1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Subdivisions of Russia
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Russia is divided into several types and levels of subdivisions. Since March 18,2014, the Russian Federation consisted of eighty-five federal subjects that are constituent members of the Federation, however, two of these federal subjects—the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol—are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. All federal subjects are of equal rights in the sense that they have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Federation Council. They do, however, differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy, there are 6 types of federal subjects—22 republics,9 krais,46 oblasts,3 federal cities,1 autonomous oblast, and 4 autonomous okrugs. According to the Treaty, the Republic of Crimea is accepted as a subject with the status of a republic while the City of Sevastopol has received federal city status. Neither the Republic of Crimea nor the city of Sevastopol are politically recognized as parts of Russia by most countries and this was interpreted by the governments of the federal subjects as a sign that the matters of the administrative-territorial divisions became solely the responsibility of the federal subjects. As a result, the modern structures of the federal subjects vary significantly from one federal subject to another. Autonomous okrugs, while being under the jurisdiction of federal subject, are still constitutionally recognized as federal subjects on their own right. Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is an exception in that it is not administratively subordinated to any federal subject of Russia. Okrugs are usually former autonomous okrugs that lost their federal subject status due to a merger with another federal subject. According to the law, the units of the division are as follows, Municipal district. In practice, municipal districts are formed within the boundaries of existing administrative districts. In practice, urban okrugs are usually formed within the boundaries of existing cities of federal subject significance, intra-urban territory of a federal city, a part of a federal citys territory. In Moscow, these are called municipal formations, in St. Petersburg—municipal okrugs, towns, in Sevastopol, they are known as municipal okrugs and a town. Territories not included as a part of municipal formations are known as inter-settlement territories and this municipal formation type would typically be established within the borders of existing city districts. In June 2014, Chelyabinsky Urban Okrug became the first urban okrug to implement intra-urban divisions, all of the federal subjects are grouped into nine federal districts, each administered by an envoy appointed by the President of Russia. For economic and statistical purposes the federal subjects are grouped into twelve economic regions, economic regions and their parts sharing common economic trends are in turn grouped into economic zones and macrozones. In order for the Armed Forces to provide an efficient management of units, their training, and other operational activities
3.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
4.
Federal subjects of Russia
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Since March 18,2014, the Russian Federation constitutionally consists of 85 federal subjects, although the two most recently added subjects are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. Three Russian cities of importance have a status of both city and separate federal subject which comprises other cities and towns within federal city keeping old structure of postal address. In 1993, there were 89 federal subjects listed, by 2008, the number of federal subjects had been decreased to 83 because of several mergers. In 2014, Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea became the 84th and 85th federal subjects of Russia, every federal subject has its own head, a parliament, and a constitutional court. Federal subjects have their own constitution and legislation, subjects have equal rights in relations with federal government bodies. The federal subjects have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Federation Council and they do, however, differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy. Composition of post-Soviet Russia was formed during the history of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic within the USSR, the Federation Treaty was included in the text of the 1978 Constitution of the Russian SFSR. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the system became de jure closer to other modern federal states with a republican form of government in the world. There are several groupings of Russian regions, Federal subjects should not be confused with the eight Federal districts which are not subdivisions of Russia, are much larger and each encompass many federal subjects. Federal districts were created by Executive Order of the President of Russia specially for presidential envoys, an official government translation of the Constitution of Russia in Article 5 states,1. Another translation of the Constitution of Russia gives for article 65, each federal subject belongs to one of the following types, b. ^ According to Article 13 of the Charter of Leningrad Oblast, however, St. Petersburg is not officially named to be the administrative center of the oblast. ^ According to Article 24 of the Charter of Moscow Oblast, however, Moscow is not officially named to be the administrative center of the oblast. ^ Not recognized internationally as a part of Russia, the merging process was finished on March 1,2008. No new mergers have been planned since March 2008, Федерального конституционного закона №7-ФКЗ от30 декабря2008 г. Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, Российская газета, №237,25 декабря1993 г
5.
Tyva Republic
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The Tyva Republic, Tyva or Tuva is a federal subject of Russia. It lies in the center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the Altai Republic, the Republic of Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Irkutsk Oblast, and its capital is the city of Kyzyl. It has a population of 307,930, from 1921 until 1944, Tuva constituted a sovereign, independent nation, under the name of Tannu Tuva, officially, the Tuvan Peoples Republic, or the Peoples Republic of Tannu Tuva. The independence of Tannu Tuva, however, was recognized only by its neighbors, a majority of the people are ethnic Tuvans who speak Tuvan as their native tongue, while Russian is spoken natively by the Russian minority, both are official and widely understood in the country. Tuva is governed by the Great Khural, which elects a chairman for a four-year term, the current chairman is Sholban Kara-ool. The territory of Tuva has been controlled by the Xiongnu Empire and Mongolian Xianbei state, Rouran Khaganate, Mongol Empire, Northern Yuan, Khotgoid Khanate, medieval Mongol tribes, including Oirats and Tumeds inhabited in the territory of republic. In 1758–1911 it was brought under Manchu rule, during the 1911 revolution in China, tsarist Russia formed a separatist movement among the Tyvans. Tsar Nicholas II ordered Russian troops into Tyva in 1912, as Russian settlers were allegedly being attacked, Tyva became nominally independent as the Urjanchai Republic before being brought under Russian protectorate as Uryankhay Kray under Tsar Nicholas II on 17 April 1914. This move was requested by a number of prominent Tyvans, including the High Lama. A Tyvan capital was established, called Belotsarsk, meanwhile, in 1911 Mongolia became independent, though under Russian protection. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 that ended the imperial autocracy, pyotr Ivanovich Turchaninov was named governor of the territory. In the autumn of 1918 the southwestern part was occupied by Chinese troops, from July 1919 to February 1920 the communist Red Army controlled Tyva, but from 19 February 1920 to June 1921 it was occupied by China. On August 14,1921 the Bolsheviks established a Tuvan Peoples Republic, in 1926, the capital was renamed Kyzyl, meaning red. Tyva was de jure an independent state between the World Wars, the states first ruler, Prime Minister Donduk, sought to strengthen ties with Mongolia and establish Buddhism as the state religion. This unsettled the Kremlin, which orchestrated a coup carried out in 1929 by five young Tyvan graduates of Moscows Communist University of the Toilers of the East. In 1930 the pro-Soviet regime discarded the states Mongol script in favor of a Latin alphabet designed for Tyva by Russian linguists, Tyva voluntarily became a part of The Soviet Union in 1944, with the approval of Tyvas Little Khural. The exact circumstances surrounding Tannu-Tuvas incorporation into the USSR in 1944 remain obscure, salchak Toka, the leader of Tyvan communists, was given the title of First Secretary of the Tyvan Communist Party, and became the de facto ruler of Tyva until his death in 1973
6.
