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+
+
+The wolf (Canis lupus) is a mammal of the order Carnivora. It is sometimes called timber wolf or grey wolf.
+
+It is the ancestor of the domestic dog. A recent study found that the domestic dog is descended from wolves tamed less than 16,300 years ago south of the Yangtze River in China.[2]
+
+There are many different wolf subspecies, such as the Arctic wolf. Some subspecies are listed on the endangered species list, but overall, Canis lupus is IUCN graded as 'least concern'.
+
+Adult wolves are usually 1.4 to 1.8 metres (4.6 to 5.9 ft) in length from nose to tail depending on the subspecies.[3] Wolves living in the far north tend to be larger than those living further south.[4][5] As adults they may weigh typically between 23 to 50 kilograms (51 to 110 lb).[3] The heaviest wolf recorded weighed 86 kilograms (190 lb).[6]
+
+The wolf has a long muzzle, short ears, long legs, and a long bushy tail.
+
+Wolves usually measure 26–38 inches at the shoulder. Wolves have fur made up of two layers. The top layer is resistant to dirt, and the under-layer is water resistant. The color of their fur can be any combination of grey, white, taupe, brown, and black.
+
+Wolves live in groups called "packs". They are pack hunters. The members of the pack are usually family members, often just the parents and offspring. Wolves that are not family may join if they do not have a pack of their own. Packs are usually up to 12 wolves, but they can be as small as two or as large as 25. The leaders are called the parent (breeding) male and the parent (breeding) female. Their territory is marked by scent and howling; they will fight any intruders. Young wolves are called 'pups' or 'whelps'. Adult females usually give birth to five or six pups in a litter.
+
+Wolves make a noise called a howl. They howl to communicate with each other from long distances and to mark the edges of their territory. Wolves have a complicated body language.
+
+Wolves can run very fast and far. A wolf can run 20–30 miles in a day.
+
+Grey wolves can live six to eight years. They can live in captivity for up to 17 years.
+
+Wolves are carnivores and eat mostly medium to large size hoofed animals (unguligrades), but they will also eat rodents, insectivores and foxes. Some wolves have been seen eating salmon, seals, beached whales, lizards, snakes and birds. They also eat moose, bison, deer and other large animals.
+Wolves usually stalk old or sick animals, but they do not always catch what they stalk. They may go days without food. Sometimes only one out of twelve hunts are successful. But the way they eat stays the same. The alpha male and female feed first. Then the other members feed. Sometimes (especially if the prey they have killed is large) wolves may store food and come back that day to feed on it. Wolves have very sharp teeth which helps them tear large chunks of meat from a dead animal. They will eat up to 2/7 their body weight. Wolves will also swallow food and then bring it back up for pups to eat.
+
+Wolves are found in Europe, Asia and North America. They can live in forests, deserts, mountains, tundra, grasslands and sometimes around towns and cities.
+
+The Arctic wolf may be a subspecies of the grey wolf. They live in the Canadian part of the Arctic Circle, as well as Greenland and Iceland.
+
+The habitat of Arctic wolves is very hostile. Not much is known about their lifestyle. They are more friendly than other wolves, but they can still be very aggressive.
+
+Their winter fur is highly resistant to the cold. Wolves in northern climates can rest comfortably in open areas at −40 °C (−40 °F) by placing their muzzles between the rear legs and covering their faces with their tail. Wolf fur provides better insulation than dog fur, and does not collect ice when warm breath is condensed against it. Since about 1930, the skull of many Arctic wolves has become smaller. This might be because of hybridization between wolves and dogs.[7] They are 3 feet (0.91 m) tall when they're adults. Adult arctic wolves weigh about 75 to 120 pounds (34 to 54 kg). Arctic wolves live in a group of 7-20 wolves. They may live up to 5–10 years in the wild. They can live for 14 years if they are well cared for in a zoo.
+
+Even though many people think that wolves are terrible, mean creatures, they are actually much gentler than many people imagine. The main reason wolves become violent is because they may be sick or to protect other wolves in the pack. Many people around the world, especially in Canada and Alaska, have huskies for pets: they are a close relative of the wolf.
+
+A few years ago wolves were put back into Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming to breed, because they were becoming endangered. The wolves have been very successful in the park. There had been no wolves there for a long time, because of hunting and poisoned water. Many people were not happy about this because they were afraid that the wolves would eat the sheep and cows near the park. However, wolves only eat livestock when they can not find wild prey.
+
+Wolves in Britain were all killed after centuries of hunting. The last wolves survived in the Scottish Highlands. There is a legend that the last one was killed there in 1743 by a character called MacQueen.
+
+Within the past ten years, there have been studies that are in favour of allowing new wolves to come and live in the English countryside and Scottish Highlands again. One study was in 2007. Researchers from Norway, Britain, and Imperial College London decided that wolves would help add back plants and birds that now are eaten by deer. The wolves would keep the deer population lower. People were generally positive, but farmers living in rural areas wanted to be paid for livestock that were killed by the wolves.[8]
+
+Media related to Canis lupus at Wikimedia Commons

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+The Louvre is a museum in Paris, that has millions of visitors every year because of its art collection. It is the most popular art museum in the world.
+
+The most famous picture in the Louvre is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, but there are also paintings by other great painters like Rembrandt, Giambattista Pittoni, Caravaggio, Rubens, Titian and Eugène Delacroix.
+
+There are also statues inside the Louvre. The most famous statues are the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
+
+Philip II of France built a castle called the Castle of the Louvre. It used to be where the museum is. They used the castle as a fortress to defend Paris against the Vikings.
+Charles V, King of France turned the castle into a palace. However, Francis I, King of France, knocked it down and built a new palace.
+
+Henry IV, King of France added the Grande Galerie to the Louvre. The Grande Galerie is more than a quarter of a mile long and one hundred feet wide. The Grande Galerie was built along the River Seine. It was the longest building in the world.
+
+Media related to Musée du Louvre at Wikimedia Commons

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+The Louvre is a museum in Paris, that has millions of visitors every year because of its art collection. It is the most popular art museum in the world.
+
+The most famous picture in the Louvre is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, but there are also paintings by other great painters like Rembrandt, Giambattista Pittoni, Caravaggio, Rubens, Titian and Eugène Delacroix.
+
+There are also statues inside the Louvre. The most famous statues are the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
+
+Philip II of France built a castle called the Castle of the Louvre. It used to be where the museum is. They used the castle as a fortress to defend Paris against the Vikings.
+Charles V, King of France turned the castle into a palace. However, Francis I, King of France, knocked it down and built a new palace.
+
+Henry IV, King of France added the Grande Galerie to the Louvre. The Grande Galerie is more than a quarter of a mile long and one hundred feet wide. The Grande Galerie was built along the River Seine. It was the longest building in the world.
+
+Media related to Musée du Louvre at Wikimedia Commons

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+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
+
+Luxembourg is a country in Western Europe; its official name is the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg). It is a small country in land area. It was one of the first countries in the European Union. It is also a member of the Benelux. The countries next to Luxembourg are Belgium, Germany, and France. In 2015, its population was 569,700, making it one of Europe's most densely populated countries.
+
+Luxembourg is a parliamentary democracy lead by a constitutional monarch. Under the constitution of 1868, executive power is in the hands of the Governor and the cabinet, which consists of several other ministers.
+
+Luxembourg is divided into 3 districts, which are further divided into 12 cantons and then 116 communes. Twelve of the communes have city status, of which the city of Luxembourg is the largest.
+
+The districts are

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+
+
+Lynx lynxLynx canadensisLynx pardinusLynx rufus
+
+The Lynx is a small cat. It is a genus with four species.[1] The four species are in Eurasia, Spain, Canada and America, and do not overlap much.
+
+Lynx have short tails, and usually some hair on the ears. They have large paws (feet) padded for walking on snow, and long whiskers on the face. The color of the body is from light brown to grey and is sometimes marked with dark brown spots, especially on the legs. They weigh about 5 kg or about 11 pounds (approximately the size of a large domestic cat) and can weigh up to about 30 kg (66 pounds). They are between 70 and 150 cm long, with a relative short tail - 5-25 cm. They live for about 20 years.
+
+Lynx are similar to a regular house cat, but larger. They have a powerful body on short, furry legs attached to hefty feet, and a bobbed, black-tipped tail. The fur is spotted and yellowish-brown to grey. It has a collar of fur around the face, giving a triangular shape. They also have long black ear tufts.
+
+Lynx live in the high altitude forests with many shrubs, reeds and grass. They hunt only on the ground, but can climb trees and swim.
+
+They can be found in the some places in northern Scandinavia, in North America and also in the Himalayas. Since the 1990s people try to move part of the population of the Eurasian lynx to Germany. They can also be found in Białowieża Forest (northeastern Poland), and southern Spain.
+
+The Colorado Division of Wildlife tried to move other wild Lynx populations from Canada back to the United States.
+
+Lynx are usually solitary, although a small group may travel and hunt together occasionally. Mating takes place in the late winter and once a year the female gives birth to between two and four kittens. The young stay with the mother for one more winter, a total of around nine months, before moving out to live on their own as young adults.
+
+Lynx make their dens in crevices or under ledges. They feed on a wide range of animals from white-tailed deer, reindeer, roe deer, small red deer, and chamois, to smaller, more usual prey: snowshoe hares, fish, foxes, sheep, squirrels, mice, turkeys and other birds, and goats. They also eat ptarmigans,voles, and grouse.
+
+The Iberian lynx is the most endangered feline in the world. There are only two populations (together, 300 animals), in the southern Spain.
+Hunting lynxes is illegal in many countries.

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+A fairy tale is an English language expression for a kind of short story. It has the same meaning as the French expression conte de fée or Conte merveilleux, the German word Märchen, the Italian fiaba, the Polish baśń, the Russian сказка or the Swedish saga. These stories are not all directly about fairies,[1] but they are different from legends and traditions (which usually say that the stories are true)[2] and directly moral stories. There are usually fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants or gnomes in fairy tales, and usually magic.
+
+Fairy tales can also mean unusual happiness (for example, the expression "fairy tale ending", meaning a happy ending, even though not all fairy tales have a happy ending).[3] Also, "fairy tale" can simply mean any unbelievable story.
+
+Where demons and witches are seen as real, fairy tales can sometimes be similar to legends, where the story is claimed to be historically true. However, differently from legends and epics, they usually do not specifically mention religion and actual places, people, and events. They also do not say exactly when it happened. Instead, they say that the story happened "once upon a time".[4]
+
+Fairy tales are found in oral form (passed on from mouth to mouth) and in literary form (written down). Fairy tales' histories are hard to find. This is because only written fairy tales can be passed on for a long time. Still, literary works show that there have been fairy tales for thousands of years. Many fairy tales today have are based on very old stories that have appeared, though in different ways, in many different cultures around the world.[5] Fairy tales, and works based on from fairy tales, are still written today.
+
+At first, fairy tales were for both adults and children, but now children are mostly connected with fairy tales. Examples of traditional old fairy tales are Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood and "The Three Little Pigs". There can also be new fairy tales written by an author, like The Little Mermaid or Pinocchio. New fairy tales were for example written by Hans Christian Andersen, James Thurber and Oscar Wilde.
+
+People do not agree what a fairy tale exactly is.[6] Some argue that a story with fairies or other magical beings in the story would make it a fairy tale. However, others have suggested that the expression began when the French expression conte de fées was being translated (it was first used by Madame D'Aulnoy in 1697).[7] Vladimir Propp criticized the difference between "fairy tales" and "animal tales" in his book Morphology of the Folktale.[8] He said that many stories had both fantastic qualities and animals.[8] He suggested that fairy tales could be recognized by their story, but this has been criticized, because the same stories can be found in stories that are not fairy tales.[9]
+
+In fact, people such as Stith Thompson point out that there are often more talking animals and magic in fairy tales than fairies.[10] However, just because there is a talking animal in a story does not mean that the story is a fairy tale.[11]
+
+Steven Swann Jones said that fairy tales were different from other sorts of folktales because of magic.[12] Davidson and Chaudri say that "transformation (changing)" is the most important part of a fairy tale.[13]
+
+Some like to use the German expression Märchen or "wonder tale"[13] instead of fairy tale. For example, in his 1977 edition of The Folktale, Thompson said that fairy tales were "a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled with the marvelous. In this never-never land, humble heroes kill adversaries (enemies), succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses."[14] The characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple: princesses and girls taking care of geese; youngest sons and brave princes; ogres, giants, dragons, and trolls; wicked stepmothers and false heroes; fairy godmothers and other magic helpers, often talking horses, or foxes, or birds; rules, and people breaking rules.[15]
+
+Fairy tales were passed down by speaking of it from person to person before writing was developed. Stories were told or acted out dramatically. Because of this, the history of fairy tales is not very clear.[16] The oldest written fairy tales we know are from ancient Egypt, around 1300 BC.[17] There are sometimes fairy tales in written literature in different cultures, such as The Golden Ass, which includes Cupid and Psyche (Roman, 100–200 AD).[18] They show that fairy tales were told from very long ago.

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+The Roman Empire[n 8] was the largest empire of the ancient world. Its capital was Rome, and its empire was based in the Mediterranean. The Empire dates from 27 BC, when Octavian became the Emperor Augustus, until it fell in 476 AD, marking the end of the Ancient World and the beginning of the Middle Ages, or Dark Ages.[8]
+
+The empire was the third stage of Ancient Rome. Rome was first ruled by Roman kings, then by the Roman Republic, then by an emperor.
+
+Many modern lands were once part of the Roman Empire, for example Britain (not Scotland), Spain, Portugal, France, Israel, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Egypt, Levant, Crimea, Switzerland, and the north coast of Africa. The main language of the Roman Empire was Latin with Greek as an important secondary language, especially in the Eastern provinces of the Empire.
+
+The western half of the Roman Empire lasted for about 500 years till the barbarian general Odoacer deposed its final emperor Romulus Augustus. On the other hand, the eastern half, consisting of the Balkans, Anatolia, The Levant and Egypt, continued for about a thousand years more (the Levant and Egypt were lost to the Arabs in the 8th century). The eastern part was called the Byzantine Empire. Its capital was Constantinople, now called Istanbul.
+
+In order to control their large empire, the Romans developed important ideas about law and government. They developed the best army in the world at that time, and ruled by force. They had fine engineering, and built roads, cities, and outstanding buildings. The Empire was divided into provinces, each with a governor plus civil and military support. Letters, both official and private, would constantly go to and from Rome.
+
+Trade was most important for Rome, a city of more than a million people, by far the largest city in the world. They needed, and got, wheat from Egypt, tin from Britannia, grapes from Gaul, and so on. In return, the Romans built provincial capitals into fine cities, protected them from raids by barbarians, and provided education and career opportunities for young people in the provinces, such as jobs in the Roman Army.
+
+In principle, emperors had absolute control, and could do as they pleased. In practice, they faced many difficult problems. They had a staff of what we call 'civil servants' and the advice of the Roman Senate. The emperor had to decide what were the most important issues facing the Empire, and what should be done about them. Most of them tried to do two sorts of thing. One was to do things to improve the life of Romans in peacetime. The other was to fight and defeat Rome's enemies. A wealthy empire always has enemies.
+
+With kings and emperors, a big problem is the order of succession. Kings were sometimes followed by their eldest son, if he was capable of ruling. For Roman emperors, more often it would be an adopted son. It worked like this. The emperor would notice an outstanding young man from one of the best families. He would adopt him as his son. Before he died he would make clear whom he thought should succeed him, by making him a Roman consul, or by stating in his will that the younger man should succeed him. Sometimes this worked; sometimes it did not. Every now and then there would be a civil war between claimants to the throne.
+
+An adopted son or two gave the emperor more choices. Some emperors had no son; some had sons who did not survive. Later on, emperors grew so weak that the Roman army would just pick one of their generals to be the next emperor. This often led to civil war. The life stories of the emperors can be found in List of Roman emperors.
+
+The Romans fought many wars against other countries, and enjoyed watching violent sports. They enjoyed watching races between chariots pulled by horses, and fights between men using weapons (gladiators). Unlike in modern sports, the fighters were often killed in fights. Romans enjoyed these shows in the Colosseum.
+
+The Romans had great civil engineering. They built many large public buildings and villas, aqueducts to carry water, stone bridges and roads. Some of these things can still be seen today. Many famous writers were Romans, including Cicero and Virgil.
+
+The New Testament of the Bible tells about the Romans in the life of Jesus Christ. During Jesus' life, the Romans, who were pagans, ruled his country. Later, several emperors tried to destroy Christianity but they did not succeed. By 312 AD the emperor Galerius allowed people freedom to follow Christianity, and the next year, a general, Constantine, became emperor and converted to Christianity.
+
+The city of Rome was taken over several times by barbarians, notably in 410 AD when the Goths sacked the city (looting). The last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, resigned in 476 AD. The Roman Empire would last another 1,000 years as the Byzantine Empire in the east.
+
+The main coin of the Roman Empire was the silver denarius. Later denarii were smaller.
+
+Various reasons have been given for the fall of Rome. Edward Gibbon wrote The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in which he investigated various ideas. Chief among them was (in his opinion) was the effect of Christianity on the ability of the Empire to defend itself militarily.
+
+Other historians blame the unstable system of leadership. In a 50-year period, only 2 out of 22 emperors died a natural death. Most of the emperors were assassinated.[9]

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+The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a wall that separated the city of Berlin in Germany from 1961 to 1989. It separated the eastern half from the western half. Many people thought it was a symbol of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was taken down on November 9, 1989.[1][2] The Berlin Wall was about 168 kilometres (104 miles) long.[3] It was built to prevent people from escaping from the eastern half of Berlin.
+
+After World War II ended, Germany was divided into four zones, one zone for each of the main Allied countries: France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union.[4] Its capital Berlin was also divided into four zones, so that it was an enclave, like an island inside the Soviet zone. On May 8, 1949, the French, United Kingdom and US zones were made into West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany, Bundesrepublik Deutschland, BRD) and West Berlin. The Soviet zones were made into East Germany and East Berlin. East Germany (German Democratic Republic, Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR) was founded on October 7, 1949.[5] Europe, Germany and Berlin were divided by an iron curtain.
+
+After Germany split into West and East Germany on May 8, 1949, 2.6 million East Germans left to go to West Germany. In Berlin alone, 3.6 million people fled to the west.[6] To stop this, on August 13, 1961, the Communist government of East Germany built a wall separating East and West Berlin.
+
+The wall was built to keep the country's people in. But the Soviets and East German government said it was to keep capitalism out. They said that West Germany refused to recognize East Germany as an independent country because they wanted to take over North-East Germany just like Hitler took over Poland.
+
+People still tried to escape even though the Berlin Wall was there. They used many methods to get around the guards and barbed wire on the Berlin Wall.
+
+In the late 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev said that the Soviet Union would not use the Red Army to stop the people of Eastern and Middle Europe from changing their government. After he said that, several countries began to change the way they governed their people. Hungary opened its border and people from East Germany began moving to the west through Hungary. In October 1989 mass demonstrations against the government in East Germany began. The long-time leader, Erich Honecker, resigned and was replaced by Egon Krenz a few days later. Honecker had predicted in January 1989 that the wall would stand for a "hundred more years" if the conditions which had caused its construction did not change. This did not turn out to be true.
+
+In November, 1989, the Central Committee of East Germany decided to make it easier for East Germans to pass through the wall. A mistake by the press officer meant the border was opened several hours before it should have been. Millions of East German citizens celebrated the opening of the wall. Many collected souvenirs with chisels and some television stations filmed people hitting the wall with sledge hammers.
+
+This image of people in West Berlin hitting the wall is often said to be East Berliners breaking out. This is not true. The eastern side of the wall had no graffiti on it. All pictures of people chipping away at the wall show people hitting graffiti covered walls. Less than one year after the Berlin Wall was broken down, Germany again became one country.
+
+Satellite image of Berlin. The yellow line is where the Wall was.
+
+Where the Berlin Wall was inside Berlin (Checkpoints, or places that people could cross the wall, are shown).
+
+Panel at the border of the sector boundary in Berlin
+
+Same panel, other side (original)
+
+In the 28 years of its existence, between 125 and 206 people were killed when trying to cross the Berlin Wall.[7] At least 800 more people were killed outside Berlin, trying to cross from East Germany to the west.
+
+The East Germans did not record all of the deaths, so the real number of how many people died may never be known.
+
+Those people who were caught alive in an attempt to flee, had to go to jail for at least five years. The first victim of the Wall was Ida Siekmann. She was fatally injured after jumping out of the window of her apartment. She fell onto the pavement on the west side. The first victim of the Wall to be shot at was Günter Litfin. He was 24 years old and was shot by police, near the railway station of Berlin Friedrichstrasse, when he tried to get into the West. This was on 24 August, 1961, only eleven days after the border had been closed.
+
+Peter Fechter bled to death in the death strip, on 17 August, 1962. This led to a public outcry. American troops watched him, but could not help him. The East-German border policemen, who had wounded him, did not help him either.
+
+In 1966, two children, aged ten and thirteen years, were killed in the border strip. This is unusual because the East German border police had orders to not shoot on pregnant women, children or mentally ill people.
+
+On 6 February, 1989, border guards shot and killed Chris Gueffroy as he tried to cross the wall. He was the last person to be killed by border guards. On 8 March, 1989, Winfried Freudenberg died after falling from a gas balloon. He was the last person to die trying to cross the Berlin Wall and escape into West Berlin.
+
+The Berlin wall eventually started to fall once people rioted. Many jumped on top of the wall, and even crowded against it. This caused the wall to collapse in some areas, and more people could get through to the refugee camps that were set up on the other side.  "Tear down this wall!" was a speech made by United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the wall. The speech was made at the Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987. It was made to honor the 750th anniversary of Berlin.[8] His speech and its fallout might have aided in the wall's demolition.
+
+By late 1989 the GDR was suffering from many problems such as a struggling economy, and large-scale protests. The Hungarian regime had collapsed and  was dismantling its border fences with Austria by August 1989. Since the Warsaw Pact allowed citizens to travel within the Soviet bloc, many East German tourists fled to the west via Hungary. When the Hungarian government refused the GDR's demand to stop defectors, East Germany banned all travel to Hungary; prompting demonstrations and protest. This began the GDR's isolation within the bloc.
+
+Erich Honecker, leader of the GDR since 1971, was forced to resign on October 18, 1989.   He was replaced by Egon Krenz after a unanimous vote by the politburo. Under Krenz's regime, East Germans could still escape to Hungary via Czechoslovakia.
+
+The number of defectors grew and caused tensions between East Germany and Czechoslovakia. The Krenz regime decided to allow people to leave directly to the west through border checkpoints in East Berlin. This prompted many East Germans, who learned about it broadcast from West German media, to go to the border crossings and demand to be let through immediately.
+
+Border guards at each checkpoint told the people to go back home as they had no orders that the wall would open that night. As time passed, the number of people arriving at the checkpoint was increasing and the guards were becoming alarmed. They began taking the more aggressive people aside and stamped their passports with a special stamp that allowed them access to West Berlin however, the people weren't aware that they were effectively revoking their East German citizenship and were shocked to be refused entry back into the GDR. The Chief Guard of the checkpoint frantically telephoned his superiors hoping to get answers as to why so many people thought that the wall was to open. By 22:45, it was clear that the outnumbered and overwhelmed border guards would not use their weapons to suppress the crowds. The Chief Guard surrendered and ordered the gates to West Berlin to be opened. The crowds of East Berliners were met with crowds of West Berliners in a happy scene as the Berlin wall had just fallen.
+
+Many people even climbed up onto the wall by the Brandenburg Gate in protest and began to chisel away at the wall. The GDR authorities responded to this initially by blasting the people with water cannons; this proved to be ineffective. The East German army later climbed up onto the wall to prevent others from standing on the wall. The government began demolishing the wall the next day. The fall of the wall destroyed the SED, the ruling party of the GDR, and caused many of its officials to resign. The German Democratic Republic would cease to exist less than a year later; reuniting with the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3, 1990.
+
+The wall was changed and added to several times. It was not really a wall, but a collection of walls and fences and other devices. This is what the border fence was made of, starting from the east, going west
+
+The whole was done in an a zone of between 30 and 500 m wide. The official (civil border) began before the first fence. Entering the installation required a special permit. The real border was about one or two metres in front of the concrete wall, so that the whole of the wall complex was inside East Germany (only the East Berlin part of the wall was inside East Berlin).
+
+The border between East Germany and West Germany was also heavily defended with fences and mines. East Germans needed a special permit to live close to the border.
+
+Watchtower, near Potsdam Square.
+
+A part of the Berlin Wall, that is left today.
+
+In many places the Wall was replaced by paving stones like these.
+
+Commemorative plates include this one saying Berlin Wall 1961-1989.
+
+After the Reunification of Germany in October 3, 1990, the Berlin Wall was demolished and taken away. A few sections of the wall remain; some of the sections became a museum.
+
+The East Berlin special police who guarded the wall had the order to shoot if this was necessary to stop people fleeing. East German leaders such as Egon Krenz were arrested after German reunification because guards were ordered to shoot to kill.[9]
+
+However, after the Wall was built, many people were no longer able to leave East Berlin using normal border posts. The only way they could do so was to race through the Wall or try to dig a tunnel underneath.
+
+After the unification of Germany, border guards who had shot people were convicted by West German Courts. The judges said, that some of the laws of the border police (about shooting) were against human rights. They therefore should have refused to shoot.
+
+The same was of course applied to those people who had shot border police on their flight.
+
+Border guards who did shoot, and stop someone from fleeing could get a reward of up to 500 Marks. Some of those guards were sentenced after the unification.
+
+The other choice was to not shoot, or to miss badly. Such guards risked losing their well-paid jobs.
+
+Another strip of land was given to West Berlin. This strip was only the width of a road which joined West Berlin with a tiny exclave.

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+An encyclopedia or encyclopaedia[a] is a collection (usually a book) of information.  Some are called "encyclopedic dictionaries".[1][2][3][4]
+
+All encyclopedias were printed, until the late 20th century when some were on CD-ROM and the Internet. 21st century encyclopedias are mostly online by Internet.
+The largest encyclopedia in the English language is English Wikipedia, which has more than 6 million articles. The second largest is the Encyclopædia Britannica, which is the largest one that is printed. Either kind of encyclopedia can inform us on many different topics.
+
+Book series were used to summarize all knowledge have been published for thousands of years.  A famous early one was the Natural History by Pliny the Elder. The name "encyclopedia" is from the 16th century and meant "complete knowledge". The French Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot was the first that had major parts written by many people from all around the world.
+
+After the printing press was invented, dictionaries with long definitions began to be called encyclopedias that were books that has articles or subjects. For example, a dictionary of science, if it included essays or paragraphs, it was thought of as an encyclopedia or knowledgeable book on the subject of science. Some encyclopedias then put essays on more than one subject in alphabetical order instead of grouping them together by subject. The word, encyclopedia, was put in the title of some encyclopedias.
+
+Companies such as Britannica were started for the purpose of publishing encyclopedias for sale to individuals, and for public use in libraries. Like dictionaries (which had definitions), these publishers hired hundreds of experts to write articles and read and choose articles. Some internet encyclopedias allowed their paying customers to submit articles from other encyclopedias. Other internet encyclopedias accepted writing from non-paying users (users who did not sign in) of the encyclopedia.
+
+There are different types of encyclopedias. Some are general and have pages on lots of topics. The English language Encyclopædia Britannica and German Brockhaus are general encyclopedias. Some are about specific topics. For example, there are encyclopedias of medicine or philosophy. Others include the Dictionary of National Biography, the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, and Black's Law Dictionary. There are also encyclopedias that that cover many topics with one perspective or one cultural bias. They include the Great Soviet Encyclopedia and Conservapedia.
+
+There are two main ways of organizing printed encyclopedias: from A to Z (the alphabetical way) or by categories. Most encyclopedias go from A to Z.
+
+Many dictionaries have similar information to encyclopedias.

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+Solar energy is the transformation of heat, the energy that comes from the sun. It has been used for thousands of years in many different ways by people all over the world. The oldest uses of solar energy is for heating, cooking, and drying. Today, it is also used to make electricity where other power supplies are not there, such as in places far away from where people live, and in outer space.
+
+It is becoming cheaper to make electricity from solar energy. Because the Sun always gives heat, solar energy can be considered a renewable energy and an alternative to non-renewable resources like coal and oil.
+
+Solar energy is used today in a number of ways:
+
+After passing through the Earth's atmosphere, most of the Sun's energy is in the form of visible light and infrared light radiation. Plants convert the energy in sunlight into chemical energy (sugars and starches) through the process of photosynthesis. Humans regularly use this store of energy in various ways, as when they burn wood off fossil fuels, or when simply eating plants, fish and animals.
+
+Solar radiation reaches the Earth's upper atmosphere with the power of 1366 watts per square meter (W/m2). Since the Earth is round, the surface nearer its poles is angled away from the Sun and receives much less solar energy than the surface nearer the equator.
+
+At present, solar cell panels convert, at best, about 15% of the sunlight hitting them into electricity.[1] 
+The dark disks in the third diagram on the right are imaginary examples of the amount of land that, if covered with 8% efficient solar panels, would produce slightly more energy in the form of electricity than the world needed in 2003.
+[2]
+
+Many technologies have been developed to make use of solar radiation.  Some of these technologies make direct use of the solar energy (e.g. to provide light, heat, etc.), while others produce electricity.
+
+Solar power plants convert sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics converts light into electric current using the photoelectric effect.[3]
+
+Solar cooking uses the Sun as the source of energy instead of standard cooking fuels such as charcoal, coal or gas.  Solar cookers are an inexpensive and environmentally sound alternative to traditional ovens. They are becoming widely used in areas of the developing world where deforestation is an issue, financial resources to purchase fuel are limited, and where open flames would pose a serious risk to people and the environment. Solar cookers are covered with a glass plate. They achieve a higher temperature by using mirrors to focus the rays of the sun.
+
+The Sun may be used to heat water instead of electricity or gas. There are two basic types of active solar heating systems based on the type of fluid — either liquid or air — that is heated in the solar energy collectors. (The collector is the device in which a fluid is heated by the Sun.)
+
+Liquid-based systems heat water or an antifreeze solution in a "hydronic" collector, whereas air-based systems heat air in an "air collector."[28]  Both air and liquid systems can supplement forced air systems.
+
+Solar cells can be used to generate electricity from sunlight. It is a device that converts light energy into electrical energy. Sometimes the term solar cell is reserved for devices intended specifically to capture energy from sunlight, while the term photovoltaic cell is used when the light source is unspecified.
+
+Solar cells have many applications. They have long been used in situations where electrical power from the grid is unavailable, such as in remote area power systems, Earth-orbiting satellites and space probes, consumer systems, e.g. handheld calculators or wrist watches, remote radiotelephones and water pumping applications. A large no. of solar cells are combined in an arrangement called solar cell panel that can deliver enough electricity for practical use. Electricity produced by solar panels can be stored in rechargeable solar batteries, which is then drawn upon when required.[29]

