title: Isle of Man

text: The Isle of Man is a Crown dependency. Foreign affairs, defence, and "good government" are handled by the British government, but in all other matters the island is independent. The Isle of Man Government is the executive and proposes laws to the legislature, Tynwald. Laws passed by Tynwald are given royal approval by the Lieutenant Governor unless the British Minister of Justice says they do not help the good government of the island.


title: Isle of Man

text: The Isle of Man is an island in the Irish Sea, it is northwest of the European continent. It is between the United Kingdom and Ireland. The island is 22 km wide and 52 km long, it has a total area of 572 km². The Isle of Man has a total of 160 km of coastline, it has no important bodies of water. Apart from the island itself, the Isle of Man also includes some nearby islands. The most important of these islands are called Calf of Man, St Patrick's Isle and St Michael's Isle.


title: Isle of Man

text: The island's terrain is varied, it has mountains in the north and south. A valley is more or less in the center of the island, between the cities of Douglas and Peel. The northern part of the island is very flat. Snaefell is the Isle of Man's highest mountain, it measures 621 meters above sea level. It is said that you can see Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales from the top of mount Snaefell.


title: Isle of Man

text: The Isle of Man has a usually mild weather. Summers are cool and winters are mild and rainy. Rainfall is similar to that of the other British Isles. Elevated parts of the Isle of Man get more rainfall, especially mount Snaefell. The northern and southern parts of the island are not as rainy as the rest.


title: Isle of Man

text: The island's weather is normally cool. The highest temperature ever registered is 28.9 °C, in Ronaldsway. The Isle of Man is not very sunny, but it is less cloudy than other parts of the British Isles; strong winds around the island help keep clouds in constant movement.


title: Isle of Man

text: The geology of Man is notable for the Iapetus Suture, which runs almost unseen right through the rocks of the island. The suture is the remnant of a once huge ocean, the Iapetus Ocean, which was lost about 420 million years ago as three continents came together.


title: Isle of Man

text: The Isle of Man became separated from Ireland and the British Isles about 8500 years ago. The short period of time between the melting of glaciers and the rise of sea level allowed a small number of species to colonize the island by land. The island was heavily deforested in the Middle Ages, which weakened its environment. Some land is now protected by the government to help preserve its wildlife. Curraghs Wildlife Park, in the wetlands, is home to many species of animals and plants. Many bird species live on the island.


title: Isle of Man

text: A lot of the Isle of Man's plant life, or flora, is composed of shrubs (bushes) and other short plants. Several species of grass and moss also live there. Mosses on the island contribute to the formation of peat. There is peat in the island's wet areas. The island has heavily deforested in the Middle Ages. Common trees on the island include ashes, elms, pines, willows, and hawthorns. There are also other trees on the island, as well as many species of flowering plants. Bogs are home to ferns and orchids.


title: Isle of Man

text: The Isle of Man is home to many bird and insect species. Many species live in "curraghs" (wetlands in the northeast of the island). Curraghs are protected by the Government of the Isle of Man. Curraghs Wildlife Park is in these wetlands, it is both a zoo and a protected area. During the winter, curraghs are the second largest nesting ground of the Hen Herrier in Europe. The Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, European Robin, Willow Warbler, Song Thrush, Dunnock, Swan and a subspecies of Winter Wren possibly native to the island also nest in the curraghs. The Chough is also in the Isle of Man, it is more common than in other parts of Europe. Some farming methods have decreased the bird population of the island. The Northern Lapwing is now rarely found, and the Yellowhammer is now extinct on the island.


title: Isle of Man

text: 18 species of butterfly and 250 species of moth also live on the Isle of Man. Most of them live in the wetlands during different seasons.


title: Maggie Gyllenhaal

text: Margaret Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal (born November 16, 1977) is an American actress. She is the daughter of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal. She is the sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal. Maggie got many awards for her 2002 movie "Secretary".


title: Maggie Gyllenhaal

text: Maggie was born in New York City to Stephen and Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal. Her parents, who married in 1977, filed for divorce in October 2008. Her father is director Stephen Gyllenhaal, who was raised as a Swedenborgian, is of Swedish, French, German, Swiss, Welsh and English descent, and is a descendant of the Swedish noble Gyllenhaal family. Jake's last ancestor to be born in Sweden was his great-great-grandfather, Anders Leonard Gyllenhaal. Her mother is Jewish; she was born in New York City, to a family from Russia, Latvia and Poland.


title: Maggie Gyllenhaal

text: Gyllenhaal grew up in Los Angeles. She studied at the Harvard-Westlake School prep school. In 1995, she went to New York to attend Columbia University. Here, she studied literature and Eastern religions. She graduated in 1999. Hence, she got a Bachelor of Arts degree.


title: Maggie Gyllenhaal

text: Gyllenhaal fall in love with actor Peter Sarsgaard in 2002. The got engaged in April 2006. 3 years later, the got married.


title: Mark Zuckerberg

text: Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American entrepreneur who created Facebook when he was still studying computer science. The founding of Facebook made Zuckerberg a billionaire, one of the youngest and richest billionaires of all time according to Forbes.


title: Mark Zuckerberg

text: Besides computer programming, Zuckerberg is also interested in foreign languages, especially Mandarin Chinese. Mark Zuckerberg was born at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York but now he lives in California.


title: Mark Zuckerberg

text: His founding of Facebook was portrayed in the movie "The Social Network" starring actor Jesse Eisenberg in the leading role. In 2010, he said that he was going to give most of his money to charity.


title: Mark Zuckerberg

text: In 2010, he was also named "Time's" Person of the Year. He was raised Jewish, was an atheist, but thinks different about religion nowadays. In a public Facebook post, Zuckerberg launched the Internet.org project in late August 2013.


title: Theme park

text: A theme park or amusement park is a place with attractions made up of rides, such as roller coasters and water rides. They usually contain a selection of different types of rides, along with shops, restaurants and other entertainment outlets. Theme parks can be enjoyed by adults, teenagers and children.


title: Theme park

text: Many are themed to a particular area; there are water parks, parks modeled after toys, parks modeled after movies or types of movies, usually adventure or action.


title: Theme park

text: The period from the 1950s through the 1970s brought about a core era for growth in the contemporary theme park industry, as a strong American middle class was being established and personal transportation became a common good. The baby boom following the second World War guaranteed a large number of families seeking to spend time together, and expanding labor rights allow for more free time to do just that.


title: Theme park

text: Finally, long-distance travel options and new forms of transportation, such as passenger air travel, grew in importance, making new destinations accessible. This mix of ideal economic conditions, combined with innovations during the time period, formed a perfect foundation on which to build the modern theme park concept to be developed.


title: Theme park

text: A similar “perfect storm” unfolded in Europe, with new innovations and attractions reshaping pleasure gardens and driving new experiences. Unique offerings were key to transporting families to worlds of imagination and wonder, but also to attracting audiences from further away.


title: Theme park

text: The sheer concept of theme parks was born out of a combination of three early traditions: traveling fairs, pleasure gardens, and world fair exhibits. Slowly the three came together and formed the modern amusement park, inviting all age groups.


title: Theme park

text: Back in the day, the decision of going to a theme park was equivalent to an out of city trip, where people dressed the part. Men wore suits and ties, and women were always spotted in heels, as opposed to now, when people have ditched all that for comfortable clothes and sneakers. Today, enjoying amusement park rides seems like a hop, skip, and jump situation. Acrobatics, juggling acts and freak shows have gradually evolved to puppet shows and arcade games. The evolution of theme parks has been progressive – wooden roller coasters have turned into steel ones, with more safety elements added to all rides.


title: Kim Ungyong

text: Kim Ung-yong (born 8 March 1962) was a Korean child prodigy. He was able to read and write in Japanese, Korean, German and English before he turned four years old. At the age of four, on 2 November 1967, he answered differential and integral calculus questions on Japanese television, showed that he could speak German, English, Japanese and Korean, and write poetry. Kim was listed in the Guiness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ"; the book guessed the boy's score at "over 200."


title: Kim Ungyong

text: Kim was a guest student of physics at Hanyang University from the age of 3 until he was 6. At the age of 7 he was invited to the United States by NASA. He finished his university studies, eventually getting a Ph.D. in physics at Colorado State University before he was 15. In 1974, during his university studies, he began his research work at NASA and continued this work until his return to Korea in 1978.


title: Kim Ungyong

text: When he returned to Korea, he decided to switch from physics to civil engineering and eventually received a doctorate in that field. Kim was offered the chance to study at the most prestigious universities in Korea, but instead chose to attend a provincial university.


title: Bee Gees

text: The Bee Gees were a British–Australian pop group. For most of its history, the band consisted of three brothers all of whom were born on the Isle of Man, a British Crown Dependency. The brothers, Barry Gibb (born 1 September 1946), and twins Maurice Gibb (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) and Robin Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012), started singing at a young age when living in Manchester. In the late 1960s, the band briefly expanded to include Australian born Vince Melouney and Colin Petersen. When the band reformed after splitting in 1969, Australian born Geoff Bridgford briefly became a member. The Bee Gees existed for almost 40 years They are most famous for their album, "Saturday Night Fever", the soundtrack for the movie of the same name. They stopped performing after Maurice died. The two other brothers reunited as a duo in 2009. In 2012 Robin died. They had a younger brother, Andy Gibb (1958–1988), who was also a singer.


title: Bee Gees

text: The Gibb brothers were born on the Isle of Man, then lived in Manchester, England, before moving to Australia in 1958. It was in Australia that the Bee Gees' band was formed. In January 1967, the Gibb brothers returned to England where their band the Bee Gees started to become internationally famous. In 1967, Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney joined the band but by the end the decade both had left and the brothers themselves had briefly gone their separate ways, only to reform in 1970. Between 1970 and 1972, Geoff Bridgford was a member of the Bee Gees. In 1975, the brothers relocated to the United States.


title: Dragon

text: A dragon is a snake-like legendary creature, belonging to mythology and fantasy. There are stories about dragons in Chinese culture, European culture, South American culture, and many others.