Capital city
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A capital city is the municipality exercising primary status in a country, state, province, or other region, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that encompasses the offices and meeting places of its respective government. In some jurisdictions, including countries, the different branches of government are located in different settlements. In some cases, a distinction is made between the capital and the seat of government, which is in another place. The word capital derives from the Latin caput, meaning head, in several English-speaking states, the terms county town, county seat, and borough seat are also used in lower subdivisions. In unitary states, subnational capitals are known as administrative centres. The capital is often, but not necessarily, the largest city of its constituent, historically, the major economic centre of a state or region often becomes the focal point of political power, and becomes a capital through conquest or federation. Examples are Ancient Babylon, Abbasid Baghdad, Ancient Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Changan, Ancient Cusco, Madrid, Paris, London, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Vienna, and Berlin. Some of these cities are or were also religious centres, e. g. Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, Ancient Babylon, Moscow, Belgrade, Paris, and Peking. A capital city that is also the economic, cultural. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal, traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, e. g. Nanking by Shanghai, Quebec City by Montreal, and numerous US state capitals. The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its city, as occurred at Babylon. Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no legal designation as such, for example Bern, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Paris, are located in or near them. In Canada, there is a capital, while the ten provinces. The states of such countries as Mexico, Brazil, and Australia all have capital cities, for example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. In Australia, the capital cities is regularly used, to refer to the aforementioned state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra and Darwin. Abu Dhabi is the city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent countries, such as the United Kingdom or the Kingdom of Denmark, the national capitals of Germany and Russia, the Stadtstaat of Berlin and the Federal City of Moscow, are also constituent states of both countries in their own right
7.
Tuva
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The Tyva Republic, Tyva or Tuva is a federal subject of Russia. It lies in the center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the Altai Republic, the Republic of Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Irkutsk Oblast, and its capital is the city of Kyzyl. It has a population of 307,930, from 1921 until 1944, Tuva constituted a sovereign, independent nation, under the name of Tannu Tuva, officially, the Tuvan Peoples Republic, or the Peoples Republic of Tannu Tuva. The independence of Tannu Tuva, however, was recognized only by its neighbors, a majority of the people are ethnic Tuvans who speak Tuvan as their native tongue, while Russian is spoken natively by the Russian minority, both are official and widely understood in the country. Tuva is governed by the Great Khural, which elects a chairman for a four-year term, the current chairman is Sholban Kara-ool. The territory of Tuva has been controlled by the Xiongnu Empire and Mongolian Xianbei state, Rouran Khaganate, Mongol Empire, Northern Yuan, Khotgoid Khanate, medieval Mongol tribes, including Oirats and Tumeds inhabited in the territory of republic. In 1758–1911 it was brought under Manchu rule, during the 1911 revolution in China, tsarist Russia formed a separatist movement among the Tyvans. Tsar Nicholas II ordered Russian troops into Tyva in 1912, as Russian settlers were allegedly being attacked, Tyva became nominally independent as the Urjanchai Republic before being brought under Russian protectorate as Uryankhay Kray under Tsar Nicholas II on 17 April 1914. This move was requested by a number of prominent Tyvans, including the High Lama. A Tyvan capital was established, called Belotsarsk, meanwhile, in 1911 Mongolia became independent, though under Russian protection. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 that ended the imperial autocracy, pyotr Ivanovich Turchaninov was named governor of the territory. In the autumn of 1918 the southwestern part was occupied by Chinese troops, from July 1919 to February 1920 the communist Red Army controlled Tyva, but from 19 February 1920 to June 1921 it was occupied by China. On August 14,1921 the Bolsheviks established a Tuvan Peoples Republic, in 1926, the capital was renamed Kyzyl, meaning red. Tyva was de jure an independent state between the World Wars, the states first ruler, Prime Minister Donduk, sought to strengthen ties with Mongolia and establish Buddhism as the state religion. This unsettled the Kremlin, which orchestrated a coup carried out in 1929 by five young Tyvan graduates of Moscows Communist University of the Toilers of the East. In 1930 the pro-Soviet regime discarded the states Mongol script in favor of a Latin alphabet designed for Tyva by Russian linguists, Tyva voluntarily became a part of The Soviet Union in 1944, with the approval of Tyvas Little Khural. The exact circumstances surrounding Tannu-Tuvas incorporation into the USSR in 1944 remain obscure, salchak Toka, the leader of Tyvan communists, was given the title of First Secretary of the Tyvan Communist Party, and became the de facto ruler of Tyva until his death in 1973
8.
Russian Census (2010)
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The Russian Census of 2010 is the first census of the Russian Federation population since 2002 and the second after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Preparations for the census began in 2007 and it took place between October 14 and October 25, the census was originally scheduled for October 2010, but was moved to 2013 allegedly for financial reasons, although it was also speculated that political motives were influential in the decision. However, in late 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that the Government of Russia allocated 10.5 billion rubles in order to conduct the census as originally scheduled, Results showed the population to stand at 142.9 million. Since the previous 2002 census, population has decreased by 2.3 million, according to the 2010 census, urban population is 105.3 million, rural population is 37.5 million. The urbanisation rate is currently 73. 7%, the median age is 38 years. The ethnic composition is dominated by Russians, demographics of Russia Russian Census 2010 final results Results of 2010 All-Russia population census Official website of the 2010 Census
9.
Time in Russia
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There are eleven time zones in Russia, which currently observe times ranging from UTC+02,00 to UTC+12,00. Daylight saving time is not used in Russia, since 4 December 2016, the time zones are as follows, Daylight saving time in Russia was originally introduced on 30 June 1917 by a decree of the Russian Provisional Government. However, it was abandoned by a Decree of the Soviet government five months later, Daylight saving time was re-introduced in the USSR on 1 April 1981, by a decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The usage of daylight saving time continued after the Soviet collapse but ended in 2011, on 27 March 2011, clocks were advanced as usual, but they did not go back on 30 October 2011, effectively making Moscow Time UTC+4 permanently. In the Russian Empire, most of the observed solar time. During the late 19th century, Moscow Mean Time was introduced on 1 January 1880,2,30,17 corresponds to 37. 6166667°, the longitude of Moscow. Other parts of Russia kept solar time for several years. At this time, Russia had the Julian calendar with 12 or 13 days less date compared to Western Europe, so it is possible to say the Moscow actually had GMT-285,29,43, GMT-309,29,43 and GMT-309,28,41. Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar on Thursday,14 February 1918, after the Soviet Union was created, Moscow Time became UTC+2 and the various other time zones were introduced throughout Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union, for example Irkutsk Time GMT+7. Between 1917-1922 the time was ordered, with daylight savings time some of those years. On 21 June 1930, the Soviet Union advanced all clocks by one hour, Moscow Time was now GMT+3 and Irkutsk Time GMT+8. On 1 April 1981, daylight saving time was re-introduced, clocks were moved one hour forward on 1 April, on 1 April 1981,00,00,00, Oymyakonsky District changed its time zone from MSK+6 to MSK+8. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+9 to UTC+12, on 1 April 1982,00,00,00, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug changed its time zone from MSK+10 to MSK+9, thus eliminating Anadyr Time. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+14 to UTC+13, on 27 March 1988,02,00,00, Saratov and Volgograd oblasts changed its time zone from MSK+1 to MSK. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+5 to UTC+4, on 23 May 1993,00,00,00, Novosibirsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+8 to UTC+7, on 28 May 1995,00,00,00, Altai Krai and Altai Republic changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. On 30 March 1997,02,00,00, Sakhalin Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+8 to MSK+7, on 1 May 2002,03,00,00, Tomsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. On 1 January 2004,00,00,00, New Siberian Islands, Tomponsky District, the following time zone changes occurred on 28 March 2010, which, in particular, led to abolition of two of the eleven time zones
10.