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+
+
+Mesothelae
+Opisthothelae
+
+Spiders (class Arachnida, order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods. They have eight legs, and mouthparts (chelicerae) with fangs that inject venom. Most make silk. The arachnids  are seventh in number of species of all animal orders.[2] About 48,000 spider species, and 120 families have been recorded by taxonomists.[3] Over twenty different classifications have been proposed since 1900.[4]p3 Spiders live on every continent except for Antarctica, and in nearly every habitat with the exceptions of air and sea.
+
+Almost all spiders are predators, and most eat insects. They catch their prey in several ways. Some build a spider web, and some use a thread of silk that they throw at the insect. Some kinds of spiders hide in holes in the ground, then run out and grab an insect that walks by. Others will make web 'nets' to throw at passing insects. Or they go out and simply attack their prey. Some can jump quite well and hunt by sneaking close to an insect and then jumping on it.
+
+Spiders have a two-part body, the front part (cephalothorax) and the abdomen. Unlike insects, spiders do not have antennae. The more advanced spiders have a centralized nervous system, with their ganglia fused into one mass in the cephalothorax. Unlike most arthropods, spiders have no extensor muscles in their limbs, and extend them by hydraulic pressure.
+
+The smallest of full-grown spiders can be less than 4 mm. (0.1 inch). The largest of spiders can have a body length of 10 cm. (4 inches) or more. The largest can weigh 150 grams (5.3 oz). The largest of spiders are the tarantulas and the huntsman spiders. Some huntsman spiders in South East Asia can have a leg span of around 250–300 mm (9.8–11.8 in).
+
+Most spiders have four pairs of eyes on the top-front area of the body, arranged in patterns that vary from one family to another. The main eyes at the front are capable of forming images.[5] Jumping spiders have visual acuity which is ten times better than that of dragonflies, which have by far the best vision among insects. The spiders do this by a telephoto-like series of lenses, a four-layered retina. They can swivel their eyes and put together images from different stages in the scan. The downside is that the scanning and integrating processes are relatively slow.[6]
+
+Spiders and other arthropods have modified their cuticles into elaborate arrays of sensors. Various sensors, mostly bristles, respond to touch, from strong contact to very weak air currents. Chemical sensors provide equivalents of taste and smell.[5] Spiders also have in the joints of their limbs sensors that detect forces and vibrations. In web-building spiders all these mechanical and chemical sensors are more important than the eyes. The eyes are more important to spiders that hunt actively. Like most arthropods, spiders lack balance sensors, and rely on their eyes to tell them which way is up.[5]
+
+Even a relatively large spider can have fangs with very sharp points. The fangs are hollow, like the needles used to give shots. Spiders use their fangs to inject toxins that kill the insects they will eat. Some kinds of spider venom attack the nervous systems of their prey, and other kinds of venom attack body tissues.
+
+Almost all spiders are predators, and eat insects and other arthropods (including other spiders). Most use venom from their fangs to kill their prey. It is rare for spiders to capture prey that are much larger than they are. It is also difficult for most spiders to capture prey that are very much smaller than they are. Most species of spiders cannot live close together because they treat each other as their next meal, but there are some spiders that form colonies. Spiders eat not only spiders of other species, but spiders of their own species.
+
+The black widow spider got its name because the females sometimes eat the males that mate with them. This may also happen in other species. Each species of spider has its own way of communicating with other spiders they meet. Because of the danger of being eaten, in some species the males have special hooks on their front legs with which they hold the female while they mate. Others bring the female something to eat. There are a few species in which the male spiders construct their own little webs that are connected to the webs of the females. In these species, the male is so much smaller than the female that it would be difficult for her to actually capture the male.
+
+Most spiders have such poor vision that they will not even notice a dead insect. Jumping spiders are one exception to this rule. They have such good vision that they can find recently dead flies or other insects to eat.
+
+Most spiders are predators, but the jumping spider Bagheera kiplingi gets over 90% of its food from fairly solid plant material produced by acacias as part of a beneficial relationship with a species of ant.[7]
+
+Young spiders of several families feed on plant nectar. Studies have shown that they do this for long periods. They also clean themselves regularly while feeding. These spiders also prefer sugar solutions to plain water, which shows that they are looking for nutrients. Many spiders are nocturnal, they are most active during the night. The extent of nectar consumption by spiders may therefore have been under-estimated. Nectar contains amino acids, lipids, vitamins and minerals in addition to sugars. Studies have shown that other spider species live longer when nectar is available. Feeding on nectar also avoids the risks of struggles with prey, and the costs of producing venom and digestive enzymes.[8]
+
+Various species are known to feed on dead arthropods (scavenging), web silk, and their own shed exoskeletons. Pollen caught in webs may also be eaten, and studies have shown that young spiders have a better chance of survival if they have the opportunity to eat pollen. In captivity, several spider species are also known to feed on bananas, marmalade, milk, egg yolk and sausages.[8]
+
+The best-known method spiders use to capture prey is a sticky web. The placing of the web allows different spiders to trap different insects in the same area. Flat, horizontal webs allow them to trap insects that fly up from vegetation underneath, for example. Flat vertical nets allow them to trap insects in flight. The spiders that build webs usually do not see very well, but they are very sensitive to vibrations.[5]
+
+Females of the water spider Argyroneta aquatica build underwater "diving bell" webs which they fill with air and use eating their prey, molting, mating, and raising offspring. They live almost entirely within the bells, darting out to catch prey animals that touch the bell or the threads that anchor it.[9] A few spiders use the surfaces of lakes and ponds as "webs", detecting trapped insects by the vibrations that these cause while struggling.[5]
+
+Net-casting spiders weave only small webs but then manipulate them to trap prey. They stretch their webs and then release them when prey strike them. Those of the family Deinopidae weave even smaller webs, hold them outstretched between their first two pairs of legs, and lunge and push the webs as much as twice their own body length to trap prey, and this move may increase the webs' area by a factor of up to ten. Experiments have shown that Deinopis spinosus has two different techniques for trapping prey: backwards strikes to catch flying insects, whose vibrations it detects; and forward strikes to catch ground-walking prey that it sees. These two techniques have also been observed in other deinopids. Walking insects form most of the prey of most deinopids, but one population of Deinopis subrufus appears to live mainly on tipulid flies that they catch with the backwards strike.[10]
+
+Mature female bolas spiders of the genus Mastophora build "webs" that consist of only a single "trapeze line", which they patrol. They also construct a bolas made of a single thread, tipped with a large ball of very wet sticky silk. They emit chemicals that resemble the pheromones of moths, and then swing the bolas at the moths. They catch about the same weight of insects per night as web-weaving spiders of similar size. The spiders eat the bolas if they have not made a kill in about 30 minutes, rest for a while, and then make new bolas.[11][12] Juveniles and adult males are much smaller and do not make bolas. Instead they release different pheromones that attract moth flies, and catch them with their front pairs of legs.[13]
+
+The primitive Liphistiidae, the "trapdoor spiders" (family Ctenizidae) and many tarantulas are ambush predators. They lurk in burrows, often closed by trapdoors and surrounded by networks of silk threads that alert these spiders to the presence of prey.[14] Other ambush predators do without such aids, including many crab spiders.[5] A few species that prey on bees, which see ultraviolet, can adjust their ultraviolet reflectance to match the flowers in which they are lurking.[15] Wolf spiders, jumping spiders, fishing spiders and some crab spiders capture prey by chasing it, and rely mainly on vision to get their prey.[5]
+
+Not all spiders use silk to net their prey. Instead, these spiders may capture insects by grabbing them and then biting them. Among these kinds of spiders the two best known are the wolf spiders and the jumping spiders.
+
+A wolf spider will usually wait until an insect comes near to it, and then rush at the insect, grab it using its front legs, and then bite the insect so that its venom can do its work.
+
+Female wolf spiders lay their eggs on a pad of silk and then draw the edges together to create a round ball that they carry along with them wherever they go. They hold their egg balls to their tail ends by using their silk. When the eggs hatch, the little spiders will crawl onto the mother's back, and she will carry them along with her for days or weeks.
+
+Wolf spiders are very good mothers and will strongly protect both their egg balls and their infants. When the time comes, the little spiders will leave the mother and each will go its own way.
+
+Jumping spiders have very good eyes and can see well. They sneak as close to an insect as they can, and then they jump onto the insect and immediately bite it. Since they often hunt in trees, bushes, and on the sides of walls, if the jumping spider misses it may fall off. But they have a way to save themselves from harm. Before they jump they fasten their silk to the place where they have been standing, and as they jump they let out a silk safety line. So if they fall they will catch themselves when they reach the end of their silk safety line. Sometimes a jumping spider will catch an insect and then fall while still holding onto the insect. But the spider is still safe.
+
+Jumping spiders make little silken "tents" for themselves to sleep in. When they lay eggs they keep them inside such a shelter. They do not take their eggs with them when they go out to hunt.
+
+For all male spiders it is dangerous to seek a mate. The female spider may not realize that the male is a spider of her kind, so she may try to eat it. The jumping spiders not only have visual patterns that identify them to each other, but the male jumping spider will do a special dance when it approaches a female of the same species. That way, the female can recognize that it is a male of her species. She will generally forget about eating for long enough to mate with the visiting male spider.
+
+Jumping spiders have such good eyes that they will usually watch any human who tries to watch them. Some species are very shy and will run away if the human gets too close. But some species, such as Phidippus audax (the audacious or brave jumping spider) and Platycryptus undatus, can become calm if the human comes close to them slowly. Sometimes they will jump onto one of your fingers and then jump from finger to finger and from hand to hand. They seem to want to explore.
+
+Some jumping spiders of the genus Portia hunt other spiders in ways that seem intelligent,[6] outflanking their victims or luring them from their webs. Laboratory studies show that Portia's instinctive tactics are only starting points for a trial-and-error approach from which these spiders learn very quickly how to overcome new prey species.[16] However, they seem to be relatively slow thinkers, which is not surprising as their brains are vastly smaller than those of mammalian predators.[6]
+
+Ant-mimicking spiders face several challenges: they generally develop slimmer abdomens and false "waists" to mimic the three distinct regions (tagmata) of an ant's body; they wave the first pair of legs in form to their heads to mimic antennae, which spiders lack, and to conceal the fact that they have eight legs rather than six. They have large color patches round one pair of eyes to disguise the fact that they generally have eight simple eyes, while ants have two compound eyes; they cover their bodies with reflective hairs to resemble the shiny bodies of ants. In some spider species males and females mimic different ant species, as female spiders are usually much larger than males.
+
+Ant-mimicking spiders also modify their behavior to resemble that of the target species of ant, for example many adopt a zig-zag pattern of movement, ant-mimicking jumping spiders avoid jumping, and spiders of the genus Synemosyna walk on the outer edges of leaves in the same way as Pseudomyrmex. Ant-mimicry in many spiders and other arthropods may be for protection from predators that hunt by sight, including birds, lizards and spiders. However several ant-mimicking spiders prey either on ants or on the ants "livestock" such as aphids. When at rest the ant-mimicking crab spider Amyciaea does not closely resemble Oecophylla, but while hunting it imitates the behavior of a dying ant to attract worker ants. After a kill some ant-mimicking spiders hold their victims between themselves and large groups of ants to avoid being attacked.[17]
+
+Spiders reproduce sexually and fertilization is internal but indirect. In other words, the sperm is not inserted into the female's body by the male's genitals but by an intermediate stage. Unlike many land-living arthropods,[5] male spiders do not produce ready-made spermatophores (packages of sperm). Instead, they spin small sperm webs on to which they ejaculate and then transfer the sperm to structures on the tips of their pedipalps. When a male detects signs of a female nearby he checks whether she is of the same species and whether she is ready to mate; for example in species that produce webs or 'safety ropes', the male can identify the species and sex of these objects by smell.[5]
+
+Spiders generally use elaborate courtship rituals to prevent the large females from eating the small males before fertilization, except where the male is so much smaller that he is not worth eating. In some species males mate with newly molted females, which are too weak to be dangerous to the males.[4]
+
+In web-weaving species precise patterns of vibrations in the web are a major part of the rituals, while patterns of touches on the female's body are important in many spiders that hunt actively, and may 'hypnotize' the female. Gestures and dances by the male are important for jumping spiders, which have excellent eyesight. If courtship is successful, the male injects his sperm from the pedipalps into the female's genital opening on the underside of her abdomen. Female reproductive tracts vary. Some are simple tubes, but others have chambers where females store sperm, and release it when they are ready.[5]
+
+Males do get eaten in some species. Males of the genus Tidarren cut off one of their palps, and enter adult life with one palp only. The palps are 20% of male's body mass in this species, and detaching one of the two improves mobility. In the Yemeni species Tidarren argo, the remaining palp is then torn off by the female. The separated palp remains attached to the female's opening for about four hours. In the meantime, the female feeds on the palpless male.[18] In over 60% of cases the female of the Australian redback spider kills and eats the male after it inserts its second palp into the female's genital opening; in fact the males co-operate by trying to impale themselves on the females' fangs. Observation shows that most male redbacks never get an opportunity to mate, and the 'lucky' ones increase the likely number of offspring by ensuring that the females are well-fed.[19] However males of most species survive a few matings, limited mainly by their short life spans. Some even live for a while in their mates' webs.[4]p176/212
+
+Females lay up to 3,000 eggs in one or more silk egg sacs,[5] which maintain a fairly constant humidity level.[4] In some species the females die afterwards, but females of other species protect the sacs by attaching them to their webs, hiding them in nests, carrying them in the chelicerae or attaching them to the spinnerets and dragging them along.[5]
+
+Baby spiders pass all their larval stages inside the egg and hatch as spiderlings, very small and sexually immature but similar in shape to adults. Some spiders care for their young, for example a wolf spider's brood cling to rough bristles on the mother's back,[5] and females of some species respond to the "begging" behaviour of their young by giving them their prey, provided it is no longer struggling, or even regurgitate food.[4]
+
+Like other arthropods, spiders have to moult to grow as their cuticle ("skin") cannot stretch.[5] Most spiders live for only one to two years, although some tarantulas can live in captivity for over 20 years.p232[4][5]
+
+Of the 40,000 spiders, less than 12 are known to be dangerous to humans. Most of the time, being bitten by a spider is painful. Most spiders use venom to paralyse their prey; they kill it through eating, or through a bite. A few spiders have venoms that can be dangerous to weakened people and those allergic to it. Since 1927, 13 people have died, after a bite from a Atrax robustus spider from Australia.[20]
+
+The spider that kills the most people, the black widow and other spiders in the genius Latrodectus are around 1 cm. in body length. The Atrax and Phoneutria spiders, which are also capable of killing people, both average around 2.5 cm. or one inch, and even the Widow spiders are large enough to be easily noticed.
+
+Even relatively small spiders like Phidippus audax can give a painful bite if you hurt them, but spiders are very helpful to human beings because they control insects that eat our crops.
+
+Being afraid of spiders is a very common phobia (fear). The widow spiders (black widows and other members of their genus) never willingly leave their webs, so usually people get bitten when they touch the spider by mistake.
+
+Click on a picture to see it larger:
+
+Small: Platycryptus undatus8–13 mm
+
+Medium: Argiope aurantia14–25 mm
+
+Large: Theraphosa blondi120–140 mm
+
+Phoneutria nigriventerBrazilian wandering spider

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+Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin (help·info) (22 April 1870 – 21 January 1924) was a Russian lawyer, revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party and of the October Revolution. He was the first leader of the USSR and the government that took over Russia in 1917. Lenin's ideas became known as Leninism.
+
+Lenin was born on 22 April 1870 in the town of Simbirsk in the Russian Empire. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father was an education official (technically, his father's job made him and his family noblemen).
+
+Lenin began studying politics in high school. Lenin was good in school and learned the Latin and Greek languages. In 1887, he was thrown out of Kazan State University because he protested against the Tsar who was the king of the Russian Empire. He continued to read books and study ideas by himself, and in 1891 he got a license to become a lawyer.
+
+In the same year that Lenin was expelled from University, his brother Alexander was hanged for his part in a bomb plot to kill Tsar Alexander III, and their sister Anna was sent to Tatarstan. This made Lenin furious, and he promised to get revenge for his brother's death.
+
+While he studied law in St. Petersburg he learned about the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who were both philosophers from Germany. Karl Marx's thoughts were called Marxism. To talk or write about Marxism like it was a good thing was illegal in Russia, and Lenin was arrested for that and sent to prison in Siberia. This punishment was harsh because Siberia is known for being very cold and isolated, and almost impossible to escape.
+
+In July 1898, when he was still in Siberia, Lenin married Nadezhda Krupskaya. In 1899 he wrote a book he called The Development of Capitalism in Russia. In 1900, Lenin was set free from prison and allowed to go back home. He then traveled around Europe. He began to publish a Marxist newspaper called Iskra, the Russian word for "spark" or "lightning". He also became an important member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP.
+
+In 1903, Lenin had a major argument with another leader of the party, Julius Martov, which divided the party in two. Lenin wanted to establish socialism right away, rather than establishing capitalism first and then making the transition to socialism. Martov disagreed, he wanted to cling to the Classical Marxist idea that in order to achieve socialism, you must go through capitalism first. People who agreed with Martov were called Mensheviks (meaning "the minority"). The people who agreed with Lenin were called Bolsheviks ("the majority").
+
+In 1907 he traveled around Europe again, and visited many socialist meetings and events. During World War I he lived in big European cities like London, Paris and Geneva. At the beginning of the war, a big left-wing meeting called the Second International included the Bolsheviks. The meeting shut down when a lot of the groups argued whether or not to support the war. Lenin and the Bolsheviks were one of only a few groups who were against the war because of their Marxist ideas.
+
+After Tsar Nicholas II gave up his throne during the February Revolution, Lenin went back to Russia where he was still a very important Bolshevik leader. He wrote that he wanted a revolution by ordinary workers to overthrow the government that had replaced Nicholas II.
+
+In 1917, The Kadets, a right-wing party, and elements of the Okhrana (secret police) started rumors that Lenin had got money from the Germans, because they had sent him through Germany in a special train to reach Russia. That may have made him look bad because a lot of Russians had died fighting Germany in the war. After the July Days, a popular uprising in Petrograd which was crushed by the Russian Provisional Government, he left Russia and went to Finland, where he could hide and carry on with his work on Communism.
+
+In October 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, headed the Petrograd Soviet and other Soviets all over Russia in a revolution against Kerensky's government, which was known as the October Revolution. They won, and announced that Russia was a socialist country. In November, Lenin was chosen as its leader.
+
+Because Lenin wanted an end to World War I in Russia, he signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in February 1918.  While the treaty ended the attack by Germany, Russia lost a large amount of land that it used for farming.
+
+The treaty also made Germany's other enemies angry, and together with Russian people who supported the Tsar or Kerensky's government, they attacked Russia. Lenin made rules that as much food as possible was to be given to Bolshevik soldiers in Russia's new Red Army. This meant that they won the war, but ordinary people were starving, and many died of hunger or disease.
+
+After the war, Lenin brought in the New Economic Policy to try and make things better for the country and move from capitalism towards socialism. Some private enterprise was still allowed, but not much. Businessmen, known as nepmen, could only own small industries, not factories. Factories and large industry became public property to be owned by the workers.
+
+A woman named Fanny Kaplan shot Lenin whilst he was making an official visit.  She missed his head and instead the bullet was lodged into his neck.  Fearing that he would be killed by political dissenters, he refused to have the bullet removed until a guaranteed Communist doctor could be found. As a result of his direct refusal to be treated, the bullet was never removed, and is often cited as the reason he started having strokes in May and December 1922 (both of which he recovered from). In March 1923 a stroke paralyzed him and left him unable to speak, and in January 1924 a stroke killed him. Just before he died, Lenin had wanted to get rid of Stalin because he thought he was dangerous to the country and the government.
+
+The city of St. Petersburg had been renamed Petrograd by the Tsar in 1914, but was renamed Leningrad in memory of Lenin in 1924. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 Leningrad was again named St. Petersburg, which it remains to this day.
+
+Before Lenin died, he said he wished to be buried beside his mother.  When he died, Stalin let the people in Russia look at his body.  Because people kept coming they decided not to bury him, and preserved his body instead.  A building was built in Red Square, Moscow over the body so that people could see it. It is called the Lenin Mausoleum. Many Russians and tourists still go there to see his body today.

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+Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin (help·info) (22 April 1870 – 21 January 1924) was a Russian lawyer, revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party and of the October Revolution. He was the first leader of the USSR and the government that took over Russia in 1917. Lenin's ideas became known as Leninism.
+
+Lenin was born on 22 April 1870 in the town of Simbirsk in the Russian Empire. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father was an education official (technically, his father's job made him and his family noblemen).
+
+Lenin began studying politics in high school. Lenin was good in school and learned the Latin and Greek languages. In 1887, he was thrown out of Kazan State University because he protested against the Tsar who was the king of the Russian Empire. He continued to read books and study ideas by himself, and in 1891 he got a license to become a lawyer.
+
+In the same year that Lenin was expelled from University, his brother Alexander was hanged for his part in a bomb plot to kill Tsar Alexander III, and their sister Anna was sent to Tatarstan. This made Lenin furious, and he promised to get revenge for his brother's death.
+
+While he studied law in St. Petersburg he learned about the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who were both philosophers from Germany. Karl Marx's thoughts were called Marxism. To talk or write about Marxism like it was a good thing was illegal in Russia, and Lenin was arrested for that and sent to prison in Siberia. This punishment was harsh because Siberia is known for being very cold and isolated, and almost impossible to escape.
+
+In July 1898, when he was still in Siberia, Lenin married Nadezhda Krupskaya. In 1899 he wrote a book he called The Development of Capitalism in Russia. In 1900, Lenin was set free from prison and allowed to go back home. He then traveled around Europe. He began to publish a Marxist newspaper called Iskra, the Russian word for "spark" or "lightning". He also became an important member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP.
+
+In 1903, Lenin had a major argument with another leader of the party, Julius Martov, which divided the party in two. Lenin wanted to establish socialism right away, rather than establishing capitalism first and then making the transition to socialism. Martov disagreed, he wanted to cling to the Classical Marxist idea that in order to achieve socialism, you must go through capitalism first. People who agreed with Martov were called Mensheviks (meaning "the minority"). The people who agreed with Lenin were called Bolsheviks ("the majority").
+
+In 1907 he traveled around Europe again, and visited many socialist meetings and events. During World War I he lived in big European cities like London, Paris and Geneva. At the beginning of the war, a big left-wing meeting called the Second International included the Bolsheviks. The meeting shut down when a lot of the groups argued whether or not to support the war. Lenin and the Bolsheviks were one of only a few groups who were against the war because of their Marxist ideas.
+
+After Tsar Nicholas II gave up his throne during the February Revolution, Lenin went back to Russia where he was still a very important Bolshevik leader. He wrote that he wanted a revolution by ordinary workers to overthrow the government that had replaced Nicholas II.
+
+In 1917, The Kadets, a right-wing party, and elements of the Okhrana (secret police) started rumors that Lenin had got money from the Germans, because they had sent him through Germany in a special train to reach Russia. That may have made him look bad because a lot of Russians had died fighting Germany in the war. After the July Days, a popular uprising in Petrograd which was crushed by the Russian Provisional Government, he left Russia and went to Finland, where he could hide and carry on with his work on Communism.
+
+In October 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, headed the Petrograd Soviet and other Soviets all over Russia in a revolution against Kerensky's government, which was known as the October Revolution. They won, and announced that Russia was a socialist country. In November, Lenin was chosen as its leader.
+
+Because Lenin wanted an end to World War I in Russia, he signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in February 1918.  While the treaty ended the attack by Germany, Russia lost a large amount of land that it used for farming.
+
+The treaty also made Germany's other enemies angry, and together with Russian people who supported the Tsar or Kerensky's government, they attacked Russia. Lenin made rules that as much food as possible was to be given to Bolshevik soldiers in Russia's new Red Army. This meant that they won the war, but ordinary people were starving, and many died of hunger or disease.
+
+After the war, Lenin brought in the New Economic Policy to try and make things better for the country and move from capitalism towards socialism. Some private enterprise was still allowed, but not much. Businessmen, known as nepmen, could only own small industries, not factories. Factories and large industry became public property to be owned by the workers.
+
+A woman named Fanny Kaplan shot Lenin whilst he was making an official visit.  She missed his head and instead the bullet was lodged into his neck.  Fearing that he would be killed by political dissenters, he refused to have the bullet removed until a guaranteed Communist doctor could be found. As a result of his direct refusal to be treated, the bullet was never removed, and is often cited as the reason he started having strokes in May and December 1922 (both of which he recovered from). In March 1923 a stroke paralyzed him and left him unable to speak, and in January 1924 a stroke killed him. Just before he died, Lenin had wanted to get rid of Stalin because he thought he was dangerous to the country and the government.
+
+The city of St. Petersburg had been renamed Petrograd by the Tsar in 1914, but was renamed Leningrad in memory of Lenin in 1924. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 Leningrad was again named St. Petersburg, which it remains to this day.
+
+Before Lenin died, he said he wished to be buried beside his mother.  When he died, Stalin let the people in Russia look at his body.  Because people kept coming they decided not to bury him, and preserved his body instead.  A building was built in Red Square, Moscow over the body so that people could see it. It is called the Lenin Mausoleum. Many Russians and tourists still go there to see his body today.

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+Lens can mean different things:

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+A contact lens is a type of soft lens that you put directly into your eye in order to help you see better. They are a different option instead of glasses. They have to be prescribed by your eye doctor. Some contact lenses can be used many times, while other types are disposable products
+used only once and then thrown away.
+

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+Lens can mean different things:

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+Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian man who lived in the time of the Renaissance.  He is famous for his paintings,[1] but he was also a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, and a writer.
+Leonardo wanted to know everything about nature. He wanted to know how everything worked. He was very good at studying, designing and making all sorts of interesting things.[2]
+
+Many people think that Leonardo was one of the greatest painters of all time. Other people think that he was the most talented person ever to have lived.[1] The art historian Helen Gardner said that no-one has ever been quite like him because he was interested in so many things that he seems to have had the mind of a giant, and yet what he was like as a person is still a mystery.[3]
+
+Leonardo was born at Vinci which is a small town near Florence, Italy. He was trained to be an artist by the sculptor and painter Verrocchio. He spent most of his life working for rich Italian noblemen. In his last years, he lived in a beautiful home given to him by the King of France.
+
+Two of his pictures are among the best-known paintings in the world: the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He did many drawings. The best-known drawing is Vitruvian Man.  Leonardo was often thinking of new inventions. He kept notebooks with notes and drawings of these ideas.  Most of his inventions were never made. Some of his ideas were a helicopter, a tank, a calculator, a parachute, a robot, a telephone, evolution, and solar power.[source?]
+
+Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452,[4] in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the valley of the Arno River. His grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, wrote down the details of the birth. Leonardo's parents were not married. His father was a Notary, Ser Piero da Vinci.[5][6] His mother, Caterina, was a servant. She may have been a slave from the Middle East.[7][8] or from China.[9] His father later on took custody of Leonardo and his mother remarried and had 5 more children.[10] Leonardo's full name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", which means "Leonardo, the son of Messer (Mister) Pierdaom Vinci".
+
+Leonardo spent his first five years living in a farm house with his mother. Then he lived at Vinci with his father, his father's new wife Albiera, his grandparents and uncle, Francesco.[11]  When Leonardo grew up, he only wrote down two memories from his childhood. He remembered that when he was lying outside in his cradle a large bird flew from the sky and hovered over him. Its tail feathers brushed his face.[11] Leonardo's other important memory was how he found a cave while exploring in the mountains. He was terrified that some great monster might be hiding there. But he was also very excited and wanted to find out what was inside.[11]
+
+Leonardo started painting while he was still a boy. Giorgio Vasari wrote about Leonardo's life shortly after his death. He tells many interesting stories about how clever Leonardo was. He says that Leonardo painted a round wooden shield with a picture of snakes spitting fire. Messer Piero took his son's painting to Florence and sold it to an art dealer.[12]
+
+In 1466, when Leonardo was fourteen, his father took him to Florence, to be an apprentice to the artist Verrocchio.
+
+Florence was a very exciting place for a young person who wanted to be an artist. Many famous artists had lived in Florence, starting with Cimabue and Giotto in the 1200s. Everywhere a person looked there were famous and beautiful artworks. The huge cathedral had an enormous new dome. The church of St John had doors that gleamed with gold and were said to be the most beautiful doors in the world. Another church had statues all around it by the most famous sculptors, including one by Leonardo's teacher Verrocchio.
+
+If an artist was lucky, they would find a rich patron who would buy lots of their paintings. The richest family in Florence were the Medici. They had built themselves the finest palace in Florence, and liked buying paintings, statues and other beautiful things. They were also interested in the study of literature and philosophy. Many young artists hoped to get work from the Medici and their friends.
+
+Verrocchio had a big workshop that was one of the busiest in Florence. Leonardo was learning to be an artist, so he had to learn drawing, painting, sculpting and model making. While he was at the workshop, he was able to learn all sorts of other useful skills: chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry.[13][14][15]
+
+Leonardo was not the only young painter at Verrocchio's workshop. Many other painters were trained there, or often visited. Some of them later became famous: Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli. These artists were all just a few years older than Leonardo.[11][16]
+
+Giorgio Vasari tells an interesting story from this time of Leonardo's life. Verrocchio was painting a large picture of the Baptism of Christ. He gave Leonardo the job of painting one of the angels holding Jesus' robe on the left side of the picture. Vasari said that Leonardo painted the angel so beautifully that Verrocchio put down his brush and never painted again.[12] When the painting is examined closely it is possible to see that many other parts of the picture, such as the rocks, the brown stream and the background may have been painted by Leonardo as well.[6] Verrocchio made a bronze statue of David at this time. It is believed that he used Leonardo as his model.[6]
+
+In about 1472, when he was twenty, Leonardo joined the Guild of St Luke, an organisation of artists and doctors of medicine. Even after his father set him up in his own workshop, Leonardo still enjoyed working at Verrocchio's workshop.[11] Leonardo's earliest known work is a drawing in pen and ink of the Arno River valley. It has the date 5 August 1473. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery.[16]
+
+When Vasari writes about Leonardo, he uses words like "noble", "generous", "graceful" and "beautiful". Vasari tells us that as an adult Leonardo was a tall handsome man. He was so strong that he could bend horseshoes with his bare hands. His voice was so beautiful that it charmed everyone that heard it. Almost everyone wanted to be his friend. He loved animals, was a vegetarian and would buy birds at the market and set them free.[17]
+
+Very little is known about Leonardo's life and work between 1472 and 1481. He was probably busy in Florence.[6] In 1478, he had an important commission to paint an altarpiece for the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. The painting was to be the Adoration of the Magi (The Three Wise Men). The painting was never finished because Leonardo was sent away to Milan.
+
+Leonardo was a very talented musician.[18] In 1482, he made a silver lyre (a musical instrument) in the shape of a horse's head. At that time there was a new ruler in the city of Milan, in the north of Italy. Duke Ludovico il Moro was making other rulers nervous. Lorenzo Medici sent Leonardo to Milan as an ambassador. Lorenzo de' Medici wanted Leonardo to give Ludovico the lyre as a present from him.[19] Leonardo wrote a letter to the Duke of Milan, telling him about all the clever and useful things that he could do, like making war machines. He wrote in the letter that he could "also paint". Leonardo did not know at the time that it was for painting that he would be mostly remembered.[16][20] Leonardo stayed in Milan and worked for the Duke between 1482 and 1499. Part of his work was to design festivals and carnival processions. In Leonardo's note books are drawings of theatre costumes, amazing helmets and scenes that might be for the theatre.
+
+Leonardo, like most other well-known artists of his time, had servants, young students and older assistants in his workshop. One of his young students was a boy whose name was Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno. He was a handsome boy with beautiful long golden curls. He looked perfect as an artist's model for an angel. But he was such a difficult and dishonest boy that Leonardo called him "Salai" or "Salaino" which means "the little devil". Leonardo wrote in his notebook that Salai was very greedy, that he was a liar and that he had stolen things from the house at least five times.[21] Salai stayed in Leonardo's household for thirty years as a pupil and a servant.
+
+Leonardo's most important work for Duke Ludovico was to make a huge statue of the previous ruler, Francesco Sforza, on horseback. He started with the horse. After studying horses and drawing designs, he made a huge horse of clay. It was called the "Gran Cavallo". It was going to be cast in bronze. It was going to be the biggest bronze horse that had been made for more than a thousand years. Unfortunately, the bronze horse was never made. In 1494, Ludovico gave the bronze to be made into cannons because the French army was invading Milan.[16] The huge clay horse was still standing when the French army invaded again in 1499. This time it was used for target practice and was completely destroyed.[16]
+
+While Leonardo was working for Duke Ludovico, he had two important painting commissions. One was to do an oil painting to go in a big altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. Leonardo did the painting twice. He left one with the monks in Milan, and took the other painting to France where it is now in the Louvre Museum. The paintings are both called the Virgin of the Rocks. They show a scene of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus in a rocky mysterious landscape. Mary and Jesus are meeting with John the Baptist. There is a story (which is not in the Bible but is part of Christian tradition) about how the baby John and the baby Jesus met on the road to Egypt. In this scene John is praying and the baby Jesus raises his hand to bless John. The paintings have a strange eerie light with soft deep shadows. In the background is a lake and mountains in the mist. No painting like this had ever been done before.[16]
+
+Leonardo's other important painting in Milan is even more famous. It is the Last Supper. The painting shows the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples, before his capture and death. Leonardo chose to paint the moment when Jesus has said "one of you will betray me". Leonardo tells the story of the surprise and upset that this caused to the twelve followers of Jesus.[16] He tells the story through the actions and faces of the people in the painting. Some of them are talking, some of them have stood up, some are raising their hands in horror.
+
+The novelist Matteo Bandello saw Leonardo at work. Bandello wrote that on some days he would paint from morning till night without stopping to eat. Then for three or four days he would not paint at all. He would often just stand and look at the painting.[22] Vasari said that the prior of the convent was very annoyed. He asked Ludovico to tell Leonardo to work faster. Vasari said that Leonardo was worried because he did not think that he could paint the face of Jesus well enough. Leonardo told the Duke that he might use the face of the prior as his model for Judas, the traitor.[12]
+
+When it was finished, everyone that saw it said that the painting was a masterpiece.[12] But Leonardo had not used proper fresco for the painting. He had used tempera over gesso, which is not usually used for wall painting. Soon the painting started to grow mold and flake off the wall. In a hundred years it was "completely ruined".[6]
+Even though in some places the paint has fallen right off the wall, the painting is so popular that it is printed and copied more that any other religious painting in the world.
+
+In 1499, Ludovico il Moro was overthrown. Leonardo left Milan with his servant Salai and a friend, Luca Pacioli, who was a mathematician. They went to Venice. Leonardo worked as a military architect and engineer. Because Venice is a city on many islands, Leonardo tried to think of ways to defend the city from a naval attack.[6][11]
+
+In 1500, Leonardo went back to Florence, taking his "household" of servants and apprentices with him. The monks from the monastery of The Holy Annunciation gave Leonardo a home and a large workshop. In 2005, some buildings which were used by the Department of Military Geography were being restored. The restorers discovered that part of the building was Leonardo's studio.[23]
+
+Leonardo started work on a new painting. He drew a large "cartoon". (This means a drawing that is a plan for the painting.) The cartoon showed the Virgin Mary sitting on the knee of her mother, St Anne. Mary holds the baby Jesus in her arms. Jesus stretches out his hands to his young cousin John the Baptist. Vasari says that everyone was so amazed by the beautiful drawing that "men and women, young and old" came in large groups to see it "as if they were attending a great festival".[12] The drawing is now in the National Gallery, London. Even though it is old and faded and is kept in a dark room, people go to the gallery to sit in front of it every day. Like many of Leonardo's projects, the painting was never done.
+
+In 1502 and 1503, Leonardo worked for Cesare Borgia, a powerful noble who was the son of Pope Alexander VI. Leonardo travelled around Italy with Borgia, as a military architect and engineer.[6] Late in 1503, Leonardo returned to Florence. He rejoined the Guild of St Luke.
+
+He was given a very important commission. The Signoria (Town Council) of the City of Florence wanted two large frescos painted on the walls of the most important room of the Signoria Palace. Michelangelo was to paint The Battle of Cascina and Leonardo was to paint The Battle of Anghiari.[6]  Leonardo began the project by studying and drawing the faces of angry men and fighting horses. These drawings can still be seen in his notebooks. But unfortunately, this was to be another failure for Leonardo. When he painted the picture on the wall, instead of using fresco, he mixed the paints with oil. The paint would not dry. Leonardo lit some fires to dry it, and the painting melted. Peter Paul Rubens drew a copy of the middle part. After a time, the town council covered it up and got somebody else to paint the wall. Michelangelo did not finish his painting either, because the Pope called him to Rome.[6]
+
+In about 1503 Leonardo began painting the portrait of a woman known as Mona Lisa, the most famous portrait that has ever been painted. He continued working on it for many years. It is a small picture, painted in oil on a wooden panel. It shows the face, upper body and hands of a woman. She is very plainly dressed. For a portrait, a woman would usually put on her best clothes and jewellery. Mona Lisa has a dark dress and a fine black veil over her head. Leonardo often left symbols in his paintings that give clues about the person. The unusual thing about this picture is the smile. The smile is the clue to her name: Mona Lisa Giacondo. Giacondo means "the joking one". (Mona is short for Madonna which means "My Lady".)
+
+The reason why the painting is so famous is that it seems to be full of mystery. Mona Lisa's eyes look out at the viewer. But no-one can guess what she is thinking. Her eyes and her mouth seem to be smiling. This is very unusual in a portrait painting. Most people in portraits look very serious. It is hard to tell what Mona Lisa's exact expression is. When a person wants to read another person's feelings, they look at the corners of their mouth and eyes. But Leonardo has painted soft shadows in the corners of Mona Lisa's mouth and eyes, to disguise her expression. The soft shadows are also found on the sides of her face, her neck and hands. The way that Leonardo uses shadow is called "sfumato" (which is an Italian word for "smoke"). Vasari said that the picture was so beautifully painted that every other artist who looked at it thought that they could never paint so well.[12]
+
+In 1506, Leonardo went back to Milan with his pupils, and lived in his own house in Porta Orientale. Some of the pupils became painters: Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and Marco D'Oggione.[11] D'Oggione made several copies of the Last Supper. Luini made a copy of the Virgin of the Rocks. Boltraffio (and the others) painted many Madonna and Child pictures which can still be seen in art galleries and churches. One of pupils was a young nobleman called Count Francesco Melzi. Melzi never became a very good painter, but he loved Leonardo and stayed with him until the day he died.
+
+In September 1513 Leonardo went to Rome and lived there until 1516. He lived in the Vatican. The three greatest painters of the High Renaissance, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael were all working in Rome at the same time.[6] Even though their names are often said together as if they were friends, they were not. Leonardo at this time was in his sixties, Michelangelo was middle-aged. He was not friendly to either Leonardo or Raphael. Raphael was a very clever young painter who learnt a lot by looking at the pictures painted by Leonardo and Michelangelo. But neither of them was ever his teacher.
+
+In October 1515, King Francis I of France captured Milan.[22] On December 19, there was a meeting of Francis I and Pope Leo X, in Bologna. Leonardo went to the meeting with Pope Leo.[11][24][25]
+Leonardo made an amazing toy to entertain King Francis. It was a life-sized mechanical lion that could walk. It had doors in its chest which opened, and a bunch of lilies came out. Lilies were the royal symbol of the French Kings.[12]
+
+In 1516, Francis I invited Leonardo to go to France with him. He gave Leonardo a beautiful house called Clos Lucé (sometimes called "Cloux"). It is near the king's palace, Chateau Amboise. Leonardo spent the last three years of his life at Clos Lucé, with his faithful friend and apprentice, Count Melzi. The king gave Leonardo a pension of 10,000 scudi.[6] One of the last paintings that Leonardo did was a picture of John the Baptist. His model was Salai, with his beautiful long curling hair.
+
+When Leonardo was dying, he asked for a priest to come, so that he could make his confession and receive Holy Communion.[12]
+Leonardo died at Clos Lucé, on May 2, 1519. King Francis had become a close friend. Vasari says that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died. In his will, he asked that sixty beggars should follow his casket in procession. He was buried in the Chapel of the Chateau Amboise.
+
+Leonardo had never married and had no children of his own. In his will, he left his money, his books and most of his paintings to Count Melzi. Leonardo also remembered his other pupil Salai and his servant Battista di Vilussis, who each received half of Leonardo's vineyards near Milan. Leonardo's left to his serving woman a black cloak with a fur edge.[26] Salai was the owner of Leonardo's most famous oil painting, the Mona Lisa. He still owned it a few years later when he died, after fighting in a duel.[27]
+
+King Francis said: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."[28][29]
+
+Leonardo did not paint very many pictures. But he drew hundreds of quick sketches, plans, maps and detailed drawings. This is the way that he recorded all the interesting things that he saw, studied and thought about.
+
+Some of Leonardo's drawings are "studies" for paintings. In these drawings Leonardo planned the things he was going to paint. Some studies are plans for whole paintings. One of these paintings is the large beautiful drawing of the Madonna and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist that is now in the National Gallery, London.
+
+Many of the studies show "details" that Leonardo wanted to get just right. One study shows a very detailed perspective drawing of the ruined buildings in the background of the painting of the Magi. Other studies show hands, faces, drapery, plants, horses and babies.[30]
+The earliest drawing by Leonardo that has a date on it, is a Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.[11][30]
+
+Leonardo studied things all his life. He did not go to university to study. He studied by looking at things in the world around him. He looked at things to see how they were made and how they worked. He drew the things that he saw and the discoveries that he made into his notebooks, and made notes about them. Many of his notebooks are now in museums. There are 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. Many of these are scientific studies.[16]
+
+Leonardo's notebooks are hard to read because he wrote backwards in "mirror writing". Some people think that perhaps he was trying to keep his work secret. This is not true. Leonardo wrote (and sometimes drew) with his left hand. In those days pens were made from a quill (a large feather) that was cut with a pen-knife on the end. It is hard for a left-handed person to write with a quill in the ordinary way, but quite easy to write backwards.
+
+It is likely that Leonardo planned to publish the studies in his notebooks. He organized many pages carefully, with one study taking up the front and back of each page. There is a page with drawings and writing about the human heart and a page about the womb and the fetus.[31] One page shows drawings of the muscles of a shoulder and another page shows how an arm works.[32]
+
+The notebooks were not published in Leonardo's lifetime. After he died, they were divided between different people who had known him. They are nearly all in museums or libraries such as Windsor Castle, the Louvre, and the British Library. The Biblioteca Ambrosiana (a library) in Milan has the twelve-volume Codex Atlanticus.[16]
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo studied are:[2]
+
+Many of the drawings and notes in Leonardo's notebooks are designs, plans and inventions.
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo designed are:[2]
+
+Study of a skull
+
+Study of a horse for the Duke's statue
+
+Study of a sedge plant
+
+Rhombicuboctahedron published in Pacioli's book
+
+A parabolic compass.
+
+A Helicopter.
+
+Cannons.
+
+Walking on water.
+
+Modern model of Leonardo's parachute.
+
+Modern model of a bridge designed by Leonardo.
+
+Modern model of a tank by Leonardo
+
+Modern model of a flywheel
+
+ISBN 978-88-96036-65-5

