smaller than this have been made. An example of a smaller mortar is the British 51 mm Light Mortar. The 51 mm is carried by just one soldier. It is made up of only a tube and a base plate. A bigger example is the Soviet 2S4 M1975 "Tyulpan" (tulip flower) 240 mm self-propelled mortar.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Mortars are not very stable if they are used on snow or soft ground. This is because the recoil pushes them into the ground. The Raschen Bag can be used to avoid this problem.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: The ammunition fired by mortars are properly called "bombs". One possible reason for this is that the fins that stabilise the round when it is flying, and the shape of the round makes it look like a bomb dropped from aircraft.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Mortars are usually smaller and lighter than howitzers and field guns. When the mortar bomb is launched, it descends at a very steep angle (almost straight down).


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Mortars can be very helpful if they are used in hidden places. It can be even more helpful if there are people around the battlefield that help tell the mortar where to fire (forward observers).


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Mortars have existed for hundreds of years. They were first used in sieges. A European description of the Siege of Belgrade (1456) by Giovanni da Tagliacozzo says that the Ottoman Turks used seven mortars that fired "stone shots one Italian mile high". The speed of these was said to be very slow. It was also said that men could be prevented from being injured by putting observers out who warned the troops of what angle the mortars were firing at.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Early mortars like the Pumhart von Steyr were big and heavy. They were also difficult to move around. An early mortar that could be moved easily was invented by Baron (Siege of Grave, 1673). At the Siege of Vicksburg, General Ulysses S. Grant reported making mortars "by taking logs of the toughest wood that could be found, boring them out for six or twelve-pound shells and binding them with strong iron bands. These answered as coehorns, and shells were successfully thrown from them into the trenches of the enemy."


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Mortars were very useful in the muddy trenches of the Western Front. A mortar round could be aimed to fall straight into a trench because of the deep angle that the bombs fell at.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Imperial Japanese Army used twelve 320 mm mortars against the American forces.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: The biggest mortars ever made were the French "Monster Mortar" (36 French inches; 975 mm; developed by Henri-Joseph Paixhans in 1832), Mallet's Mortar (36 inches; 910 mm; designed by Robert Mallet and tested by the Woolwich Arsenal, London, in 1857) and the "Little David" (36 inches; 914.4 mm; developed in the United States for use in World War II). All three mortars had a caliber of 36 "inches". However, only the "Monster Mortar" was used (at the Battle of Antwerp in 1832).


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: "Home-made" mortars have been used by insurgent groups. They are usually used to attack well defended military bases or to scare civilians. An early example was the Davidka. This was used during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948. The Provisional Irish Republican Army used some of the best-known examples during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The biggest types came to be known as "barracks busters". They were usually made of heavy steel piping put onto a steel frame.


title: Mortar (weapon)

text: Well-known events using "home-made" mortars include the 1985 Newry mortar attack. This was when nine members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary were killed. Another well-known event is the Downing Street mortar attack in 1991. In this, the IRA mortared 10 Downing Street during a meeting. Three bombs were launched but only one exploded. It landed in the back garden of the British Prime Minister's house. It only broke the windows at the back of the house. Prime Minister John Major had to move to Admiralty House while the windows were being fixed.


title: San Francisco

text: San Francisco is a city in the U.S. state of California. It is famous for the Golden Gate Bridge. With a population of 744,041, San Francisco is the 13th largest city in the United States, and the 4th largest city in California behind Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose. It is in the northern part of California, between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. The urbanized San Francisco Bay Area surrounds it. San Francisco was founded in 1776 by the Spanish conquerors. It was called "Hierba Buena" which is Spanish for "Good Herb", because a lot of mint grew there. After the Mexican-American War, Yerba Buena was taken over by the United States. In 1848 it was renamed "San Francisco" and became a city in 1850. The city is famous for its many internet companies and being home to a large LGBTQ+ population.