Krasnoyarsk Time
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Krasnoyarsk Time is the time zone seven hours ahead of UTC and 4 hours ahead of Moscow Time. KRAT is the time zone for central and east Siberian regions of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Kemerovo Oblast, Khakassia. Novosibirsk Oblast used this time zone until 1993 when it was known as Novosibirsk Time NOVT/NOVST, between 27 March 2011 and 25 October 2014, Krasnoyarsk Time was fixed at UTC+8. The IANA time zone identifier is Asia/Krasnoyarsk
11.
Geographical renaming
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Geographical renaming is the changing of the name of a geographical feature or area. This can range from the change of a street name to a highly disputed change to the name of a country. Some names are changed locally but the new names are not recognised by other countries, other names may not be officially recognised but remain in common use. Many places have different names in different languages, and a change of language in official or general use has resulted in what is arguably a change of name. There are many reasons to undertake renaming, with political motivation being the cause, for example many places in the former Soviet Union. Sometimes a place reverts to its former name, one of the most common reasons for a country changing its name is newly acquired independence. When borders are changed, sometimes due to a splitting or two countries joining together, the names of the relevant areas can change. This, however, is more the creation of a different entity than an act of geographical renaming, often the older name will persist in colloquial expressions. For example, the known in English as Peking duck retained that name even when the Chinese capital changed its transliteration to Beijing. Names in non-Roman characters can also be spelled differently when Romanised in different European languages. China developed and adopted the pinyin romanisation system in February 1958 in place of previous systems such as the postal romanization, many Chinese geographical entities thus had their English names changed. Pinyin was adopted by the International Organization for Standardisation in 1982, the system is not used by North Korea. Transfer of a city between countries with different patterns of phonology can result in seeming changes of name. Changes can be so slight as Straßburg and Strasbourg, some are translations, Karlsbad became Karlovy Vary. When the formerly-German city of Danzig came under Polish rule, it known in English by its Polish name of Gdańsk. The pattern is far from uniform, and it takes time, decolonisation in India saw a trend to change the established English names of cities to the names in the local language. Since then, changes have included Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, for example, it changed Dihua to Ürümqi and Zhenxi to Barkol. It peacefully dissolved into the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993, yugoslavia was originally Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, created by joining Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro and parts of Austro-Hungarian Empire inhabited by South Slavs
12.
Wikimedia Commons
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Wikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound, and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation, the repository contains over 38 million media files. In July 2013, the number of edits on Commons reached 100,000,000, the project was proposed by Erik Möller in March 2004 and launched on September 7,2004. The expression educational is to be according to its broad meaning of providing knowledge. Wikimedia Commons itself does not allow fair use or uploads under non-free licenses, for this reason, Wikimedia Commons always hosts freely licensed media and deletes copyright violations. The default language for Commons is English, but registered users can customize their interface to use any other user interface translations. Many content pages, in particular policy pages and portals, have also translated into various languages. Files on Wikimedia Commons are categorized using MediaWikis category system, in addition, they are often collected on individual topical gallery pages. While the project was proposed to also contain free text files. In 2012, BuzzFeed described Wikimedia Commons as littered with dicks, in 2010, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger reported Wikimedia Commons to the FBI for hosting sexualized images of children known as lolicon. Wales responded to the backlash from the Commons community by voluntarily relinquishing some site privileges, over time, additional functionality has been developed to interface Wikimedia Commons with the other Wikimedia projects. Specialized uploading tools and scripts such as Commonist have been created to simplify the process of uploading large numbers of files. In order to free content photos uploaded to Flickr, users can participate in a defunct collaborative external review process. The site has three mechanisms for recognizing quality works, one is known as Featured pictures, where works are nominated and other community members vote to accept or reject the nomination. This process began in November 2004, another process known as Quality images began in June 2006, and has a simpler nomination process comparable to Featured pictures. Quality images only accepts works created by Wikimedia users, whereas Featured pictures additionally accepts nominations of works by third parties such as NASA, the three mentioned processes select a slight part from the total number of files. However, Commons collects files of all quality levels, from the most professional level across simple documental, files with specific defects can be tagged for improvement and warning or even proposed for deletion but there exists no process of systematic rating of all files. The site held its inaugural Picture of the Year competition, for 2006, all images that were made a Featured picture during 2006 were eligible, and voted on by eligible Wikimedia users during two rounds of voting
13.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
14.
Tuvan language
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Tuvan, also known as Tuvinian, Tyvan or Tuvin, is a Turkic language spoken in the Republic of Tuva in south-central Siberia in Russia. The language has borrowed a number of roots from the Mongolian language, Tibetan. There are small groups of Tuvan people that speak distinct dialects of Tuvan in the Peoples Republic of China. While this history focuses on mostly the people of Tuva, many argue that language is inevitably intertwined with the socio-historical situation of a language itself. The earliest record of Tuvan is from the early 19th century by Wū lǐ yǎ sū tái zhì è, Klaproth 1823, Castrén 1857, the name Tuva goes back as early as the publication of the Secret History of the Mongols. The Tuva have also referred to as Soyons, Soyots or Uriankhais historically. The Tuvan people have ruled by China, Russia. Their most recent time of independence was from 1921-1944, when they were considered the Tuvan’s Peoples Republic, many sources say there has been extreme tension between the Soviet Union/Russian Federation government and leaders in the Tuvan nation since 1944, when Tuva lost its independence to the USSR. In 1990, violence broke out between Tuvans and the USSR government and they especially emphasized their want for independence in terms of their language and culture. The study demonstrates that the reason behind this was based on prejudice. The many minority ethnic and linguistic groups in Russia compete for resources and hold closely on to their individual identities, by emphasizing the importance of language. Since 2000, the Russian federation has been trying to reduce separatist tendencies of ethnic minorities in Russia, Tuvan is linguistically classified as a Northeastern or Siberian Turkic language, closely related to several other Siberian Turkic languages including Khakas and Altai languages. Its closest relative is the moribund Tofa, Tuvan, as spoken in Tuva, is principally divided into four dialect groups, Western, Central, Northeastern, Southeastern. Central, forms the basis of the language and includes Ovyur. The geographical centrality of this meant it was similar to the language spoken by most Tuvans. Western, can be found spoken near the course of the Khemchik River. It is influenced by the Altai language, Northeastern, also known as the Todzhi dialect, is spoken near the upper course of the Bii-Khem River. The speakers of this dialect utilize nasalization and it contains a large vocabulary related to hunting and reindeer breeding not found in the other dialects
15.
