title: Chess

text: Players are not allowed to smoke in the playing area. They are only allowed to smoke in areas designated by the organiser. Mobile phones may not be used or even switched on. In many tournaments players may not bring mobile phones into the playing area. Players cannot use any source of advice during a game, such as other players or chess books, nor analyse the game on a device. These and other matters are covered by the FIDE Laws on the conduct of the players.


title: Chess

text: The first moves of a chess game are called the "opening". A chess opening is a name given to a series of opening moves. Recognized patterns of opening moves are "openings" and have been given names such as the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian defence. They are listed in reference works such as the "Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings". There are dozens of different openings. They range from gambits, where material, such as pawns are offered for fast development (e.g. the King's Gambit), to slower openings, which lead to a maneuvering type of game (e.g. the Réti opening). In some opening lines, the sequence thought best for both sides has been worked out to 20–30 moves; most players avoid such lines. Expert players study openings throughout their chess career, as opening theory keeps on developing.


title: Chess

text: White, by virtue of the first move, begins the game with a better chance of winning. Black normally tries to equalize or to get counterplay during the game.


title: Chess

text: The middlegame is the part of the game where most pieces have been developed. It is where most games are won and lost. Many games will end in resignation before the endgame takes place.


title: Chess

text: A middlegame position has a structure. That structure is determined by the opening. The simplest way to learn the middlegame is to select an opening and learn it well (see examples in English Opening and French Defence).


title: Chess

text: Here is an example from the borderline between opening and middlegame. In the diagram to the left, White will mainly play on the queenside, while Black will play on the kingside.


title: Chess

text: If White to play, he may wish to stop Black's threat of playing 10...Nf4. He can do this by playing 10.g3, or by playing 10.Re1 so that if 10...Nf4 11.Bf1 will preserve the bishop (in this position it is an important defensive piece). However, White may try to plough ahead with 10.c5, the key move on the queenside. ChessBase shows that the number of tournament games with these choices were:


title: Chess

text: The database also shows that the overall results were significantly better for 10.Re1. During a middlegame, the player should note the features of the position on the board, and formulate a game plan. The opponent will try to interfere with the plan or gain counterplay.


title: Chess

text: The endgame is the part of the game when there are few pieces left on the board. There are three main strategic differences between earlier parts of the game and the endgame:


title: Chess

text: Endgame positions are easier to analyze than middlegames, as there are fewer pieces on the board. Many endgame positions can be won by force. A drawn endgame is one that is legally drawn (checkmate is impossible), or drawn by chess experience (drawn with best play by both sides). All endgames in master chess revolve around the borderline between winning and drawing. Generally, once a 'textbook' drawn position is reached, the players will agree a draw.


title: Chess

text: Endgames can be studied according to the types of pieces that remain on the board. For example, king and pawn endgames have only kings and pawns on one or both sides, and the task of the stronger side is to promote one of the pawns. Other endings are studied according to the pieces on board other than kings, e.g. rook and pawn versus rook endgame.


title: Chess

text: Basic checkmates are positions in which one side has only a king and the other side has one or two pieces, enough to checkmate the opponent's king. They are usually learned at the beginner stage. Examples are mate with K+Q v K; K+R v K; K+2B v K; K+B&N v K (this one is quite difficult).


title: Chess

text: There are two types of chess programs. One is to play against you; the other is to help you become a better player by learning more. The two types can be made to work together, though they have different functions.


title: Chess

text: Chess engines are computer systems that can play chess games against human opponents. Quite a number have been devised; they can play at master level, though their processes are quite different from a human being.


title: Chess

text: Every year brings new advances, which if listed here would soon be out of date. Best advice is to go to English Wikipedia, which keeps an up-to-date chart of the leading software: .


title: Chess

text: Chess databases give access to the recorded history of master chess games. There are two components: software, which lets one search and organise the database material, and the actual database. There are usually over a million games in a given database.


title: Chess

text: In practice, databases are used for two purposes. First, for a player to train his/her ability at specific openings. Second, to look up specific opponents to see what they play, and prepare against them beforehand.


title: Chess

text: ChessBase is the biggest database, and widely used by masters. Although it can be used online, most users download the software and data onto their computer. If that computer happens to be a laptop, then they might take the laptop to tournaments to help prepare for games. Players cannot use computers or any other aid during games, so much of the preparation goes on before a game. ChessBase has to be purchased, and it is not cheap.


title: Chess

text: This is a Dutch magazine for advanced players, which runs an online database called NicBase as part of its services. NicBase is free, and has over a million games.


title: Chess

text: Chessgames.com runs an online database of games. It is mostly free; full access to all its facilities costs a subscription. It has over half a million games on its database.


title: Chess

text: There are websites which a player can join (for a fee) and play on line. In this case, the subscriber will play against other subscribers, not a computer. All standards of players are amongst the members, and various events are on offer at different rates of play. Online chess websites include:


title: Watergate scandal

text: A United States President and Republican, Richard Nixon was running for election against Democrat George McGovern. Afterwards, Frank Wills, a security guard, discovered clues that former FBI and CIA agents broke into the offices of the Democratic Party and George McGovern months before the election. They secretly listened to phone lines and stole several important documents.


title: Watergate scandal

text: When these men were found, they were discovered to have been associated with Nixon. He had helped them cover all the evidence of the scandal, and may have even hired the men to begin with. "The Washington Post" was a newspaper which played a big role in exposing the misdoings, specifically aided by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. This showed the public that Nixon was not as trustworthy as he seemed.


title: Watergate scandal

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


title: Cat

text: Cats, also called domestic cats ("Felis catus"), are small, carnivorous mammals, of the family Felidae.


title: Cat

text: Domestic cats are often called 'house cats' when kept as indoor pets. Cats have been domesticated (tamed) for nearly 10,000 years.


title: Cat

text: They are one of the most popular pets in the world. They are kept by humans for hunting rodents and as friends.


title: Cat

text: There are also farm cats, which are kept on farms to keep rodents away; and feral cats, which are domestic cats that live away from humans.


title: Cat

text: A cat is sometimes called a "kitty". A young cat is called a "kitten". A female cat that has not had its sex organs removed is called a "queen". A male cat that has not had its sex organs removed is called a "tom".


title: Cat

text: There are about 92 breeds of cat. Domestic cats are found in shorthair, longhair, and hairless breeds. Cats which are not specific breeds can be referred to as 'domestic shorthair' (DSH) or 'domestic longhair' (DLH).


title: Cat

text: The word 'cat' is also used for other felines. Felines are usually called either big cats or small cats. The big, wild cats are well known: lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, pumas, and cheetahs. There are small wild cats in most parts of the world, such as the lynx in northern Europe. The big cats and wild cats are not tame, and can be very dangerous.


title: Cat

text: In the past, mostly in Egypt, people kept domestic cats because they hunted and ate mice and rats. Today, people often keep cats as pets. There are also domestic cats which live without being cared for by people. These kinds of cats are called "feral cats" or "stray cats".


title: Cat

text: The oldest evidence of cats kept as pets is from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, around 7500 BC. Ancient Egyptians worshipped cats as gods, and often mummified them so they could be with their owners "for all of eternity".


title: Cat

text: Today, special food for cats is widely available in the developed countries. Proper feeding will help a cat live longer compared to hunting or being fed table scraps. Not correctly feeding a cat can lead to problems (see below for health concerns).


title: Cat

text: Cats cannot taste sweet foods (with sugar) because of a mutation (change) in their ancestors which removed the ability to taste sweet things.


title: Cat

text: Cats have anatomy similar to the other members of the genus "Felis". The genus has extra lumbar (lower back) and thoracic (chest) vertebrae. This helps to explain the cat's spinal mobility and flexibility. Unlike human arms, cat forelimbs are attached to the shoulder by free-floating clavicle bones. These allow cats to pass their body through any space into which they can fit their heads.


title: Cat

text: The cat skull is unusual among mammals in having very large eye sockets and a powerful and specialized jaw. Compared to other felines, domestic cats have narrowly spaced canine teeth: this is an adaptation to their preferred prey of small rodents. Cats, like dogs, walk directly on their toes, with the bones of their feet making up the lower part of the visible leg.


title: Cat

text: Cats walk very precisely. Unlike most mammals, when cats walk, they use a "pacing" gait (walking style); that is, they move the two legs on one side of the body before the legs on the other side. This trait is shared with camels and giraffes. As a walk speeds up into a trot, a cat's gait will change to be a "diagonal" gait, similar to that of most other mammals: the diagonally opposite hind and forelegs will move at the same time. Most cats have five claws on their front paws, and four on their rear paws. On the inside of the front paws there is something which looks like a sixth "finger". This special feature on the inside of the wrists is the carpal pad. The carpal pad is also found on other cats and on dogs.


title: Cat

text: Cats are active carnivores, meaning that in the wild they hunt live prey. Their main prey is small mammals (like mice). They will also stalk, and sometimes kill and eat, birds. Cats eat a wide variety of prey, including insects such as flies and grasshoppers. Their main method of hunting is "stalk and pounce". While dogs have great stamina and will chase prey over long distances, cats are extremely fast, but only over short distances.


title: Cat

text: The basic cat coat colouring, tabby (see top photo), gives it good camouflage in grass and woodland. The cat creeps towards a chosen victim, keeping its body flat and near to the ground so that it cannot be seen easily, until it is close enough for a rapid dash or pounce. Cats, especially kittens, practice these instinctive behaviours in play with each other or on small toys. Cats can fish. They use a flip-up movement of a front paw which, when successful, flips the fish out of water and over the cat's shoulders onto the grass. Dutch research showed this to be an innate (inherited) behaviour pattern which developed early and without maternal teaching.