title: San Francisco

text: San Francisco has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate ("Csb" in the Köppen climate classification). The record high temperature is 41.1 °C (106 °F) on September 1, 2017. The record low temperature is -4.4 °C (24 °F) on December 9, 1972.


title: Esotericism

text: Esotericism is about secret knowledge for a small group of people. Esotericism also describes mystical, spiritual or occult viewpoints (point of view). Esotericism studies Gnosticism, Yoga, Alchemy, Magic, Spiritualism, Hypnosis, Astrology, Meditation, Mysticism, and Occultism. Many followers of Abrahamic faiths, particularly Christianity and Islam, have criticized Esotericism as black magic. Esotericism in religion is called "obscurantism".


title: Esotericism

text: Esotericism can also be about understanding symbolism and hidden meanings of many different books. They include religious books, philosophy books and books about history. They use these books as their texts.


title: Snake

text: Snakes are reptiles. They are part of the order Squamata. They are carnivores, with long narrow bodies and no legs. There are at least 20 families, about 500 genera and 3,400 species of snake.


title: Snake

text: The earliest known fossils are from the Jurassic period. This was between 143 and 167 million years ago.


title: Snake

text: Their long, slender body has some special features. They have overlapping scales which protect them, and help them move and climb trees. The scales have colours which may be camouflage or warning colours.


title: Snake

text: Many species have skulls with more joints than the skulls of their lizard ancestors. This allows the snakes to swallow prey much larger than their heads. In their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side. Most have only one working lung. Some species have kept a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. They have no eyelids or external ears. They can hiss, but otherwise make no vocal sounds.


title: Snake

text: They are very mobile in their own way. Most of them live in the tropics. Few snake species live beyond the Tropic of Cancer or Tropic of Capricorn, and only one species, the common viper ("Vipera berus") lives beyond the Arctic Circle. They can see well enough, and they can taste scents with their tongues by flicking them in and out. They are very sensitive to vibrations in the ground. Some snakes can sense warm-blooded animals by thermal infrared.


title: Snake

text: Most snakes live on the ground, and in the trees. Others live in the water, and a few live under the soil. Like other reptiles, snakes are ectotherms. They control their body temperature by moving in and out of the direct sunshine. That is why they are rare in cold places.


title: Snake

text: Snakes range in size from the tiny, 10.4 cm (4 inch)-long thread snake to the reticulated python of in length. The extinct snake "Titanoboa" was long.


title: Snake

text: Snakes are thought to have evolved from lizards. The earliest snake fossils are from the Lower Cretaceous. A wide range of snakes appeared during the Paleocene period ("c" 66 to 56 million years ago).


title: Snake

text: The Squamata are definitely a monophyletic group: it is a sister group to the Tuatara. Judged by their fossil record, the squamates were present in the Mesozoic, but had a minor place in the land ecology. Three of the six lines are recorded first in the Upper Jurassic, the others in the Cretaceous. Probably all, certainly the lizards, arose earlier in the Jurassic. The Mosasaurs of the Upper Cretaceous were by far the most successful of all the lizards, becoming the top predator in their ecosystem.


title: Snake

text: Although snakes and lizards look very different, "neither is a proper clade". Snakes did descend from early lizards, not once, but many different times.


title: Snake

text: There is a monophyletic clade within the Squamata. It is the Toxicofera. It includes all venomous snakes and lizards, and many related non-venomous species. The evidence for this is in recent molecular analyses.


title: Snake

text: The fossil of a primitive snake from the Lower Cretaceous has been found. It lived about 113 million years ago. It had rather small front and rear legs. Several other fossil snakes have been found with small rear legs, but this is the first one with all four legs. The snake, "Tetrapodophis amplectus", lived on land and was adapted to burrowing. The researcher said there were "a lot of very advanced snake features, including its hooked teeth, flexible jaw and spine – and even snake-like scales. And there's the gut contents – it's swallowed another vertebrate. It was preying on other animals, which is a snake feature". The snake came from the Crato Formation in Brazil, and lay in a private collection for many years. It was re-discovered in a museum at Solnhofen, Bavaria.