title: Dragon

text: Dragons feature in many stories such as; The Hobbit, Beowulf, How To Train Your Dragon and Harry Potter. In "The Hobbit" and "Beowulf", dragons are dangerous and attack humans. Other stories, such as those by Anne McCaffrey, have dragons who are looking for help, or giving help. A dragon also appears in the Book of Revelation chapters 12-13, where he is seen as the Devil.


title: Beach

text: A beach is a landform along the coast of an ocean, sea, lake, or river. It usually consists of loose particles, such as sand, gravel, shingle, or pebbles. The particles of a beach are sometimes biological in origin, such as mollusc shells or bits of coral and sometimes bits of igneous rock, but the most common mineral in beaches is quartz.


title: Beach

text: Beaches are natural landing and launching places for boats, and landing craft are specially made for beaches.


title: Beach

text: People often use beaches for recreation. They swim, bask in the sun, or just relax. The most popular beaches have fine white or light-colored sand and warm water to swim in. Beaches are also used for diving or for seeing marine life.


title: Beach

text: Among the world's most popular and well-known beaches are Aruba (Dutch Caribbean), Long Beach (Canada), Copacabana Beach (Brazil), Hot Water Beach (New Zealand), Megan Bay (St. Thomas), Kailua Beach (Hawaii), Zandvoort Beach (Netherlands), Jeffreys Bay (South Africa), Bondi Beach (Australia) and Lake Como beaches (Italy).


title: Beach

text: Taking holidays on the beach is something of a British cultural export. Early railways in the 19th century took people to places they had never seen before. This tourism was made possible by the industrial revolution. Whole seaside resort towns grew to support visitors, where before there were just villages. Vacations at the sea became common all over the world.


title: Beach

text: Beaches are never static. They are always being built up or eroded, more quickly than other landforms. Over time the boundary between the land and the sea changes. New Romney, a small town in Kent, is one of the Cinque Ports, a mile from the sea. In Henry VIII's time it was a port on the south coast of England. The growth of Dungeness has cut it off from the sea. Dungeness is a huge shingle beach.


title: Shepherd

text: A shepherd is someone who looks after sheep. Shepherds usually take the sheep out into fields so that they can graze (eat the grass). In the same way, someone who looks after cows is called a “cowherd”. A "swineherd" looks after pigs and a "goatherd" looks after goats. A herd is a group of animals. "Herding" can also mean making a herd of animals go to another place. A female shepherd is called a “shepherdess”.


title: Shepherd

text: Many years ago, when most people lived in the country, shepherding was very common. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat, and especially their wool. We know that there were shepherds in some parts of the world thousands of years ago.


title: Shepherd

text: The shepherd’s job was to make sure the sheep were safe and they were not eaten by wolves or other wild animals.


title: Shepherd

text: In many societies shepherds were an important part of the economy. Unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage earners. They were paid to watch other people’s sheep. Shepherds often lived all on their own. Some were nomads. Shepherds were most often the younger sons of simple farmers who did not inherit any land. Still in other societies, each family would have a family member to shepherd its flock, often a child or young person or an old person who was not able to help much with the harder work.


title: Shepherd

text: Shepherds often worked with dogs. The dogs (sheepdogs) were trained to herd the sheep. Sheepdog trials are still popular today. The shepherd has to give signs to the dog to tell it exactly where he wants the sheep to go.


title: Shepherd

text: A shepherd had a lot of time to sit and think or amuse himself. He often made simple instruments out of reeds that grew where he sat. These instruments were often simple pan flutes or just pipes which were similar to bamboo pipes or a modern recorder. Some shepherds learned to carve instruments out of wood. An example is the fujara from Slovakia and southern Poland.


title: Shepherd

text: Shepherds often made up music. This is why composers of classical music very often wrote music which imitated the sound of the shepherd’s pipe. For example: in Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute the character Papageno, a birdcatcher, plays on his pipes. In the "Symphonie Fantastique" Berlioz wrote music which describes a shepherd playing his pipes, and a shepherdess far away the other side of the hill answering his call. Berlioz used an oboe and a cor anglais for this.


title: Shepherd

text: Musicians were not the only people who liked the idea of the life of a shepherd. Many painters painted scenes in the country with sheep being looked after by a shepherd. Poets wrote about shepherds. The shepherd’s way of life was thought to be the ideal way to live. It was called Arcadian. Poems like these are called pastoral, after the term for herding. Some early examples are the "Idylls" of Theocritus, and the "Eclogues" of Virgil.


title: Concentric zone model

text: The Concentric zone model, or Burgess model is a model to explain how a settlement, such as a city, will grow. It was developed by Ernest W. Burgess between 1925 and 1929. Burgess looked at the growth of Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many people moved to Chicago at that time.


title: Concentric zone model

text: The model was the first to explain why certain groups of people lived in certain areas of the city. Burgess said that there were circles around the center of the city. The circle a piece of land was in determined how it was used. Burgess saw different zones, starting at the center:


title: Concentric zone model

text: Burgess saw that richer people tended to live farther away from the city center. When the city grew, the city center would grow; the rings would also shift outwards.


title: Thirteen Colonies

text: The Thirteen Colonies were colonies in British North America in what is now the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. They were founded for different reasons. Some people thought that they would make a lot of money in new goods in America that could not be found in Europe, such as tobacco. Others left to find freedom of religion or just to make a new start. Some wanted to be in charge and to change things that they did not like back at England.


title: Thirteen Colonies

text: The first colony was Virginia, which was started in 1607 at Jamestown. The last colony of the thirteen to be started was Georgia in 1732.


title: Thirteen Colonies

text: The colonies are often divided into three groups. The northern group was called New England and included New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.


title: Thirteen Colonies

text: New England had small farms and focused on fishing, forestry (trees and lumber), shipping, and small industry to make money.


title: Thirteen Colonies

text: The South had large plantation farms that grew tobacco and later cotton. Plantations were farmed first by indentured servants, who would work for a period of years in return for their passage to America and land. They were later replaced by slaves.


title: Thirteen Colonies

text: The Middle Colonies had medium-sized farms. They also had people from many different cultures with many different beliefs.


title: Thirteen Colonies

text: All three regions were tied to the "Atlantic economy". Colonists built merchant vessels, and merchants traded slaves, agricultural goods, gold, fish, lumber, and manufactured goods between America, the West Indies, Europe and Africa.


title: Thirteen Colonies

text: After the French and Indian War, Great Britain made new taxes and other laws that angered some people in the colonies. That led to a war between Great Britain and its former colonies: the American Revolutionary War.


title: Thirteen Colonies

text: The colonies said why they wanted to become independent of Great Britain on July 4, 1776 at the Declaration of Independence and became known as the United States of America.


title: Brick

text: A brick is a man-made building material used to make walls and make places to walk. It is a single unit of a kneaded clay-bearing soil, sand and lime, or concrete material, fire-hardened or air-dried, used in masonry construction.


title: Brick

text: Bricks are made mostly of clay. They are put into molds or cut with wires, and then baked in an oven. The color of a brick depends on the clay from which it was made.


title: Brick

text: Bricks can be assembled into many different patterns. The most common pattern is called "running bond". A row of bricks is called a course.


title: Brick

text: Bricks used outdoors on the ground are called "pavers". Engineering bricks are used for high load-bearing walls, and for damp-proof courses. They are more expensive, and are made of better clays and fired at a higher temperature.


title: Brick

text: The oldest shaped bricks found date back to 7500 B.C. They have been found in Çayönü, a place in the upper Tigris area in south east Anatolia, close to Diyarbakir. A bit later, between 7000 and 6395 BC, bricks come from Jericho and Catal Hüyük.


title: Brick

text: "Fired" bricks are one of the longest-lasting and strongest building materials. They have been used since about 3000 BC in early Indus Valley cities. Sun-dried mud bricks are much older, and quite satisfactory in hot, dry climates. Fired bricks are much more resistant to cold and moist weather conditions. They allow permanent building in regions where the harsher climate prevents the use of mud bricks.


title: Brick

text: Most bricks from all places tend to be about the same size: ~9 x ~4¼ x ~2½ inches or 250 × 120 × 65 mm. This is because they are picked up by the brickie in one hand, while in his other hand is a trowel with cement on it.


title: Brick

text: Just as bricks are ancient (probably Neolithic in origin), so is cement. That is (in comparison) a more recent invention. The ancient Greeks and Romans used cement. Older civilizations knew, however, that bricks needed to be stuck together. The Babylonians and Assyrians used bitumen to bind together burnt brick or alabaster slabs. Bitumen comes out of the ground naturally in a few places. It is a black oily substance of organic origin, like oil or pitch.


title: Brick

text: In Ancient Egypt, stone blocks were cemented together with a mortar made of sand and roughly burnt gypsum (CaSO · 2HO), which often contained calcium carbonate (CaCO).


title: Roblox

text: Roblox is an online video game and game creation system made by the Roblox Corporation. It was created by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 2004 and released in 2006. The old name for "Roblox" was Dynablocks.


title: Roblox

text: Roblox allows players to create games and play games created by others, with many different types of games available. Roblox can be used on most devices such as iOS, and XBOX, but it can't be played on a browser (Example: Google). "Roblox" itself is free to play, however, virtual accessories can be purchased in the store using "Robux", a currency which costs real money to obtain but can also be earned by selling virtual items to other players.


title: Roblox

text: "Roblox" has over 205 million monthly active players and began to grow fast in 2021, but slowed down and a small Increase In 2022. It has 55.1 million daily active users worldwide. This is an increase from 19.1 million daily active users by the end of 2019.


title: Roblox

text: In 1989, Roblox was an interactive physics, a STEM physics software that was released by Knowledge Revolution, which was founded by David Baszucki and co-owned by his brother Greg Baszucki. Its purpose was to teach students about physics in a 2D space.


title: Roblox

text: In 2004, Roblox published its beta version to public, at that time Roblox was called Dynablocks. It was known as Dynablocks until 2006, and finally having the original Roblox name.