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+Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian man who lived in the time of the Renaissance.  He is famous for his paintings,[1] but he was also a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, and a writer.
+Leonardo wanted to know everything about nature. He wanted to know how everything worked. He was very good at studying, designing and making all sorts of interesting things.[2]
+
+Many people think that Leonardo was one of the greatest painters of all time. Other people think that he was the most talented person ever to have lived.[1] The art historian Helen Gardner said that no-one has ever been quite like him because he was interested in so many things that he seems to have had the mind of a giant, and yet what he was like as a person is still a mystery.[3]
+
+Leonardo was born at Vinci which is a small town near Florence, Italy. He was trained to be an artist by the sculptor and painter Verrocchio. He spent most of his life working for rich Italian noblemen. In his last years, he lived in a beautiful home given to him by the King of France.
+
+Two of his pictures are among the best-known paintings in the world: the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He did many drawings. The best-known drawing is Vitruvian Man.  Leonardo was often thinking of new inventions. He kept notebooks with notes and drawings of these ideas.  Most of his inventions were never made. Some of his ideas were a helicopter, a tank, a calculator, a parachute, a robot, a telephone, evolution, and solar power.[source?]
+
+Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452,[4] in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the valley of the Arno River. His grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, wrote down the details of the birth. Leonardo's parents were not married. His father was a Notary, Ser Piero da Vinci.[5][6] His mother, Caterina, was a servant. She may have been a slave from the Middle East.[7][8] or from China.[9] His father later on took custody of Leonardo and his mother remarried and had 5 more children.[10] Leonardo's full name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", which means "Leonardo, the son of Messer (Mister) Pierdaom Vinci".
+
+Leonardo spent his first five years living in a farm house with his mother. Then he lived at Vinci with his father, his father's new wife Albiera, his grandparents and uncle, Francesco.[11]  When Leonardo grew up, he only wrote down two memories from his childhood. He remembered that when he was lying outside in his cradle a large bird flew from the sky and hovered over him. Its tail feathers brushed his face.[11] Leonardo's other important memory was how he found a cave while exploring in the mountains. He was terrified that some great monster might be hiding there. But he was also very excited and wanted to find out what was inside.[11]
+
+Leonardo started painting while he was still a boy. Giorgio Vasari wrote about Leonardo's life shortly after his death. He tells many interesting stories about how clever Leonardo was. He says that Leonardo painted a round wooden shield with a picture of snakes spitting fire. Messer Piero took his son's painting to Florence and sold it to an art dealer.[12]
+
+In 1466, when Leonardo was fourteen, his father took him to Florence, to be an apprentice to the artist Verrocchio.
+
+Florence was a very exciting place for a young person who wanted to be an artist. Many famous artists had lived in Florence, starting with Cimabue and Giotto in the 1200s. Everywhere a person looked there were famous and beautiful artworks. The huge cathedral had an enormous new dome. The church of St John had doors that gleamed with gold and were said to be the most beautiful doors in the world. Another church had statues all around it by the most famous sculptors, including one by Leonardo's teacher Verrocchio.
+
+If an artist was lucky, they would find a rich patron who would buy lots of their paintings. The richest family in Florence were the Medici. They had built themselves the finest palace in Florence, and liked buying paintings, statues and other beautiful things. They were also interested in the study of literature and philosophy. Many young artists hoped to get work from the Medici and their friends.
+
+Verrocchio had a big workshop that was one of the busiest in Florence. Leonardo was learning to be an artist, so he had to learn drawing, painting, sculpting and model making. While he was at the workshop, he was able to learn all sorts of other useful skills: chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry.[13][14][15]
+
+Leonardo was not the only young painter at Verrocchio's workshop. Many other painters were trained there, or often visited. Some of them later became famous: Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli. These artists were all just a few years older than Leonardo.[11][16]
+
+Giorgio Vasari tells an interesting story from this time of Leonardo's life. Verrocchio was painting a large picture of the Baptism of Christ. He gave Leonardo the job of painting one of the angels holding Jesus' robe on the left side of the picture. Vasari said that Leonardo painted the angel so beautifully that Verrocchio put down his brush and never painted again.[12] When the painting is examined closely it is possible to see that many other parts of the picture, such as the rocks, the brown stream and the background may have been painted by Leonardo as well.[6] Verrocchio made a bronze statue of David at this time. It is believed that he used Leonardo as his model.[6]
+
+In about 1472, when he was twenty, Leonardo joined the Guild of St Luke, an organisation of artists and doctors of medicine. Even after his father set him up in his own workshop, Leonardo still enjoyed working at Verrocchio's workshop.[11] Leonardo's earliest known work is a drawing in pen and ink of the Arno River valley. It has the date 5 August 1473. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery.[16]
+
+When Vasari writes about Leonardo, he uses words like "noble", "generous", "graceful" and "beautiful". Vasari tells us that as an adult Leonardo was a tall handsome man. He was so strong that he could bend horseshoes with his bare hands. His voice was so beautiful that it charmed everyone that heard it. Almost everyone wanted to be his friend. He loved animals, was a vegetarian and would buy birds at the market and set them free.[17]
+
+Very little is known about Leonardo's life and work between 1472 and 1481. He was probably busy in Florence.[6] In 1478, he had an important commission to paint an altarpiece for the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. The painting was to be the Adoration of the Magi (The Three Wise Men). The painting was never finished because Leonardo was sent away to Milan.
+
+Leonardo was a very talented musician.[18] In 1482, he made a silver lyre (a musical instrument) in the shape of a horse's head. At that time there was a new ruler in the city of Milan, in the north of Italy. Duke Ludovico il Moro was making other rulers nervous. Lorenzo Medici sent Leonardo to Milan as an ambassador. Lorenzo de' Medici wanted Leonardo to give Ludovico the lyre as a present from him.[19] Leonardo wrote a letter to the Duke of Milan, telling him about all the clever and useful things that he could do, like making war machines. He wrote in the letter that he could "also paint". Leonardo did not know at the time that it was for painting that he would be mostly remembered.[16][20] Leonardo stayed in Milan and worked for the Duke between 1482 and 1499. Part of his work was to design festivals and carnival processions. In Leonardo's note books are drawings of theatre costumes, amazing helmets and scenes that might be for the theatre.
+
+Leonardo, like most other well-known artists of his time, had servants, young students and older assistants in his workshop. One of his young students was a boy whose name was Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno. He was a handsome boy with beautiful long golden curls. He looked perfect as an artist's model for an angel. But he was such a difficult and dishonest boy that Leonardo called him "Salai" or "Salaino" which means "the little devil". Leonardo wrote in his notebook that Salai was very greedy, that he was a liar and that he had stolen things from the house at least five times.[21] Salai stayed in Leonardo's household for thirty years as a pupil and a servant.
+
+Leonardo's most important work for Duke Ludovico was to make a huge statue of the previous ruler, Francesco Sforza, on horseback. He started with the horse. After studying horses and drawing designs, he made a huge horse of clay. It was called the "Gran Cavallo". It was going to be cast in bronze. It was going to be the biggest bronze horse that had been made for more than a thousand years. Unfortunately, the bronze horse was never made. In 1494, Ludovico gave the bronze to be made into cannons because the French army was invading Milan.[16] The huge clay horse was still standing when the French army invaded again in 1499. This time it was used for target practice and was completely destroyed.[16]
+
+While Leonardo was working for Duke Ludovico, he had two important painting commissions. One was to do an oil painting to go in a big altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. Leonardo did the painting twice. He left one with the monks in Milan, and took the other painting to France where it is now in the Louvre Museum. The paintings are both called the Virgin of the Rocks. They show a scene of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus in a rocky mysterious landscape. Mary and Jesus are meeting with John the Baptist. There is a story (which is not in the Bible but is part of Christian tradition) about how the baby John and the baby Jesus met on the road to Egypt. In this scene John is praying and the baby Jesus raises his hand to bless John. The paintings have a strange eerie light with soft deep shadows. In the background is a lake and mountains in the mist. No painting like this had ever been done before.[16]
+
+Leonardo's other important painting in Milan is even more famous. It is the Last Supper. The painting shows the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples, before his capture and death. Leonardo chose to paint the moment when Jesus has said "one of you will betray me". Leonardo tells the story of the surprise and upset that this caused to the twelve followers of Jesus.[16] He tells the story through the actions and faces of the people in the painting. Some of them are talking, some of them have stood up, some are raising their hands in horror.
+
+The novelist Matteo Bandello saw Leonardo at work. Bandello wrote that on some days he would paint from morning till night without stopping to eat. Then for three or four days he would not paint at all. He would often just stand and look at the painting.[22] Vasari said that the prior of the convent was very annoyed. He asked Ludovico to tell Leonardo to work faster. Vasari said that Leonardo was worried because he did not think that he could paint the face of Jesus well enough. Leonardo told the Duke that he might use the face of the prior as his model for Judas, the traitor.[12]
+
+When it was finished, everyone that saw it said that the painting was a masterpiece.[12] But Leonardo had not used proper fresco for the painting. He had used tempera over gesso, which is not usually used for wall painting. Soon the painting started to grow mold and flake off the wall. In a hundred years it was "completely ruined".[6]
+Even though in some places the paint has fallen right off the wall, the painting is so popular that it is printed and copied more that any other religious painting in the world.
+
+In 1499, Ludovico il Moro was overthrown. Leonardo left Milan with his servant Salai and a friend, Luca Pacioli, who was a mathematician. They went to Venice. Leonardo worked as a military architect and engineer. Because Venice is a city on many islands, Leonardo tried to think of ways to defend the city from a naval attack.[6][11]
+
+In 1500, Leonardo went back to Florence, taking his "household" of servants and apprentices with him. The monks from the monastery of The Holy Annunciation gave Leonardo a home and a large workshop. In 2005, some buildings which were used by the Department of Military Geography were being restored. The restorers discovered that part of the building was Leonardo's studio.[23]
+
+Leonardo started work on a new painting. He drew a large "cartoon". (This means a drawing that is a plan for the painting.) The cartoon showed the Virgin Mary sitting on the knee of her mother, St Anne. Mary holds the baby Jesus in her arms. Jesus stretches out his hands to his young cousin John the Baptist. Vasari says that everyone was so amazed by the beautiful drawing that "men and women, young and old" came in large groups to see it "as if they were attending a great festival".[12] The drawing is now in the National Gallery, London. Even though it is old and faded and is kept in a dark room, people go to the gallery to sit in front of it every day. Like many of Leonardo's projects, the painting was never done.
+
+In 1502 and 1503, Leonardo worked for Cesare Borgia, a powerful noble who was the son of Pope Alexander VI. Leonardo travelled around Italy with Borgia, as a military architect and engineer.[6] Late in 1503, Leonardo returned to Florence. He rejoined the Guild of St Luke.
+
+He was given a very important commission. The Signoria (Town Council) of the City of Florence wanted two large frescos painted on the walls of the most important room of the Signoria Palace. Michelangelo was to paint The Battle of Cascina and Leonardo was to paint The Battle of Anghiari.[6]  Leonardo began the project by studying and drawing the faces of angry men and fighting horses. These drawings can still be seen in his notebooks. But unfortunately, this was to be another failure for Leonardo. When he painted the picture on the wall, instead of using fresco, he mixed the paints with oil. The paint would not dry. Leonardo lit some fires to dry it, and the painting melted. Peter Paul Rubens drew a copy of the middle part. After a time, the town council covered it up and got somebody else to paint the wall. Michelangelo did not finish his painting either, because the Pope called him to Rome.[6]
+
+In about 1503 Leonardo began painting the portrait of a woman known as Mona Lisa, the most famous portrait that has ever been painted. He continued working on it for many years. It is a small picture, painted in oil on a wooden panel. It shows the face, upper body and hands of a woman. She is very plainly dressed. For a portrait, a woman would usually put on her best clothes and jewellery. Mona Lisa has a dark dress and a fine black veil over her head. Leonardo often left symbols in his paintings that give clues about the person. The unusual thing about this picture is the smile. The smile is the clue to her name: Mona Lisa Giacondo. Giacondo means "the joking one". (Mona is short for Madonna which means "My Lady".)
+
+The reason why the painting is so famous is that it seems to be full of mystery. Mona Lisa's eyes look out at the viewer. But no-one can guess what she is thinking. Her eyes and her mouth seem to be smiling. This is very unusual in a portrait painting. Most people in portraits look very serious. It is hard to tell what Mona Lisa's exact expression is. When a person wants to read another person's feelings, they look at the corners of their mouth and eyes. But Leonardo has painted soft shadows in the corners of Mona Lisa's mouth and eyes, to disguise her expression. The soft shadows are also found on the sides of her face, her neck and hands. The way that Leonardo uses shadow is called "sfumato" (which is an Italian word for "smoke"). Vasari said that the picture was so beautifully painted that every other artist who looked at it thought that they could never paint so well.[12]
+
+In 1506, Leonardo went back to Milan with his pupils, and lived in his own house in Porta Orientale. Some of the pupils became painters: Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and Marco D'Oggione.[11] D'Oggione made several copies of the Last Supper. Luini made a copy of the Virgin of the Rocks. Boltraffio (and the others) painted many Madonna and Child pictures which can still be seen in art galleries and churches. One of pupils was a young nobleman called Count Francesco Melzi. Melzi never became a very good painter, but he loved Leonardo and stayed with him until the day he died.
+
+In September 1513 Leonardo went to Rome and lived there until 1516. He lived in the Vatican. The three greatest painters of the High Renaissance, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael were all working in Rome at the same time.[6] Even though their names are often said together as if they were friends, they were not. Leonardo at this time was in his sixties, Michelangelo was middle-aged. He was not friendly to either Leonardo or Raphael. Raphael was a very clever young painter who learnt a lot by looking at the pictures painted by Leonardo and Michelangelo. But neither of them was ever his teacher.
+
+In October 1515, King Francis I of France captured Milan.[22] On December 19, there was a meeting of Francis I and Pope Leo X, in Bologna. Leonardo went to the meeting with Pope Leo.[11][24][25]
+Leonardo made an amazing toy to entertain King Francis. It was a life-sized mechanical lion that could walk. It had doors in its chest which opened, and a bunch of lilies came out. Lilies were the royal symbol of the French Kings.[12]
+
+In 1516, Francis I invited Leonardo to go to France with him. He gave Leonardo a beautiful house called Clos Lucé (sometimes called "Cloux"). It is near the king's palace, Chateau Amboise. Leonardo spent the last three years of his life at Clos Lucé, with his faithful friend and apprentice, Count Melzi. The king gave Leonardo a pension of 10,000 scudi.[6] One of the last paintings that Leonardo did was a picture of John the Baptist. His model was Salai, with his beautiful long curling hair.
+
+When Leonardo was dying, he asked for a priest to come, so that he could make his confession and receive Holy Communion.[12]
+Leonardo died at Clos Lucé, on May 2, 1519. King Francis had become a close friend. Vasari says that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died. In his will, he asked that sixty beggars should follow his casket in procession. He was buried in the Chapel of the Chateau Amboise.
+
+Leonardo had never married and had no children of his own. In his will, he left his money, his books and most of his paintings to Count Melzi. Leonardo also remembered his other pupil Salai and his servant Battista di Vilussis, who each received half of Leonardo's vineyards near Milan. Leonardo's left to his serving woman a black cloak with a fur edge.[26] Salai was the owner of Leonardo's most famous oil painting, the Mona Lisa. He still owned it a few years later when he died, after fighting in a duel.[27]
+
+King Francis said: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."[28][29]
+
+Leonardo did not paint very many pictures. But he drew hundreds of quick sketches, plans, maps and detailed drawings. This is the way that he recorded all the interesting things that he saw, studied and thought about.
+
+Some of Leonardo's drawings are "studies" for paintings. In these drawings Leonardo planned the things he was going to paint. Some studies are plans for whole paintings. One of these paintings is the large beautiful drawing of the Madonna and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist that is now in the National Gallery, London.
+
+Many of the studies show "details" that Leonardo wanted to get just right. One study shows a very detailed perspective drawing of the ruined buildings in the background of the painting of the Magi. Other studies show hands, faces, drapery, plants, horses and babies.[30]
+The earliest drawing by Leonardo that has a date on it, is a Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.[11][30]
+
+Leonardo studied things all his life. He did not go to university to study. He studied by looking at things in the world around him. He looked at things to see how they were made and how they worked. He drew the things that he saw and the discoveries that he made into his notebooks, and made notes about them. Many of his notebooks are now in museums. There are 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. Many of these are scientific studies.[16]
+
+Leonardo's notebooks are hard to read because he wrote backwards in "mirror writing". Some people think that perhaps he was trying to keep his work secret. This is not true. Leonardo wrote (and sometimes drew) with his left hand. In those days pens were made from a quill (a large feather) that was cut with a pen-knife on the end. It is hard for a left-handed person to write with a quill in the ordinary way, but quite easy to write backwards.
+
+It is likely that Leonardo planned to publish the studies in his notebooks. He organized many pages carefully, with one study taking up the front and back of each page. There is a page with drawings and writing about the human heart and a page about the womb and the fetus.[31] One page shows drawings of the muscles of a shoulder and another page shows how an arm works.[32]
+
+The notebooks were not published in Leonardo's lifetime. After he died, they were divided between different people who had known him. They are nearly all in museums or libraries such as Windsor Castle, the Louvre, and the British Library. The Biblioteca Ambrosiana (a library) in Milan has the twelve-volume Codex Atlanticus.[16]
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo studied are:[2]
+
+Many of the drawings and notes in Leonardo's notebooks are designs, plans and inventions.
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo designed are:[2]
+
+Study of a skull
+
+Study of a horse for the Duke's statue
+
+Study of a sedge plant
+
+Rhombicuboctahedron published in Pacioli's book
+
+A parabolic compass.
+
+A Helicopter.
+
+Cannons.
+
+Walking on water.
+
+Modern model of Leonardo's parachute.
+
+Modern model of a bridge designed by Leonardo.
+
+Modern model of a tank by Leonardo
+
+Modern model of a flywheel
+
+ISBN 978-88-96036-65-5

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+Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian man who lived in the time of the Renaissance.  He is famous for his paintings,[1] but he was also a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, and a writer.
+Leonardo wanted to know everything about nature. He wanted to know how everything worked. He was very good at studying, designing and making all sorts of interesting things.[2]
+
+Many people think that Leonardo was one of the greatest painters of all time. Other people think that he was the most talented person ever to have lived.[1] The art historian Helen Gardner said that no-one has ever been quite like him because he was interested in so many things that he seems to have had the mind of a giant, and yet what he was like as a person is still a mystery.[3]
+
+Leonardo was born at Vinci which is a small town near Florence, Italy. He was trained to be an artist by the sculptor and painter Verrocchio. He spent most of his life working for rich Italian noblemen. In his last years, he lived in a beautiful home given to him by the King of France.
+
+Two of his pictures are among the best-known paintings in the world: the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He did many drawings. The best-known drawing is Vitruvian Man.  Leonardo was often thinking of new inventions. He kept notebooks with notes and drawings of these ideas.  Most of his inventions were never made. Some of his ideas were a helicopter, a tank, a calculator, a parachute, a robot, a telephone, evolution, and solar power.[source?]
+
+Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452,[4] in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the valley of the Arno River. His grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, wrote down the details of the birth. Leonardo's parents were not married. His father was a Notary, Ser Piero da Vinci.[5][6] His mother, Caterina, was a servant. She may have been a slave from the Middle East.[7][8] or from China.[9] His father later on took custody of Leonardo and his mother remarried and had 5 more children.[10] Leonardo's full name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", which means "Leonardo, the son of Messer (Mister) Pierdaom Vinci".
+
+Leonardo spent his first five years living in a farm house with his mother. Then he lived at Vinci with his father, his father's new wife Albiera, his grandparents and uncle, Francesco.[11]  When Leonardo grew up, he only wrote down two memories from his childhood. He remembered that when he was lying outside in his cradle a large bird flew from the sky and hovered over him. Its tail feathers brushed his face.[11] Leonardo's other important memory was how he found a cave while exploring in the mountains. He was terrified that some great monster might be hiding there. But he was also very excited and wanted to find out what was inside.[11]
+
+Leonardo started painting while he was still a boy. Giorgio Vasari wrote about Leonardo's life shortly after his death. He tells many interesting stories about how clever Leonardo was. He says that Leonardo painted a round wooden shield with a picture of snakes spitting fire. Messer Piero took his son's painting to Florence and sold it to an art dealer.[12]
+
+In 1466, when Leonardo was fourteen, his father took him to Florence, to be an apprentice to the artist Verrocchio.
+
+Florence was a very exciting place for a young person who wanted to be an artist. Many famous artists had lived in Florence, starting with Cimabue and Giotto in the 1200s. Everywhere a person looked there were famous and beautiful artworks. The huge cathedral had an enormous new dome. The church of St John had doors that gleamed with gold and were said to be the most beautiful doors in the world. Another church had statues all around it by the most famous sculptors, including one by Leonardo's teacher Verrocchio.
+
+If an artist was lucky, they would find a rich patron who would buy lots of their paintings. The richest family in Florence were the Medici. They had built themselves the finest palace in Florence, and liked buying paintings, statues and other beautiful things. They were also interested in the study of literature and philosophy. Many young artists hoped to get work from the Medici and their friends.
+
+Verrocchio had a big workshop that was one of the busiest in Florence. Leonardo was learning to be an artist, so he had to learn drawing, painting, sculpting and model making. While he was at the workshop, he was able to learn all sorts of other useful skills: chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry.[13][14][15]
+
+Leonardo was not the only young painter at Verrocchio's workshop. Many other painters were trained there, or often visited. Some of them later became famous: Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli. These artists were all just a few years older than Leonardo.[11][16]
+
+Giorgio Vasari tells an interesting story from this time of Leonardo's life. Verrocchio was painting a large picture of the Baptism of Christ. He gave Leonardo the job of painting one of the angels holding Jesus' robe on the left side of the picture. Vasari said that Leonardo painted the angel so beautifully that Verrocchio put down his brush and never painted again.[12] When the painting is examined closely it is possible to see that many other parts of the picture, such as the rocks, the brown stream and the background may have been painted by Leonardo as well.[6] Verrocchio made a bronze statue of David at this time. It is believed that he used Leonardo as his model.[6]
+
+In about 1472, when he was twenty, Leonardo joined the Guild of St Luke, an organisation of artists and doctors of medicine. Even after his father set him up in his own workshop, Leonardo still enjoyed working at Verrocchio's workshop.[11] Leonardo's earliest known work is a drawing in pen and ink of the Arno River valley. It has the date 5 August 1473. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery.[16]
+
+When Vasari writes about Leonardo, he uses words like "noble", "generous", "graceful" and "beautiful". Vasari tells us that as an adult Leonardo was a tall handsome man. He was so strong that he could bend horseshoes with his bare hands. His voice was so beautiful that it charmed everyone that heard it. Almost everyone wanted to be his friend. He loved animals, was a vegetarian and would buy birds at the market and set them free.[17]
+
+Very little is known about Leonardo's life and work between 1472 and 1481. He was probably busy in Florence.[6] In 1478, he had an important commission to paint an altarpiece for the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. The painting was to be the Adoration of the Magi (The Three Wise Men). The painting was never finished because Leonardo was sent away to Milan.
+
+Leonardo was a very talented musician.[18] In 1482, he made a silver lyre (a musical instrument) in the shape of a horse's head. At that time there was a new ruler in the city of Milan, in the north of Italy. Duke Ludovico il Moro was making other rulers nervous. Lorenzo Medici sent Leonardo to Milan as an ambassador. Lorenzo de' Medici wanted Leonardo to give Ludovico the lyre as a present from him.[19] Leonardo wrote a letter to the Duke of Milan, telling him about all the clever and useful things that he could do, like making war machines. He wrote in the letter that he could "also paint". Leonardo did not know at the time that it was for painting that he would be mostly remembered.[16][20] Leonardo stayed in Milan and worked for the Duke between 1482 and 1499. Part of his work was to design festivals and carnival processions. In Leonardo's note books are drawings of theatre costumes, amazing helmets and scenes that might be for the theatre.
+
+Leonardo, like most other well-known artists of his time, had servants, young students and older assistants in his workshop. One of his young students was a boy whose name was Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno. He was a handsome boy with beautiful long golden curls. He looked perfect as an artist's model for an angel. But he was such a difficult and dishonest boy that Leonardo called him "Salai" or "Salaino" which means "the little devil". Leonardo wrote in his notebook that Salai was very greedy, that he was a liar and that he had stolen things from the house at least five times.[21] Salai stayed in Leonardo's household for thirty years as a pupil and a servant.
+
+Leonardo's most important work for Duke Ludovico was to make a huge statue of the previous ruler, Francesco Sforza, on horseback. He started with the horse. After studying horses and drawing designs, he made a huge horse of clay. It was called the "Gran Cavallo". It was going to be cast in bronze. It was going to be the biggest bronze horse that had been made for more than a thousand years. Unfortunately, the bronze horse was never made. In 1494, Ludovico gave the bronze to be made into cannons because the French army was invading Milan.[16] The huge clay horse was still standing when the French army invaded again in 1499. This time it was used for target practice and was completely destroyed.[16]
+
+While Leonardo was working for Duke Ludovico, he had two important painting commissions. One was to do an oil painting to go in a big altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. Leonardo did the painting twice. He left one with the monks in Milan, and took the other painting to France where it is now in the Louvre Museum. The paintings are both called the Virgin of the Rocks. They show a scene of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus in a rocky mysterious landscape. Mary and Jesus are meeting with John the Baptist. There is a story (which is not in the Bible but is part of Christian tradition) about how the baby John and the baby Jesus met on the road to Egypt. In this scene John is praying and the baby Jesus raises his hand to bless John. The paintings have a strange eerie light with soft deep shadows. In the background is a lake and mountains in the mist. No painting like this had ever been done before.[16]
+
+Leonardo's other important painting in Milan is even more famous. It is the Last Supper. The painting shows the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples, before his capture and death. Leonardo chose to paint the moment when Jesus has said "one of you will betray me". Leonardo tells the story of the surprise and upset that this caused to the twelve followers of Jesus.[16] He tells the story through the actions and faces of the people in the painting. Some of them are talking, some of them have stood up, some are raising their hands in horror.
+
+The novelist Matteo Bandello saw Leonardo at work. Bandello wrote that on some days he would paint from morning till night without stopping to eat. Then for three or four days he would not paint at all. He would often just stand and look at the painting.[22] Vasari said that the prior of the convent was very annoyed. He asked Ludovico to tell Leonardo to work faster. Vasari said that Leonardo was worried because he did not think that he could paint the face of Jesus well enough. Leonardo told the Duke that he might use the face of the prior as his model for Judas, the traitor.[12]
+
+When it was finished, everyone that saw it said that the painting was a masterpiece.[12] But Leonardo had not used proper fresco for the painting. He had used tempera over gesso, which is not usually used for wall painting. Soon the painting started to grow mold and flake off the wall. In a hundred years it was "completely ruined".[6]
+Even though in some places the paint has fallen right off the wall, the painting is so popular that it is printed and copied more that any other religious painting in the world.
+
+In 1499, Ludovico il Moro was overthrown. Leonardo left Milan with his servant Salai and a friend, Luca Pacioli, who was a mathematician. They went to Venice. Leonardo worked as a military architect and engineer. Because Venice is a city on many islands, Leonardo tried to think of ways to defend the city from a naval attack.[6][11]
+
+In 1500, Leonardo went back to Florence, taking his "household" of servants and apprentices with him. The monks from the monastery of The Holy Annunciation gave Leonardo a home and a large workshop. In 2005, some buildings which were used by the Department of Military Geography were being restored. The restorers discovered that part of the building was Leonardo's studio.[23]
+
+Leonardo started work on a new painting. He drew a large "cartoon". (This means a drawing that is a plan for the painting.) The cartoon showed the Virgin Mary sitting on the knee of her mother, St Anne. Mary holds the baby Jesus in her arms. Jesus stretches out his hands to his young cousin John the Baptist. Vasari says that everyone was so amazed by the beautiful drawing that "men and women, young and old" came in large groups to see it "as if they were attending a great festival".[12] The drawing is now in the National Gallery, London. Even though it is old and faded and is kept in a dark room, people go to the gallery to sit in front of it every day. Like many of Leonardo's projects, the painting was never done.
+
+In 1502 and 1503, Leonardo worked for Cesare Borgia, a powerful noble who was the son of Pope Alexander VI. Leonardo travelled around Italy with Borgia, as a military architect and engineer.[6] Late in 1503, Leonardo returned to Florence. He rejoined the Guild of St Luke.
+
+He was given a very important commission. The Signoria (Town Council) of the City of Florence wanted two large frescos painted on the walls of the most important room of the Signoria Palace. Michelangelo was to paint The Battle of Cascina and Leonardo was to paint The Battle of Anghiari.[6]  Leonardo began the project by studying and drawing the faces of angry men and fighting horses. These drawings can still be seen in his notebooks. But unfortunately, this was to be another failure for Leonardo. When he painted the picture on the wall, instead of using fresco, he mixed the paints with oil. The paint would not dry. Leonardo lit some fires to dry it, and the painting melted. Peter Paul Rubens drew a copy of the middle part. After a time, the town council covered it up and got somebody else to paint the wall. Michelangelo did not finish his painting either, because the Pope called him to Rome.[6]
+
+In about 1503 Leonardo began painting the portrait of a woman known as Mona Lisa, the most famous portrait that has ever been painted. He continued working on it for many years. It is a small picture, painted in oil on a wooden panel. It shows the face, upper body and hands of a woman. She is very plainly dressed. For a portrait, a woman would usually put on her best clothes and jewellery. Mona Lisa has a dark dress and a fine black veil over her head. Leonardo often left symbols in his paintings that give clues about the person. The unusual thing about this picture is the smile. The smile is the clue to her name: Mona Lisa Giacondo. Giacondo means "the joking one". (Mona is short for Madonna which means "My Lady".)
+
+The reason why the painting is so famous is that it seems to be full of mystery. Mona Lisa's eyes look out at the viewer. But no-one can guess what she is thinking. Her eyes and her mouth seem to be smiling. This is very unusual in a portrait painting. Most people in portraits look very serious. It is hard to tell what Mona Lisa's exact expression is. When a person wants to read another person's feelings, they look at the corners of their mouth and eyes. But Leonardo has painted soft shadows in the corners of Mona Lisa's mouth and eyes, to disguise her expression. The soft shadows are also found on the sides of her face, her neck and hands. The way that Leonardo uses shadow is called "sfumato" (which is an Italian word for "smoke"). Vasari said that the picture was so beautifully painted that every other artist who looked at it thought that they could never paint so well.[12]
+
+In 1506, Leonardo went back to Milan with his pupils, and lived in his own house in Porta Orientale. Some of the pupils became painters: Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and Marco D'Oggione.[11] D'Oggione made several copies of the Last Supper. Luini made a copy of the Virgin of the Rocks. Boltraffio (and the others) painted many Madonna and Child pictures which can still be seen in art galleries and churches. One of pupils was a young nobleman called Count Francesco Melzi. Melzi never became a very good painter, but he loved Leonardo and stayed with him until the day he died.
+
+In September 1513 Leonardo went to Rome and lived there until 1516. He lived in the Vatican. The three greatest painters of the High Renaissance, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael were all working in Rome at the same time.[6] Even though their names are often said together as if they were friends, they were not. Leonardo at this time was in his sixties, Michelangelo was middle-aged. He was not friendly to either Leonardo or Raphael. Raphael was a very clever young painter who learnt a lot by looking at the pictures painted by Leonardo and Michelangelo. But neither of them was ever his teacher.
+
+In October 1515, King Francis I of France captured Milan.[22] On December 19, there was a meeting of Francis I and Pope Leo X, in Bologna. Leonardo went to the meeting with Pope Leo.[11][24][25]
+Leonardo made an amazing toy to entertain King Francis. It was a life-sized mechanical lion that could walk. It had doors in its chest which opened, and a bunch of lilies came out. Lilies were the royal symbol of the French Kings.[12]
+
+In 1516, Francis I invited Leonardo to go to France with him. He gave Leonardo a beautiful house called Clos Lucé (sometimes called "Cloux"). It is near the king's palace, Chateau Amboise. Leonardo spent the last three years of his life at Clos Lucé, with his faithful friend and apprentice, Count Melzi. The king gave Leonardo a pension of 10,000 scudi.[6] One of the last paintings that Leonardo did was a picture of John the Baptist. His model was Salai, with his beautiful long curling hair.
+
+When Leonardo was dying, he asked for a priest to come, so that he could make his confession and receive Holy Communion.[12]
+Leonardo died at Clos Lucé, on May 2, 1519. King Francis had become a close friend. Vasari says that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died. In his will, he asked that sixty beggars should follow his casket in procession. He was buried in the Chapel of the Chateau Amboise.
+
+Leonardo had never married and had no children of his own. In his will, he left his money, his books and most of his paintings to Count Melzi. Leonardo also remembered his other pupil Salai and his servant Battista di Vilussis, who each received half of Leonardo's vineyards near Milan. Leonardo's left to his serving woman a black cloak with a fur edge.[26] Salai was the owner of Leonardo's most famous oil painting, the Mona Lisa. He still owned it a few years later when he died, after fighting in a duel.[27]
+
+King Francis said: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."[28][29]
+
+Leonardo did not paint very many pictures. But he drew hundreds of quick sketches, plans, maps and detailed drawings. This is the way that he recorded all the interesting things that he saw, studied and thought about.
+
+Some of Leonardo's drawings are "studies" for paintings. In these drawings Leonardo planned the things he was going to paint. Some studies are plans for whole paintings. One of these paintings is the large beautiful drawing of the Madonna and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist that is now in the National Gallery, London.
+
+Many of the studies show "details" that Leonardo wanted to get just right. One study shows a very detailed perspective drawing of the ruined buildings in the background of the painting of the Magi. Other studies show hands, faces, drapery, plants, horses and babies.[30]
+The earliest drawing by Leonardo that has a date on it, is a Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.[11][30]
+
+Leonardo studied things all his life. He did not go to university to study. He studied by looking at things in the world around him. He looked at things to see how they were made and how they worked. He drew the things that he saw and the discoveries that he made into his notebooks, and made notes about them. Many of his notebooks are now in museums. There are 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. Many of these are scientific studies.[16]
+
+Leonardo's notebooks are hard to read because he wrote backwards in "mirror writing". Some people think that perhaps he was trying to keep his work secret. This is not true. Leonardo wrote (and sometimes drew) with his left hand. In those days pens were made from a quill (a large feather) that was cut with a pen-knife on the end. It is hard for a left-handed person to write with a quill in the ordinary way, but quite easy to write backwards.
+
+It is likely that Leonardo planned to publish the studies in his notebooks. He organized many pages carefully, with one study taking up the front and back of each page. There is a page with drawings and writing about the human heart and a page about the womb and the fetus.[31] One page shows drawings of the muscles of a shoulder and another page shows how an arm works.[32]
+
+The notebooks were not published in Leonardo's lifetime. After he died, they were divided between different people who had known him. They are nearly all in museums or libraries such as Windsor Castle, the Louvre, and the British Library. The Biblioteca Ambrosiana (a library) in Milan has the twelve-volume Codex Atlanticus.[16]
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo studied are:[2]
+
+Many of the drawings and notes in Leonardo's notebooks are designs, plans and inventions.
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo designed are:[2]
+
+Study of a skull
+
+Study of a horse for the Duke's statue
+
+Study of a sedge plant
+
+Rhombicuboctahedron published in Pacioli's book
+
+A parabolic compass.
+
+A Helicopter.
+
+Cannons.
+
+Walking on water.
+
+Modern model of Leonardo's parachute.
+
+Modern model of a bridge designed by Leonardo.
+
+Modern model of a tank by Leonardo
+
+Modern model of a flywheel
+
+ISBN 978-88-96036-65-5