title: Snake

text: Most snakes are nonvenomous. Those that have venom use it mainly to kill and subdue prey rather than for self-defense. Some have venom potent enough to cause painful injury or death to humans. Nonvenomous snakes either swallow prey alive or kill by squeezing.


title: Snake

text: Many snakes have skulls with more joints than their lizard ancestors. This helps them swallow prey much larger than their heads. The bones of the head and jaws can move apart to let large prey move into their body. The throat, stomach and intestines can also expand in a most extraordinary manner. In this was, a thin-looking snake can swallow and digest a larger animal.


title: Snake

text: To fit their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) are one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most snakes have only one working lung. Some species have a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. This is a relic of the legs which do not appear in modern snakes.


title: Snake

text: Snakes need to shed their skin regularly while they grow. This is called moulting. Snakes shed their skin by rubbing their head against something rough and hard, like a piece of wood or a rock. This causes the skin, which is already stretched, to split open. The snake keeps on rubbing its skin on various rough objects until the skin peels off from its head. This lets it crawl out, turning the skin inside out.


title: Snake

text: All snakes are carnivorous; they eat other animals. Some are venomous; they inject venom along grooves in their teeth. Some snakes are constrictors. Constrictors are not venomous, so they squeeze their prey to death. Snakes swallow their food whole, and they cannot chew. Because snakes are cold-blooded, they do not have to eat as regularly as mammals. People who own pet snakes feed them as infrequently as once per month. Some snakes can go as long as six months without a good meal.


title: Snake

text: Snakes have a very flexible lower jaw, the two halves of which are not rigidly attached, and many other joints in their skull. They can open their mouths wide enough to swallow their prey whole, even if the prey is larger in diameter than the snake itself.


title: Snake

text: Not having arms and legs doesn't stop snakes from moving. They have developed several different ways of moving to deal with particular environments. Each type of snake movement is discrete and distinct from the others.


title: Snake

text: Lateral undulation is a snake's only way of moving in water, and the most common way of moving altogether. In this mode, the body of the snake alternately bends to the left and right, resulting in a series of rearward-moving "waves". While this movement appears rapid, snakes have rarely been seen moving faster than two body-lengths per second, often much less. This mode of movement has the same amount of calories burned per meter moved as running in lizards of the same mass.


title: Snake

text: Terrestrial lateral undulation is the most common mode of moving for most snake species. In this mode, the posteriorly moving waves push against contact points in the environment, such as rocks, twigs, irregularities in the soil, etc. Each of these environmental objects, in turn, generates a reaction force directed forward and towards the midline of the snake, resulting in forward thrust while the lateral components cancel out. The speed of this movement depends upon the density of push-points in the environment, with a medium density of about 8 along the snake's length being ideal. The wave speed is precisely the same as the snake speed, and as a result, every point on the snake's body follows the path of the point ahead of it, allowing snakes to move through very dense vegetation and small openings.


title: Snake

text: Snakes move forward in water by moving their bodies in a wave-like motion. The waves become larger as they move down the snake's body, and the wave travels backwards faster than the snake moves forwards. Thrust is got by pushing their body against the water: this results in the observed slip. In spite of overall similarities, studies show that the pattern of muscle activation is different in aquatic versus terrestrial lateral undulation, which justifies calling them separate modes. All snakes can laterally undulate forward (with backward-moving waves), but only sea snakes have been observed reversing the motion (moving backwards with forward-moving waves).


title: Snake

text: This is most often used by colubroid snakes (colubrids, elapids, and vipers). They use it when the environment lacks anything firm to push against, such as a slick mud flat, or a sand dune. Sidewinding is a modified form of lateral undulation in which all of the body segments oriented in one direction remain in contact with the ground, while the other segments are lifted up. This results in a peculiar "rolling" motion. This mode of moving overcomes the slippery nature of sand or mud by pushing off with only static portions on the body, thereby minimizing slipping. The static nature of the contact points can be shown from the tracks of a sidewinding snake, which show each belly scale imprint, without any smearing. This mode of moving has very low caloric cost, less than of the cost for a lizard or normal snake to move the same distance.