title: Roblox

text: Roblox had a big change in 2006. In January 2006, Roblox removed their special points and made multiplayer, but the API was never used until March 2006. In February 2006, Roblox left beta and was made free for all players. In September 2006, Roblox made changes to the multiplayer API so that players could make their own multiplayer games for free instead of the Roblox developers making them.


title: Roblox

text: In May 2007, the Roblox developers began making virtual items, and its first virtual item was a top hat. Roblox also started the Builders Club which is a paid membership.


title: Roblox

text: Guest mode, which is for players that want to play Roblox without making an account, was introduced in 2008. Later, higher forms of the Builders Club (known as the Turbo Builders Club and the Outrageous Builders Club) were started in 2009.


title: Roblox

text: In 2010, Roblox Studio was changed so that game developers could understand its features easily, and new Roblox hats got released.


title: Roblox

text: On 1 April 2012, Roblox was hacked, It caused the Roblox website to be shut down that day. On 2 April 2012, the website was recovered. The hacking incident is mostly known as the 'April Fools Hacking Incident'.


title: Roblox

text: In 2013, Roblox added dynamic lighting. Its purpose was to make more realistic lighting. This update would eventually receive more updates in the coming years.


title: Roblox

text: In June 2015, Roblox released Smooth Terrain which made the terrain (such as sand, grass, water, etc.) more cooler looking.


title: Roblox

text: In January 2017, Roblox changed their logo. The game's YouTube channel also released a music video to showcase it.


title: Roblox

text: In December 2020, Roblox announced that players would soon no longer need Premium to upload clothing, but instead, pay a fee for 10 Robux per upload. The change was added in March 2021.


title: Roblox

text: In May 2021, an unknown user filed a class action lawsuit against the Roblox Corporation for supposedly scamming players for not giving out refunds when banned items get deleted.


title: Roblox

text: In June 2021, a group of music publishers sued the Roblox company for mass copyright infringement (using many copyrighted songs without being allowed to), with the publishers seeking 200 million US dollars from them.


title: Roblox

text: In August 2021, Roblox bought the development team of a communication app known as Guilded for 90 million USD. In the same month, they chose some developers to test out voice chatting features.


title: Roblox

text: In May 2022, Roblox was once again sued. The users of Roblox added copyrighted content which led to Roblox removing all user made audio longer than 6 seconds. Along with the update, they added more FX made by official developers as the community works towards getting audio and background music back. They also limited audio to 180 audio files a game.


title: Roblox

text: Roblox lets its players create their own games using its own separate app, Roblox Studio. Players can build anything they want by using the Studio, and then publish their game to the Roblox website for anyone to play.


title: Roblox

text: Players on Roblox can buy virtual items from the Catalog using virtual currency named 'Robux'. This currency is obtained initially by buying a Roblox Premium membership or from a gift card but can also be made by selling items like gamepasses, or accessories, which other players can buy with their own Robux. It can be used by players to buy accessories and items for their character, or in game benefits.


title: Roblox

text: Another form of currency that was discontinued was the Tix, also known as Tickets. All players could get a few Tix each day they log into Roblox, and trade those Tix in to get Robux. Tix were removed from the game in March 2016.


title: Roblox

text: Builders Club was Roblox's first membership club which could only be used through a purchase. Builders Club gave its members more features in Roblox, such as earning its virtual currency called Robux, and the ability to trade items. Another thing players could do was sell Limited items (buy-able and sell-able items on the Avatar Shop). There were three types of Builders Club: Classic, Turbo, and Outrageous. Classic was the original Builders Club type and Outrageous was the newest. Players would either buy it monthly or annually.


title: Roblox

text: In 2019, Builder's Club was removed and replaced with Premium. Premium is very much like the original Builders Club except it gives players Robux every month instead of daily. Premium players also get access to perks in select games and get discounts from User-generated content.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: St. Peter's Basilica, which is called "Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano" in Italian, is a large church in the Vatican City, in Rome, Italy. It is often called “the greatest church in Christendom". In Catholic tradition, St. Peter's Basilica is believed to be the burial place of Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. It is believed that Saint Peter was the first Bishop of Rome.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Although the Bible does not say that the apostle Peter went to Rome, other Roman Christians who were alive in the 1st century AD have written about him. Catholics believe that after Peter was killed, his body was buried in a cemetery where the basilica now stands. A tomb has been found below the altar of the basilica, and there were some bones, but no-one can say for certain if they are the bones of St. Peter.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: A church was built here in the 4th century AD. The building that stands here now was begun on April 18, 1506 and was finished in 1626. Many Popes have been buried there. Although many people think St. Peter's is a cathedral, it is not, because it does not have a bishop. The pope is the Bishop of Rome, and although he usually uses St. Peter's as his main church, because he lives in the Vatican, his bishop's throne is in a different church, the cathedral of "Saint John Lateran". Large important churches like St. Peter's are often called basilicas. There are four ancient basilicas in Rome that were begun by the Emperor Constantine soon after he made Christianity the legal religion of the Roman Empire in the early 4th century AD (300s). The basilicas are "St. Peter's Basilica", "St. John Lateran", "Santa Maria Maggiore" and "St. Paul outside the Walls".


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: One of the books of the Bible, called the Acts of the Apostles, tells what happened to the disciples of Jesus after he was put to death by crucifixion in the 1st century AD. One of his twelve disciples became the leader. His name was Simon Peter and he was a fisherman from Galilee. Peter became one of the most important people in starting the Christian Church. Another important disciple was Paul of Tarsus, who travelled to many places and wrote lots of letters to teach and to encourage people in the new Christian groups that began to spring up in many different parts of the Roman Empire. St. Paul travelled to Rome. It is believed that St. Peter also travelled to Rome and that both Paul and Peter were put to death there as Christian martyrs. St. Paul was beheaded with a sword. Peter was crucified up-side-down. It is believed that the body of St. Peter was buried in a cemetery near the Via Cornelia, a road leading out of the city, on the hill called Vaticanus. Peter's grave was marked, by a red rock, the symbol of his name. The place where Peter died was marked, in the 1400s, by a little round temple called the "Tempietto" designed by Bramante.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: St. Peter is very important in Roman Catholic tradition because Peter is believed to have been the head of the Christian Church in Rome, and so he was the first bishop. The Gospel of Matthew (chapter 16, verse 18) tells that Jesus said these words to Peter:


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: The name Peter means a "rock". The Roman Catholic Church believes that Jesus made Peter the head of the Christian Church, and so all the Bishops of Rome (the Popes) must be the leaders of the Christian Church throughout the whole world. The Protestant and Orthodox churches believe that Jesus was speaking about the important words Peter had just said: ""You are the Christ and the Son of the Living God"" (Matthew 16:16), and that this "Confession of Faith" is the rock that the Christian Church is built on.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: On December 23, 1950, while making his Christmas radio broadcast to the world, Pope Pius XII announced that Saint Peter's tomb had been discovered. Archaeologists had been searching for ten years in a place under the basilica that had been covered up for about a thousand years. They had found part of a small building dating from soon after St. Peter's death, and some bones, but no-one could be sure if they were the bones of St. Peter.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: St. Peter's Basilica, as it stand today, was begun in 1506. The first basilica, which is now called "Old St. Peter's Basilica" was begun by the Emperor Constantine between 326 and 333 AD. This was a big wide church in the shape of a Latin Cross, over 103.6 metres (350 feet) long. The central part called the "nave" had two aisles on either side, separated by rows of talls Roman columns. In front of the main entrance was large courtyard with a covered walkway all around. This church had been built over a small "shrine" (little chapel) believed to mark the burial place of St. Peter. The old basilica contained a very large number of tombs and memorials, including those of most of the popes from St. Peter to the 15th century.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: By the end of the 15th century (1400s), the old basilica was falling to pieces. Pope Nicholas V, (1447–55), was worried about it and got two architects, Leone Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino, to make plans to restore it or build a new one. But Pope Nicholas had so many political problems that when he died, very little of the work had been done.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: In 1505, Pope Julius II decided to "demolish" (pull down) the old St. Peter's and build a basilica that would be the grandest church in the world and make Rome (and himself) famous. He held a competition and invited lots of artists and architects to draw designs. A plan was selected and the build was begun, but Pope Julius did not get his new basilica. In fact, it was not finished for 120 years. The planning and construction (or "building work") lasted through the reigns of 21 popes and 8 architects.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: When Pope Julius decided to build the "grandest church in Christendom" the design by Donato Bramante was chosen, and Pope Julius laid the foundation stone in 1506. Bramante's plan was in the shape of an enormous Greek Cross, which means that it had four arms all of equal length, and a large dome at the middle. For the next hundred years, the "groundplan" got changed backwards and forwards between a "Greek Cross" like Bramante's plan and a "Latin Cross" like the old basilica, but one thing never changed, and that was the idea of having an enormous dome at the place where the two arms crossed.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: At that time, there were only three very large domes in the whole world. One was far away in Constantinople on the church of Hagia Sophia and not many people in Italy had seen it. The other two domes were both very well known. One was the dome on the temple to the Ancient Roman gods, called the Pantheon. The other dome was built in the early 15th century (1400s) on Florence Cathedral by Filippo Brunelleschi. The dome of the Pantheon is 43.3 metres (142.06 ft) across and the dome of Florence Cathedral is about 42.1 metres (138 ft), but is much taller. Bramante's plan for the dome of St. Peter's was for it to be about as wide as the dome of Florence, and even taller.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: No architect with any sense would try to design a dome without first checking out how these other two domes were made. Bramante checked them out. He discovered that the dome of the Pantheon, which had been standing for nearly 1500 years, was made of concrete. So that the concrete wouldn't be too heavy, it was mixed with pumice stone which comes out of a volcano and is full of gas holes so it is very light weight. Bramante learned how to make concrete like the Ancient Romans.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Bramante's dome was to be like the one on the Pantheon. But there was one very big difference between the Pantheon dome and Bramante's design. The Pantheon's dome stands on a round wall like a drum, with only one doorway in it, but Bramante's dome was designed to stand on a drum, which was standing high up on four wide arches. The aches rested on four enormous "piers" (pillars of stone). He had got this idea from Florence Cathedral which had an enormous dome resting on eight big piers. Another idea that Bramante got from Florence Cathedral was the design for the little stone tower which sits on top of the dome and is called the "lantern".


