title: Michael Jackson

text: In March 2009, Jackson told the press that he was going to do a tour called This Is It. He said that he might stop making music after this. Jackson practiced his singing and dancing for the tour in Los Angeles with Kenny Ortega. Jackson died of an overdose of Propofol on June 25, 2009, after having a cardiac arrest, and his personal physician, Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.


title: Michael Jackson

text: During an Interview on YouTube during the BBC UK Show featuring "Michael Jackson's This Is It" Michael talked about the future of his career and that he "may" be retiring after his "This Is It" Tour, but he wasn't sure if he would or not. However, due to his death in 2009, the show was cancelled. Some show-goers who paid for tickets wanted refunds but the Jackson Estate did not provide any.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Jackson's voice changed from boy soprano to spinto tenor between 1971 and 1975. He sang 'come on' wrongly on purpose so that it sounded like 'shamone'. Jackson had a three-octave vocal range. He is the most well-known musician to use the 'vocal hiccup'. He first used it in 1973 on "It's Too Late to Change the Time" on The Jackson 5's "G.I.T.: Get It Together" album.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Jackson lived a well-publicized personal life even though he tried to stay private. He was often in celebrity and tabloid magazines. Later in his life, he was in magazines because of his personal life more than for his music.


title: Michael Jackson

text: In 1993, he was accused of child molestation, but there was no trial; the case was settled out of court but more allegations are yet to come.


title: Michael Jackson

text: In 2003, he was accused a second time of child molestation. This happened after a documentary called "Living With Michael Jackson" was shown on TV. In the documentary, Jackson held hands with a 12-year-old boy called Gavin Arvizo and said that he shared his bed with children. His accuser was Gavin Arvizo. He was 13 years old when he made the allegations. This time Jackson went to court and was found not guilty of fourteen charges in 2005.


title: Michael Jackson

text: In May 2013, a dancer called Wade Robson appeared on the "Today" show. He alleged that Jackson sexually abused him for 7 years. Prior to this, Robson had vehemently defended Jackson, including twice under oath.


title: Michael Jackson

text: He was married to Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley in 1994, before divorcing her in 1995 and marrying nurse Debbie Rowe in 1996. Three months after Rowe and Jackson's marriage she gave birth to a son, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. The next year she gave birth to a daughter, Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson.


title: Michael Jackson

text: The couple divorced on October 8, 1999. Prince Michael II was born on February 21, 2002. Jackson never said who the mother was. He is better known as Blanket. When Blanket was 8 months old Jackson held him over a balcony. Blanket has a towel over his head. At the time, people did not know that he was called Blanket. Jackson made a public apology after people were upset. After Jackson died, his mother Katherine was made the guardian of his children. In August 2012, Jackson's cousin TJ was made the children's co-guardian.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Bubbles (born 1983) is a common chimpanzee, known for being the one-time pet of American recording artist Michael Jackson. Jackson bought the animal from a Texas research facility in the 1980s. The animal was a frequent travel companion to the singer, whose attachment to the animal led to media mockery and, among other factors, to a public perception of Jackson as an eccentric. The chimp, for example, was permitted to use Jackson's personal toilet.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Their human-animal bond, as well as the entertainer's other alleged eccentricities, contributed to the media epithet "Wacko Jacko", a nickname Jackson would eventually come to despise. The media often focused on Bubbles, rather than on Jackson's music, and published many false stories regarding the animal. One such story was an allegation that Bubbles was not a single ape, but one of several.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Over the years, his changing facial appearance and lightening skin color attracted much attention. From childhood, Jackson had afro hair. His hair caught fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in 1984. Jackson got second-degree burns to his scalp. Jackson started taking painkillers for the very bad pain caused by the burns. Jackson always wore a hairpiece or wig in his later years that blended with his natural hair. His autopsy found that his scalp was tattooed black so that it blended in with his wigs.


title: Michael Jackson

text: He claimed to have had only a little plastic surgery to his face. He said that puberty, weight loss and his vegetarian diet had changed his face. People said that Jackson bleached his skin to make it lighter. In a television interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1993 he said he had a rare skin condition called vitiligo. When Jackson died, the autopsy found that he did have vitiligo. This disease made many white spots on Jackson's skin. Jackson used makeup and medication to even out his skin color to treat his vitiligo. This made Jackson appear to have a lightening skin tone. Jackson also had an immune condition called discoid lupus. Dr. Richard Strick said that this "had destroyed part of the skin of his nose". Jackson's nose was the body part that people talked about most. Many plastic surgeons have tried to make a hypothesis on what surgery Jackson might have allegedly had but the singer repeatedly denied having extensive surgeries and admitted only to a limited number of procedures though the change in his appearance was drastic that a lot of people refused to believe it.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Michael Jackson possibly might have had body dsymorphia and according to some sources eating disorders . According to many Michael Jackson's obesession with his appearance could have been created by the bullying from his father Joseph Jackson who used to tease Michael that he used to have a big nose and after spending his childhood and his teens in the spotlight and later being propelled into pop superstardom Jackson found it more difficult to cope up with his insecurities as he indulged into plastic surgery but his drastic change in appearance was also critisiced as an attempt to make him look light an allegation Jackson strongly denied and insisted that he had vitiligo a skin disorder resulting in depigmentation but some people also pointed out that Jackson's facial features and structure has been so surgically altered such that of that he was irrecognizable that he is actually African American.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Jackson was allegedly addicted to prescription drugs. In 2009 he died from an overdose of an anesthetic called Propofol. He was given Propofol for his insomnia. The insomnia was a side effect of Jackson's addiction to Demerol. Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray said that Jackson took the overdose himself. Though Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter and served a prison sentence after Michael Jackson’s death was ruled a homicide by the coroner. Propofol is used as anesthesia for major surgeries and requires heavy monitoring including nurses and medical equipment, none of which were present at the time Conrad Murray administered the drug. The recommendation for a higher level of care to safely administer this drug was also noted in his autopsy, with great detail noting how dangerous the circumstance was. Michael Jackson was known to have an injury to his lung, which was cited in the autopsy report to further exacerbate his likelihood for complications with a drug like Propofol. Meaning he was at a higher risk for respiratory failure.


title: Michael Jackson

text: In his autopsy, it was found that he had an and osteoarthritis. His lips were tattooed pink. He used a skin-bleaching cream called Benoquin to treat his Vitiligo.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Jackson was physically abused by his father when he was a child. He would also call Jackson "big-nose". As a teenager, Jackson had acne. In "Living With Michael Jackson," Jackson told Martin Bashir how he went home and cried after a woman called him ugly because of his acne. Some medical professionals have said that they think Jackson had body dysmorphic disorder. The disorder is often triggered by appearance-related bullying. Some people think that Jackson had anorexia nervosa. In 1984, Jackson weighed 105 pounds. He was 5"9 tall. This would have made his BMI 15.5, which is very underweight. He weighed 136 lbs. when he died. This is in the healthy range. ====


title: Michael Jackson

text: A biographer called Ian Halperin wrote that Jackson had a rare genetic disease called Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. He also wrote that Jackson's genetic disease had caused him to lose 95% of the vision in his left eye.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Jackson was announced dead at age 50 on June 25, 2009 at 2:25 pm at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. It is thought that he went into cardiac arrest, which means his heart stopped. At 4:36 pm local time, the Los Angeles coroner confirmed Jackson's death. However, he was unresponsive by 12:15, even though he was not proclaimed dead at the time of hospital arrival, he already passed on by 1pm. Jackson died just two months before his 51st birthday. Rumors and news of Jackson's death broke web records causing a cyberspace traffic jam. The circumstances of his death and the outpouring of grief which was experienced around the world were on record scales never seen before. His death gave Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Yahoo the most page views they had ever encountered. Jackson arrived at the hospital not showing any signs of life.


title: Michael Jackson

text: A memorial service was held at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles on July 7, 2009. It began with a reading of a letter by Smokey Robinson of comments by Nelson Mandela, Diana Ross and other close friends of Michael Jackson who could not be at the memorial. Mariah Carey sang "I'll Be There" at the memorial service, followed by a speech given by Queen Latifah. Lionel Richie performed "Jesus is Love". Berry Gordy, Motown founder, spoke next, offering condolences. Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson also spoke, with Magic describing the event as a "celebration of Jackson's life and works" rather than a funeral. Jennifer Hudson sung "Will You Be There" accompanied by a music video. Reverend Al Sharpton then gave a speech about how Jackson kept rising and "never stopped". John Mayer played the guitar as he did in Michael Jackson's song Human Nature. This was followed by Brooke Shields speaking. Jermaine Jackson, Jackson's older brother, then performed Smile, Michael's favorite song written by comic drama legend Charlie Chaplin. This was proceeded by speeches by Martin Luther King III and Bernice King. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee was the next person who spoke at the memorial service, claiming "people are innocent until proven guilty," (reminding those who accused Jackson of unproven child molestations) saying that Jackson's humanitarian efforts need to be praised. Usher then sang "Gone Too Soon," followed by a montage of old videos of Jackson himself. Shamim sang next, with Kenny Ortega introducing him afterward. Kenny Ortega explained that Michael Jackson saw the Staples Center as his home, a reason for the funeral service to be held there. This was followed by Kenny Ortega doing a tribute to him, including "We Are the World" and "Heal the World". The service ended with speeches by members of his family, including Jermaine, Marlon and daughter Paris who broke into tears and said that "Daddy was the best father anyone could have" and also that "I will miss him" then she left the microphone and turned into Janet Jackson's arms. The memorial lasted over 2 hours.