title: Snake

text: When push-points are absent, but the space is too narrow for sidewinding, such as in tunnels, snakes rely on concertina moving. In this mode, the snake braces the back part of its body against the tunnel wall while the front of the snake extends and straightens. The front portion then flexes and forms an anchor point, and the back part is straightened and pulled forwards. This mode of moving is slow and very demanding, needing up to seven times the energy of laterally undulating over the same distance. This high cost is due to the repeated stops and starts of portions of the body as well as the need to use the muscles to brace against the tunnel walls.


title: Snake

text: The slowest mode of snake moving is rectilinear moving, which is also the only one where the snake does not need to bend its body laterally, though it may do so when turning. In this mode, the belly scales are lifted and pulled forward before being placed down and the body pulled over them. Waves of movement and stasis pass posteriorly, resulting in a series of ripples in the skin. The ribs of the snake do not move in this mode of moving and this method is most often used by large pythons, boas, and vipers when stalking prey across open ground as the snake's movements are subtle and harder to detect by their prey in this manner.


title: Snake

text: The movement of snakes in trees has only recently been studied. While on tree branches, snakes use several modes of moving depending on species and bark texture. In general, snakes will use a modified form of concertina moving on smooth branches, but will laterally undulate if contact points are available. Snakes move faster on small branches and when contact points are present, in contrast to limbed animals, which do better on large branches with little 'clutter'.


title: Snake

text: Gliding snakes ("Chrysopelea") of Southeast Asia launch themselves from branch tips, spreading their ribs and laterally undulating as they glide between trees. These snakes can perform a controlled glide for hundreds of feet depending upon launch altitude and can even turn in midair.


title: Novel

text: Novels are books which have one long story written in them. They are works of prose fiction. They are longer than short stories and novellas. There are many kinds. For example, some are adventure stories, like "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson. There are horror (scary) stories like Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". There are also science fiction novels like "Dune" by Frank Herbert, and humorous novels like "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain. Novels in English are usually at least 60,000 words long. Some are much bigger, 150,000 words or more. Novels usually have 100 pages or more.


title: Novel

text: The first novels were written more than three hundred years ago. Some people say that "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes is the first novel. It was first published in 1605.


title: Go Eun-bi

text: Go Eunbi (;(November 23, 1992 – September 3, 2014), better known by her stage name Eunb , was a South Korean singer. She was a member of the South Korean girl group .


title: Go Eun-bi

text: EunB was born in Seoul. She graduated from the high school Hanlim Multi Art School. She was related to SBS anchor, Kim Sung-joon.


title: Go Eun-bi

text: EunB died in a car accident on 3 September 2014, aged 21. She was travelling in a van with Ladies' Code after their schedule for the day ended when it slid off a freeway near Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. She died on place of incident. Two members, Sojung and Rise, were badly injured and rushed to hospital. Rise died soon afterwards on 7 September.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen, or VW for short, is a car company from Germany. The word "volkswagen" means "People's car" in German. Its headquarters are in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. It was started in the 1930s, at the request of the country's leader, Adolf Hitler, to produce a car designed by Ferdinand Porsche.


title: Volkswagen

text: In the 1930s Adolf Hitler was looking for someone who could make a cheap car that the common German worker could afford. At the same time, Ferdinand Porsche had been working for years on a cheap car that could hold a family and would drive like a real car, not a micro car. He had already designed and built small cars with rear engines and shaped like a beetle (for better aerodynamics). At this time, owning a car in Germany was something only for the rich people, and most car companies were not interested in making a low-cost car. Porsche's company, also called Porsche, only made designs for others at that time. So Porsche could not find anyone to make the small car that he wanted.