Turkic languages
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The Turkic languages are a language family of at least thirty-five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples from Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China. Turkic languages are spoken as a language by some 170 million people. The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is Turkish, spoken mainly in Anatolia and the Balkans, characteristic features of Turkish, such as vowel harmony, agglutination, and lack of grammatical gender, are universal within the Turkic family. Apparent similarities with the Uralic languages family even caused these families to be regarded as one for a time under the hypothesis of Ural-Altaic languages. Turkic languages are languages, have vowel harmony, extensive agglutination by means of suffixes, and lack of grammatical articles, noun classes. Subject–object–verb word order is universal within the family, the geographical distribution of Turkic-speaking peoples across Eurasia ranges from the North-East of Siberia to Turkey in the West, since the Ottoman era. The two groups shared a religion, Tengrism, and there exists a multitude of evident loanwords between Turkic languages and Mongolic languages, although the loans were bidirectional, today Turkic loanwords constitute the largest foreign component in Mongolian vocabulary. The most famous of these loanwords include lion, gold, the Compendium of the Turkic Dialects, written during the 11th century AD by Kaşgarlı Mahmud of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, constitutes an early linguistic treatment of the family. The Compendium is the first comprehensive dictionary of the Turkic languages and it mainly pertains to the Southwestern branch of the family. The earliest records of the language spoken by Volga Bulgars, the parent to todays Chuvash language, are dated to the 13th–14th centuries AD. With the Turkic expansion during the Early Middle Ages, Turkic languages, in the course of just a few centuries, spread across Central Asia, various terminologies from the Turkic languages have passed into Persian, Hindustani, Russian, Chinese, and to a lesser extent, Arabic. This has obscured the historical developments within each language and/or language group, the modern genetic classification schemes for Turkic are still largely indebted to Samoilovich. It is not clear when two major types of Turkic can be assumed to have actually diverged. With less certainty, the Southwestern, Northwestern, Southeastern and Oghur groups may further be summarized as West Turkic, the following isoglosses are traditionally used in the classification of the Turkic languages, Rhoticisation, e. g. in the last consonant of the word for nine *toqqız. This separates the Oghur branch, which exhibits /r/, from the rest of Turkic, in this case, rhoticisation refers to the development of *-/r/, *-/z/, and *-/d/ to /r/, *-/k/, *-/kh/ in this branch. See Antonov and Jacques on the debate concerning rhotacism and lambdacism in Turkic and this separates Khalaj as a peripheral language. The following table is based upon the classification presented by Lars Johanson The following is a brief comparison of cognates among the basic vocabulary across the Turkic language family. Also, there may be shifts in the meaning from one language to another, in some cases the form given is found only in some dialects of the language, or a loanword is much more common
16.
Russian Census (2002)
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Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, carried out on October 9 through October 16,2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics, the census data were collected as of midnight October 9,2002. The census was intended to collect statistical information about the resident population of Russian Federation. All detailed census tables are for the resident population, a sample of the participants were also asked more detailed questions about their economic and housing situation. Also, the census also counted two more groups of people, Russian citizens currently living abroad for more one year in connection with the employment with the federal government. Persons permanently residing abroad, but temporarily present in Russia, Foreign citizens present in Russia as employees of foreign diplomatic missions or international organizations, and members of their household, were excluded from the census altogether. The Census recorded the resident population of 145,166,731 persons and that included urban population of 106,429,000 and rural population of 38,738,000. The non-resident populations included, Russian citizens living abroad in connection with the government service,107,288. Census participants were asked what country they were citizens of,142,442,000 respondents reported being Russian citizens, among them,44,000 also had citizenship of another country. Among Russias resident population,1,025,413 foreign citizens and 429,881 stateless persons were counted,1,269,023 persons did not report their citizenship. Among the questions asked were Are you competent in the Russian language, and What other languages are you competent in. As the census manual explained, competence meant either the ability to speak, read and write a language, the questions did not distinguish native and non-native speakers, nor did they try to measure the degree of language competence. For small children, presumably, the answer was based on the language spoken by the parents. 142.6 million of the responders claimed competence in Russian, other widely reported languages are listed in the table below. 1.42 million responders did not provide language information, for a more detailed list, see List of languages of Russia. Demographics of Russia Russian Empire Census Soviet Census Official census home page Population of Chechnya, was the Census correct
17.
Soviet Census (1989)
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The census found the total population to be 286,730,819 inhabitants. In 1989, the Soviet Union ranked as the third most populous in the world, above the United States, although it was well behind China and India. In 1989, about half of the Soviet Unions total population lived in the Russian SFSR, almost two-thirds of the population was urban, leaving the rural population with some 34. 3%. In this way, its gradual increase continued, as shown by the represented by 47. 9%,56. 3% and 62. 3% of 1959,1970 and 1979 respectively. The previous postwar censuses, conducted in 1959,1970 and 1979, had enumerated 208,826,650,241,720,134, and 262,436,227 inhabitants respectively. In 1990, the Soviet Union was more populated than both the United States and Canada together, having some 40 million more inhabitants than the U. S. alone. However, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late 1991, the next census was possibly planned for 1999. Research Guide to Russian and Soviet Censuses, Ithaca, Cornell University Press,1986, dewdney, Population change in the Soviet Union, 1979-1989, Geography, Vol.75, Pt.3, No. Subjects of Russia, on the www. statoids. com website
18.