title: Michael Jackson

text: At first, Michael Jackson's custom-made quarter-million dollar golden casket, nicknamed "The Promethean" was not expected to appear at the memorial service, however, due to a change in the family's plans the casket was taken to the memorial service.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Viewing parties were held all over the world for the broadcast, including at several movie theaters, in Times Square, the Apollo Theater, Raleigh, and Berlin. The broadcast was replayed a few times the next day. An estimated 1 billion people tuned into the farewell concert.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Over 3,000 police officers were assigned to the event, the largest amount assigned to a single event since the 1984 Summer Olympics. It cost the City of Los Angeles 1.4 million dollars.


title: Michael Jackson

text: His funeral took place in Glendale California on September 3, 2009, 9 weeks after he died. He was laid to rest at 9:45 pm in the mausoleum, above the ground. Mother Katherine decided on burial details but some family members and friends wanted him buried below ground in the mausoleum. Jermaine Jackson wanted him buried on Neverland ranch.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Jackson won Entertainer of the Year at the 2009 Soul Train Awards. That year he also won five American Music Awards.


title: Michael Jackson

text: On October 26, 2009, a two-disc album called "Michael Jackson's This Is It" was released. The album's only single "This Is It" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2011.


title: Michael Jackson

text: On October 28, 2009 "Michael Jackson's This Is It" was released. It was a documentary movie. The movie showed recordings of Jackson's rehearsals for his This Is It tour. Jackson died before he could do the tour. It made $72,091,016 in the United States. It has made $261,183,588 around the world. It got good reviews from movie critics. On 26 January 2010 the movie was released on DVD. It sold over a 1.5million copies in the US in the first week it was released. This was more than any other music DVD had sold in its first week.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Jackson won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. His children, Prince and Paris collected the award for Jackson.


title: Michael Jackson

text: A video game called "" was released in November 2010 for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable and Wii.


title: Michael Jackson

text: In April 2011 Mohamed Al-Fayed, who was friends with Jackson when he was alive, showed the public a 7ft 6in statue of Jackson outside Craven Cottage football stadium. A lot of people did not like the statue. In July 2013 Fayed sold his football club to Shahid Khan. In September 2013 Khan chose to have the statue was removed. It was given back to Fayed. "Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson", a book written by Joseph Vogel about Jackson's life, was published in 2011.


title: Michael Jackson

text: In 2011 there was a criminal trial for Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray. Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter of Jackson. He was sentenced to four years in prison. On October 28, 2013, Murray was released from prison. He was interviewed by 60 Minutes. He said that he did not think that Jackson's death was his fault in any way. The journalist Liz Hayes asked Murray if he thought that Jackson was a pedophile. Murray stared at her for 13 seconds and would not give an opinion. He said that he would not answer because he did not want to make anything up.


title: Michael Jackson

text: An extinct species of hermit crab was called Mesoparapylocheles michaeljacksoni after Jackson in January 2012.


title: Michael Jackson

text: In 2012 he sold almost 8 albums in the United States. He is thought to have sold 2 albums around the world in 2012. His estate makes $1 a year.


title: Michael Jackson

text: In May 2013 Wade Robson said that Jackson sexually abused him from the age of 7 to 14. In 2005 he had been a defense witness for Jackson's child molestation trial. In June 2014 there will be a hearing where it is decided whether Robson can sue Jackson's estate over the abuse.


title: Michael Jackson

text: In November 2013 "Billboard" magazine's issue, 44 did a cover with Michael on it. It said 'Life After Death'. Inside the magazine there was an article about the success of .


title: Michael Jackson

text: In January 2014 a judge ruled that Jackson's family could not have another trial against AEG Live. "Xscape" was released on May 9, 2014.


title: Michael Jackson

text: Jackson recorded several songs before his death. He had recently released a compilation album called "Michael", featuring remixed songs and new songs such as "Hold My Hand" a duet between him and popular singer Akon, and "Monster", a strong song with lots of attitudes and a hint of dislike for the paparazzi. Also "(I Like) The Way You Love Me", "Keep Your Head Up", and "Much Too Soon".


title: Helen Keller

text: Helen Adams Keller was an American writer and speaker. She was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880 to Arthur H. Keller and Kate Adams Keller. When she was nineteen months old she became sick and lost her eyesight and hearing. The doctor didn't know what it was, so he called it a "congestion of the stomach and brain." Some people say that it was scarlet fever or meningitis. Communicating with other people was hard for Helen, because she could not see or hear. She made up some home signs that she used to communicate with her family. The home signs were quite simple, pull meant "come", push meant "go" and so on. Sometimes Helen's family did not understand what Helen was meaning with her home signs. That made Helen frustrated and she had temper tantrums.


title: Helen Keller

text: When Helen was seven years old, her family decided to find a teacher for her. They wrote to Michael Anagnos, who was the director of the Perkins Institute and Asylum for the Blind. They asked him to help them find a teacher for their daughter. He wrote to them and told them that he knew a young teacher and her name was Annie Sullivan. She had been blind, but a series of operations helped to restore her eyesight. Annie traveled to Alabama to live with Helen’s family and to teach her. Annie went to live with the Keller family in March, 1887.


title: Helen Keller

text: Annie helped Helen to learn how to communicate with other people. She taught her the names of things by writing the words on Helen’s hand. At first Helen didn't understand the meaning of the words. The first word Helen understood was "water". She learned this word when Annie put Helen's hand under some water and wrote W,A,T,E,R on her hand. Then she learnt the words and sentences with this method. In 1890, Helen’s family sent her to the Perkins Institute to learn how to speak and communicate. When she was nineteen years old, Helen went to Radcliffe College in Massachusetts. She graduated from Radcliffe in 1904. She was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.


title: Helen Keller

text: In 1903, Helen wrote a book about her life. It was called "The Story of My Life". The movie "The Miracle Worker", made in 1962, was based on Helen's book. She also wrote a book about Annie Sullivan called "Teacher". She wrote twelve other books.


title: Helen Keller

text: Helen tried to help poor people and other blind people during her life. She traveled to over 39 countries with Annie to talk about her life and experiences. When Helen was in Japan, she met Hachiko, a famous Akita. She decided to adopt an Akita, and was the first person to bring an Akita to America.


title: Helen Keller

text: Helen Keller wanted to get married. She fell in love with her secretary, but her mother didn't allow Helen to marry him. At that time, disabled people often could not marry. Helen Keller died in her sleep on June 1, 1968, at Arcan Ridge in Connecticut.


title: Winter

text: Winter is one of the four seasons and the coldest time of the year. The days are shorter and the nights are longer. Winter comes after autumn and before spring.


title: Winter

text: Winter begins at the winter solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere the winter solstice is usually December 21 or December 22. In the Southern Hemisphere the winter solstice is usually June 21 or June 22.


title: Winter

text: Some animals hibernate during this season. In temperate climates there are no leaves on deciduous trees. People wear warm clothing and eat food that was grown earlier. Many places have snow in winter, and some people use sleds or skis. Holidays in winter for many countries include Christmas and New Year's Day.


title: Winter

text: The name comes from an old Germanic word that means "time of water" and refers to the rain and snow of winter in middle and high latitudes.


title: Muhammad Iqbal

text: Sir Muhammad Iqbal (November 9, 1877 – April 21, 1938), widely known as Allama Iqbal, was a Muslim poet and philosopher. Allama Iqbal gave the idea of Pakistan. He posthumously became the national poet of Pakistan. He is also known as the poet of East. He wrote poetry in Urdu and Persian. His poetry is considered to be revolutionary. His vision of an independent state for the Muslims of British India was a starting point for the creation of Pakistan. He is commonly referred to as Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal.


title: Muhammad Iqbal

text: Muhammad Iqbal was born on 9 November 1877. His father was Sheikh Noor Muhammad, who worked in a small government job but later started his own business, and his mother was Imam Bibi. Both Allama Iqbal's mother and father were very pious and religious-minded people and devoted to a simple life. After early Islamic education and then secondary at a small school in Sialkot, Iqbal was admitted to the Scottish Murray College, Sialkot, where he topped the higher secondary examinations and got a scholarship to study at the famous Government College, Lahore, for BA. On going to live in the hostel there, Iqbal met Professor Arnold, an English teacher who taught many things to Iqbal and guided him in his studies of philosophy and literature. He was very young at that time. He died on 21 April 1938.


title: Muhammad Iqbal

text: At that time, Iqbal also became well known as a new poet and writer. He used to go to attend the 'Mushaira' at the haveli of Hakim Syed Aminuddin, in BhaatiGate area of Old Lahore city—hekre, he met many famous poets and writers and also began to write good poems which became very popular. He was guided by Mirza Dagh. His first famous poem, "Koh i Himala" was also printed in Makhzan magazine, owned by Hakim Shuja uddin and Sir Abdul Qadir


title: Muhammad Iqbal

text: After doing his BA and MA from Government College, Lahore, Iqbal was appointed a professor at this same institution and after some time, in 1905, he was selected for higher studies in England and Europe. He went and studied in Cambridge University and then also law at University of London, and then he went to Munich, Germany, where he took a PHD degree. After all his study, Iqbal decided to go back and teach and also practice law in India.