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: When Pope Julius died in 1513, the next pope, Leo X, called in three architects, Giuliano da Sangallo, Fra Giocondo and Raphael. Sangallo and Fr Giocondo both died in 1515. Raphael made a big change to the plan. Instead of having a Greek Cross, he decided to change the plan to a Latin Cross, which had a long "nave" and "aisles" like the old basilica.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Raphael also died, in his mid-30s, in 1520, before any important changes could be made to the building. The next architect was Peruzzi who like some of the ideas that Raphael had, but did not like the Latin Cross plan. Peruzzi went back to Bramante's Greek Cross plan. But there were so many arguments in the church that the building stopped completely. Then in 1527 Rome was invaded by Emperor Charles V. Peruzzi died in 1536 without his plan being built. The only main parts of the building which had been constructed were Bramante's four big "piers" to hold the dome.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Antonio da Sangallo (known as "Sangallo the Younger") looked at all the different plans by Peruzzi, Raphael and Bramante. He put some of their ideas together in a design that had a very short nave, (not a long one like Raphael's design) and had a big porch at the front. He changed Bramante's dome to be much stronger and also much more decorated. The main new idea that he added were 16 stone ribs to strengthen the dome. This idea came from Florence Cathedral which had eight stone ribs. But Sangallo's plan never got built, either. The main job that he did was to strengthen Bramante's piers which had begun to crack.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: On January 1st, 1547 in the reign of Pope Paul III, Michelangelo, who was already over 70, became the architect of St. Peter's. He is the main designer of the building as it stands today. Michelangelo died before the job was finished, but by that time, he had got the construction up to a point where other people could get it finished. Michelangelo had already done a lot of work for the popes, carving figures for the tomb of Pope Julius II, painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which took five years, and the enormous fresco the "Last Judgement" on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo found the popes and the cardinals very difficult to work with. When Pope Paul asked him to be the new architect for St. Peter's, Michelangelo did not want the job. In fact, Pope Paul did not really want Michelangelo. But his first choice, Giulio Romano, died suddenly. Michelangelo told the pope that he would only do the job, if he could do it in whatever way he thought was best.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: When Michelangelo took over a building site in 1547, the nave of the old basilica was still standing and in use. There were four of the most enormous piers in the world standing where the western part of the old basilica had been. The building work had stopped for so long that weeds and bushes were growing out between the stones of the unfinished building as if it was a cliff. Michelangelo looked at all the plans that had been drawn by some of the greatest architects and engineers of the 16th century. He knew he could do whatever he liked but he had respect for the other designers, especially Bramante. He knew that he was expected to make a design that would be the symbol of the city of Rome, in the same way as Brunelleschi's dome was the symbol of Florence where Michelangelo had lived as a young man. He went back to the Greek Cross idea and re-drew Bramante's plan, making every part of it much stronger and simpler. It had to be strong enough to support the tallest dome in the world.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Michelangelo was a sculptor. When he was going to carve something, he would start by making a clay model. Michelangelo could imagine the building like a lump of clay. What if the building could be pushed and pulled and squeezed? If you could squeeze the corners in, then other bits would bulge out. If you could put your hands around the whole building and squeeze it, then the dome would bulge upwards. The idea of imagining buildings as bendy and bulgy was a completely new one. But other artists like Gianlorenzo Bernini looked at what Michelangelo did at St. Peter's and used this clever new idea in their own work. This is called the Baroque style.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: As it stands today, the "Greek Cross" part of the basilica is Michelangelo's design and the "nave", which was added later, is by Carlo Maderna. Comparing Michelangelo's plan with Raphael's plan shows that while the outside-line of Raphael's plan has clear square and round shapes, the outside-line in Michelangelo's plan has lots of changes of direction. That is the way it was built. All around the outside of the building are enormous "pilasters" (which are like giant columns stuck on the building). Almost every pilaster is set at a different angle to the next one as if the flat walls had been folded up. Right around the top of the building is a band called the "cornice". A "cornice" is usually quite flat, but because of all the changes of direction, this cornice ripples like a giant piece of ribbon, tied around the outside of the building. The art historian Helen Gardner wrote that it looked as of the whole building was being held together from top to bottom.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Michelangelo designed the dome again, using ideas from Bramante and Sangallo the Younger. Three important ideas came from the dome that Brunelleschi had built in Florence more than 100 years earlier.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: When Michelangelo died in 1564, the walls were being built, the piers had been strengthened and everything was ready for the building of the dome. The Pope wanted Michelangelo's assistant Vignola to finish it, but he was not able to. After twenty years Pope Sixtus V gave the job to the architect Giacomo della Porta and the engineer Domenico Fontana. Giacomo Della Porta successfully built the dome. He made some changes to the design, like adding some lions' heads to the decoration because they were the symbol of Pope Sixtus' family. The main way that the dome is different from the wooden model is that it is much more pointy.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Some writers believe that Michelangelo had changed his mind from his first plan, and did not want the pointy dome. They believe he wanted a round dome which would look more "restful". Other writers believe that Michelangelo wanted the pointed dome, not just because it was safer to build, but also because it looked more exciting, as if the building was pushing upwards. Pope Sixtus V lived just long enough to see the dome finished in 1590. His name is written in gold letters around the inside, just below the lantern.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Pope Clement III, had a cross raised into place on top of the lantern. It took a whole day and everyone in Rome was given a holiday, and all the church-bells of the city were rung. In the arms of the cross are set two lead boxes, one containing a fragment of the True Cross and a bone of Saint Andrew and the other containing medals of the "Holy Lamb".


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: The dome of St. Peter's rises to a height of 136.57 m (448.06 ft) from the floor of the basilica. It is the tallest dome in the world. Its inside diameter is 41.47 metres (136.06 ft), just slightly smaller than those of the Pantheon and the Florence Cathedral.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: In 1602 Pope Paul V put Carlo Maderna in charge of the building. On February 18 1606, workmen began to pull down the rest of the old basilica. Some people were very upset. The building committee felt guilty. They decided that the church was the wrong shape, and that they wanted a Latin Cross plan because it was the symbol of the death of Jesus. They wanted a "nave" which would cover all the Holy Ground where the old building had been. In 1607 Maderna's plans for the nave and the "facade" (the front) were accepted. For the inside, he used very large piers with pilasters like Michelangelo's, but he made a clear join between the two parts of the building. The building work began on May 7 1607 and 700 men were employed to do the work. In 1608, the facade was begun. In December 1614 the building was all finished except for the decorations on the ceiling. Early in 1615 the temporary wall between Michelangelo's building and the new nave was pulled down. All the mess was carted away, and the nave was ready for use by Palm Sunday.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: The façade was designed by Maderna. It is 114.69 metres (376.28 ft) wide and 45.55 metres (149.44 ft) high and is built of pale grey travertine stone, with a giant Corinthian columns and a central triangular pediment. Along the roof-line are statues of Christ, John the Baptist, and eleven of the apostles.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Inside the main doors is a portico (a long hall) which runs across the front of the building and has five doors leading into the basilica. Its has a long curving roof decorated with gold. The light that comes through the doors shines on the beautifully patterned marble floor. At each end of the portico, set between columns, is a statue of a figure on horseback. They are Charlemagne sculpted by Cornacchini (18th century) to the south and Emperor Constantine by Bernini (1670) to the north. Maderna's last work at St. Peter's was to design a sunken crypt called the "Confessio" under the dome, where people can go to be nearer the burial place of the apostle. All around its marble handrail are 95 bronze lamps.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: As a young boy Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) visited St. Peter's and said that one day he wanted to build "a mighty throne for the apostle". His wish came true. As a young man, in 1626, Pope Urban VIII asked him to work as architect for the basilica. Bernini spent the next fifty years thinking of new and beautiful things to design. He is thought of as the greatest architect and sculptor of the Baroque period.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Bernini's first work at St. Peter's was to design the "baldacchino" which is like a tent or "pavilion" above the High Altar. This amazing thing is 30 metres (98 ft) tall and is probably the largest piece of bronze in the world. It stands underneath the dome and has four huge bronze twisted columns decorated with olive leaves and bees, because bees were the symbol of Pope Urban. Pope Urban had a niece that he loved very much and he got Bernini to put her face and the face of her new-born baby boy on the columns as well.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Bernini had a great idea for Bramante's great big piers. He had four hollow "niches" carved into them where four huge statues could stand. The basilica owns some precious relics: a piece of the True Cross of Jesus, a veil that a woman wiped the face of Jesus with, while he was carrying the cross, the spear that was used to pierce Jesus side, and the bones of St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter. No-one knows for sure whether these things are real or not, but for hundreds of years they have been precious. Bernini's plan was the make four marble statues of the four Holy people: St. Helena who found the cross, St. Longinus who was the soldier with the spear, St Veronica who wiped Jesus' face and St. Andrew. (See below)