White Ruthenia
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White Russia, alternatively known as White Rus or White Ruthenia, is an archaism for the eastern part of present-day Belarus, including the cities of Polotsk, Vitebsk, and Mogilev. In English, the use of the term White Russia to refer to all of Belarus is obsolete, many other languages, however, continue to use a literal translation of White Russia to refer to Belarus. Belarus translates to White Russia in many modern languages, in the German language, the usual name for the state of Belarus even today is Weißrussland. In official use, the name Belarus is often preferred, however, even the German Chancellor Angela Merkel used the term Weißrussland in her speech to the European Council Summit in March 2007. Likewise, Belarus is normally translated as White Russia into a number of languages, including Dutch, Greek, Chinese, Turkish, and the Scandinavian, Baltic. In French, most people use the word Biélorussie to describe the country now known as Belarus. The term White Russians in its political sense is a twentieth-century development. For example, at one time the term was applied to Novgorod, the 16th century chronicler Guagnini book Sarmatiae Europeae descriptio popular in Europe, but in fact plagiarized from Maciej Stryjkowski, wrote that Rus was divided in three parts. The first part, under the rule of the Moscovite Grand Duke, was called White Russia, the second one, under the rule of Polish king, was called Black Russia. And the rest was Red Russia and he also said Moscow was the center of White Russia and Russian metropolitanate, and that Grand Duke of Moscow was called the White Czar, especially by his subjects. Only by the late 16th century did it become a name for the area of the present Belarus, another speculation in Vasmer is that the color of the clothes of the White Russians may have contributed to the name. Oleg Trubachyov calls both theories complete fantasies, some other Slavic people have been distinguished by colour. There have been, for example, White, Red and Black Croats, Black Croats resided beyond the River Don, White Serbs in todays east Germany. There is also a historically known as Black Ruthenia, it covers northwestern lands of modern-day Belarus, Hrodna, Slonim, Navahrudak, Vaukavysk. Yet another theory is that the name may have had its origins in the efforts made by Russias tsars to distinguish themselves from their predecessors in Rome, the Russian Tsar was thus called the White Tsar, Sunt qui principem Moscovuiae Album Regem nuncupant. Ego quidem causam diligenter quaerebam, cur Regis Albi nomine appellaretur, the Tsar himself was often called the Great White Tsar, while he included among his official titles the style, The Sovereign of all Rus, the Great, the Little, and the White. This appellation, together with the solemn wording White Tsardom, was in use till the end of the Russian Empire. Ultimately, this colour was transferred onto the name of the counter-revolutionary White Army that fought against the Red Army, Little Russia Great Russia New Russia Why is the Russia White
19.
Asia
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Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres, about 30% of Earths total land area and 8. 7% of the Earths total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its large size and population. In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, the western boundary with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. The most commonly accepted boundaries place Asia to the east of the Suez Canal, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains, China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 A. D. The accidental discovery of America by Columbus in search for India demonstrates this deep fascination, the Silk Road became the main East-West trading route in the Asian hitherland while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia—a name dating back to classical antiquity—may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, the boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia, the border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peters death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Urals as the border of Asia, the Russians were enthusiastic about the concept, which allowed them to keep their European identity in geography. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg, the latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century, the border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, the border between Asia and the loosely defined region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Malay Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the possessions of the various empires there. Lewis and Wigen assert, The narrowing of Southeast Asia to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process, Asia is larger and more culturally diverse than Europe. It does not exactly correspond to the borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system on the grounds there is no or is no substantial physical separation between them
20.
Yenisei River
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The Yenisei, Buryat, Горлог мүрэн, Gorlog müren, Tyvan, Улуг-Хем, Ulug-Khem, Khakas, Ким суг, Kim sug also Romanized Yenisey, Enisei, Jenisej, is the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. It is the central of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean, the maximum depth of the Yenisei is 24 metres and the average depth is 14 metres. The depth of river outflow is 32 metres and inflow is 31 metres, the river flows through Tuva, Khakassia, and the city of Krasnoyarsk. Its tributaries include the Angara, Nizhnyaya Tunguska, and Tuba rivers, the Yenisei River basin is home to 55 native fish species, including two endemics, Gobio sibiricus and Thymallus nigrescens. The grayling is restricted to Khövsgöl Nuur and its tributaries, the basin is also home to many salmonids and the Siberian sturgeon. The Yenisei River valley is habitat for flora and fauna, with Siberian pine. In prehistoric times Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris, was abundant in the Yenisei River valley circa 6000 BC, there are also numerous bird species present in the watershed, including, for example, the hooded crow, Corvus cornix. The Taimyr reindeer herd, a migrating tundra reindeer, the largest reindeer herd in the world, the first team to navigate the Yeniseis entire length, including its violent upper tributary in Mongolia, was an Australian-Canadian effort completed in September 2001. Ben Kozel, Tim Cope, Colin Angus and Remy Quinter were on this team, both Kozel and Angus wrote books detailing this expedition, and a documentary was produced for National Geographic Television. A canal inclined plane was built on the river in 1985 at the Krasnoyarsk Dam, ancient nomadic tribes such as the Ket people and the Yugh people lived along its banks. The Ket, numbering about 1000, are the only survivors today of those who lived throughout central southern Siberia near the river banks. Their extinct relatives included the Kotts, Assans, Arins, Baikots, the modern Ket lived in the eastern middle areas of the river before being assimilated politically into Russia during the 17th through 19th centuries. Wheat from the Yenisei was sold by Muslims and Uighurs during inadequate harvests to Bukhara, russians first reached the upper Yenisei in 1605, travelling from the Ob River, up the Ket River, portaging and then down the Yenisei as far as the Sym River. Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric station Yenisey Krasnoyarsk This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Photos of river around Krasnoyarsk area at Boston. com William Barr, German paddle-steamers on the Yenisey 1878-84, The Journal of the Hakluyt Society, Geographic data related to Yenisei River at OpenStreetMap
21.
Little Yenisei River
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Little Yenisei River a river in northern Mongolia and in Tuva. It is part of the Yeniseis drainage basin and it flows through the Darkhad Valley in northwestern Khövsgöl aimag, Mongolia and then westward through the Ulaan Taiga Mountain range to Russia. There it is joined by the Büsein River and Bilin Rivers to form the Kyzyl-Khem, of its 680 km length,298 are in Mongolia. A bridge has been erected near Renchinlkhümbe sum center, originated in northern Mongolia, called Shishged Gol. First, under the name of the Kyzyl-Khem and then Ka-Khem continues in Tuva, List of rivers of Mongolia List of rivers of Russia
22.