title: Muhammad Iqbal

text: At that time he faced many difficulties.Although faced by some of the difficulties, Iqbal followed this plan. He taught some senior classes at Government College and also practiced Law at Lahore High Court. At the same time, he wrote many famous poems such as "Asrar i Khudi", "Ramuz i Bekhudi", "Payam i Mashriq", "Zabur i Ajam", "Bang i Dara", "Bal i Jibrail and" etc. Because of his learning and knowledge, people soon began to call him 'Allama' Iqbal and in 1923, King George V of Britain, giving him the title of Allama 'Sir' Muhammad Iqbal. He was awarded 5 awards.


title: Muhammad Iqbal

text: Allama Iqbal was a poet and a philosopher, he was always concerned about the thoughts, ideas and condition of Muslims everywhere, but specially Indian Muslims who were under British Rule and also threatened by Brahman ruling population. Iqbal believed strongly in Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's earlier idea about 'Two Nation theory' that Muslims and Hindus were two separate nations and should be allowed to live separately. He put forward this idea again in his famous Allahabad Address of Muslim League, in 1930, and also preached this in his poems and lectures. Allama's words and ideas inspired many Muslims, some of whom became leaders of the Muslim League, and struggled to obtain Pakistan later on. He was very popular amongst the Muslim masses too. Being such an influential poet for the Muslims of India, Iqbal also saw the Iqbal Day being celebrated during his lifetime acros the sub-continent.


title: Soviet Union

text: The Soviet Union (short for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR) was a single-party Marxist–Leninist state. It existed for 74 years, from 1917 until December 26 1991, a few days before its 69th anniversary. It was the first country to declare itself socialist and build towards a communist society. It was a union of 14 Soviet socialist republics and one Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR).


title: Soviet Union

text: The Soviet Union was created about five years after the Russian Revolution. It was announced after Vladimir Lenin overthrew Alexander Kerensky as Russian leader. The communist government developed industry and over time became a major, powerful union. The largest country in the Union was Russia, Kazakhstan was the second, and Ukraine the third largest. The capital city of the Soviet Union was Moscow. The Soviet Union expanded its political control greatly after World War II. It took over the whole of Eastern Europe. Those countries were not made part of the Soviet Union, but they were controlled by the Soviet Union indirectly. These countries, like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and East Germany, were called satellite states.


title: Soviet Union

text: The top-level committee which made the laws was the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. In practice, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the leader and most important decision-maker in their system of government.


title: Soviet Union

text: Although the constitution said the Republics could leave the Union if they wanted, it was a completely centralized government, with no states' rights for the member countries.


title: Soviet Union

text: The Union was formed with the idea to give everyone equal social and economic rights (equality). There was virtually no private property—everything belonged to the state (public property was an idea discussed by Karl Marx, and formed the basis for socialism) 'Soviets', or workers' councils, were created by the working class to lead the socialist state democratically, but they soon lost power with the rise of Stalinism. The Union was successful in many fields, putting the first man, first woman, and first satellite into space, defeating Hitler's Nazi Germany and winning World War II, together with the United States and United Kingdom, helping build infrastructure, as well as schools and hospitals in many third-world countries. However, its centralized government found innovation and change difficult to handle. The Union collapsed in 1991, partly due to the efforts at reform by its leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.


title: Soviet Union

text: The Soviet Union consisted of 15 republics. These were either "Soviet Socialist Republics", or "Soviet Socialist Federal Republics". Each republic was independent and handled its own cultural affairs. Each also had the right to leave the union, which they did in 1991.


title: Soviet Union

text: The "Federal Republics" were different in that they had more autonomy, and were made up of states themselves. These were often called "Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics". There were a number of them. Most of them still exist; though they are now republics, within the independent state. The "Tatar ASSR" turned into the "Republic of Tatarstan", for example (It is located around Kazan).


title: Soviet Union

text: The Soviet Union at its largest size in 1991, with , was the world's biggest country. Covering a sixth of the world's land, its total size was comparable to North America's. The western part (in Europe) accounted for a quarter of the country's area, and was the country's cultural and economic center. The eastern part (in Asia) extended to the Pacific Ocean to the east and Afghanistan to the south, and was much less lived in than the western part. It was over across (11 time zones) and almost north to south. Its five climatic (different weather, temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure) zones were tundra, taiga, steppes, desert, and mountains.


title: Soviet Union

text: The Soviet Union had the world's longest border, measuring over in 1991. Two thirds of the Soviet border was coastline of the Arctic Ocean. Across the Bering Strait was the United States. The Soviet Union bordered Afghanistan, China, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, Iran, Mongolia, North Korea, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Turkey at the end of WWII.


title: Soviet Union

text: The Soviet Union's (and now Russia's) longest rivers are the Yenisey, Ob/Irtysh, Amur and Lena. The Soviet Union's highest mountain was Communism Peak (today it is called the Ismoil Somoni Peak) in Tajikistan measured at . The world's largest lake, the Caspian Sea, was mostly in the Soviet Union. as well as the world's deepest lake, Lake Baikal.


title: Soviet Union

text: The last Russian Tsar (emperor), Nicholas II, ruled Russia until March 1917, when the Russian Empire was taken over and a short-lived "provisional government" replaced it, led by Alexander Kerensky and soon to be overthrown in November by Bolsheviks.


title: Soviet Union

text: From 1917 to 1922, the country that came before the Soviet Union was the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), which was its own country, as were other Soviet republics at the time. The Soviet Union was officially created in December 1922 as the union of the Russian (also known as Bolshevist Russia), Ukrainian, Byelorussian, and Transcaucasian Soviet republics ruled by the communist Bolshevik parties.


title: Soviet Union

text: Extreme government-changing activity in the Russian Empire began with the Decembrist Revolt of 1825, and although serfdom was removed in 1861, its removal was achieved on terms unfavorable to the peasants (poor agricultural workers) and served to encourage changers (revolutionaries). A parliament (legislative assembly)—the State Duma—was created in 1906 after the Russian Revolution of 1905, but the Tsar suppressed people trying to move from absolute to constitutional monarchy. Rebellion continued and was aggravated during World War I by failure and food shortages in popular cities.


title: Soviet Union

text: A rebellion in Petrograd, in response to the wartime decay of Russia's economy and morale, caused the "February Revolution" and the removal of the government in March 1917. The tsarist autocracy was replaced by the Russian "Provisional government", whose leaders intended to have elections to Russian Constituent Assembly and to continue war on the side of the Entente in World War I.


title: Soviet Union

text: At the same time, workers' councils, known as Soviets, sprang up across the country. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, pushed for socialist revolution in the Soviets and on the streets. In November 1917, during the "October Revolution", they took power from the Provisional Government. In December, the Bolsheviks signed an armistice (peace) with the Central Powers. In March, after more fighting, the Soviets quit the war for good and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.


title: Soviet Union

text: In the long and bloody Russian Civil War, the new Soviet power won. The civil war between the Reds and the Whites started in 1917 and ended in 1923. It included the Siberian Intervention and other foreign interference, the killing of Nicholas II and his family and the famine in 1921, which killed about 5 million. In March 1921, during a related conflict with Poland, the Peace of Riga was signed and split disputed territories in Belarus and Ukraine between the Republic of Poland and Soviet Russia. The Soviet Union had to resolve similar conflicts with the newly established Republic of Finland, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, and the Republic of Lithuania, which had all escaped the empire during the civil war.


title: Soviet Union

text: On 28 December 1922, people from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Byelorussian SSR approved the Treaty of Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. These two documents were made true by the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR and signed by heads of delegations.


title: Soviet Union

text: On 1 February 1924, the USSR was accepted as a country by the British Empire. Also in 1924, a Soviet Constitution (set of laws) was approved, making true the December 1922 union of the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Belarusian SSR, and the Transcaucasian SFSR to form the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" (USSR).


title: Soviet Union

text: The big changes of the economy, industry, and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in 1917. A large part of this was performed according to Bolshevik Initial Decrees, documents of the Soviet government, signed by Vladimir Lenin. One of the most important and notable breakthroughs was the GOELRO plan, that planned a major change of the Soviet economy based on total electrification of the country. The Plan was developed in 1920 and covered a 10- to 15-year period. It included the making of a network of 30 regional power stations, including ten large hydroelectric power plants, and numerous electric-powered large industrial organizations. The Plan became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans and was basically fulfilled by 1931.


title: Soviet Union

text: From its beginning years, government in the Soviet Union was ruled as a one-party state by the Communist Party (Bolsheviks). After the economic policy of War Communism during the Civil War, the Soviet government permitted some private enterprise to coexist with nationalized industry in the 1920s and total food requisition in the countryside was replaced by a food tax ("see" New Economic Policy).


title: Soviet Union

text: Soviet leaders argued that one-party rule was necessary because it ensured that 'capitalist exploitation' would not return to the Soviet Union and that the principles of Democratic Centralism would represent the people's will. Debate over the future of the economy provided the background for Soviet leaders to take more power in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. Initially, Lenin was to be replaced by a "troika" composed of Grigory Zinoviev of Ukraine, Lev Kamenev of Moscow, and Joseph Stalin of Georgia.