title: Cat

text: Cats are quiet and well-behaved animals, making them popular pets. Young kittens are playful. They can easily entertain themselves with a variety of store-bought or homemade toys. House cats have also been known to teach themselves to use lever-type doorknobs and toilet handles.


title: Cat

text: Cats are fairly independent animals. They can look after themselves and do not need as much attention as dogs do.


title: Cat

text: Cats use many different sounds for communication, including meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling, squeaking, chirping, clicking and grunting.


title: Cat

text: Body posture is also important. The whole shape of the body changes when a cat is relaxed, or when it is alert. Also, the position of their ears and tail are used for communication, as well as their usual functions.


title: Cat

text: These ways of communication are very important. They are used between a mother cat and her kittens. They are also used between male and female cats; and between cats and other species, such as dogs. A mother cat protecting her kittens will fight off the largest dog. She gives good warning with a frightening display, hissing furiously, showing her claws, arching her back, and making her hair stand on end. If that fails, she attacks the dog's face with her claws. It has been said that no dog ever tries such an attack a second time.


title: Cat

text: Cats only mate when the queen is "in heat". Heat periods occur about every two weeks and last 4 to 6 days. Mating in cats is a spectacular event. Several toms may be attracted to a [queen] in heat. The males will fight over her, and the victor wins the right to mate. At first, the female will reject the male, but eventually the female will allow the male to mate. The female will utter a loud yowl as the male pulls out of her. This is because a male cat's penis has a band of about 120-150 backwards-pointing spines, which are about one millimeter long. When the penis is withdrawn, the spines rake the walls of the female's vagina, which is a trigger for ovulation. After mating, the female will wash her vulva thoroughly. If a male attempts to breed with her at this point, the female will attack him. After about 20 to 30 minutes. once the female is finished grooming, the cycle will repeat.


title: Cat

text: Because ovulation is not always triggered, females may not get pregnant by the first tom which mates with them. A queen may mate with more than one tom when she is in heat, and different kittens in a litter may have different fathers. The cycle ceases when the queen is pregnant.


title: Cat

text: The gestation period for cats is about two months, with an average length of 66 days. The size of a "litter" is usually three to five kittens. Kittens are "weaned" at between six and seven weeks, and cats normally reach sexual maturity at 5–10 months (females) and to 5–7 months (males). Females can have two to three litters per year, so might produce up to 150 kittens in their breeding life of about ten years.


title: Cat

text: Pregnant queens deliver their litters by themselves, guided by instinct. The queen finds the safest place she can. Then she will clean it thoroughly, with her tongue, if necessary. Here she will quietly give birth. She licks the newborn kits clean. In the wild, leaving a scent is risking a dangerous encounter with other animals. The kits are born blind and with closed eyes. They "suckle" on her teats, and sleep a good deal. After two weeks or so, their eyes open. At that stage they have blue eyes, but not the best sight. A bit later, the best developed kit will totter out of the nest. The others follow. They will soon recognise you as a living thing: that is a great moment. At first, they go back to the nest to feed and sleep. After some more days they leave the nest for good, but still they may sleep together in a 'kitten heap'.


title: Cat

text: The queen, meanwhile, has left the nest from time to time, to hunt, feed, and also to urinate and defecate. Unlike the tom, she covers up her business to hide her scent. Very soon, the kits will urinate anywhere they please unless one trains them. This is done after they are weaned, when they are ready for some kitten food. Here is how to do it:


title: Cat

text: What you have done is exactly what the queen would do in the wild. You have triggered a reflex which all kittens have. The thing is, the tray is artificial, and your queen may do her business outside. But at least when young, kittens need a tray. Your next job is to call the vet, who will tell you when to bring the kits for their vaccination.


title: Cat

text: Kittens play endlessly. It is how they do their learning. They will play their favourite games, such as 'hide and pounce', with almost anyone or anything. Soft balls on strings are a standard toy; so is a scratching post.


title: Cat

text: With cats there is a limit to how far you can train them. They are at least as intelligent as dogs, but they are not pack animals. They like to do their own thing, and owners do best by fitting in. "Never hit a cat": if you do, the relationship will never be the same again. If you really want to dissuade them, try hissing. It has been said that no one really owns a cat; many cats collect extra owners, and may change house if they do not like the treatment...


title: Cat

text: If your kitten was born in your home do not let it out of the house until it is two to three months old. If you have the mother, she will look after the kit. But if you have got the kit from a vet or dealer, keep it in for several weeks. When it does go out, you need to watch over it. The main problem is that it may easily get lost. In time, the kit will learn every inch of the house and garden. Then, you can happily let it roam.


title: Cat

text: Cats are very clean animals. They groom themselves by licking their fur. The cat's tongue can act as a hairbrush and can clean and untangle a cat's fur. Still, owners may buy grooming products to help the cat take care of itself. After licking their fur, cats sometimes get hairballs. A hairball is a small amount of fur that is vomited up by animals when it becomes too big. This is quite normal. Owners brush their cats to try to prevent a lot of hairballs.


title: Cat

text: Many house cats eat food which their owners give them. This food is manufactured, and designed to contain the right nutrients for cats. There are many different types of cat food. These come in many different flavors and costs are often very small.


title: Cat

text: There is moist canned food and also dry cat food which comes in different sized cans or bags and formulas. There are kitten formulas, cat formulas, health formulas, formulas for reducing a cat's weight, and many others. It seems obvious that the food should be mostly meat, as that is most of a cat's natural diet. But remember, when they catch mice, they also eat the bones. So there is need for formulas to have more than just meat.


title: Cat

text: Cats should not be fed a daily diet of dog food. It could make the cat blind, as it has no taurine, which is a nutrient for the eyes.


title: Cat

text: Cats do get diseases, and prevention is better than cure. It is most important to get a young cat vaccinated against some of the most deadly diseases. If a cat gets a disease, a veterinarian (animal doctor) can offer help. Some cats, depending on breed, gender, age, and general health, may be more susceptible to disease than others. Regular visits to a vet can keep a cat alive many extra years by catching sickness and disease early.


title: Cat

text: Cats that roam outside will get fleas at some time. Cat fleas will not live on people, but fleas will not hesitate to bite anyone nearby. Owners may choose to buy anti-flea collars, but any areas where the cat normally sleeps need to be cleaned up. A vet or local pet-shop may offer advice about fleas. It is recommended that people quickly take action when a cat gets fleas because fleas can make cats uncomfortable.


title: Cat

text: House cats can become "overweight" through lack of exercise and over-feeding because people don't watch them. When they get "spayed" or neutered ("fixed"), they tend to exercise less. Spaying is done for queens, and neutering is done for toms. It is important to fix cats, and here are some reasons. First of all, if a female cat has kittens, they will need homes. Finding homes for kittens is often quite difficult. If a tom is not fixed, it develops a disgusting smell. Breeders who have entire toms keep them in a special hut outside the house, for that reason. Fixing also helps to avoid over-population. Over-population means that there are too many cats, and some will be put to sleep (put down) in animal pounds (animal shelters).


title: Cat

text: It is a good idea to adopt a cat from a vet or an animal shelter. The vet, shelter or RSPCA will make sure they are healthy and spayed.


title: Cat

text: Kittens are sometimes born with defects. People who receive cats as gifts are recommended to get it examined for its health. Some birth defects need attention. Others are harmless, like polydactyly. Polydactyly means many digits, or many "fingers" from poly (many) and dactyl (digit). Sometimes, there is a mutation (change) in cat families. Most cats have only four to five toes per paw, depending on whether it is the front or back paw. These mutated cats have six, seven, and in rare cases even more. All of these cats are called "polydactyl cats". They can also be called "Hemingway cats" because author Ernest Hemingway owned some of these cats.


title: Guitar

text: The guitar is a string instrument which is played by plucking the strings. The main parts of a guitar are the body, the fretboard, the headstock and the strings. Guitars are usually made from wood or plastic. Their strings are made of steel or nylon.


title: Guitar

text: The guitar strings are plucked with the fingers and fingernails of the right hand (or left hand, for left handed players), or a small pick made of thin plastic. This type of pick is called a "plectrum" or guitar pick. The left hand holds the neck of the guitar while the fingers pluck the strings. Different finger positions on the fretboard make different notes.


title: Guitar

text: Guitar-like plucked string instruments have been used for many years. In many countries and at many different time periods, guitars and other plucked string instruments have been very popular, because they are light to carry from place to place, they are easier to learn to play than many other instruments. Guitars are used for many types of music, from Classical to Rock. Most pieces of popular music that have been written since the 1950s are written with guitars.


title: Guitar

text: There are many different types of guitars, classified on how they are made and the type of music they are used for. All traditional types of guitar have a body which is hollow. This makes the sound of the strings louder, and gives the guitar its quality. This type of guitar is called "acoustic". (An "acoustic" instrument is one that makes its own dynamics.)


title: Guitar

text: From the 1930s, people started making and playing guitars that used electricity and amplifiers to control the loudness. These guitars, which are often used in popular music, are called "electric guitars". They do not need to have a hollow body. This is because they do not use acoustics to amplify the sound.