ensimple/3298.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian man who lived in the time of the Renaissance.  He is famous for his paintings,[1] but he was also a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, and a writer.
+Leonardo wanted to know everything about nature. He wanted to know how everything worked. He was very good at studying, designing and making all sorts of interesting things.[2]
+
+Many people think that Leonardo was one of the greatest painters of all time. Other people think that he was the most talented person ever to have lived.[1] The art historian Helen Gardner said that no-one has ever been quite like him because he was interested in so many things that he seems to have had the mind of a giant, and yet what he was like as a person is still a mystery.[3]
+
+Leonardo was born at Vinci which is a small town near Florence, Italy. He was trained to be an artist by the sculptor and painter Verrocchio. He spent most of his life working for rich Italian noblemen. In his last years, he lived in a beautiful home given to him by the King of France.
+
+Two of his pictures are among the best-known paintings in the world: the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He did many drawings. The best-known drawing is Vitruvian Man.  Leonardo was often thinking of new inventions. He kept notebooks with notes and drawings of these ideas.  Most of his inventions were never made. Some of his ideas were a helicopter, a tank, a calculator, a parachute, a robot, a telephone, evolution, and solar power.[source?]
+
+Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452,[4] in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the valley of the Arno River. His grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, wrote down the details of the birth. Leonardo's parents were not married. His father was a Notary, Ser Piero da Vinci.[5][6] His mother, Caterina, was a servant. She may have been a slave from the Middle East.[7][8] or from China.[9] His father later on took custody of Leonardo and his mother remarried and had 5 more children.[10] Leonardo's full name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", which means "Leonardo, the son of Messer (Mister) Pierdaom Vinci".
+
+Leonardo spent his first five years living in a farm house with his mother. Then he lived at Vinci with his father, his father's new wife Albiera, his grandparents and uncle, Francesco.[11]  When Leonardo grew up, he only wrote down two memories from his childhood. He remembered that when he was lying outside in his cradle a large bird flew from the sky and hovered over him. Its tail feathers brushed his face.[11] Leonardo's other important memory was how he found a cave while exploring in the mountains. He was terrified that some great monster might be hiding there. But he was also very excited and wanted to find out what was inside.[11]
+
+Leonardo started painting while he was still a boy. Giorgio Vasari wrote about Leonardo's life shortly after his death. He tells many interesting stories about how clever Leonardo was. He says that Leonardo painted a round wooden shield with a picture of snakes spitting fire. Messer Piero took his son's painting to Florence and sold it to an art dealer.[12]
+
+In 1466, when Leonardo was fourteen, his father took him to Florence, to be an apprentice to the artist Verrocchio.
+
+Florence was a very exciting place for a young person who wanted to be an artist. Many famous artists had lived in Florence, starting with Cimabue and Giotto in the 1200s. Everywhere a person looked there were famous and beautiful artworks. The huge cathedral had an enormous new dome. The church of St John had doors that gleamed with gold and were said to be the most beautiful doors in the world. Another church had statues all around it by the most famous sculptors, including one by Leonardo's teacher Verrocchio.
+
+If an artist was lucky, they would find a rich patron who would buy lots of their paintings. The richest family in Florence were the Medici. They had built themselves the finest palace in Florence, and liked buying paintings, statues and other beautiful things. They were also interested in the study of literature and philosophy. Many young artists hoped to get work from the Medici and their friends.
+
+Verrocchio had a big workshop that was one of the busiest in Florence. Leonardo was learning to be an artist, so he had to learn drawing, painting, sculpting and model making. While he was at the workshop, he was able to learn all sorts of other useful skills: chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry.[13][14][15]
+
+Leonardo was not the only young painter at Verrocchio's workshop. Many other painters were trained there, or often visited. Some of them later became famous: Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli. These artists were all just a few years older than Leonardo.[11][16]
+
+Giorgio Vasari tells an interesting story from this time of Leonardo's life. Verrocchio was painting a large picture of the Baptism of Christ. He gave Leonardo the job of painting one of the angels holding Jesus' robe on the left side of the picture. Vasari said that Leonardo painted the angel so beautifully that Verrocchio put down his brush and never painted again.[12] When the painting is examined closely it is possible to see that many other parts of the picture, such as the rocks, the brown stream and the background may have been painted by Leonardo as well.[6] Verrocchio made a bronze statue of David at this time. It is believed that he used Leonardo as his model.[6]
+
+In about 1472, when he was twenty, Leonardo joined the Guild of St Luke, an organisation of artists and doctors of medicine. Even after his father set him up in his own workshop, Leonardo still enjoyed working at Verrocchio's workshop.[11] Leonardo's earliest known work is a drawing in pen and ink of the Arno River valley. It has the date 5 August 1473. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery.[16]
+
+When Vasari writes about Leonardo, he uses words like "noble", "generous", "graceful" and "beautiful". Vasari tells us that as an adult Leonardo was a tall handsome man. He was so strong that he could bend horseshoes with his bare hands. His voice was so beautiful that it charmed everyone that heard it. Almost everyone wanted to be his friend. He loved animals, was a vegetarian and would buy birds at the market and set them free.[17]
+
+Very little is known about Leonardo's life and work between 1472 and 1481. He was probably busy in Florence.[6] In 1478, he had an important commission to paint an altarpiece for the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. The painting was to be the Adoration of the Magi (The Three Wise Men). The painting was never finished because Leonardo was sent away to Milan.
+
+Leonardo was a very talented musician.[18] In 1482, he made a silver lyre (a musical instrument) in the shape of a horse's head. At that time there was a new ruler in the city of Milan, in the north of Italy. Duke Ludovico il Moro was making other rulers nervous. Lorenzo Medici sent Leonardo to Milan as an ambassador. Lorenzo de' Medici wanted Leonardo to give Ludovico the lyre as a present from him.[19] Leonardo wrote a letter to the Duke of Milan, telling him about all the clever and useful things that he could do, like making war machines. He wrote in the letter that he could "also paint". Leonardo did not know at the time that it was for painting that he would be mostly remembered.[16][20] Leonardo stayed in Milan and worked for the Duke between 1482 and 1499. Part of his work was to design festivals and carnival processions. In Leonardo's note books are drawings of theatre costumes, amazing helmets and scenes that might be for the theatre.
+
+Leonardo, like most other well-known artists of his time, had servants, young students and older assistants in his workshop. One of his young students was a boy whose name was Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno. He was a handsome boy with beautiful long golden curls. He looked perfect as an artist's model for an angel. But he was such a difficult and dishonest boy that Leonardo called him "Salai" or "Salaino" which means "the little devil". Leonardo wrote in his notebook that Salai was very greedy, that he was a liar and that he had stolen things from the house at least five times.[21] Salai stayed in Leonardo's household for thirty years as a pupil and a servant.
+
+Leonardo's most important work for Duke Ludovico was to make a huge statue of the previous ruler, Francesco Sforza, on horseback. He started with the horse. After studying horses and drawing designs, he made a huge horse of clay. It was called the "Gran Cavallo". It was going to be cast in bronze. It was going to be the biggest bronze horse that had been made for more than a thousand years. Unfortunately, the bronze horse was never made. In 1494, Ludovico gave the bronze to be made into cannons because the French army was invading Milan.[16] The huge clay horse was still standing when the French army invaded again in 1499. This time it was used for target practice and was completely destroyed.[16]
+
+While Leonardo was working for Duke Ludovico, he had two important painting commissions. One was to do an oil painting to go in a big altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. Leonardo did the painting twice. He left one with the monks in Milan, and took the other painting to France where it is now in the Louvre Museum. The paintings are both called the Virgin of the Rocks. They show a scene of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus in a rocky mysterious landscape. Mary and Jesus are meeting with John the Baptist. There is a story (which is not in the Bible but is part of Christian tradition) about how the baby John and the baby Jesus met on the road to Egypt. In this scene John is praying and the baby Jesus raises his hand to bless John. The paintings have a strange eerie light with soft deep shadows. In the background is a lake and mountains in the mist. No painting like this had ever been done before.[16]
+
+Leonardo's other important painting in Milan is even more famous. It is the Last Supper. The painting shows the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples, before his capture and death. Leonardo chose to paint the moment when Jesus has said "one of you will betray me". Leonardo tells the story of the surprise and upset that this caused to the twelve followers of Jesus.[16] He tells the story through the actions and faces of the people in the painting. Some of them are talking, some of them have stood up, some are raising their hands in horror.
+
+The novelist Matteo Bandello saw Leonardo at work. Bandello wrote that on some days he would paint from morning till night without stopping to eat. Then for three or four days he would not paint at all. He would often just stand and look at the painting.[22] Vasari said that the prior of the convent was very annoyed. He asked Ludovico to tell Leonardo to work faster. Vasari said that Leonardo was worried because he did not think that he could paint the face of Jesus well enough. Leonardo told the Duke that he might use the face of the prior as his model for Judas, the traitor.[12]
+
+When it was finished, everyone that saw it said that the painting was a masterpiece.[12] But Leonardo had not used proper fresco for the painting. He had used tempera over gesso, which is not usually used for wall painting. Soon the painting started to grow mold and flake off the wall. In a hundred years it was "completely ruined".[6]
+Even though in some places the paint has fallen right off the wall, the painting is so popular that it is printed and copied more that any other religious painting in the world.
+
+In 1499, Ludovico il Moro was overthrown. Leonardo left Milan with his servant Salai and a friend, Luca Pacioli, who was a mathematician. They went to Venice. Leonardo worked as a military architect and engineer. Because Venice is a city on many islands, Leonardo tried to think of ways to defend the city from a naval attack.[6][11]
+
+In 1500, Leonardo went back to Florence, taking his "household" of servants and apprentices with him. The monks from the monastery of The Holy Annunciation gave Leonardo a home and a large workshop. In 2005, some buildings which were used by the Department of Military Geography were being restored. The restorers discovered that part of the building was Leonardo's studio.[23]
+
+Leonardo started work on a new painting. He drew a large "cartoon". (This means a drawing that is a plan for the painting.) The cartoon showed the Virgin Mary sitting on the knee of her mother, St Anne. Mary holds the baby Jesus in her arms. Jesus stretches out his hands to his young cousin John the Baptist. Vasari says that everyone was so amazed by the beautiful drawing that "men and women, young and old" came in large groups to see it "as if they were attending a great festival".[12] The drawing is now in the National Gallery, London. Even though it is old and faded and is kept in a dark room, people go to the gallery to sit in front of it every day. Like many of Leonardo's projects, the painting was never done.
+
+In 1502 and 1503, Leonardo worked for Cesare Borgia, a powerful noble who was the son of Pope Alexander VI. Leonardo travelled around Italy with Borgia, as a military architect and engineer.[6] Late in 1503, Leonardo returned to Florence. He rejoined the Guild of St Luke.
+
+He was given a very important commission. The Signoria (Town Council) of the City of Florence wanted two large frescos painted on the walls of the most important room of the Signoria Palace. Michelangelo was to paint The Battle of Cascina and Leonardo was to paint The Battle of Anghiari.[6]  Leonardo began the project by studying and drawing the faces of angry men and fighting horses. These drawings can still be seen in his notebooks. But unfortunately, this was to be another failure for Leonardo. When he painted the picture on the wall, instead of using fresco, he mixed the paints with oil. The paint would not dry. Leonardo lit some fires to dry it, and the painting melted. Peter Paul Rubens drew a copy of the middle part. After a time, the town council covered it up and got somebody else to paint the wall. Michelangelo did not finish his painting either, because the Pope called him to Rome.[6]
+
+In about 1503 Leonardo began painting the portrait of a woman known as Mona Lisa, the most famous portrait that has ever been painted. He continued working on it for many years. It is a small picture, painted in oil on a wooden panel. It shows the face, upper body and hands of a woman. She is very plainly dressed. For a portrait, a woman would usually put on her best clothes and jewellery. Mona Lisa has a dark dress and a fine black veil over her head. Leonardo often left symbols in his paintings that give clues about the person. The unusual thing about this picture is the smile. The smile is the clue to her name: Mona Lisa Giacondo. Giacondo means "the joking one". (Mona is short for Madonna which means "My Lady".)
+
+The reason why the painting is so famous is that it seems to be full of mystery. Mona Lisa's eyes look out at the viewer. But no-one can guess what she is thinking. Her eyes and her mouth seem to be smiling. This is very unusual in a portrait painting. Most people in portraits look very serious. It is hard to tell what Mona Lisa's exact expression is. When a person wants to read another person's feelings, they look at the corners of their mouth and eyes. But Leonardo has painted soft shadows in the corners of Mona Lisa's mouth and eyes, to disguise her expression. The soft shadows are also found on the sides of her face, her neck and hands. The way that Leonardo uses shadow is called "sfumato" (which is an Italian word for "smoke"). Vasari said that the picture was so beautifully painted that every other artist who looked at it thought that they could never paint so well.[12]
+
+In 1506, Leonardo went back to Milan with his pupils, and lived in his own house in Porta Orientale. Some of the pupils became painters: Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and Marco D'Oggione.[11] D'Oggione made several copies of the Last Supper. Luini made a copy of the Virgin of the Rocks. Boltraffio (and the others) painted many Madonna and Child pictures which can still be seen in art galleries and churches. One of pupils was a young nobleman called Count Francesco Melzi. Melzi never became a very good painter, but he loved Leonardo and stayed with him until the day he died.
+
+In September 1513 Leonardo went to Rome and lived there until 1516. He lived in the Vatican. The three greatest painters of the High Renaissance, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael were all working in Rome at the same time.[6] Even though their names are often said together as if they were friends, they were not. Leonardo at this time was in his sixties, Michelangelo was middle-aged. He was not friendly to either Leonardo or Raphael. Raphael was a very clever young painter who learnt a lot by looking at the pictures painted by Leonardo and Michelangelo. But neither of them was ever his teacher.
+
+In October 1515, King Francis I of France captured Milan.[22] On December 19, there was a meeting of Francis I and Pope Leo X, in Bologna. Leonardo went to the meeting with Pope Leo.[11][24][25]
+Leonardo made an amazing toy to entertain King Francis. It was a life-sized mechanical lion that could walk. It had doors in its chest which opened, and a bunch of lilies came out. Lilies were the royal symbol of the French Kings.[12]
+
+In 1516, Francis I invited Leonardo to go to France with him. He gave Leonardo a beautiful house called Clos Lucé (sometimes called "Cloux"). It is near the king's palace, Chateau Amboise. Leonardo spent the last three years of his life at Clos Lucé, with his faithful friend and apprentice, Count Melzi. The king gave Leonardo a pension of 10,000 scudi.[6] One of the last paintings that Leonardo did was a picture of John the Baptist. His model was Salai, with his beautiful long curling hair.
+
+When Leonardo was dying, he asked for a priest to come, so that he could make his confession and receive Holy Communion.[12]
+Leonardo died at Clos Lucé, on May 2, 1519. King Francis had become a close friend. Vasari says that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died. In his will, he asked that sixty beggars should follow his casket in procession. He was buried in the Chapel of the Chateau Amboise.
+
+Leonardo had never married and had no children of his own. In his will, he left his money, his books and most of his paintings to Count Melzi. Leonardo also remembered his other pupil Salai and his servant Battista di Vilussis, who each received half of Leonardo's vineyards near Milan. Leonardo's left to his serving woman a black cloak with a fur edge.[26] Salai was the owner of Leonardo's most famous oil painting, the Mona Lisa. He still owned it a few years later when he died, after fighting in a duel.[27]
+
+King Francis said: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."[28][29]
+
+Leonardo did not paint very many pictures. But he drew hundreds of quick sketches, plans, maps and detailed drawings. This is the way that he recorded all the interesting things that he saw, studied and thought about.
+
+Some of Leonardo's drawings are "studies" for paintings. In these drawings Leonardo planned the things he was going to paint. Some studies are plans for whole paintings. One of these paintings is the large beautiful drawing of the Madonna and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist that is now in the National Gallery, London.
+
+Many of the studies show "details" that Leonardo wanted to get just right. One study shows a very detailed perspective drawing of the ruined buildings in the background of the painting of the Magi. Other studies show hands, faces, drapery, plants, horses and babies.[30]
+The earliest drawing by Leonardo that has a date on it, is a Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.[11][30]
+
+Leonardo studied things all his life. He did not go to university to study. He studied by looking at things in the world around him. He looked at things to see how they were made and how they worked. He drew the things that he saw and the discoveries that he made into his notebooks, and made notes about them. Many of his notebooks are now in museums. There are 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. Many of these are scientific studies.[16]
+
+Leonardo's notebooks are hard to read because he wrote backwards in "mirror writing". Some people think that perhaps he was trying to keep his work secret. This is not true. Leonardo wrote (and sometimes drew) with his left hand. In those days pens were made from a quill (a large feather) that was cut with a pen-knife on the end. It is hard for a left-handed person to write with a quill in the ordinary way, but quite easy to write backwards.
+
+It is likely that Leonardo planned to publish the studies in his notebooks. He organized many pages carefully, with one study taking up the front and back of each page. There is a page with drawings and writing about the human heart and a page about the womb and the fetus.[31] One page shows drawings of the muscles of a shoulder and another page shows how an arm works.[32]
+
+The notebooks were not published in Leonardo's lifetime. After he died, they were divided between different people who had known him. They are nearly all in museums or libraries such as Windsor Castle, the Louvre, and the British Library. The Biblioteca Ambrosiana (a library) in Milan has the twelve-volume Codex Atlanticus.[16]
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo studied are:[2]
+
+Many of the drawings and notes in Leonardo's notebooks are designs, plans and inventions.
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo designed are:[2]
+
+Study of a skull
+
+Study of a horse for the Duke's statue
+
+Study of a sedge plant
+
+Rhombicuboctahedron published in Pacioli's book
+
+A parabolic compass.
+
+A Helicopter.
+
+Cannons.
+
+Walking on water.
+
+Modern model of Leonardo's parachute.
+
+Modern model of a bridge designed by Leonardo.
+
+Modern model of a tank by Leonardo
+
+Modern model of a flywheel
+
+ISBN 978-88-96036-65-5

ensimple/3299.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian man who lived in the time of the Renaissance.  He is famous for his paintings,[1] but he was also a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, and a writer.
+Leonardo wanted to know everything about nature. He wanted to know how everything worked. He was very good at studying, designing and making all sorts of interesting things.[2]
+
+Many people think that Leonardo was one of the greatest painters of all time. Other people think that he was the most talented person ever to have lived.[1] The art historian Helen Gardner said that no-one has ever been quite like him because he was interested in so many things that he seems to have had the mind of a giant, and yet what he was like as a person is still a mystery.[3]
+
+Leonardo was born at Vinci which is a small town near Florence, Italy. He was trained to be an artist by the sculptor and painter Verrocchio. He spent most of his life working for rich Italian noblemen. In his last years, he lived in a beautiful home given to him by the King of France.
+
+Two of his pictures are among the best-known paintings in the world: the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He did many drawings. The best-known drawing is Vitruvian Man.  Leonardo was often thinking of new inventions. He kept notebooks with notes and drawings of these ideas.  Most of his inventions were never made. Some of his ideas were a helicopter, a tank, a calculator, a parachute, a robot, a telephone, evolution, and solar power.[source?]
+
+Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452,[4] in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the valley of the Arno River. His grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, wrote down the details of the birth. Leonardo's parents were not married. His father was a Notary, Ser Piero da Vinci.[5][6] His mother, Caterina, was a servant. She may have been a slave from the Middle East.[7][8] or from China.[9] His father later on took custody of Leonardo and his mother remarried and had 5 more children.[10] Leonardo's full name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", which means "Leonardo, the son of Messer (Mister) Pierdaom Vinci".
+
+Leonardo spent his first five years living in a farm house with his mother. Then he lived at Vinci with his father, his father's new wife Albiera, his grandparents and uncle, Francesco.[11]  When Leonardo grew up, he only wrote down two memories from his childhood. He remembered that when he was lying outside in his cradle a large bird flew from the sky and hovered over him. Its tail feathers brushed his face.[11] Leonardo's other important memory was how he found a cave while exploring in the mountains. He was terrified that some great monster might be hiding there. But he was also very excited and wanted to find out what was inside.[11]
+
+Leonardo started painting while he was still a boy. Giorgio Vasari wrote about Leonardo's life shortly after his death. He tells many interesting stories about how clever Leonardo was. He says that Leonardo painted a round wooden shield with a picture of snakes spitting fire. Messer Piero took his son's painting to Florence and sold it to an art dealer.[12]
+
+In 1466, when Leonardo was fourteen, his father took him to Florence, to be an apprentice to the artist Verrocchio.
+
+Florence was a very exciting place for a young person who wanted to be an artist. Many famous artists had lived in Florence, starting with Cimabue and Giotto in the 1200s. Everywhere a person looked there were famous and beautiful artworks. The huge cathedral had an enormous new dome. The church of St John had doors that gleamed with gold and were said to be the most beautiful doors in the world. Another church had statues all around it by the most famous sculptors, including one by Leonardo's teacher Verrocchio.
+
+If an artist was lucky, they would find a rich patron who would buy lots of their paintings. The richest family in Florence were the Medici. They had built themselves the finest palace in Florence, and liked buying paintings, statues and other beautiful things. They were also interested in the study of literature and philosophy. Many young artists hoped to get work from the Medici and their friends.
+
+Verrocchio had a big workshop that was one of the busiest in Florence. Leonardo was learning to be an artist, so he had to learn drawing, painting, sculpting and model making. While he was at the workshop, he was able to learn all sorts of other useful skills: chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry.[13][14][15]
+
+Leonardo was not the only young painter at Verrocchio's workshop. Many other painters were trained there, or often visited. Some of them later became famous: Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli. These artists were all just a few years older than Leonardo.[11][16]
+
+Giorgio Vasari tells an interesting story from this time of Leonardo's life. Verrocchio was painting a large picture of the Baptism of Christ. He gave Leonardo the job of painting one of the angels holding Jesus' robe on the left side of the picture. Vasari said that Leonardo painted the angel so beautifully that Verrocchio put down his brush and never painted again.[12] When the painting is examined closely it is possible to see that many other parts of the picture, such as the rocks, the brown stream and the background may have been painted by Leonardo as well.[6] Verrocchio made a bronze statue of David at this time. It is believed that he used Leonardo as his model.[6]
+
+In about 1472, when he was twenty, Leonardo joined the Guild of St Luke, an organisation of artists and doctors of medicine. Even after his father set him up in his own workshop, Leonardo still enjoyed working at Verrocchio's workshop.[11] Leonardo's earliest known work is a drawing in pen and ink of the Arno River valley. It has the date 5 August 1473. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery.[16]
+
+When Vasari writes about Leonardo, he uses words like "noble", "generous", "graceful" and "beautiful". Vasari tells us that as an adult Leonardo was a tall handsome man. He was so strong that he could bend horseshoes with his bare hands. His voice was so beautiful that it charmed everyone that heard it. Almost everyone wanted to be his friend. He loved animals, was a vegetarian and would buy birds at the market and set them free.[17]
+
+Very little is known about Leonardo's life and work between 1472 and 1481. He was probably busy in Florence.[6] In 1478, he had an important commission to paint an altarpiece for the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. The painting was to be the Adoration of the Magi (The Three Wise Men). The painting was never finished because Leonardo was sent away to Milan.
+
+Leonardo was a very talented musician.[18] In 1482, he made a silver lyre (a musical instrument) in the shape of a horse's head. At that time there was a new ruler in the city of Milan, in the north of Italy. Duke Ludovico il Moro was making other rulers nervous. Lorenzo Medici sent Leonardo to Milan as an ambassador. Lorenzo de' Medici wanted Leonardo to give Ludovico the lyre as a present from him.[19] Leonardo wrote a letter to the Duke of Milan, telling him about all the clever and useful things that he could do, like making war machines. He wrote in the letter that he could "also paint". Leonardo did not know at the time that it was for painting that he would be mostly remembered.[16][20] Leonardo stayed in Milan and worked for the Duke between 1482 and 1499. Part of his work was to design festivals and carnival processions. In Leonardo's note books are drawings of theatre costumes, amazing helmets and scenes that might be for the theatre.
+
+Leonardo, like most other well-known artists of his time, had servants, young students and older assistants in his workshop. One of his young students was a boy whose name was Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno. He was a handsome boy with beautiful long golden curls. He looked perfect as an artist's model for an angel. But he was such a difficult and dishonest boy that Leonardo called him "Salai" or "Salaino" which means "the little devil". Leonardo wrote in his notebook that Salai was very greedy, that he was a liar and that he had stolen things from the house at least five times.[21] Salai stayed in Leonardo's household for thirty years as a pupil and a servant.
+
+Leonardo's most important work for Duke Ludovico was to make a huge statue of the previous ruler, Francesco Sforza, on horseback. He started with the horse. After studying horses and drawing designs, he made a huge horse of clay. It was called the "Gran Cavallo". It was going to be cast in bronze. It was going to be the biggest bronze horse that had been made for more than a thousand years. Unfortunately, the bronze horse was never made. In 1494, Ludovico gave the bronze to be made into cannons because the French army was invading Milan.[16] The huge clay horse was still standing when the French army invaded again in 1499. This time it was used for target practice and was completely destroyed.[16]
+
+While Leonardo was working for Duke Ludovico, he had two important painting commissions. One was to do an oil painting to go in a big altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. Leonardo did the painting twice. He left one with the monks in Milan, and took the other painting to France where it is now in the Louvre Museum. The paintings are both called the Virgin of the Rocks. They show a scene of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus in a rocky mysterious landscape. Mary and Jesus are meeting with John the Baptist. There is a story (which is not in the Bible but is part of Christian tradition) about how the baby John and the baby Jesus met on the road to Egypt. In this scene John is praying and the baby Jesus raises his hand to bless John. The paintings have a strange eerie light with soft deep shadows. In the background is a lake and mountains in the mist. No painting like this had ever been done before.[16]
+
+Leonardo's other important painting in Milan is even more famous. It is the Last Supper. The painting shows the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples, before his capture and death. Leonardo chose to paint the moment when Jesus has said "one of you will betray me". Leonardo tells the story of the surprise and upset that this caused to the twelve followers of Jesus.[16] He tells the story through the actions and faces of the people in the painting. Some of them are talking, some of them have stood up, some are raising their hands in horror.
+
+The novelist Matteo Bandello saw Leonardo at work. Bandello wrote that on some days he would paint from morning till night without stopping to eat. Then for three or four days he would not paint at all. He would often just stand and look at the painting.[22] Vasari said that the prior of the convent was very annoyed. He asked Ludovico to tell Leonardo to work faster. Vasari said that Leonardo was worried because he did not think that he could paint the face of Jesus well enough. Leonardo told the Duke that he might use the face of the prior as his model for Judas, the traitor.[12]
+
+When it was finished, everyone that saw it said that the painting was a masterpiece.[12] But Leonardo had not used proper fresco for the painting. He had used tempera over gesso, which is not usually used for wall painting. Soon the painting started to grow mold and flake off the wall. In a hundred years it was "completely ruined".[6]
+Even though in some places the paint has fallen right off the wall, the painting is so popular that it is printed and copied more that any other religious painting in the world.
+
+In 1499, Ludovico il Moro was overthrown. Leonardo left Milan with his servant Salai and a friend, Luca Pacioli, who was a mathematician. They went to Venice. Leonardo worked as a military architect and engineer. Because Venice is a city on many islands, Leonardo tried to think of ways to defend the city from a naval attack.[6][11]
+
+In 1500, Leonardo went back to Florence, taking his "household" of servants and apprentices with him. The monks from the monastery of The Holy Annunciation gave Leonardo a home and a large workshop. In 2005, some buildings which were used by the Department of Military Geography were being restored. The restorers discovered that part of the building was Leonardo's studio.[23]
+
+Leonardo started work on a new painting. He drew a large "cartoon". (This means a drawing that is a plan for the painting.) The cartoon showed the Virgin Mary sitting on the knee of her mother, St Anne. Mary holds the baby Jesus in her arms. Jesus stretches out his hands to his young cousin John the Baptist. Vasari says that everyone was so amazed by the beautiful drawing that "men and women, young and old" came in large groups to see it "as if they were attending a great festival".[12] The drawing is now in the National Gallery, London. Even though it is old and faded and is kept in a dark room, people go to the gallery to sit in front of it every day. Like many of Leonardo's projects, the painting was never done.
+
+In 1502 and 1503, Leonardo worked for Cesare Borgia, a powerful noble who was the son of Pope Alexander VI. Leonardo travelled around Italy with Borgia, as a military architect and engineer.[6] Late in 1503, Leonardo returned to Florence. He rejoined the Guild of St Luke.
+
+He was given a very important commission. The Signoria (Town Council) of the City of Florence wanted two large frescos painted on the walls of the most important room of the Signoria Palace. Michelangelo was to paint The Battle of Cascina and Leonardo was to paint The Battle of Anghiari.[6]  Leonardo began the project by studying and drawing the faces of angry men and fighting horses. These drawings can still be seen in his notebooks. But unfortunately, this was to be another failure for Leonardo. When he painted the picture on the wall, instead of using fresco, he mixed the paints with oil. The paint would not dry. Leonardo lit some fires to dry it, and the painting melted. Peter Paul Rubens drew a copy of the middle part. After a time, the town council covered it up and got somebody else to paint the wall. Michelangelo did not finish his painting either, because the Pope called him to Rome.[6]
+
+In about 1503 Leonardo began painting the portrait of a woman known as Mona Lisa, the most famous portrait that has ever been painted. He continued working on it for many years. It is a small picture, painted in oil on a wooden panel. It shows the face, upper body and hands of a woman. She is very plainly dressed. For a portrait, a woman would usually put on her best clothes and jewellery. Mona Lisa has a dark dress and a fine black veil over her head. Leonardo often left symbols in his paintings that give clues about the person. The unusual thing about this picture is the smile. The smile is the clue to her name: Mona Lisa Giacondo. Giacondo means "the joking one". (Mona is short for Madonna which means "My Lady".)
+
+The reason why the painting is so famous is that it seems to be full of mystery. Mona Lisa's eyes look out at the viewer. But no-one can guess what she is thinking. Her eyes and her mouth seem to be smiling. This is very unusual in a portrait painting. Most people in portraits look very serious. It is hard to tell what Mona Lisa's exact expression is. When a person wants to read another person's feelings, they look at the corners of their mouth and eyes. But Leonardo has painted soft shadows in the corners of Mona Lisa's mouth and eyes, to disguise her expression. The soft shadows are also found on the sides of her face, her neck and hands. The way that Leonardo uses shadow is called "sfumato" (which is an Italian word for "smoke"). Vasari said that the picture was so beautifully painted that every other artist who looked at it thought that they could never paint so well.[12]
+
+In 1506, Leonardo went back to Milan with his pupils, and lived in his own house in Porta Orientale. Some of the pupils became painters: Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and Marco D'Oggione.[11] D'Oggione made several copies of the Last Supper. Luini made a copy of the Virgin of the Rocks. Boltraffio (and the others) painted many Madonna and Child pictures which can still be seen in art galleries and churches. One of pupils was a young nobleman called Count Francesco Melzi. Melzi never became a very good painter, but he loved Leonardo and stayed with him until the day he died.
+
+In September 1513 Leonardo went to Rome and lived there until 1516. He lived in the Vatican. The three greatest painters of the High Renaissance, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael were all working in Rome at the same time.[6] Even though their names are often said together as if they were friends, they were not. Leonardo at this time was in his sixties, Michelangelo was middle-aged. He was not friendly to either Leonardo or Raphael. Raphael was a very clever young painter who learnt a lot by looking at the pictures painted by Leonardo and Michelangelo. But neither of them was ever his teacher.
+
+In October 1515, King Francis I of France captured Milan.[22] On December 19, there was a meeting of Francis I and Pope Leo X, in Bologna. Leonardo went to the meeting with Pope Leo.[11][24][25]
+Leonardo made an amazing toy to entertain King Francis. It was a life-sized mechanical lion that could walk. It had doors in its chest which opened, and a bunch of lilies came out. Lilies were the royal symbol of the French Kings.[12]
+
+In 1516, Francis I invited Leonardo to go to France with him. He gave Leonardo a beautiful house called Clos Lucé (sometimes called "Cloux"). It is near the king's palace, Chateau Amboise. Leonardo spent the last three years of his life at Clos Lucé, with his faithful friend and apprentice, Count Melzi. The king gave Leonardo a pension of 10,000 scudi.[6] One of the last paintings that Leonardo did was a picture of John the Baptist. His model was Salai, with his beautiful long curling hair.
+
+When Leonardo was dying, he asked for a priest to come, so that he could make his confession and receive Holy Communion.[12]
+Leonardo died at Clos Lucé, on May 2, 1519. King Francis had become a close friend. Vasari says that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died. In his will, he asked that sixty beggars should follow his casket in procession. He was buried in the Chapel of the Chateau Amboise.
+
+Leonardo had never married and had no children of his own. In his will, he left his money, his books and most of his paintings to Count Melzi. Leonardo also remembered his other pupil Salai and his servant Battista di Vilussis, who each received half of Leonardo's vineyards near Milan. Leonardo's left to his serving woman a black cloak with a fur edge.[26] Salai was the owner of Leonardo's most famous oil painting, the Mona Lisa. He still owned it a few years later when he died, after fighting in a duel.[27]
+
+King Francis said: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."[28][29]
+
+Leonardo did not paint very many pictures. But he drew hundreds of quick sketches, plans, maps and detailed drawings. This is the way that he recorded all the interesting things that he saw, studied and thought about.
+
+Some of Leonardo's drawings are "studies" for paintings. In these drawings Leonardo planned the things he was going to paint. Some studies are plans for whole paintings. One of these paintings is the large beautiful drawing of the Madonna and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist that is now in the National Gallery, London.
+
+Many of the studies show "details" that Leonardo wanted to get just right. One study shows a very detailed perspective drawing of the ruined buildings in the background of the painting of the Magi. Other studies show hands, faces, drapery, plants, horses and babies.[30]
+The earliest drawing by Leonardo that has a date on it, is a Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.[11][30]
+
+Leonardo studied things all his life. He did not go to university to study. He studied by looking at things in the world around him. He looked at things to see how they were made and how they worked. He drew the things that he saw and the discoveries that he made into his notebooks, and made notes about them. Many of his notebooks are now in museums. There are 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. Many of these are scientific studies.[16]
+
+Leonardo's notebooks are hard to read because he wrote backwards in "mirror writing". Some people think that perhaps he was trying to keep his work secret. This is not true. Leonardo wrote (and sometimes drew) with his left hand. In those days pens were made from a quill (a large feather) that was cut with a pen-knife on the end. It is hard for a left-handed person to write with a quill in the ordinary way, but quite easy to write backwards.
+
+It is likely that Leonardo planned to publish the studies in his notebooks. He organized many pages carefully, with one study taking up the front and back of each page. There is a page with drawings and writing about the human heart and a page about the womb and the fetus.[31] One page shows drawings of the muscles of a shoulder and another page shows how an arm works.[32]
+
+The notebooks were not published in Leonardo's lifetime. After he died, they were divided between different people who had known him. They are nearly all in museums or libraries such as Windsor Castle, the Louvre, and the British Library. The Biblioteca Ambrosiana (a library) in Milan has the twelve-volume Codex Atlanticus.[16]
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo studied are:[2]
+
+Many of the drawings and notes in Leonardo's notebooks are designs, plans and inventions.
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo designed are:[2]
+
+Study of a skull
+
+Study of a horse for the Duke's statue
+
+Study of a sedge plant
+
+Rhombicuboctahedron published in Pacioli's book
+
+A parabolic compass.
+
+A Helicopter.
+
+Cannons.
+
+Walking on water.
+
+Modern model of Leonardo's parachute.
+
+Modern model of a bridge designed by Leonardo.
+
+Modern model of a tank by Leonardo
+
+Modern model of a flywheel
+
+ISBN 978-88-96036-65-5