title: Soviet Union

text: Stalin led the country through World War II and into the Cold War. Gulag camps greatly expanded to take a lot of prisoners. After he died, Georgy Malenkov briefly continued his policies. Nikita Khrushchev reversed some of Stalin's policies,but Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin kept things as they were.


title: Soviet Union

text: After the 1936 revised constitution, the Soviet Union stopped acting as a union of republics and more as a single super-country.


title: Soviet Union

text: Stalin died on 5 March 1953. Nikita Khrushchev eventually won the following power struggle by the mid-1950s. In 1956, he denounced Stalin's repression and eased controls over party and society. This was known as de-Stalinization.


title: Soviet Union

text: Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a very vital buffer zone for the forward defense of its western borders. For this reason, the USSR sought to strengthen its control of the region. It did this by transforming the Eastern European countries into satellite states, dependent upon and obedient to its leadership. Soviet military force was used to suppress anti-Stalinist uprisings in Hungary and Poland in 1956.


title: Soviet Union

text: During the Khrushchev’s power program of relocating every urban family to a separate apartment was started. There were built a lot of 5-floor buildings to live for 20 years.


title: Soviet Union

text: In the late 1950s, a confrontation with China regarding the USSR's policies led to the Sino–Soviet split. This resulted in a break throughout the global Marxist–Leninist movement. The governments in Albania, Cambodia and Somalia chose to ally with China instead of the USSR.


title: Soviet Union

text: During this period of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Soviet Union continued to make progress in the Space Race. It rivalled the United States. The USSR launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 in 1957; a living dog named Laika in 1957; the first human being, Yuri Gagarin in 1961; the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova in 1963; Alexei Leonov, the first person to walk in space in 1965; the first soft landing on the Moon by spacecraft Luna 9 in 1966; and the first Moon rovers, Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2.


title: Soviet Union

text: Leonid Brezhnev led the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982. He came to power after he convinced the government to overthrow the then-leader Nikita Krushchev. Brezhnev's rule is often linked with the decline in Soviet economy and starting the chain of events that would lead to the union's eventual collapse. He had many self-awarded medals. He was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union (the highest honor) on three separate occasions. Brezhnev was succeeded by Yuri Andropov, who died a few years later. Andropov was succeeded by the frail and aging Konstantin Chernenko. Chernenko died a mere year after taking office.


title: Soviet Union

text: In 1980 the Soviet Union hosted the Summer Olympics with Brezhnev opening and closing the games. The games were heavily boycotted by the western nations, particularly the United States. During the closing ceremony, the flag of the City of Los Angeles was raised instead of the flag of the United States (to symbolise the next host city/nation) and the anthem of the Olympics was played instead of the anthem of the United States in response to the boycott.


title: Soviet Union

text: Brezhnev was the second longest serving Soviet leader after Stalin. The following is a list of leaders (General Secretary of the Communist Party) in order of their tenure and length of leadership:


title: Soviet Union

text: Khrushchev and Gorbachev are the only Soviet leaders to have not died whilst in office. Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev are the only leaders who were not (de jure) head of state during their leaderships.


title: Soviet Union

text: Mikhail Gorbachev was the Soviet Union's last leader. He was the only Soviet leader to have been born after the October revolution and was thus a product of the Soviet Union having grown up in it. He and US president Ronald Reagan signed a treaty to get rid of some nuclear weapons. Gorbachev started social and economic reforms that gave people freedom of speech; which allowed them to criticize the government and its policies. The ruling communist party lost its grip on the media and the people. Newspapers began printing the many failures that the Soviet Union had covered up and denied in its past. The Soviet Union's economy was lagging and the government was spending a lot of money on competing with the west.


title: Soviet Union

text: By the 1980s the Soviet economy was suffering but it was stable. Gorbachev's new ideas had gotten out of hand and the communist party lost control. Boris Yeltsin was elected (democratically) the President of the Russian SFSR even though Gorbachev did not want him to come into power. Lithuania announced its independence from the Union and the Soviet government demanded it surrender its independence or it would send the Red Army to keep order. Gorbachev invented the idea of keeping the Soviet Union together with each republic being more independent but under the same leader. He wanted to call it the 'Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics' to keep the Russian initials as CCCP (USSR in English).


title: Soviet Union

text: A group of communist leaders, unhappy with Gorbachev's idea, tried to take over Moscow and stop the Soviet Union from collapsing. It only made people want independence more. Although he survived the attempted takeover, he lost all of his power outside of Moscow. Russia declared independence in December 1991. Later in the month, leaders of Russia, Byelorussia, and Ukraine signed a treaty called the Belavezha Agreement to dissolve the USSR, extremely angering Gorbachev. He had no choice but to accept the treaty and resigned on Christmas Day 1991. The Soviet Union's parliament (Supreme Soviet) made the Belavezha Agreement law, marking formally the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The next day, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time.


title: Soviet Union

text: Made on July 20th, 1924, in Moscow, "Sovetsky Sport" was the first sports newspaper of the Soviet Union.


title: Soviet Union

text: The culture of the Soviet Union went through several stages during the USSR's existence. During the first 10 years following the revolution, there was freedom and artists tested several different styles to find a Soviet style of art. Lenin wanted art to be available to the Russian people. On the other hand, hundreds of smart people, writers, and artists were killed, and their work not being available to anyone, such as Nikolay Gumilyov who was shot, for conspiring against the Bolshevik regime, without proof.


title: Soviet Union

text: During Stalin's rule, the Soviet culture was described by the rise of the government-forced style of socialist realism, with all other trends being severely , with rare exceptions, such as Mikhail Bulgakov's works. Many writers were put in prison and killed.


title: Soviet Union

text: Following the Khrushchev Thaw, censorship was removed. During this time, a different period of Soviet culture developed, described by public life and an intense focus on personal life. Bigger testing in art forms was again allowed, resulting in the creation of better, important work. Underground dissident literature, known as "samizdat", was made during this late period. In architecture, the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings, the Khrushchev era mostly focused on functional design as opposed to the highly decorated style of Stalin's epoch. In music, in response to the increasing popularity of forms of popular music like jazz in the West, many jazz orchestras were permitted throughout the USSR, notably the Melodiya Ensemble, named after the principle record label in the USSR.


title: Soviet Union

text: In the second half of the 1980s, Gorbachev's policies of "perestroika" and "glasnost" significantly grew freedom of expression in the country in the media and the press.


title: Modern history

text: Modern history is the history of the world beginning after the Middle Ages. Generally the term "modern history" refers to the history of the world since the advent of the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.


title: Modern history

text: The modern period has been a time of many advances in science, politics, warfare, technology, and globalization. During this time, the European powers began expanding their political, economic, and cultural influences to the rest of the world.


title: Modern history

text: This period is also called the early modern period. This time was a time where the Europeans found the New world and began colonizing it. It also saw trade with China and other Eastern Asian cultures.


title: Modern history

text: This period saw advances in industrial technology. Industries were beginning to make clothes, armaments, and other useful tools people need. This industrial revolution began the modern world as we know it.


title: Modern history

text: The Napoleonic era is a period in the History of France and Europe. It is also known as the fourth stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory. The Napoleonic era begins roughly with Napoleon's coup d'état, overthrowing the Directory. It ends at the Hundred Days and his defeat by the alliance of several nations at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.


title: Modern history

text: Following the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire became the world's leading power, controlling one quarter of the World's population and one third of the land area. It helped trade, and battled piracy. This time also sees the first lightbulb, Cars, railways, airplanes, printing press and other inventions


title: Modern history

text: The 20th century was a time in which advancements in technology and medicine changed peoples way of life. Some advancements were in space exploration, nuclear technology, genetics, and the beginning of the information age.


title: Modern history

text: This was also a time of the two world wars (World War I, World War II), the outbreak of Spanish Influenza, the Cold War, and the decolonisation of many parts of the world.


title: Casey Johnson

text: Casey Johnson (September 24, 1979 - January 4, 2010) was an American socialite and heiress to the Johnson & Johnson empire. Her father was businessman Woody Johnson. She was openly bisexual and was engaged to model and reality television star Tila Tequila in December 2009. Johnson was found dead in her Los Angeles home on January 4, 2010. She died of diabetes complications.


title: Europe

text: Europe is the western part of the continent of Eurasia, often thought of as its own continent. It is separated from Asia by the Ural Mountains in Russia and the Bosporus strait in Turkey.


title: Europe

text: Europe is bordered by water on three sides. On the west is the Atlantic Ocean. To the north is the Arctic Ocean. The Mediterranean Sea separates Southeastern Europe from Africa. On the eastern border of Europe are the Ural River and Ural Mountains.


title: Europe

text: There are at least 43 countries in Europe (the European identities of 5 transcontinental countries: Cyprus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey are disputed). Most of these countries are members of the European Union.


title: Europe

text: Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometers (3,930,000 square miles). This is 2% of the Earth's surface (6.8% of its land area).


title: Europe

text: Europe contains the world's second most-active volcano, which is Mount Etna that is currently the most-active volcano in the continent.


title: Europe

text: Europe is a major tourist attraction. People come from all over the world to see its many World Heritage Sites and other attractions.


title: Europe

text: Europe is named after a princess in Greek mythology called "Europa." The myth says that Zeus kidnapped Europa and took her to Crete, where she became the mother of King Minos (from whom Europe’s first civilization gets its name, the Minoans).