title: Guitar

text: Most guitars have six strings, but there are also guitars with four, seven, eight, ten, or twelve strings. More strings make the instrument sound fuller. The neck of a guitar has bars or marks called frets. Frets help a guitarist know where to put his or her fingers to get the right pitch when playing. Standard tuning defines the string pitches as E, A, D, G, B, and E, from lowest (low E2) to highest (high E4). Standard tuning is used by most guitarists, and frequently used tunings can be understood as variations on standard tuning.


title: Guitar

text: The word "guitar" was adopted into English from Spanish word "guitarra" in the 1600s. In the Middle Ages the word "gitter" or "gittern" was used in England. Both "guitarra" and "gitter" came from the Latin word "cithara". The word "cithara" came from the earlier Greek word "kithara". "Kithara" could have come from the Persian word "sehtār". "seh" meaning "three" and "tār" meaning "string". There is also a similar but two-stringed Persian instrument named "dotār". "do" means "two" in Persian. The Indian sitar instrument was named after the Persian "sehtār". The sihtar itself is related to the Indian instrument, the sitar.


title: Guitar

text: A person who plays a guitar is called a guitarist. A person who makes or fixes guitars is a "luthier", which comes from the word "lute". The word "lute", comes from the Arabic "Al-Uud", a stringed instrument from the Middle East.


title: Guitar

text: The guitar appears to be derived from earlier instruments known in ancient central Asia as the Sitara. Instruments very similar to the guitar appear in ancient carvings and statues recovered from the old Iranian capitol of Susa. The modern word, guitar, was adopted into English from the Spanish word "guitarra", which came from the older Greek word kithara. Possible sources for various names of musical instruments that guitar could be derived from appear to be a combination of two Indo-European roots: guit-, similar to Sanskrit "sangeet" meaning "music", and "-tar" a widely found root meaning "cord" or "string".


title: Guitar

text: The word "guitar" is a word that the Iberian Arabic language took from the Persian language. The word "qitara" is an Arabic name for various members of the lute family that preceded the Western guitar. The word "guitarra" was introduced into Spanish when such instruments were brought into Iberia by the Moors after the 10th century.


title: Guitar

text: There have been instruments like the guitar for at least 5,000 years. The guitar may have come from older instruments known as the sitara from ancient India and central Asia. The oldest known picture of a guitar-like instrument is a 3300 year old stone carving of a Hittite bard. The oldest guitar-like instrument that is still complete is the "Warwick Gittern" in the British Museum. It belonged to Elizabeth I of England and probably to her father Henry VIII before it was given to her. It is about 500 years old.


title: Guitar

text: The design of the modern guitar began with the Roman cithara. The cithara was brought by the Romans to Hispania (Spain) around 40 AD. In the 8th century the Moors brought the four-stringed oud into Spain. The introduction to the oud caused changes to the design of the cithara. In other parts of Europe, the six-string Scandinavian "lut" (lute) became popular wherever the Vikings had been. By 1200 AD, there were two types of the four string "guitar": the "guitarra morisca" (Moorish guitar) from Spain which had a rounded back, wide fingerboard and several soundholes, and the "guitarra latina" (Latin guitar) which was more like the modern guitar with one sound hole and a narrower neck.


title: Guitar

text: The Spanish "vihuela", of the 16th century, was another instrument similar to the guitar. It had lute-style tuning and a body that was like a guitar. The vihuela was only popular for a short amount of time. It is not known whether it was simply a design that combined features of the oud and lute or a transition from the Renaissance instrument to the modern guitar.


title: Guitar

text: The Vinaccia family from Naples, Italy were famous mandolin makers. It is thought that they also made the oldest six-string guitar that still exists. There is a guitar built that was signed and dated 1779 on the label by Gaetano Vinaccia (1759 - after 1831) Although there are many fakes that have dates on them from that time, this guitar is believed by experts to be genuine (real).


title: Guitar

text: The guitar's design was improved (made better) by the famous Spanish luthier, Antonio Torres Jurado (1817-1892) and by Louis Panormo of London.


title: Guitar

text: The electric guitar was made by George Beauchamp in 1936. Beauchamp co-founded a company called Rickenbacher to make guitars. However, Danelectro was the first to produce electric guitars for the public to use.


title: Guitar

text: A guitar was described by Dr. Michael Kasha as an instrument that had "a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard, ribs, and a flat back, most often with incurved sides".


title: Guitar

text: Modern guitars come in four main types. The classical guitar is used for classical music. The term acoustic guitar is generally used for a guitar used for popular music, even though a classical guitar is also an acoustic instrument. There are many other different types of acoustic guitars from different parts of the world.


title: Guitar

text: A electric guitar can be flat, hollow, or semi-hollow (solid with hollow pockets on the sides), and produces sound through its pickups, which are wire-wound magnets that are screwed onto the guitar. Some guitars combine the hollow acoustic body with amplified sound. Bass guitars are designed to make a low bass rhythm.


title: Guitar

text: A special electric folding travel guitar called the Foldaxe (briefly manufactured by Hoyer in 1977) was invented for Chet Atkins (in Atkins' book "Me and My Guitars") by inventor and guitarist Roger Field, featuring a built-in way to keep the string tension and tuning the same even when folded, and ready to play when unfolded. Atkins demonstrated his several times on US television, and also on The Today Show with Les Paul, who was with him as a guest.


title: Guitar

text: Guitars are used in many different genres of music, such as traditional, regional, and folk to modern punk, rock, metal or pop. Guitars are used as rhythm instruments, lead instruments, and sometimes both.


title: Guitar

text: A capo is a device which can be placed on any of the guitar's frets which don't lie on the body itself. This enables the user to change key without changing the tuning of the guitar strings. There are multiple types of capos, some latch around the whole guitar neck and some just clamp onto the back and fret board.


title: Baskin-Robbins

text: Baskin-Robbins is an international chain of ice cream parlors. It has franchises in more than 30 countries. Out of 5800 locations, 2800 are based in the United States. It was founded in 1953 by the merger of two separate ice cream ventures of Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins, who were brothers-in-law. Before the merger, the two separate ice cream ventures were called Burt’s Ice Cream Shop and Snowbird Ice Cream. Snowbird Ice cream had 21 flavors at the time, which was praised as novel and fresh.


title: Baskin-Robbins

text: After the two ventures were combined into Baskin-Robbins, which would later become a world-famous ice cream parlor, they pushed the slogan of "31 flavors." Baskin-Robbins was creative in its approach, introducing the sampling system—letting people taste the different flavors of ice cream with small, single-use pink plastic spoons until they find the flavor that they want. Also, Baskin-Robbins was the first to introduce the ice cream cake to the public.


title: Class struggle

text: Class struggle, or class warfare or class conflict, is tension or antagonism in society. It is said to exist because different groups of people have different interests.


title: Class struggle

text: Looking at society this way is a feature of Marxism and socialism. Social sciences group people with similar social features into classes. Most of these features are economic.


title: Class struggle

text: According to Marxism, there are two main classes of people: The bourgeoisie controls the capital and means of production, and the proletariat provide the labour. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels say that for most of history, there has been a struggle between those two classes. This struggle is known as class struggle. After "The Communist Manifesto" and "Das Kapital", this concept became well known.


title: Class struggle

text: Class struggle happens when the bourgeoisie (the rich) pay the proletariat (the workers) to make things for them to sell. The workers have no say in their pay or what things they make, since they cannot live without a job or money.


title: Class struggle

text: Karl Marx saw that the workers had to work without any say in the business. He believed that since the workers make the things, they should say where they go and for how much, instead of the rich owners. They had to work hard to earn a living, while making the rich richer just doing simple office work.


title: Class struggle

text: Since they had to earn money to buy food, and jobs were the only things that give money, they had no choice but to work for the rich who made the business. The rich became richer while the worker hauled and lifted and did all of that hard manual stuff no one really likes to do.


title: Class struggle

text: Karl Marx thought that their labor limited their freedom. He wanted the workers to unite and take over the business, so that they could all be prosperous. He thought that the common man deserved to run the business, and that the rich were not better than the commoner.


title: Class struggle

text: Class struggle appeared in some forms. First, there is an economic form. The proletariat struggle with the bourgeoisie through their laborer's organization in this form. Second, there is a political form. In this form, the proletariat has their party and, through democracy, they try to change the system. And the last, there is an ideological struggle. In this form, the proletariat try to adapt the old governing system to new social situations. There are other forms of struggle, too. These forms are not exclusive, but exist at the same time.


title: Class struggle

text: Class struggle appeared all throughout history. At first, people lived in small communist societies. Then, they took property from the Earth for themselves and started to use slaves. They then had feudalism, which meant one person owned an entire area of land and used soldiers and workers to help them make money, and only gave their workers land, but they had some freedom that slaves didn't. Finally, in Karl Marx's time, people in some countries were becoming workers and bosses during the industrial revolution. The bosses owned the machines that the workers used to make things, but they didn't help using the machines. Instead, they made money by buying the time and energy of the workers to make things. Marx believed that the workers were not making as much money as they deserved because the boss would make money from the work they did without helping.


title: Class struggle

text: Marx believed that countries would overthrow capitalism and that workplaces would move toward socialism. This roughly means that the workers would control the workplaces. When this would have happened everywhere, Marx thought the world will have achieved communism.


title: Class struggle

text: The Soviet Union overthrew feudalism. They never reached the point of capitalism, so their society was very corrupt. Many blame them for the bad name of communism. There are some workplaces and societies are run democratically by workers, such as the kibbutzim in Israel.