title: Volkswagen

text: Though Hitler never learned to drive, he was very interested in cars (he also created the autobahn, which led to the U.S. interstate highways). Hitler wanted the car to hold four people. It was to be cooled by oil instead of water. The car needed to be able to travel at least 100 km/h, or about 60 mph, and use no more than 7 liters of gasoline for 100 kilometers (about 34 mpg). The car companies in Germany at the time didn't want to make this new low-cost car, so Hitler formed a new company, run by the government. The first name given to the car was "KdF-Wagen." "KdF" stood for "Kraft durch Freude", or "Strength through Joy." Some were made, but by the time the factory was finished in 1938, World War II started. The factory then built jeep-like cars for the German military instead.


title: Volkswagen

text: After the war, people from the United Kingdom and the United States reopened the factory and started making cars again. The factory was in ruins from the war and could only make a few cars at a time. The British military were in charge of this section of Germany. At first they tried to find another car company to rebuild the factory. Henry Ford was offered the company for free. After looking it over, his adviser said "Mr. Ford, what we are being offered here is not worth a damn!" So the Volkswagen company went ahead by itself to make the car. The man who led the Volkswagen company during this time was Heinz Nordhoff.


title: Volkswagen

text: At first they only made one type of car, the Volkswagen Beetle. (It was simply called the Type 1 Sedan by the company, it also had the nickname "Bug" in the U.S. and other nicknames elsewhere). In 1950, the Type 2 (the bus) was introduced, also built with an engine in the back of the vehicle. The cars became popular and well-known all over the world. The Beetle later became one of the best selling cars in history. It was built for many years afterward in factories in Germany, Brazil and Mexico.


title: Volkswagen

text: The last original Volkswagen Beetle to be built was built in Mexico. It was built in July 2003. Volkswagen has a new car called the "New Beetle." which began selling in 1997, It looks like the old car, but is built quite differently. It is faster, safer, and has an engine in the front, not the back, and is water-cooled (using a radiator). It is much more suited to today's modern world in terms of design and security.


title: Volkswagen

text: Some of Volkswagen's popular cars are the Golf, Jetta, Polo,Beetle and the Passat. VW's as they are commonly known, have also entered the off-road segment with cars like the Touarag, and the commercial segment with the Touran. This year sees VW's 21st anniversary since the Golf 1 went on sale in the 1980s. Since its birth VW has sold over 315,000 units of the Golf 1 alone. 2006 saw the entry of the fifth generation of the Golf. The flagbearer - the GTI - is powered by a 147Kw 2.0l 4 cylinder turbo charged engine,with VW DSG and FSI technology. The Golf GTI has evolved a long way since the 80's but the fifth generation GTI is criticised by some as it does not live up to the expectations and standards set by the legendary Mk1 GTI, which was fitted with an 1600, 8 valve motor.


title: State religion

text: A state religion (also called an official religion, established church or state church) is a religious group or creed officially accepted by the state.


title: State religion

text: The term "state church" is used in context with Christianity, and is sometimes used for a specific national branch of Christianity.


title: State religion

text: The following states recognize some form of Christianity as their state or official religion (by denomination):


title: State religion

text: There are no Hindu countries presently, all Hindu majority countries are secular, with Hinduism not listed as the state religion. Nepal was the world's only kingdom state with Hindu monarch, but the Constitution of Nepal 2015 constitution clearly states it is a secular country. Nepal also declared cow as national animal with advanced animal protection rights such as cats and dogs, cow slaughter is also forbidden.


title: State religion

text: The concept of state religions was known as long ago as the empires of Egypt and Sumer, when every city state or people had its own god or gods.


title: State religion

text: When in Rome, the office of "Pontifex Maximus" was reserved for the emperor, failure to worship him as a god was sometimes punished by death, as the Roman government sought to link emperor worship with loyalty to the Empire. Many Christians and Jews were persecuted, because it was against their beliefs to worship the emperor.