Sawmill
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A sawmill or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Prior to the invention of the sawmill, boards were rived and planed, the earliest known mechanical mill is the Hierapolis sawmill, a Roman water-powered stone mill at Hierapolis, Asia Minor dating back to the 3rd century AD. Other water-powered mills followed and by the 11th century they were widespread in Spain and North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, the circular motion of the wheel was converted to a reciprocating motion at the saw blade. Generally, only the saw was powered, and the logs had to be loaded and moved by hand, an early improvement was the development of a movable carriage, also water powered, to move the log steadily through the saw blade. Scrap lumber from the mill provided a source of fuel for firing the boiler, the arrival of railroads meant that logs could be transported to mills rather than mills being built besides navigable waterways. Besides the sawn timber, use is made of all the by-products including sawdust, bark, wood chips, a sawmills basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago, a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end. After trees are selected for harvest, the step in logging is felling the trees. Branches are cut off the trunk, logs are taken by logging truck, rail or a log drive to the sawmill. Logs are scaled either on the way to the mill or upon arrival at the mill, debarking removes bark from the logs. Decking is the process for sorting the logs by species, size, a sawyer uses a head saw to break the log into cants and flitches. Trimming squares the ends at typical lumber lengths, drying removes naturally occurring moisture from the lumber. This can be done with kilns or air-dried, planing smooths the surface of the lumber leaving a uniform width and thickness. Shipping transports the lumber to market. The Hierapolis sawmill, a Roman water-powered stone saw mill at Hierapolis and it is also the earliest known machine to incorporate a crank and connecting rod mechanism. Water-powered stone sawmills working with cranks and connecting rods, but without gear train, are attested for the 6th century AD at the Eastern Roman cities Gerasa. The earliest literary reference to a working sawmill comes from a Roman poet, at one point in the poem he describes the shrieking sound of a watermill cutting marble. Marble sawmills also seem to be indicated by the Christian saint Gregory of Nyssa from Anatolia around 370/390 AD, sawmills became widespread in medieval Europe again, as one was sketched by Villard de Honnecourt in c. They are claimed to have introduced to Madeira following its discovery in c.1420
23.
Kyzyl Airport
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Kyzyl Airport serves Kyzyl, the capital of the Republic of Tuva in the Russian Federation. The airport is located 6 km southwest of the city center, the government of Russia plans to renovate the airport, either by itself or in partnership with another agency. The runway reconstruction is planned to be completed on 20 December 2017 Bus routes #1 and #1A go to the city
24.
Railway line Kuragino Kyzyl
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Railway line Kuragino - Kyzyl a railway construction project in Tuva, Russia. The project was approved by the Government of the Russian Federation, the railway is estimated to be 411,7 kilometers long and will link Tuva with Krasnoyarsk Krai and railway network of Russia. It is expected that the railway will increase the capacity of the networks of Russia. The proposed construction in Tuva is also expected to generate 10 thousand new jobs.3 billion rubles, as a result, in 2010, as expected, should have been allocated about 100 million Rubles. The railway will pass in the near settlements Bugental, Katulka, Podgorny, Upper and Lower Kuzhebar in Krasnoyarsk Krai, permission was granted for the construction of the railway through the territory of the natural Park Ergaki in order to reduce the overall length of by 50 km. The project will use the experience of the laying of railroads through the territory of protected areas in Canada. The track will run through the well known valley of kings. The total route has been agreed with all stakeholders and will not damage the existing graves, the longest tunnel will be Uyuk tunnel crossing Uyuk ridge on the territory of the Republic of Tuva. It will be laid at a depth of 200 m
25.
Tuvan throat singing
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Tuvan throat singing, Khoomei, Hooliin Chor, or Mongolian throat singing is one particular variant of overtone singing practiced by people in Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Tuva and Siberia. It is inscribed in 2009 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO, under the name Mongolian art of singing, in Mongolian throat singing, the performer produces a fundamental pitch and—simultaneously—one or more pitches over that. The history of Mongolian throat singing reaches far back, many male herders can throat sing, but women are beginning to practice the technique as well. The popularity of throat singing among Mongolian seems to have arisen as a result of geographic location, the open landscape of Mongolia allows for the sounds to carry a great distance. Ethnomusicologists studying throat singing in these areas mark khoomei as an part in the ancient pastoral animism that is still practiced today. Often, singers travel far into the looking for the right river. The animistic world view of this identifies the spirituality of objects in nature, not just in their shape or location. Thus, human mimicry of natures sounds is seen as the root of throat singing, indeed, the cultures in this part of Asia have developed many instruments and techniques to mimic the sounds of animals, wind, and water. While the cultures of this region share throat singing, their styles vary in breadth of development, ordinarily, melodies are created by isolating the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 12th partial in accordance with the harmonic series. Thus, if the frequency were C3, the overtones would be G5, B♭5, C6, D6, E6. However, it is possible to reach as low as the 2nd, the fundamental pitch is typically around a G below middle C, and this affects the range of partials the singer can reach, with higher partials more easily reached on lower notes, and vice versa. The people of Tuva have a range of throat singing vocalizations. There are several different classification schemes for Tuvan throat singing, in one, the three basic styles are khoomei, kargyraa and sygyt, while the sub-styles include borbangnadyr, chylandyk, dumchuktaar, ezengileer and kanzyp. In another, there are five styles, khoomei, sygyt, kargyraa, borbangnadyr. These schemes all use Tuvan terminology, khorekteer refers to the chest voice. This is the voice that throat singers use when using khoomei, kargyraa, the term can also be used to refer to all styles of Tuvan throat singing, much like khoomeii. It can also refer to the feeling of chest resonance or pressure that one experiences when throat singing, khorekteer is often used as a launching pad into the khoomei, sygyt, or kargyraa styles of throat singing. The most popular style of Tuvan throat singing is known as Khoomei, Khoomei is traditionally a softer sounding style, with the fundamental usually in the low-mid to midrange of the singer’s normal voice
26.
Tuvan State University
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The Tuvan State University is based in Kyzyl, the capital of Republic of Tuva, Russia, and is the only university in Tuva. The university was founded as the Kyzyl Teachers College in 1952, the main building was constructed in 1953. The college later became Kyzyl State Pedagogical Institute and in 1956 offered two programs, philology and mathematics, in September 1995 the Russian government adopted a resolution establishing the Tuvan State University. Since its founding in 1952, the university has granted more than 10,000 degrees, in 2002 the university had over 300 staff and 3000 students. The university enrolls over 800 new students annually, within Tuva, the university has partnerships with the Tuvan Natural Resources Institute and the Tuvan Humanities Research Institute. Outside Tuva the university has a relationship with Ball State University in the United States, Tuvan State University website Tuvan State University international website as archived 3 November 2007
27.