title: Europe

text: The name "Europa" was later used to describe Greece. Then, as the rest of modern-day Europe started to have cities and empires, the entire area West of the Ural Mountains came to be called "Europa".


title: Europe

text: The history of Europe is long and has many turns. Many great countries originated from Europe. Greek mythology and the beginning of western civilization came from European nations.


title: Europe

text: Andreas M. Kaplan describes modern Europe as a continent where many different cultures live closely together, "embracing maximum cultural diversity at minimal geographical distances".


title: Europe

text: Within these regions, there are up to 48 independent European countries (with the identities of 5 transcontinental countries being disputed). The largest is the Russian Federation, which covers 39% of Europe.


title: Europe

text: The European city with the largest population is Istanbul. The country with the largest population is the Russian Federation. About 15% of Europeans live in Russia.


title: Europe

text: Two European countries, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, are on islands called the British Isles.


title: Europe

text: However, there are many different climates throughout Europe. For example, during the winter, it may be snowing and -30 degrees Celsius for 4–5 months in Finland. Yet it may be much warmer, with no snow at all except on high mountains, in Spain.


title: Europe

text: The European Union is a confederation of 27 European countries. These countries agree to follow common laws so that their citizens can move and trade in EU countries almost the same as they do in their own. Nineteen of these countries also share the same type of money: the euro.


title: Basic English

text: Basic English (Business Academic Scientific International Commercial) is a controlled language used to explain complex thoughts. It has chosen by Charles Kay Ogden. Some articles in the Simple English Wikipedia use only Basic English.


title: Basic English

text: In 1936, Ogden hired Otto Neurath and Marie Neurath to make "International Picture Language" as one of a group of eight books in Basic English.


title: Basic English

text: The word use of Basic English is simpler and more regular than the word use of normal English. In normal English, words often have a number of different meanings. To make Basic English easier, not all the meanings of a word are used.


title: Basic English

text: Basic English uses Ogden's rules of grammar. Ogden's rules of grammar let people use the 850 words to talk about things and events simply.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The proposed all India federation included 11 provinces of British India, 6 Chief Commissioners Provinces and those princely states who might accede to the federation. For princely states, the accession to the Federation was voluntary. The federation could not be established until:


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The term on which a state joined the Federation were to be laid down in the Instrument of Accession. Joining the federation was compulsory for the British Provinces and chief commissioners provinces.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: Under this act, the executive authority of the centre was vested in the Governor General on behalf of the Crown. The federal subjects were divided into two fold categories of "Reserved" and "Transferred" subjects. The Reserved list comprised of subjects such as administration of Defense, External affairs, ecclesiastical affairs and matters related to tribal areas. These subjects were to administered by Governor General in his discretion with the help of three counselors appointed by him. "They were not responsible to legislative".


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The administration of the transferred subjects was to be done by Governor General on advice of the Council of Ministers whose number could not exceed 10. The council of ministers had to command the confidence of legislature. However, the Governor General could act on contrary to the advice of the Council of Ministers if any of his ‘special responsibilities’ was involved in such act. However, in that case {when an act involved special responsibilities}, the Governor General would work under the control and direction of the Secretary of State.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: Further, the Governor General was also responsible for the coordination of work between the two wings and for encouraging joint deliberations between the counselors and the ministers.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The bicameral federal legislature would be consisted of two houses viz. Council of states and Federal Assembly.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The Council of States was to be upper house and a permanent body with one third of its membership retiring every 3rd year. It was to be composed of 260 members of which 156 were to be representatives of British India while 104 of the Indian states.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The 150 out of 156 representatives of British India were to be elected on communal basis while six were to be nominated by Governor General from amongst women, minorities and depressed classes. Further, the seats which were reserved for Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs had to be filled via direct election while those reserved for Europeans, Anglo-Indians, Indian Christians and Depressed Classes were to be filled by Indirect election.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The distribution of the seats among states was on their relative importance and not population. The representatives of the princely states would be nominated by rulers.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The Federal Assembly was the lower house with a tenure of five years. It was to be made of 375 members who which 250 representatives of British India and not more than 125 members from princely states. While the seats reserved for princely states were to be filled by nominated members, the provinces were given different numbers of seats. Election to the Federal assembly was to be indirect. The term of the assembly was five years but it could be dissolved earlier also.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The most remarkable feature of the Act was the provincial autonomy. With the abolition of Dyarchy at provinces, the entire provincial administration was instructed to the responsible ministers who were controlled and removed by the provincial legislatures.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The provincial autonomy means two things. First, the Provincial Governments were wholly, responsible to the provincial legislatures and secondly, provinces, were free from outside control and interference in a large number of matters. Thus, in the provincial sphere, the Act of 1935 made a fundamental departure from the act of 1919.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The act divided the powers between the Centre and provinces in terms of three list-Federal List (for Centre, with 59 items), Provincial List (for Provinces, with 54 items), and Concurrent list (for both, with 36 items). Residuary powers were given to the Viceroy.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The degree of autonomy introduced at the provincial level was subject to important limitations: the provincial Governors retained important reserve powers, and the British authorities also retained a right to suspend responsible government.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: A controversial feature of the Government of India Act, 1935 was the safeguards and reservations provided in the Act, would serve as checks and limitations on such undesirable tendencies which might lead to the failure of the responsible government in India. A plea was given that those safeguards and reservations were necessary for the interests of the country. They were imposed either on the exercise of powers by the Government of India on of the states.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: It further extended the principle of communal electorate for depressed class (Scheduled castes) women and labour.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The Government of India Act, 1935 provided for the establishment of Federal Court to interpret the Act and adjudicate disputes relating to the federal matters. It provided that the Federal Courts should consist of one Chief justice and not more than six judges.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The Federal Court was given exclusive original jurisdiction to decide disputes between the Centre and constituent Units. The provision was made for filing of appeals from High Courts to the Federal Court and from Federal Court to the Privy Council. The Federal Court also had jurisdiction to grant Special Leave to Appeal and for such appeals a certificate of the High Court was essential.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: It abolished the council of India, established by the Government of India Act of 1858. The secretary of state for India was provided with a team of advisors in its place.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The act extended the franchise. This act introduced for the first time the direct elections. About 10% of the total population got the voting rights.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The GOI act 1935 vested the control of Railway in a new authority called Federal Railway Authority, which had seven members and was free from control of ministers and councillors. The members of this authority reported directly to Governor General. The idea was to assure the British Stakeholders of the railways that their investment was safe.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The partial reorganization of the provinces included separation of Sind from Bombay, Splitting Bihar and Orissa into separate provinces, Complete separation of Burma from India, detachment of Aden from India and establishing as a separate colony.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The Government of India Act 1935 contemplated the Federation of the British Indian Provinces and Indian States. But for Burma, there was a separate set of Events. Burma was proposed to be separated in pursuance of the recommendation of the Indian Statutory (Simon Commission) whose proposal was accepted in principle by the Government. Consequently a Burma Round Table Conference was held in London in 1932. In 1935, Burma Act was passed and separation of Burma actually took place in 1937. The Government of India Act 1935 also provided a new Burma Office, in preparation for the establishment of Burma as a separate colony, but the same Secretary of State headed both Departments and was styled the Secretary of State for India and Burma. The first secretary of state for India and Burma was Lord Dundas.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The proposal for setting up of the Federation of India did not materialize because the act proposed that federation could come into existence only if as many princely states (which had been given option to join or not to join) were entitled to one half of the states seats in the upper house of the federal legislature. Due to this, Central Government in India continued to be governed by the provision of the Act of 1919(Montague-Chelmsford Reforms).However, some parts of the GOI Act 1935 came into force for example : the Federal Bank (The Reserve Bank of India) and the Federal Court were established in 1935 and 1937 respectively. The other parts of the Act, particularly provincial Autonomy, came into force on 1st April 1937. The first elections under the Act were also held in 1937.


title: Government of India Act 1935

text: The Simon commission had promised ‘Dominion Status’ for India in 1929 , but the Government of India Act did not confer it. This act by providing separate electorates for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Europeans, Anglo Indians, Indian Christians etc. proved to be further an instrument of disintegrating India. It was over obstructing and Nehru called it “all brakes, no engine”.


title: Pitch, yaw, and roll

text: The terms may be used to describe an aeroplane's movements through the air. They are also applied to watercraft moving through water, and spacecraft moving through space.


title: Pitch, yaw, and roll

text: As the movement along each of the three axes is independent of each other and independent of the rotation about any of these axes, the motion has six degrees of freedom (see diagram).


title: Pitch, yaw, and roll

text: The surfaces of a plane and the fins of a fish have a similar function. They serve to adjust the object's attitude as it moves through the fluid. Submarines face the same dynamic control problems as fish do.