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Bernini's next job was to make a special throne out of bronze, to hold an ancient wood and ivory throne that had been at the basilica for more than 500 years. It is called the "Cattedra Petri" or "throne of St. Peter". The bronze throne, with the old wooden throne inside it, is held up high at the end of the basilica, by four important saints who are called "Doctors of the Church" because they were all great writers and teachers. The statues are made of bronze. They are Saints Ambrose and Augustine for the Church of Rome and Saints Athanasius and John Chrysostum for the Orthodox Church. Above the chair is a window which is made not from glass but thin translucent stone called alabaster. The Dove of the Holy Spirit is in the middle of the window with rays of light spreading out into the basilica through a sculpture of golden clouds and angels. Bernini designed this to look like a window into Heaven. There was a great celebration when the chair was put in place on January 16, 1666.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Bernini's last work for St. Peter's, 1676, was to decorate of the Chapel of the Sacrament. He designed a miniature version of Bramante's Tempietto, and made it in gilt bronze. On either side is an angel, one gazing in adoration and the other looking towards the viewer in welcome. Bernini died in 1680 in his 82nd year.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: To the east of the basilica is the "Piazza di San Pietro" (St. Peter's Place). The piazza was designed by Bernini and built between 1656 and 1667. It was not an easy job because the designer had lots of things to think about. Firstly, many people complained that Maderna's "facade" on St. Peter's looked too wide, so Bernini wanted to make it look narrower, not wider. Secondly, in the old square left over from the Old St. Peter's, Pope Sixtus V had a monument set up. This monument was a precious Ancient Egyptian "obelisk" (which is like a tall column, but with four flat sides). From its base to the top of the cross (that the pope had put on top) it was 40 metres (131 ft) high, and had been brought to Rome in ancient times. The obelisk really should be at the center of the new square, but it was not in quite the right place, and was very difficult to move without breaking. The third problem was that Maderna had built a fountain to one side of the obelisk, and Bernini needed to make another fountain to match it, otherwise the design would look unbalanced.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: Bernini solved the problem by making two areas, instead of one huge one. The first area is an almost-square area right in front of the facade. It is cleverly designed with sloping sides that make the building look taller and not so wide. The second part of the piazza is oval. It has the obelisk at the center with two fountains on either side at the widest part. The two parts of the piazza are surrounded by a "colonnade" (covered walk-way) which is carried on tall columns. All around are large statues of saints which seem to look down on the thousands of visitors that come to the square every day. The colonnade is in two great arcs that seem to stretch out like loving arms, welcoming people to the Basilica. In recent times some buildings were demolished, making another square, to match the one near the piazza.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: The famous architectural historian, Sir Banister Fletcher, said that no other city in the world had given such a wonderful view to people visiting their main church. He said that no other architect except Bernini could have imagined such a noble design. He said it is the greatest entrance to the greatest Christian church in the whole world.


title: St. Peter's Basilica

text: St. Peter's Basilica has many treasures. These include Christian relics, the tombs of popes and many other important people, famous artworks which are mostly sculpture and other interesting things.


title: Wagyu beef

text: Wagyu beef is the beef that comes from the Japanese Wagyu cattle. It is very expensive and regarded as one of the best slices of beef. There is a lot of marbling in the meat, which means that there are streaks of fat within the red meat which makes the meat tenderer and moister, while adding flavor. Sometimes the Wagyu beef is called different things based on where it is from. Some examples include Kobe beef, Matsusaka beef, or Omi beef.


title: Virus

text: Viruses can only be seen under an electron microscope. Viruses are not free-living: they can only be parasites. They always reproduce inside other living things. All viruses infect living organisms, and may cause disease. The virus make copies of itself inside another organism's cells. Viruses are a strand of nucleic acid with a protein coat. Usually the nucleic acid is RNA; sometimes it is DNA. Viruses cause many types of diseases, such as polio, ebola and hepatitis.


title: Virus

text: Viruses reproduce by getting their nucleic acid strand into a prokaryote or eukaryote cell. The RNA or DNA strand then takes over the cell machinery to reproduce copies of itself and the protein coat. The cell then bursts open, spreading the newly created viruses. All viruses reproduce this way, and there are no free-living viruses. Viruses are everywhere in the environment, and all organisms can be infected by them.


title: Virus

text: Most viruses are much smaller than bacteria. They were not visible until the invention of the electron microscope. A virus has a simple structure. It has just a protein coat which covers a string of nucleic acid. Viruses live and reproduce inside the cells of other living organisms.


title: Virus

text: With eukaryotic cells, the virus protein coat is able to enter the target cells by certain cell membrane receptors. With prokaryote bacteria cells, the bacteriophage physically injects the nucleic acid strand into the host cell.


title: Virus

text: When the host cell has finished making more viruses, it undergoes lysis, or breaks apart. The viruses are released and are then able to infect other cells. Viruses can remain "silent" (inactive) for a long time, and will infect cells when the time and conditions are right.


title: Virus

text: Some special viruses are worth noting. Bacteriophages have evolved to enter bacterial cells, which have a different type of cell wall from eukaryote cell membranes. "Envelope viruses", when they reproduce, cover themselves with a modified form of the host cell membrane, thus gaining an outer lipid layer that helps entry. Some of our most difficult-to-combat viruses, like influenza and HIV, use this method.


title: Virus

text: Viral infections in animals trigger an immune response which usually kills the infecting virus. Vaccines can also produce immune responses. They give an artificially acquired immunity to the specific viral infection. However, some viruses (including those causing AIDS and viral hepatitis) escape from these immune responses and cause chronic infections. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses, but there are some other drugs which can be used against viruses.


title: Virus

text: There are many genomic structures in viruses. As a group they are more diverse than plants, animals, archaea, or bacteria. There are millions of different types of viruses, but only about 7,000 of them have been described in detail.


title: Virus

text: A virus has either RNA or DNA genes and so is called an RNA virus or a DNA virus. "The vast majority of viruses have RNA genomes". Plant viruses usually have single-stranded RNA genomes and bacteriophages usually have double-stranded DNA genomes.


title: Virus

text: Fewer than 7,000 types have been described in detail. but there are doubtlessly many more to be discovered.


title: Virus

text: Viral populations do not grow through cell division, because they do not have cells. Instead, they use the machinery and metabolism of a host cell to produce many copies of themselves, and they "assemble" (put together) in the cell.


title: Virus

text: The life cycle of viruses differs greatly between species but there are six "basic" stages in the life cycle of viruses:


title: Virus

text: The genetic material within virus particles, and the method by which the material is replicated, varies considerably between different types of viruses.


title: Virus

text: The body's first line of defence against viruses is the innate immune system. This has cells and other mechanisms which defend the host from any infection. The cells of the innate system recognise, and respond to, pathogens in a general way.


title: Virus

text: RNA interference is an important innate defence against viruses. Many viruses have a replication strategy that involves double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). When such a virus infects a cell, it releases its RNA molecule. A protein complex called dicer sticks to it and chops the RNA into pieces. Then a biochemical pathway, called the RISC complex, starts up. This attacks the viral mRNA, and the cell survives the infection.


title: Virus

text: Rotaviruses avoid this by not uncoating fully inside the cell and by releasing newly produced mRNA through pores in the particle's inner capsid. The genomic dsRNA remains protected inside the core of the virion.


title: Virus

text: The production of interferon is an important host defence mechanism. This is a hormone produced by the body when viruses are present. Its role in immunity is complex; it eventually stops the viruses from reproducing by killing the infected cell and its close neighbours.


title: Virus

text: Vertebrates have a second, more specific, immune system. It is called the adaptive immune system. When it meets a virus, it produces specific antibodies that bind to the virus and render it non-infectious. Two types of antibodies are important.


title: Virus

text: The first, called IgM, is highly effective at neutralizing viruses but is produced by the cells of the immune system only for a few weeks. The second, called IgG, is produced indefinitely. The presence of IgM in the blood of the host is used to test for acute infection, whereas IgG indicates an infection sometime in the past. IgG antibody is measured when tests for immunity are carried out.


title: Virus

text: Another vertebrate defence against viruses involves immune cells known as T cells. The body's cells constantly display short fragments of their proteins on the cell's surface, and, if a T cell recognises a suspicious viral fragment there, the host cell is destroyed by "killer T" cells and the virus-specific T-cells proliferate. Cells such as macrophages are specialists at this antigen presentation.


title: Virus

text: Not all virus infections produce a protective immune response. These persistent viruses evade immune control by sequestration (hiding away); cytokine resistance; evading natural killer cell activity; escape from apoptosis (cell death), and antigenic shift (changing surface proteins). HIV evades the immune system by constantly changing the amino acid sequence of the proteins on the surface of the virion. Other viruses move along nerves to places the immune system cannot reach.


title: Virus

text: Viruses do not belong to any of the six kingdoms. They do not meet all the requirements for being classified as a living organism because they are not active until the point of infection. However, that is just a verbal point.


title: Virus

text: Obviously, their structure and mode of operation means they have evolved from other living things, and the loss of normal structure occurs in many endoparasites. The origins of viruses in the evolutionary history of life are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids – pieces of DNA that can move between cells – while others may have evolved from bacteria. In evolution, viruses are an important means of horizontal gene transfer, which increases genetic diversity.


title: Virus

text: A recent project discovered nearly 1500 new RNA viruses by sampling over 200 invertebrate species. "The research team... extracted their RNA and, using next-generation sequencing, deciphered the sequence of a staggering six trillion letters present in the invertebrate RNA libraries". The research showed that viruses changed bits and pieces of their RNA by a variety of genetic mechanisms. "The invertebrate virome [shows] remarkable genomic flexibility that includes frequent recombination, lateral gene transfer among viruses and hosts, gene gain and loss, and complex genomic rearrangements".


title: Virus

text: Viruses have been on this planet a long time. We now know that bacteria and archaea had to deal with them first, before our type of cellular life evolved. Details of the defence mechanisms used by archaea and bacteria are discussed on the page CRISPR, which briefly introduces the topic of early defences against viruses.


title: Virus

text: A group of large viruses infect amoebae. The largest is "Pithovirus". Others in order of size are "Pandoravirus", then "Megavirus", then "Mimivirus". They are bigger than some bacteria, and visible under a light microscope.


title: Virus

text: Viruses are everywhere in the sea. They may outnumber all other forms of marine life by at least an order of magnitude. Through selective infection, viruses influence nutrient cycling and evolution in the ocean.


title: Virus

text: Viruses are used widely in cell biology. Geneticists often use viruses as vectors to introduce genes into cells that they are studying. This is useful for making the cell produce a foreign substance, or to study the effect of introducing a new gene into the genome. Eastern European scientists have used phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics for some time, and interest in this approach is increasing, because of the high level of antibiotic resistance now found in some pathogenic bacteria.