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+Steel is iron mixed with carbon and perhaps other metals. It is harder and stronger than iron. Iron with more than 1.7% percent carbon by weight is named cast iron. Steel is different from wrought iron, which has little or no carbon.
+
+Steel has a long history. People in India and Sri Lanka were making small amounts of steel more than 2,500 years ago. It was very expensive and was often used to make swords and knives. In the Middle Ages, steel could be made only in small amounts since the processes took a long time.
+
+In the time since, there have been many changes to the way steel is made. In about the year 1610 steel started to be made in England, and the way it was made got better and cheaper over the next 100 years. Cheap steel helped start the Industrial Revolution in England and in Europe. The first industrial Converter (metallurgy) for making cheap steel was the Bessemer converter, followed by Siemens-Martin open-hearth process.
+
+Today the most common way of making steel is the basic-oxygen process.  The converter is a large turnip-shaped vessel.  Liquid raw iron called "pig iron" is poured in and some scrap metal is added in to balance the heat. Oxygen is then blown into the iron. The oxygen burns off the extra carbon and other impurities.  Then enough carbon is added to make the carbon contents as wanted. The liquid steel is then poured. It can be either cast into molds or rolled into sheets, slabs, beams and other so-called "long products", such as railway tracks. Some special steels are made in electric arc furnaces.
+
+Steel is most often made by machines in huge buildings called steel mills.  It is a very cheap metal and is used to make many things.  Steel is used in making buildings and bridges, and all kinds of machines. Almost all ships and cars are today made from steel. When a steel object is old, or it is broken beyond repair, it is called scrap. It can be melted down and re-shaped into a new object. Steel is recyclable material; that is, the same steel can be used and re-used.
+
+Steel is a metal alloy which includes iron and often some carbon.
+
+Every material is made up of atoms which are very small parts. Some atoms hold together quite well, which is what makes some solid materials hard. Something made of pure iron is softer than steel because the atoms can slip over one another. If other atoms like carbon are added, they are different from iron atoms and stop the iron atoms from sliding apart so easily. This makes the metal stronger and harder.
+
+Changing the amount of carbon (or other atoms) added to steel will change those things that are interesting and useful about the metal. These are called the properties of the steel. Some properties are:
+
+Steel with more carbon is harder and stronger than pure iron, but it also breaks more easily (brittle).
+
+There are thousands of steel types. Each type is made of different chemical elements.
+
+All steels have some elements that have a bad effect, such as phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S). Steel makers take out as much P and S as possible.
+
+Plain carbon steels are made only of iron, carbon, and undesired elements.  They fall into three general groups. Plain carbon steel with 0.05 to 0.2% carbon does not harden when cooled quickly. Welding it is simple, so it is used for shipbuilding, boilers, pipes, fence wire and other purposes where low cost is important.  Plain  steels are used for springs, gears, and engine parts.  Plain carbon steel with 0.45 to 0.8% carbon is used for very hard items such as shears and machine tools.
+
+Alloy steels are plain carbon steel with metals such as Boron (B), manganese (Mn), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), molybdenum (Mo), tungsten (W), and cobalt (Co) added.  These give other properties than plain carbon steel.  Alloy steels are made for specialized purposes. For example, chromium can be added to make stainless steel, which does not rust easily, or boron can be added to make very hard steel that is also not brittle.
+
+There are a huge number of things that people make from steel. It is one of the most common and useful metals. 
+A lot of items made from iron in the past are now made of steel. Some of them are:

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+
+
+Mesothelae
+Opisthothelae
+
+Spiders (class Arachnida, order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods. They have eight legs, and mouthparts (chelicerae) with fangs that inject venom. Most make silk. The arachnids  are seventh in number of species of all animal orders.[2] About 48,000 spider species, and 120 families have been recorded by taxonomists.[3] Over twenty different classifications have been proposed since 1900.[4]p3 Spiders live on every continent except for Antarctica, and in nearly every habitat with the exceptions of air and sea.
+
+Almost all spiders are predators, and most eat insects. They catch their prey in several ways. Some build a spider web, and some use a thread of silk that they throw at the insect. Some kinds of spiders hide in holes in the ground, then run out and grab an insect that walks by. Others will make web 'nets' to throw at passing insects. Or they go out and simply attack their prey. Some can jump quite well and hunt by sneaking close to an insect and then jumping on it.
+
+Spiders have a two-part body, the front part (cephalothorax) and the abdomen. Unlike insects, spiders do not have antennae. The more advanced spiders have a centralized nervous system, with their ganglia fused into one mass in the cephalothorax. Unlike most arthropods, spiders have no extensor muscles in their limbs, and extend them by hydraulic pressure.
+
+The smallest of full-grown spiders can be less than 4 mm. (0.1 inch). The largest of spiders can have a body length of 10 cm. (4 inches) or more. The largest can weigh 150 grams (5.3 oz). The largest of spiders are the tarantulas and the huntsman spiders. Some huntsman spiders in South East Asia can have a leg span of around 250–300 mm (9.8–11.8 in).
+
+Most spiders have four pairs of eyes on the top-front area of the body, arranged in patterns that vary from one family to another. The main eyes at the front are capable of forming images.[5] Jumping spiders have visual acuity which is ten times better than that of dragonflies, which have by far the best vision among insects. The spiders do this by a telephoto-like series of lenses, a four-layered retina. They can swivel their eyes and put together images from different stages in the scan. The downside is that the scanning and integrating processes are relatively slow.[6]
+
+Spiders and other arthropods have modified their cuticles into elaborate arrays of sensors. Various sensors, mostly bristles, respond to touch, from strong contact to very weak air currents. Chemical sensors provide equivalents of taste and smell.[5] Spiders also have in the joints of their limbs sensors that detect forces and vibrations. In web-building spiders all these mechanical and chemical sensors are more important than the eyes. The eyes are more important to spiders that hunt actively. Like most arthropods, spiders lack balance sensors, and rely on their eyes to tell them which way is up.[5]
+
+Even a relatively large spider can have fangs with very sharp points. The fangs are hollow, like the needles used to give shots. Spiders use their fangs to inject toxins that kill the insects they will eat. Some kinds of spider venom attack the nervous systems of their prey, and other kinds of venom attack body tissues.
+
+Almost all spiders are predators, and eat insects and other arthropods (including other spiders). Most use venom from their fangs to kill their prey. It is rare for spiders to capture prey that are much larger than they are. It is also difficult for most spiders to capture prey that are very much smaller than they are. Most species of spiders cannot live close together because they treat each other as their next meal, but there are some spiders that form colonies. Spiders eat not only spiders of other species, but spiders of their own species.
+
+The black widow spider got its name because the females sometimes eat the males that mate with them. This may also happen in other species. Each species of spider has its own way of communicating with other spiders they meet. Because of the danger of being eaten, in some species the males have special hooks on their front legs with which they hold the female while they mate. Others bring the female something to eat. There are a few species in which the male spiders construct their own little webs that are connected to the webs of the females. In these species, the male is so much smaller than the female that it would be difficult for her to actually capture the male.
+
+Most spiders have such poor vision that they will not even notice a dead insect. Jumping spiders are one exception to this rule. They have such good vision that they can find recently dead flies or other insects to eat.
+
+Most spiders are predators, but the jumping spider Bagheera kiplingi gets over 90% of its food from fairly solid plant material produced by acacias as part of a beneficial relationship with a species of ant.[7]
+
+Young spiders of several families feed on plant nectar. Studies have shown that they do this for long periods. They also clean themselves regularly while feeding. These spiders also prefer sugar solutions to plain water, which shows that they are looking for nutrients. Many spiders are nocturnal, they are most active during the night. The extent of nectar consumption by spiders may therefore have been under-estimated. Nectar contains amino acids, lipids, vitamins and minerals in addition to sugars. Studies have shown that other spider species live longer when nectar is available. Feeding on nectar also avoids the risks of struggles with prey, and the costs of producing venom and digestive enzymes.[8]
+
+Various species are known to feed on dead arthropods (scavenging), web silk, and their own shed exoskeletons. Pollen caught in webs may also be eaten, and studies have shown that young spiders have a better chance of survival if they have the opportunity to eat pollen. In captivity, several spider species are also known to feed on bananas, marmalade, milk, egg yolk and sausages.[8]
+
+The best-known method spiders use to capture prey is a sticky web. The placing of the web allows different spiders to trap different insects in the same area. Flat, horizontal webs allow them to trap insects that fly up from vegetation underneath, for example. Flat vertical nets allow them to trap insects in flight. The spiders that build webs usually do not see very well, but they are very sensitive to vibrations.[5]
+
+Females of the water spider Argyroneta aquatica build underwater "diving bell" webs which they fill with air and use eating their prey, molting, mating, and raising offspring. They live almost entirely within the bells, darting out to catch prey animals that touch the bell or the threads that anchor it.[9] A few spiders use the surfaces of lakes and ponds as "webs", detecting trapped insects by the vibrations that these cause while struggling.[5]
+
+Net-casting spiders weave only small webs but then manipulate them to trap prey. They stretch their webs and then release them when prey strike them. Those of the family Deinopidae weave even smaller webs, hold them outstretched between their first two pairs of legs, and lunge and push the webs as much as twice their own body length to trap prey, and this move may increase the webs' area by a factor of up to ten. Experiments have shown that Deinopis spinosus has two different techniques for trapping prey: backwards strikes to catch flying insects, whose vibrations it detects; and forward strikes to catch ground-walking prey that it sees. These two techniques have also been observed in other deinopids. Walking insects form most of the prey of most deinopids, but one population of Deinopis subrufus appears to live mainly on tipulid flies that they catch with the backwards strike.[10]
+
+Mature female bolas spiders of the genus Mastophora build "webs" that consist of only a single "trapeze line", which they patrol. They also construct a bolas made of a single thread, tipped with a large ball of very wet sticky silk. They emit chemicals that resemble the pheromones of moths, and then swing the bolas at the moths. They catch about the same weight of insects per night as web-weaving spiders of similar size. The spiders eat the bolas if they have not made a kill in about 30 minutes, rest for a while, and then make new bolas.[11][12] Juveniles and adult males are much smaller and do not make bolas. Instead they release different pheromones that attract moth flies, and catch them with their front pairs of legs.[13]
+
+The primitive Liphistiidae, the "trapdoor spiders" (family Ctenizidae) and many tarantulas are ambush predators. They lurk in burrows, often closed by trapdoors and surrounded by networks of silk threads that alert these spiders to the presence of prey.[14] Other ambush predators do without such aids, including many crab spiders.[5] A few species that prey on bees, which see ultraviolet, can adjust their ultraviolet reflectance to match the flowers in which they are lurking.[15] Wolf spiders, jumping spiders, fishing spiders and some crab spiders capture prey by chasing it, and rely mainly on vision to get their prey.[5]
+
+Not all spiders use silk to net their prey. Instead, these spiders may capture insects by grabbing them and then biting them. Among these kinds of spiders the two best known are the wolf spiders and the jumping spiders.
+
+A wolf spider will usually wait until an insect comes near to it, and then rush at the insect, grab it using its front legs, and then bite the insect so that its venom can do its work.
+
+Female wolf spiders lay their eggs on a pad of silk and then draw the edges together to create a round ball that they carry along with them wherever they go. They hold their egg balls to their tail ends by using their silk. When the eggs hatch, the little spiders will crawl onto the mother's back, and she will carry them along with her for days or weeks.
+
+Wolf spiders are very good mothers and will strongly protect both their egg balls and their infants. When the time comes, the little spiders will leave the mother and each will go its own way.
+
+Jumping spiders have very good eyes and can see well. They sneak as close to an insect as they can, and then they jump onto the insect and immediately bite it. Since they often hunt in trees, bushes, and on the sides of walls, if the jumping spider misses it may fall off. But they have a way to save themselves from harm. Before they jump they fasten their silk to the place where they have been standing, and as they jump they let out a silk safety line. So if they fall they will catch themselves when they reach the end of their silk safety line. Sometimes a jumping spider will catch an insect and then fall while still holding onto the insect. But the spider is still safe.
+
+Jumping spiders make little silken "tents" for themselves to sleep in. When they lay eggs they keep them inside such a shelter. They do not take their eggs with them when they go out to hunt.
+
+For all male spiders it is dangerous to seek a mate. The female spider may not realize that the male is a spider of her kind, so she may try to eat it. The jumping spiders not only have visual patterns that identify them to each other, but the male jumping spider will do a special dance when it approaches a female of the same species. That way, the female can recognize that it is a male of her species. She will generally forget about eating for long enough to mate with the visiting male spider.
+
+Jumping spiders have such good eyes that they will usually watch any human who tries to watch them. Some species are very shy and will run away if the human gets too close. But some species, such as Phidippus audax (the audacious or brave jumping spider) and Platycryptus undatus, can become calm if the human comes close to them slowly. Sometimes they will jump onto one of your fingers and then jump from finger to finger and from hand to hand. They seem to want to explore.
+
+Some jumping spiders of the genus Portia hunt other spiders in ways that seem intelligent,[6] outflanking their victims or luring them from their webs. Laboratory studies show that Portia's instinctive tactics are only starting points for a trial-and-error approach from which these spiders learn very quickly how to overcome new prey species.[16] However, they seem to be relatively slow thinkers, which is not surprising as their brains are vastly smaller than those of mammalian predators.[6]
+
+Ant-mimicking spiders face several challenges: they generally develop slimmer abdomens and false "waists" to mimic the three distinct regions (tagmata) of an ant's body; they wave the first pair of legs in form to their heads to mimic antennae, which spiders lack, and to conceal the fact that they have eight legs rather than six. They have large color patches round one pair of eyes to disguise the fact that they generally have eight simple eyes, while ants have two compound eyes; they cover their bodies with reflective hairs to resemble the shiny bodies of ants. In some spider species males and females mimic different ant species, as female spiders are usually much larger than males.
+
+Ant-mimicking spiders also modify their behavior to resemble that of the target species of ant, for example many adopt a zig-zag pattern of movement, ant-mimicking jumping spiders avoid jumping, and spiders of the genus Synemosyna walk on the outer edges of leaves in the same way as Pseudomyrmex. Ant-mimicry in many spiders and other arthropods may be for protection from predators that hunt by sight, including birds, lizards and spiders. However several ant-mimicking spiders prey either on ants or on the ants "livestock" such as aphids. When at rest the ant-mimicking crab spider Amyciaea does not closely resemble Oecophylla, but while hunting it imitates the behavior of a dying ant to attract worker ants. After a kill some ant-mimicking spiders hold their victims between themselves and large groups of ants to avoid being attacked.[17]
+
+Spiders reproduce sexually and fertilization is internal but indirect. In other words, the sperm is not inserted into the female's body by the male's genitals but by an intermediate stage. Unlike many land-living arthropods,[5] male spiders do not produce ready-made spermatophores (packages of sperm). Instead, they spin small sperm webs on to which they ejaculate and then transfer the sperm to structures on the tips of their pedipalps. When a male detects signs of a female nearby he checks whether she is of the same species and whether she is ready to mate; for example in species that produce webs or 'safety ropes', the male can identify the species and sex of these objects by smell.[5]
+
+Spiders generally use elaborate courtship rituals to prevent the large females from eating the small males before fertilization, except where the male is so much smaller that he is not worth eating. In some species males mate with newly molted females, which are too weak to be dangerous to the males.[4]
+
+In web-weaving species precise patterns of vibrations in the web are a major part of the rituals, while patterns of touches on the female's body are important in many spiders that hunt actively, and may 'hypnotize' the female. Gestures and dances by the male are important for jumping spiders, which have excellent eyesight. If courtship is successful, the male injects his sperm from the pedipalps into the female's genital opening on the underside of her abdomen. Female reproductive tracts vary. Some are simple tubes, but others have chambers where females store sperm, and release it when they are ready.[5]
+
+Males do get eaten in some species. Males of the genus Tidarren cut off one of their palps, and enter adult life with one palp only. The palps are 20% of male's body mass in this species, and detaching one of the two improves mobility. In the Yemeni species Tidarren argo, the remaining palp is then torn off by the female. The separated palp remains attached to the female's opening for about four hours. In the meantime, the female feeds on the palpless male.[18] In over 60% of cases the female of the Australian redback spider kills and eats the male after it inserts its second palp into the female's genital opening; in fact the males co-operate by trying to impale themselves on the females' fangs. Observation shows that most male redbacks never get an opportunity to mate, and the 'lucky' ones increase the likely number of offspring by ensuring that the females are well-fed.[19] However males of most species survive a few matings, limited mainly by their short life spans. Some even live for a while in their mates' webs.[4]p176/212
+
+Females lay up to 3,000 eggs in one or more silk egg sacs,[5] which maintain a fairly constant humidity level.[4] In some species the females die afterwards, but females of other species protect the sacs by attaching them to their webs, hiding them in nests, carrying them in the chelicerae or attaching them to the spinnerets and dragging them along.[5]
+
+Baby spiders pass all their larval stages inside the egg and hatch as spiderlings, very small and sexually immature but similar in shape to adults. Some spiders care for their young, for example a wolf spider's brood cling to rough bristles on the mother's back,[5] and females of some species respond to the "begging" behaviour of their young by giving them their prey, provided it is no longer struggling, or even regurgitate food.[4]
+
+Like other arthropods, spiders have to moult to grow as their cuticle ("skin") cannot stretch.[5] Most spiders live for only one to two years, although some tarantulas can live in captivity for over 20 years.p232[4][5]
+
+Of the 40,000 spiders, less than 12 are known to be dangerous to humans. Most of the time, being bitten by a spider is painful. Most spiders use venom to paralyse their prey; they kill it through eating, or through a bite. A few spiders have venoms that can be dangerous to weakened people and those allergic to it. Since 1927, 13 people have died, after a bite from a Atrax robustus spider from Australia.[20]
+
+The spider that kills the most people, the black widow and other spiders in the genius Latrodectus are around 1 cm. in body length. The Atrax and Phoneutria spiders, which are also capable of killing people, both average around 2.5 cm. or one inch, and even the Widow spiders are large enough to be easily noticed.
+
+Even relatively small spiders like Phidippus audax can give a painful bite if you hurt them, but spiders are very helpful to human beings because they control insects that eat our crops.
+
+Being afraid of spiders is a very common phobia (fear). The widow spiders (black widows and other members of their genus) never willingly leave their webs, so usually people get bitten when they touch the spider by mistake.
+
+Click on a picture to see it larger:
+
+Small: Platycryptus undatus8–13 mm
+
+Medium: Argiope aurantia14–25 mm
+
+Large: Theraphosa blondi120–140 mm
+
+Phoneutria nigriventerBrazilian wandering spider

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+Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian man who lived in the time of the Renaissance.  He is famous for his paintings,[1] but he was also a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, and a writer.
+Leonardo wanted to know everything about nature. He wanted to know how everything worked. He was very good at studying, designing and making all sorts of interesting things.[2]
+
+Many people think that Leonardo was one of the greatest painters of all time. Other people think that he was the most talented person ever to have lived.[1] The art historian Helen Gardner said that no-one has ever been quite like him because he was interested in so many things that he seems to have had the mind of a giant, and yet what he was like as a person is still a mystery.[3]
+
+Leonardo was born at Vinci which is a small town near Florence, Italy. He was trained to be an artist by the sculptor and painter Verrocchio. He spent most of his life working for rich Italian noblemen. In his last years, he lived in a beautiful home given to him by the King of France.
+
+Two of his pictures are among the best-known paintings in the world: the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He did many drawings. The best-known drawing is Vitruvian Man.  Leonardo was often thinking of new inventions. He kept notebooks with notes and drawings of these ideas.  Most of his inventions were never made. Some of his ideas were a helicopter, a tank, a calculator, a parachute, a robot, a telephone, evolution, and solar power.[source?]
+
+Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452,[4] in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the valley of the Arno River. His grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, wrote down the details of the birth. Leonardo's parents were not married. His father was a Notary, Ser Piero da Vinci.[5][6] His mother, Caterina, was a servant. She may have been a slave from the Middle East.[7][8] or from China.[9] His father later on took custody of Leonardo and his mother remarried and had 5 more children.[10] Leonardo's full name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", which means "Leonardo, the son of Messer (Mister) Pierdaom Vinci".
+
+Leonardo spent his first five years living in a farm house with his mother. Then he lived at Vinci with his father, his father's new wife Albiera, his grandparents and uncle, Francesco.[11]  When Leonardo grew up, he only wrote down two memories from his childhood. He remembered that when he was lying outside in his cradle a large bird flew from the sky and hovered over him. Its tail feathers brushed his face.[11] Leonardo's other important memory was how he found a cave while exploring in the mountains. He was terrified that some great monster might be hiding there. But he was also very excited and wanted to find out what was inside.[11]
+
+Leonardo started painting while he was still a boy. Giorgio Vasari wrote about Leonardo's life shortly after his death. He tells many interesting stories about how clever Leonardo was. He says that Leonardo painted a round wooden shield with a picture of snakes spitting fire. Messer Piero took his son's painting to Florence and sold it to an art dealer.[12]
+
+In 1466, when Leonardo was fourteen, his father took him to Florence, to be an apprentice to the artist Verrocchio.
+
+Florence was a very exciting place for a young person who wanted to be an artist. Many famous artists had lived in Florence, starting with Cimabue and Giotto in the 1200s. Everywhere a person looked there were famous and beautiful artworks. The huge cathedral had an enormous new dome. The church of St John had doors that gleamed with gold and were said to be the most beautiful doors in the world. Another church had statues all around it by the most famous sculptors, including one by Leonardo's teacher Verrocchio.
+
+If an artist was lucky, they would find a rich patron who would buy lots of their paintings. The richest family in Florence were the Medici. They had built themselves the finest palace in Florence, and liked buying paintings, statues and other beautiful things. They were also interested in the study of literature and philosophy. Many young artists hoped to get work from the Medici and their friends.
+
+Verrocchio had a big workshop that was one of the busiest in Florence. Leonardo was learning to be an artist, so he had to learn drawing, painting, sculpting and model making. While he was at the workshop, he was able to learn all sorts of other useful skills: chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry.[13][14][15]
+
+Leonardo was not the only young painter at Verrocchio's workshop. Many other painters were trained there, or often visited. Some of them later became famous: Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli. These artists were all just a few years older than Leonardo.[11][16]
+
+Giorgio Vasari tells an interesting story from this time of Leonardo's life. Verrocchio was painting a large picture of the Baptism of Christ. He gave Leonardo the job of painting one of the angels holding Jesus' robe on the left side of the picture. Vasari said that Leonardo painted the angel so beautifully that Verrocchio put down his brush and never painted again.[12] When the painting is examined closely it is possible to see that many other parts of the picture, such as the rocks, the brown stream and the background may have been painted by Leonardo as well.[6] Verrocchio made a bronze statue of David at this time. It is believed that he used Leonardo as his model.[6]
+
+In about 1472, when he was twenty, Leonardo joined the Guild of St Luke, an organisation of artists and doctors of medicine. Even after his father set him up in his own workshop, Leonardo still enjoyed working at Verrocchio's workshop.[11] Leonardo's earliest known work is a drawing in pen and ink of the Arno River valley. It has the date 5 August 1473. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery.[16]
+
+When Vasari writes about Leonardo, he uses words like "noble", "generous", "graceful" and "beautiful". Vasari tells us that as an adult Leonardo was a tall handsome man. He was so strong that he could bend horseshoes with his bare hands. His voice was so beautiful that it charmed everyone that heard it. Almost everyone wanted to be his friend. He loved animals, was a vegetarian and would buy birds at the market and set them free.[17]
+
+Very little is known about Leonardo's life and work between 1472 and 1481. He was probably busy in Florence.[6] In 1478, he had an important commission to paint an altarpiece for the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. The painting was to be the Adoration of the Magi (The Three Wise Men). The painting was never finished because Leonardo was sent away to Milan.
+
+Leonardo was a very talented musician.[18] In 1482, he made a silver lyre (a musical instrument) in the shape of a horse's head. At that time there was a new ruler in the city of Milan, in the north of Italy. Duke Ludovico il Moro was making other rulers nervous. Lorenzo Medici sent Leonardo to Milan as an ambassador. Lorenzo de' Medici wanted Leonardo to give Ludovico the lyre as a present from him.[19] Leonardo wrote a letter to the Duke of Milan, telling him about all the clever and useful things that he could do, like making war machines. He wrote in the letter that he could "also paint". Leonardo did not know at the time that it was for painting that he would be mostly remembered.[16][20] Leonardo stayed in Milan and worked for the Duke between 1482 and 1499. Part of his work was to design festivals and carnival processions. In Leonardo's note books are drawings of theatre costumes, amazing helmets and scenes that might be for the theatre.
+
+Leonardo, like most other well-known artists of his time, had servants, young students and older assistants in his workshop. One of his young students was a boy whose name was Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno. He was a handsome boy with beautiful long golden curls. He looked perfect as an artist's model for an angel. But he was such a difficult and dishonest boy that Leonardo called him "Salai" or "Salaino" which means "the little devil". Leonardo wrote in his notebook that Salai was very greedy, that he was a liar and that he had stolen things from the house at least five times.[21] Salai stayed in Leonardo's household for thirty years as a pupil and a servant.
+
+Leonardo's most important work for Duke Ludovico was to make a huge statue of the previous ruler, Francesco Sforza, on horseback. He started with the horse. After studying horses and drawing designs, he made a huge horse of clay. It was called the "Gran Cavallo". It was going to be cast in bronze. It was going to be the biggest bronze horse that had been made for more than a thousand years. Unfortunately, the bronze horse was never made. In 1494, Ludovico gave the bronze to be made into cannons because the French army was invading Milan.[16] The huge clay horse was still standing when the French army invaded again in 1499. This time it was used for target practice and was completely destroyed.[16]
+
+While Leonardo was working for Duke Ludovico, he had two important painting commissions. One was to do an oil painting to go in a big altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. Leonardo did the painting twice. He left one with the monks in Milan, and took the other painting to France where it is now in the Louvre Museum. The paintings are both called the Virgin of the Rocks. They show a scene of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus in a rocky mysterious landscape. Mary and Jesus are meeting with John the Baptist. There is a story (which is not in the Bible but is part of Christian tradition) about how the baby John and the baby Jesus met on the road to Egypt. In this scene John is praying and the baby Jesus raises his hand to bless John. The paintings have a strange eerie light with soft deep shadows. In the background is a lake and mountains in the mist. No painting like this had ever been done before.[16]
+
+Leonardo's other important painting in Milan is even more famous. It is the Last Supper. The painting shows the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples, before his capture and death. Leonardo chose to paint the moment when Jesus has said "one of you will betray me". Leonardo tells the story of the surprise and upset that this caused to the twelve followers of Jesus.[16] He tells the story through the actions and faces of the people in the painting. Some of them are talking, some of them have stood up, some are raising their hands in horror.
+
+The novelist Matteo Bandello saw Leonardo at work. Bandello wrote that on some days he would paint from morning till night without stopping to eat. Then for three or four days he would not paint at all. He would often just stand and look at the painting.[22] Vasari said that the prior of the convent was very annoyed. He asked Ludovico to tell Leonardo to work faster. Vasari said that Leonardo was worried because he did not think that he could paint the face of Jesus well enough. Leonardo told the Duke that he might use the face of the prior as his model for Judas, the traitor.[12]
+
+When it was finished, everyone that saw it said that the painting was a masterpiece.[12] But Leonardo had not used proper fresco for the painting. He had used tempera over gesso, which is not usually used for wall painting. Soon the painting started to grow mold and flake off the wall. In a hundred years it was "completely ruined".[6]
+Even though in some places the paint has fallen right off the wall, the painting is so popular that it is printed and copied more that any other religious painting in the world.
+
+In 1499, Ludovico il Moro was overthrown. Leonardo left Milan with his servant Salai and a friend, Luca Pacioli, who was a mathematician. They went to Venice. Leonardo worked as a military architect and engineer. Because Venice is a city on many islands, Leonardo tried to think of ways to defend the city from a naval attack.[6][11]
+
+In 1500, Leonardo went back to Florence, taking his "household" of servants and apprentices with him. The monks from the monastery of The Holy Annunciation gave Leonardo a home and a large workshop. In 2005, some buildings which were used by the Department of Military Geography were being restored. The restorers discovered that part of the building was Leonardo's studio.[23]
+
+Leonardo started work on a new painting. He drew a large "cartoon". (This means a drawing that is a plan for the painting.) The cartoon showed the Virgin Mary sitting on the knee of her mother, St Anne. Mary holds the baby Jesus in her arms. Jesus stretches out his hands to his young cousin John the Baptist. Vasari says that everyone was so amazed by the beautiful drawing that "men and women, young and old" came in large groups to see it "as if they were attending a great festival".[12] The drawing is now in the National Gallery, London. Even though it is old and faded and is kept in a dark room, people go to the gallery to sit in front of it every day. Like many of Leonardo's projects, the painting was never done.
+
+In 1502 and 1503, Leonardo worked for Cesare Borgia, a powerful noble who was the son of Pope Alexander VI. Leonardo travelled around Italy with Borgia, as a military architect and engineer.[6] Late in 1503, Leonardo returned to Florence. He rejoined the Guild of St Luke.
+
+He was given a very important commission. The Signoria (Town Council) of the City of Florence wanted two large frescos painted on the walls of the most important room of the Signoria Palace. Michelangelo was to paint The Battle of Cascina and Leonardo was to paint The Battle of Anghiari.[6]  Leonardo began the project by studying and drawing the faces of angry men and fighting horses. These drawings can still be seen in his notebooks. But unfortunately, this was to be another failure for Leonardo. When he painted the picture on the wall, instead of using fresco, he mixed the paints with oil. The paint would not dry. Leonardo lit some fires to dry it, and the painting melted. Peter Paul Rubens drew a copy of the middle part. After a time, the town council covered it up and got somebody else to paint the wall. Michelangelo did not finish his painting either, because the Pope called him to Rome.[6]
+
+In about 1503 Leonardo began painting the portrait of a woman known as Mona Lisa, the most famous portrait that has ever been painted. He continued working on it for many years. It is a small picture, painted in oil on a wooden panel. It shows the face, upper body and hands of a woman. She is very plainly dressed. For a portrait, a woman would usually put on her best clothes and jewellery. Mona Lisa has a dark dress and a fine black veil over her head. Leonardo often left symbols in his paintings that give clues about the person. The unusual thing about this picture is the smile. The smile is the clue to her name: Mona Lisa Giacondo. Giacondo means "the joking one". (Mona is short for Madonna which means "My Lady".)
+
+The reason why the painting is so famous is that it seems to be full of mystery. Mona Lisa's eyes look out at the viewer. But no-one can guess what she is thinking. Her eyes and her mouth seem to be smiling. This is very unusual in a portrait painting. Most people in portraits look very serious. It is hard to tell what Mona Lisa's exact expression is. When a person wants to read another person's feelings, they look at the corners of their mouth and eyes. But Leonardo has painted soft shadows in the corners of Mona Lisa's mouth and eyes, to disguise her expression. The soft shadows are also found on the sides of her face, her neck and hands. The way that Leonardo uses shadow is called "sfumato" (which is an Italian word for "smoke"). Vasari said that the picture was so beautifully painted that every other artist who looked at it thought that they could never paint so well.[12]
+
+In 1506, Leonardo went back to Milan with his pupils, and lived in his own house in Porta Orientale. Some of the pupils became painters: Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and Marco D'Oggione.[11] D'Oggione made several copies of the Last Supper. Luini made a copy of the Virgin of the Rocks. Boltraffio (and the others) painted many Madonna and Child pictures which can still be seen in art galleries and churches. One of pupils was a young nobleman called Count Francesco Melzi. Melzi never became a very good painter, but he loved Leonardo and stayed with him until the day he died.
+
+In September 1513 Leonardo went to Rome and lived there until 1516. He lived in the Vatican. The three greatest painters of the High Renaissance, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael were all working in Rome at the same time.[6] Even though their names are often said together as if they were friends, they were not. Leonardo at this time was in his sixties, Michelangelo was middle-aged. He was not friendly to either Leonardo or Raphael. Raphael was a very clever young painter who learnt a lot by looking at the pictures painted by Leonardo and Michelangelo. But neither of them was ever his teacher.
+
+In October 1515, King Francis I of France captured Milan.[22] On December 19, there was a meeting of Francis I and Pope Leo X, in Bologna. Leonardo went to the meeting with Pope Leo.[11][24][25]
+Leonardo made an amazing toy to entertain King Francis. It was a life-sized mechanical lion that could walk. It had doors in its chest which opened, and a bunch of lilies came out. Lilies were the royal symbol of the French Kings.[12]
+
+In 1516, Francis I invited Leonardo to go to France with him. He gave Leonardo a beautiful house called Clos Lucé (sometimes called "Cloux"). It is near the king's palace, Chateau Amboise. Leonardo spent the last three years of his life at Clos Lucé, with his faithful friend and apprentice, Count Melzi. The king gave Leonardo a pension of 10,000 scudi.[6] One of the last paintings that Leonardo did was a picture of John the Baptist. His model was Salai, with his beautiful long curling hair.
+
+When Leonardo was dying, he asked for a priest to come, so that he could make his confession and receive Holy Communion.[12]
+Leonardo died at Clos Lucé, on May 2, 1519. King Francis had become a close friend. Vasari says that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died. In his will, he asked that sixty beggars should follow his casket in procession. He was buried in the Chapel of the Chateau Amboise.
+
+Leonardo had never married and had no children of his own. In his will, he left his money, his books and most of his paintings to Count Melzi. Leonardo also remembered his other pupil Salai and his servant Battista di Vilussis, who each received half of Leonardo's vineyards near Milan. Leonardo's left to his serving woman a black cloak with a fur edge.[26] Salai was the owner of Leonardo's most famous oil painting, the Mona Lisa. He still owned it a few years later when he died, after fighting in a duel.[27]
+
+King Francis said: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."[28][29]
+
+Leonardo did not paint very many pictures. But he drew hundreds of quick sketches, plans, maps and detailed drawings. This is the way that he recorded all the interesting things that he saw, studied and thought about.
+
+Some of Leonardo's drawings are "studies" for paintings. In these drawings Leonardo planned the things he was going to paint. Some studies are plans for whole paintings. One of these paintings is the large beautiful drawing of the Madonna and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist that is now in the National Gallery, London.
+
+Many of the studies show "details" that Leonardo wanted to get just right. One study shows a very detailed perspective drawing of the ruined buildings in the background of the painting of the Magi. Other studies show hands, faces, drapery, plants, horses and babies.[30]
+The earliest drawing by Leonardo that has a date on it, is a Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.[11][30]
+
+Leonardo studied things all his life. He did not go to university to study. He studied by looking at things in the world around him. He looked at things to see how they were made and how they worked. He drew the things that he saw and the discoveries that he made into his notebooks, and made notes about them. Many of his notebooks are now in museums. There are 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. Many of these are scientific studies.[16]
+
+Leonardo's notebooks are hard to read because he wrote backwards in "mirror writing". Some people think that perhaps he was trying to keep his work secret. This is not true. Leonardo wrote (and sometimes drew) with his left hand. In those days pens were made from a quill (a large feather) that was cut with a pen-knife on the end. It is hard for a left-handed person to write with a quill in the ordinary way, but quite easy to write backwards.
+
+It is likely that Leonardo planned to publish the studies in his notebooks. He organized many pages carefully, with one study taking up the front and back of each page. There is a page with drawings and writing about the human heart and a page about the womb and the fetus.[31] One page shows drawings of the muscles of a shoulder and another page shows how an arm works.[32]
+
+The notebooks were not published in Leonardo's lifetime. After he died, they were divided between different people who had known him. They are nearly all in museums or libraries such as Windsor Castle, the Louvre, and the British Library. The Biblioteca Ambrosiana (a library) in Milan has the twelve-volume Codex Atlanticus.[16]
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo studied are:[2]
+
+Many of the drawings and notes in Leonardo's notebooks are designs, plans and inventions.
+
+Some of the things that Leonardo designed are:[2]
+
+Study of a skull
+
+Study of a horse for the Duke's statue
+
+Study of a sedge plant
+
+Rhombicuboctahedron published in Pacioli's book
+
+A parabolic compass.
+
+A Helicopter.
+
+Cannons.
+
+Walking on water.
+
+Modern model of Leonardo's parachute.
+
+Modern model of a bridge designed by Leonardo.
+
+Modern model of a tank by Leonardo
+
+Modern model of a flywheel
+
+ISBN 978-88-96036-65-5