title: Pitch, yaw, and roll

text: The subject is often taught under degrees of freedom (mechanics). This is the number of independent motions that are allowed to the body.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809  – April 15, 1865) was an American politician. He was the 16th president of the United States. He was president from 1861 until his assassination in 1865, during the American Civil War. Just five days after most of the Confederate forces had surrendered and the war was ending, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln. Lincoln was the first president of the United States to be assassinated. Lincoln has been remembered as the "Great Emancipator" because he worked to end slavery in the United States. He is ranked as the greatest president in various opinion polls.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Kentucky, United States. His parents were Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. His family was very poor. Abraham had one brother and one sister. His brother died in childhood. They grew up in a small log cabin, with just one room inside. Although slavery was legal in Kentucky at that time, Lincoln's father, who was a religious Baptist, refused to own any slaves.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: When Lincoln was seven years old, his family moved to Indiana. Later they moved to Illinois. In his childhood he helped his father on the farm, but when he was 22 years old he left home and moved to New Salem, Illinois, where he worked in a general store.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: Later, he said that he had gone to school for just one year, but that was enough to learn how to read, write, and do simple math. In 1842, he married Mary Todd. They had four children, but three of them died when they were very young.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: Abraham Lincoln was sometimes called Abe Lincoln or "Honest Abe" because of a legend stating that he ran miles to give a customer the right amount of change. The nickname "Honest Abe" came from a time when he started a business that failed. Instead of running away like many people would have, he stayed and worked to pay his debt.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: Lincoln started his political career in 1832 when he ran for the IGA Illinois General Assembly, but he lost the election. He served as a captain in the Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War, a war with Native American tribes. When he moved to Springfield in 1837, he began to work as a lawyer. Soon, he became one of the most highly respected lawyers in Illinois.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: In 1837, as a member of the Illinois General Assembly, Lincoln issued a written protest of its passage of a resolution stating that slavery could not be abolished in Washington, D.C.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: In 1841, he won a court case (Bailey v. Cromwell). He represented a black woman who claimed she had already been freed and could not be sold as a slave. In 1847, he lost a case (Matson v. Rutherford) representing a slave owner (Robert Matson) claiming the return of fugitive slaves. After he moved to Illinois, he worked as a shopkeeper and postmaster. He rode the circuit of courts for many years. When he was 21, he worked on a flatboat that carried freight. He joined the Independent Spy Corp. At first, he was a member of the Whig Party. He later became a Republican. Lincoln ran for senate against Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas won.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: In 1846, Lincoln joined the Whig Party and was elected to one term in the House of Representatives. After that, he ignored his political career and instead worked as a lawyer. In 1854, in reaction to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lincoln became involved in politics again. He joined the Republican Party, which had recently been formed in opposition to the expansion of slavery. In 1858, he wanted to become senator; although this was unsuccessful, the debates drew national attention to him.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: Lincoln was chosen as a candidate for the elections in 1860 for different reasons. Among these reasons was that his views on slavery were less extreme than those of other people who wanted to be candidates. Lincoln was from what was then one of the Western states and had a bigger chance of winning the election there. Other candidates that were older or more experienced than him had enemies inside the party. Lincoln's family was poor, which added to the Republican position of free labor, the opposite of slave labor. Lincoln won the election in 1860 and was made the 16th President of the United States. He won with almost no votes in the South. For the first time, a president had won the election because of the large support he got from the states in the North. During his presidency Lincoln became well known because of his large stovepipe hat. He used his tall hat to store papers and documents when he was traveling.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: After Lincoln's election in 1860, seven States (South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana) formed the Confederate States of America. When the United States refused to surrender Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, the Confederates attacked the fort, beginning the American Civil War. Later, four more states (Arkansas, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina) joined the Confederacy for a total of eleven. In his whole period as president, he had to rebuild the Union with military force and many bloody battles. He also had to stop the "border states", like Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland, from leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: Lincoln was not a general, and had only been in the army for a short time during the Black Hawk War. However, he still took a major role in the war, often spending days and days in the War Department. His plan was to cut off the South by surrounding it with ships, control the Mississippi River, and take Richmond, the Confederate capital. He often clashed with generals in the field, especially George B. McClellan, and fired generals who lost battles or were not aggressive enough. Eventually, he made Ulysses S. Grant the top general in the army.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: With the Emancipation Proclamation begun on January 1, 1863, Lincoln ordered the freedom of all slaves in those states still in rebellion during the American Civil War. It did not actually immediately free all those slaves however, since those areas were still controlled by the rebelling states of the Confederacy. Only a small number of slaves already behind Union lines were immediately freed. As the Union army advanced, nearly all four million slaves were effectively freed. Some former slaves joined the Union army after 1862.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: The Proclamation also did not free slaves in the slave states that had remained loyal to the Union (the federal government of the US). Neither did it apply to areas where Union forces had already regained control, as in Tennessee. Until the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865, only the states had power to end slavery within their own borders, so Lincoln issued the proclamation as a war measure.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: The Proclamation made freeing the slaves a Union goal for the war, and put an end to movements in European nations (especially in Great Britain and France) that would have recognized the Confederacy as an independent nation. Lincoln then sponsored a constitutional amendment to free all slaves. The Thirteenth Amendment, making slavery illegal everywhere in the United States, was passed late in 1865, eight months after Lincoln was assassinated.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: Lincoln made a famous speech after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 called the Gettysburg Address. The battle was very important, and many soldiers from both sides died. The speech was given at the new cemetery for the dead soldiers. It is one of the most famous speeches in American history.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: Lincoln was re-elected president by a small number of votes in 1864 and re-inaugurated on March 4, 1865. Soon afterward, it appeared likely that the Union would win the Civil War. Lincoln wanted to make it easy for states that had rebelled to restore self-government. On April 9, 1865, the leading Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, surrendered his armies. On April 11, 1865, Lincoln gave a speech in which he promoted voting rights for black American citizens.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: During the day on April 14, 1865, Lincoln signed the law that created the secret service, the US President's security force. On the evening of April 14, Lincoln went to attend a play with his wife, Mary Todd at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.. He had invited Ulysses S. Grant to attend the play with him and his wife Mary Todd, and Grant planned to attend. As a general, Grant would have brought his own extra military security force, but he did not attend the play because his wife Julia and Mary Todd did not get along well.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: During the third act of the play, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland, entered the presidential box and shot Lincoln at point-blank range, mortally wounding him and shouted ""Sic semper tyrannis"" ("Thus always to tyrants"). An unconscious Lincoln was carried across the street to Petersen House. He was placed diagonally on the bed because his tall frame would not fit normally on the smaller bed. He remained in a coma for nine hours before dying the next morning. According to some accounts, at his last drawn breath, on the morning after the assassination, he smiled broadly and then expired. Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated.


title: Abraham Lincoln

text: Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the greatest U.S. presidents. He is often considered the greatest president in American history for his leadership during the American Civil War and his eloquence in speeches such as the Gettysburg Address.


title: Communism

text: Communism is a far-left political system that wants a world without different social class groups. Communists believe these differences are a kind of oppression. They say that things like factories, tools and farms (the means of production) are owned by only some people (the bourgeoisie) which gives them unfair power over other people. Communists want these things to be owned by the workers instead of the bosses. They believe this will bring about the end of all money and private property.


title: Communism

text: This is the opposite to capitalism where there is money, a state and class structure. In capitalism, there is a working class (people who don't own the means of production, also called the proletariat) and the owning class (people who own the means of production, sometimes called the ruling class or the bourgeoisie).


title: Communism

text: Communist thinkers believe a communist world can happen if the working class take away the power of the bourgeoisie and start to control the means of production.


title: Communism

text: Countries that officially follow forms of communism include Vietnam, China, Cuba and Laos, which are Marxist–Leninist, and North Korea, which follows Juche.


title: Communism

text: The most famous communist thinkers were Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; other prominent thinkers include Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, and Mao Zedong.


title: Communism

text: In 1848, Karl H. Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The Communist Manifesto". It was a short book with the basic ideas of communism. Most socialists and communists today still use this book to help them understand politics and economics. Many non-communists read it too, even if they do not agree with everything in it.


title: Communism

text: Karl Marx said that for society to change into a communist way of living, there would have to be a period of change. During this period, the workers would govern society. This is called a dictatorship of the proletariat. Marx was very interested in the Paris Commune of 1870, when the workers of Paris ran the city after the Prussian Army defeated the French Army. He thought that this practical experience was more important than the theoretical views of the various radical groups.


title: Communism

text: Many groups and individuals liked Marx's ideas. By the beginning of the twentieth century, there was a worldwide socialist movement called Social Democracy. It was influenced by his ideas. They said that the workers in different countries had more in common with each other than the workers had in common with the bosses within their own countries. In 1917, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky led a Russian group called the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution. They got rid of the temporary government of Russia, which was formed after the February Revolution against the Tsar (Emperor). They established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also called the Soviet Union or USSR.


title: Communism

text: The Soviet Union was the first country claiming to have established a workers' state. In reality, the country never became communist in the way that Marx and Engels described.


title: Communism

text: During the 20th century, many people tried to establish workers' states. In the late 1940s, China also had a revolution and created a new government with Mao Zedong as its leader. In 1959, the island of Cuba had a revolution and created a new government with Fidel Castro as its leader. At one time, there were many such countries, and it seemed as though communism would overtake capitalism. However, communist party governments didn't use democracy. Because of this, the governments became separated from the people, making communism difficult. This also led to disagreements and splits between countries.


title: Communism

text: By the 1960s, one third of the world had overthrown capitalism and were trying to build communism. Most of these countries followed the model of the Soviet Union. Some followed the model of China. The other two thirds of the world still lived in capitalism, and this led to a worldwide divide between capitalist countries and communist countries. This was called the "Cold War" because it was not fought with weapons or armies, but competing ideas. However, this could have turned into a large war. During the 1980s, the United States and the Soviet Union were competing to have the biggest army and having the most dangerous weapons. This was called the "Arms Race". President Ronald Reagan called communist countries like the Soviet Union the "Evil Empire" because he did not agree with communist ideas.