title: Class struggle

text: Social democrats and liberal conservatives do not see society as described by Marx. They see society as changing gradually, through the system of democratic voting. The European Union is composed almost entirely of countries governed by this kind of system, but it is not universal throughout the world. Very few countries have undergone the kind of revolution forecast by Marx. It is much more common for military leaders to seize power and enforce a dictatorship which is neither democratic nor revolutionary.


title: Frank O'Connor

text: Charles Francis O'Connor (September 22, 1897 – November 9 1979), called Frank O'Connor, was an American actor and painter. He was the husband of writer Ayn Rand.


title: Frank O'Connor

text: O'Connor and Rand met on a movie set, in the years of silent movies. They were appearing as extras. Rand was also writing scripts, and O'Connor building a movie and stage career. Rand admired O'Connor's looks, and tripped him on the set, to get him to notice her. They married in 1929.


title: Frank O'Connor

text: To make sure they had enough income to succeed, O'Connor let his acting career go, becoming a rancher so Rand could succeed as an author, which was her ambition. He appeared in a presentation of her play "Night of January 16th", after she became better known. O'Connor also proposed the name "Atlas Shrugged" for Rand's book, which she formerly called "The Strike" before publication.


title: Frank O'Connor

text: The couple had no children, but were friends with some college students and young professionals, including Nathaniel Branden (who later wrote psychology books, including important works on self-esteem), Alan Greenspan (economist, who was Federal Reserve chairman for the United States government) and Leonard Peikoff (later author of philosophy works, and editor of Rand's works). O'Connor "played host" to many discussions and forums about human interaction, relationships and societies, while wife Rand led the conversations.


title: Frank O'Connor

text: He found a new pursuit, as he developed a talent for painting. Some of Rand's books used his paintings for book covers.


title: Frank O'Connor

text: Actor Peter Fonda appeared as O'Connor in a 1999 television movie, "The Passion of Ayn Rand", which also starred Helen Mirren.


title: Apartheid

text: Apartheid was a racist political and social system in South Africa during the era of white minority rule. It enforced racial discrimination against non-whites, mainly focused on skin colour and facial features. This existed in the twentieth century, from 1948 until the early-1990s. The word "apartheid" means "distantiation” in the Afrikaans language. Racial segregation had existed in Southern Africa for centuries. In the elections of 1948 the National Party took power and in the next few years made new apartheid laws. The new laws more strictly enforced segregation. In theory, it was to bring independence to the African majority in their own little countries to be created from South African territory.


title: Apartheid

text: Under this system, the people of South Africa were divided by their race and the different races were forced to live separately from each other. There were laws to keep them separated. The apartheid system in South Africa was abolished in 1994, when a new constitution was ratified which abolished the previous system of segregation. The last President who held office during the apartheid era was Frederik Willem de Klerk; who was responsible for holding negotiations with political prisoner Nelson Mandela to bring an end to apartheid. Following these successful negotiations, Nelson Mandela was elected to the Presidency of South Africa after multi-racial elections were held in April 1994, and became the first black person to hold the position. He was 75 years old The pair were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. Today, the term apartheid is sometimes used for similar segregational systems in other countries.


title: Apartheid

text: During apartheid, people were divided into four racial groups and separated by law. The system was used to deny many basic rights to non-White people, mainly Black people who lived in South Africa. The law allowed white people to be in certain areas. Black people had to carry special passes or have permission to travel outside their designated area, or work in particular areas reserved for Whites. The government separated mixed communities and forcibly moved many black people off their land (From 1960 to 1983 the Bantustan Policy was enforced to forcibly move South African blacks out of the areas designated for 'whites'). Many other laws were made, for example: interracial marriage was outlawed; Black people could not own land in White areas or vote.


title: Apartheid

text: The United Nations did not agree with the South African government's apartheid policies. There were protests in South Africa, like in Sharpeville in 1960 and in Soweto in 1976. After the Sharpeville Massacre, the UN tried to remove South Africa in 1974. France, the United States, and the UK prevented that from happening. The Soweto Uprisings started because Africans were forced to study some subjects at school in Afrikaans. Many Black people did not like Afrikaans because it was the language of the apartheid government and the language of their oppressors.


title: Apartheid

text: In 1989, F. W. de Klerk became President of South Africa. He wanted to reform the system. In a speech in 1990, de Klerk said the ban on the African National Congress was lifted. He also ruled that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison.


title: Apartheid

text: In 1991, the UN created the "National Peace Accord". The purpose of the Peace Accord was "to bring an end to political violence" in South Africa. It was agreed on by 27 organisations and governments. After this the "Convention for a Democratic South Africa" (CODESA) was formed. CODESA worked to find a solution to the violence.


title: Apartheid

text: The first multiracial election in which all races could vote, was held on 27 April 1994. Nelson Mandela was elected president, with De Klerk and Thabo Mbeki as deputies. This date considered the end of apartheid. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created to help victims speak out and seek justice. It was chaired by Desmond Tutu in the 1990s.


title: Apartheid

text: Although Black South Africans were granted equal rights by law after a long fought campaign, there is still huge economic inequality between Blacks and Whites. In 2012, South Africa held its first census in over ten years. It found that the average Black family earned one-sixth (about 17%) of what the average White family earned. "These figures tell us that at the bottom of the rung is the black majority who continue to be confronted by deep poverty unemployment and inequality,” President Jacob Zuma said when the findings were released. Nelson Mandela spent the majority of his life fighting against apartheid laws, and without his activism; many of the changes would never have happened.


title: Apartheid

text: The goal of apartheid was to separate the people of South Africa into small independent nations. The black ones were called Bantustans. South Africa said they were independent countries and exchanged ambassadors but other countries did not. The National Party government did not want to spend a lot of money on this project. They also wanted to keep the majority of South Africa's land for white people, especially the richest places, like the gold mines of Johannesburg. They wanted black men to work in these mines for little money but their families had to live far away or face imprisonment.


title: Apartheid

text: In a poem on Nelson Mandela by Isaiah Ogedegbe, the term apartheid has been used as "a symbol of oppression".


title: Germany

text: Germany (, ), officially the Federal Republic of Germany ("Bundesrepublik Deutschland"), is a country in Central Europe. The country's full name is sometimes shortened to the FRG (or the BRD, in German).


title: Germany

text: To the north of Germany are the North and Baltic Seas, and the kingdom of Denmark. To the east of Germany are the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. To the south of Germany are the countries of Austria and Switzerland. To the west of Germany are the countries of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The total area of Germany is 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 square miles). Most of Germany has warm summers and cold winters. In March 2021, Germany had a population of 83.1 million people, the largest in Europe (excluding Russia). After the United States, Germany is the second most popular country for migration in the world.


title: Germany

text: Before it was called Germany, it was called Germania. In the years A.D. 900 – 1806, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1949 to 1990, Germany was made up of two countries called the Federal Republic of Germany (inf. West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (inf. East Germany). During this time, the capital city of Berlin was divided into a west and an east part. On 13 August 1961, East Germany started building the Berlin Wall between the two parts of Berlin. West Germany was one of the countries that started the European Union.


title: Germany

text: Germany gained importance as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which was the first "Reich" (this word means "empire"). It was started by Charlemagne who became the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, and it lasted until 1806, the time of the Napoleonic Wars.


title: Germany

text: In 1866 Prussia won the war against Austria and their allies. During this time Prussia founded the North German Confederation. The treaty of unification of Germany was made in Versailles after Germany won the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. This began the Second Reich. The biggest state in the new German Empire was Prussia. The rulers were called Kaisers or "German Emperors", but they did not call themselves "Emperors "of" Germany". There were many smaller states in the Empire, but not Austria.


title: Germany

text: Germany stayed an empire for 50 years. It joined the other European empires in the Scramble for Africa and fought wars to make large parts of Africa and Oceania its colonies. It killed many Nama and Herero people who did not want to be ruled by Germany. Today, those colonies have become seven states: Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Papua New Guinea.


title: Germany

text: In World War I, Germany joined Austria-Hungary, and again declared war on France. The war became slow in the west and became trench warfare. Many men were killed on both sides without winning or losing. In the Eastern Front the soldiers fought with the Russian Empire and won there after the Russians gave up. The war ended in 1918 because the Germans could not win in the west and gave up. Germany's emperor also had to give up his power, and most of Germany's African colonies were taken by other European empires. France took Alsace from Germany and Poland got the Danzig corridor. After a revolution, the Second Reich ended, and the democratic Weimar Republic began.


title: Germany

text: After the war, there were a lot of problems with money in Germany because of the Peace Treaty of Versailles, which made Germany pay for the costs of World War I and the worldwide Great Depression.


title: Germany

text: The Third Reich was Nazi Germany; it lasted 12 years, from 1933 to 1945. It started after Adolf Hitler became the head of government. On 23 March 1933, the Reichstag (parliament) passed the Enabling Act, which let Hitler's government command the country without help from the Reichstag and the presidency. This gave him total control of the country and the government. Hitler, in effect, became a dictator.


title: Germany

text: Hitler wanted to unify all Germans in one state and did this by taking over places where Germans lived, such as Austria and Czechoslovakia; Hitler also wanted the land in Poland that Germany had owned before 1918, but Poland refused to give it to him. He then invaded Poland. This started World War II on 1 September 1939. In the beginning of the war, Germany was winning and even successfully invaded France. It managed to take over much of Europe. However, Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 and after the Battle of Kursk, the German Eastern Front began a slow retreat until war's end. On 8 May 1945, Germany gave up after Berlin was captured, Hitler had killed himself a week earlier. Because of the war, Germany lost a lot of German land east of the Oder-Neiße line, and for 45 years, Germany was split into West Germany and East Germany. Other events happened during the war in Nazi Germany, including the Holocaust, the mass genocide of Jews and other peoples, for which some Nazis were punished in the Nuremberg Trials.


title: Germany

text: In 1989 there was a process of reforms in East Germany, which lead to the opening of the Berlin Wall and to the end of socialist rule in Germany. These events are known as the "Wende" or the "Friedliche Revolution" (Peaceful Revolution) in Germany. After that, East Germany joined West Germany in 1990. The new Germany is a part of the European Union.


title: Germany

text: Germany is a constitutional federal democracy. Its political rules come from the 'constitution' called "Basic Law" ("Grundgesetz"), written by West Germany in 1949. It has a parliamentary system, and the parliament elects the head of government, the Federal Chancellor ("Bundeskanzler"). The current Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is a man who used to live in West Germany.


title: Germany

text: The people of Germany vote for the parliament, called the "Bundestag" (Federal Assembly), every four years. Government members of the 16 States of Germany ("Bundesländer") work in the "Bundesrat" (Federal Council). The "Bundesrat" can help make some laws.


title: Germany

text: The head of state is the "Bundespräsident" (Federal President). This person has no real powers but can order elections for the Bundestag. The current president is Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD).


title: Germany

text: The judiciary branch (the part of German politics that deals with courts) has a "Bundesverfassungsgericht" (Federal Constitutional Court). It can stop any act by the law-makers or other leaders if they feel they go against Germany's constitution.


title: Germany

text: Germany is one of the largest countries in Europe. It stretches from the North Sea and Baltic Sea in the north to the high mountains of the Alps in the south. The highest point is the Zugspitze on the Austrian border, at .


title: Germany

text: Germany's northern part is very low and flat (lowest point: Neuendorf-Sachsenbande at ). In the middle, there are low mountain ranges covered in large forests. Between these and the Alps, there is another plain created by glaciers during the ice ages.


title: Germany

text: Germany also contains parts of Europe's longest rivers, such as the Rhine (which makes up a part of Germany's western border, while Oder River is on its eastern border), the Danube and the Elbe.


title: Germany

text: In these states there are 301 "Kreise" (districts) and 114 independent cities, which do not belong to any district.


title: Germany

text: Germany has one of the world's largest technologically powerful economies. Bringing West and East Germany together and making their economy work is still taking a long time and costing a lot of money. Germany is the largest economy in Europe and the fourth-largest in the world by nominal gross domestic product (GDP). In September 2011, the inflation rate in Germany was 2.5%. The unemployment rate of Germany was 5.5% as of October 2011.


title: Germany

text: The country has companies like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, Siemens, Bosch, SAP, BASF and more.


title: Germany

text: Most of the people in Germany are ethnically Germans, but the country also has many ethnic minorities. There are at least seven million people from other countries living in Germany. Some have political asylum, and some are guest workers ("Gastarbeiter"). Many people from poor or dangerous countries go to Germany for safety. Many others move to Germany without permission.


title: Germany

text: About 50,000 ethnic Danish people live in Schleswig-Holstein, in the north. About 60,000 Sorbs (a Slavic people) live in Germany too, in Saxony and Brandenburg. About 12,000 people in Germany speak Frisian; this language is the closest language to English that is still spoken today. In northern Germany, people outside towns speak Low Saxon.


title: Germany

text: Most of the people who have come to Germany are from Turkey. Germany has about 1.9 million Turkish immigrants and they own many businesses their. Turkish people introduced the Doner kebab and became a popular fast food in Germany. Other small groups of people in Germany are Croats (0.2 million), Italians (0.6 million), Greeks (0.4 million), Russians, and Poles (0.3 million). There are also some ethnic Germans who lived in the old Soviet Union (1.7 million), Poland (0.7 million), and Romania (0.3 million). These people have German passports, so they are not counted as foreigners. A lot of these people do not speak German at home.


title: Germany

text: Christianity is the biggest religion; Protestants are 38% of the people (mostly in the north) and Catholics are 34% of the people (mostly in the south). There are also many Muslims, while the other people (26.3%) are either not religious, or belong to smaller religious groups. In the eastern regions, the former territory of the GDR (known as the "DDR" in German), only one fifth of the population is religious.


title: Germany

text: Germany has one of the world's highest levels of schooling, technology, and businesses. The number of young people who attend universities is now three times more than it was after the end of World War II, and the trade and technical schools of Germany are some of the best in the world. German income is, on average, $25,000 a year, making Germany a highly middle class society. A large social welfare system gives people money when they are ill, unemployed, or similarly disadvantaged. Millions of Germans travel outside of their country each year.


title: Germany

text: Germany is a very densely populated country, and especially in cities the housing situation is difficult and rents are high. Already in 2014 there were 39,000 homeless people in Germany and 339,000 people without apartment. Here is a link to a German video report from a German news magazine. The video is about refugees, who have been living in a sports gym in Berlin for over a year with no privacy. In the video people discuss amongst others why there are problems to find living space in containers. The containers are similar to those in Zaatari refugee camp.


title: Germany

text: Germany's constitution says that all people can believe in any religion they want to, and that no one is allowed to discriminate against somebody because of the person's religion.


title: Germany

text: In ancient times, Germany was largely pagan. Roman Catholicism was the biggest religion in Germany up to the 15th century, but a major religious change called the Reformation changed this. In 1517, Martin Luther said that the Catholic Church used religion to make money. Luther started Protestantism, which is as big as the Catholic religion in Germany today. Before World War II, about two-thirds of the German people were Protestant and one-thirds were Roman Catholic. In the north and northeast of Germany, there were a lot more Protestants than Catholics. Today, about two-thirds of German people (more than 55 million people) call themselves Christian, but most of them do not practice it. About half of them are Protestants and about half are Roman Catholics. Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. The previous Pope, Benedict XVI, was born in Germany.


title: Germany

text: Before World War II, about one percent of the country's people were German Jews. Today, Germany has the fastest-growing group of Jewish people in the world. Many of them are in Berlin. Ten thousand Jews have moved to Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall; many came from countries that were in the Soviet Union. Schools teaching about the things that happened when the Nazis were in power, as well as teaching against the ideas of the Nazis, has helped to make Germany very tolerant towards other people and cultures, and now many people move there from countries that may not be so tolerant.


title: Germany

text: About three million Muslims live in Germany, 3.7% of the total population. The country also has a large atheist and agnostic population, and there are also large about O.6 million Hinduism follower and some small group of Jain, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities. The 20th century has also seen a neopagan revival.


title: Germany

text: Germany has a long history of poets, thinkers, and artists. There are 240 supported theaters, hundreds of orchestras, thousands of museums and over 25,000 libraries in Germany. Millions of tourists visit these attractions every year. Some of the greatest classical musicians including Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven and possibly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were German. Some of the most revered scientists today like Albert Einstein are German.


title: Germany

text: Germany has created a high level of gender equality, disability rights, and accepts homosexuality. Gay marriage has been legal in Germany since 2017.


title: Germany

text: Doner kebab is often considered a popular German-Turkish fast food. But more traditional foods of German cuisine are sausage based such as Bratwurst and Currywurst. German food varies from region to region. For example, in the southern regions, such as Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, they share their type of food with Switzerland and Austria. Everywhere in Germany, meat is eaten as a sausage. Even though wine use is increasing, the national alcoholic drink is beer. The number of Germans who drink beer is one of the highest in the world. German restaurants are also rated the second-best, with France rated first place.


title: Germany

text: Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Germany. The national team has won the FIFA World Cup 4 times, and appears in the finals a lot. The top football league in Germany is Bundesliga. Also, the German Football Association ("Deutscher Fußball-Bund") is the largest in the world. Some of the world's best Footballers came from Germany. These would include Mesut Özil, Manuel Neuer, Serdar Tasci, Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franz Beckenbauer, and so on. Plus, many tournaments have taken place in Germany. The most recent was the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The Audi Cup takes place in Germany every year in Munich.


title: Germany

text: Germany is also known for its motor sports. Successful German racing drivers include Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.


title: Germany

text: Successful tennis players have also come from Germany, including Steffi Graf and Boris Becker. More recently, Sabine Lisicki reached the Women's Singles final at Wimbledon in 2013.


title: Germany

text: Lastly, Germany is one of the best countries in the Olympic Games. Germany is the third in the list of the most Olympic Games medals in history (mixed with West and East Germany medals). The country finished first place in the 2006 Winter Olympics, and second in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Germany got fifth place in the 2008 Summer Olympics.


title: Sex organ

text: The sex organs, which scientists call the genitalia or genitals, are the parts of the body that allow sexual reproduction (the making of young) to take place. They are also for urination (peeing), to remove waste products from the body. While all animals have sex organs, this article is about the sex organs of human beings.


title: Sex organ

text: The genitals are the main parts of the human body that make men and women different. Some parts of the genitals are outside the body, while other parts are inside. In a man, his external genitals are the penis and the scrotum (a bag that contains the testicles). Inside his body the testicles produce sperm and a substance called testosterone which makes a person grow into a man and to feel like a man. Other glands produce a fluid called semen. The part of a woman's genitals that is outside her body is called the vulva. Inside her body are the vagina, which holds the penis during sexual intercourse; the uterus (womb), in which a baby grows when the woman is pregnant; the ovaries, which produce ova (egg cells) and a substance called estrogen which makes a person grow into a woman and to feel like a woman; and the Fallopian tubes, which connect the ovaries to the uterus.


title: Sex organ

text: Many human societies are prudish about genitals. This prudery has resulted in public indecency laws which makes it a crime for genitals to be left uncovered in public except in special places called nudist colonies.


title: Sex organ

text: If a man and a woman want to reproduce sexually, they have to engage in sexual intercourse. This involves placing the man's erect penis into the woman's vagina. The vagina rubs and puts pressure on the penis, which makes the man have an orgasm. During his orgasm the man ejaculates, and his semen flows into the woman. If a sperm in the semen reaches the woman's Fallopian tubes and fuses with an ovum, this causes the woman to become pregnant. A man and woman can also have sexual intercourse for pleasure, without wishing to have a baby. Men and women, and gay couples (two women or two men) can also use their sex organs in other ways for pleasure.


title: Sex organ

text: The sex organs are the parts of the body that allow sexual reproduction (the making of young) to take place. They are also for urination (peeing), to remove waste products from the body. All animals have some kind of sex organs. This article is about the sex organs of human beings. In humans, the sex organs are in the lower abdomen, at the part of the body where the legs join the torso.


title: Sex organ

text: The scientific name for the sex organs is "genitalia" or "genitals". They are also commonly called the reproductive organs. The genitals include both organs that can be seen on the outside of the body (the primary genitalia or external genitalia), as well as internal organs (the secondary genitalia or internal genitalia). Sometimes, however, the words "genitalia" or "genitals" are used to refer only to the external sex organs. The sex organs are informally referred to as the private parts or privates.


title: Sex organ

text: Males and females have different sex organs. In fact, the genitals are the main parts of the human body that make men and women different.


title: Sex organ

text: A man's genitals are made up of many parts. The parts that can be seen on the outside of a man's body are his penis, which is shaped like a banana or a sausage; and his scrotum, which is a bag that hangs beneath the penis and contains the two testicles. A man's penis may be circumcised.


title: Sex organ

text: Inside a man's body, the testicles make tiny cells called sperm, which are needed for sexual reproduction. The testicles also make a hormone called testosterone. This is a chemical that makes a person grow into a man and feel like a man. The testicles are glands, which are special parts of the body that make chemicals. Other glands that make up the genitals are the prostate, seminal vesicles and bulbourethral glands (also called the Cowper's glands). Together, these glands make a white, sticky fluid called semen that sperm float in. Finally, a man's body contains ducts (tubes) such as the two vasa deferentia or ducta deferentia, which carry sperm out of the testicles; and the urethra, which carries semen through the penis and out of the body. The urethra also carries urine away from the bladder.


title: Sex organ

text: In reproduction the job of the penis is to carry sperm from the testicles into a woman's body so that a sperm can join together with the woman's ovum (egg cell) to form a new cell that will grow into a baby. The process of fusion of a sperm and an ovum is called fertilization.


title: Sex organ

text: A man's penis is usually soft, quite short and hangs down. When a man becomes aroused (sexually excited), the inside of his penis fills with blood. This causes the penis to become bigger, thicker and harder and to stand upright, and is called having an erection. When a man has an erection, he is able to have sexual intercourse by putting his penis into a woman's vagina. During an erection, a valve stops urine from entering the urethra so that only semen flows along it. This is why it is very difficult for a man to urinate when he is having an erection.


title: Sex organ

text: Young boys can have erections, but their bodies do not start producing sperm until they have reached puberty. This usually happens when they are in their teens.


title: Sex organ

text: The part of a woman's genitals that is on the outside of her body is called the vulva. The main parts of the vulva are two sets of fleshy "lips" called the labia. The outer labia can be seen at the front of the woman's body. On an adult woman, they are generally covered with some hair. Between the outer labia are the inner labia which do not have hair and are very sensitive. At the front of the inner labia is the outside part of the clitoris which is covered by the clitoral hood. During sexual intercourse, the clitoris gives feelings of pleasure to the woman.


title: Sex organ

text: Most of a woman's genitals are tucked inside her body. Behind the labia is a tube called the vagina, which cannot be seen on the outside of the body. (People often incorrectly use the word "vagina" to refer to the vulva.) When a man and a woman have sexual intercourse, the man's penis is placed into the woman's vagina. When a woman menstruates (has her menstrual period), blood and other fluid from the uterus pass out from her body through the vagina. If a woman uses a tampon (a specially-made wad of material) to absorb this fluid, she puts it into her vagina. The vagina is also called the birth canal, because when a pregnant woman has a baby, it passes through the vagina.


title: Sex organ

text: Like a man, a woman has a tube called the urethra connecting the bladder to the vulva through which urine is removed from the body. The opening of the urethra is between the clitoris and the opening to the vagina.


title: Sex organ

text: In many women, the opening of the vagina is partly or completely blocked by a thin tissue called the hymen. Some women are born without a hymen. The hymen usually breaks when a woman has sexual intercourse for the first time, that may cause or not some bleeding depending particularly on each woman. In some cultures, a broken hymen is taken as a sign that a girl has had sex. However, a broken hymen is not a clear sign of sexual intercourse because other activities such as exercise can also cause the hymen to break. In some women, the hymen may remain unbroken even after sex.


title: Sex organ

text: At the top of the vagina is the cervix which is a ring of muscle separating the vagina from the uterus or womb. The cervix allows menstrual fluid to flow from the uterus into the vagina, and during sexual intercourse it allows semen from a man's penis to flow from the vagina into the uterus. The uterus is a very muscular and stretchy organ in which babies grow during pregnancy. When a woman is not pregnant, each month the lining of the uterus grows thicker, then breaks down, causing her to menstruate. Connected to the top of the uterus are two Fallopian tubes, on the left and right. These tubes join the uterus to the two ovaries. The ovaries produce ova, or egg cells, that are needed for reproduction. Each month, an ovum travels from one of the ovaries into a Fallopian tube. If, after the woman has had sexual intercourse with a man, the ovum fuses with a sperm and implants in the wall of the uterus, the woman will become pregnant. The ovaries also produce the female hormone estrogen which causes a person to grow into a woman and to feel like a woman.


title: Sex organ

text: Young girls do not start producing ova and menstruating until they have reached puberty. Like boys, this usually happens in their teens. Once a woman starts menstruating, she is capable of becoming pregnant.


title: Sex organ

text: The sex organs or genitals are used for sexual reproduction and for sexual intercourse. For sexual reproduction to happen, a man and a woman need to have sexual intercourse with each other. A man's penis becomes erect when he is aroused, for example when he sees a naked woman or is touched by her. When a woman is aroused, her clitoris and vulva also swell, and the inside of her vagina produces mucus, a substance that makes it slippery. To reproduce, the man places his penis inside the woman's vagina and moves it in and out (a movement called thrusting), while the woman moves her hips back and forth, or in a circular motion. The friction caused by this movement, together with the warmth and pressure of the vagina, causes the man to have pleasurable feelings in the penis. As intercourse continues, these feelings grow stronger and stronger until the man reaches a sexual climax called an orgasm. At this point, the man's penis spasms and then contracts strongly again and again to push semen through the urethra. The semen then ejaculates or shoots out from the end of the penis into the woman's vagina. The woman may also have an orgasm, which causes the vagina to tense up and relax repeatedly. Scientists are not sure why women have orgasms. Some believe that the orgasm helps the sperm in the man's semen to swim up the vagina into the cervix, so that it is more likely that a sperm cell will fuse with an egg cell. Others think that the female orgasm causes the vagina to grip the penis more tightly, which makes sex more exciting for the man and causes him to ejaculate more quickly or to produce more semen; or that it encourages a woman to have sex more often as it feels good. Both of these events would make pregnancy more likely to happen. After the man has ejaculated, the blood flows out of his penis and it becomes smaller and soft again.


title: Sex organ

text: Sometimes, a man and a woman may have sexual intercourse because it gives them pleasure, without wishing for the woman to become pregnant. They may try to stop fertilization from happening by using methods of contraception or birth control. Common methods of birth control include the man wearing a condom on his penis, and the woman taking birth control pills that stop her ovaries from releasing egg cells.


title: Sex organ

text: Apart from the man putting his penis into the woman's vagina, the sex organs can be used in other ways in sexual intercourse. The man and woman can rub each other's sex organs with their hands. They can use sex toys such as dildos or vibrators. They can also engage in oral sex. When a person uses his or her mouth, lips and tongue to touch a woman's clitoris and vulva, this is called cunnilingus. When a person uses his or her mouth, lips, and/or tongue to touch a man's penis, this is called fellatio. A man or a woman (using an strap-on dildo or harness) can also put the sexual organ into a person's anus, this is called anal sex.


title: Sex organ

text: People who are gay or homosexual also use their genitals to have sexual intercourse with each other. Two women can rub each other's sex organs, put sex toys into them, or perform oral sex on each other. Two men can also rub each other's sex organs, or perform oral or anal sex on each other.


title: Sex organ

text: When a man strokes his own penis or a woman rubs her clitoris and vulva in order to feel good or to reach orgasm, this is called masturbation.


title: Sex organ

text: The sex organs are also used for urination, which is one of the ways in which the body removes waste products. Both men and women have a bladder, which is an organ that stores urine. In a man, a thin tube called the urethra passes from his bladder right through his penis. In a woman, the urethra opens into the vulva. When a person urinates, urine flows from the bladder through the urethra and out of the body.


title: Constitutional republic

text: A constitutional republic is a state where the chief executive and representatives are elected, and the rules are set down in a written constitution.