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+Leonhard Euler (pronounced Oiler) (April 15, 1707 – September 7, 1783) was a Swiss mathematician and physicist. He spent most of his adult life in Russia and Germany.
+
+Euler made important discoveries in calculus and topology. He also created many of the words used in math today. He introduced the notation we use to write mathematical functions.[1] He is also known for his works in mechanics, optics, fluid mechanics, astronomy and music theory.
+
+Euler is considered to be the most important mathematician of the 18th century, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time and one of the most prolific writing mathematicians. His collected works fill around 80 volumes.[2] The famous mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace advised, "Read Euler, read Euler, he is a master for us all.”[3]
+
+Euler was featured on the sixth series of the Swiss 10-franc bill[4] and on numerous Swiss, German, and Russian postage stamps. The asteroid 2002 Euler was named in his honor. He is also celebrated by the Lutheran Church on their Calendar of Saints on May 24.
+
+Euler was born in Basel to Paul Euler, a pastor of the Reformed Church. His mother was Marguerite Brucker, a pastor's daughter. He had two younger sisters, Anna-Maria and Maria Magdalena. Soon after the birth of Leonhard, the Eulers moved from Basel to the town of Riehen, where Euler spent most of his childhood. Euler started school back in Basel, where he lived with his grandmother. At the age of thirteen he went to the University of Basel. In 1723, he received his Master of Philosophy. At this time, he was receiving Saturday afternoon lessons from Johann Bernoulli, who quickly discovered his new pupil's extraordinary talent for mathematics.[5]

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+Leonhard Euler (pronounced Oiler) (April 15, 1707 – September 7, 1783) was a Swiss mathematician and physicist. He spent most of his adult life in Russia and Germany.
+
+Euler made important discoveries in calculus and topology. He also created many of the words used in math today. He introduced the notation we use to write mathematical functions.[1] He is also known for his works in mechanics, optics, fluid mechanics, astronomy and music theory.
+
+Euler is considered to be the most important mathematician of the 18th century, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time and one of the most prolific writing mathematicians. His collected works fill around 80 volumes.[2] The famous mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace advised, "Read Euler, read Euler, he is a master for us all.”[3]
+
+Euler was featured on the sixth series of the Swiss 10-franc bill[4] and on numerous Swiss, German, and Russian postage stamps. The asteroid 2002 Euler was named in his honor. He is also celebrated by the Lutheran Church on their Calendar of Saints on May 24.
+
+Euler was born in Basel to Paul Euler, a pastor of the Reformed Church. His mother was Marguerite Brucker, a pastor's daughter. He had two younger sisters, Anna-Maria and Maria Magdalena. Soon after the birth of Leonhard, the Eulers moved from Basel to the town of Riehen, where Euler spent most of his childhood. Euler started school back in Basel, where he lived with his grandmother. At the age of thirteen he went to the University of Basel. In 1723, he received his Master of Philosophy. At this time, he was receiving Saturday afternoon lessons from Johann Bernoulli, who quickly discovered his new pupil's extraordinary talent for mathematics.[5]

ensimple/3303.html.txt

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+
+
+Panthera pardus amurensis
+
+The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is a leopard subspecies. It is sometimes called the far eastern leopard.[2]
+
+The leopard lives in the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and in the Jilin Province of northeast China. It is critically endangered (IUCN). Only 14–20 adults and 5–6 cubs were counted in 2007. Only 19–26 Amur leopards live in the wild.[1]
+
+The Amur leopards are endangered because they have been hunted for their fur. Also because their food sources are running out due to them being hunted for their fur. Amur leopards can be recognized from the patterns in their fur. They weigh about 70 to 105 pounds (32 to 48 kg). They live in temperate, broadleaf and mixed forests. The Amur Leopard almost extinct by human hunting. It call human hunting but the human make the forest no tree and bushes so the leopard cannot hide. At that time, they hunt them and sell to get money.
+
+The number of Amur cats is decreasing due to the human activity, invasion of domestic cats, and infectious disease. Because these cats play a huge role and the ecosystem cannot afford to lose such species, researchers found a way to regenerate the endangered animal. This can be done from culture cell with somatic cloning technique (http://apps.webofknowledge.com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=2&SID=8CyO9ZnX3OlNtU6r5Ue&page=1&doc=3).
+
+hums lumpy
+

ensimple/3304.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+
+
+Panthera pardus amurensis
+
+The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is a leopard subspecies. It is sometimes called the far eastern leopard.[2]
+
+The leopard lives in the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and in the Jilin Province of northeast China. It is critically endangered (IUCN). Only 14–20 adults and 5–6 cubs were counted in 2007. Only 19–26 Amur leopards live in the wild.[1]
+
+The Amur leopards are endangered because they have been hunted for their fur. Also because their food sources are running out due to them being hunted for their fur. Amur leopards can be recognized from the patterns in their fur. They weigh about 70 to 105 pounds (32 to 48 kg). They live in temperate, broadleaf and mixed forests. The Amur Leopard almost extinct by human hunting. It call human hunting but the human make the forest no tree and bushes so the leopard cannot hide. At that time, they hunt them and sell to get money.
+
+The number of Amur cats is decreasing due to the human activity, invasion of domestic cats, and infectious disease. Because these cats play a huge role and the ecosystem cannot afford to lose such species, researchers found a way to regenerate the endangered animal. This can be done from culture cell with somatic cloning technique (http://apps.webofknowledge.com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=2&SID=8CyO9ZnX3OlNtU6r5Ue&page=1&doc=3).
+
+hums lumpy
+

ensimple/3305.html.txt

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+
+
+The red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is a mammal. It is the only species of the Ailuridae family. There are two subspecies: Ailurus fulgens fulgens and Ailurus fulgens styani.
+
+Most that are bred at Japanese zoos are Ailurus fulgens styani. They are called レッサーパンダ in Japan and 小熊貓 (xiǎo xìong māo ) in China, both literally translating to English as "small bear cat". They have become popular for how they look.[1] The IUCN classes them as 'vulnerable'
+
+The red panda is not closely related to the giant panda: they are in different families, but share a vegetarian diet. They have both adapted to eating plant material, which is unusual for members of the Carnivora.
+
+The red panda lives in the southern part of China, Sikkim, Nepal, and the Himalaya mountains in high trees. In the Indian kingdom of Sikkim it is the state animal. As an endangered species it is protected by laws in the countries where it lives.
+
+Red pandas are about 50-60 centimeters long. They weigh between three and five kilograms. They have chestnut colored hair, and their faces have white designs. They eat fruits, roots, bamboo shoots, acorns, and insects. They are active at night and sleep on trees in the daytime. They act alone, not in groups. They eat blossoms, berries, various plants, and bird eggs.

ensimple/3306.html.txt

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+
+
+The order Lepidoptera is the second biggest order of  insects. It includes the moths and butterflies including the  skippers. There is no common word for the group: ordinary people talk of "butterflies and moths".
+
+The order has more than 180,000 species in 128 families and 47 superfamilies.[1] They are 10% of all the described species of living organisms.[2][3] The Coleoptera (the beetles) is the only order that has more species.
+
+The name, Lepidoptera, comes from the Ancient Greek words λεπίδος (scale) and πτερόν (wing).
+
+The earliest discovered fossils date to 200 mya or earlier.[4][5] This early origin was long before flowering plants evolved. Earlier butterflies must have been adapted to a habitat of cycads and conifers, something which had not previously been suspected.[5]
+
+Lepidopterans go through complete metamorphosis. This means that they have a four parts to their lives. The first part is the egg. The second part is the caterpillar or larva. The third part is the pupa. The last part is the adult or imago.
+
+The larvae have a tough head and a soft body. They have mouths that are made to chew. Some larvae are covered with hairs, or other body extensions. The larvae have three pairs of small legs on the thorax. These legs are called true legs. There are up to five pairs of bigger legs on the abdomen. These legs are called prolegs. Lepidopteran larvae can be confused with the larvae of sawflies. The difference between Lepidopteran larvae and sawfly larvae is that Lepidopteran larvae have tiny hooks on their prolegs. These hooks are called crochets. Most larvae are herbivores, but a few are carnivores and detritivores.[6]
+
+Adults have two pairs of wings. They are covered by small scales. In some species, the adults have very small wings or no wings at all. This is more common in females. Adults have antennae. Some moths have antennae that look like feathers. These feather-like antennae are larger in males than females. Adults have a mouthpart called a proboscis. It  sucks nectar from flowers. Some adults do not have mouths and cannot feed. Others have different mouths that are made to pierce and suck blood or fruit juices.[7]
+
+A butterfly
+
+A moth
+
+A skipper (the small skipper)

ensimple/3307.html.txt

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+The Parthenon is a temple in the middle of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece (Europe). It was a temple to honor the goddess Athena for nearly 900 years, and originally had a huge idol to her. The name Parthenon means the virgin's place in Greek.[1] It was built between 447 BC and 432 BC during the reign of Pericles.[1] It is considered one of ancient Greece's greatest architecture accomplishments.[1]
+
+The building was constructed using limestone foundations and 22,000 tons of marble. The building was designed by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates.[1] It has 46 Doric columns which support the roof, with 8 across the front and back, and 17 on each side.[1]
+
+In 1687 a gunpowder explosion damaged the building. Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin took some of the sculptures, now called the Elgin Marbles, from the Parthenon in 1759. They have been on display in the British Museum since 1816.

ensimple/3308.html.txt

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+"Little Red Riding Hood" (or "Little Red Cap") is a French fairy tale for young children about a young girl and a wolf. The story comes from a folktale which means that it was a spoken story for a long time before it was a written story. It was first written down in the late 1600s, by Charles Perrault.[1] The best-known version (the way the story is told) is Rotkäppchen by the Brothers Grimm and dates from the 19th century (1800s).
+
+The most famous version of the story is the one written by the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century.[2] The Brothers Grimm listened to many traditional stories from old people and wrote them into a book.[3] They did not originally mean for their book to be read as children's stories; they were writing down German folklore for scholars to read.  But their book became famous as a book of children's stories anyway.[3]  The title of the story is properly translated as "Little Red Cap" even though it is usually known in English as "Little Red Riding Hood".[4]
+
+A girl has been given red cap (or cloak and hood) to wear. Her mother sends her to take food to her sick grandmother. The mother tells her she must not stop on the way. A wolf sees the girl walking through the woods and makes a plan to eat her. The wolf politely asks the girl where she is going. The girl answers him, because he seems friendly. The wolf tells the girl to pick some flowers for her grandmother. While she is picking flowers, the wolf goes to grandmother's house and eats her. He puts on the grandmother's night-cap and gets into her bed. When the girl arrives at her grandmother's house, she gets into bed with the wolf.
+
+In the Perrault version, the girl is surprised to see what her "grandmother" looks like without her clothes. "What big arms you have!" she cries. "The better to hug you with!" the wolf responds. The dialogue continues, with the child remarking upon other body parts until she notes the wolf's big teeth. "What big teeth you have!" she cries. "The better to eat you with!" the wolf responds. "I will gobble you up."
+
+The wolf leaps upon the child and eats the girl. In the Grimms' version, a woodcutter (lumberjack) comes and cuts opens the wolf's body. He saves the grandmother and the girl who are still alive in the wolf's stomach. Then, stones are put in the wolf's body to kill the wolf.
+
+The story of Little Red Riding Hood seems to have been told for centuries in different countries, under different names.  
+Anthropoligist Dr. Jamie Tehrani said some versions of Little Red Riding Hood are 3000 years old.  One of Aesop's Fables is a version of Little Red Riding Hood, according to Tehrani.[5] In France, the story has probably been told for at least 700 years. In Italy, there are several versions. One is called The False Grandmother.[6] There is also a story from China which is like this, called The Grandmother Tiger.[7] There are also versions of the story from the Middle East and Africa.[2]
+
+In the old versions of the story the wolf is sometimes a terrible monster or a werewolf. In one version of the story, the wolf gives the girl some food to eat. It is part of the body of her grandmother. The wolf tells the girl to throw all her clothes in the fire, and get into bed. She says that she needs to use the toilet first. The wolf ties her with a long string so that she cannot run away without him knowing. But the girl puts the rope around something else, and escapes.
+
+In these early versions of the story, Red Riding Hood escapes on her own.  She uses her own intelligence and her own courage.  The Brothers Grimm and other later authors added male heroes who save Red Riding Hood.[8][5]
+
+The story was first written and published in a book from 1697 by the French writer Charles Perrault. The name of the book, in English, is Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose. The story is called The Little Red Cap (Le Petit Chaperon Rouge).[9] Perrault's version of the tale is the original printed version, but it is likely based on an older oral tradition. It is uncertain if Perrault knew a folk tale from the south of France about a girl who cleverly escapes a werewolf occupying her grandmother's bed.[10]
+
+Perrault wanted to make a strong point about wise and foolish behaviour. He wanted to show that a beautiful young woman was in danger of having men with bad morals try to trick her into wrong behaviour.[5] In Perrault's story the girl is eaten and there is no happy ending.[11]
+
+The story has been changed many times in the centuries following its publication. It is a little different from the way that the Brother's Grimm tell it.[12] In their version, a huntsman slays the child-devouring wolf. He then frees the heroine from the animal's stomach.
+
+In some modern versions of the story, especially versions for very young children, the grandmother does not die.  She hides in the closet or cupboard in stead.  [8]
+
+Little Red Riding Hood often appears as a picture book or in collections of stories for very young children.
+
+An important part of the story is the questions and answers. In the story, the wolf knocks at the grandmother's door.
+The story goes:
+
+The second section of repeating parts of the story happens when Red Riding Hood sees the wolf in her grandmother's bed.
+
+These questions and answers also appear in older versions, for example Perrault's.[11]
+
+There are many stories in which a hungry wolf threatens a young person or animal.[13] In most of these stories, the young one escapes by cunning (cleverness). One story is the Russian folktale Peter and the Wolf. The Brothers Grimm told the story of the Little Kids and the Wolf. Another story like this is The Three Little Pigs, first published by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps.
+
+As with many fairy tales, hidden messages can be found in Little Red Riding Hood.[14] People have very different interpretations (ways of understanding the hidden meanings).  There are two well-known ways that the story of Little Red Riding Hood can be interpreted.
+
+The first type of interpretation is about morality. It is about what is right and what is wrong.
+
+The second way of seeing the stories has nothing to do with peoples' behaviour or feelings. These interpretations have to do with the cycle of the sun and the seasons, and with the cycle of life, with people dying and being born.
+
+François Adrien Boieldieu (1775 - 1834) made an opera from the story. The opera is called Le petit chaperon rouge. Its first performance was in Paris, in the year 1818.
+
+In 1927, Sir Compton MacKenzie used Little Red Riding Hood as the central character of a novel for children "Santa Claus in Summer". Red Riding Hood, in this re-telling, is the daughter of a highway man called Riding Hood.
+
+The story has been adapted to various media. Tex Avery made a cartoon out of it, Red Hot Riding Hood. He adapted the story to be more appealing to adults. Little Red Riding Hood works at a striptease club. The wolf, dressed in a suit, goes after the stripper (a stripper is a person who is paid to take off his or her clothes in public).
+
+Roald Dahl re-told the story in a funny poem about Little Red Riding Hood. It is in his collection Revolting Rhymes.
+
+Lon Po Po is an ancient Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood which won the 1990 Randolph Caldecott Medal for its watercolour and pastel illustrations by Young.
+
+Many paintings have been done of Little Red Riding Hood. Artists who have painted pictures of this story are George Frederick Watts, Samuel Albrecht Anker, and François Richard Fleury.

ensimple/3309.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+"Little Red Riding Hood" (or "Little Red Cap") is a French fairy tale for young children about a young girl and a wolf. The story comes from a folktale which means that it was a spoken story for a long time before it was a written story. It was first written down in the late 1600s, by Charles Perrault.[1] The best-known version (the way the story is told) is Rotkäppchen by the Brothers Grimm and dates from the 19th century (1800s).
+
+The most famous version of the story is the one written by the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century.[2] The Brothers Grimm listened to many traditional stories from old people and wrote them into a book.[3] They did not originally mean for their book to be read as children's stories; they were writing down German folklore for scholars to read.  But their book became famous as a book of children's stories anyway.[3]  The title of the story is properly translated as "Little Red Cap" even though it is usually known in English as "Little Red Riding Hood".[4]
+
+A girl has been given red cap (or cloak and hood) to wear. Her mother sends her to take food to her sick grandmother. The mother tells her she must not stop on the way. A wolf sees the girl walking through the woods and makes a plan to eat her. The wolf politely asks the girl where she is going. The girl answers him, because he seems friendly. The wolf tells the girl to pick some flowers for her grandmother. While she is picking flowers, the wolf goes to grandmother's house and eats her. He puts on the grandmother's night-cap and gets into her bed. When the girl arrives at her grandmother's house, she gets into bed with the wolf.
+
+In the Perrault version, the girl is surprised to see what her "grandmother" looks like without her clothes. "What big arms you have!" she cries. "The better to hug you with!" the wolf responds. The dialogue continues, with the child remarking upon other body parts until she notes the wolf's big teeth. "What big teeth you have!" she cries. "The better to eat you with!" the wolf responds. "I will gobble you up."
+
+The wolf leaps upon the child and eats the girl. In the Grimms' version, a woodcutter (lumberjack) comes and cuts opens the wolf's body. He saves the grandmother and the girl who are still alive in the wolf's stomach. Then, stones are put in the wolf's body to kill the wolf.
+
+The story of Little Red Riding Hood seems to have been told for centuries in different countries, under different names.  
+Anthropoligist Dr. Jamie Tehrani said some versions of Little Red Riding Hood are 3000 years old.  One of Aesop's Fables is a version of Little Red Riding Hood, according to Tehrani.[5] In France, the story has probably been told for at least 700 years. In Italy, there are several versions. One is called The False Grandmother.[6] There is also a story from China which is like this, called The Grandmother Tiger.[7] There are also versions of the story from the Middle East and Africa.[2]
+
+In the old versions of the story the wolf is sometimes a terrible monster or a werewolf. In one version of the story, the wolf gives the girl some food to eat. It is part of the body of her grandmother. The wolf tells the girl to throw all her clothes in the fire, and get into bed. She says that she needs to use the toilet first. The wolf ties her with a long string so that she cannot run away without him knowing. But the girl puts the rope around something else, and escapes.
+
+In these early versions of the story, Red Riding Hood escapes on her own.  She uses her own intelligence and her own courage.  The Brothers Grimm and other later authors added male heroes who save Red Riding Hood.[8][5]
+
+The story was first written and published in a book from 1697 by the French writer Charles Perrault. The name of the book, in English, is Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose. The story is called The Little Red Cap (Le Petit Chaperon Rouge).[9] Perrault's version of the tale is the original printed version, but it is likely based on an older oral tradition. It is uncertain if Perrault knew a folk tale from the south of France about a girl who cleverly escapes a werewolf occupying her grandmother's bed.[10]
+
+Perrault wanted to make a strong point about wise and foolish behaviour. He wanted to show that a beautiful young woman was in danger of having men with bad morals try to trick her into wrong behaviour.[5] In Perrault's story the girl is eaten and there is no happy ending.[11]
+
+The story has been changed many times in the centuries following its publication. It is a little different from the way that the Brother's Grimm tell it.[12] In their version, a huntsman slays the child-devouring wolf. He then frees the heroine from the animal's stomach.
+
+In some modern versions of the story, especially versions for very young children, the grandmother does not die.  She hides in the closet or cupboard in stead.  [8]
+
+Little Red Riding Hood often appears as a picture book or in collections of stories for very young children.
+
+An important part of the story is the questions and answers. In the story, the wolf knocks at the grandmother's door.
+The story goes:
+
+The second section of repeating parts of the story happens when Red Riding Hood sees the wolf in her grandmother's bed.
+
+These questions and answers also appear in older versions, for example Perrault's.[11]
+
+There are many stories in which a hungry wolf threatens a young person or animal.[13] In most of these stories, the young one escapes by cunning (cleverness). One story is the Russian folktale Peter and the Wolf. The Brothers Grimm told the story of the Little Kids and the Wolf. Another story like this is The Three Little Pigs, first published by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps.
+
+As with many fairy tales, hidden messages can be found in Little Red Riding Hood.[14] People have very different interpretations (ways of understanding the hidden meanings).  There are two well-known ways that the story of Little Red Riding Hood can be interpreted.
+
+The first type of interpretation is about morality. It is about what is right and what is wrong.
+
+The second way of seeing the stories has nothing to do with peoples' behaviour or feelings. These interpretations have to do with the cycle of the sun and the seasons, and with the cycle of life, with people dying and being born.
+
+François Adrien Boieldieu (1775 - 1834) made an opera from the story. The opera is called Le petit chaperon rouge. Its first performance was in Paris, in the year 1818.
+
+In 1927, Sir Compton MacKenzie used Little Red Riding Hood as the central character of a novel for children "Santa Claus in Summer". Red Riding Hood, in this re-telling, is the daughter of a highway man called Riding Hood.
+
+The story has been adapted to various media. Tex Avery made a cartoon out of it, Red Hot Riding Hood. He adapted the story to be more appealing to adults. Little Red Riding Hood works at a striptease club. The wolf, dressed in a suit, goes after the stripper (a stripper is a person who is paid to take off his or her clothes in public).
+
+Roald Dahl re-told the story in a funny poem about Little Red Riding Hood. It is in his collection Revolting Rhymes.
+
+Lon Po Po is an ancient Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood which won the 1990 Randolph Caldecott Medal for its watercolour and pastel illustrations by Young.
+
+Many paintings have been done of Little Red Riding Hood. Artists who have painted pictures of this story are George Frederick Watts, Samuel Albrecht Anker, and François Richard Fleury.

ensimple/331.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+
+
+Mesothelae
+Opisthothelae
+
+Spiders (class Arachnida, order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods. They have eight legs, and mouthparts (chelicerae) with fangs that inject venom. Most make silk. The arachnids  are seventh in number of species of all animal orders.[2] About 48,000 spider species, and 120 families have been recorded by taxonomists.[3] Over twenty different classifications have been proposed since 1900.[4]p3 Spiders live on every continent except for Antarctica, and in nearly every habitat with the exceptions of air and sea.
+
+Almost all spiders are predators, and most eat insects. They catch their prey in several ways. Some build a spider web, and some use a thread of silk that they throw at the insect. Some kinds of spiders hide in holes in the ground, then run out and grab an insect that walks by. Others will make web 'nets' to throw at passing insects. Or they go out and simply attack their prey. Some can jump quite well and hunt by sneaking close to an insect and then jumping on it.
+
+Spiders have a two-part body, the front part (cephalothorax) and the abdomen. Unlike insects, spiders do not have antennae. The more advanced spiders have a centralized nervous system, with their ganglia fused into one mass in the cephalothorax. Unlike most arthropods, spiders have no extensor muscles in their limbs, and extend them by hydraulic pressure.
+
+The smallest of full-grown spiders can be less than 4 mm. (0.1 inch). The largest of spiders can have a body length of 10 cm. (4 inches) or more. The largest can weigh 150 grams (5.3 oz). The largest of spiders are the tarantulas and the huntsman spiders. Some huntsman spiders in South East Asia can have a leg span of around 250–300 mm (9.8–11.8 in).
+
+Most spiders have four pairs of eyes on the top-front area of the body, arranged in patterns that vary from one family to another. The main eyes at the front are capable of forming images.[5] Jumping spiders have visual acuity which is ten times better than that of dragonflies, which have by far the best vision among insects. The spiders do this by a telephoto-like series of lenses, a four-layered retina. They can swivel their eyes and put together images from different stages in the scan. The downside is that the scanning and integrating processes are relatively slow.[6]
+
+Spiders and other arthropods have modified their cuticles into elaborate arrays of sensors. Various sensors, mostly bristles, respond to touch, from strong contact to very weak air currents. Chemical sensors provide equivalents of taste and smell.[5] Spiders also have in the joints of their limbs sensors that detect forces and vibrations. In web-building spiders all these mechanical and chemical sensors are more important than the eyes. The eyes are more important to spiders that hunt actively. Like most arthropods, spiders lack balance sensors, and rely on their eyes to tell them which way is up.[5]
+
+Even a relatively large spider can have fangs with very sharp points. The fangs are hollow, like the needles used to give shots. Spiders use their fangs to inject toxins that kill the insects they will eat. Some kinds of spider venom attack the nervous systems of their prey, and other kinds of venom attack body tissues.
+
+Almost all spiders are predators, and eat insects and other arthropods (including other spiders). Most use venom from their fangs to kill their prey. It is rare for spiders to capture prey that are much larger than they are. It is also difficult for most spiders to capture prey that are very much smaller than they are. Most species of spiders cannot live close together because they treat each other as their next meal, but there are some spiders that form colonies. Spiders eat not only spiders of other species, but spiders of their own species.
+
+The black widow spider got its name because the females sometimes eat the males that mate with them. This may also happen in other species. Each species of spider has its own way of communicating with other spiders they meet. Because of the danger of being eaten, in some species the males have special hooks on their front legs with which they hold the female while they mate. Others bring the female something to eat. There are a few species in which the male spiders construct their own little webs that are connected to the webs of the females. In these species, the male is so much smaller than the female that it would be difficult for her to actually capture the male.
+
+Most spiders have such poor vision that they will not even notice a dead insect. Jumping spiders are one exception to this rule. They have such good vision that they can find recently dead flies or other insects to eat.
+
+Most spiders are predators, but the jumping spider Bagheera kiplingi gets over 90% of its food from fairly solid plant material produced by acacias as part of a beneficial relationship with a species of ant.[7]
+
+Young spiders of several families feed on plant nectar. Studies have shown that they do this for long periods. They also clean themselves regularly while feeding. These spiders also prefer sugar solutions to plain water, which shows that they are looking for nutrients. Many spiders are nocturnal, they are most active during the night. The extent of nectar consumption by spiders may therefore have been under-estimated. Nectar contains amino acids, lipids, vitamins and minerals in addition to sugars. Studies have shown that other spider species live longer when nectar is available. Feeding on nectar also avoids the risks of struggles with prey, and the costs of producing venom and digestive enzymes.[8]
+
+Various species are known to feed on dead arthropods (scavenging), web silk, and their own shed exoskeletons. Pollen caught in webs may also be eaten, and studies have shown that young spiders have a better chance of survival if they have the opportunity to eat pollen. In captivity, several spider species are also known to feed on bananas, marmalade, milk, egg yolk and sausages.[8]
+
+The best-known method spiders use to capture prey is a sticky web. The placing of the web allows different spiders to trap different insects in the same area. Flat, horizontal webs allow them to trap insects that fly up from vegetation underneath, for example. Flat vertical nets allow them to trap insects in flight. The spiders that build webs usually do not see very well, but they are very sensitive to vibrations.[5]
+
+Females of the water spider Argyroneta aquatica build underwater "diving bell" webs which they fill with air and use eating their prey, molting, mating, and raising offspring. They live almost entirely within the bells, darting out to catch prey animals that touch the bell or the threads that anchor it.[9] A few spiders use the surfaces of lakes and ponds as "webs", detecting trapped insects by the vibrations that these cause while struggling.[5]
+
+Net-casting spiders weave only small webs but then manipulate them to trap prey. They stretch their webs and then release them when prey strike them. Those of the family Deinopidae weave even smaller webs, hold them outstretched between their first two pairs of legs, and lunge and push the webs as much as twice their own body length to trap prey, and this move may increase the webs' area by a factor of up to ten. Experiments have shown that Deinopis spinosus has two different techniques for trapping prey: backwards strikes to catch flying insects, whose vibrations it detects; and forward strikes to catch ground-walking prey that it sees. These two techniques have also been observed in other deinopids. Walking insects form most of the prey of most deinopids, but one population of Deinopis subrufus appears to live mainly on tipulid flies that they catch with the backwards strike.[10]
+
+Mature female bolas spiders of the genus Mastophora build "webs" that consist of only a single "trapeze line", which they patrol. They also construct a bolas made of a single thread, tipped with a large ball of very wet sticky silk. They emit chemicals that resemble the pheromones of moths, and then swing the bolas at the moths. They catch about the same weight of insects per night as web-weaving spiders of similar size. The spiders eat the bolas if they have not made a kill in about 30 minutes, rest for a while, and then make new bolas.[11][12] Juveniles and adult males are much smaller and do not make bolas. Instead they release different pheromones that attract moth flies, and catch them with their front pairs of legs.[13]
+
+The primitive Liphistiidae, the "trapdoor spiders" (family Ctenizidae) and many tarantulas are ambush predators. They lurk in burrows, often closed by trapdoors and surrounded by networks of silk threads that alert these spiders to the presence of prey.[14] Other ambush predators do without such aids, including many crab spiders.[5] A few species that prey on bees, which see ultraviolet, can adjust their ultraviolet reflectance to match the flowers in which they are lurking.[15] Wolf spiders, jumping spiders, fishing spiders and some crab spiders capture prey by chasing it, and rely mainly on vision to get their prey.[5]
+
+Not all spiders use silk to net their prey. Instead, these spiders may capture insects by grabbing them and then biting them. Among these kinds of spiders the two best known are the wolf spiders and the jumping spiders.
+
+A wolf spider will usually wait until an insect comes near to it, and then rush at the insect, grab it using its front legs, and then bite the insect so that its venom can do its work.
+
+Female wolf spiders lay their eggs on a pad of silk and then draw the edges together to create a round ball that they carry along with them wherever they go. They hold their egg balls to their tail ends by using their silk. When the eggs hatch, the little spiders will crawl onto the mother's back, and she will carry them along with her for days or weeks.
+
+Wolf spiders are very good mothers and will strongly protect both their egg balls and their infants. When the time comes, the little spiders will leave the mother and each will go its own way.
+
+Jumping spiders have very good eyes and can see well. They sneak as close to an insect as they can, and then they jump onto the insect and immediately bite it. Since they often hunt in trees, bushes, and on the sides of walls, if the jumping spider misses it may fall off. But they have a way to save themselves from harm. Before they jump they fasten their silk to the place where they have been standing, and as they jump they let out a silk safety line. So if they fall they will catch themselves when they reach the end of their silk safety line. Sometimes a jumping spider will catch an insect and then fall while still holding onto the insect. But the spider is still safe.
+
+Jumping spiders make little silken "tents" for themselves to sleep in. When they lay eggs they keep them inside such a shelter. They do not take their eggs with them when they go out to hunt.
+
+For all male spiders it is dangerous to seek a mate. The female spider may not realize that the male is a spider of her kind, so she may try to eat it. The jumping spiders not only have visual patterns that identify them to each other, but the male jumping spider will do a special dance when it approaches a female of the same species. That way, the female can recognize that it is a male of her species. She will generally forget about eating for long enough to mate with the visiting male spider.
+
+Jumping spiders have such good eyes that they will usually watch any human who tries to watch them. Some species are very shy and will run away if the human gets too close. But some species, such as Phidippus audax (the audacious or brave jumping spider) and Platycryptus undatus, can become calm if the human comes close to them slowly. Sometimes they will jump onto one of your fingers and then jump from finger to finger and from hand to hand. They seem to want to explore.
+
+Some jumping spiders of the genus Portia hunt other spiders in ways that seem intelligent,[6] outflanking their victims or luring them from their webs. Laboratory studies show that Portia's instinctive tactics are only starting points for a trial-and-error approach from which these spiders learn very quickly how to overcome new prey species.[16] However, they seem to be relatively slow thinkers, which is not surprising as their brains are vastly smaller than those of mammalian predators.[6]
+
+Ant-mimicking spiders face several challenges: they generally develop slimmer abdomens and false "waists" to mimic the three distinct regions (tagmata) of an ant's body; they wave the first pair of legs in form to their heads to mimic antennae, which spiders lack, and to conceal the fact that they have eight legs rather than six. They have large color patches round one pair of eyes to disguise the fact that they generally have eight simple eyes, while ants have two compound eyes; they cover their bodies with reflective hairs to resemble the shiny bodies of ants. In some spider species males and females mimic different ant species, as female spiders are usually much larger than males.
+
+Ant-mimicking spiders also modify their behavior to resemble that of the target species of ant, for example many adopt a zig-zag pattern of movement, ant-mimicking jumping spiders avoid jumping, and spiders of the genus Synemosyna walk on the outer edges of leaves in the same way as Pseudomyrmex. Ant-mimicry in many spiders and other arthropods may be for protection from predators that hunt by sight, including birds, lizards and spiders. However several ant-mimicking spiders prey either on ants or on the ants "livestock" such as aphids. When at rest the ant-mimicking crab spider Amyciaea does not closely resemble Oecophylla, but while hunting it imitates the behavior of a dying ant to attract worker ants. After a kill some ant-mimicking spiders hold their victims between themselves and large groups of ants to avoid being attacked.[17]
+
+Spiders reproduce sexually and fertilization is internal but indirect. In other words, the sperm is not inserted into the female's body by the male's genitals but by an intermediate stage. Unlike many land-living arthropods,[5] male spiders do not produce ready-made spermatophores (packages of sperm). Instead, they spin small sperm webs on to which they ejaculate and then transfer the sperm to structures on the tips of their pedipalps. When a male detects signs of a female nearby he checks whether she is of the same species and whether she is ready to mate; for example in species that produce webs or 'safety ropes', the male can identify the species and sex of these objects by smell.[5]
+
+Spiders generally use elaborate courtship rituals to prevent the large females from eating the small males before fertilization, except where the male is so much smaller that he is not worth eating. In some species males mate with newly molted females, which are too weak to be dangerous to the males.[4]
+
+In web-weaving species precise patterns of vibrations in the web are a major part of the rituals, while patterns of touches on the female's body are important in many spiders that hunt actively, and may 'hypnotize' the female. Gestures and dances by the male are important for jumping spiders, which have excellent eyesight. If courtship is successful, the male injects his sperm from the pedipalps into the female's genital opening on the underside of her abdomen. Female reproductive tracts vary. Some are simple tubes, but others have chambers where females store sperm, and release it when they are ready.[5]
+
+Males do get eaten in some species. Males of the genus Tidarren cut off one of their palps, and enter adult life with one palp only. The palps are 20% of male's body mass in this species, and detaching one of the two improves mobility. In the Yemeni species Tidarren argo, the remaining palp is then torn off by the female. The separated palp remains attached to the female's opening for about four hours. In the meantime, the female feeds on the palpless male.[18] In over 60% of cases the female of the Australian redback spider kills and eats the male after it inserts its second palp into the female's genital opening; in fact the males co-operate by trying to impale themselves on the females' fangs. Observation shows that most male redbacks never get an opportunity to mate, and the 'lucky' ones increase the likely number of offspring by ensuring that the females are well-fed.[19] However males of most species survive a few matings, limited mainly by their short life spans. Some even live for a while in their mates' webs.[4]p176/212
+
+Females lay up to 3,000 eggs in one or more silk egg sacs,[5] which maintain a fairly constant humidity level.[4] In some species the females die afterwards, but females of other species protect the sacs by attaching them to their webs, hiding them in nests, carrying them in the chelicerae or attaching them to the spinnerets and dragging them along.[5]
+
+Baby spiders pass all their larval stages inside the egg and hatch as spiderlings, very small and sexually immature but similar in shape to adults. Some spiders care for their young, for example a wolf spider's brood cling to rough bristles on the mother's back,[5] and females of some species respond to the "begging" behaviour of their young by giving them their prey, provided it is no longer struggling, or even regurgitate food.[4]
+
+Like other arthropods, spiders have to moult to grow as their cuticle ("skin") cannot stretch.[5] Most spiders live for only one to two years, although some tarantulas can live in captivity for over 20 years.p232[4][5]
+
+Of the 40,000 spiders, less than 12 are known to be dangerous to humans. Most of the time, being bitten by a spider is painful. Most spiders use venom to paralyse their prey; they kill it through eating, or through a bite. A few spiders have venoms that can be dangerous to weakened people and those allergic to it. Since 1927, 13 people have died, after a bite from a Atrax robustus spider from Australia.[20]
+
+The spider that kills the most people, the black widow and other spiders in the genius Latrodectus are around 1 cm. in body length. The Atrax and Phoneutria spiders, which are also capable of killing people, both average around 2.5 cm. or one inch, and even the Widow spiders are large enough to be easily noticed.
+
+Even relatively small spiders like Phidippus audax can give a painful bite if you hurt them, but spiders are very helpful to human beings because they control insects that eat our crops.
+
+Being afraid of spiders is a very common phobia (fear). The widow spiders (black widows and other members of their genus) never willingly leave their webs, so usually people get bitten when they touch the spider by mistake.
+
+Click on a picture to see it larger:
+
+Small: Platycryptus undatus8–13 mm
+
+Medium: Argiope aurantia14–25 mm
+
+Large: Theraphosa blondi120–140 mm
+
+Phoneutria nigriventerBrazilian wandering spider