title: Communism

text: Since 1989, when the Berlin Wall was torn down, most countries that used to be communist have returned to capitalism. Communism now has much less influence around the world. In 1991, the Soviet Union broke up. However, around a fifth of the world's people still live in states controlled by a communist party. Most of these people are in China. The other countries include Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, and North Korea. There are also communist movements in Latin America and South Africa.


title: Communism

text: Many people have written their own ideas about communism. Vladimir Lenin of Russia thought that there had to be a group of hard-working revolutionaries (called a vanguard) to lead a socialist revolution worldwide and create a communist society everywhere. Leon Trotsky, also from Russia, argued that socialism had to be international, and it was not important to make it happen first in Russia. He also did not like Joseph Stalin, who became the leader of the USSR after Lenin's death in 1924. Trotsky was made to leave the Soviet Union by Stalin in 1928, and then killed in 1940. This scared many people, and lots of communists argued about whether this was right and whose ideas should be followed.


title: Communism

text: Mao Zedong of China thought that other classes would be important to the revolution in China and other developing countries because the working classes in these countries were small. Mao's ideas on communism are usually called Maoism or Mao Zedong Thought. After Stalin's death in 1953, Mao saw himself as the leader of worldwide communism until he died in 1976. Today the Chinese government is still ruled by the Communist Party, but they actually have what is called a mixed economy. They have borrowed many things from capitalism. The government in China today does not follow Maoism. However, few revolutionaries in other countries like India and Nepal still like his ideas and are trying to use them in their own countries.


title: Communism

text: The word "communism" is not a very specific description of left-wing political organizations. Many political parties calling themselves "communist" may actually be more reformist (supportive of reforms and slow change instead of revolution) than some parties calling themselves "socialists". Many communist parties in Latin America have lost many members because these parties do different things than what they promised once they get into power. In Chile, between 1970 and 1973, under the left-wing Coalition (groups of parties) of Popular Unity, led by Salvador Allende, the Communist Party of Chile was to the right of the Socialist Party of Chile. This means it was more reformist than the socialist party.


title: Communism

text: Many communist parties will use a reformist strategy. They say working-class people are not organized enough to make big changes to their societies. They put forward candidates that will be elected democratically. Once communists become elected to parliament or the Senate, then they will fight for the working class. This will allow working-class people to change their capitalist society into a socialist one.


title: Communism

text: The color red is a symbol of communism around the world. A red five-pointed star sometimes also stands for communism. The hammer and sickle is a well-known symbol of communism. It was on the flags of many communist countries, like the Soviet Union (see top of article). Some communists also like to use pictures of famous communists from history, such as Marx, Lenin, and Mao Zedong, as symbols of the whole philosophy of communism.


title: Communism

text: A song called "The Internationale" is the international song of communism. It has the same music everywhere, but the words to the song are translated into many languages. The Russian version was the national anthem of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1944.


title: Communism

text: The sickle in the Soviet Union's flag shows the struggle of the peasants-farmers. The hammer in the flag represents the struggle for the workers. Both of them crossing shows their support for each other.


title: Communism

text: There is also a special kind of art and architecture found in many communist and former communist countries. Paintings done in the style of socialist realism are often done for propaganda to show a perfect version of a country's people and political leader. Art done in the socialist realism style, such as plays, movies, novels, and paintings show hard-working, happy, and well-fed factory workers and farmers. Movies, plays and novels in this style often tell stories about workers or soldiers who sacrifice themselves for the good of their country. Paintings often showed heroic portraits of the leader, or landscapes showing huge fields of wheat. Stalinist architecture was supposed to represent the power and glory of the state and its political leader. Some non-communists also enjoy this kind of art.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago is a city in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the third largest city in the United States. As of 2018, the population is 2,705,994. It is the city with the largest population in the Midwestern United States. Chicago is the main city of the Chicago metropolitan area, or Chicagoland. The Chicago metropolitan area has 10 million people. This metropolitan area has the third largest population in the United States.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago is by Lake Michigan. Chicago became a city in 1837 and is in between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. It grew quickly in the mid-19th century. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed many square miles and made more than 100,000 people homeless. Major efforts were made to rebuild it. Chicago's population grew when more construction jobs came. By 1900, Chicago was the fifth-largest city in the world. Chicago is known for its urban planning and zoning standards, for example, new construction styles from the Chicago School of architecture, the development of the City Beautiful Movement, and the steel-framed skyscraper. Chicago built the first skyscraper in the world in 1885, the Home Insurance Building.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago is a center for finance, culture, trade, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, and transportation. It is one of the largest markets of the world. The O'Hare International Airport is the fifth or sixth busiest airport in the world and first or second in the United States. The region has the largest number of federal highways. It has many railroads too.Globalization and World Cities Research Network lists Chicago as an alpha global city. The Global Cities Index ranked Chicago seventh in the world in 2017. The Chicago area generated $689 billion in 2018. It has a very diverse and balanced economy. Chicago is home to several Fortune 500 companies, including Allstate, Boeing, Exelon, Kraft Heinz, McDonald's, Mondelez International, Sears, United Airlines Holdings, and Walgreens.


title: Chicago

text: 58 million people visited Chicago in 2018. It was the second most visited city in the United States. New York City had 65 million visitors in 2018. Chicago had first place in the 2018 Time Out City Life Index. This index was a survey about the quality of life in different areas. 15,000 people in 32 cities did the survey.


title: Chicago

text: Some landmarks in the city are Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis (Sears) Tower, Grant Park, Chicago Riverwalk, the Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. There are many universities and colleges, for example University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Chicago has professional sports teams in the major professional leagues, and two are Major League Baseball teams.


title: Chicago

text: Jean Baptiste Point du Sable founded Chicago in the early 1700s. It was founded to create a canal to let boats on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. Later, the city became a trading center for food, crops, and fur. The city grew very fast because of how the river back then was clean and healthy to drink. In 1837, Chicago became a city. The city grew until the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The fire lasted for almost a week. Almost half the city and its population were lost in the fire. After the fire, Chicago grew faster than ever.


title: Chicago

text: Then, city's economy grew and more people migrated there from other parts of the world. many of the immigrants were Germans, Jews, Irish, Swedes, Poles, and Czechs. The immigrants were almost two-thirds of the city's population. In 1889, Jane Addams built Hull house in Chicago for children and the poor. In 1893, the city hosted the World's Columbian Exposition. In 1892, they created the University of Chicago.


title: Chicago

text: In 1919, the city became known for its gangsters, for example Al Capone, Dean O’Banion, Bugs Moran, and Tony Accardo. In the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, Al Capone ordered gangsters to be shot on St. Valentine's Day. Then, the city became known for John Dillinger, a bank robber. He could rob a bank in under two minutes. Dillinger was shot and killed at the Biograph Theatre in 1934.


title: Chicago

text: Anton Cermak was the 44th mayor of Chicago. He was shot and killed during the Democratic party convention in 1933. A man tried to shoot Franklin D. Roosevelt and Cermak blocked the bullet to save the President. Cermak died hours later. In 1955, Mayor Richard J. Daley was a powerful and well known Democrat. He helped Martin Luther King and other activists share their thoughts without being arrested in Chicago.


title: Chicago

text: The 1968 Democratic National Convention had large protests and riots outside the convention. Richard J. Daley helped create the construction sites for the Willis Tower, O'Hare International Airport, the McCormick Place, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Jane Byrne helped Chicago to become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the United States. She was the first female mayor of Chicago.


title: Chicago

text: In 1982, seven people were poisoned with cyanide in Tylenol pills across the city. This led to changes in the packaging of over-the-counter drugs and to federal anti-tampering laws.


title: Chicago

text: In 1983, Harold Washington became the first African American mayor of Chicago. He helped clean all dangerous and poor neighborhoods in the city. He was later re-elected, but died of a heart attack. He would become the second mayor of Chicago to die from a heart attack while in office. The first was Richard J. Daley. Eugene Sawyer finished Washington's second full term. Sawyer was the second African American Mayor of Chicago.


title: Chicago

text: In 1989, Richard M. Daley, the son of Richard J. Daley, became the mayor of Chicago. Daley was the longest serving Mayor of Chicago.


title: Chicago

text: In 2012, the NATO Summit was held in Chicago and lasted for three days. The city would also host the 38th G8 summit. The G8 summit was moved to Camp David because Chicago already hosted the NATO summit.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago has the fourth-largest gross domestic product (GDP) of any city in the world. It is behind Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles, and ahead of London and Paris.


title: Chicago

text: In 2019, Lori Lightfoot was elected mayor, making Chicago the largest city in the country to have a female, African-American, and LGBT+ mayor.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago has a very well-known culture. Some of the many things Chicago is famous for are: Chicago-style hot dogs, Chicago-style (deep dish) pizza, Maxwell Street Polish Sausage, jazz music, and 1920s gangsters, for example Al Capone. Chicago is also known for architecture, for example the Sears Tower and museums. It is also known for its loyal sports fans.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago was home to the Bijou Theater, the longest-running gay adult theater and sex club in the United States. It opened in 1970, and it permanently closed its doors in September 2015.