Semi-arid climate
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A semi-arid climate or steppe climate is the climate of a region that receives precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not extremely. There are different kinds of climates, depending on such variables as temperature. Semi-arid climates tend to short or scrubby vegetation, with semi-arid areas usually dominated by either grasses or shrubs. To determine if a location has a climate, the precipitation threshold must first be determined. If the areas precipitation is less than the threshold but more than half the threshold. Hot semi-arid climates tend to be located in the tropics and subtropics and these climates tend to have hot, sometimes extremely hot, summers and warm to cool winters, with some to minimal precipitation. Hot semi-arid climates are most commonly found around the fringes of subtropical deserts, hot semi-arid climates are most commonly found in Africa, Australia and South Asia. In Australia, a portion of the Outback surrounding the central desert regions lies within the hot semi-arid climate regime. Hot semi-arid climates can also be found in North America, primarily in Mexico, areas of Texas near Mexico, cold semi-arid climates tend to be located in temperate zones or elevated portions in subtropical zones. They are typically found in continental interiors some distance from bodies of water. Cold semi-arid climates usually feature warm and dry summers, though their summers are not quite as hot as those of hot semi-arid climates. Unlike hot semi-arid climates, areas with cold semi-arid climates tend to have cold winters and these areas usually see some snowfall during the winter, though snowfall is much lower than at locations at similar latitudes with more humid climates. These large diurnal temperature variations are seen in hot semi-arid climates. Cold semi-arid climates are most commonly found in Asia and North America, however, they can also be found in Northern Africa, South Africa, Europe, sections of South America and sections of interior southern Australia and New Zealand. As a result of this, some areas can have climates that are classified as hot or cold depending on the isotherm used. One such location is San Diego, California, which has cool summers for the due to prevailing winds off the ocean. Arid Forest Research Institute Continental climate Dust Bowl Goyders Line Pallisers Triangle Köppen climate classification Wave height Ustic
28.
Sakha Republic
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The Sakha Republic is a federal subject of Russia. It has a population of 958,528, consisting mainly of ethnic Yakuts and it is larger than Argentina and just smaller than India which covers an area of 3,287,590 square kilometers. Its capital is the city of Yakutsk, the Sakha Republic is one of the ten autonomous Turkic Republics within the Russian Federation. The hypercontinental tendencies also result in warm summers for much of the republic. Borders, internal, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Magadan Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Amur Oblast, Zabaykalsky Krai, Irkutsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai. water, Arctic Ocean. These waters, the coldest and iciest of all seas in the Northern Hemisphere, are covered by ice for 9–10 months of the year, new Siberian Islands are a part of the republics territory. Sakha can be divided into three great vegetation belts, about 40% of Sakha lies above the Arctic circle and all of it is covered by permafrost which greatly influences the regions ecology and limits forests in the southern region. Arctic and subarctic tundra define the region, where lichen. In the southern part of the belt, scattered stands of dwarf Siberian pine. Below the tundra is the vast taiga forest region, larch trees dominate in the north and stands of fir and pine begin to appear in the south. Taiga forests cover about 47% of Sakha and almost 90% of the cover is larch, Sakha spans three time zones, Yakutsk Time Zone. Covers the republics territory to the west of the Lena River as well as the territories of the located on the both sides of the Lena River. Covers most of the territory located between 127°E and 140°E longitude. Covers most of the territory located east of 140°E longitude. Districts, Abyysky, Allaikhovsky, Momsky, Nizhnekolymsky, Srednekolymsky, Verkhnekolymsky, the Chersky Range runs east of the Verkhoyansk Range and has the highest peak in Sakha, Peak Pobeda. The second highest peak is Peak Mus-Khaya reaching 3,011 m, the Stanovoi Range borders Sakha in the south. Sakha is well endowed with raw materials, the soil contains large reserves of oil, gas, coal, diamonds, gold, silver, tin, tungsten and many others. Sakha produces 99% of all Russian diamonds and over 25% of the diamonds mined in the world, Sakha is known for its climate extremes, with the Verkhoyansk Range being the coldest area in the Northern Hemisphere
29.
Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
30.
Relative humidity
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Relative humidity is the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor to the equilibrium vapor pressure of water at a given temperature. Relative humidity depends on temperature and the pressure of the system of interest and it requires less water vapor to attain high relative humidity at low temperatures, more water vapour is required to attain high relative humidity in warm or hot air. Humans are sensitive to high humidity because the body uses evaporative cooling, enabled by perspiration. Perspiration evaporates from the more slowly under humid conditions than under arid. For example, if the air temperature is 24 °C and the humidity is zero percent. If the relative humidity is 100 percent at the air temperature. In other words, if the air is 24 °C and contains saturated water vapor, then the human body cools itself at the rate as it would if it were 27 °C. The heat index and the humidex are indices that reflect the effect of temperature. In cold climates, the temperature causes lower capacity for water vapour to flow about. Dry cracked skin can result from dry air, low humidity causes tissue lining nasal passages to dry, crack and become more susceptible to penetration of Rhinovirus cold viruses. Low humidity is a cause of nosebleeds. The use of a humidifier in homes, especially bedrooms, can help with these symptoms, indoor relative humidities should be kept above 30% to reduce the likelihood of the occupants nasal passages drying out. Humans can be comfortable within a range of humidities depending on the temperature—from thirty to seventy percent—but ideally between 50% and 60%. Very low humidity can create discomfort, respiratory problems, and aggravate allergies in some individuals, in the winter, it is advisable to maintain relative humidity at 30 percent or above. Extremely low relative humidities may also cause eye irritation, wooden furniture can shrink, causing the paint that covers these surfaces to fracture. When the temperature is low and the humidity is high. When relative humidity approaches 100 percent, condensation can occur on surfaces, leading to problems with mold, corrosion, decay, condensation can pose a safety risk as it can promote the growth of mold and wood rot as well as possibly freezing emergency exits shut. The basic principles for buildings, above, also apply to vehicles, in addition, there may be safety considerations
31.