ensimple/3310.html.txt

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+Petroleum, (from Greek πέτρα - rock and έλαιο - oil) also called crude oil, is a thick and black liquid. It is a natural material mainly made of hydrocarbons. Most petroleum is found by drilling down through rocks on land or off-shore on the continental shelf. Major producers are in the Middle East, the Americas, and Russia. It is the most important world fuel source. It supplies 38% of the world's energy and is also used to make petrochemicals.
+
+Crude oil is a mixture of many different chemicals (mostly hydrocarbons), most of which burn well. It is separated into simpler, more useful mixtures by fractional distillation in oil refineries to give separate chemicals such as gasoline (or petrol) for cars, kerosene for airplanes and bitumen for roads. The bitumen gives crude oil its dark black color; most of the other chemicals in crude are slightly yellow or colorless.
+
+Petroleum can be easily transported by pipeline and oil tanker. Refined petroleum is used as fuels; mainly gasoline (petrol) for cars, diesel fuel for diesel engines used in trucks, trains and ships, kerosene fuel for jets and as lubricants.
+
+Petrochemicals:
+
+Petroleum resource is limited and non-renewable. Some believe it will run out within 70 years after a peak oil early in the 21st century.
+Burning petroleum or other fossil fuel adds the carbon in the oil to the oxygen in the air to create carbon dioxide, which is an air pollutant.  The carbon can be removed from the carbon dioxide by plants.
+
+There is a lot of crude oil left underground. Oil companies quote "reserves" which some people confuse with the actual amount of oil underground, but are more to do with the cost of extracting it by oil wells. Most of the crude left underground is in the Middle East which is not a politically stable part of the world. Some governments with lots of oil reserves work together through OPEC to keep production low and prices high. Politicians in countries that burn much oil complain about high oil prices, because voters complain. However many environmentalists worry about damage being done by using oil as a fuel source (especially global warming) and are therefore happy when prices are kept high so that people use less oil.

ensimple/3311.html.txt

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+
+
+The order Lepidoptera is the second biggest order of  insects. It includes the moths and butterflies including the  skippers. There is no common word for the group: ordinary people talk of "butterflies and moths".
+
+The order has more than 180,000 species in 128 families and 47 superfamilies.[1] They are 10% of all the described species of living organisms.[2][3] The Coleoptera (the beetles) is the only order that has more species.
+
+The name, Lepidoptera, comes from the Ancient Greek words λεπίδος (scale) and πτερόν (wing).
+
+The earliest discovered fossils date to 200 mya or earlier.[4][5] This early origin was long before flowering plants evolved. Earlier butterflies must have been adapted to a habitat of cycads and conifers, something which had not previously been suspected.[5]
+
+Lepidopterans go through complete metamorphosis. This means that they have a four parts to their lives. The first part is the egg. The second part is the caterpillar or larva. The third part is the pupa. The last part is the adult or imago.
+
+The larvae have a tough head and a soft body. They have mouths that are made to chew. Some larvae are covered with hairs, or other body extensions. The larvae have three pairs of small legs on the thorax. These legs are called true legs. There are up to five pairs of bigger legs on the abdomen. These legs are called prolegs. Lepidopteran larvae can be confused with the larvae of sawflies. The difference between Lepidopteran larvae and sawfly larvae is that Lepidopteran larvae have tiny hooks on their prolegs. These hooks are called crochets. Most larvae are herbivores, but a few are carnivores and detritivores.[6]
+
+Adults have two pairs of wings. They are covered by small scales. In some species, the adults have very small wings or no wings at all. This is more common in females. Adults have antennae. Some moths have antennae that look like feathers. These feather-like antennae are larger in males than females. Adults have a mouthpart called a proboscis. It  sucks nectar from flowers. Some adults do not have mouths and cannot feed. Others have different mouths that are made to pierce and suck blood or fruit juices.[7]
+
+A butterfly
+
+A moth
+
+A skipper (the small skipper)

ensimple/3312.html.txt

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+
+
+The order Lepidoptera is the second biggest order of  insects. It includes the moths and butterflies including the  skippers. There is no common word for the group: ordinary people talk of "butterflies and moths".
+
+The order has more than 180,000 species in 128 families and 47 superfamilies.[1] They are 10% of all the described species of living organisms.[2][3] The Coleoptera (the beetles) is the only order that has more species.
+
+The name, Lepidoptera, comes from the Ancient Greek words λεπίδος (scale) and πτερόν (wing).
+
+The earliest discovered fossils date to 200 mya or earlier.[4][5] This early origin was long before flowering plants evolved. Earlier butterflies must have been adapted to a habitat of cycads and conifers, something which had not previously been suspected.[5]
+
+Lepidopterans go through complete metamorphosis. This means that they have a four parts to their lives. The first part is the egg. The second part is the caterpillar or larva. The third part is the pupa. The last part is the adult or imago.
+
+The larvae have a tough head and a soft body. They have mouths that are made to chew. Some larvae are covered with hairs, or other body extensions. The larvae have three pairs of small legs on the thorax. These legs are called true legs. There are up to five pairs of bigger legs on the abdomen. These legs are called prolegs. Lepidopteran larvae can be confused with the larvae of sawflies. The difference between Lepidopteran larvae and sawfly larvae is that Lepidopteran larvae have tiny hooks on their prolegs. These hooks are called crochets. Most larvae are herbivores, but a few are carnivores and detritivores.[6]
+
+Adults have two pairs of wings. They are covered by small scales. In some species, the adults have very small wings or no wings at all. This is more common in females. Adults have antennae. Some moths have antennae that look like feathers. These feather-like antennae are larger in males than females. Adults have a mouthpart called a proboscis. It  sucks nectar from flowers. Some adults do not have mouths and cannot feed. Others have different mouths that are made to pierce and suck blood or fruit juices.[7]
+
+A butterfly
+
+A moth
+
+A skipper (the small skipper)

ensimple/3313.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+
+
+The order Lepidoptera is the second biggest order of  insects. It includes the moths and butterflies including the  skippers. There is no common word for the group: ordinary people talk of "butterflies and moths".
+
+The order has more than 180,000 species in 128 families and 47 superfamilies.[1] They are 10% of all the described species of living organisms.[2][3] The Coleoptera (the beetles) is the only order that has more species.
+
+The name, Lepidoptera, comes from the Ancient Greek words λεπίδος (scale) and πτερόν (wing).
+
+The earliest discovered fossils date to 200 mya or earlier.[4][5] This early origin was long before flowering plants evolved. Earlier butterflies must have been adapted to a habitat of cycads and conifers, something which had not previously been suspected.[5]
+
+Lepidopterans go through complete metamorphosis. This means that they have a four parts to their lives. The first part is the egg. The second part is the caterpillar or larva. The third part is the pupa. The last part is the adult or imago.
+
+The larvae have a tough head and a soft body. They have mouths that are made to chew. Some larvae are covered with hairs, or other body extensions. The larvae have three pairs of small legs on the thorax. These legs are called true legs. There are up to five pairs of bigger legs on the abdomen. These legs are called prolegs. Lepidopteran larvae can be confused with the larvae of sawflies. The difference between Lepidopteran larvae and sawfly larvae is that Lepidopteran larvae have tiny hooks on their prolegs. These hooks are called crochets. Most larvae are herbivores, but a few are carnivores and detritivores.[6]
+
+Adults have two pairs of wings. They are covered by small scales. In some species, the adults have very small wings or no wings at all. This is more common in females. Adults have antennae. Some moths have antennae that look like feathers. These feather-like antennae are larger in males than females. Adults have a mouthpart called a proboscis. It  sucks nectar from flowers. Some adults do not have mouths and cannot feed. Others have different mouths that are made to pierce and suck blood or fruit juices.[7]
+
+A butterfly
+
+A moth
+
+A skipper (the small skipper)

ensimple/3314.html.txt

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+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
+
+Portugal is a country in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe and part of the Mediterranean.  It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east.  It has been a member of the European Union since 1986.  It was under a dictatorship between 1926 and 1974.  It has since prospered but was hit hard by the 2007-2008 recession.
+
+It has a football team and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 meaning it hosts the event for the first time ever in 2018.
+
+It once had an empire and was a powerful maritime nation from 1500s–1800s, the 10th-largest empire with a maximum land area of 10.4 million km² which included Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, East Timoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and even Macau in China (until 2002).
+
+Three groups of islands in the Atlantic Ocean are also part of Portugal: the Azores (Açores), Madeira and the Savage Isles (Ilhas Selvagens). The Savage Isles are a small group of uninhabited islands, administered by Madeira.
+Portugal claims that Olivença is also part of its territory, but it is controlled by Spain.
+
+It's a popular holiday destination but, is sometimes overlooked in favour of larger countries like France, Spain and Italy. The Algarve region in the south and capital Lisbon are the most popular.
+
+Portugal became its own kingdom in 1139 but was not officially recognized until 1143.  Portugal has had links with England since the 1100s via a treaty.  The border with Spain has been almost the same since the 13th century.  Fishing and trade with other countries are important here.
+
+Portugal was important in world exploration for two reasons. Henry the Navigator, a prince from Portugal, was very interested in exploration. Inventions in navigation led to a bigger knowledge of geography.
+
+This world exploration began the Portuguese Empire. Portugal was a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries. It tried to colonize Canada in the 16th century. However, it lost a lot of money soon after this. Portugal and Spain were in the Iberian Union from 1580 to 1640. The city of Lisbon was destroyed in an earthquake in 1755. The country was occupied during the Napoleonic Wars. It lost its largest colony, Brazil, in 1822.
+
+In 1910, Portugal became a Republic, and in 1926, a military group took control of the country from the Portuguese 1st Republic. This began a time of rule by fascist governments. During World War II they were neutral but friendly to Britain. In 1974 a peaceful left-wing army coup, called the Carnation Revolution, happened. The coup changed how the country was run.
+
+The next year, Portugal allowed its colonies in Africa to be on their own: Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe.
+
+East Timor in Asia declared itself independent from Portugal on 28 November 1975, and was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces nine days later.
+
+Portugal went into the European Union in 1986. Another Asian colony, Macau, became part of China
+
+The main language of Portugal is Portuguese.
+
+Some famous Portuguese people are D. Afonso Henriques, Henry the Navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan, Luís de Camões, Fernando Pessoa, Amália Rodrigues, Álvaro Siza Vieira, Eduardo Souto de Moura.
+
+Luís de Camões wrote the national poem of Portugal. It is called Os Lusíadas and was written in 1572.[7]

ensimple/3315.html.txt

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+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
+
+Portugal is a country in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe and part of the Mediterranean.  It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east.  It has been a member of the European Union since 1986.  It was under a dictatorship between 1926 and 1974.  It has since prospered but was hit hard by the 2007-2008 recession.
+
+It has a football team and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 meaning it hosts the event for the first time ever in 2018.
+
+It once had an empire and was a powerful maritime nation from 1500s–1800s, the 10th-largest empire with a maximum land area of 10.4 million km² which included Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, East Timoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and even Macau in China (until 2002).
+
+Three groups of islands in the Atlantic Ocean are also part of Portugal: the Azores (Açores), Madeira and the Savage Isles (Ilhas Selvagens). The Savage Isles are a small group of uninhabited islands, administered by Madeira.
+Portugal claims that Olivença is also part of its territory, but it is controlled by Spain.
+
+It's a popular holiday destination but, is sometimes overlooked in favour of larger countries like France, Spain and Italy. The Algarve region in the south and capital Lisbon are the most popular.
+
+Portugal became its own kingdom in 1139 but was not officially recognized until 1143.  Portugal has had links with England since the 1100s via a treaty.  The border with Spain has been almost the same since the 13th century.  Fishing and trade with other countries are important here.
+
+Portugal was important in world exploration for two reasons. Henry the Navigator, a prince from Portugal, was very interested in exploration. Inventions in navigation led to a bigger knowledge of geography.
+
+This world exploration began the Portuguese Empire. Portugal was a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries. It tried to colonize Canada in the 16th century. However, it lost a lot of money soon after this. Portugal and Spain were in the Iberian Union from 1580 to 1640. The city of Lisbon was destroyed in an earthquake in 1755. The country was occupied during the Napoleonic Wars. It lost its largest colony, Brazil, in 1822.
+
+In 1910, Portugal became a Republic, and in 1926, a military group took control of the country from the Portuguese 1st Republic. This began a time of rule by fascist governments. During World War II they were neutral but friendly to Britain. In 1974 a peaceful left-wing army coup, called the Carnation Revolution, happened. The coup changed how the country was run.
+
+The next year, Portugal allowed its colonies in Africa to be on their own: Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe.
+
+East Timor in Asia declared itself independent from Portugal on 28 November 1975, and was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces nine days later.
+
+Portugal went into the European Union in 1986. Another Asian colony, Macau, became part of China
+
+The main language of Portugal is Portuguese.
+
+Some famous Portuguese people are D. Afonso Henriques, Henry the Navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan, Luís de Camões, Fernando Pessoa, Amália Rodrigues, Álvaro Siza Vieira, Eduardo Souto de Moura.
+
+Luís de Camões wrote the national poem of Portugal. It is called Os Lusíadas and was written in 1572.[7]

ensimple/3316.html.txt

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+
+
+The serval (Leptailurus serval) is a medium-sized wild cat which lives in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the only species in its genus.
+
+The serval has the longest legs of all cats, relative to its size.[3] Not only can it run fast, but it is an amazing jumper: two to three metres from a standing start.
+
+Its length as an adult is about 32 inches (body) and 16 inches (tail). It weighs about four pounds.[4] There are a number of subspecies, and its geographical range is from the Cape of South Africa to Algeria, wherever the circumstances are right for it.
+
+It is lightly built, with very large ears and long legs. The back of the ears is black with a big white spot, and the tip of the tail is black. These signs serve as signals to other servals, including kittens.[4]
+
+The serval needs access to water, and dense grassland. Reed beds, scrub or high grass are typical habitats. It is territorial.[4]
+
+The serval is nocturnal, and hunts mostly at night. The serval is  an opportunistic predator whose diet includes rodents, hares, hyraxes, birds, reptiles, insects, fish, and frogs.[5]
+
+As part of its adaptations for hunting in the savannas, the serval's long legs help it achieve a top speed of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph), and has large ears with acute hearing. Its long legs and neck allow the serval to see over tall grasses, while its ears are used to detect prey, even those burrowing underground. Servals have been known to dig into burrows in search of underground prey, and to leap 2 to 3 metres (7 to 10 ft) into the air to grab birds in flight.[6] Using its spectacular jumping ability, the serval leaps into the air and bats the bird with its front paws. When the bird is on the ground, it bites its neck, killing it.
+
+Like most cats, the serval is a solitary animal. It travels as much as 3 to 4 kilometres (1.9 to 2.5 mi) each night in search of food. The female defends home ranges of 9.5 to 19.8 square kilometres (3.7 to 7.6 sq mi), depending on local prey availability. The male defends larger territories of 11.6 to 31.5 square kilometres (4.5 to 12.2 sq mi), and marks its territory by spraying urine onto bushes.

ensimple/3317.html.txt

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+
+
+Pumas (Puma concolor), also called cougars, mountain lions or brown panthers, are large wild cats that live in the western half of North America, along with Florida, and most of Central and South America. Pumas are mainly tan-color, and can be up to 9 feet long, although average length is 6 – 8 feet. They can weigh from 29 kilograms to 90 kilograms.  (The males are larger.)  Most pumas live up to 21 years.[source?] Although pumas are very large and some are larger than humans, the puma is classified as a small cat. That means that, in scientific terms, the puma is more closely related to the domestic cat than they are to lions. Unlike the big cats in the genus Panthera, the puma cannot roar. Instead, it can growl, hiss, screech, and purr. Since pumas are, in the biological sense, small cats, they are capable of purring continuously. The big cats can only purr while breathing out.
+
+Pumas are carnivores because they eat only meat. Pumas are apex predators. They hunt deer, raccoons, squirrels, foxes, rabbits and skunks.  They can also eat mice, beavers, coyotes, bobcats, birds, porcupines, cattle, goats, fish and bear cubs. They hunt at night. Cougars can see better at night than people can.  They can hear well too.  Pumas stalk their prey, which means they walk slowly and quietly, they hide and then when close, they jump or run fast to catch their prey by surprise.  They live and hunt alone. Female cougars take care of their babies until they are old enough to take care for themselves. Baby cougars are called cubs or kittens.
+
+Pumas live in the mountains and forests far from people. However, encounters with humans happen sometimes. 26 people have been killed by cougars in North America in the last 30 years. However, many more cougars have been killed by humans. Cougars used to be found all in eastern North America, but they were hunted to extinction there by the beginning of the 1900s. Also, recent sightings of cougars have been reported from Michigan, New Brunswick, southern Indiana, Kentucky, and Vermont. For now, the only confirmed, population of cougars east of the Mississippi River is in Florida, where a subspecies of the cougar called the Florida Panther lives.
+
+Schools that have a cougar as their mascot include:

ensimple/3318.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+Global warming is the temperature of Earth's surface, oceans and atmosphere going up over tens to thousands of years.[1] Average temperatures today are about 1 °C (1.8 °F) higher than before the Industrial Revolution, which started around 1750, during the Little Ice Age, an abnormally cold period.[2] But in some parts of the world it is less than this and some more. Some scientists say that by the year 2100 temperatures will be 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) to  5 °C (9.0 °F) higher than they were before 1750.[3] The most noticeable changes because of this increase in temperature is the melting of ice caps all around the world. Sea level is rising steadily because of continental ice melting into the sea. Many cities will be partly flooded by the ocean in the 21st century.
+
+Among the greenhouse gases, the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is one of the causes of global warming, as predicted by Svante Arrhenius a hundred years ago, confirming the work of Joseph Fourier more than 200 years ago. When people burn fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas this adds carbon dioxide into the air.[4] This is because fossil fuels contain lots of carbon and burning means joining most of the atoms in the fuel with oxygen. When people cut down many trees (deforestation), this means less carbon dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere by those plants.
+
+As the Earth's surface temperature becomes hotter the sea level becomes higher. This is partly because water expands when it gets warmer. It is also partly because warm temperatures make glaciers and ice caps melt. The sea level rise causes coastal areas to flood.[5] Weather patterns, including where and how much rain or snow there is, are changing. Deserts will probably increase in size. Colder areas will warm up faster than warm areas. Strong storms may become more likely and farming may not make as much food. These effects will not be the same everywhere. The changes from one area to another are not well known.
+
+People in government and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are talking about global warming. But governments, companies, and other people do not agree on what to do about it. Some things that could reduce warming are to burn less fossil fuels, grow more trees, eat less meat, and put some carbon dioxide back in the ground. Shading the Earth from some sunlight (this is called geoengineering) could also reduce warming but we don't understand how it might change weather in other ways. Also people could adapt to any temperature changes. The Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement try to reduce pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. Most governments have agreed to them but some people in government think nothing should change. The gas produced by cows digestion also causes global warming, because it contains a greenhouse gas called methane.[6]
+
+Climate change has happened constantly over the history of the Earth, including the coming and going of ice ages. But modern climate change is different because people are putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere very quickly.[7]
+
+Since the 1800s, people have recorded the daily temperature. By about 1850, there were enough places measuring temperature so that scientists could know the global average temperature. Compared with before people started burning a lot of coal for industry, the temperature has risen by about 1 °C (1.8 °F).[2] Starting in 1979, satellites started measuring the temperature of the Earth.
+
+Before 1850, there were not enough temperature measurements for us to know how warm or cold it was. Climatologists use proxy measurements to try to figure out past temperatures before there were thermometers. This means measuring things that change when it gets colder or warmer. One way is to cut into a tree and measure how far apart the growth rings are. Trees that live a long time can give us an idea of how temperature and rain changed while it was alive.
+
+For most of the past 2000 years the temperature didn't change much. There were some times where the temperatures were a little warmer or cooler. One of the most famous warm times was the Medieval Warm Period and one of the most famous cool times was the Little Ice Age. Other proxy measurements like the temperature measured in deep holes mostly agree with the tree rings. Tree rings and bore holes can only help scientists work out the temperature back to about 1000 years ago. Ice cores are also used to find out the temperature back to about half a million years ago.
+
+Coal-burning power plants, car exhausts, factory smokestacks, and other man-made waste gas vents give off about 23 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the Earth's atmosphere each year. The amount of CO2 in the air is about 31% more than it was around 1750. About three-quarters of the CO2 that people have put in the air during the past 20 years are due to burning fossil fuel like coal or oil. The rest mostly comes from changes in how land is used, like cutting down trees.[8]
+
+The sun gets a little bit hotter and colder every 11 years. This is called the 11-year sunspot cycle. The change is so small that scientists can barely measure how it affects the temperature of the Earth. If the sun was causing the Earth to warm up, it would warm both the surface and high up in the air. But the air in the upper stratosphere is actually getting colder, so scientists do not think changes in the sun have much effect. In addition, over hundreds of millions of years, the sun is slowly getting brighter.
+
+Dust and dirt in the air may come from natural sources such as volcanos,[9][10] erosion and meteoric dust. Some of this dirt falls out within a few hours. Some is aerosol, so small that it could stay in the air for years. The aerosol particles in the atmosphere make the earth colder. The effect of dust therefore cancels out some of the effects of greenhouse gases.[11] Even though humans also put aerosols in the air when they burn coal or oil this only cancels out the greenhouse effect of the fuel burning for less than 20 years: the carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere much longer and keeps on warming the earth.[12]
+
+Some people try to stop global warming, usually by burning less fossil fuel. Many people have tried to get countries to emit less greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997. It was meant to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to below their levels in 1990. However, carbon dioxide levels have continued to rise.
+
+Energy conservation is used to burn less fossil fuel. People can also use energy sources that don't burn fossil fuel, like hydrogen, solar panels or electricity from nuclear power or wind power. Or they can prevent the carbon dioxide from getting out into the atmosphere, which is called carbon capture and storage (CCS).
+
+People can also change how they live because of any changes that global warming will bring. For example, they can go to places where the weather is better, or build walls around cities to keep flood water out. Like the preventive measures, these things cost money, and rich people and rich countries will be able to change more easily than the poor. 
+Geoengineering is also seen by some as one climate change mitigation response. For example, a process using nanotechnology has been found to remove carbon dioxide from the air to create ethanol.[13][14][15]
+
+As early as the 1820s a lot of scientists were finding out about climate change. Joseph Fourier believed that light from the sun can enter the atmosphere, but cannot leave nearly as easily. He tried to prove that air can absorb the infrared radiation and will be given back to the Earth’s surface. Later in 1859, John Tyndall discovered that water vapor and CO2 trap heat waves given by the sun. In 1896, Svante Arrhenius tried to prove that it would take thousands of years for the industrial production of CO2 to raise the Earth’s temperature 5-6°C.  But throughout the early 20th century many people did not believe this idea because it was too simple. In the mid 20th century, scientists worked out that there was a 10% increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the 19th century, which made it a little bit warmer. It was at this time that people believed the emissions of CO2 would increase exponentially[source?] in the future and the oceans would absorb any surplus of greenhouse gases. In 1956, Gilbert N. Plass decided that greenhouse gas emissions will have an effect on the Earth’s temperature and argued that not thinking about GHG emissions would be a mistake. Soon after, scientists studying all different kinds of science began to work together to figure out the mystery of GHG emissions and their effects. As technology advanced, it was in the 1980s that there was proof of a rise in CO2 levels. An ice core, captured through drilling, provided clear evidence that carbon dioxide levels have risen.[16]
+
+Global warming means that Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets are melting and the oceans are expanding. Recent climate change would still cause a 6 meters (20 ft) sea-level rise even if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced in 2015 per a scientific paper in Science.[17][18]
+
+Low-lying areas such as Bangladesh, Florida, the Netherlands and other areas face massive flooding.[19][20]
+
+Many cities are sea ports and under threat of flooding if the present sea level rises.
+
+These and the other cities have either started trying to deal with rising sea level and related storm surge, or are discussing this, according to reliable sources.
+
+Also, all other coastal cities are in danger.

ensimple/3319.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+Global warming is the temperature of Earth's surface, oceans and atmosphere going up over tens to thousands of years.[1] Average temperatures today are about 1 °C (1.8 °F) higher than before the Industrial Revolution, which started around 1750, during the Little Ice Age, an abnormally cold period.[2] But in some parts of the world it is less than this and some more. Some scientists say that by the year 2100 temperatures will be 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) to  5 °C (9.0 °F) higher than they were before 1750.[3] The most noticeable changes because of this increase in temperature is the melting of ice caps all around the world. Sea level is rising steadily because of continental ice melting into the sea. Many cities will be partly flooded by the ocean in the 21st century.
+
+Among the greenhouse gases, the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is one of the causes of global warming, as predicted by Svante Arrhenius a hundred years ago, confirming the work of Joseph Fourier more than 200 years ago. When people burn fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas this adds carbon dioxide into the air.[4] This is because fossil fuels contain lots of carbon and burning means joining most of the atoms in the fuel with oxygen. When people cut down many trees (deforestation), this means less carbon dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere by those plants.
+
+As the Earth's surface temperature becomes hotter the sea level becomes higher. This is partly because water expands when it gets warmer. It is also partly because warm temperatures make glaciers and ice caps melt. The sea level rise causes coastal areas to flood.[5] Weather patterns, including where and how much rain or snow there is, are changing. Deserts will probably increase in size. Colder areas will warm up faster than warm areas. Strong storms may become more likely and farming may not make as much food. These effects will not be the same everywhere. The changes from one area to another are not well known.
+
+People in government and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are talking about global warming. But governments, companies, and other people do not agree on what to do about it. Some things that could reduce warming are to burn less fossil fuels, grow more trees, eat less meat, and put some carbon dioxide back in the ground. Shading the Earth from some sunlight (this is called geoengineering) could also reduce warming but we don't understand how it might change weather in other ways. Also people could adapt to any temperature changes. The Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement try to reduce pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. Most governments have agreed to them but some people in government think nothing should change. The gas produced by cows digestion also causes global warming, because it contains a greenhouse gas called methane.[6]
+
+Climate change has happened constantly over the history of the Earth, including the coming and going of ice ages. But modern climate change is different because people are putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere very quickly.[7]
+
+Since the 1800s, people have recorded the daily temperature. By about 1850, there were enough places measuring temperature so that scientists could know the global average temperature. Compared with before people started burning a lot of coal for industry, the temperature has risen by about 1 °C (1.8 °F).[2] Starting in 1979, satellites started measuring the temperature of the Earth.
+
+Before 1850, there were not enough temperature measurements for us to know how warm or cold it was. Climatologists use proxy measurements to try to figure out past temperatures before there were thermometers. This means measuring things that change when it gets colder or warmer. One way is to cut into a tree and measure how far apart the growth rings are. Trees that live a long time can give us an idea of how temperature and rain changed while it was alive.
+
+For most of the past 2000 years the temperature didn't change much. There were some times where the temperatures were a little warmer or cooler. One of the most famous warm times was the Medieval Warm Period and one of the most famous cool times was the Little Ice Age. Other proxy measurements like the temperature measured in deep holes mostly agree with the tree rings. Tree rings and bore holes can only help scientists work out the temperature back to about 1000 years ago. Ice cores are also used to find out the temperature back to about half a million years ago.
+
+Coal-burning power plants, car exhausts, factory smokestacks, and other man-made waste gas vents give off about 23 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the Earth's atmosphere each year. The amount of CO2 in the air is about 31% more than it was around 1750. About three-quarters of the CO2 that people have put in the air during the past 20 years are due to burning fossil fuel like coal or oil. The rest mostly comes from changes in how land is used, like cutting down trees.[8]
+
+The sun gets a little bit hotter and colder every 11 years. This is called the 11-year sunspot cycle. The change is so small that scientists can barely measure how it affects the temperature of the Earth. If the sun was causing the Earth to warm up, it would warm both the surface and high up in the air. But the air in the upper stratosphere is actually getting colder, so scientists do not think changes in the sun have much effect. In addition, over hundreds of millions of years, the sun is slowly getting brighter.
+
+Dust and dirt in the air may come from natural sources such as volcanos,[9][10] erosion and meteoric dust. Some of this dirt falls out within a few hours. Some is aerosol, so small that it could stay in the air for years. The aerosol particles in the atmosphere make the earth colder. The effect of dust therefore cancels out some of the effects of greenhouse gases.[11] Even though humans also put aerosols in the air when they burn coal or oil this only cancels out the greenhouse effect of the fuel burning for less than 20 years: the carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere much longer and keeps on warming the earth.[12]
+
+Some people try to stop global warming, usually by burning less fossil fuel. Many people have tried to get countries to emit less greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997. It was meant to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to below their levels in 1990. However, carbon dioxide levels have continued to rise.
+
+Energy conservation is used to burn less fossil fuel. People can also use energy sources that don't burn fossil fuel, like hydrogen, solar panels or electricity from nuclear power or wind power. Or they can prevent the carbon dioxide from getting out into the atmosphere, which is called carbon capture and storage (CCS).
+
+People can also change how they live because of any changes that global warming will bring. For example, they can go to places where the weather is better, or build walls around cities to keep flood water out. Like the preventive measures, these things cost money, and rich people and rich countries will be able to change more easily than the poor. 
+Geoengineering is also seen by some as one climate change mitigation response. For example, a process using nanotechnology has been found to remove carbon dioxide from the air to create ethanol.[13][14][15]
+
+As early as the 1820s a lot of scientists were finding out about climate change. Joseph Fourier believed that light from the sun can enter the atmosphere, but cannot leave nearly as easily. He tried to prove that air can absorb the infrared radiation and will be given back to the Earth’s surface. Later in 1859, John Tyndall discovered that water vapor and CO2 trap heat waves given by the sun. In 1896, Svante Arrhenius tried to prove that it would take thousands of years for the industrial production of CO2 to raise the Earth’s temperature 5-6°C.  But throughout the early 20th century many people did not believe this idea because it was too simple. In the mid 20th century, scientists worked out that there was a 10% increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the 19th century, which made it a little bit warmer. It was at this time that people believed the emissions of CO2 would increase exponentially[source?] in the future and the oceans would absorb any surplus of greenhouse gases. In 1956, Gilbert N. Plass decided that greenhouse gas emissions will have an effect on the Earth’s temperature and argued that not thinking about GHG emissions would be a mistake. Soon after, scientists studying all different kinds of science began to work together to figure out the mystery of GHG emissions and their effects. As technology advanced, it was in the 1980s that there was proof of a rise in CO2 levels. An ice core, captured through drilling, provided clear evidence that carbon dioxide levels have risen.[16]
+
+Global warming means that Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets are melting and the oceans are expanding. Recent climate change would still cause a 6 meters (20 ft) sea-level rise even if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced in 2015 per a scientific paper in Science.[17][18]
+
+Low-lying areas such as Bangladesh, Florida, the Netherlands and other areas face massive flooding.[19][20]
+
+Many cities are sea ports and under threat of flooding if the present sea level rises.
+
+These and the other cities have either started trying to deal with rising sea level and related storm surge, or are discussing this, according to reliable sources.
+
+Also, all other coastal cities are in danger.