title: Chicago

text: For many years, the Sears Tower was the tallest building in the world. It is the second tallest building in the United States.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago has the most Polish people inside its city limits outside of Warsaw. Historic U.S. Route 66 starts in Chicago by Grant Park in front of the Art Institute of Chicago.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago is a multicultural city with many Italians, Greeks, Gypsies, Serbians and Eastern Europeans living in the city. Chicago has a large Hispanic population with many Puerto Ricans and Mexicans. Other ethnic groups in Chicago are African American, Irish, Chinese, Indians, Arabs, Russians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Armenians, and Japanese.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago is a major world financial center. It has the second largest central business district in the United States. The city is the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (the Seventh District of the Federal Reserve). The city is also home to major financial and futures exchanges, for example the Chicago Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (the "Merc"), which is owned by Chicago's CME Group. The CME Group also owns the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the Commodities Exchange Inc. (COMEX) and the Dow Jones Indexes.


title: Chicago

text: The city also has markets with unusual trade contracts, for example emissions (on the Chicago Climate Exchange), and equity style indexes (on the U.S. Futures Exchange). Chase Bank has its commercial and retail banking headquarters in Chicago's Chase Tower.


title: Chicago

text:
Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum - was built in 1930. It is the oldest planetarium in the world.
Art Institute of Chicago - has a large collection of American and Impressionist art.
Field Museum of Natural History - has "Sue", the largest and most complete "Tyrannosaurus" fossil.
Museum of Science and Industry - has many exhibits, for example a real Boeing 727 jet plane. United Airlines gave it to the museum.
Polish Museum of America - The museum is haunted by famous piano player Ignacy Jan Paderewski. It has large collection of Polish art.
Shedd Aquarium - at one time the world's largest aquarium. It has 19 million liters (5 million gallons) of water and 22,000 fish.


title: Chicago

text: Sports are a big part of the cultural life in Chicago. Chicago is home to 15 sports teams. All of the city's major sports teams play within the city limits.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago has two Major League Baseball teams: the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs. The White Sox play at the Guaranteed Rate Field and the Cubs play at Wrigley Field. The Chicago Cubs are one of the oldest teams in baseball. Chicago Cubs fans are dedicated and loyal to their team. The White Sox won the World Series in 2005. The Cubs won the World Series in 2016.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago's National Basketball Association (NBA) team is the Chicago Bulls. For many years, Michael Jordan played for the Bulls. He helped them win six Championships in the 1990s. In 1999 season, if Jordan had stayed with the Bulls, he would have faced Spurs for the seventh championship and he would have won 11th scoring title.


title: Chicago

text: At American football, Chicago is the home of the Chicago Bears (National Football League) and the Chicago Rush (Arena Football League).


title: Chicago

text: Chicago has two ice hockey teams, the Chicago Blackhawks (National Hockey League) and the Chicago Wolves (American Hockey League).


title: Chicago

text: Chicago also has a Major League Soccer team, the Chicago Fire. It plays outside of the city in Bridgeview.


title: Chicago

text: Many people and things travel through Chicago to get to other places. Chicago has a complex network of trains and buses that help people who live in Chicago travel across the city. Chicago's commuter train system is called the Metra. It runs within the city and into the suburbs around Chicago. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is a system of buses and elevated trains (called the 'L') that run inside the city and towards the outer suburbs.


title: Chicago

text: O'Hare International Airport is a major center for air travel. It is the second-busiest airport in the United States after the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Chicago has another airport called the Midway Airport. Many trains use Chicago as a place to change loads and to change directions. The Chicago River is a canal between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. It is the only river to travel backwards.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago has four seasons. Summers are hot and humid. The July average is . In a normal summer, temperatures are above for 21 days. Winters are cold and snowy. There are often sunny days. The January daytime average is . Spring and autumn are mild with low humidity. Chicago is in the humid continental climate zone.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago's highest official temperature is . It was recorded on July 24, 1934, There was a reading of recorded at Midway Airport during that month. The lowest temperature of was recorded on January 20, 1985, at O'Hare Airport. Bad winter cold waves and summer heat waves can last for many days. There are also many mild winter and summer days. Thunderstorms are common in spring and summer. Sometimes they make tornadoes. They are more common in the suburban areas and not in the city. The heaviest snowfall record was in January 1999. It snowed 18.6 inches (47.2 centimeters).


title: Chicago

text: Chicago is known as the Windy City, but it is less windy than many other big American cities. Wind speeds range from 8 miles per hour (13 km/h) in late summer to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) in spring months. The "Windy City" nickname could be connected to Chicago politicians from the 1800s. When Chicago hosted the World's Fair, citizens of Chicago started to brag about it. They bragged so much that the city of Chicago became known as "The Windy City. The phrase may have also been created by Chicago tourism boosters promoting the city. They suggested that the cool breezes from Lake Michigan make Chicago a good summer destination.


title: Chicago

text: The community areas in Chicago, are defined by the Social Science Research Committee at the University of Chicago.The City of Chicago recognizes 77 divisions in the city. These areas are well-defined and stable. Census data helps make urban planning initiatives in the city.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago is the county seat of Cook County. The government of the City of Chicago is divided into executive and legislative branches. Civil and criminal law cases are heard in the Cook County Circuit Court of the State of Illinois court system, or in the Northern District of Illinois, in the federal system. In the former, the public prosecutor is the Illinois State's Attorney, in the latter, the United States Attorney.


title: Chicago

text: The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limits. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the various departments. In addition to the mayor, Chicago's two other citywide elected officials are the clerk and the treasurer. The City Council is the legislative branch and is made up of 50 aldermen, one elected from each ward in the city. The council enacts local ordinances and approves the city budget. Government priorities and activities are established in a budget ordinance usually adopted each November. The council takes official action through the passage of ordinances and resolutions.


title: Chicago

text: The current mayor is Lori Lightfoot since 2019. Chicago is the largest city in the United States to have an African-American female and LGBT person as mayor.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago had a murder rate of 14.5 per 100,000 residents in 2012. Some smaller cities have higher rates, for example New Orleans, Newark, and Detroit had 53 murders per 100,000 residents in 2012. The total number of murders in the city was highest in 1974, with 970 murders (murder rate of 29 per 100,000). It was close in 1992 with 943 murders (murder rate of 34 per 100,000). Chicago had less violent crime rates in the 1990s. It had 448 homicides in 2004, the lowest total since 1965 (15.65 per 100,000). Chicago's murder rate was about the same in 2005, 2006, and 2007 with 449, 452, and 435.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago is a major transportation spot in the United States. It is an important part of distribution in the world because it is the third largest inter-modal port in the world after Hong Kong and Singapore.


title: Chicago

text: The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) controls how the board of directors work at CTA, Metra, and Pace.


title: Chicago

text: Greyhound Lines gives inter-city bus service to and from the city. Chicago is also the spot for the Midwest network of Megabus.


title: Chicago

text: Amtrak long-distance services come from Union Station. Chicago is one of the largest hubs of passenger rail service in the nation.


title: Chicago

text: Chicago is in many movies. for example "The Blues Brothers"; "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"; "Child's Play", "Home Alone"; "The Fugitive"; "The Untouchables", "I, Robot"; "Wanted"; "Batman Begins"; "The Dark Knight"; ""; "Man of Steel"; "Widows" and "Rampage".


title: Erection

text: An erection () of a body part such as a man's penis, a woman's clitoris or a nipple refers to it becoming larger and harder.


title: Erection

text: The term "erection" is most often used to refer to an erection of the penis. It is widely believed that a man's penis needs to be erect in order for him to take part in sexual intercourse and penetrate his partner's vagina and to ejaculate semen, but all are possible without an erection. In a healthy male, an erection will usually occur if the man is sexually aroused (made sexually excited) or stimulated. This can happen if he is touched sexually, or even if he is not touched – for example, if he sees a naked person or thinks about having sex with someone else. Erections can also occur without thinking about sex or being touched. Most boy teenagers have unexpected erections. This is normal. Erections happen several times during the night. This happens to all healthy adult males of all ages. This also happens when a man wakes up. That is normal too. Tissues in the penis called the corpus spongiosum penis and corpora cavernosa penis fill with blood, causing the penis to become longer, thicker, harder and to stand upright. A man's erection usually stops if he is no longer sexually aroused, or after he has had an orgasm and has ejaculated. An erection will usually not be possible immediately following ejaculation, although adolescent males may be able to achieve erections immediately following ejaculation. The time period during which an erection cannot be repeated following ejaculation is called the refractory period. Animals can have an erection.


title: Erection

text: Erect penises have appeared in erotic (sexually exciting) art for a very long time. Pictures of men with erections appear on ancient objects and in paintings. In the past, the erect penis was also a symbol or sign of health and fertility (the ability to give life). Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans believed in gods that had erect penises. Today, erect penises do not often appear in artworks or movies because many people think that showing a man's penis when it is erect is obscene (not decent). Men with larger penises are often thought to be more handsome, manly and powerful. A lot of people also believe that men with bigger penises are better at making their partners feel good when they are having sex. However, this is not always true.


title: Erection

text: Like a man's penis, a woman's clitoris can also become erect. This happens in a similar way to an erection of the penis. The clitoris also has a corpora cavernosa, and when a woman is sexually excited this part of the clitoris fill with blood. This causes the clitoris and other parts of the woman's sex organs to become larger, harder, redder in colour, and very sensitive to being touched.