title: State religion

text: Catholic Christianity, as opposed to Arianism and other heretical and schismatic groups, was declared to be the state religion of the Roman Empire on February 27, 380 by the decree "De Fide Catolica" of Emperor Theodosius I.


title: State religion

text: In China, the Han Dynasty (206 BC -- 220 AD) advocated Confucianism as the de facto state religion, establishing tests based on Confucian texts as an entrance requirement into government service.


title: State religion

text: These states do not profess any state religion. Countries which officially decline to establish any religion include:


title: State religion

text: In 1967, the Albanian government made atheism the "state religion". This designation remained in effect until 1991.


title: State religion

text: In France the Concordat of 1801 made the Roman Catholic, Calvinist and Lutheran churches state-sponsored religions, as well as Judaism.


title: State religion

text: In Hungary the constitutional laws of 1848 declared five established churches on equal status: the Roman Catholic, Calvinist, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox and Unitarian Church. In 1868 the law was ratified again after the Ausgleich. In 1895 Judaism was also recognized as the sixth established church. In 1948 every distinction between the different denominations were abolished.


title: State religion

text: The Church in Wales was split from the Church of England in 1920 by Welsh Church Act 1914; at the same time becoming disestablished.


title: State religion

text: In several colonies, the establishment ceased to exist in practice at the Revolution, about 1776; this is the date of legal abolition.


title: State religion

text: "Article IV. Section 10. No person within this state shall, upon any pretense, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping God in any manner agreeable to his own conscience, nor be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall he ever be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or any other rate, for the building or repairing any place of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or hath voluntarily engaged. To do. No one religious society shall ever be established in this state, in preference to another; nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of any civil right merely on account of his religious principles."


title: State religion

text: From 1780 Massachusetts had a system which required every man to belong to a church, and permitted each church to tax its members, and did not require that it be a Congregational church. This was objected to, as in practice establishing the Congregational Church, and was abolished in 1833.


title: State religion

text: Until 1877 the New Hampshire Constitution required members of the State legislature to be of the Protestant religion.


title: State religion

text: The North Carolina Constitution of 1776 disestablished the Anglican church, but until 1835 the NC Constitution allowed only Protestants to hold public office. From 1835-1876 it allowed allowed only Christians (including Catholics) to hold public office. Article VI, Section 8 of the current NC Constitution forbids only atheists from holding public office. Such clauses were held by the United States Supreme Court to be unenforceable in the 1961 case of Torcaso v. Watkins, when the court ruled unanimously that such clauses constituted a religious test incompatible with First and Fourteenth Amendment protections.


title: State religion

text: Religious Tolerance for Catholics with an Established Church of England were policy in the former Spanish Colonies of East and West Florida while under British rule. East Florida was lost to Spain in 1781.


title: State religion

text: Religious tolerance for Catholics with an established Church of England were policy in the former Spanish Colonies of East and West Florida while under British rule. East Florida was returned to Spain in 1783.


title: State religion

text: The State of Deseret was a provisional state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by Mormon settlers in Salt Lake City. The provisional state existed for slightly over two years.


title: Zipf's law

text: Zipf's law is an empirical law, formulated using mathematical statistics, named after the linguist George Kingsley Zipf, who first proposed it. Zipf's law states that given a large sample of words used, the frequency of any word is inversely proportional to its rank in the frequency table. So "nth" word has a frequency proportional to 1/"n".


title: Zipf's law

text: Thus the most frequent word will occur about twice as often as the second most frequent word, three times as often as the third most frequent word, etc. For example, in one sample of words in the English language, the most frequently occurring word, "the", accounts for nearly 7% of all the words (69,971 out of slightly over 1 million). True to Zipf's Law, the second-place word "of" accounts for slightly over 3.5% of words (36,411 occurrences), followed by "and" (28,852). Only about 135 words are needed to account for half the sample of words in a large sample.