ensimple/332.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+
+
+Mesothelae
+Opisthothelae
+
+Spiders (class Arachnida, order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods. They have eight legs, and mouthparts (chelicerae) with fangs that inject venom. Most make silk. The arachnids  are seventh in number of species of all animal orders.[2] About 48,000 spider species, and 120 families have been recorded by taxonomists.[3] Over twenty different classifications have been proposed since 1900.[4]p3 Spiders live on every continent except for Antarctica, and in nearly every habitat with the exceptions of air and sea.
+
+Almost all spiders are predators, and most eat insects. They catch their prey in several ways. Some build a spider web, and some use a thread of silk that they throw at the insect. Some kinds of spiders hide in holes in the ground, then run out and grab an insect that walks by. Others will make web 'nets' to throw at passing insects. Or they go out and simply attack their prey. Some can jump quite well and hunt by sneaking close to an insect and then jumping on it.
+
+Spiders have a two-part body, the front part (cephalothorax) and the abdomen. Unlike insects, spiders do not have antennae. The more advanced spiders have a centralized nervous system, with their ganglia fused into one mass in the cephalothorax. Unlike most arthropods, spiders have no extensor muscles in their limbs, and extend them by hydraulic pressure.
+
+The smallest of full-grown spiders can be less than 4 mm. (0.1 inch). The largest of spiders can have a body length of 10 cm. (4 inches) or more. The largest can weigh 150 grams (5.3 oz). The largest of spiders are the tarantulas and the huntsman spiders. Some huntsman spiders in South East Asia can have a leg span of around 250–300 mm (9.8–11.8 in).
+
+Most spiders have four pairs of eyes on the top-front area of the body, arranged in patterns that vary from one family to another. The main eyes at the front are capable of forming images.[5] Jumping spiders have visual acuity which is ten times better than that of dragonflies, which have by far the best vision among insects. The spiders do this by a telephoto-like series of lenses, a four-layered retina. They can swivel their eyes and put together images from different stages in the scan. The downside is that the scanning and integrating processes are relatively slow.[6]
+
+Spiders and other arthropods have modified their cuticles into elaborate arrays of sensors. Various sensors, mostly bristles, respond to touch, from strong contact to very weak air currents. Chemical sensors provide equivalents of taste and smell.[5] Spiders also have in the joints of their limbs sensors that detect forces and vibrations. In web-building spiders all these mechanical and chemical sensors are more important than the eyes. The eyes are more important to spiders that hunt actively. Like most arthropods, spiders lack balance sensors, and rely on their eyes to tell them which way is up.[5]
+
+Even a relatively large spider can have fangs with very sharp points. The fangs are hollow, like the needles used to give shots. Spiders use their fangs to inject toxins that kill the insects they will eat. Some kinds of spider venom attack the nervous systems of their prey, and other kinds of venom attack body tissues.
+
+Almost all spiders are predators, and eat insects and other arthropods (including other spiders). Most use venom from their fangs to kill their prey. It is rare for spiders to capture prey that are much larger than they are. It is also difficult for most spiders to capture prey that are very much smaller than they are. Most species of spiders cannot live close together because they treat each other as their next meal, but there are some spiders that form colonies. Spiders eat not only spiders of other species, but spiders of their own species.
+
+The black widow spider got its name because the females sometimes eat the males that mate with them. This may also happen in other species. Each species of spider has its own way of communicating with other spiders they meet. Because of the danger of being eaten, in some species the males have special hooks on their front legs with which they hold the female while they mate. Others bring the female something to eat. There are a few species in which the male spiders construct their own little webs that are connected to the webs of the females. In these species, the male is so much smaller than the female that it would be difficult for her to actually capture the male.
+
+Most spiders have such poor vision that they will not even notice a dead insect. Jumping spiders are one exception to this rule. They have such good vision that they can find recently dead flies or other insects to eat.
+
+Most spiders are predators, but the jumping spider Bagheera kiplingi gets over 90% of its food from fairly solid plant material produced by acacias as part of a beneficial relationship with a species of ant.[7]
+
+Young spiders of several families feed on plant nectar. Studies have shown that they do this for long periods. They also clean themselves regularly while feeding. These spiders also prefer sugar solutions to plain water, which shows that they are looking for nutrients. Many spiders are nocturnal, they are most active during the night. The extent of nectar consumption by spiders may therefore have been under-estimated. Nectar contains amino acids, lipids, vitamins and minerals in addition to sugars. Studies have shown that other spider species live longer when nectar is available. Feeding on nectar also avoids the risks of struggles with prey, and the costs of producing venom and digestive enzymes.[8]
+
+Various species are known to feed on dead arthropods (scavenging), web silk, and their own shed exoskeletons. Pollen caught in webs may also be eaten, and studies have shown that young spiders have a better chance of survival if they have the opportunity to eat pollen. In captivity, several spider species are also known to feed on bananas, marmalade, milk, egg yolk and sausages.[8]
+
+The best-known method spiders use to capture prey is a sticky web. The placing of the web allows different spiders to trap different insects in the same area. Flat, horizontal webs allow them to trap insects that fly up from vegetation underneath, for example. Flat vertical nets allow them to trap insects in flight. The spiders that build webs usually do not see very well, but they are very sensitive to vibrations.[5]
+
+Females of the water spider Argyroneta aquatica build underwater "diving bell" webs which they fill with air and use eating their prey, molting, mating, and raising offspring. They live almost entirely within the bells, darting out to catch prey animals that touch the bell or the threads that anchor it.[9] A few spiders use the surfaces of lakes and ponds as "webs", detecting trapped insects by the vibrations that these cause while struggling.[5]
+
+Net-casting spiders weave only small webs but then manipulate them to trap prey. They stretch their webs and then release them when prey strike them. Those of the family Deinopidae weave even smaller webs, hold them outstretched between their first two pairs of legs, and lunge and push the webs as much as twice their own body length to trap prey, and this move may increase the webs' area by a factor of up to ten. Experiments have shown that Deinopis spinosus has two different techniques for trapping prey: backwards strikes to catch flying insects, whose vibrations it detects; and forward strikes to catch ground-walking prey that it sees. These two techniques have also been observed in other deinopids. Walking insects form most of the prey of most deinopids, but one population of Deinopis subrufus appears to live mainly on tipulid flies that they catch with the backwards strike.[10]
+
+Mature female bolas spiders of the genus Mastophora build "webs" that consist of only a single "trapeze line", which they patrol. They also construct a bolas made of a single thread, tipped with a large ball of very wet sticky silk. They emit chemicals that resemble the pheromones of moths, and then swing the bolas at the moths. They catch about the same weight of insects per night as web-weaving spiders of similar size. The spiders eat the bolas if they have not made a kill in about 30 minutes, rest for a while, and then make new bolas.[11][12] Juveniles and adult males are much smaller and do not make bolas. Instead they release different pheromones that attract moth flies, and catch them with their front pairs of legs.[13]
+
+The primitive Liphistiidae, the "trapdoor spiders" (family Ctenizidae) and many tarantulas are ambush predators. They lurk in burrows, often closed by trapdoors and surrounded by networks of silk threads that alert these spiders to the presence of prey.[14] Other ambush predators do without such aids, including many crab spiders.[5] A few species that prey on bees, which see ultraviolet, can adjust their ultraviolet reflectance to match the flowers in which they are lurking.[15] Wolf spiders, jumping spiders, fishing spiders and some crab spiders capture prey by chasing it, and rely mainly on vision to get their prey.[5]
+
+Not all spiders use silk to net their prey. Instead, these spiders may capture insects by grabbing them and then biting them. Among these kinds of spiders the two best known are the wolf spiders and the jumping spiders.
+
+A wolf spider will usually wait until an insect comes near to it, and then rush at the insect, grab it using its front legs, and then bite the insect so that its venom can do its work.
+
+Female wolf spiders lay their eggs on a pad of silk and then draw the edges together to create a round ball that they carry along with them wherever they go. They hold their egg balls to their tail ends by using their silk. When the eggs hatch, the little spiders will crawl onto the mother's back, and she will carry them along with her for days or weeks.
+
+Wolf spiders are very good mothers and will strongly protect both their egg balls and their infants. When the time comes, the little spiders will leave the mother and each will go its own way.
+
+Jumping spiders have very good eyes and can see well. They sneak as close to an insect as they can, and then they jump onto the insect and immediately bite it. Since they often hunt in trees, bushes, and on the sides of walls, if the jumping spider misses it may fall off. But they have a way to save themselves from harm. Before they jump they fasten their silk to the place where they have been standing, and as they jump they let out a silk safety line. So if they fall they will catch themselves when they reach the end of their silk safety line. Sometimes a jumping spider will catch an insect and then fall while still holding onto the insect. But the spider is still safe.
+
+Jumping spiders make little silken "tents" for themselves to sleep in. When they lay eggs they keep them inside such a shelter. They do not take their eggs with them when they go out to hunt.
+
+For all male spiders it is dangerous to seek a mate. The female spider may not realize that the male is a spider of her kind, so she may try to eat it. The jumping spiders not only have visual patterns that identify them to each other, but the male jumping spider will do a special dance when it approaches a female of the same species. That way, the female can recognize that it is a male of her species. She will generally forget about eating for long enough to mate with the visiting male spider.
+
+Jumping spiders have such good eyes that they will usually watch any human who tries to watch them. Some species are very shy and will run away if the human gets too close. But some species, such as Phidippus audax (the audacious or brave jumping spider) and Platycryptus undatus, can become calm if the human comes close to them slowly. Sometimes they will jump onto one of your fingers and then jump from finger to finger and from hand to hand. They seem to want to explore.
+
+Some jumping spiders of the genus Portia hunt other spiders in ways that seem intelligent,[6] outflanking their victims or luring them from their webs. Laboratory studies show that Portia's instinctive tactics are only starting points for a trial-and-error approach from which these spiders learn very quickly how to overcome new prey species.[16] However, they seem to be relatively slow thinkers, which is not surprising as their brains are vastly smaller than those of mammalian predators.[6]
+
+Ant-mimicking spiders face several challenges: they generally develop slimmer abdomens and false "waists" to mimic the three distinct regions (tagmata) of an ant's body; they wave the first pair of legs in form to their heads to mimic antennae, which spiders lack, and to conceal the fact that they have eight legs rather than six. They have large color patches round one pair of eyes to disguise the fact that they generally have eight simple eyes, while ants have two compound eyes; they cover their bodies with reflective hairs to resemble the shiny bodies of ants. In some spider species males and females mimic different ant species, as female spiders are usually much larger than males.
+
+Ant-mimicking spiders also modify their behavior to resemble that of the target species of ant, for example many adopt a zig-zag pattern of movement, ant-mimicking jumping spiders avoid jumping, and spiders of the genus Synemosyna walk on the outer edges of leaves in the same way as Pseudomyrmex. Ant-mimicry in many spiders and other arthropods may be for protection from predators that hunt by sight, including birds, lizards and spiders. However several ant-mimicking spiders prey either on ants or on the ants "livestock" such as aphids. When at rest the ant-mimicking crab spider Amyciaea does not closely resemble Oecophylla, but while hunting it imitates the behavior of a dying ant to attract worker ants. After a kill some ant-mimicking spiders hold their victims between themselves and large groups of ants to avoid being attacked.[17]
+
+Spiders reproduce sexually and fertilization is internal but indirect. In other words, the sperm is not inserted into the female's body by the male's genitals but by an intermediate stage. Unlike many land-living arthropods,[5] male spiders do not produce ready-made spermatophores (packages of sperm). Instead, they spin small sperm webs on to which they ejaculate and then transfer the sperm to structures on the tips of their pedipalps. When a male detects signs of a female nearby he checks whether she is of the same species and whether she is ready to mate; for example in species that produce webs or 'safety ropes', the male can identify the species and sex of these objects by smell.[5]
+
+Spiders generally use elaborate courtship rituals to prevent the large females from eating the small males before fertilization, except where the male is so much smaller that he is not worth eating. In some species males mate with newly molted females, which are too weak to be dangerous to the males.[4]
+
+In web-weaving species precise patterns of vibrations in the web are a major part of the rituals, while patterns of touches on the female's body are important in many spiders that hunt actively, and may 'hypnotize' the female. Gestures and dances by the male are important for jumping spiders, which have excellent eyesight. If courtship is successful, the male injects his sperm from the pedipalps into the female's genital opening on the underside of her abdomen. Female reproductive tracts vary. Some are simple tubes, but others have chambers where females store sperm, and release it when they are ready.[5]
+
+Males do get eaten in some species. Males of the genus Tidarren cut off one of their palps, and enter adult life with one palp only. The palps are 20% of male's body mass in this species, and detaching one of the two improves mobility. In the Yemeni species Tidarren argo, the remaining palp is then torn off by the female. The separated palp remains attached to the female's opening for about four hours. In the meantime, the female feeds on the palpless male.[18] In over 60% of cases the female of the Australian redback spider kills and eats the male after it inserts its second palp into the female's genital opening; in fact the males co-operate by trying to impale themselves on the females' fangs. Observation shows that most male redbacks never get an opportunity to mate, and the 'lucky' ones increase the likely number of offspring by ensuring that the females are well-fed.[19] However males of most species survive a few matings, limited mainly by their short life spans. Some even live for a while in their mates' webs.[4]p176/212
+
+Females lay up to 3,000 eggs in one or more silk egg sacs,[5] which maintain a fairly constant humidity level.[4] In some species the females die afterwards, but females of other species protect the sacs by attaching them to their webs, hiding them in nests, carrying them in the chelicerae or attaching them to the spinnerets and dragging them along.[5]
+
+Baby spiders pass all their larval stages inside the egg and hatch as spiderlings, very small and sexually immature but similar in shape to adults. Some spiders care for their young, for example a wolf spider's brood cling to rough bristles on the mother's back,[5] and females of some species respond to the "begging" behaviour of their young by giving them their prey, provided it is no longer struggling, or even regurgitate food.[4]
+
+Like other arthropods, spiders have to moult to grow as their cuticle ("skin") cannot stretch.[5] Most spiders live for only one to two years, although some tarantulas can live in captivity for over 20 years.p232[4][5]
+
+Of the 40,000 spiders, less than 12 are known to be dangerous to humans. Most of the time, being bitten by a spider is painful. Most spiders use venom to paralyse their prey; they kill it through eating, or through a bite. A few spiders have venoms that can be dangerous to weakened people and those allergic to it. Since 1927, 13 people have died, after a bite from a Atrax robustus spider from Australia.[20]
+
+The spider that kills the most people, the black widow and other spiders in the genius Latrodectus are around 1 cm. in body length. The Atrax and Phoneutria spiders, which are also capable of killing people, both average around 2.5 cm. or one inch, and even the Widow spiders are large enough to be easily noticed.
+
+Even relatively small spiders like Phidippus audax can give a painful bite if you hurt them, but spiders are very helpful to human beings because they control insects that eat our crops.
+
+Being afraid of spiders is a very common phobia (fear). The widow spiders (black widows and other members of their genus) never willingly leave their webs, so usually people get bitten when they touch the spider by mistake.
+
+Click on a picture to see it larger:
+
+Small: Platycryptus undatus8–13 mm
+
+Medium: Argiope aurantia14–25 mm
+
+Large: Theraphosa blondi120–140 mm
+
+Phoneutria nigriventerBrazilian wandering spider

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+Recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste  and reprocessing the material into useful products. Glass, paper, plastic, and metals such as aluminum and steel are all commonly recycled. Dead plants, fruit and vegetable scraps can be recycled through composting. It is important, however, not to confuse recycling with reusing, which is where old things, such as clothes, are donated or given a new use instead of being thrown out.
+
+[1]
+
+One reason that people give for recycling is that it reduces trash in landfills and incinerators. Another reason people recycle is to reduce the amount of raw materials and energy used in making things. Most of the time, it takes less energy to recycle trash than to throw it away, The Economist says. Recycling can reduce your carbon footprints and it would help to minimize the whole size of landfills around the world.
+
+The 3 R's are Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle..
+
+Most people make about two kilograms of waste (trash) every day, and about 7% of this waste is made up of plastic products that can be recycled. Today, plastic can be recycled into products like picnic tables, park benches, and even high-chairs.[2]
+
+First, plastic is collected and taken to a recycling center, where it is sorted out. When plastic is sorted out, symbols have to be printed on every recyclable plastic product used. There are two types of plastic: polyethylene and polymer. There are two kinds of polyethylene plastic, too: high density polyethylene (HDPE), and low density polyethylene (LDPE). HDPE plastic is usually used to make furniture, and LDPE plastic are usually things like milk jugs, plastic and grocery bags.
+
+HDPE plastic is ground into a small powder.[2] LDPE plastic, which are usually thin films, need to be ground by a special machine.[2] After that, both plastics are washed with hot water and detergent.[2] Dirt and other things, like labels, are taken off.[2] After the wash, the powder is dried with hot air.[2]
+
+Sometimes, the powder is sold. But other times, the powder is heated, colored, and then put into a pelletizer.[2] The pelletizer makes the powder into little pellets, which are bought by a company that shapes the pellets into pieces of plastic "wood".[2] This plastic wood is used to make flowerpots, trash cans, pipes, picnic tables, benches, toys, mats, and many other things.[2]
+

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+
+
+A fox is a small mammalian carnivore. They hunt and eat live prey, mostly rabbits and rodents (squirrels and mice). They may also eat grasshoppers, birds' eggs, and even fruit and berries. Sometimes they eat carrion.[1] Foxes are the smallest members of the dog family Canidae.
+
+Twelve species belong to the Vulpes genus of monophyletic "true foxes". There are about another 25 living or extinct species which are sometimes called foxes.
+
+The fox has pointed ears, narrow snout, and a bushy tail.
+
+Foxes are swift and agile runners which live in family groups. A female fox is called a vixen, and a male is called a dog. Foxes' tails are multi-purpose organs. Their bushy tail helps them keep warm while they are sleeping in cold weather.[2] It is also part of the animal's food store for wintertime.[3] Foxes' plump, bushy tail is easily seen, and is used for sending signals to its family members.[4] The tail is also used for balance while running.[4]
+
+Foxes are found on all continents (except Antarctica), mostly living in forest, shrubland, and desert regions. They were not native to Australia, but were introduced in some way. In the United Kingdom, it was a common sport for people to hunt foxes with horses and dogs. This is now banned.
+
+The informal term 'true fox' refers to members of the Vulpes genus.
+
+There are 12 species of Vulpus. They are:
+
+The arctic fox is included in this genus as Vulpes lagopus. There is genetic evidence that shows it is probably a true fox.[6][7]
+
+Some species of true fox are extinct. Fossils have been found of:

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+
+
+The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is a species of shark.  They are world's largest living predatory fish. Mature sharks may grow up to 6.4 m (21 ft) in length and 3,324 kg (7,328 lb) in weight.[1][2][3][4] There also have been a few reports of great white sharks measuring over 8 m (26 ft).[5]  This shark reaches its sexual maturity around 15 years of age. The lifespan of great white shark may be as long as 70 years or more.[6] Great white sharks can accelerate to speeds over 56 km/h (35 mph).[7]
+
+Great white sharks have about 300 teeth, arranged in many rows.[8] The first two rows of the teeth are used for grabbing and cutting the animals they eat, while the other teeth in the last rows replace the front teeth when they are broken, worn down, or when they fall out. The teeth have the shape of a triangle with jags on the edges. Great white sharks are carnivores. Great white sharks are apex predators. They eat fish, seals, sea lions, seagulls, penguins, squid, octopuses, dolphins, small whales, crabs, shrimps, stingrays, sea turtles and other sharks.
+
+The great white shark has no natural predators other than the killer whale.[9] Some orcas have discovered they can paralyse the shark by flipping it upside-down. Then they hold the shark still with their mouth, and that suffocates it (sharks get oxygen by moving through the water).[10]
+
+The bestselling novel Jaws by Peter Benchley and the film by Steven Spielberg show the great white shark as a "ferocious human eater". In real life, humans are not the preferred food of the great white shark.[11] However, of all shark species, the great white shark has the second largest number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans.[12]
+
+The great white shark is a shark. The great white shark is a shark and a type of cartilaginous fish belonging to a biological class known as Chondrichthyes.  These fish are jawed vertebrates with paired fins, paired nares, scales, a heart with its chambers in series, and a skeleton made of cartilage not bone.[13]  These sharks are also known as Lamniformes, which is an order of sharks commonly referred to as Mackerel Sharks.  This species of shark possess two dorsal fins, an anal fin, five gill slits and a mouth extended behind the eyes.[14]
+
+The great white shark is one of nature’s most deadly carnivores, and is distinguishable by their jaws and many sharp teeth.  The difference is the ability for both the shark’s jaws to move when ambushing their prey.  They will first bite with the lower jaw to sink its teeth in, then close the upper jaw and begin thrashing their heads repeatedly to tear off chunks of flesh [6].  They may contain as many as 3, 000 teeth at one time, sitting in five rows with the largest set in the front.  In the event a tooth is lost, another comes forward from a stash of backup teeth embedded in the shark’s jaws.[15]
+
+In addition to the teeth and jaws of great white sharks, their senses have greatly adapted to sharpen their skills as hunters.  Their sense of smell is most accurate and great whites can detect a single drop of blood in ten billion drops of water.  They possess an “ear stone” which helps the animal position itself in the water depending on the direction it is swimming.[16]  Sharks also utilize excellent vision with retinas divided into two areas for daylight and nighttime swimming, and protect them by rolling them backwards into the skull before biting.  One of their most interesting senses relates to their touch and electro-reception.  A series of pores in the shark’s nose allow them to detect electromagnetic fields and sense animal vibrations in the water, as well as accurately navigate through the open ocean.[16]
+
+The great white becomes an adult about nine years after its birth. The growth of the great white shark is about 25-30 centimetres per year and they grow to an average size of 4.5 meters. The largest can be as much as 6.4 meters in length. Their liver, a delicacy to killer whales, can weigh up to about 24 percent of its own body weight.[17]
+
+Great white sharks live in the sea. They live near the coast, in all warm waters. They occasionally make dives into the deep water of open oceans. They can be in water as shallow as three feet deep. The deepest scientists have seen a shark dive is about 1200 meters (4000 feet).  That is down into the bathypelagic zone, where there is no sunlight.[18]
+
+They may swim near:
+
+Research has shown that the sharks of northern California are genetically different to other shark populations. DNA evidence shows the population separated from other great whites about 200,000 years ago (during the Pleistocene Era). By tagging the sharks they also learned that they are generally alone, but follow the same route through the ocean, and stay in the same places. From January to July they live near Hawaii, and then move to Californian waters between August and December.[19]
+
+Sharks have been on Earth much longer than humans, which is one reason why humans are not part of their diet.[20] Most scientists think sharks do not like the way humans taste.[21]
+
+Some people think that humans are not good food for great white sharks, because the human body has a lot more bone and less muscle and fat than the shark likes.[22] Some scientists think sharks attack humans because they have mistaken the human for a seal or sea lion.  Seals and sea lions have blubber, which the shark likes.  Other scientists think sharks' senses are good enough to tell that the human is not a seal.  They think sharks do not know what the human is and bite it to learn more.[22]
+
+Usually, the shark bites the human once and then swims away for a while.  Sometimes the shark will bite off a leg or arm, but usually the bite is just a bite.  Sometimes there is no tissue loss at all (nothing bitten off).[22] Deaths in such cases are generally caused by loss of blood from the first wound. In cases where attacks have occurred and the victim has been unable to escape quickly, partial or whole consumption has occurred; lone divers are especially at risk of this.  Scientists are not sure why this is but they have some ideas.
+
+Sharks are very curious but they do not have whiskers or hands or tentacles like other animals.  To learn more about an object, a shark has to either bump into it or bite it.  Sharks' teeth and mouths are very sensitive.[22]  When sharks see a new object, for example, a surfboard, they bite it to know what kind of object it might be.[23]
+
+It is also possible that human behavior and shark behavior just don't match.  In the 1980s, John McCasker proposed the Bite and Spit hypothesis.  McCasker said that a shark will attack dangerous prey like an elephant seal by biting it once and then letting go.  The shark then swims away to wait for the prey to bleed to death before going back to eat its body.  But when a shark bites a human once, the human's friends come and help them out of the water.  Maybe the shark would finish eating the human, but it does not get the chance.  But sharks usually attack seal-sized (or human-sized) prey in one strong bite from underneath, so people are not sure if McCasker's idea is right.[22]
+
+Facts Status Description Range Habitat Biology Threats Conservation Find out more Glossary References View all
+
+Wildlife Journal Junior. (2020).Chondrichthyes - Rays, Sharks, Skates, Chimaeras. Explore the Natural World. Available from: https://nhpbs.org/wild/chondrichthyes.asp.

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+
+
+Carcharhiniformes
+Heterodontiformes
+Hexanchiformes
+Lamniformes
+Orectolobiformes
+Pristiophoriformes
+Squaliformes
+Squatiniformes
+
+Sharks are a superorder of fish, the Selachimorpha. They, like other Chondrichthyes, have skeletons made of cartilage instead of bone. Cartilage is tough, rubbery material which is less rigid than bone. Cartilaginous fish also include skates and rays.
+
+There are more than 350 different kinds of sharks, such as the great white and whale sharks. Fossils show that sharks have been around for 420 million years, since the early Silurian.[1] The great white shark is one of the biggest sharks.
+
+Most sharks are predators, meaning they hunt and eat fish, marine mammals, and other sea creatures. However, the largest shark eats krill, like whales. This is the whale shark, the largest fish in the world. It is widely believed that sharks are "silent-killers" but in a recent study it has been proven that sharks emit a low/soft but evident growl from their throats resonating through their scales. Some common kinds of shark include the hammerhead shark, the great white shark, the tiger shark, and the mako shark. Most sharks are cold-blooded but some, like the great white shark and the mako shark are partially warm-blooded.
+
+Sharks come in many different shapes and sizes, but most are long and thin (also called streamlined), with really strong jaws.
+
+Their teeth are constantly replaced throughout their lives. Sharks eat so violently they often break a few teeth, so new teeth grow continuously in a groove just inside the mouth and move forward from inside the mouth on "conveyor belts" formed by the skin which they are attached to. In its lifetime, a shark can lose and regrow as many as 30,000 teeth.
+
+Even with all those teeth, though, sharks can not chew. So they bite their prey and jerk it around so they can pull off a chunk to swallow. The chunks of food that a shark swallows end up in its stomach, where they are digested. This is pretty slow, however, so a meal might take several days to digest. This is why a shark does not eat every day.
+
+Sharks have different-shaped teeth, depending on what they eat. For instance, some sharks have sharp, pointy teeth, while bottom dwelling sharks have cone-shaped teeth for crushing shells. Because there are so many different kinds of sharks, and because each kind has its own kind of special teeth, many people enjoy collecting shark teeth. Shark teeth collectors can guess how large a shark was by measuring the shark tooth. First, they measure the length of the tooth in inches. Every inch of tooth equals 10ft of shark length: so if a shark tooth is 2 inches long, the tooth came from a shark that was 20 ft long! Even more terrifying is that some of the Megalodon teeth are 6 inches long so that suggests a shark 60 feet long.
+
+Sharks have skin covered in millions of tiny teeth-like scales that point to the tail. If you rub along a shark towards the tail, it would feel smooth, but if you rub the other way, it would be rough. Sharks' teeth can be 20 times as big as human teeth and they can grow back if they are lost.
+
+The fins of sharks are used for stabilizing, steering, lift and swimming. Each fin is used in a different manner.
+
+There are one or two fins present along the dorsal midline called the first and second dorsal fin.  These fins help the shark from constantly rolling around. These two fins may, or may not have spines.  When spines are present, they are used for defensive purposes, and may also have skin glands with them that produce an irritating substance.
+
+The pectoral fins are located behind the head and extend outwards. These fins are used for steering during swimming and help to provide the shark with lift.
+
+The pelvic fins are located behind the pectoral fins, near the cloaca, and are also stabilizers.
+
+Not all sharks have anal fins, but if they do have them, they are found between the pelvic and caudal fins.
+
+The tail region itself consists of the caudal peduncle and the caudal fin. The caudal peduncle sometimes has notches known as "precaudal pits", which are found just ahead of the caudal fin. The peduncle may also be horizontally flattened into lateral keels. The caudal fin has both, an upper lobe, and a lower lobe, that can be of different sizes and the shape depends of which species the shark is. The primary use of the caudal fin is to provide a "push" while the shark swims. The upper lobe of the caudal fin produces the most amount of the push, and usually forces the shark downwards. The pectoral fins and the shape of the body (like an airfoil) work together to counter this force. The strong, non-lunate caudal fin in most benthic shark species allows the shark to swim close to the seabed (such as the Nurse shark). However, the fastest swimming sharks (such as the Mako sharks) tend to have lunate-shaped (crescent-shaped) caudal fins. [2]
+
+Sharks have keen olfactory sense organs in the short duct between the front and back nasal openings. They can detect blood from miles away: as little as one part per million of blood in sea water may be enough.[3]
+
+Sharks have the ability to determine the direction of a given scent based on the timing of scent detection in each nostril.[4] This is similar to the method mammals use to determine direction of sound.
+
+They are more attracted to the chemicals found in the intestines of many species, and as a result often linger near or in sewage outfalls. Some species, such as nurse sharks, have external barbels that greatly increase their ability to sense prey.
+
+Shark eyes are similar to the eyes of other vertebrates, including similar lenses, corneas and retinas. Their eyesight is well adapted to the marine environment. They can contract and dilate their pupils, like humans, something no teleost fish can do. A tissue behind the retina reflects light back, thereby increasing sight in darker waters.
+
+Sharks have tiny holes all over the shark's snout, especially between the eye and the tip of the snout. In them are nerve receptors which are called the ampullae of Lorenzini. [5]p23 They can sense electricity in the water. Animal in the water give off electricity: every time an animal's heart beats or it moves, tiny currents of electricity are made. These tiny electric currents make signals that travel through water and get sensed. Sharks may use this sense when they catch their prey, even more than they use their sight.
+
+Although it is hard to test sharks' hearing, they may have a sharp sense of hearing and can possibly hear prey many miles away.[6] A small opening on each side of their heads (not the spiracle) leads directly into the inner ear through a thin channel.
+
+The lateral line detects changes in water pressure. It is open to the environment by a line of pores. This and the sound-detecting organs are grouped together as the 'acoustico-lateralis system', because they have a common origin. In bony fish and tetrapods the external opening into the inner ear has been lost.
+
+This system is found in other fish as well. It detects motion or vibrations in water. The shark can sense frequencies in the range of 25 to 50 Hz.[7]
+
+Just a few million years ago, a giant shark called Megalodon swam in the seas. It was 18 meters long, twice as long as the closely-related great white shark, and it ate whales. Megalodon died out 1.6 million years ago.
+
+Much of what we understand about prehistoric sharks comes from the study of their fossils. While sharks have skeletons made of soft cartilage that can fall apart before fossilizing, their teeth are harder and easily fossilized. Prehistoric sharks, like their modern descendants, would grow and shed many thousands of teeth over their lifetime. For this reason shark teeth are one of the most common fossils.
+
+About 70% of all known shark species give birth to live young, with the gestation period lasting from 6 to 22 months.[8]
+
+Pups are born with a full set of teeth, and are capable of taking care of themselves. Once born, they quickly swim away from their mothers, who sometimes feed on the pups. Litters vary from one or two pups (great white shark) to one hundred pups (blue shark and whale shark). [9]
+
+Some sharks are oviparous, laying their eggs in the water. Shark eggs (sometimes called "mermaid's purses") are covered by a tough, leathery membrane.[9]
+
+Most sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning the eggs hatch inside the female's body, with the babies developing within the mother, but there is no placenta to nourish the pups. Instead the young feed on the egg's yolk. The pups eat any unfertilized eggs and sometimes each other. Very few pups in a litter survive until birth due to this form of sibling cannibalism. Great white sharks, mako sharks, nurse sharks, tiger sharks, and sand tiger sharks reproduce this way.[9]
+
+Some sharks are viviparous, meaning that the females give live birth: the eggs hatch inside the female's body, and the babies are fed by a placenta. The placenta helps transfer nutrients and oxygen from the mother's bloodstream and transfers waste products from the baby to the mother for elimination. Examples of viviparous sharks include the bull sharks, the whitetip reef sharks, the lemon sharks, the blue sharks, the silvertip sharks, and the hammerhead sharks. Although long thought to be oviparous, whale sharks are viviparous, and pregnant females have been found containing hundreds of pups. [9]
+
+New sharks are still being found. Dave Ebert found ten new species in a Taiwan market alone. Over the past three decades he has named 24 new species. They include sharks, rays, sawfish and ghost sharks – these cartilaginous fish are all related.[10]
+
+Some sharks are not endangered, but some are hunted for food (like shark fin soup) or sport fishing.[11]  In 2013 five species of shark, along with two species of manta ray, received international protection as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.[12]
+
+It is thought that 100 million sharks are killed by commercial and recreational fishing.[13][14] Sharks are a common seafood in many places, including Japan and Australia. In the Australian state of Victoria, shark is the most commonly used fish in fish and chips, in which fillets are battered and deep-fried or crumbed and grilled. In fish and chip shops, shark is called "flake". In India, small sharks or baby sharks (called sora in Tamil language, Telugu language) are sold in local markets. Since the flesh is not developed, cooking the flesh breaks it into powder, which is then fried in oil and spices (called sora puttu/sora poratu). The soft bones can be easily chewed. They are considered a delicacy in coastal Tamil Nadu.
+

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+The Rhine River (German: Rhein, French: Rhin, Dutch: Rijn) is 1,230 kilometres (760 mi) long. The Rhine is one of the longest rivers in Europe. Its name comes from the Celtic word "renos", which means 'raging flow'.
+
+The Rhine is an important waterway. 883 kilometres (549 mi) can be used by ships, and boats can go to the Black Sea using the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. Many goods are transported over the Rhine, and the Rhine valley is also an important wine producing region. The river Rhine begins at Tomasee, a lake in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland,[1] and runs through Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.  It is the border between Switzerland and Liechtenstein and also the border between Germany and France. It runs through Basel, Bonn, Cologne and Duisburg. It also separates the cities of Mainz and Wiesbaden.
+
+The river runs through only one lake on its way, Lake Constance, which is on the border of Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
+
+Along the banks of the Rhine are several castles which notorious robber barons lived in during the 15th–18th centuries. 
+Before the Industrial Revolution hit Europe,  and factories set up along its banks and emptied all their waste into the River. The Salmon left and every living thing died. Then after World War II, the Rhine Action Programme was set up to boost the Rhine's wildlife and reduce the pollution there.
+
+Together with the Danube it formed most of the northern frontier of the Roman Empire.
+
+Rhine start at Tomasee.
+
+Rhine flows into Lake Constance
+
+Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen
+
+Rhine flows into the North Sea seen from space
+
+
+