Sunshine duration
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It is a general indicator of cloudiness of a location, and thus differs from insolation, which measures the total energy delivered by sunlight over a given period. Sunshine duration is usually expressed in hours per year, or in hours per day, the first measure indicates the general sunniness of a location compared with other places, while the latter allows for comparison of sunshine in various seasons in the same location. Another often-used measure is percentage ratio of recorded bright sunshine duration, an important use of sunshine duration data is to characterize the climate of sites, especially of health resorts. This also takes account the psychological effect of strong solar light on human well-being. It is often used to promote tourist destinations, if the Sun were to be above the horizon 50% of the time for a standard year consisting of 8,760 hours, apparent maximal daytime duration would be 4,380 hours for any point on Earth. However, there are physical and astronomical effects that change that picture, namely, atmospheric refraction allows the Sun to be still visible even when it physically sets below the horizon. For that reason, average daytime is longest in polar areas, places on the Arctic Circle have the longest total annual daytime,4,647 hours, while the North Pole receives 4,575. Because of elliptic nature of the Earths orbit, the Southern Hemisphere is not symmetrical, the Equator has a total daytime of 4,422 hours per year. Given the theoretical maximum of daytime duration for a given location, bright sunshine hours represent the total hours when the sunlight is stronger than a specified threshold, as opposed to just visible hours. Visible sunshine, for example, occurs around sunrise and sunset, measurement is performed by instruments called sunshine recorders. For the specific purpose of sunshine duration recording, Campbell–Stokes recorders are used, when the intensity exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the tape burns. The total length of the trace is proportional to the number of bright hours. Another type of recorder is the Jordan sunshine recorder, newer, electronic recorders have more stable sensitivity than that of the paper tape. In 2003, the duration was finally defined as the period during which direct solar irradiance exceeds a threshold value of 120 W/m². The sky is clear in these regions, and fair weather is virtually perpetual, the descending branch of the Hadley cell and the long-term lack of atmospheric disturbances helps to explain the seemingly endless supply of sunny, cloud-free days in the deserts. Low clouding conditions are associated with rainfall shortage, as seen in these dry regions. In the belt encompassing northern Chad and the Tibesti Mountains, northern Sudan, southern Libya, some places in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula receive 3, 600–3,800 hours of bright sunshine annually. The largest sun-baked region in the world is North Africa, the sunniest month in the world is December in Eastern Antarctica, with almost 23 hours of bright sun daily
32.
Nobel Prize
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The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in a number of categories by Swedish and Norwegian institutions in recognition of academic, cultural, or scientific advances. The will of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895, the prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901. Medals made before 1980 were struck in 23 carat gold, between 1901 and 2016, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 579 times to 911 people and organisations. With some receiving the Nobel Prize more than once, this makes a total of 23 organisations, the prize ceremonies take place annually in Stockholm, Sweden. Each recipient, or laureate, receives a medal, a diploma. The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics. The prize is not awarded posthumously, however, if a person is awarded a prize and dies before receiving it, though the average number of laureates per prize increased substantially during the 20th century, a prize may not be shared among more than three people. Alfred Nobel was born on 21 October 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden and he was a chemist, engineer, and inventor. In 1894, Nobel purchased the Bofors iron and steel mill and this invention was a precursor to many smokeless military explosives, especially the British smokeless powder cordite. As a consequence of his patent claims, Nobel was eventually involved in a patent infringement lawsuit over cordite, Nobel amassed a fortune during his lifetime, with most of his wealth from his 355 inventions, of which dynamite is the most famous. In 1888, Nobel was astonished to read his own obituary, titled The merchant of death is dead, as it was Alfreds brother Ludvig who had died, the obituary was eight years premature. The article disconcerted Nobel and made him apprehensive about how he would be remembered and this inspired him to change his will. On 10 December 1896, Alfred Nobel died in his villa in San Remo, Italy, Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime. He composed the last over a year before he died, signing it at the Swedish–Norwegian Club in Paris on 27 November 1895, Nobel bequeathed 94% of his total assets,31 million SEK, to establish the five Nobel Prizes. Because of skepticism surrounding the will, it was not until 26 April 1897 that it was approved by the Storting in Norway. The executors of Nobels will, Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist, formed the Nobel Foundation to take care of Nobels fortune, Nobels instructions named a Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize, the members of whom were appointed shortly after the will was approved in April 1897. Soon thereafter, the other prize-awarding organisations were designated or established and these were Karolinska Institutet on 7 June, the Swedish Academy on 9 June, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on 11 June. The Nobel Foundation reached an agreement on guidelines for how the prizes should be awarded, and, in 1900, in 1905, the personal union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved
33.
Richard Feynman
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For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Sinichirō Tomonaga, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. Feynman developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, during his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World he was ranked as one of the ten greatest physicists of all time. Along with his work in physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing. Tolman professorship in physics at the California Institute of Technology. They were not religious, and by his youth, Feynman described himself as an avowed atheist, like Albert Einstein and Edward Teller, Feynman was a late talker, and by his third birthday had yet to utter a single word. He retained a Brooklyn accent as an adult and that accent was thick enough to be perceived as an affectation or exaggeration – so much so that his good friends Wolfgang Pauli and Hans Bethe once commented that Feynman spoke like a bum. The young Feynman was heavily influenced by his father, who encouraged him to ask questions to challenge orthodox thinking, from his mother, he gained the sense of humor that he had throughout his life. As a child, he had a talent for engineering, maintained a laboratory in his home. When he was in school, he created a home burglar alarm system while his parents were out for the day running errands. When Richard was five years old, his mother gave birth to a brother, Henry Philips. Four years later, Richards sister Joan was born, and the moved to Far Rockaway. Though separated by nine years, Joan and Richard were close and their mother thought that women did not have the cranial capacity to comprehend such things. Despite their mothers disapproval of Joans desire to study astronomy, Richard encouraged his sister to explore the universe, Joan eventually became an astrophysicist specializing in interactions between the Earth and the solar wind. Feynman attended Far Rockaway High School, a school in Far Rockaway, Queens, upon starting high school, Feynman was quickly promoted into a higher math class. A high-school-administered IQ test estimated his IQ at 125—high, but merely respectable according to biographer James Gleick and his sister Joan did better, allowing her to claim that she was smarter. Years later he declined to join Mensa International, saying that his IQ was too low, physicist Steve Hsu stated of the test, I suspect that this test emphasized verbal, as opposed to mathematical, ability. Feynman received the highest score in the United States by a margin on the notoriously difficult Putnam mathematics competition exam
34.
Genghis Blues
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Genghis Blues is a documentary film directed by Roko Belic. It centers on the journey of blind American singer Paul Pena to the isolated Russian Republic of Tuva due to his interest in Tuvan throat singing and it won the 1999 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for a Documentary. It was also nominated for an Academy Award in 2000 in the Best Documentary Feature category, the documentary captures the story of blind blues musician Paul Pena. After a brush with fame and success in the 1970s, Penas fortunes faded as he dealt with career, Pena, over the course of several years, taught himself to throatsing to a very impressive degree. The entire journey, as well as the mix of cultures. The Belic brothers shot the film with two Hi8 camcorders and edited it themselves and they were allowed to edit the film during nighttime at a professional editing facility. It took them three and a years to finish the film after they shot it. All this time lived on $500 a month in an apartment above an auto repair shop. Christopher Nolan, a friend of the brothers, is credited for his editorial assistance. Genghis Blues official movie site Genghis Blues at the Internet Movie Database Genghis Blues at Box Office Mojo How a Creole Singer Wowed Them in Shangri-La
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Honolulu, Hawaii, United States[15]
Rivne, Ukraine
Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil (both cities are claimed to be located in the exact center of their respective continents)