title: Zipf's law

text: The same relationship occurs in many other rankings, unrelated to language, such as the population ranks of cities in various countries, corporation sizes, income rankings, etc. The appearance of the distribution in rankings of cities by population was first noticed by Felix Auerbach in 1913.


title: Humanism

text: Humanism is a philosophy or a way of thinking about the world. Humanism is a set of ethics or ideas about how people should live and act. People who hold this set of ethics are called humanists. Humanists prefer critical thinking and evidence (rationalism and empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition.


title: Humanism

text: In modern times, humanism is close to secularism. It refers to a non-theistic approach to life, looking to science instead of religious dogma in order to understand the world. The term was made widely known by scientists in the mid-20th century. Many wanted to recognise human values, but without depending on religion as the main source of values.


title: Humanism

text: Humanist ideas were discussed in Ancient Greece, from Thales to Anaxagoras and Protagoras. The teachings of Zarathushtra and Lao Tzu had strong elements of humanism, and there are many other examples.


title: Humanism

text: The writings of the ancient Greeks were studied in the 1400s during the Renaissance. However, in this period the term "humanism" came to mean educated in the humanities, a rather different kind of idea. Petrarch is often cited as the first modern humanist, but he pointed backwards to classical authors. The modern meaning of humanism is more to do with using science to make the world a better place.


title: Taoism

text: Taoism or Daoism () is a type of belief, or a way of thinking about life. It is at least 2,500 years old and it comes from China. Taoism is now said to be a philosophy. Tao (or Dao, ) is the name of the force or the "Way" that Taoists believe makes everything in the world. Taoists think that words cannot be used to correctly describe Tao. The very first line of the "Dào Dé Jīng" (), the most important text in Taoism, says "the Way that can be explained in words is not the true Way." There are many other sacred writings by the teachers of Taoism.


title: Taoism

text: Instead of spending a lot of time trying to explain what the Tao is, Taoists focus on living a simple and balanced life in harmony with nature. This is one of the most important principles in Taoism. Taoists also believe that conflict is not good and that if you have a problem with something, it is better to find a way around it.


title: Taoism

text: Taoism first showed up in writing in China in 142 C.E. People do not always write about their religions at first, so this religion may be much older. Some important people of the history of Taoism are:


title: Taoism

text: Taoists believe that the main principle behind the universe is an esoteric force known as the Tao. The Tao can best be described as the chaotic power of reality that causes change to happen and things to be in the world without direction or intention. The essence of the Tao is personified in nature, in which all action occurs without any sort of meaning, but is just the flow of change and energy.


title: Taoism

text: Taoists believe the best way to live life is through the principle of "wu-wei", which translates to "inaction" or "inexertion". The doctrine of wu-wei advocates to not push back or resist what ever happens to come your way in life, and to let it be and accept its presence. Wu-wei teaches this because it follows the idea of what happens is just what is natural, building on the principle of the Tao.


title: Taoism

text: The yin and yang symbol, the famous icon of Taoism, encapsulates the idea that one must be in a harmony between two opposing forces in one's life and remain neutral to either side.


title: Taoism

text: There are several different types of Taoism, some that combine the principles of Laozi with traditional Chinese deity worship, or some that adhere more strictly to the original tenets and believe only in the concepts of the Tao and wu-wei.


title: Neutral oxide

text: Neutral oxides are oxides which are neither acidic nor basic. In other words, oxides which neither react with acids or with bases are called neutral. Neutral oxides are often misunderstood as amphoteric oxides, which can act as both acidic and as basic oxides.


title: Marilyn Monroe

text: Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962) was an American actress, writer, model, singer and filmmaker. Between 1946 and 1962, she made 44 movies. Famous for playing comic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and was emblematic of the era's attitudes towards sexuality. Although she was a top-billed actress for only a decade, her films grossed $200 million by the time of her unexpected death in 1962.