title: Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

text: The Princess Alice (Alice Maud Mary: Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine by marriage; April 25, 1843 – December 14, 1878).


title: Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

text: She was the second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In 1861, she acted as the nurse to her dying father, and became interested in nursing.


title: Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

text: In 1862, she married Prince Louis of Hesse and moved to Hesse, where she had several children including Princess Elisabeth of Hesse, Alice Romanov Chaytow and Alexandra, future Russian Empress and wife of Tsar Nicholas II.


title: Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

text: After an unhappy marriage and a number of family deaths, the royal family of Hesse caught diphtheria. Alice's younger son died, and after kissing the elder one, she caught the disease and died on the anniversary of her father's death, 14 December 1878. She is buried in Hesse.


title: Gross (unit)

text: 1 gross is a unit of measurement, for countable items. It is equal to 12 dozen, or 144 pieces. In the same manner, a dozen gross, or 1728 items is called great gross. Small gross or great hundred is used to refer to ten dozen items. If a shop is advertizing to sell a product" en gros", this means that it will sell larger quantities.


title: Henry IV of England

text: Henry IV (April 3 1367 – March 20 1413) was a King of England. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, which is why he was often called "Henry Bolingbroke".


title: Henry IV of England

text: His father, John of Gaunt, was the third son of King Edward III, and had a lot of power in the reign of King Richard II.


title: Henry IV of England

text: Henry and Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk argued in 1398. King Richard ordered Henry to live outside England for ten years (with the approval of Henry's father, John of Gaunt) but Thomas de Mowbray was exiled from England for life.


title: Henry IV of England

text: The next year John of Gaunt died, and Richard would not allow Henry to inherit Gaunt's land. Instead, Henry had to ask for the lands from Richard.


title: Henry IV of England

text: Henry met with the exiled Thomas Arundel, former Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry and Arundel returned to England while Richard was on a military campaign in Ireland.


title: Henry IV of England

text: With Arundel as his advisor, Henry Bolingbroke began a military campaign, took land from those who opposed him and ordering his soldiers to destroy much of Cheshire.


title: Henry IV of England

text: Henry gained enough power and support to have himself declared King Henry IV. He sent King Richard to prison (who mysteriously died in prison) and by-passing Richard’s seven-year-old heir presumptive Edmund de Mortimer.


title: Henry IV of England

text: Henry was crowned on 13 October 1399. It was the first time since the Norman Conquest in 1066 that the monarch made a public speech in English. Henry consulted with Parliament frequently, but was sometimes at odds with them, especially over religious matters. On Arundel's advice, Henry was the first English king to allow the burning of heretics, mainly to suppress the Lollard movement.


title: Legendary Pokémon

text: Legendary Pokémon are very rare Pokémon in the "Pokémon" world. Characters in the series often claim that very few people have seen them. They are hard to catch, and are stronger than most other Pokémon. They have powers that other Pokémon do not have. In the games some roam around, while others stay in one spot until the it. If the player defeats a legendary Pokémon, they will often not be available again, because there is only one of them, in rare cases they might reappear after certain conditions are met. Because of this, players usually save their game before going to battle the Pokémon. The Master Ball and Ultra Ball are popular choices for catching legendary Pokémon. But legendary Pokémon can also be caught with a normal Poké Ball. It is often advised to catch a legendary Pokémon with a Quick Ball since a Quick Ball has a high capture rate at the beginning of a battle. Legendary Pokémon typically have a 3/255 catch rate with Ultra Balls, and 1/255 catch rate with regular Poké Balls. There are about 905 Pokémon.


title: Legendary Pokémon

text: These Pokémon are in the Kanto region, which appears in "Pokémon Red and Blue", and its related games.


title: Legendary Pokémon

text: These Pokémon are in the Johto region, which appears in "Pokémon Gold and Silver", and its related games.


title: Legendary Pokémon

text: These Pokémon are in the Hoenn region, which appears in "Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire", and its related games.


title: Legendary Pokémon

text: These Pokémon are in the Sinnoh region, which appears in "Pokémon Diamond and Pearl", and its related games.


title: Legendary Pokémon

text: These Pokémon are in the Unova region, which appears in "Pokémon Black and White" and "Pokémon Black 2 and White 2.


title: Legendary Pokémon

text: These Pokémon are in the Alola region, which appears in "Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon"


title: UNIQLO

text: UNIQLO is a Tokyo fashion and clothing company. It is a fast growing company, one of the five biggest specialty fashion retailers in the world. The company makes T-shirts, jeans, and casual wear for both women and men. It is owned by Fast Retailing, a Yamaguchi based company.


title: UNIQLO

text: UNIQLO has locations in 25 countries. The majority of shops and primary market is Japan. Shops are also in: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, India, USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Denmark and Italy.


title: UNIQLO

text: The company began in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan in 1949. It has grown steadily since then. In 1984, Fast Retailing opened the first UNIQLO shop in nearby Hiroshima Prefecture. Since then it opened an online business in 2000. It then became international with shops in London (2001); Shanghai (2002); then, Korea, the USA in the SoHo fashion district of Manhattan in New York, and Hong Kong (2005). Since then it expanded into France (2007), Singapore (2009), and Russia (2010). Recently, on 27th September, they opened "BICQLO", which is a collaboration shop with Bic Camera.(2012)


title: UNIQLO

text: One of UNIQLO’s main product is HEATTECH. These clothes are sold in many countries. It keeps people warm, so it is useful in winter. It is thin and comfortable, so people can wear many layers of clothing easily. Also it has some good functions: it keeps in heat, and dries quickly. HEATTECH material has odor control, is anti-static, and stretches. Moreover, there are a variety of HEATTECH products, including: T-shirts, turtlenecks, underwear, leggings, and socks. Furthermore, heattech jeans have gotten attention for keeping people warm.


title: UNIQLO

text: UNIQLO announced that it is changing the way it hires new workers. Large companies in Japan usually hire new college graduates once a year. UNIQLO is changing to hiring people all through the year. They are also open to hiring people who have not yet graduated, people who graduated several years ago, and people with other jobs. UNIQLO is also a gateway to Japanese products in many countries.


title: PlayStation 2

text: The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is Sony's second video game console. It was released in March of 2000. The one before this was PlayStation (or PS1). The next PlayStation is PlayStation 3 which was released in November 2006. The PlayStation 2 competed with the Dreamcast, the Nintendo GameCube and the Microsoft Xbox during its lifetime.


title: PlayStation 2

text: The controllers of the PlayStation 2 are similar to the Dual Analog controllers for the first PlayStation. Some games are online, such as "Call of Duty World at War Final Fronts," and a few connect with the PlayStation Portable (or PSP). The PS2 is very successful and games were still made for it after the PlayStation 3 was made. The PlayStation 2 is the world's best-selling console. It has sold around 159 million units since its launch in March 2000, and is fully compatible with PlayStation (PS1) games. Sony announced that they had discontinued the PlayStation 2 in Japan on December 28, 2012 and worldwide on January 4, 2013. The last two games for the system were "FIFA 14" and "Pro Evolution Soccer 2014" (released only in Europe) in late 2013 (a week before the PlayStation 4's release date). Both these games also had PS3 and PS4 versions. Online functionalities had ended on March 31, 2016. Repair for the system had ended in Japan on September 7, 2018.


title: PlayStation 2

text: The PSX was released in 2003. It was a video recorder that allowed you to play PlayStation 2 games. It had a built-in hard drive (up to 250 GB). It did not sell well, because it cost too much money, so it was not released outside of Japan. "" became the most sold game, with over 27.5 million copies sold.


title: Belize

text: Belize () is a country in Central America. It used to be called "British Honduras", but changed its name in 1973. Long before that it was part of the Mayan Empire. Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America.


title: Belize

text: Some people in Belize speak Spanish or Kriol, but English is the official language and the most commonly spoken. This is because Belize is a former colony of the United Kingdom, while its neighbors were once colonies of Spain. Many people speak two languages. Belize is a melting pot of cultures.


title: Belize

text: More than three hundred and thirty thousand (374,681 (2017)) people live in Belize. Kriols make up about 21% of the Belizean people. Three Maya groups now live in the country: the Yucatec, the Mopan, and Kekchi. The Garinagu are a mix of African, Arawak, and Carib ancestry. There are also Mestizos.


title: Belize

text: Belmopan, which is near the centre of the country, is its capital. The first capital was Belize City. Other towns and cities include Belize City, Corozal Town, Orange Walk Town, Punta Gorda, Santa Elena/San Ignacio (known as the twin town) and San Pedro Town.


title: Belize

text: Belize is on the coast of the Caribbean Sea. There are about 450 islands. The largest island, Ambergris Caye, is forty kilometres long. Many other islands are very small. In the water around the islands are coral reefs.


title: Belize

text: The temperature along the coast is hot all year round. It typically ranges from 20 °C to 32 °C. Sometimes hurricanes hit, causing great damage.


title: Belize

text: Belize is on the Caribbean coast of northern Central America. It shares a border on the north with the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the west with the Guatemalan department of Petén, and on the south with the Guatemalan department of Izabal. To the east is the Caribbean Sea. The Belize Barrier Reef is along most of the of predominantly marshy coastline. Belize have the second largest living barrier reef in the world. The area of the country totals . There are many lagoons along the coasts and in the northern part of the country. This makes the actual land area smaller at .


title: Belize

text: The north of Belize is mostly flat, swampy coastal plains. In some places it is heavily forested. The south has the low mountain range of the Maya Mountains. The highest point in Belize is Doyle's Delight at . The Caribbean coast is lined with a coral reef and about 450 islets and islands.The islands are locally called cayes (pronounced "keys"). Three of only four coral atolls in the Western Hemisphere are off the coast of Belize.


title: Belize

text: Over 60% of Belize's land surface is covered by forest. 20% is covered by cultivated land (agriculture) and human settlements. There are also important mangrove ecosystems across Belize's landscape.