title: Constitutional republic

text: The head of state and other representatives are elected but they do not have uncontrolled power. What their power is limited to is written in the constitution. If there is dispute about what the constitution means, this is decided by a court system that is independent from the representatives.


title: Constitutional republic

text: Constitutional republics usually have a separation of powers. The separation of powers means that no single officeholder gets unlimited power. John Adams said that a constitutional republic was ""a government of laws, and not of men"".


title: Constitutional republic

text: Supporters of such a republic argue that it is meant to be a safeguard against tyranny. No office holder can get to a position of absolute power. However, some have argued that a constitution can be written in such a way that it lets tyranny arise, and that a constitution is therefore not a fail proof safeguard against tyranny.


title: Constitutional republic

text: Constitutional monarchies are a special case: even though the monarch is not elected, the people still elect other governing bodies. The constitution also limits the power of the monarch.


title: Constitutional republic

text: Comparisons can be made. There are countries which nominally are constitutional republics, but which have become (in effect) dictatorships. There are also countries which have no written constitution, and are monarchies, but which act in a similar way to constitutional republics.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian man who lived in the time of the Renaissance. He is famous for his paintings, but he was also a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, and a writer.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo wanted to know everything about nature. He wanted to know how everything worked. He was very good at studying, designing and making all sorts of interesting things. He is not to be confused with Leonardo Vinci, Italian music composer.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: The art historian Helen Gardner said that no-one has ever been quite like him because he was interested in so many things that he seems to have had the mind of a giant, and yet what he was like as a person is still a mystery.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo was born at Vinci which is a small town near Florence, Italy. He was trained to be an artist by the sculptor and painter Verrocchio. He spent most of his life working for rich Italian noblemen. In his last years, he lived in a beautiful home given to him by the King of France.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Two of his pictures are among the best-known paintings in the world: the "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper". He did many drawings. The best-known drawing is "Vitruvian Man". Leonardo was often thinking of new inventions. He kept notebooks with notes and drawings of these ideas. Most of his inventions were never made. Some of his ideas were a helicopter, a tank, a calculator, a parachute, a robot, a telephone, evolution, and solar power.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452, in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the valley of the Arno River. His grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, wrote down the details of the birth. Leonardo's parents were not married. His father was a Notary, Ser Piero da Vinci. His mother, Caterina, was a servant. She may have been a slave from the Middle East. or from China. His father later on took custody of Leonardo and his mother remarried and had 5 more children. Leonardo's full name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", which means "Leonardo, the son of Messer (Mister) Pierdaom Vinci".


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo spent his first five years living in a farm house with his mother. Then he lived at Vinci with his father, his father's new wife Albiera, his grandparents and uncle, Francesco. When Leonardo grew up, he only wrote down two memories from his childhood. He remembered that when he was lying outside in his cradle a large bird flew from the sky and hovered over him. Its tail feathers brushed his face. Leonardo's other important memory was how he found a cave while exploring in the mountains. He was terrified that some great monster might be hiding there. But he was also very excited and wanted to find out what was inside.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo started painting while he was still a boy. Giorgio Vasari wrote about Leonardo's life shortly after his death. He tells many interesting stories about how clever Leonardo was. He says that Leonardo painted a round wooden shield with a picture of snakes spitting fire. Messer Piero took his son's painting to Florence and sold it to an art dealer.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: In 1466, when Leonardo was fourteen, his father took him to Florence, to be an apprentice to the artist Verrocchio.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Florence was a very exciting place for a young person who wanted to be an artist. Many famous artists had lived in Florence, starting with Cimabue and Giotto in the 1200s. Everywhere a person looked there were famous and beautiful artworks. The huge cathedral had an enormous new dome. The church of St John had doors that gleamed with gold and were said to be the most beautiful doors in the world. Another church had statues all around it by the most famous sculptors, including one by Leonardo's teacher Verrocchio.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: If an artist was lucky, they would find a rich patron who would buy lots of their paintings. The richest family in Florence were the Medici. They had built themselves the finest palace in Florence, and liked buying paintings, statues and other beautiful things. They were also interested in the study of literature and philosophy. Many young artists hoped to get work from the Medici and their friends.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Verrocchio had a big workshop that was one of the busiest in Florence. Leonardo was learning to be an artist, so he had to learn drawing, painting, sculpting and model making. While he was at the workshop, he was able to learn all sorts of other useful skills: chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo was not the only young painter at Verrocchio's workshop. Many other painters were trained there, or often visited. Some of them later became famous: Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli. These artists were all just a few years older than Leonardo.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Giorgio Vasari tells an interesting story from this time of Leonardo's life. Verrocchio was painting a large picture of "the Baptism of Christ". He gave Leonardo the job of painting one of the angels holding Jesus' robe on the left side of the picture. Vasari said that Leonardo painted the angel so beautifully that Verrocchio put down his brush and never painted again. When the painting is examined closely it is possible to see that many other parts of the picture, such as the rocks, the brown stream and the background may have been painted by Leonardo as well. Verrocchio made a bronze statue of "David" at this time. It is believed that he used Leonardo as his model.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: In about 1472, when he was twenty, Leonardo joined the Guild of St Luke, an organisation of artists and doctors of medicine. Even after his father set him up in his own workshop, Leonardo still enjoyed working at Verrocchio's workshop. Leonardo's earliest known work is a drawing in pen and ink of the Arno River valley. It has the date 5 August 1473. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: When Vasari writes about Leonardo, he uses words like "noble", "generous", "graceful" and "beautiful". Vasari tells us that as an adult Leonardo was a tall handsome man. He was so strong that he could bend horseshoes with his bare hands. His voice was so beautiful that it charmed everyone that heard it. Almost everyone wanted to be his friend. He loved animals, was a vegetarian and would buy birds at the market and set them free.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Very little is known about Leonardo's life and work between 1472 and 1481. He was probably busy in Florence. In 1478, he had an important commission to paint an altarpiece for the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. The painting was to be the "Adoration of the Magi" ("The Three Wise Men"). The painting was never finished because Leonardo was sent away to Milan.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo was a very talented musician. In 1482, he made a silver lyre (a musical instrument) in the shape of a horse's head. At that time there was a new ruler in the city of Milan, in the north of Italy. Duke Ludovico il Moro was making other rulers nervous. Lorenzo Medici sent Leonardo to Milan as an ambassador. Lorenzo de' Medici wanted Leonardo to give Ludovico the lyre as a present from him. Leonardo wrote a letter to the Duke of Milan, telling him about all the clever and useful things that he could do, like making war machines. He wrote in the letter that he could "also paint". Leonardo did not know at the time that it was for painting that he would be mostly remembered. Leonardo stayed in Milan and worked for the Duke between 1482 and 1499. Part of his work was to design festivals and carnival processions. In Leonardo's note books are drawings of theatre costumes, amazing helmets and scenes that might be for the theatre.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo, like most other well-known artists of his time, had servants, young students and older assistants in his workshop. One of his young students was a boy whose name was Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno. He was a handsome boy with beautiful long golden curls. He looked perfect as an artist's model for an angel. But he was such a difficult and dishonest boy that Leonardo called him "Salai" or "Salaino" which means "the little devil". Leonardo wrote in his notebook that Salai was very greedy, that he was a liar and that he had stolen things from the house at least five times. Salai stayed in Leonardo's household for thirty years as a pupil and a servant.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo's most important work for Duke Ludovico was to make a huge statue of the previous ruler, Francesco Sforza, on horseback. He started with the horse. After studying horses and drawing designs, he made a huge horse of clay. It was called the "Gran Cavallo". It was going to be cast in bronze. It was going to be the biggest bronze horse that had been made for more than a thousand years. Unfortunately, the bronze horse was never made. In 1494, Ludovico gave the bronze to be made into cannons because the French army was invading Milan. The huge clay horse was still standing when the French army invaded again in 1499. This time it was used for target practice and was completely destroyed.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: While Leonardo was working for Duke Ludovico, he had two important painting commissions. One was to do an oil painting to go in a big altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. Leonardo did the painting twice. He left one with the monks in Milan, and took the other painting to France where it is now in the Louvre Museum. The paintings are both called "the Virgin of the Rocks". They show a scene of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus in a rocky mysterious landscape. Mary and Jesus are meeting with John the Baptist. There is a story (which is not in the Bible but is part of Christian tradition) about how the baby John and the baby Jesus met on the road to Egypt. In this scene John is praying and the baby Jesus raises his hand to bless John. The paintings have a strange eerie light with soft deep shadows. In the background is a lake and mountains in the mist. No painting like this had ever been done before.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo's other important painting in Milan is even more famous. It is the "Last Supper". The painting shows the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples, before his capture and death. Leonardo chose to paint the moment when Jesus has said "one of you will betray me". Leonardo tells the story of the surprise and upset that this caused to the twelve followers of Jesus. He tells the story through the actions and faces of the people in the painting. Some of them are talking, some of them have stood up, some are raising their hands in horror.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: The novelist Matteo Bandello saw Leonardo at work. Bandello wrote that on some days he would paint from morning till night without stopping to eat. Then for three or four days he would not paint at all. He would often just stand and look at the painting. Vasari said that the prior of the convent was very annoyed. He asked Ludovico to tell Leonardo to work faster. Vasari said that Leonardo was worried because he did not think that he could paint the face of Jesus well enough. Leonardo told the Duke that he might use the face of the prior as his model for Judas, the traitor.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: When it was finished, everyone that saw it said that the painting was a masterpiece. But Leonardo had not used proper fresco for the painting. He had used tempera over gesso, which is not usually used for wall painting. Soon the painting started to grow mold and flake off the wall. In a hundred years it was "completely ruined".


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Even though in some places the paint has fallen right off the wall, the painting is so popular that it is printed and copied more that any other religious painting in the world.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: In 1499, Ludovico il Moro was overthrown. Leonardo left Milan with his servant Salai and a friend, Luca Pacioli, who was a mathematician. They went to Venice. Leonardo worked as a military architect and engineer. Because Venice is a city on many islands, Leonardo tried to think of ways to defend the city from a naval attack.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: In 1500, Leonardo went back to Florence, taking his "household" of servants and apprentices with him. The monks from the monastery of "The Holy Annunciation" gave Leonardo a home and a large workshop. In 2005, some buildings which were used by the Department of Military Geography were being restored. The restorers discovered that part of the building was Leonardo's studio.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo started work on a new painting. He drew a large "cartoon". (This means a drawing that is a plan for the painting.) The cartoon showed the Virgin Mary sitting on the knee of her mother, St Anne. Mary holds the baby Jesus in her arms. Jesus stretches out his hands to his young cousin John the Baptist. Vasari says that everyone was so amazed by the beautiful drawing that "men and women, young and old" came in large groups to see it "as if they were attending a great festival". The drawing is now in the National Gallery, London. Even though it is old and faded and is kept in a dark room, people go to the gallery to sit in front of it every day. .


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: In 1502 and 1503, Leonardo worked for Cesare Borgia, a powerful noble who was the son of Pope Alexander VI. Leonardo travelled around Italy with Borgia, as a military architect and engineer. Late in 1503, Leonardo returned to Florence. He rejoined the Guild of St Luke.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: He was given a very important commission. The Signoria (Town Council) of the City of Florence wanted two large frescos painted on the walls of the most important room of the Signoria Palace. Michelangelo was to paint "The Battle of Cascina" and Leonardo was to paint "The Battle of Anghiari". Leonardo began the project by studying and drawing the faces of angry men and fighting horses. These drawings can still be seen in his notebooks. But unfortunately, this was to be another failure for Leonardo. When he painted the picture on the wall, instead of using fresco, he mixed the paints with oil. The paint would not dry. Leonardo lit some fires to dry it, and the painting melted. Peter Paul Rubens drew a copy of the middle part. After a time, the town council covered it up and got somebody else to paint the wall. Michelangelo did not finish his painting either, because the Pope called him to Rome.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: In about 1503 Leonardo began painting the portrait of a woman known as "Mona Lisa", the most famous portrait that has ever been painted. He continued working on it for many years. It is a small picture, painted in oil on a wooden panel. It shows the face, upper body and hands of a woman. She is very plainly dressed. For a portrait, a woman would usually put on her best clothes and jewellery. Mona Lisa has a dark dress and a fine black veil over her head. Leonardo often left symbols in his paintings that give clues about the person. The unusual thing about this picture is the smile. The smile is the clue to her name: Mona Lisa Giacondo. Giacondo means "the joking one". (Mona is short for Madonna which means "My Lady".)


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: The reason why the painting is so famous is that it seems to be full of mystery. Mona Lisa's eyes look out at the viewer. But no-one can guess what she is thinking. Her eyes and her mouth seem to be smiling. This is very unusual in a portrait painting. Most people in portraits look very serious. It is hard to tell what Mona Lisa's exact expression is. When a person wants to read another person's feelings, they look at the corners of their mouth and eyes. But Leonardo has painted soft shadows in the corners of Mona Lisa's mouth and eyes, to disguise her expression. The soft shadows are also found on the sides of her face, her neck and hands. The way that Leonardo uses shadow is called "sfumato" (which is an Italian word for "smoke"). Vasari said that the picture was so beautifully painted that every other artist who looked at it thought that they could never paint so well.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: In 1506, Leonardo went back to Milan with his pupils, and lived in his own house in Porta Orientale. D'Oggione made several copies of the "Last Supper". Luini made a copy of "the Virgin of the Rocks". Boltraffio (and the others) painted many Madonna and Child pictures which can still be seen in art galleries and churches. One of pupils was a young nobleman called Count Francesco Melzi. Melzi never became a very good painter, but he loved Leonardo and stayed with him until the day he died.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: In September 1513 Leonardo went to Rome and lived there until 1516. He lived in the Vatican. The three greatest painters of the High Renaissance, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael were all working in Rome at the same time. Even though their names are often said together as if they were friends, they were not. Leonardo at this time was in his sixties, Michelangelo was middle-aged. He was not friendly to either Leonardo or Raphael. Raphael was a very clever young painter who learnt a lot by looking at the pictures painted by Leonardo and Michelangelo. But neither of them was ever his teacher.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: In October 1515, King Francis I of France captured Milan. On December 19, there was a meeting of Francis I and Pope Leo X, in Bologna. Leonardo went to the meeting with Pope Leo.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo made an amazing toy to entertain King Francis. It was a life-sized mechanical lion that could walk. It had doors in its chest which opened, and a bunch of lilies came out. Lilies were the royal symbol of the French Kings.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: In 1516, Francis I invited Leonardo to go to France with him. He gave Leonardo a beautiful house called "Clos Lucé" (sometimes called "Cloux"). It is near the king's palace, Chateau Amboise. Leonardo spent the last three years of his life at Clos Lucé, with his faithful friend and apprentice, Count Melzi. The king gave Leonardo a pension of 10,000 scudi. One of the last paintings that Leonardo did was a picture of "John the Baptist". His model was Salai, with his beautiful long curling hair.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: When Leonardo was dying, he asked for a priest to come, so that he could make his confession and receive Holy Communion.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo died at Clos Lucé, on May 2, 1519. King Francis had become a close friend. Vasari says that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died. In his will, he asked that sixty beggars should follow his casket in procession. He was buried in the Chapel of the Chateau Amboise.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo had never married and had no children of his own. In his will, he left his money, his books and most of his paintings to Count Melzi. Leonardo also remembered his other pupil Salai and his servant Battista di Vilussis, who each received half of Leonardo's vineyards near Milan. Leonardo's left to his serving woman a black cloak with a fur edge. Salai was the owner of Leonardo's most famous oil painting, the "Mona Lisa". He still owned it a few years later when he died, after fighting in a duel.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: King Francis said: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo did not paint very many pictures. But he drew hundreds of quick sketches, plans, maps and detailed drawings. This is the way that he recorded all the interesting things that he saw, studied and thought about.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Some of Leonardo's drawings are "studies" for paintings. In these drawings Leonardo planned the things he was going to paint. Some studies are plans for whole paintings. One of these paintings is the large beautiful drawing of the Madonna and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist that is now in the National Gallery, London.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Many of the studies show "details" that Leonardo wanted to get just right. One study shows a very detailed perspective drawing of the ruined buildings in the background of the painting of the Magi. Other studies show hands, faces, drapery, plants, horses and babies.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: The earliest drawing by Leonardo that has a date on it, is a "Landscape of the Arno Valley", 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo studied things all his life. He did not go to university to study. He studied by looking at things in the world around him. He looked at things to see how they were made and how they worked. He drew the things that he saw and the discoveries that he made into his notebooks, and made notes about them. Many of his notebooks are now in museums. There are 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. Many of these are scientific studies.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: Leonardo's notebooks are hard to read because he wrote backwards in "mirror writing". Some people think that perhaps he was trying to keep his work secret. This is not true. Leonardo wrote (and sometimes drew) with his left hand. In those days pens were made from a quill (a large feather) that was cut with a pen-knife on the end. It is hard for a left-handed person to write with a quill in the ordinary way, but quite easy to write backwards.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: It is likely that Leonardo planned to publish the studies in his notebooks. He organized many pages carefully, with one study taking up the front and back of each page. There is a page with drawings and writing about the human heart and a page about the womb and the fetus. One page shows drawings of the muscles of a shoulder and another page shows how an arm works.


title: Leonardo da Vinci

text: The notebooks were not published in Leonardo's lifetime. After he died, they were divided between different people who had known him. They are nearly all in museums or libraries such as Windsor Castle, the Louvre, and the British Library. The Biblioteca Ambrosiana (a library) in Milan has the twelve-volume "Codex Atlanticus".


title: History of chess

text: The history of chess goes back almost 1500 years. The game originated in northern India in the 6th century and spread to Persia. When the Arabs conquered Persia, chess was taken up by the Muslim world and subsequently, through the Moorish conquest of Spain, spread to Southern Europe. But in early Russia, the game came directly from the Khanates (muslim territories) to the south.


title: History of chess

text: In Europe, the moves of the pieces changed in the 15th century. The modern game starts with these changes. In the second half of the 19th century, modern tournament play began. Chess clocks were first used in 1883, and the first world chess championship was held in 1886. The 20th century saw advances in chess theory, and the establishment of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Chess engines (programs that play chess), and chess data bases became important.


title: History of chess

text: The precursors of chess originated in northern India during the Gupta empire, where its early form in the 6th century was known as Chaturanga. This translates as 'the four divisions', meaning infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively.<ref name="H/W">Hooper, David and Whyld, Kenneth 1992. "The Oxford Companion to Chess" 2nd ed, Oxford University Press. </ref>


title: History of chess

text: In Sassanid Persia around 600 the name became "Chatrang" and the rules were developed further, and players started calling "Shāh!" (Persian for 'King') when threatening the opponent's king, and "Shāh māt!" (Persian for 'the king is finished') when the king could not escape from attack. These exclamations persisted in chess as it traveled to other lands.