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The Felidae family includes the Lion, the Tiger, the Domestic Cat, and other felines as its members. They are the most strictly carnivorous of the fifteen families in the order Carnivora. The first felids emerged during the Eocene, about 40 million years ago. The most familiar feline is the Domestic Cat or House Cat (Felis silvestris catus), which first became associated with humans about 10,000 years ago. Its wild relatives, the Wildcats, still live in Europe, Africa and western Asia, although habitat destruction has restricted their range.

The Domestic Cat (or simply "cat", although the term can refer to all felids) is a small carnivorous mammal descended from the Desert Wildcat. The cat is a skilled predator and intelligent animal, known to hunt over 1,000 species for food, and capable of being trained (and learning by itself) to obey simple commands and manipulate simple mechanisms (see cat intelligence). It has lived in close association with humans for at least 9,500 years, figuring prominently in the mythology and legends of several cultures.

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Two Australian Shepherds
The domestic dog is a mammal in the canine family of the Order Carnivora. Dogs were first domesticated from wolves at about 2000 years B.C. In this time, the dog has developed into hundreds of breeds with a great degree of variation in height and weight, coat color and texture, anatomical details and behavior. Dogs fill a variety of roles in human society and are often trained as working dogs. For dogs that do not have traditional jobs, a wide range of dog sports provide the opportunity to exhibit their natural skills. In many countries the most common, and perhaps most important, role of dogs is as companions. Dogs have lived with and worked with humans in so many roles that their loyalty has earned them the sobriquet "man's best friend."
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Books are the bricks and mortar of education
Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, good judgement and wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental goals the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization). Education is 'to draw out'. This means facilitating realisation of self-potential and latent talents of an individual.

The education of an individual human begins at birth and continues throughout life. Some believe that education begins even before birth, as evidenced by some parents' playing music or reading to the baby in the womb in the hope it will influence the child's development. For some, the struggles and triumphs of daily life provide far more instruction than does formal schooling (thus Mark Twain's admonition to "never let school interfere with your education"). Family members may have a profound educational effect — often more profound than they realize — though family teaching may function very informally; but formality only proves the education outside the family that is also being taught.

Indiana is the 19th U.S. state and is located in the Midwest region of the United States of America. With over six million residents, it is ranked 15th in population and 17th in population density. It is 38th in land area. Indiana is bounded on the north by Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan; on the east by Ohio; on the south by Kentucky, with which it shares the Ohio River as a border; and on the west by Illinois. Indiana is one of the Great Lakes states. As of 2006, Indiana has an estimated population of 6,313,520, which is an increase of 47,501, or 0.8%, from the prior year and an increase of 233,003, or 3.8%, since the year 2000. The total gross state product in 2005 was US$214 billion in 2000 chained dollars. Indiana's per capita income, as of 2005, was US$31,150. The Calumet region of northwest Indiana is the largest steel producing area in the U.S.

Indiana is a diverse state with a few large urban areas and a number of smaller industrial cities. It is best known for the Indianapolis 500 American automobile race, held annually over the Memorial Day weekend, and a strong basketball tradition, often called Hoosier Hysteria. Residents of Indiana are called Hoosiers. The state's name means "Land of the Indians" and Angel Mounds State Historic Site, one of the best preserved prehistoric Native American sites in the United States, can be found in southern Indiana.

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The 'philosophy of science' is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of science, including the formal sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences. In this respect, the philosophy of science is closely related to epistemology and the philosophy of language. Note that issues of scientific ethics are not usually considered to be part of the philosophy of science; they are studied in such fields as bioethics and science studies.

In particular, the philosophy of science considers the following topics: the character and the development of concepts and terms, propositions and hypotheses, arguments and conclusions, as they function in science; the manner in which science explains natural phenomena and predicts natural occurrences; the types of reasoning that are used to arrive at scientific conclusions; the formulation, scope, and limits of scientific method; the means that should be used for determining when scientific information has adequate objective support; and the implications of scientific methods and models, along with the technology that arises from scientific knowledge for the larger society.

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Psychology (Greek: ψυχολογία) is the academic and applied study of behavior, mind, and their underlying mechanisms. It primarily applies to humans but can also be applied to non-humans such as animals or artificial systems. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of activity, including problems of human beings' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness. The field contains a range of sub-areas (for instance, the studies of development, personality, and language), as well as many different theoretical orientations (such as behaviorism, evolutionary psychology, and psychoanalysis). Psychology draws from a number of other fields of study, including biology, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy.

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Science, in the broadest sense of the term, refers to any system of knowledge attained by verifiable means. In a more restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on empiricism, experimentation, and methodological naturalism, as well as to the organized body of knowledge humans have gained by such research.

Scientists maintain that scientific investigation must adhere to the scientific method, a process for properly developing and evaluating natural explanations for observable phenomena based on empirical study and independent verification. Science therefore, rejects supernatural explanations and arguments from authority.

Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines: Natural sciences, which study natural phenomena; and Social sciences, which study human behavior and societies. Whether mathematics is a science is a matter of perspective.

Fields of science can be further distinguished as pure science or applied science. Pure science is principally involved with the discovery of new truths with less (or no) regard to their applications. Applied science is principally involved with the application of existing knowledge in new ways.

Scheme of sustainable development: at the confluence of three preoccupations.
Sustainable development has been defined as balancing the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

The field of sustainable development can be conceptually divided into four general dimensions: social, economic, environmental and institutional. The first three dimensions address key principles of sustainability, while the final dimension addresses key institutional policy and capacity issues.

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Religion is the adherence to codified beliefs and rituals that generally involve a faith in a spiritual nature and a study of inherited ancestral traditions, knowledge and wisdom related to understanding human life. The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to faith as well as to the larger shared systems of belief.

In the larger sense, religion is a communal system for the coherence of belief—typically focused on a system of thought, unseen being, person, or object, that is considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine, or of the highest truth. Moral codes, practices, values, institutions, traditions, and rituals are often traditionally associated with the core belief, and these may have some overlap with concepts in secular philosophy. Religion can also be described as a way of life.

The development of religion has taken many forms in various cultures. "Organized religion" generally refers to an organization of people supporting the exercise of some religion with a prescribed set of beliefs, often taking the form of a legal entity (see religion-supporting organization). Other religions believe in personal revelation and responsibility. "Religion" is sometimes used interchangeably with "faith" or "belief system," but is more socially defined than that of personal convictions.

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