title: Belize

text: Belize is divided into 6 districts. The districts are shown below with their areas (in km) and number of people at the 2010 Census:


title: Belize

text: The Belize Defence Force (BDF) is the military. It is responsible for protecting Belize. In 1997, the regular army had over 900 people, the reserve army 381, the air wing 45 and the maritime wing 36. This amounts to an overall strength of about 1400. In 2005, the maritime wing became part of the Belizean Coast Guard. In the same year, the government spent $1.2 million on the military. This is 1.87% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).


title: Belize

text: After Belize became independent in 1981 the United Kingdom kept some military in the country to protect it from invasion by Guatemala. The main British force left in 1994. This was three years after Guatemala said Belize was independent. The United Kingdom still keeps some military people in the country. In 2011 the base was only 10 soldiers due to British budget cuts. They hope to reopen the base later.


title: Belize

text: Belizean cuisine is inspired by British, Mexican and Western Caribbean cooking. Since Belize is a melting pot of culture, it has adopted dishes from many different countries. The basic ingredients are rice and beans. These are often eaten with chicken, pork, veal, fish or vegetables. Coconut milk and fried plantains are added to the dishes to create a truly tropical taste. Exotic ingredients include armadillo meat, venison, iguana, iguana egg, and fried paca. Conch soup is a traditional dish. It has a characteristic taste and thick consistency due to added okra, potatoes, yams, cassava flour and a touch of toasted habanero. Belizean food is almost always served alongside white rice in coconut milk.


title: Belize

text: The major sports in Belize are football, basketball, volleyball and cycling. There are smaller followings of boat racing, track & field, softball and cricket. Fishing is also popular in areas of Belize. The Cross Country Cycling Classic is one of the most important Belize sports events. This one-day sports event is meant for amateur cyclists but has also gained a worldwide popularity.


title: Belize

text: On Easter day, citizens of Dangriga participate in a yearly fishing tournament. First, second, and third prize are awarded based on a scoring combination of size, species, and number. The tournament is broadcast over local radio stations. Prize money is awarded to the winners.


title: Belize

text: The black orchid (Encyclia Cochleatum) is the National Flower of Belize. This orchid grows on trees in damp areas, and flowers nearly all year round. Its clustered bulblike stems vary in size up to six inches long and carry two or three leaves.


title: Belize

text: The black orchid flower has greenish-yellow petals and sepals with purple blotches near the base. The "lip" (one petal of special construction, which is the flower's showiest) is shaped like a valve of a clamshell (hence the name Encyclia Cochleatum) and is deep purple-brown, almost black, with conspicuous radiating purple veins.


title: Belize

text: The National Tree of Belize is the Mahogany Tree ("Swietenia macrophylla"), one of the magnificent giants of the Belize rain forest. It rises straight and tall to over a hundred feet. In the early months of the year, when the leaves fall and new red-brown growth appears, the tree can be seen from a great distance. The tree puts out a many small whitish flowers. The flowers blossom into dark fruits, which are pear-shaped capsules about six inches long. The mahogany tree matures in 60 to 80 years.


title: Belize

text: The Keel Billed Toucan ("Ramphastos sulfuratus") is the National Bird of Belize. It is noted for its great, canoe-shaped bill and its brightly coloured green, blue, red and orange feathers. There are toucans in open areas of the country with large trees. It is mostly black with bright yellow cheeks and chest, red under the tail and a distinctive white patch at the base of the tail. They make a monotonous frog-like croak. Toucans like fruits. They eat by cutting with the serrated edge of their bills.


title: Belize

text: The Tapir or Mountain Cow (Tapirello Bairdii) is the largest land mammal of the American tropics. The tapir is a stoutly built animal with short legs, about the size of a donkey and weighs up to 600 pounds. Its general color is dusty brown with a white fringe around the eyes and lips, white tipped ears and occasional white patches of fur on the throat and chest.


title: Belize

text: In spite of its local name, the tapir is not a cow. It is closely related to the horse and is also kin to the rhinoceros. The tapir is a vegetarian. It spends much of its time in water or mud shallows, and is a strong swimmer.


title: Danube

text: The Danube (Latin name "Hister") is the second-longest river in Europe (the Volga is the longest). It is the longest river of the European Union.


title: Danube

text: The river is 2,860 km (1,777 mi) long. Brigach and Breg join together in Donaueschingen (near the Black Forest) to "make" the Danube. The Danube flows through or makes part of the border of 10 countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. The river ends in the Black Sea through the Danube Delta.


title: Danube

text: Bigger cities include Ulm, Regensburg in Germany; Linz, Vienna in Austria; Bratislava in Slovakia, Budapest in Hungary; Vukovar in Croatia; Novi Sad and Belgrade in Serbia.


title: Danube

text: The Danube is named in many other languages: , (Dunav), German and Plattdüütsch: , , , , , , or "Danubius", , , , , .


title: Danube

text: The Danube is an important waterway. Ocean ships can go up to Brăila in Romania. River boats can go Kehlheim in Bavaria. Smaller ships can go up to Ulm.


title: Velar consonant

text: A velar consonant is a consonant that is pronounced with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, also known as the velum, which is the back part of the roof of the mouth. Velar consonants in English are , and . The consonant is the most common in all human languages.


title: Iron Man

text: Iron Man is a fictional superhero who wears a suit of armor. His alter ego is Tony Stark. He was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Larry Lieber for Marvel Comics in Tales of Suspense #39 in the year 1963 and appears in their comic books. He is also one of the main protagonists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Iron Man is played by Robert Downey, Jr. in the movies "Iron Man", "Iron Man 2", "The Avengers", "Iron Man 3", , , , and "" and he will reprise his role in the untitled 4th and 5th Spider Man Film (Spider Man Home Alone and Spider Man Homeless).


title: Iron Man

text: In the movies and the earlier comic books, Tony Stark is a human. Outside the suit, he does not have any superpowers, however he is very intelligent. He made the suit himself. Iron Man can fly and shoot beams from his hands using special technology called "repulsors" in his boots and gloves. He is not hurt by most weapons like guns and cannons because of his armor. There are many versions of the Iron Man suit, because Stark keeps making improvements.


title: Iron Man

text: In the later comic books, Stark took an experimental virus called "Extremis" which allowed him to control his suit with his mind and summon it wherever he was. Stark would eventually develop an armor that he could store in his body. This armor was known as the "Bleeding Edge Model 37".


title: Iron Man

text: Stark inherited a large American company called "Stark Industries" when his father died. He was badly injured by a bomb in an attack planned by people who did not like him running his company. Shrapnel from the explosion was moving towards his heart. This would have killed him, but a scientist called Yinsen who was with him made a magnet for his chest which would keep the shrapnel away. In the movies, he makes an "arc reactor" which is put into his chest to stop the shrapnel.


title: Iron Man

text: Yinsen and Stark secretly build a heavy suit of armor which they plan to use to escape. However, during the escape, Yinsen dies so that the kidnappers will be distracted from Stark escaping. Stark escapes safely and goes back to America. He makes a better suit and uses it to fight evil.


title: Iron Man

text: Tony Stark is charismatic and eccentric, he is also very proud, but also very altruist and heroic. He did not have a good childhood, and this affects how he acts.


title: Iron Man

text: Stark is very smart, and a very talented inventor. His technology is always very advanced, and Iron Man is his greatest piece of work. In both the comics and the movies, he uses the arc reactor (or "repulsor technology") as a form of sustainable energy to help the world.


title: Iron Man

text: Stark has very few close friends. Two of them are Pepper Potts, his personal assistant who becomes his girlfriend, and James Rhodes, an American soldier who operates the War Machine armor.


title: Holy Roman Empire

text: The Holy Roman Empire (; ), occasionally but unofficially referred to as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, was a group of regions and free cities in central Europe under the rule of an emperor who was elected by the princes and magistrates of the regions and cities within the empire.


title: Holy Roman Empire

text: When Charlemagne died, his Frankish Empire was given to his children and divided into three different countries: West Francia, Lotharingia and East Francia. The Holy Empire started when Otto I of East Francia became emperor in 962, and it was ended by Napoleon in 1806. The emperors claimed to be heirs of Charlemagne and that the Empire dates from 800, when Charlemagne became Frankish Emperor.


title: Holy Roman Empire

text: In the 17th century the Empire was shattered by the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). Nearly thirty percent of the population of the Empire was killed. The "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" lost parts of its territory.


title: Holy Roman Empire

text: At the outset of the Empire, the Holy Roman Emperor was considerably powerful. As time went on, however, all the duchies and counties inside the Empire became more powerful. By the 13th century, the emperors had little real power anymore, and the country existed only in name. The last emperor abolished the empire in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.


title: Holy Roman Empire

text: It is known in popular culture that Voltaire, a French philosopher in the 18th century, once said that "the nation was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." to criticize the very decentralized state of the empire during the 1700s and its claim as the successor to the Roman Empire.


title: Holy Roman Empire

text: The Empire was in fact Germanic and not Roman since it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was not really holy since, after Charles V in 1530, emperors were no longer crowned by the Pope. It was only an Empire in name: the territories it covered were mostly independent. The Empire did maintain a central government and armed forces that acted as one. Napoleon forced the emperor to abdicate when France began invading the Holy Roman Empire during the First French Empire. The Emperor named himself emperor of Austria and ended the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Holy Roman Empire

text: The Holy Roman Empire was not a highly centralized state like most countries today. Instead, it was divided into dozens – eventually hundreds – of individual entities governed by kings, dukes, counts, bishops, abbots, and other rulers. They were collectively known as princes. The Emperor directly ruled some areas. At no time could the Emperor simply issue decrees and govern autonomously over the Empire. His power was severely restricted by the various local leaders.


title: Holy Roman Empire

text: In the 16th century the Holy Roman Empire had to deal with the rebellion of the Frisians lead by Pier Gerlofs Donia and Wijerd Jelckama. This lasted from 1515 until 1523.


title: Holy Roman Empire

text: The Empire was one of the rare states in Europe that had an elective monarchy. This meant that the Emperor was chosen by a small group of Prince-electors. Commonly, the previous Emperor's dynastic heir was elected to the throne. This meant the House of Habsburg ruled from about 1280 to the Empire's fall in 1806.


title: Westminster Abbey

text: Westminster Abbey is a large and famous Anglican church in Westminster, London. It is the shrine of Edward the Confessor and the burial place of many kings and queens. Since it was built it has been the place where the coronations of Kings and Queens of England have been held. The present structure dates from 1245, when it was started by Henry III.


title: Westminster Abbey

text: The status of the Abbey is that of a Royal Peculiar. This means it is place of worship that falls directly under the jurisdiction of the British monarch, rather than under a bishop. The concept dates from Anglo-Saxon times, when a church could ally itself with the monarch and therefore not be subject to the bishop of the area. Technically speaking, it is not a cathedral, though it is regarded as one in practice.


title: Westminster Abbey

text: Westminster Abbey and its small parish church, St Margaret's, form a UNESCO World Heritage site, which also includes Westminster Palace.


title: Westminster Abbey

text: Since the coronations in 1066 of both King Harold and William the Conqueror, coronations of English and British monarchs were held in the Abbey. Henry III was unable to be crowned in London when he first came to the throne because the French prince Louis (later Louis VIII) had taken control of the city. So the king was crowned in Gloucester Cathedral, but this coronation was deemed by the Pope to be improper, and a further coronation was held in the Abbey on 17 May 1220. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the cleric in the coronation ceremony.


title: Westminster Abbey

text: King Edward's Chair (or St Edward's Chair), is the throne on which British sovereigns sit when the crown is put on their heads. It is kept in the Abbey, and has been used at every coronation since 1308. From 1301 to 1996 (except for 1950 when it was briefly stolen by Scottish nationalists), the chair also housed the Stone of Scone upon which the kings of Scotland are crowned. Although the Stone is now kept in Scotland, at future coronations the Stone will be returned briefy to St Edward's Chair for the moment of coronation.


title: Westminster Abbey

text: Until the 19th century, Westminster was the third seat of learning in Oxford and Cambridge. It was here that the first third of the King James Bible Old Testament and the last half of the New Testament were translated. The New English Bible was also put together here in the 20th century.


title: Lego

text: Lego, stylized as LEGO, is a type of building toy created and made by The Lego Group, a company from Denmark. LEGO bricks are colorful plastic building blocks that can be joined together easily to make a tower, house, and more. LEGO bricks are joined together by studs on the top, and holes in the bottom of the brick commonly known as the brick-and-knob connection. LEGO is the most popular building toy in the world.


title: Lego

text: The LEGO Group was started by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish toy maker, in 1935. Christiansen made wooden toys for children. He made and sold his first plastic LEGO sets in the 1940s. Since then, LEGO has become very popular and are known and loved by people around the world kids and adults alike.


title: Lego

text: LEGO bricks come in many shapes, sizes and colors. There are wheels, car screens, and plants. LEGO bricks can be joined together in many ways. Vehicles, buildings and even robots can all be built with LEGO bricks.


title: Lego

text: All the bricks from LEGO sets can fit together. New bricks made today can fit with old bricks made years ago. The bricks can join together no matter which set they come from. LEGO has become so popular that people sometimes use the word "Lego" to talk about any sort of building blocks. There are millions of LEGO fans and many LEGO conventions around the world.


title: Lego

text: Many LEGO video games are being created for different video game systems. LEGO video games usually come from LEGO themes, such as LEGO Star Wars. LEGO Star Wars has six video games. Other LEGO video games include LEGO Indiana Jones, LEGO Harry Potter, and LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean.


title: Lego

text: A LEGO Cartoon Network show "" was aired from 2011 to 2012, and a second Cartoon Network LEGO show aired in 2013. In 2014 "The LEGO Movie" was released, starring Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, and Liam Neeson. The movie was released on February 7, 2014. Since then, three other LEGO movies have been made, like The LEGO Batman Movie, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, and .


title: Libya

text: Libya ( ', Berber: ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ "Libya"), officially the State of Libya, is a country in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. It covers an area of almost . Libya is the 17th largest country in the world.


title: Libya

text: Libya's borders touch the countries of Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Algeria, Niger, and Tunisia. To its north is the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of Libya is Tripoli, which is a port on the sea. Tripoli has about one million people. Libya covers an area of about .


title: Libya

text: The highest point in Libya is Bikku Bitti 2,267 m above sea level and the lowest point is Sabkhat Ghuzayyil -47 m at below sea level. Most of the country is flat, with large plains. Because it is so dry, only 1.03% of the land is suitable for farming.


title: Libya

text: The area around Tripoli is called "Tripolitania", and it was the most developed during the Ottoman Empire.


title: Libya

text: Cyrenaica is an area of the north east coast. It is divided from Tripolitania by the Gulf of Sirte. It was named by the Ancient Greeks who built the city of Cirene in 630 BC. It includes the cities of Tobruk and Benghazi.


title: Libya

text: The Fezzan is an area of desert in south west Libya which the Italians made a part of Tripoli in 1912. After the war this area was governed by France, who wanted to annex to their Empire.


title: Libya

text: The Libyans are Muslim. The population of Libya in 2011 was said to be about 6,597,960. This is not a large number for a country that has such a large area, so the population density of Libya is low. This is because much of Libya is in the Sahara Desert. Most people in Libya live in cities on the coast. People from Libya are called Libyans.


title: Libya

text: Libyans are mostly Arabs, though many are Berbers, a group which includes the nomadic Tuareg of North Africa. About 95% of Libyans are of Arab-Berber origin. Nearly all Libyans are Sunni Muslims.


title: Libya

text: Oil was discovered in Libya in 1958 and is about 95% of the country's export income. Oil is about 25% of Libya's GDP. Other exports include natural gas, salt, limestone and gypsum. Because so much of the country is desert, Libya has to import about 75% of its food. It does grow wheat, barley, olives, dates, citrus, peanuts, soybeans and many vegetables. In 1984, a pipeline was started to bring underground water from the Sahara to coastal areas for irrigation. The pipeline which will take 25 years to complete has been estimated to cost about $25 billion. It is called the Great Man-made River, and is the largest water development scheme in the world.


title: Libya

text: The money of Libya is called the Libyan dinar. It was made to take the place of the old money, the Libyan pound, in 1971. There are 1000 dirhams in a dinar. Dinar is the name of the money in many Islamic countries. The name comes from an old Roman coin, the denarius.


title: Libya

text: Libya is made up of three regions, Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and the Fezzan. Tripolitania is the area on the north west coast, once called the Kingdom of Tripoli. It was ruled by Turks from the Ottoman Empire. The USA went to war with the Kingdom of Tripoli in 1805 over the problems of piracy in the Mediterranean. The USA had refused to pay increased "protection" money to the Turkish rulers.


title: Libya

text: Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were captured by the Italians during the Italian-Turkish War of 1911-1912. The reason for the war was to set up Italian Libya. Like other parts of North Africa, this area was once part of the Roman Empire and they said it belonged to Italy. The Italians were the first country to use aeroplanes to drop bombs when they attacked Tripoli in 1911.


title: Libya

text: Many thousands of Italian settlers moved to Libya to set up businesses and farms, which were going to supply food and produce for Italy and its Empire. Libyans had some of their land in Cyrenaica taken from them by force and about 70,000 people died during the battles, starved, or were decimated by the terrible epidemic (called "Spanish flu") of 1918. Many thousands escaped to Egypt, but soon moved back when the new Italian governor Italo Balbo started a friendly attitude toward Arabs.


title: Libya

text: Italian Libya enjoyed in the late 1930s a huge development, with the creation of new railways, ports, hospitals, airports, roads. In those years the agricultural economy boomed, thanks to the creation of many dozens of new villages for Italian & Arab farmers. There was even an international race-car competition outside Tripoli ("Grand Prix of Tripoli" ).


title: Libya

text: Much of the North African Campaign of World War II was fought in Libya, including the Battle of Tobruk. The British captured Tripolitania in 1942 and ruled it until 1951.


title: Libya

text: After World War II, the regions of Libya were ruled by military governors from both Britain and France. The United Nations made Libya an independent country, the United Kingdom of Libya, in 1951. This was to be a constitutional monarchy, ruled by King Idris I and his successors. Idris (Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi) (13 March 1890—25 May 1983) had been the Emir of Cyrenaica, but went into exile in Egypt in 1922. At the end of the war, he returned as emir, with support of Britain. He was also asked to be Emir of Tripolitania. He was able to unite the three regions and became the king of the United Kingdom of Libya on 24 December 1951.


title: Libya

text: The problems facing Libya were huge. The country was poor, with little in the way of goods to export. Only 250,000 people could read. There were only 16 Libyan college graduates, no Libyan doctors, engineers, pharmacists, or surveyors. The United Nations estimated that 10% of the people were blind from eye diseases, especially trachoma. Idris was a religious leader did not take much interest in the affairs of government. His government was seen to be corrupt, and did nothing about an increasing rise in Arab nationalism which had brought Nasser to power in Egypt in 1952. Once oil was discovered, Libya became one of the largest oil producing countries in the world. Many Libyans felt that Cyrenaica was getting more of the oil money than the rest of the country. A lot of the money from oil was also going to overseas companies.


title: Libya

text: In the early morning of 1 September 1969, a group of military officers took over the government in a coup d'état. Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi was named as chief of staff of the military. From 1970 to 1972 he served as Prime Minister. He began a political system named "The Third Universal Theory". This is a mix of socialism and Islam, based on tribal government. It was to be put in place by the Libyan people themselves in a unique form of "direct democracy." Al-Gaddafi called this "jamahiriya".


title: Libya

text: Some of his first actions were to take back control of the oil and send the remaining Italian settlers back to Italy. He also closed down the American USAF base.


title: Libya

text: In 1977 Libya became "Al-Jamahiriya al-`Arabiyah al-Libiyah ash-Sha`biyah al-Ishtirakiyah al-Uzma" . In English, the name means the "Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya".