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Writing. Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a script, as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language arises from a corresponding spoken language; while the use of language is universal across human societies, most spoken languages are not written.[1] Writing is a cognitive and social activity involving neuropsychological and physical processes. The outcome of this activity, also called writing (or a text) is a series of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Reading is the corresponding process of interpreting a written text, with the interpreter referred to as a reader.[2] In general, writing systems do not constitute languages in and of themselves, but rather a means of encoding language such that it can be read by others across time and space.[3][4] While not all languages use a writing system, those that do can complement and extend the capacities of spoken language by creating durable forms of language that can be transmitted across space (e.g. written correspondence) and stored over time (e.g. libraries).[5] Writing can also impact what knowledge people acquire, since it allows humans to externalize their thinking in forms that are easier to reflect on, elaborate on, reconsider, and revise.[6][7][8] Any instance of writing involves a complex interaction among available tools, intentions, cultural customs, cognitive routines, genres, tacit and explicit knowledge, and the constraints and limitations of the systems used.[9] Writing implements used to make physical inscriptions include fingers, styluses, ink brushes, pencils, pens, and many styles of lithography; writing surfaces on which inscriptions may be made include stone tablets, clay tablets, bamboo slips, papyrus, wax tablets, vellum, parchment, paper, copperplate, and slate.[10]
Sir (disambiguation). Sir is a respectful form of address for a man, and a formal title used in the United Kingdom for knights and baronets. Sir, SIR or SiR may also refer to:
Democracy indices. Democracy indices are quantitative and comparative assessments of the state of democracy[1] for different countries according to various definitions of democracy.[2] The democracy indices differ in whether they are categorical, such as classifying countries into democracies, hybrid regimes, and autocracies,[3][4] or continuous values.[5] The qualitative nature of democracy indices enables data analytical approaches for studying causal mechanisms of regime transformation processes. Democracy indices vary in their scope and the weight assigned to different aspects of democracy. These aspects include the breadth and strength of core democratic institutions, the competitiveness and inclusiveness of polyarchy, freedom of expression, governance quality, adherence to democratic norms, co-option of opposition, and other related factors, such as electoral system manipulation, electoral fraud, and popular support of anti-democratic alternatives.[6][7][8] Other measured aspects of democracy include voter turnout, efficiency gap, wasted vote, and political efficacy.[19][20] Democracy is a multifaceted concept encompassing the functioning of diverse institutions, many of which are challenging to measure. As a result, limitations arise in quantifying and econometrically analyzing democracys potential effects or its relationships with other phenomena, such as inequality, poverty, and education. etc.[29] Given the challenges of obtaining reliable data on within-country variations in aspects of democracy, much of the academic focus has been on cross-country comparisons. However, significant variations in democratic institutions can exist within individual countries, highlighting the limitations of such an approach. Another dimension of the difficulty in measuring democracy lies in the ongoing debate between minimalist and maximalist definitions of democracy. A minimalist conception of democracy defines democracy by primarily considering the essence of democracy; such as electoral procedures.[30] A maximalist definition of democracy can include outcomes, such as economic or administrative efficiency, into measures of democracy.[31] Some aspects of democracy, such as responsiveness[32] or accountability, are generally not included in democracy indices due to the difficulty measuring these aspects. Other aspects, such as judicial independence or quality of the electoral system, are included in some democracy indices but not in others.
Idea. In philosophy and in common usage, an idea (from the Greek word: ἰδέα (idea), meaning a form, or a pattern) is the result of thought.[1] Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas is considered to be an essential and defining feature of human beings. An idea arises in a reflexive, spontaneous manner, even without thinking or serious reflection, for example, when we talk about the idea of a person or a place. A new or an original idea can often lead to innovation. Our actions are based upon beliefs, beliefs are patterns or organized sets of ideas.[2] The word idea comes from Greek ἰδέα, romanized: idea, form, pattern, from the root of ἰδεῖν idein, to see.[3] The argument over the underlying nature of ideas was opened by Plato, whose exposition of his theory of forms—which recurs and accumulates over the course of his many dialogs—appropriates and adds a new sense to the Greek word for things that are seen (re. εἶδος) that highlights those elements of perception which are encountered without material or objective reference available to the eyes (re. ἰδέα). As this argument was disseminated the word idea began to take on connotations that would be more familiarly associated with the term today. In the fifth book of his Republic, Plato defines philosophy as the love of this formal (as opposed to visual) way of seeing. Plato advanced the theory that perceived but immaterial objects of awareness constitute a realm of deathless forms or ideas from which the material world emanates. Aristotle challenged Plato in this area, positing that the phenomenal world of ideas arises as mental composites of remembered observations. Though it is anachronistic to apply these terms to thinkers from antiquity, it clarifies the argument between Plato and Aristotle if we call Plato an idealist thinker and Aristotle an empiricist thinker.
Democrat. Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Types of democracy. Types of democracy refers to the various governance structures that embody the principles of democracy (rule by the people) in some way. Democracy is frequently applied to governments (ranging from local to global), but may also be applied to other constructs like workplaces, families, community associations, and so forth. Types of democracy can cluster around values. Some such types, defined as direct democracy (or participatory democracy, or deliberative democracy), promote equal and direct participation in political decisions by all members of the public. Others, including the many variants of representative democracy (i.e., constitutional), favor more indirect or procedural approaches to collective self-governance, wherein decisions are made by elected representatives rather than by the people directly.[1] Types of democracy can be found across time, space, and language.[2] The foregoing examples are just a few of the thousands of refinements of, and variations on, the central notion of democracy.[3] A direct democracy, or pure democracy, is a type of democracy where the people govern directly, by voting on laws and policies. It requires wide participation of citizens in politics.[4] Athenian democracy, or classical democracy, refers to a direct democracy developed in ancient times in the Greek city-state of Athens. A popular democracy is a type of direct democracy based on referendums and other devices of empowerment and concretization of popular will.
High Middle Ages. Central EuropeGuelf, Hohenstaufen, and Ascanian domains in Germany about 1176 The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history between c. 1000 and c. 1300; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended c. 1500 according to historiographical convention.[1][2] Key historical trends of the High Middle Ages include the rapidly increasing population of Europe, which brought about great social and political change from the preceding era, and the Renaissance of the 12th century, including the first developments of rural exodus and urbanization. By 1350, the robust population increase had greatly benefited the European economy, which had reached levels that would not be seen again in some areas until the 19th century. That trend faltered in the early 14th century, as the result of numerous events which together comprised the crisis of the late Middle Ages—most notable among them being the Black Death, in addition to various regional wars and economic stagnation.
History of democracy. A democracy is a political system, or a system of decision-making within an institution, organization, or state, in which members have a share of power.[2] Modern democracies are characterized by two capabilities of their citizens that differentiate them fundamentally from earlier forms of government: to intervene in society and have their sovereign (e.g., their representatives) held accountable to the international laws of other governments of their kind. Democratic government is commonly juxtaposed with oligarchic and monarchic systems, which are ruled by a minority and a sole monarch respectively. Democracy is generally associated[vague] with the efforts of the ancient Greeks, whom 18th-century intellectuals such as Montesquieu considered the founders of Western civilization. These individuals attempted to leverage these early democratic experiments into a new template for post-monarchical political organization.[3][page needed] The extent to which these 18th-century democratic revivalists succeeded in turning the democratic ideals of the ancient Greeks into the dominant political institution of the next 300 years is hardly debatable, even if the moral justifications they often employed might be. Nevertheless, the critical historical juncture catalyzed by the resurrection of democratic ideals and institutions fundamentally transformed the ensuing centuries and has dominated the international landscape since the dismantling of the final vestige of the British Empire following the end of the Second World War. Modern representative democracies attempt to bridge the gap between Rousseaus depiction of the state of nature and Hobbess depiction of society as inevitably authoritarian through social contracts that enshrine the rights of the citizens, curtail the power of the state, and grant agency through the right to vote.[4] Anthropologists have identified forms of proto-democracy that date back to small bands of hunter-gatherers that predate the establishment of agrarian, sedentary societies and still exist virtually unchanged[disputed – discuss] in isolated indigenous groups today. In these groups of generally 50–100 individuals, often tied closely by familial bonds, decisions are reached by consensus or majority and many times without the designation of any specific chief.[4]
Parallel universes in fiction. A parallel universe, also known as an alternate universe, world, or dimension, is a plot device in fiction which uses the notion of a hypothetical universe co-existing with another, typically to enable alternative narrative possibilities. The sum of all potential parallel universes that constitute reality is often called the multiverse. The device serves several narrative purposes. Among them, parallel universes have been used to allow stories with elements that would ordinarily violate the laws of nature, to enable characters to meet and interact with alternative versions of themselves or others from their home universe, thus enabling further character development,[1] and to serve as a starting point for speculative fiction, particularly alternate history. One of the first science-fiction examples of a parallel universe is Murray Leinsters short story Sidewise in Time, published in 1934. Although Leinsters story was not the first example of parallel universes, it is credited with popularizing the concept.[2][3][4] The use of parallel universes as a device in superhero fiction was popularized with the publication of the 123rd issue of The Flash, Flash of Two Worlds, in 1961. In the issue, the Flashes of Earth-One and Earth-Two, Barry Allen and Jay Garrick, meet, establishing the concept of the DC Comics multiverse.[1] The multiverse has seen much usage in popular media in the late 2010s and early 2020s, particularly in superhero films, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the animated Spider-Verse franchise, as well as the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once.[5][3] Some filmmakers and critics, including MCU director Joe Russo, have expressed concern that film studios may be embracing multiverse-centric plotlines to capitalize on characters and intellectual property with pre-existing popularity, ultimately to the detriment of originality and creativity in filmmaking.[3][6][7]
Knight. A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.[1][2] The concept of knighthood may have been inspired by the ancient Greek hippeis (ἱππεῖς) and Roman equites.[3] In the Early Middle Ages in Western Christian Europe, knighthood was conferred upon mounted warriors.[4] During the High Middle Ages, knighthood was considered a class of petty nobility. By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior. Often, a knight was a vassal who served as an elite fighter or a bodyguard for a lord, with payment in the form of land holdings.[5] The lords trusted the knights, who were skilled in battle on horseback. In the Middle Ages, knighthood was closely linked with horsemanship (and especially the joust) from its origins in the 12th century until its final flowering as a fashion among the high nobility in the Duchy of Burgundy in the 15th century. This linkage is reflected in the etymology of chivalry, cavalier, and related terms such as the French title of chevalier. In that sense, the special prestige accorded to mounted warriors in Christendom finds a parallel in the furusiyya in the Islamic world. The Crusades brought various military orders of knights to the forefront of defending Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land.[6][unreliable source] In the Late Middle Ages, new methods of warfare – such as the introduction of the culverin as an anti-personnel, gunpowder-fired weapon – began to render classical knights in armour obsolete, but the titles remained in many countries. Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519) is often referred to as the last knight in this regard;[7][8][ISBN missing] however, some of the most iconic battles of the Knights Hospitaller, such as the Siege of Rhodes and the Great Siege of Malta, took place after his rule. The ideals of chivalry were popularized in medieval literature, particularly the literary cycles known as the Matter of France, relating to the legendary companions of Charlemagne and his men-at-arms, the paladins, and the Matter of Britain, relating to the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
Jabberwocky (disambiguation). Jabberwocky is an 1872 nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll, about an encounter between a young boy and a monster called the Jabberwock. Jabberwocky or Jabberwock may also refer to:
International Union for Conservation of Nature. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.[3] Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. It is involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, and education. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to sustainable development in its projects. IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation. It tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice and through building partnerships. The organization is best known to the wider public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, which assesses the conservation status of species worldwide.[4] IUCN has a membership of over 1,400 governmental and non-governmental organizations from over 170 countries. Some 16,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs over 900 full-time staff in more than 50 countries. Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland.[4] Every four years, IUCN convenes for the IUCN World Conservation Congress where IUCN Members set the global conservation agenda by voting on recommendations and guide the secretariats work by passing resolutions and the IUCN Programme. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several international conventions on nature conservation and biodiversity. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. In the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its closer relations with the business sector have caused controversy.[5][6]
Nonsense verse. Nonsense verse is a form of nonsense literature usually employing strong prosodic elements like rhythm and rhyme. It is often whimsical and humorous in tone and employs some of the techniques of nonsense literature. Limericks are probably the best known form of nonsense verse, although they tend nowadays to be used for straightforward humour, rather than having a nonsensical effect. Among writers in English noted for nonsense verse are Edward Lear,[1] Lewis Carroll, Mervyn Peake, Edward Gorey, Colin West, Dr. Seuss, and Spike Milligan. The Martian Poets and Ivor Cutler are considered by some to be in the nonsense tradition. In some cases, the humor of nonsense verse relies on the incompatibility of phrases which make grammatical sense but semantic nonsense – at least in certain interpretations – as in the traditional: I see said the blind man to his deaf and dumb daughter as he picked up his hammer and saw.
Marine protected area. A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the worlds seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes.[2] These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities.[3] MPAs restrict human activity for a conservation purpose, typically to protect natural or cultural resources.[4] Such marine resources are protected by local, state, territorial, native, regional, national, or international authorities and differ substantially among and between nations. This variation includes different limitations on development, fishing practices, fishing seasons and catch limits, moorings and bans on removing or disrupting marine life. MPAs can provide economic benefits by supporting the fishing industry through the revival of fish stocks, as well as job creation and other market benefits via ecotourism.[5] The value of MPA to mobile species is unknown.[6] There are a number of global examples of large marine conservation areas. The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, is situated in the central Pacific Ocean, around Hawaii, occupying an area of 1.5 million square kilometers.[7] The area is rich in wild life, including the green turtle and the Hawaiian monkfish, alongside 7,000 other species, and 14 million seabirds.[8] In 2017 the Cook Islands passed the Marae Moana Act designating the whole of the countrys marine exclusive economic zone, which has an area of 1.9 million square kilometers as a zone with the purpose of protecting and conserving the ecological, biodiversity and heritage values of the Cook Islands marine environment.[9]: 355 Other large marine conservation areas include those around Antarctica, New Caledonia, Greenland, Alaska, Ascension Island, and Brazil. As areas of protected marine biodiversity expand, there has been an increase in ocean science funding, essential for preserving marine resources.[10] In 2020, only around 7.5 to 8% of the global ocean area falls under a conservation designation.[11] This area is equivalent to 27 million square kilometres, equivalent to the land areas of Russia and Canada combined, although some argue that the effective conservation zones (ones with the strictest regulations) occupy only 5% of the ocean area (about equivalent to the land area of Russia alone). Marine conservation zones, as with their terrestrial equivalents, vary in terms of rules and regulations. Few zones rule out completely any sort of human activity within their area, as activities such as fishing, tourism, and transport of essential goods and services by ship, are part of the fabric of nation states. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines a protected area as:[12][13] A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.
Swimming (sport). Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of ones entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports,[1] with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.[2] Swimming each stroke requires a set of specific techniques; in competition, there are distinct regulations concerning the acceptable form for each individual stroke.[3] There are also regulations on what types of swimsuits, caps, jewelry and injury tape that are allowed at competitions.[4] There are many health benefits to swimming, but it is possible for competitive swimmers to incur injuries such as tendinitis in the shoulders or knees. Evidence of recreational swimming in prehistoric times has been found, with the earliest evidence dating to Stone Age paintings from around 10,000 years ago. Written references date from 2000 BC, with some of the earliest references to swimming including the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf, the Quran and others. In 1538, Nikolaus Wynmann, a Swiss–German professor of languages, wrote the earliest known complete book about swimming, Colymbetes, sive de arte natandi dialogus et festivus et iucundus lectu (The Swimmer, or A Dialogue on the Art of Swimming and Joyful and Pleasant to Read).[5] Swimming emerged as a competitive recreational activity in the 1830s in England. In 1828, the first indoor swimming pool, St Georges Baths was opened to the public.[6] By 1837, the National Swimming Society was holding regular swimming competitions in six artificial swimming pools, built around London. The recreational activity grew in popularity and by 1880, when the first national governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association was formed, there were already over 300 regional clubs in operation across the country.[7]
Swimmer (disambiguation). Swimmer most commonly refers to a participant in: Swimmer, swimmers, The Swimmer, or the Swimmers may also refer to:
Protected area. Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood, non-timber forest products, water, ...) is limited.[1] The term protected area also includes marine protected areas and transboundary protected areas across multiple borders. As of 2016, there are over 161,000 protected areas representing about 17 percent of the worlds land surface area (excluding Antarctica).[2][3][4][5][6] For waters under national jurisdiction beyond inland waters, there are 14,688 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), covering approximately 10.2% of coastal and marine areas and 4.12% of global ocean areas.[2] In contrast, only 0.25% of the worlds oceans beyond national jurisdiction are covered by MPAs.[2][7] In recent years, the 30 by 30 initiative has targeted to protect 30% of ocean territory and 30% of land territory worldwide by 2030; this has been adopted by the European Union in its Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, Campaign for Nature which promoted the goal during the Convention on Biodiversitys COP15 Summit[8] and the G7.[9] In December 2022, Nations have reached an agreement with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at the COP15,[10] which includes the 30 by 30 initiative.[7]
Looking-Glass world. The Looking-Glass world is the setting for Lewis Carrolls 1871 childrens novel Through the Looking-Glass. ... and a most curious country it was. The entire country is divided into squares by a series of little brooks with hedges growing perpendicular to them. The land is contested by two competing factions, the Reds and the Whites. Each side has its King and Queen, bishops, knights, armies, and castles.
Swimming (disambiguation). Swimming is the self-propulsion of a human through water or another liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimming may also refer to:
Aquatic locomotion. Aquatic locomotion or swimming is biologically propelled motion through a liquid medium. The simplest propulsive systems are composed of cilia and flagella. Swimming has evolved a number of times in a range of organisms including arthropods, fish, molluscs, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Swimming evolved a number of times in unrelated lineages. Supposed jellyfish fossils occur in the Ediacaran, but the first free-swimming animals appear in the Early to Middle Cambrian. These are mostly related to the arthropods, and include the Anomalocaridids, which swam by means of lateral lobes in a fashion reminiscent of todays cuttlefish. Cephalopods joined the ranks of the active swimmers (nekton) in the late Cambrian,[1] and chordates were probably swimming from the Early Cambrian.[2] Many terrestrial animals retain some capacity to swim, however some have returned to the water and developed the capacities for aquatic locomotion. Most apes (including humans), however, lost the swimming instinct.[3] In 2013 Pedro Renato Bender, a research fellow at the University of the Witwatersrands Institute for Human Evolution, proposed a theory to explain the loss of that instinct. Termed the Saci last common ancestor hypothesis (after Saci, a Brazilian folklore character who cannot cross water barriers), it holds that the loss of instinctive swimming ability in apes is best explained as a consequence of constraints related to the adaptation to an arboreal life in the last common ancestor of apes.[4] Bender hypothesized that the ancestral ape increasingly avoided deep-water bodies when the risks of being exposed to water were clearly higher than the advantages of crossing them.[4] A decreasing contact with water bodies then could have led to the disappearance of the doggy paddle instinct.[4] Microbial swimmers, sometimes called microswimmers, are microscopic entities that have the ability to move in fluid or aquatic environment.[5] Natural microswimmers are found everywhere in the natural world as biological microorganisms, such as bacteria, archaea, protists, sperm and microanimals. Ciliates use small flagella called cilia to move through the water. One ciliate will generally have hundreds to thousands of cilia that are densely packed together in arrays. During movement, an individual cilium deforms using a high-friction power stroke followed by a low-friction recovery stroke. Since there are multiple cilia packed together on an individual organism, they display collective behavior in a metachronal rhythm. This means the deformation of one cilium is in phase with the deformation of its neighbor, causing deformation waves that propagate along the surface of the organism. These propagating waves of cilia are what allow the organism to use the cilia in a coordinated manner to move. A typical example of a ciliated microorganism is the Paramecium, a one-celled, ciliated protozoan covered by thousands of cilia. The cilia beating together allow the Paramecium to propel through the water at speeds of 500 micrometers per second.[6]
The Plumb-pudding in danger. The Plumb-pudding in danger, or, State Epicures taking un Petit Souper is an 1805 editorial cartoon by the English artist James Gillray. The popular print depicts caricatures of the British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and the newly-crowned Emperor of France Napoleon, both wearing military uniforms, carving up a terrestrial globe into spheres of influence. It was published as a hand-coloured print and has been described by the National Portrait Gallery as probably Gillrays most famous print and by the British Library as one of Gillrays most famous satires dealing with the Napoleonic wars. Gillrays print is a satire on the overtures made by Napoleon in January 1805 for a reconciliation with Britain during the War of the Third Coalition. The short-lived Peace of Amiens, a treaty between Britain and France, had ended in 1803, and Napoleon was threatening to invade Britain with his Grande Armée based at Boulogne. The peace overtures came to nothing: before the end of the year, a combined Franco-Spanish fleet would be decisively defeated by the Royal Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar, giving Britain unrivalled control of the seas, but Napoleon would establish a dominant position in Europe by first defeating an Austrian army through manoeuvre in the Ulm Campaign, and then winning a great victory over a combined Russian-Austrian army at the Battle of Austerlitz, ending the Third Coalition with the 1805 Peace of Pressburg. Pitt and Napoleon are seated on opposite sides of a dining table, each using a carving knife and carving fork to cut pieces from a large spherical plum pudding bearing a map of the world, with the British Isles at the centre between them. The scene is replete with iconography referring to the contemporary political situation the Napoleonic Wars.
Secondary sector. In economics, the secondary sector is the economic sector which comprises manufacturing, encompassing industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construction. This sector generally takes the output of the primary sector (i.e. raw materials like metals, wood) and creates finished goods suitable for sale to domestic businesses or consumers and for export (via distribution through the tertiary sector). Many of these industries consume large quantities of energy, require factories and use machinery; they are often classified as light or heavy based on such quantities. This also produces waste materials and waste heat that may cause environmental problems or pollution (see negative externalities). Examples include textile production, car manufacturing, and handicraft.[1] Manufacturing is an important activity in promoting economic growth and development. Nations that export manufactured products tend to generate higher marginal GDP growth, which supports higher incomes and therefore marginal tax revenue needed to fund such government expenditures as health care and infrastructure. Among developed countries, it is an important source of well-paying jobs for the middle class (e.g., engineering) to facilitate greater social mobility for successive generations on the economy. Currently,[when?] an estimated 20% of the labor force in the United States is involved in the secondary industry.[2] The secondary sector depends on the primary sector for the raw materials necessary for production. Countries that primarily produce agricultural and other raw materials. The value added through the transformation of raw materials into finished goods reliably generates greater profitability, which underlies the faster growth of developed economies. The twenty largest countries by industrial output (in PPP terms) at peak level as of 2020, according to the IMF and CIA World Factbook.[citation needed]
Sphere of influence. In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military, or political exclusivity. While there may be a formal alliance or other treaty obligations between the influenced and influencer, such formal arrangements are not necessary and the influence can often be more of an example of soft power. Similarly, a formal alliance does not necessarily mean that one country lies within anothers sphere of influence. High levels of exclusivity have historically been associated with higher levels of conflict. In more extreme cases, a country within the sphere of influence of another may become a subsidiary of that state and serve in effect as a satellite state or de facto colony. This was the case with the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc after World War II. The system of spheres of influence by which powerful nations intervene in the affairs of others continues to the present. It is often analyzed in terms of superpowers, great powers, and/or middle powers. Sometimes portions of a single country can fall into two distinct spheres of influence. In the 19th century, the buffer states of Iran and Thailand, lying between the empires of Britain, France and Russia, were divided between the spheres of influence of those three international powers. Likewise, after World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, three of which later consolidated into West Germany and the remaining one became East Germany, the former a member of NATO and the latter a member of the Warsaw Pact. Before modern international relations were established in Europe, many powerful states had subordinate tributary states, in which the less powerful states or kingdoms submit to the payment of tribute in order to maintain a degree of independence.[1]
Martin Rowson. Martin Rowson (/ˈroʊsən/ ROH-sən; born 15 February 1959) is a British editorial cartoonist and writer. His genre is political satire and his style is scathing and graphic. He characterises his work as visual journalism.[1] His cartoons appear frequently in The Guardian and the Daily Mirror. He also contributes freelance cartoons to other publications, such as Tribune, Index on Censorship and the Morning Star. He is chair of the British Cartoonists Association.[2] Rowson was adopted as a child,[3] and educated at the independent Merchant Taylors School in Northwood in north-west London, followed by Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he studied English Literature. In the late 1990s, Rowson was resident Cult Books Expert on Mark Radcliffe’s late-night Radio 1 show, a role, which he took over from his friend Will Self.[citation needed] Rowsons own books include graphic adaptations of The Waste Land and Tristram Shandy. His novel Snatches, published in 2006 (ISBN 0-224-07604-3), is a comic journey through history, focusing on the stories of the worst decisions the human race has ever made. Stuff (2007), his next novel, is part autobiography, part history of his family and upbringing. He also drew original cartoons for the title sequence of the film Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.[4] In 2008, he published The Dog Allusion: Gods, Pets and How to Be Human, arguing that religion is a complete waste of time and money — much like keeping pets. (The title is itself an allusion to the Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion.) In 2014, The Coalition Book, containing a collection of cartoons, and a written account, of the four years of the coalition government, was published by Self Made Hero. Rowson is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society[5] and a distinguished supporter and board member of Humanists UK.[6]
ABC Region. 23°39′57″S 46°32′30″W / 23.66583°S 46.54167°W / -23.66583; -46.54167 The ABC Region is an industrial region in Greater São Paulo, Brazil. The name refers to three smaller cities south of São Paulo, capital of the Brazilian state of the same name. Originally, these three cities were Santo André, São Bernardo do Campo, and São Caetano do Sul. Later, the region became known as the ABCD, with the addition of the city of Diadema,[1] and sometimes even as ABCDMRR, with the addition of Mauá, Ribeirão Pires, and Rio Grande da Serra.[2] The ABC region is widely known in Brazil and abroad because of the great number of international companies, particularly car manufacturers, in its area. National media and organizations consider ABC a powerful industrial pole and birthplace of the labor union movement that fought against dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. In this region the Workers Party (PT) was formed, whose activities and popularity launched Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or simply Lula, to the presidency of Brazil in 2002. In 2006, the Federal University of ABC was established as a research and higher learning institution, with two campi and centers for Engineering, Modeling and Applied Social Sciences (CECS), for Mathematics, Computing and Cognition (CMCC) and for Natural and Human Sciences (CCNH).[3] Although they do not contribute to the original acronym, Mauá, Ribeirão Pires, Rio Grande da Serra (as they were an extension of the municipality of Santo André, before the division) and Diadema are also part of the region. The Billings Reservoir bathes 6 of the 7 municipalities in the region, except São Caetano do Sul. The 7 municipalities together make up an area of 825 km², and have a population of over 2.5 million inhabitants (IBGE estimate for 2007).[4] (2010)
Region. In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earths surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and the environment (environmental geography). Geographic regions and sub-regions are mostly described by their imprecisely defined, and sometimes transitory boundaries, except in human geography, where jurisdiction areas such as national borders are defined in law. More confined or well bounded portions are called locations or places. Apart from the global continental regions, there are also hydrospheric and atmospheric regions that cover the oceans, and discrete climates above the land and water masses of the planet. The land and water global regions are divided into subregions geographically bounded by large geological features that influence large-scale ecologies, such as plains and features. As a way of describing spatial areas, the concept of regions is important and widely used among the many branches of geography, each of which can describe areas in regional terms. For example, ecoregion is a term used in environmental geography, cultural region in cultural geography, bioregion in biogeography, and so on. The field of geography that studies regions themselves is called regional geography. Regions are an area or division, especially part of a country or the world having definable characteristics but not always fixed boundaries. In the fields of physical geography, ecology, biogeography, zoogeography, and environmental geography, regions tend to be based on natural features such as ecosystems or biotopes, biomes, drainage basins, natural regions, mountain ranges, soil types. Where human geography is concerned, the regions and subregions are described by the discipline of ethnography. Global regions are distinguishable from space, and are therefore clearly distinguished by the two basic terrestrial environments, land and water. However, they have been generally recognized as such much earlier by terrestrial cartography because of their impact on human geography. They are divided into the largest of land regions, known as continents and the largest of water regions known as oceans. There are also significant regions that do not belong to either classification, such as archipelago regions that are littoral regions, or earthquake regions that are defined in geology.
Swimming (sport). Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of ones entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports,[1] with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.[2] Swimming each stroke requires a set of specific techniques; in competition, there are distinct regulations concerning the acceptable form for each individual stroke.[3] There are also regulations on what types of swimsuits, caps, jewelry and injury tape that are allowed at competitions.[4] There are many health benefits to swimming, but it is possible for competitive swimmers to incur injuries such as tendinitis in the shoulders or knees. Evidence of recreational swimming in prehistoric times has been found, with the earliest evidence dating to Stone Age paintings from around 10,000 years ago. Written references date from 2000 BC, with some of the earliest references to swimming including the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf, the Quran and others. In 1538, Nikolaus Wynmann, a Swiss–German professor of languages, wrote the earliest known complete book about swimming, Colymbetes, sive de arte natandi dialogus et festivus et iucundus lectu (The Swimmer, or A Dialogue on the Art of Swimming and Joyful and Pleasant to Read).[5] Swimming emerged as a competitive recreational activity in the 1830s in England. In 1828, the first indoor swimming pool, St Georges Baths was opened to the public.[6] By 1837, the National Swimming Society was holding regular swimming competitions in six artificial swimming pools, built around London. The recreational activity grew in popularity and by 1880, when the first national governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association was formed, there were already over 300 regional clubs in operation across the country.[7]
Ordnance Survey National Grid. The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system (OSGB), also known as British National Grid (BNG),[1][2] is a system of geographic grid references, distinct from latitude and longitude, whereby any location in Great Britain can be described in terms of its distance from the origin (0, 0), which lies to the west of the Isles of Scilly.[3] The Ordnance Survey (OS) devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in its survey data, and in maps based on those surveys, whether published by the Ordnance Survey or by commercial map producers. Grid references are also commonly quoted in other publications and data sources, such as guide books and government planning documents. A number of different systems exist that can provide grid references for locations within the British Isles: this article describes the system created solely for Great Britain and its outlying islands (including the Isle of Man). The Irish grid reference system is a similar system created by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland for the island of Ireland. The Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM) coordinate reference system was adopted in 2001 and is now the preferred coordinate reference system across Ireland. ITM is based on the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system (UTM), used to provide grid references for worldwide locations, and this is the system commonly used for the Channel Islands. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS), or variants of it. The first letter of the British National Grid is derived from a larger set of 25 squares of size 500 km by 500 km, labelled A to Z, omitting one letter (I) (refer diagram below), previously used as a military grid.[4] Four of these largest squares contain significant land area within Great Britain: S, T, N and H. The O square contains a tiny area of North Yorkshire, Beast Cliff at OV 0000, almost all of which lies below mean high tide.[5] For the second letter, each 500 km square is subdivided into 25 squares of size 100 km by 100 km, each with a letter code from A to Z (again omitting I) starting with A in the north-west corner to Z in the south-east corner. These squares are outlined in light grey on the 100km squares map, with those containing land lettered. The central (2° W) meridian is shown in red.
Urbanization. Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It can also mean population growth in urban areas instead of rural ones.[1] It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin to live and work in central areas.[2] Although the two concepts are sometimes used interchangeably, urbanization should be distinguished from urban growth. Urbanization refers to the proportion of the total national population living in areas classified as urban, whereas urban growth strictly refers to the absolute number of people living in those areas.[3] It is predicted that by 2050, about 64% of the developing world and 86% of the developed world will be urbanized. This is predicted to generate artificial scarcities of land, lack of drinking water, playgrounds and other essential resources for most urban dwellers.[4] The predicted urban population growth is equivalent to approximately 3 billion urbanites by 2050, much of which will occur in Africa and Asia.[5] Notably, the United Nations has also recently projected that nearly all global population growth from 2017 to 2030 will take place in cities, with about 1.1 billion new urbanites over the next 10 years.[6] In the long term, urbanization is expected to significantly impact the quality of life in negative ways.[7][8] Urbanization is relevant to a range of disciplines, including urban planning, geography, sociology, architecture, economics, education, statistics, and public health. The phenomenon has been closely linked to globalization, modernization, industrialization, marketization, administrative/institutional power, and the sociological process of rationalization.[9][10][11] Urbanization can be seen as a specific condition at a set time (e.g. the proportion of total population or area in cities or towns), or as an increase in that condition over time. Therefore, urbanization can be quantified either in terms of the level of urban development relative to the overall population, or as the rate at which the urban proportion of the population is increasing. Urbanization creates enormous social, economic and environmental challenges, which provide an opportunity for sustainability with the potential to use resources much less or more efficiently, to create more sustainable land use and to protect the biodiversity of natural ecosystems. However, current urbanization trends have shown that massive urbanization has led to unsustainable ways of living.[5] Developing urban resilience and urban sustainability in the face of increased urbanization is at the centre of international policy in Sustainable Development Goal 11 Sustainable cities and communities. Urbanization is not merely a modern phenomenon, but a rapid and historic transformation of human social roots on a global scale, whereby predominantly rural culture is being rapidly replaced by predominantly urban culture. The first major change in settlement patterns was the accumulation of hunter-gatherers into villages many thousands of years ago. Village culture is characterized by common bloodlines, intimate relationships, and communal behaviour, whereas urban culture is characterized by distant bloodlines, unfamiliar relations, and competitive behaviour. This unprecedented movement of people is forecast to continue and intensify during the next few decades, mushrooming cities to sizes unthinkable only a century ago. As a result, the world urban population growth curve has up till recently followed a quadratic-hyperbolic pattern.[12]
William Pitt the Younger. William Pitt (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British statesman who served as the last prime minister of Great Britain from 1783 until the Acts of Union 1800, and the first prime minister of the United Kingdom from January 1801. He left office in March 1801, but served as prime minister again from 1804 until his death. He was also Chancellor of the Exchequer for all his time as prime minister. He is known as Pitt the Younger to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt the Elder, who had also previously served as prime minister. Pitts premierships, which came during the reign of King George III, were dominated by major political events in Europe, including the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Pitt, although often referred to as a Tory, or new Tory, called himself an independent Whig and was generally opposed to the development of a strict partisan political system. Pitt was regarded as an outstanding administrator who worked for efficiency and reform, bringing in a new generation of competent administrators. He increased taxes to pay for the great war against France and cracked down on radicalism. To counter the threat of Irish support for France, he engineered the Acts of Union 1800 and tried (but failed) to secure Catholic emancipation as part of the Union. He created the new Toryism, which revived the Tory Party and enabled it to stay in power for the next quarter of a century. The historian Asa Briggs argues that his personality did not endear itself to the British mind, for Pitt was too solitary and too colourless, and too often exuded an attitude of superiority. His greatness came in the war with France. Pitt reacted to become what Lord Minto called the Atlas of our reeling globe. William Wilberforce said, For personal purity, disinterestedness and love of this country, I have never known his equal.[1] The historian Charles Petrie concludes that he was one of the greatest prime ministers if on no other ground than that he enabled the country to pass from the old order to the new without any violent upheaval ... He understood the new Britain.[2] For this he is ranked highly amongst all British prime ministers in multiple surveys.[3][4] Pitt served as prime minister for a total of eighteen years, 343 days, making him the second-longest-serving British prime minister after Robert Walpole. Having entered office at the age of 24, Pitt is the youngest prime minister in both British and world history.[5][6][7]
Districts of England. The districts of England (officially, local authority districts, abbreviated LADs) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government.[1] As the structure of local government in England is not uniform, there are currently four principal types of district-level subdivision. There are a total of 296 districts made up of 36 metropolitan boroughs, 32 London boroughs, 164 two-tier non-metropolitan districts and 62 unitary authorities, as well as the City of London and the Isles of Scilly which are also districts but do not correspond to any of these other categories. Some districts are styled as cities, boroughs or royal boroughs; these are purely honorific titles and do not alter the status of the district or the powers of their councils. All boroughs and cities (and a few districts) are led by a mayor who in most cases is a ceremonial figure elected by the district council, but—after local government reform—is occasionally a directly elected mayor who makes most of the policy decisions instead of the council. Before the establishment of districts in the 1890s, the basic unit of local government in England was the parish, overseen by the parish church vestry committee. Vestries dealt with the administration of both parochial and secular governmental matters. Parishes were the successors of the manorial system and historically had been grouped into hundreds, which had exercised some supervising administrative function. However, these powers ebbed away as more and more civic and judicial powers were centred on county towns.[2] From 1834 these parishes were grouped into Poor Law Unions, creating areas for administration of the Poor Law. These areas were later used for census registration and as the basis for sanitary provision. In 1894, based on these earlier subdivisions, the Local Government Act 1894 created urban districts and rural districts as sub-divisions of administrative counties, which had been created in 1889. At the same time, parish-level local government administration was transferred to civil parishes. Another reform in 1900 created 28 metropolitan boroughs as sub-divisions of the County of London. The setting-down of the current structure of districts in England began in 1965, when Greater London and its 32 London boroughs were created. They are the oldest type of district still in use. In 1974, metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan counties (also known as shire counties) were created across the rest of England and were split into metropolitan districts and non-metropolitan districts. The status of the London boroughs and metropolitan districts changed in 1986, when they absorbed the functions and some of the powers of the metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council, which were abolished. Since 2000, powers are again shared (on a different basis) with the Greater London Authority.
Ceremonial counties of England. Ceremonial counties,[2] formally known as counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies,[3] are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. A lord-lieutenant is the monarchs representative in an area.[4] Shrieval counties have the same boundaries and serve a similar purpose, being the areas to which high sheriffs are appointed. High sheriffs are the monarchs judicial representative in an area.[5] The ceremonial counties are defined in the Lieutenancies Act 1997, and the shrieval counties in the Sheriffs Act 1887. Both are defined as groups of counties used for local government. The historic counties of England were originally used as areas for administering justice and organising the militia, overseen by a sheriff. From Tudor times onwards a lord-lieutenant was appointed to oversee the militia, taking some of the sheriffs functions.[6]
Edo River. The Edo River (江戸川, Edo-gawa) is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It splits from the Tone River at the northernmost tip of Noda City in the Sekiyado district, crosses through Nagareyama and Matsudo, and empties into Tokyo Bay at Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. The Edo forms the borders between Tokyo, Chiba, and Saitama prefectures. The Edo River is 59.5 kilometres (37.0 mi) long.[1][2][3] The course of the Edo River was originally the lower course of the Tone River. The Tone was diverted in 1654 by the Tokugawa shogunate to protect the city of Edo from flooding. The Edo was used to connect the north and east of the Kantō region to the capital at Edo, specifically to transport large amounts of cargo from Chōshi and other cities on the Pacific Ocean coast inland to the capital.[3] Before the industrialization of the Tokyo region the river was also used to cultivate lotus roots.[1] Inland transportation ended in the early 20th century due to the development of an extensive rail cargo network in the Kantō region, but the Edo River remains an important source of water for industrial production as well as drainage for the densely populated areas of metropolitan Tokyo. Tokyo Disneyland is located on landfill adjacent to a diverted branch of the Edo River known as the Kyū Edo River which empties into Tokyo Bay between Urayasu, Chiba and the Minamikasai district of Edogawa, Tokyo. The Edo river has distance markers at every 250 meters that mark the distance from the river mouth that meets with the Tokyo Bay. 35°40′14″N 139°57′02″E / 35.670687°N 139.950556°E / 35.670687; 139.950556 (mouth)
Tokyo Bay (novel). Tokyo Bay is a 1996 historical-romance novel by Anthony Grey.[1] Grey said that he spent four years doing research for the book.[2] Set in 1853 during the Perry Expedition, it portrays the events that follow when a US Navy officer disobeys orders and jumps ship to gather information about the Japanese. A fleet of two American steam-powered ships and a few conventional vessels enter Edo Bay, setting off panic among a people who have been sealed off from the rest of the world for over 200 years. Navy lieutenant Robert Eden, an idealistic New Englander, fears that the imperial intentions of his technologically advanced nation may ignite a violent conflict. Eden jumps ship with his loyal Japanese sidekick, Sentaro, who was rescued years earlier at sea by Americans. The lieutenant finds himself plunged into an entirely new world of menacing warriors, agitated Japanese who view Americans as monsters, and a geisha whos escaping from her job serving Japanese men of power. The two meet at a waterfall late at night and Eden saves her. They end up having sex and proclaiming their love for each other the first night. The rest of the novel deals with their romance and the unfolding events involving the American navy and officials representing the shogun.
Arakawa River (Kantō). The Arakawa River or Ara River (Japanese: 荒川, Hepburn: Arakawa; kawa (川) already means river) is a 173-kilometre (107 mi) long river that flows through Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo.[1] Its average flow in 2002 was 30 m3/s. It originates on Mount Kobushi in Saitama Prefecture, and empties into Tokyo Bay.[2] It has a total catchment area of 2,940 km2 (1,140 sq mi). The river is one of Tokyos major sources of tap water, and together with the Tone River, accounts for around 80% of Tokyos water supply as of 2018.[3] The Okubo water purification plant takes water from the river. Attempts to control flooding of the Arakawa River have been made since the area that is now Tokyo became the de facto capital of Japan during the Edo period. Following a major flood in 1910 that damaged a large part of central Tokyo, a 22-kilometre (14 mi) long drainage canal was constructed between 1911 and 1924. In 1996 an agreement was signed to make it a sister river of the Potomac River in the eastern United States.[2] This means that officials and volunteers from both river areas collaborate with each other.[4] This river is also depicted in many anime such as Toaru Kagaku no Railgun and Arakawa Under the Bridge, which is set on the riverbank.
Childrens Literature (journal). Childrens Literature is an academic journal and annual publication of the Modern Language Association and the Childrens Literature Association Division on Childrens Literature. The journal was founded in 1972 by Francelia Butler and promotes a scholarly approach to the study of childrens literature by printing theoretical articles and essays, as well as book reviews. The publication is currently edited by Amanda Cockrell, of Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. The current editor in chief is R. H. W. Dillard. Childrens Literature is published annually in May by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Each issue has an average length of 300 pages.
2011 United Kingdom census. A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet.[1] The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the census in England and Wales, the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) is responsible for the census in Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) is responsible for the census in Northern Ireland. The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department formed in 2008 and which reports directly to Parliament. ONS is the UK Governments single largest statistical producer of independent statistics on the UKs economy and society, used to assist the planning and allocation of resources, policy-making and decision-making.[2] ONS designs, manages and runs the census in England and Wales. In its capacity as the national statistics office for the United Kingdom, ONS also compiles and releases census tables for the United Kingdom when the data from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are complete. In the run-up to the census both the main UK political parties expressed concerns about the increasing cost and the value for money of the census, and it was suggested that the 2011 census might be the last decennial census to be taken.[3] The first results from the 2011 census, age and sex, and occupied households estimates for England and Wales and Northern Ireland, were released on 16 July 2012.[4] The first results for Scotland,[5] and the first UK-wide results, were published on 17 December 2012.[6] More detailed and specialised data were published from 2013. The Registrar General John Rickman conducted the first census of Great Britains population, and was responsible for the ten-yearly reports published between 1801 and 1831. During the first 100 years of census-taking the population of England and Wales grew more than threefold, to around 32 million, and that of Scotland, where a separate census has been carried out since 1861, to about 4.5 million.
Borough of Halton. The Borough of Halton (/hɒltən/) is a local authority district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, North West England. It is administered by Halton Borough Council, a unitary authority since 1998.[5] The borough contains the towns of Runcorn and Widnes and the civil parishes of Daresbury, Hale, Halebank, Moore, Preston Brook, and Sandymoor.[6] Since 2014, it has been part of the Liverpool City Region and the council is a member of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. The neighbouring districts (clockwise from west) are Liverpool, Knowsley and St Helens, which are fellow boroughs of the Liverpool City Region, and Warrington and Cheshire West and Chester in Cheshire. The River Mersey marks the boundary of the historic counties of Lancashire (to the north) and Cheshire (to the south). Before 1974, Widnes was administered by the Municipal Borough of Widnes in Lancashire, and Runcorn by Runcorn Urban District Council in Cheshire. The 1969 Redcliffe-Maud Report recommended reforms to local government in England, including the abolition of all existing local government areas. They were to be replaced by mostly unitary authorities with the exception of three two-tier metropolitan areas to be called Merseyside, SELNEC (an acronym of South East Lancashire & North East Cheshire), and West Midlands. Runcorn and Widnes would form part of the new Merseyside Metropolitan Area under a district called St Helens-Widnes.[7]
The Childrens Book. The Childrens Book is a 2009 novel by British writer A. S. Byatt. It follows the adventures of several inter-related families, adults and children, from 1895 through World War I. Loosely based upon the life of childrens writer E. Nesbit[1] there are secrets slowly revealed that show that the families are much more creatively formed than first guessed. It was shortlisted for the 2009 Booker Prize.[1] The Wellwood family (Olive, Humphry, Olives sister Violet, and many children) are Fabians, living in a world of artists, writers, and craftsmen, all moving into new ways to express art, and living an artful life, before the horrors and loss of the Great War. While the central character of Olive is a writer of childrens literature, supporting her large family with her writing, the title of the book refers to the children in the book: Tom, Julian, Philip, Elsie, Dorothy, Hedda, Griselda, Florence, Charles/Karl, Phyllis, and others, following each as they approach adulthood and the terrors of war.[2] In an interview with The Guardian Byatt says: I started with the idea that writing childrens books isnt good for the writers own children. There are some dreadful stories. Christopher Robin at least lived. Kenneth Grahames son put himself across a railway line and waited for the train. Then theres J. M. Barrie. One of the boys that Barrie adopted almost certainly drowned himself. This struck me as something that needed investigating. And the second thing was, I was interested in the structure of E. Nesbits family—how they all seemed to be Fabians and fairy-story writers.
Population density. Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.[1] Population density is population divided by total land area, sometimes including seas and oceans, as appropriate.[1] Low densities may cause an extinction vortex and further reduce fertility. This is called the Allee effect after the scientist who identified it. Examples of the causes of reduced fertility in low population densities are:[2] Population density is the number of people per unit of area, usually transcribed as per square kilometre or square mile, and which may include or exclude, for example, areas of water or glaciers. Commonly this is calculated for a county, city, country, another territory or the entire world.
Napoleon. Napoleon Bonaparte[b] (born Napoleone di Buonaparte;[1][c] 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815. He led the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then ruled the French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. He was King of Italy from 1805 to 1814 and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine from 1806 to 1813. Born on the island of Corsica to a family of Italian origin, Napoleon moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned as an officer in the French Royal Army in 1785. He supported the French Revolution in 1789 and promoted its cause in Corsica. He rose rapidly through the ranks after winning the siege of Toulon in 1793 and defeating royalist insurgents in Paris on 13 Vendémiaire in 1795. In 1796 he commanded a military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allies in the War of the First Coalition, scoring decisive victories and becoming a national hero. He led an invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798 which served as a springboard to political power. In November 1799 Napoleon engineered the Coup of 18 Brumaire against the French Directory and became First Consul of the Republic. He won the Battle of Marengo in 1800, which secured Frances victory in the War of the Second Coalition, and in 1803 he sold the territory of Louisiana to the United States. In December 1804 Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French, further expanding his power. The breakdown of the Treaty of Amiens led to the War of the Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered the coalition with a decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. In the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon defeated Prussia at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt in 1806, marched his Grande Armée into Eastern Europe, and defeated the Russians in 1807 at the Battle of Friedland. Seeking to extend his trade embargo against Britain, Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula and installed his brother Joseph as King of Spain in 1808, provoking the Peninsular War. In 1809 the Austrians again challenged France in the War of the Fifth Coalition, in which Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after winning the Battle of Wagram. In the summer of 1812 he launched an invasion of Russia, briefly occupying Moscow before conducting a catastrophic retreat of his army that winter. In 1813 Prussia and Austria joined Russia in the War of the Sixth Coalition, in which Napoleon was decisively defeated at the Battle of Leipzig. The coalition invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. They exiled him to the Mediterranean island of Elba and restored the Bourbons to power. Ten months later, Napoleon escaped from Elba on a brig, landed in France with a thousand men, and marched on Paris, again taking control of the country. His opponents responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821, aged 51. Napoleon is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history, and Napoleonic tactics are still studied at military schools worldwide. His legacy endures through the modernizing legal and administrative reforms he enacted in France and Western Europe, embodied in the Napoleonic Code. He established a system of public education,[2] abolished the vestiges of feudalism,[3] emancipated Jews and other religious minorities,[4] abolished the Spanish Inquisition,[5] enacted the principle of equality before the law for an emerging middle class,[6] and centralized state power at the expense of religious authorities.[7] His conquests acted as a catalyst for political change and the development of nation states. However, he is controversial because of his role in wars which devastated Europe, his looting of conquered territories, and his mixed record on civil rights. He abolished the free press, ended directly elected representative government, exiled and jailed critics of his regime, reinstated slavery in Frances colonies except for Haiti, banned the entry of black people and mulattos into France, reduced the civil rights of women and children in France, reintroduced a hereditary monarchy and nobility,[8][9][10] and violently repressed popular uprisings against his rule.[11]
Jessie Willcox Smith. Jessie Willcox Smith (September 6, 1863 – May 3, 1935) was an American illustrator during the Golden Age of American illustration.[2] She was considered one of the greatest pure illustrators.[3] A contributor to books and magazines during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Smith illustrated stories and articles for clients such as Century, Colliers, Leslies Weekly, Harpers, McClures, Scribners, and the Ladies Home Journal. She had an ongoing relationship with Good Housekeeping, which included a long-running Mother Goose series of illustrations and also the creation of all the Good Housekeeping covers from December 1917 to 1933. Smith illustrated over sixty books, including notable works like Louisa May Alcotts Little Women and An Old-Fashioned Girl, Henry Wadsworth Longfellows Evangeline, and Robert Louis Stevensons A Childs Garden of Verses. Jessie Willcox Smith was born on September 6, 1863, in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the youngest daughter of Charles Henry Smith, an investment broker, and Katherine DeWitt Willcox Smith.[4][5] Jessie attended private elementary schools. At sixteen, she was sent to Cincinnati, Ohio, to live with her cousins and finish her education. She trained to be a teacher and taught kindergarten in 1883. However, Smith found that the physical demands of working with children were too strenuous for her.[6][7] She struggled to bend down to their level because of her back problems.[5] Smith discovered her talent for drawing after being persuaded to attend an art lesson taught by her cousin.[7] In 1884, Smith attended the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art and Design) and in 1885 attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia under Thomas Eakins and Thomas Anshutz supervision. It was under Eakins that Smith began to use photography as a resource in her illustrations.[7] Although Eakins demeanor could be difficult, particularly with female students, he became one of her first major influences.[8] Smiths illustration Three Little Maidens All in a Row was published in the St. Nicholas Magazine in May 1888, while she was still a student at the Pennsylvania Academy.[9] Illustration was one artistic avenue through which women could earn a living at the time.[5] Creating illustrations for childrens books or of family life was considered an appropriate career for woman artists because it drew upon maternal instincts. Alternatively, fine art that included life drawing was not deemed ladylike.[10] Illustration partly became viable as a result of improved color printing processes and a resurgence of book design in England.[11] Smith graduated from PAFA in June 1888.[9] The same year, she was hired for an entry-level position in the advertising department of the Ladies Home Journal. Smiths responsibilities included finishing rough sketches, designing borders, and preparing advertising art for the magazine.[9][12] In this role, she illustrated Mary Wiley Stavers 1892 poetry collection New and True.[9]
Childrens Story. Childrens Story is a song by British-American rapper Slick Rick, released on April 4, 1989 by Def Jam and Columbia as the second single from his debut album The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1989). The song, written by Rick, tells a cautionary tale warning about the dangers of a life of crime. The most successful single of The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, Childrens Story was a top-five hit on both the Billboard Hot Black Singles and Hot Rap Singles charts, staying on the former chart for nineteen weeks and the latter for eleven. The song was also critically acclaimed, with reviewers praising its storytelling and musical tone. Since its release, it has become one of the most sampled rap songs of all time. Childrens Story uses a piano interpolation of the bassline of Bob James 1974 instrumental Nautilus.[1][2] In an 2018 interview with Rolling Stone, Rick stated that he chose to interpolate the song due to its gritty city edge, stating: it was big in urban communities before rap records, right? When they used to have street concerts, picnics, barbecues, whatever when they play outside and stuff like that — like the Cold Crush Brothers, like Flash and them before they made records. After developing the beat, Rick began working on the lyrics.[1] Originally, the song was about a fairytale, but later in the albums development, Rick changed the subject matter into a cautionary story about criminal behavior.[3] Although Rick wanted Childrens Story to be the first single of The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, Def Jam chose to release Teenage Love first.[4] As a result, Childrens Story was released as the second single from the album on April 4, 1989,[5][6] although the original demo of the song was already in rotation on rap/R&B radio stations and MTV prior to its release.[3] Henry Adaso of LiveAbout ranked it #44 on his list of the 100 greatest rap songs, stating that it was a masterfully woven narrative ... by hip-hops greatest storyteller.[7] Jesse Ducker, writing for Albumism, stated that the song was on many a shortlist for greatest hip-hop songs of all time, noting how it was a classic tale of the perils of getting caught up in the street life, whose musical tone manages to be both dark and upbeat, making it a timeless club staple.[5] Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone called it the epic yarn that defines storytelling rap, stating that it was a casually spit tale of cops and robbers, rise and fall, hubris and dread.[1] The Los Angeles Times called it a violent, clever bedtime tale.[8]
Lithography. Lithography (from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos) stone and γράφω (gráphō) to write)[1] is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water.[2] The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German author and actor Alois Senefelder and was initially used mostly for musical scores and maps.[3][4] Lithography can be used to print text or images onto paper or other suitable material.[5] A lithograph is something printed by lithography, but this term is only used for fine art prints and some other, mostly older, types of printed matter, not for those made by modern commercial lithography. Traditionally, the image to be printed was drawn with a greasy substance, such as oil, fat, or wax onto the surface of a smooth and flat limestone plate. The stone was then treated with a mixture of weak acid and gum arabic (etch) that made the parts of the stones surface that were not protected by the grease more hydrophilic (water attracting). For printing, the stone was first moistened. The water adhered only to the etched, hydrophilic areas, making them even more oil-repellant. An oil-based ink was then applied, and would stick only to the original drawing. The ink would finally be transferred to a blank sheet of paper, producing a printed page. This traditional technique is still used for fine art printmaking.[6] In modern commercial lithography, the image is transferred or created as a patterned polymer coating applied to a flexible plastic or metal plate.[7] The printing plates, made of stone or metal, can be created by a photographic process, a method that may be referred to as photolithography (although the term usually refers to a vaguely similar microelectronics manufacturing process).[8][9] Offset printing or offset lithography is an elaboration of lithography in which the ink is transferred from the plate to the paper indirectly by means of a rubber plate or cylinder, rather than by direct contact. This technique keeps the paper dry and allows fully automated high-speed operation. It has mostly replaced traditional lithography for medium- and high-volume printing: since the 1960s, most books and magazines, especially when illustrated in colour, are printed with offset lithography from photographically created metal plates. As a printing technology, lithography is different from intaglio printing (gravure), wherein a plate is engraved, etched, or stippled to score cavities to contain the printing ink; and woodblock printing or letterpress printing, wherein ink is applied to the raised surfaces of letters or images.
Tokyo Disney Resort. The Tokyo Disney Resort (東京ディズニーリゾート) (local nickname TDR[1]) is a theme park and vacation resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, just east of Tokyo. The resort is owned and operated by the Oriental Land Co., a subsidiary of the Keisei Electric Railway, under a license from The Walt Disney Company, which designed and constructed the resort and its various attractions through its Imagineering research & development arm. The resort opened on April 15, 1983, as a single theme park (Tokyo Disneyland), later developing into a resort with a second theme park (Tokyo DisneySea), six Disney themed hotels, six non-Disney hotels and a shopping complex (Ikspiari). Tokyo Disneyland was the first Disney theme park to open outside the United States and the complex is the only Disney resort in the world not owned or operated by Disney Experiences in any capacity. Tokyo Disney Resort consists of Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea, and Ikspiari, which is a variation of the Downtown Disney and Disney Springs shopping, dining, and entertainment areas found at the Disney resorts in Anaheim and Lake Buena Vista respectively. It also contains Bon Voyage!, a large Disney goods specialty shop. Like other Disney resorts, the Tokyo Disney Resort includes several Disney-branded hotels; the resorts three Deluxe Hotels are the Disney Ambassador Hotel, the Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta and the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. The Resort also includes the Moderate type Tokyo Disney Resort Toy Story Hotel and the Value type Tokyo Disney Resort Celebration Hotel. There are six other hotels located on the Tokyo Disney Resort property. These, however, are not Disney-branded hotels and are owned by other companies, similar to the Hotel Plaza Boulevard hotels at Walt Disney World.
Surfing (disambiguation). Surfing is a surface water sport in which the rider, referred to as a surfer, rides on the forward or deep face of a moving wave. Related activities include: Surfing may also refer to:
North Korea. North Korea,[a] officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK),[b] is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu (Amnok) and Tumen rivers, and South Korea to the south at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).[c] The countrys western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eastern border is defined by the Sea of Japan. North Korea, like South Korea, claims to be the sole legitimate government of the entire peninsula and adjacent islands. Pyongyang is the capital and largest city. The Korean Peninsula was first inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period. Its first kingdom was noted in Chinese records in the early 7th century BCE. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea into Silla and Balhae in the late 7th century, Korea was ruled by the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) and the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). The succeeding Korean Empire (1897–1910) was annexed in 1910 into the Empire of Japan. In 1945, after the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, Korea was divided into two zones along the 38th parallel, with the north occupied by the Soviet Union and the south occupied by the United States. In 1948, separate governments were formed in Korea: the socialist and Soviet-aligned Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea in the north, and the capitalist, Western-aligned Republic of Korea in the south. The North Korean invasion of South Korea in 1950 started the Korean War. In 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire and established a demilitarized zone (DMZ), but no formal peace treaty has ever been signed. Post-war North Korea benefited greatly from economic aid and expertise provided by other Eastern Bloc countries. However, Kim Il Sung, North Koreas first leader, promoted his personal philosophy of Juche as the state ideology. Pyongyangs international isolation sharply accelerated from the 1980s onwards as the Cold War came to an end. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 then brought about a sharp decline to the North Korean economy. From 1994 to 1998, North Korea suffered a famine with the population continuing to suffer from malnutrition. In 2024, the DPRK formally abandoned efforts to reunify Korea.[12] North Korea is a totalitarian dictatorship with a comprehensive cult of personality around the Kim family. Officially, North Korea is a communist state that self-designates as an independent socialist state[d] which holds democratic elections. The Workers Party of Korea (WPK) is the sole ruling party of North Korea. According to Article 3 of the constitution, Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism is the official ideology of North Korea. The means of production are owned by the state through state-run enterprises and collectivized farms. Most services—such as healthcare, education, housing, and food production—are subsidized or state-funded. North Korea follows Songun, a military first policy which prioritizes the Korean Peoples Army in state affairs and the allocation of resources. It possesses nuclear weapons. Its active-duty army of 1.28 million soldiers is the fourth-largest in the world. In addition to being a member of the United Nations since 1991, North Korea is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, the G77, and the ASEAN Regional Forum.
Surfer (disambiguation). A surfer takes part in the sport of surfing. Surfer may also refer to:
Ginkgo biloba. Ginkgo biloba, commonly known as ginkgo (/ˈɡɪŋkoʊ, ˈɡɪŋkɡoʊ/ GINK-oh, -⁠goh),[5][6] also known as the maidenhair tree,[7] and often misspelled gingko (but see #Etymology below) is a species of gymnosperm tree native to East Asia. It is the last living species in the order Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million years ago. Fossils similar to the living species, belonging to the genus Ginkgo, extend back to the Middle Jurassic epoch approximately 170 million years ago.[2] The tree was cultivated early in human history, remains commonly planted, and is widely regarded as a living fossil. G. biloba is a long-lived, disease-resistant, dioecious tree with unique fan-shaped leaves, capable of clonal reproduction, and known for its striking yellow autumn foliage and resilience in disturbed environments. It was known historically as silver fruit or white fruit in Chinese and called “ginkgo” due to a centuries-old transcription error. It is closely related to cycads and characterized by unique seeds that resemble apricots but are not true fruits. G. biloba, once widespread but thought extinct in the wild for centuries, is now commonly cultivated in East Asia, with some genetically diverse populations possibly representing rare wild survivors in southwestern China’s mountainous regions. Some G. biloba trees have survived extreme events like the Hiroshima atomic bomb and others showcasing extreme longevity; G. biloba specimens have been measured in excess of 1,600 years, and the largest living trees are estimated to exceed 3,500 years.[8][9][10] Today it is widely planted in cities worldwide for its pollution tolerance and ornamental value. G. biloba can pose health risks including potential carcinogenicity, allergic reactions, poisoning from seeds due to ginkgotoxin, drug interactions, and adverse effects such as bleeding and neurological symptoms, especially with excessive or improper use. G. biloba wood is valued for its durability and used in crafts and sake-making, while its seeds are popular in Asian cuisine despite health risks. While widely marketed for cognitive benefits, clinical research shows limited medical effectiveness except possibly for dementia, with approval in the European Union but not by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
Surfers Paradise, Queensland. Download coordinates as: Surfers Paradise (colloquially known as Surfers) is a central suburb of the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.[2][3] In the 2021 census, Surfers Paradise had a population of 26,412 people.[1] Colloquially known as Surfers, the suburb has many high-rise apartment buildings and a wide surf beach. The feature of the heart of the suburb is Cavill Mall, which runs through the shopping and entertainment precinct. Cavill Avenue, named after Jim Cavill, an early hotel owner, is one of the busiest shopping strips in Queensland, and the centre of activity for night life. One of the features of the area is the Surfers Paradise Meter Maids designed to build goodwill with tourists. Surfers Paradise is the Gold Coasts main entertainment and tourism centre and the suburbs many high-rise buildings are the best known feature of the citys skyline.
Peninsula. A peninsula[1][2] is a landform that extends from a mainland, is connected to the mainland on only one side, and is mostly surrounded by water.[3][4] Peninsulas exist on each continent.[2][5] The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula.[6][7] The word peninsula derives from Latin paeninsula, from paene almost and insula island. The word entered English in the 16th century.[3] A peninsula is generally defined as a piece of land surrounded on most sides by water.[8][9] A peninsula may be bordered by more than one body of water, and the body of water does not have to be an ocean or a sea.[10] A piece of land on a very tight river bend or one between two rivers is sometimes said to form a peninsula, for example in the New Barbadoes Neck in New Jersey, United States.[8] A peninsula may be connected to the mainland via an isthmus; for example, the Isthmus of Corinth connects to the Peloponnese peninsula.[11] Peninsulas can be formed by continental drift, glacial erosion, glacial meltwater, glacial deposition, marine sediment, marine transgressions, volcanoes, divergent boundaries or river sedimentation.[12] More than one factor may contribute to the formation of a peninsula. For example, in the case of Florida, continental drift, marine sediment, and marine transgressions all contributed to its shape.[13]
Mount Atago (Minamibōsō, Chiba). Mount Atago (愛宕山, Atago-yama) is a mountain on the border of the cities of Minamibōsō and Kamogawa in Chiba Prefecture, Japan with an altitude of 408.2 m (1,339 ft). It is the highest point in Chiba Prefecture. Mount Atago is at the west of the Mineoka Mountain District of the Bōsō Hill Range. The kanji for Mount Atago, 愛 and 宕, mean love and cave respectively. The mountain is also known as Mineoka Atago-yama as several other hills and mountains share the same name in Japan, most notably Mount Atago in the Tamba Mountains to the northwest of Kyōto.[1] Mount Atago was located in the historical Awa Province, which occupied the southern tip of the Bōsō Peninsula. Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199), founder and first shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate, visited Awa Province shortly before his return to Kyōto and the establishment of the shogunate. He visited Mount Atago, dedicated a Jizō Bosatsu statue at the summit of the mountain, and vowed to return to the area. Mount Atago is now home to the JASDF Mineokayama Sub-Base, an air defence radar installation of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF).[2] The summit was confiscated by the United States Air Force in 1955, then later transferred to the JASDF. Construction on the radar facility began in 1978 and is considered to be strategically important to the defense of Japan. The mountain is also home to a triangulation station and the Atago Shrine. Mount Atago is open to the public only by permission of the JASDF. Hiking requires permission, at least a week in advance, from the JASDF Mineokayama Sub-Base. Permission is not always granted. Photography of the radar facility is not permitted.[3] Access to the triangulation station is not allowed. The summit of Mount Atago is the highest in Japan not open to the public.
Futsu. Futsu (布津町, Futsu-chō) was a town located in Minamitakaki District, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 4,788 and a density of 455.13 persons per km2. The total area was 10.52 km2. On March 31, 2006, Futsu, along with the towns of Arie, Fukae, Kazusa, Kitaarima, Kuchinotsu, Minamiarima and Nishiarie (all from Minamitakaki District), was merged to create the city of Minamishimabara.[1][2] This Nagasaki Prefecture location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Sports governing body. A sports governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions, including disciplinary procedure for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport that they govern. Governing bodies have different scopes. They may cover a range of sport at an internationally acceptable level, such as the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, or only a single sport at a national level, such as the Rugby Football League. National bodies will largely have to be affiliated with international bodies for the same sport. The first international federations were formed at the end of the 19th century. Every sport has a different governing body that can define the way that the sport operates through its affiliated clubs and societies. This is because sports have different levels of difficulty and skill, so they can try to organize the people playing their sport by ability and by age. There are several different types of sport governing bodies. International sports federations are non-governmental non-profit organizations for a given sport (or a group of similar sport disciplines, such as aquatics or skiing) and administers its sport at the highest level.[1] These federations work to create a common set of rules, promote their sport, and organize international competitions. International sports federations represent their sport at the Olympic level where applicable. About 30 international sport federations are located in Switzerland, with about 20 or so in the Lausanne area, where the International Olympic Committee is located.[1]
Obitsu River. 35°24′31″N 139°53′54″E / 35.40861°N 139.89833°E / 35.40861; 139.89833 The Obitsu River (小櫃川, Obitsu-gawa) is a river in Kimitsu, Kisarazu, and Sodegaura, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The river is 88 kilometers (55 mi) in length and has a drainage area of 273.2 square kilometers (105.5 sq mi). The Obitsu emerges from the densely forested valleys around Mount Motokiyosumi (344 meters (1,129 ft)) in the Bōsō Hill Range[1] and empties into Tokyo Bay. It is the second largest river in Chiba Prefecture after the Tone River (322 kilometers (200 mi)).[1] The upper reaches of the Obitsu meander through Kimitsu, the middle of the river runs more directly through Kisarazu, and the lower reaches form and estuary and a triangular delta in Sodegaura, an area known as the Banzu Tidal Flats. The Obitsu then turns briefly west back into Kisarazu to empty into Tokyo Bay.[1] The tidal flats of the Obitsu host numerous species of birds and crustaceans. In 2012 an IUCN Red List endangered species crab, Uca lactea lactea, was discovered at the mouth of the river, and may be the northernmost habitat of the crab in Japan.[2] The Koito River, similarly to the Obitsu, emerges from Mount Motokiyosumi, flows east across Bōsō Peninsula, and empties into Tokyo Bay. The two rivers are the longest in the western region of the peninsula.[3] The Kamegawa Dam was built near the Kazusa-Kameyama Station on the JR East Kururi Line on the upper part of the Obitsu River in 1979.[1] The dam forms an artificial lake, Lake Kameyama. The lake is the largest reservoir in Chiba Prefecture with a diameter of 35 kilometers (22 mi).[4]
Kantō region. The Kantō region (関東地方, Kantō Chihō; IPA: [kaꜜn.toː, kan.toː tɕiꜜ.hoː, kan.toː tɕi̥.hoꜜː]) is a geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan.[2] In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi, and Tokyo. Slightly more than 45 percent of the land area within its boundaries is the Kantō Plain. The rest consists of the hills and mountains that form land borders with other regions of Japan. As the Kantō region contains Tokyo, the capital and largest city of Japan, the region is considered the center of Japans politics and economy. According to the official census on October 1, 2010 by the Statistics Bureau of Japan, the population was 42,607,376,[3] amounting to approximately one third of the total population of Japan. The Kantō regional governors association (関東地方知事会, Kantō chihō chijikai) assembles the prefectural governors of Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano, and Shizuoka.[4][5] The Kantō Regional Development Bureau (関東地方整備局, Kantō chihō seibi-kyoku) of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in the national government is responsible for eight prefectures generally (Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi) and parts of the waterways in two others (Nagano and Shizuoka).[6]
Tone River. The Tone River (利根川, Tone-gawa; Japanese pronunciation: [to.ne.ɡa.wa, -ŋa.wa], locally [to.neꜜ.ɡa.wa, -ŋa.wa][1]) is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is 322 kilometers (200 mi) in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano River) and has a drainage area of 16,840 square kilometers (6,500 sq mi) (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (坂東太郎); Bandō is an obsolete alias of the Kantō Region, and Tarō is a popular given name for an oldest son.[2] It is regarded as one of the Three Greatest Rivers of Japan, the others being the Shinano River in northeastern Honshu and the Ishikari River in Hokkaido. The source of the Tone River is at Mount Ōminakami [Wikidata] (大水上山) (1,831 meters (6,007 ft)) in the Echigo Mountains, which straddle the border between Gunma and Niigata Prefectures in Jōshinetsu Kōgen National Park.[2] The Tone gathers tributaries and pours into the Pacific Ocean at Cape Inubō, Choshi in Chiba Prefecture.[3] Major tributaries of the Tone River include the Agatsuma, Watarase, Kinu, Omoi, and the Kokai River [Wikidata]. The Edo River branches away from the river and flows into Tokyo Bay. The Tone River was once known for its uncontrollable nature, and its route changed whenever floods occurred. It is hard to trace its ancient route, but it originally flowed into Tokyo Bay along the route of the present-day Edo River, and tributaries like the Watarase and Kinu had independent river systems. For the sake of water transportation and flood control, extensive construction began in the 17th century during the Tokugawa shogunate, when the Kantō region became the political center of Japan.[4] The course of the river was significantly changed, and the present route of the river was determined during the Meiji period,[5] with the assistance of Dutch civil engineer Anthonie Rouwenhorst Mulder.[6] Its vast watershed is thus largely artificial. Two ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy were named after the river, one of World War I vintage and another from World War II, the lead ship of its class. A third modern ship currently in service with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is also named after the river.
Mount Nokogiri (Chiba). Mount Nokogiri (鋸山, Nokogiri-yama) literally saw mountain is a low mountain on the Bōsō Peninsula on Honshu, Japan. It lies on the southern border of the city of Futtsu and the town Kyonan in Awa District in Chiba Prefecture. The mountain runs east to west, having the characteristic sawtoothed profile of a Japanese saw (鋸, nokogiri). It falls steeply into Tokyo Bay on its western side, where it is pierced by two road tunnels and a rail tunnel, carrying the Uchibo Line south from Futtsu to Tateyama. Both features are due in part to the mountains history as a stone quarry in the Edo period, the marks of which are still picturesquely evident. The western side of the mountain is also the site of the sprawling Nihon-ji temple complex, which is the home of two Daibutsu sculptures - a huge seated carving of Yakushi Nyorai that at 31.05 metres (101.9 ft) tall[1] is the largest pre-modern, stone-carved Daibutsu in Japan, and the Hundred-shaku Kannon, a tall relief image of Kannon carved into one of the quarry walls - as well as 1500 hand-carved arhat sculptures, which combined with the spectacular scenery of the Bōsō Hills and Tokyo Bay, make Mount Nokogiri a popular tourism destination. The temple is accessible by road and by a cable car, the Nokogiriyama Ropeway, which runs from Hamakanaya Station on the JR Uchibo Line to a lookout deck near the top of the temple precinct.[2] The western end of the mountain falls precipitously into Tokyo Bay, where Cape Myōgane (Japanese: 明鐘岬) is a good place to watch large ships pass through Uraga Channel at sunset.
Futtsu Power Station. The Futtsu Power Station (富津火力発電所) is the fourth largest gas-fired power station in the world, located in Futtsu, Japan. The power station operates at 5,040 MW by utilizing four groups of units, with 14 combined cycle units, 4 advanced combined cycle units, and 3 more advanced combined cycle units (high temperature combined cycle).[2][3] All four units run on natural gas. The facility is owned by Tepco.[4][5] This article about a Japanese power station is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
World Surf League. The World Surf League (WSL)[1] is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the worlds best talent in a variety of progressive formats.[2] The WSL was originally known as International Professional Surfing (IPS), founded by Fred Hemmings and Randy Rarick in 1976. IPS created the first world circuit of pro surfing events. In 1983, the Association of Surfing Pros (ASP) took over management of the world circuit. In 2013, the ASP was acquired by ZoSea, backed by Paul Speaker, Terry Hardy, and Dirk Ziff.[3] At the start of the 2015 season, the ASP changed its name to the World Surf League.[4] As of December 2017, the WSL had more than 6.5 million Facebook fans, surpassing more established sports such as the National Hockey League, the Association of Tennis Professionals and Major League Soccer. Sports Business Journal reported that 28 million hours of WSL digital video content were consumed during the 2017 season, making WSL the third most watched sport online in the United States behind NFL and NBA.[5] In January 2018, Forbes reported that the WSL had signed an exclusive deal for digital broadcast rights, with Facebook, worth $30 million over two years.[5] Sophie Goldschmidt was appointed as WSL CEO on 19 July 2017.[6] Paul Speaker had stepped down as CEO on 11 January 2017,[7] and Dirk Ziff acted as the interim WSL CEO until Goldschmidts appointment. Erik Logan, former Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) president and executive vice president at Harpo Studios, was appointed as WSL CEO on 14 January 2020.[8] Logan exited his position as CEO on 29 June 2023.[9] On 11 April 2024, Ryan Crosby was announced as CEO, effective 13 May 2024.[10] The predecessors of the WSL relates to what organization predominantly represented individual professional surfers at that time. This is an important point because the International Surfing Federation (ISF) still functions to this day as the International Surfing Association (ISA) and also refers to competition winners as world champions (or variants thereof).[11][12]
Tokyo Bay Fortress. Tokyo Bay Fortress (東京湾要塞, Tokyo-wan yosai) was the name of a group of coastal fortifications built to guard the entrance to Tokyo Bay and thus the city of Tokyo from attack from the sea. These gun batteries and fortifications ceased to be used after the end of World War II. A series of six island fortresses (daiba) constructed in 1853 by Egawa Hidetatsu for the Tokugawa shogunate in order to protect Edo from attack by sea, the primary threat being Commodore Matthew Perrys Black Ships which had arrived in the same year to force Japan to end its centuries-old national isolation policy[1] Of the originally planned 11 batteries, seven were started construction but only six were ever finished, one of which was the artificial island of Odaiba.[2] After the Meiji restoration, the primary threats to the new Empire of Japan were perceived to be Qing Chinas Beiyang fleet, followed by the Russian Empires Pacific Fleet. The Meiji government ordered the construction of a new set of coastal fortifications starting in 1884. The main facilities were constructed on the western coast of the Boso Peninsula from Cape Susaki in Tateyama to Cape Futtsu in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture and from Jogashima at the southern tip of the Miura Peninsula to the Uraga Channel at the mouth of Tokyo Bay and extending to Natsushima in the city of Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture. The Tokyo Bay Garrison Command was established in 1894. It was renamed the Tokyo Bay Fortress Command in 1895 and was headquartered at Yokosuka. Many of the 28-cm howitzers installed in the gun emplacements around Tokyo Bay Fortress were removed during the Russo-Japanese War and were deployed to the Siege of Port Arthur, where they were deployed to devastating effect against the Russian Pacific Fleet. From the 1920s and 1930s, many surplus guns of the Imperial Japanese Navy, such as the 12-in main battery of the battleship Aki which had been made available due to the reduction of capital warships per the London Naval Treaty and the Washington Naval Treaty, were reused in these coastal artillery installations. An important feature of the Tokyo Bay Fortress was a series of three artificial islands built between Cape Futtsu and Cape Kannonzaki at the entrance to Tokyo Bay in the 1910s. Equipped with 15-cm guns, this enabled the Tokyo Bay Fortress to cover the entire span of Tokyo Bay within firing ranges and provided a second line of defense against any ships which might have breached the gun emplacements at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. The third of these islands (the one closest to Cape Kannonzaki) was rendered unusable by land subsidence caused by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. It remnants posed an ongoing threat to navigation, and were removed from 2000 to 2007.
Bookers Tower. Bookers Tower (also Bookers Tower) is a Grade II-listed four-storey octagonal tower built in the 19th century, in the Gothic style.[1] It is in Guildford, Surrey, to the west of the town centre on Beech Lane. It is adjacent to the Mount Cemetery, the resting place of Lewis Carroll.[2][3] Built on high ground to the west of Guildford town centre, it was commissioned by the then Mayor of Guildford, Charles Booker in memory of his sons, Charles and Henry, who had both died at the age of 15. The structure was completed in 1839 and was constructed by a local builder, John Mason, in Bargate stone with ashlar and brick dressings.[1][4] At the opening celebration in 1840, the tower was dedicated to mark the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. The ceremony involved the ringing of bells and the lighting of cannons and fireworks. Booker subsequently entertained friends at the tower and invited guests to view the construction of the railway lines to Woking and Guildford from the top.[4] In later years Bookers Tower was used by the Victorian scientist and Guildford resident, John Rand Capron, to observe astronomical phenomena.[5] He is also thought to have conducted experiments involving lightning at the site.[2]
North Downs. The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills and an area of downland in south-east England, that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent.[1] Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs. The North Downs Way National Trail runs along the North Downs from Farnham to Dover. The highest point in the North Downs is Botley Hill, Surrey (270 metres (890 ft) above sea level). The County Top of Kent is Betsoms Hill (251 m (823 ft) above sea level), which is less than 1 km from Westerham Heights, Bromley, the highest point in Greater London at an elevation of 245 m (804 ft). This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape of elevated rolling grassy hills in southern England, where chalk and limestone is exposed at the surface, acquiring this sense around the 14th century.[2] The name downs is derived from the Celtic word dun, meaning fort or fastness (and by extension fortified settlement, from which it entered English as town, similar to Germanic burg/burough), though the original meaning would have been hill, as early forts were commonly hillforts - compare Germanic burg (fort) and berg (mountain).[3] These hills are prefixed North to distinguish them from a similar range of hills – the South Downs – which runs roughly parallel to them but some 50 km (31 mi) away on the southern edge of the Weald that divides the two ranges of hills. The narrow spine of the Hogs Back between Farnham and Guildford forms the western extremity of the North Downs, whilst the cliffs between Folkestone and Deal terminate the ridge in the east. The North Downs cuesta has a steep south-facing scarp slope and a more gentle north-facing dip slope. Its southern boundary is defined by the low-lying Vale of Holmesdale at the foot of the escarpment, in which the underlying stratum is primarily gault clay. The northern boundary is less apparent but occurs where the chalk submerges below the more recent Paleocene deposits.[1]
Kawasaki, Kanagawa. Kawasaki[a], officially Kawasaki City[b], is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, one of the main cities of the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area. It is the second most populated city in Kanagawa Prefecture after Yokohama, and the eighth most populated city in Japan (including the Tokyo Metropolitan Area).[1] As of October 1, 2017[update], the city has an estimated population of 1,503,690, with 716,470 households,[1] and a population density of 10,000 persons per km2. Kawasaki is the only city in Japan with more than one million inhabitants that is not a prefectural capital. The total area is 142.70 km2 (55.10 sq mi). Archaeological evidence from the Japanese Paleolithic and Jōmon period can only be found in the northwest Tama Hills. The course of the Tama and the coast of the Bay of Tokyo have also changed in historical times, so that large parts of the urban area are geologically young. With the introduction of the Ritsuryō legal system, the area came to the Musashi Province in the 7th century. In the Nara period, the center of the Tachibana district was probably in the area of todays Takatsu district. Since the Heian period, the domain of the Inage clan has expanded here. Around the Heiken-ji Buddhist temple (better known as Kawasaki-Daishi), founded in 1128, a monzen-machi, a busy district for the supply of pilgrims, soon emerged. Between the Kamakura period and Sengoku period, smaller feudal lords ruled the area until it finally came under the control of the Later Hōjō clan.
Capital City. Capital City or Capitol City or variants, may refer to:
Saitama (city). Saitama (さいたま市, Saitama-shi; Japanese pronunciation: [saꜜi.ta.ma, sai.ta.maꜜ.ɕi][1]) is the capital and largest city of Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Its area incorporates the former cities of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono and Iwatsuki. It is a city designated by government ordinance. As of 1 February 2021[update], the city had an estimated population of 1,324,854, and a population density of 6,093 people per km2 (15,781 people per sq mi). Its total area is 217.43 square kilometres (83.95 sq mi).[2] The name Saitama originally comes from the Sakitama District (埼玉郡) of what is now the city of Gyōda in the northern part of what is now known as Saitama Prefecture. Sakitama has an ancient history and is mentioned in the famous 8th century poetry anthology Manyōshū. The pronunciation has changed from Sakitama to Saitama over the years. With the 2001 merger of Urawa, Ōmiya, and Yono, it was decided that a new name, one fitting for this newly created prefectural capital, was needed. The prefectural name Saitama (埼玉県) was changed from kanji into hiragana, thus Saitama City (さいたま市) was born. It is the only prefectural capital in Japan whose name is always written in hiragana, and belongs to the list of hiragana cities. However, Saitama written in hiragana (さいたま市) actually finished in second place in public polling to Saitama written in kanji (埼玉市). Despite this, government officials decided to name the new city Saitama in hiragana, not kanji. In third place in the poll was Ōmiya (大宮市). In fourth was Saitama (彩玉市), written with an alternative kanji for sai (彩) which means colorful. The sai (埼) used in the prefectural name is a rare form of a common character (崎) that means cape or promontory. The city is located 20 to 30 km north of central Tokyo, roughly at the center of the Kantō Plain. Situated in the southeast of Saitama Prefecture, the city is topographically comprised by lowlands and plateaus, at mostly less than 20 m above sea level, with no mountain ranges or hills within the city boundaries. The western portion of the city lies on the lowland created by the Arakawa River along with those created by small rivers such as the Moto-Arakawa River, Shiba River, and Ayase River. The rest of the area mostly resides on the Ōmiya Plateau lying in the north-south direction. Dispersed in this region, major rivers flow southward, almost paralleling to one another.
County seat. A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in six countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. An equivalent term, shire town, is used in the U.S. state of Vermont and in several other English-speaking jurisdictions.[1] In Canada, the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia have counties as an administrative division of government below the provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, the term shire town is used in place of county seat.[2][3] County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in the Peoples Republic of China. They have existed since the Warring States period and were set up nationwide by the Qin dynasty.[4][5] The number of counties in China proper gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As Qin Shi Huang reorganized the counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern Han dynasty, the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when the Sui dynasty abolished the commandery level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of the imperial bureaucratic structure;[6] in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of a county was the magistrate, who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases. The current number of counties mostly resembled that of the later years of the Qing dynasty. Changes of location and names of counties in Chinese history have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in Mainland China out of a total of 2,851 county-level divisions.
Hogs Back. The Hogs Back is a hilly ridge, part of the North Downs in Surrey, England. It runs between Farnham in the west and Guildford in the east. Compared with the main part of the Downs to the east of it, it is a narrow elongated ridge, hence its name. Jane Austen, in a letter to her sister Cassandra dated Thursday 20 May 1813 from her brothers house in Sloane Street, wrote of her journey to London in a curricle via the Hogs-back This shows that it was known as the Hogs Back by Jane Austens time. However, the medieval name for the ridge was Guildown (recorded first in 1035 where it was the site of the abduction of Prince Alfred of Wessex by Earl Godwin and then in the Pipe Rolls for 1190 and onwards) but this name is no longer in use. However, the name Guildown is evoked by Guildown Road, a residential road that climbs the southern side of the ridge on the southwestern fringes of Guildford.
Kawaguchi, Saitama. Kawaguchi (川口市, Kawaguchi-shi[b]) is a city located in southeastern Saitama Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 April 2025[update], the city had an estimated population of 595,011 in 293,582 households and a population density of 9605 persons per km².[2] The total area of the city is 61.95 square kilometres (23.92 sq mi). It is the Greater Tokyo Areas 8th most populated city (after passing Hachioji), and second largest in Saitama Prefecture, after eponymous Saitama. Kawaguchi is located near the center of the Kantō Plain in southwestern Saitama Prefecture in east-central Honshu, and is bordered by the Tokyo wards of Kita-ku and Adachi-ku to the south. The city area is mostly flat and mainly residential except for the Omiya tableland, which occupies part of the north and east area. The Arakawa River runs across the border with Kita-ku to the south.[3] Saitama Prefecture[4] Tokyo Metropolis[4]
Cemetery. A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many dead people are buried or otherwise entombed. The word cemetery (from Greek κοιμητήριον sleeping place)[1][2] implies that the land is specifically designated as a burial ground and originally applied to the Roman catacombs.[3] The term graveyard is often used interchangeably with cemetery, but a graveyard primarily refers to a burial ground within a churchyard.[4][5] The intact or cremated remains of people may be interred in a grave, commonly referred to as burial, or in a tomb, an above-ground grave (resembling a sarcophagus), a mausoleum, a columbarium, a niche, or another edifice. In Western cultures, funeral ceremonies are often observed in cemeteries. These ceremonies or rites of passage differ according to cultural practices and religious beliefs. Modern cemeteries often include crematoria, and some grounds previously used for both continue as crematoria as a principal use long after the interment areas have been filled. The Taforalt cave in Morocco is possibly the oldest known cemetery in the world. It was the resting place of at least 34 Iberomaurusian individuals, the bulk of whom have been dated to 15,100 to 14,000 years ago.[6] Neolithic cemeteries are sometimes referred to by the term grave field. They are one of the chief sources of information on ancient and prehistoric cultures, and numerous archaeological cultures are defined by their burial customs, such as the Urnfield culture of the European Bronze Age.[1]
Stroke order (disambiguation). Stroke order refers to the order in which the strokes of a Chinese character are written. Stroke order may also refer to:
Cherry blossom. The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in Prunus subgenus Cerasus. Sakura usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of Prunus serrulata, not trees grown for their fruit[1]: 14–18 [2] (although these also have blossoms). Cherry blossoms have been described as having a vanilla-like smell, which is mainly attributed to coumarin. Wild species of cherry tree are widely distributed, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere.[3][4][5] They are common in East Asia, especially in Japan, where they have been cultivated, producing many varieties.[6]: 40–42, 160–161 Most of the ornamental cherry trees planted in parks and other places for viewing are cultivars developed for ornamental purposes from various wild species. In order to create a cultivar suitable for viewing, a wild species with characteristics suitable for viewing is needed. Prunus speciosa (Oshima cherry), which is endemic to Japan, produces many large flowers, is fragrant, easily mutates into double flowers and grows rapidly. As a result, various cultivars, known as the Cerasus Sato-zakura Group, have been produced since the 14th century and continue to contribute greatly to the development of hanami (flower viewing) culture.[1]: 27, 89–91 [6]: 160–161 From the modern period, cultivars are mainly propagated by grafting, which quickly produces cherry trees with the same genetic characteristics as the original individuals, and which are excellent to look at.[6]: 89–91 The Japanese word sakura (桜; Japanese pronunciation: [sa.kɯ.ɾa][7]) can mean either the tree or its flowers (see 桜).[8] The cherry blossom is considered the national flower of Japan, and is central to the custom of hanami.[9]
Municipality. A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term municipality may also mean the governing body of a given municipality.[1] A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district. The English word is derived from French municipalité, which in turn derives from the Latin municipalis,[2] based on the word for social contract (municipium), referring originally to the Latin communities that supplied Rome with troops in exchange for their own incorporation into the Roman state (granting Roman citizenship to the inhabitants) while permitting the communities to retain their own local governments (a limited autonomy). A municipality can be any political jurisdiction, from a sovereign state such as the Principality of Monaco, to a small village such as West Hampton Dunes, New York.
Yokohama. Yokohama (Japanese: 横浜; pronounced [jokohama] ⓘ) is the second-largest city in Japan by population[1] as well as by area, and the countrys most populous municipality.[a] It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a population of 3.7 million in 2023. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu. Yokohama is also the major economic, cultural, and commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area along the Keihin Industrial Zone. Yokohama was one of the cities to open for trade with the West following the 1859 end of the policy of seclusion and has since been known as a cosmopolitan port city, after Kobe opened in 1853. Yokohama is the home of many Japans firsts in the Meiji era, including the first foreign trading port and Chinatown (1859), European-style sport venues (1860s), English-language newspaper (1861), confectionery and beer manufacturing (1865), daily newspaper (1870), gas-powered street lamps (1870s), railway station (1872), and power plant (1882). Yokohama developed rapidly as Japans prominent port city following the end of Japans relative isolation in the mid-19th century and is today one of its major ports along with Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Tokyo and Chiba. Yokohama is the largest port city and high tech industrial hub in the Greater Tokyo Area and the Kantō region. The city proper is headquarters to companies such as Isuzu, Nissan, JVCKenwood, Keikyu, Koei Tecmo, Sotetsu and Bank of Yokohama. Famous landmarks in Yokohama include Minato Mirai 21, Nippon Maru Memorial Park, Yokohama Chinatown, Motomachi Shopping Street, Yokohama Marine Tower, Yamashita Park, and Ōsanbashi Pier. Yokohama (横浜) means horizontal beach.[2] The current area surrounded by Maita Park, the Ōoka River and the Nakamura River have been a gulf divided by a sandbar from the open sea. This sandbar was the original Yokohama fishing village. Since the sandbar protruded perpendicularly from the land, or horizontally when viewed from the sea, it was called a horizontal beach.[3]
Hanja. Hanja (Korean: 한자; Hanja: 漢字; IPA: [ha(ː)ntɕ͈a]), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language.[a] After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. Hanjaeo (한자어; 漢字語) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, which can be written with Hanja, and hanmun (한문; 漢文) refers to Classical Chinese writing, although Hanja is also sometimes used to encompass both concepts. Because Hanja characters have never undergone any major reforms, they more closely resemble Kangxi form traditional Chinese and traditional Japanese characters, although the stroke orders for certain characters are slightly different. Such examples are the characters 教 and 敎, as well as 研 and 硏.[2] Only a small number of Hanja characters were modified or are unique to Korean, with the rest being identical to the traditional Chinese characters. By contrast, many of the Chinese characters currently in use in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore have been simplified, and contain fewer strokes than the corresponding Hanja characters. Until the contemporary period, Korean documents, history, literature and records were written primarily in Literary Chinese using Hanja as its primary script. As early as 1446, King Sejong the Great promulgated Hangul (also known as Chosŏngŭl in North Korea) through the Hunminjeongeum. It did not come into widespread official use until the late 19th and early 20th century.[3][4] Proficiency in Chinese characters is, therefore, necessary to study Korean history. Etymology of Sino-Korean words is reflected in Hanja.[5] Hanja were once used to write native Korean words, in a variety of systems collectively known as idu, but, by the 20th century, Koreans used hanja only for writing Sino-Korean words, while writing native vocabulary and loanwords from other languages in Hangul, a system known as mixed script. By the 21st century, even Sino-Korean words are usually written in the Hangul alphabet, with the corresponding Chinese character sometimes written next to it to prevent confusion if there are other characters or words with the same Hangul spelling. According to the Standard Korean Language Dictionary published by the National Institute of Korean Language (NIKL), approximately half (50%) of Korean words are Sino-Korean, mostly in academic fields (science, government, and society).[6] Other dictionaries, such as the Urimal Keun Sajeon, claim this number might be as low as roughly 30%.[7][8]
List of largest cities. The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or their metropolitan regions. A city can be defined by its administrative boundaries, otherwise known as city proper. UNICEF defines city proper as, the population living within the administrative boundaries of a city or controlled directly from the city by a single authority. A city proper is a locality defined according to legal or political boundaries and an administratively recognised urban status that is usually characterised by some form of local government.[1][2][3] Cities proper and their boundaries and population data may not include suburbs.[4] The use of city proper as defined by administrative boundaries may not include suburban areas where an important proportion of the population working or studying in the city lives.[4] Because of this definition, the city proper population figure may differ greatly from the urban area population figure, as many cities are amalgamations of smaller municipalities (Australia), and conversely, many Chinese cities govern territories that extend well beyond the core urban area into suburban and rural areas.[5] The Chinese municipality of Chongqing, which is the largest city proper in the world by population, comprises a huge administrative area of 82,403 km2, around the size of Austria. However, more than 70% of its 30-million population are agricultural workers living in a rural setting.[6][7]
Cheshire (disambiguation). Cheshire is a county in the northwest of England. Cheshire may also refer to:
Cheshire Plain. The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland within the county of Cheshire in North West England but extending south into Shropshire. It extends from the Mersey Valley in the north to the Shropshire Hills in the south, bounded by the hills of North Wales to the west and the foothills of the Pennines to the north-east.[1] The Wirral Peninsula lies to the north-west whilst the plain merges with the South Lancashire Plain in the embayment occupied by Manchester to the north. In detail, the plain comprises two areas with distinct characters, the one to the west of the Mid Cheshire Ridge and the other, larger part, to its east. The plain is the surface expression of the Cheshire Basin, a deep sedimentary basin that extends north into Lancashire and south into Shropshire. It assumed its current form as the ice-sheets of the last glacial period melted away between 20,000 and 15,000 years ago leaving behind a thick cover of glacial till and extensive tracts of glacio-fluvial sand and gravel. The primary agricultural use of the Cheshire Plain is dairy farming, creating the general appearance of enclosed hedgerow fields. Meteorologists use the term Cheshire Gap when referring to the lowlands of the Cheshire Plain, providing as they do a passage between the Clwydian Hills, in Wales on the one hand and the Peak District and South Pennines on the other. Weather systems are often guided down this gap, penetrating much further inland than elsewhere along the coast of the Irish Sea.[2]
Chinese family of scripts. The Chinese family of scripts includes writing systems used to write various East Asian languages, that ultimately descend from the oracle bone script invented in the Yellow River valley during the Shang dynasty. These include written Chinese itself, as well as adaptations of it for other languages, such as Japanese kanji, Korean hanja, Vietnamese chữ Hán and chữ Nôm, Zhuang sawndip, and Bai bowen. More divergent are the Tangut script, Khitan large script, Khitan small script and its offspring, the Jurchen script, as well as the Yi script, Sui script, and Geba syllabary, which were inspired by written Chinese but not descended directly from it. While written Chinese and many of its descendant scripts are logographic, others are phonetic, including the kana, Nüshu, and Lisu syllabaries, as well as the bopomofo semi-syllabary.[1] These scripts are written in various styles, principally seal script, clerical script, regular script, semi-cursive script, and cursive script. Adaptations range from the conservative, as in Korean, which used Chinese characters in their standard form with only a few local coinages, and relatively conservative Japanese, which has coined a few hundred new characters and used traditional character forms until the mid-20th century, to the extensive adaptations of Zhuang and Vietnamese, each coining over 10,000 new characters by Chinese formation principles, to the highly divergent Tangut script, which formed over 5,000 new characters by its own principles. The earliest known examples of Chinese writing are oracle bone inscriptions made c. 1200 BC at Yin (near modern Anyang), the site of the final capital of the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1046 BC). These inscriptions were carved into ox scapulae and tortoise plastrons, and recorded the results of official divinations conducted by the Shang royal house.[2] The script shows extensive simplification and linearization, believed by most researchers to indicate an extensive development of the script prior to the oldest samples.[3] While various symbols inscribed on pieces of pottery, jade, and bone have been found at Neolithic sites across China, there is no clear evidence of any relation to Shang oracle bone script.[4] Inscriptions on bronze vessels using a developed form of the Shang script dating to c. 1100 BC have also been discovered, and have provided a richer corpus.[5] Each character of the early script represents an Old Chinese word, which were uniformly monosyllabic at that time.[3] Characters are traditionally classified according to a system of six categories (六書; liùshū; six writings) according to the apparent strategy used to create them. This system was first made popular by the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary (c. 100 AD). Three of these categories involved a representation of the meaning of the word: Characters directly descendant of these forms remain still among the most commonly used today.[6]
Eastgate, Chester. Eastgate is a permanently open gate through the Chester city walls, on the site of the original entrance to the Roman fortress of Deva Victrix in Chester, Cheshire, England. It is a prominent landmark in the city of Chester and the Eastgate clock on top of it is said to be the most photographed clock in England after Big Ben. The original gate was guarded by a timber tower which was replaced by a stone tower in the 2nd century, and this in turn was replaced probably in the 14th century. The present gateway dates from 1768 and is a three-arched sandstone structure which carries the walkway forming part of Chester city walls. In 1899 a clock was added to the top of the gateway to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria two years earlier. It is carried on openwork iron pylons, has a clock face on all four sides, and a copper ogee cupola. The clock was designed by the Chester architect John Douglas. The whole structure, gateway and clock, was designated as a Grade I listed building on 28 July 1955.[1] Chester was first established as a Roman fortress and town, known as Deva Victrix, in about AD 74 or 75. The fortress was in the shape of a rectangle with rounded corners. This was protected by a turf and earth rampart on which was a timber palisade, and outside this was a V-shaped ditch. On each of the sides was a gate; the gate on the east side has survived as the Eastgate. It was defended by a timber tower. The road running through the gate led to Manchester, then across the Pennines to York. It is thought that outside the fortress this road was lined by timber buildings that were used as shops or for other kinds of commercial activities. Just outside the gate, to the north, was a large open area used as a parade ground.[2] From about AD 100 the defences of the fortress were reinforced by a sandstone wall and at this time the gates and their towers were rebuilt in stone.[3] In 907 the Saxon kings of Wessex refounded Chester as a burh. It is likely that at this time the Roman Eastgate was still present.[4] By the medieval period the Eastgate was the most important entrance to the city. The Roman Eastgate had been replaced but the date of the replacement is not known. Its design was possibly influenced by Caernarvon Castle, which makes the early 14th century the most likely date for its construction. It consisted of a tall rectangular tower with octagonal corner turrets. At its flanks were lower towers that also had octagonal turrets. During an excavation in 1971 a portion of the northern flanking turret was found, consisting of cream-coloured sandstone (in contrast to the red sandstone normally used in Chester).[5]
Beeston Castle. Beeston Castle is a former Royal castle in Beeston, Cheshire, England (grid reference SJ537593), perched on a rocky sandstone crag 350 feet (107 m)[1] above the Cheshire Plain. It was built in the 1220s by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester (1170–1232), on his return from the Crusades. In 1237, Henry III took over the ownership of Beeston, and it was kept in good repair until the 16th century, when it was considered to be of no further military use, although it was pressed into service again in 1643, during the English Civil War. The castle was slighted (partly demolished) in 1646, in accordance with Cromwells destruction order, to prevent its further use as a bastion. During the 18th century, parts of the site were used as a quarry. The castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument owned and managed by English Heritage.[2] The walls of the outer bailey and the gatehouse and curtain walls of the inner bailey are recorded separately in the National Heritage List for England as designated Grade I listed buildings.[3][4] A legend states that the royal treasure of Richard II was buried in the castle grounds but many searches have failed to discover the hoard. The castle is built on Beeston Crag, which is in the southerly part of the Mid Cheshire Ridge, a chain of low sandstone hills that stretches from the River Mersey down to the central region of the Cheshire Plain. The low-lying area between the southerly and the northern ranges of the ridge is known as the Beeston Gap. It was formed by a meltwater channel at the end of the Ice age.[5] The crag, just like the neighbouring Peckforton Hills, is part of a thicker sequence known as the New Red Sandstone. It was formed from easterly dipping layers of Triassic sandstone. The lower slopes are formed from Wilmslow Sandstone Formation while the upper strata are part of the Helsby Sandstone Formation, which is around 245 million years old. The hillock is capped by a small outcrop of sandstones assigned to the Tarporley Siltstone Formation (and formerly known as the Keuper Waterstones).[6] Both types of sandstones were once quarried at multiple sites within the castle grounds.
Jinmeiyō kanji. The jinmeiyō kanji (人名用漢字; Japanese pronunciation: [dʑimmeːjoːkaꜜɲdʑi], lit. kanji for use in personal names) are a set of 863 Chinese characters known as name kanji in English. They are a supplementary list of characters that can legally be used in registered personal names in Japan, despite not being in the official list of commonly used characters (jōyō kanji). Jinmeiyō kanji is sometimes used to refer to the characters in both the jinmeiyō and jōyō lists because some Japanese names do not require the specified jinmeiyō kanji and are written entirely in jōyō kanji. Hence, jōyō kanji can also be viewed as a subset of jinmeiyō kanji.[citation needed] A ministerial decree of 1946 limited the number of officially sanctioned kanji for public use to the 1,850 tōyō kanji. Only kanji on this list were acceptable as registered names, despite the fact that the list excluded many kanji frequently used in names up to that point. However, on May 25, 1951, the cabinet extended the set of characters usable in names by specifying the first 90 jinmeiyō kanji. Over the years, the Minister of Justice has increased the number of name kanji, and has a plan for further addition in response to requests from parents. As of April 30, 2009, there were 985 jinmeiyō kanji, but this number was reduced to 861 in late 2010 when 129 jinmeiyō characters were transferred to the jōyō kanji list, and 5 characters were transferred from the jōyō kanji list to jinmeiyō characters. In 2015 and 2017, 2 kanji in total were added to the jinmeiyō list, making the total number 863. In Japan, name kanji are taught at the junior-high level.[citation needed] Below is a list of changes made to the jinmeiyō kanji list since its creation in 1951.
Hyōgai kanji. Hyōgaiji (表外字; translated to characters from outside the table/chart), also known as hyōgai kanji (表外漢字), is a term for Japanese kanji outside the two major lists of jōyō kanji, which are taught in primary and secondary school, and the jinmeiyō kanji, which are additional kanji that are officially allowed for use in personal names. The term jōyōgai kanji (常用外漢字) is also encountered, but it designates all the kanji outside the list of jōyō kanji, including the jinmeiyō kanji. Because hyōgaiji is a catch-all category for all unlisted kanji, there is no comprehensive list, nor is there a definitive count of how many hyōgaiji exist. The highest level of the Kanji kentei (test of kanji aptitude) tests approximately 6,000 characters, of which half are hyōgaiji and 2,999 are from the official lists (2,136 jōyō kanji and 863 jinmeiyō kanji). While in principle any Chinese character or newly coined variant may be used as hyōgaiji, the Kangxi Dictionary and the 20th century Dai Kan-Wa jiten, both extremely comprehensive, contain about 47,000 and 50,000 characters, respectively, of which over 40,000 would be classed as hyōgaiji or non-standard variants if used in Japanese. While many jōyō kanji are printed using simplified forms (shinjitai, in opposition to traditional forms, kyūjitai), hyōgaiji are officially printed with traditional forms such as 臍, even if some simplified variants are officially recognized in print, such as the simplified 唖, from the traditional 啞 as well as 内 from 內.[1] The jinmeiyō kanji list (used for names) recognizes in most cases the traditional form along with the simplified form (when one exists). However, other unofficial simplified forms exist, known as extended shinjitai (拡張新字体, kakuchō shinjitai) – these come by applying the same simplification processes as in the development of shinjitai. The newspaper The Asahi Shimbun developed its own simplified characters, known as Asahi characters, and they have their own Unicode code points. Some of these simplifications are part of the standard JIS X 0208 and later versions. Among extended shinjitai, only a few are de facto frequently used, including 填, 頬 (extended shinjitai for the jōyō kanji 塡, 頰) or 涜, 掴 (extended shinjitai for the hyōgaiji 瀆, 摑).
Surrey (disambiguation). Surrey is a county in South East England. Surrey may also refer to:
Written Chinese. Written Chinese is a writing system that uses Chinese characters and other symbols to represent the Chinese languages. Chinese characters do not directly represent pronunciation, unlike letters in an alphabet or syllabograms in a syllabary. Rather, the writing system is morphosyllabic: characters are one spoken syllable in length, but generally correspond to morphemes in the language, which may either be independent words, or part of a polysyllabic word. Most characters are constructed from smaller components that may reflect the characters meaning or pronunciation.[1] Literacy requires the memorization of thousands of characters; college-educated Chinese speakers know approximately 4,000.[2][3] This has led in part to the adoption of complementary transliteration systems (generally Pinyin)[4] as a means of representing the pronunciation of Chinese.[5] Chinese writing is first attested during the late Shang dynasty (c. 1250 – c. 1050 BCE),[6][7][8] but the process of creating characters is thought to have begun centuries earlier during the Late Neolithic and early Bronze Age (c. 2500–2000 BCE).[9] After a period of variation and evolution, Chinese characters were standardized under the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE).[10] Over the millennia, these characters have evolved into well-developed styles of Chinese calligraphy.[11] As the varieties of Chinese diverged, a situation of diglossia developed, with speakers of mutually unintelligible varieties able to communicate through writing using Literary Chinese.[12] In the early 20th century, Literary Chinese was replaced in large part with written vernacular Chinese, largely corresponding to Standard Chinese, a form based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. Although most other varieties of Chinese are not written, there are traditions of written Cantonese, written Shanghainese and written Hokkien, among others. Written Chinese is not based on an alphabet or syllabary.[13] Most characters can be analyzed as compounds of smaller components, which may be assembled according to several different principles. Characters and components may reflect aspects of meaning or pronunciation. The best known exposition of Chinese character composition is the Shuowen Jiezi, compiled by Xu Shen c. 100 CE. Xu did not have access to the earliest forms of Chinese characters, and his analysis is not considered to fully capture the nature of the writing system.[14] Nevertheless, no later work has supplanted the Shuowen Jiezi in terms of breadth, and it is still relevant to etymological research today.[15] According to the Shuowen Jiezi, Chinese characters are developed on six basic principles.[16] (These principles, though popularized by the Shuowen Jiezi, were developed earlier; the oldest known mention of them is in the Rites of Zhou, a text from c. 150 BCE.[17]) The first two principles produce simple characters, known as 文 (wén):[16] The remaining four principles produce complex characters historically called 字 (zì), though this term is now generally used to refer to all characters, whether simple or complex. Of these four, two construct characters from simpler parts:[16]
Guildford Cathedral. The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford, commonly known as Guildford Cathedral, is the Anglican cathedral in Guildford, Surrey, England. Earl Onslow donated the first 6 acres (2.4 ha) of land on which the cathedral stands, with Viscount Bennett, a former Prime Minister of Canada, purchasing the remaining land and donating it to the cathedral in 1947. Designed by Edward Maufe and built between 1936 and 1961, it is the seat of the Bishop of Guildford. The cathedral was listed as Grade II* by Historic England in 1981.[1] It was the last Church of England cathedral to be consecrated on a new site, and one of only three to be built in the 20th-century, the others being Liverpool and Coventry Cathedral.[2] The Diocese of Guildford was created in 1927, covering most of Surrey. Guildfords restored Georgian Holy Trinity Church served as pro-cathedral, but was considered too small to become the cathedral.[3] In 1932, a design competition was held, with a brief that the construction costs should be £250,000.[3] 183 architects took part, from whom the Cathedral Committee chose Edward Maufe (later Sir Edward Maufe) as its architect.[4][3] In 1933, Richard Onslow, 5th Earl of Onslow donated land at the top of Stag Hill as a site for the cathedral.[3]
Cape (disambiguation). A cape is a sleeveless outer garment, which drapes the wearers back and fastens at the neck. Cape, the Cape, or CAPE may also refer to:
Tōyō kanji. The tōyō kanji (当用漢字; lit. general-use kanji) are those kanji listed on the Tōyō kanji hyō (当用漢字表; literally list of general-use kanji), which was released by the Japanese Ministry of Education (文部省) on 16 November 1946, following a reform of kanji characters of Chinese origin in the Japanese language. The intention of the tōyō list was to declare which kanji could be used in official government documents. The 1,850-character list was not meant to be exhaustive, as many characters that were in common use at the time, and are today, were not included. It was meant as a baseline for satisfactory functional literacy in Japanese at a secondary education level, as all of the listed characters were to be taught nationwide in compulsory education.[1] They were replaced in 1981 by the jōyō kanji, which initially included 1,945 characters, but was expanded to 2,136 characters in 2010 following several revisions.[citation needed] Thousands of kanji characters were in use in various writing systems, leading to great difficulties for those learning written Japanese. Additionally, several characters had identical meanings but were written differently from each other, further increasing complexity. After World War II, the Ministry of Education decided to minimize the number of kanji by choosing the most commonly used kanji, along with simplified kanji (see Shinjitai) commonly appearing in contemporary literature, to form the tōyō kanji. This was an integral part of the postwar reform of Japanese national writing.
Cape Tisan. Cape Tisan is a headland on the Mediterranean Sea coast of Mersin Province, Turkey. Τhe name is a distorted form of Ἀφροδισιᾶν (Aphrodisian; as many ancient names of places in Turkish from the accusative of the Greek name Ἀφροδίσιας). The cape is near to Yeşilovacık town in Silifke district of Mersin Province. It is at 36°08′N 33°41′E / 36.133°N 33.683°E / 36.133; 33.683 The distance to Silifke is 52 kilometres (32 mi) and to Mersin is 135 kilometres (84 mi). The cape is actually the southernmost point of a circular spit of roughly 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) diameter connected to the mainland by an isthmus. The spit is famous for being home to Aphrodisias of Cilicia and the isthmus has a pair of bays one in each side. In the Middle Ages the east bay was named Limni Aphrodisias and the west bay was named Limni Etheros.[1] Modern popular names are Cleopatras bay for the east bay and Pirates bay (Turkish: Korsan koyu) for the west bay. Both bays are popular beaches and in fact the cape is named after a site of marine resorts just north of the isthmus. However owing to dominant lodos winds of the Mediterranean coast, the Pirates bay is not as sheltered as the Cleopatras bay.
Kyōiku kanji. The kyōiku kanji (教育漢字; literally education kanji) are kanji which Japanese elementary school students should learn from first through sixth grade.[1] Also known as gakushū kanji (学習漢字; literally learning kanji), these kanji are listed on the Gakunenbetsu kanji haitō hyō (学年別漢字配当表(ja); literally table of kanji by school year).[2] The table is developed and maintained by the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT). Although the list is designed for Japanese students, it can also be used as a sequence of learning characters by non-native speakers as a means of focusing on the most commonly used kanji. Kyōiku kanji are a subset (1,026) of the 2,136 characters of jōyō kanji.[1] 一丁七万三上下不世両並中丸主久乗九乱乳予争事二五井亡交京人仁今仏仕他付代令以仮仲件任休会伝似位低住佐体何余作使例供価便係保信修俳俵倉個倍候借値停健側備傷働像億優元兄兆先光児党入全八公六共兵具典内円冊再写冬冷処出刀分切刊列初判別利制刷券刻則前副割創劇力功加助努労効勇勉動務勝勢勤包化北区医十千午半卒協南単博印危卵厚原厳去参友反収取受口古句可台史右号司各合同名后向君否吸告周味呼命和品員唱商問善喜営器四回因団困囲図固国園土圧在地坂均垂型城域基埼堂報場塩境墓増士声売変夏夕外多夜夢大天太夫央失奈奏奮女好妹妻姉始委姿婦媛子字存孝季学孫宅宇守安完宗官宙定宝実客宣室宮害家容宿寄密富寒察寸寺対専射将尊導小少就尺局居届屋展属層山岐岡岩岸島崎川州巣工左差己巻市布希師席帯帰帳常幕干平年幸幹幼庁広序底店府度座庫庭康延建弁式弓引弟弱張強当形役往径待律後徒従得復徳心必志忘応忠快念思急性恩息悪悲情想意愛感態慣憲成我戦戸所手才打批承技投折担招拝拡拾持指挙捨授採探接推提揮損操支改放政故救敗教散敬数整敵文料断新方旅族旗日旧早明易昔星映春昨昭昼時晩景晴暑暖暗暮暴曜曲書最月有服朗望朝期木未末本札机材村束条来東松板林枚果枝染柱査栃栄校株根格案桜梅梨械棒森植検業極楽構様標模権横樹橋機欠次欲歌止正武歩歯歴死残段殺母毎毒比毛氏民気水氷永求池決汽沖河油治沿泉法波泣注泳洋洗活派流浅浴海消液深混清済減温測港湖湯満源準滋漁演漢潔潟潮激火灯灰災炭点無然焼照熊熟熱燃父片版牛牧物特犬犯状独率玉王班現球理生産用田由申男町画界畑留略番異疑病痛発登白百的皇皮皿益盛盟目直相省看県真眼着矢知短石砂研破確磁示礼社祖祝神票祭禁福私秋科秒秘移程税種穀積穴究空窓立章童競竹笑笛第筆等筋答策算管箱節築簡米粉精糖糸系紀約紅納純紙級素細終組経結給統絵絶絹続綿総緑線編練縄縦縮績織罪置署羊美群義羽翌習老考者耕耳聖聞職肉肥育肺胃背胸能脈脳腸腹臓臣臨自至興舌舎航船良色花芸芽若苦英茨茶草荷菜落葉著蒸蔵薬虫蚕血衆行術街衛衣表裁装裏補製複西要見規視覚覧親観角解言計討訓記訪設許訳証評詞試詩話誌認誕語誠誤説読課調談論諸講謝識警議護谷豆豊象貝負財貧貨責貯貴買貸費貿賀賃資賛賞質赤走起足路身車軍転軽輪輸辞農辺近返述迷追退送逆通速造連週進遊運過道達遠適選遺郡部郵郷都配酒酸里重野量金針鉄鉱銀銅銭鋼録鏡長門閉開間関閣阜阪防降限陛院除陸険陽隊階際障集雑難雨雪雲電青静非面革音頂順預領頭題額顔願類風飛食飯飲飼養館首香馬駅験骨高魚鳥鳴鹿麦黄黒鼻日人一大年本中出時行事分会上生国者合自間方見手前場月子地学後入目部長発同新高社的作内動下用代言立定理明体業度通気関対家力表当金実全思物最外話現書名小意性市成来連今文回開法以戦所化女記主問三道不世取要多知機二野数第持教山心相画使集経正選報民考先期近情員利加面点水無在変次公初決安原品結解政東活語題保特信向車別私受平界海重引議付続真能元強田都組感電調指制少身和治何校男産口有説十楽示切約円県直確番川送交際空進得神売件務勝権食設運認必参位過町式置料流広北天可論共五支果氏終味計線聞死店始村万反島常木様半投状容放院予格着土住美屋台四応区判形転団基朝総白音役係工葉由西足他改伝軍止風起質仕配育張告資術声好親構頭府落優供士京済八義求検然石打価門再良乗局任古種光観注営映両限想帰読夫色号残態案達職追字存写演断査米愛南急消命提側統商球科建備首族条登研象呼早千九太図病路造悪馬技協個害念待収例増去各護官等派究規夜験館歩非細母像型割器返難試室証歌史録戸客助単視勢医素比火移党識準師花失段王域武量争満除福六井差製宮降類州殺若歴百編望守買独周園値負英評処系右七銀深横談防走接速管兵座策根境父異黒友復程率申衛青末警赤展働答領笑顔左挙松鉄算紙毎減察修導低辺駅退覚費春景帯疑旅極宅完版未曲担階週省専賞装著材寄飛姿補効労谷隊習農橋株具居委源船久述整将城財夏席願児精競故健佐興織絶波適積熱紀級革秋敗薬破標休苦囲温節岡洋税森背芸便遠険庫幸宿蔵巻探額星裁許司富授軽激推並従午遺香血順課林給板略訪雑陸角寺港留丸印玉君志短属静崎模豊遊服因清余河圧酒拡康障息列危密盛皇街照冷講飲央肉章逆刻喜責老泉草散我布旧絵輪裏庭衆昨植焼養訳博劇妻曜候針夢婦罪亡阪諸築練善創鳥仲堂幹茶似就雨徒航討承典岩誌禁採乱否令測油傷厳固犯岸忘輸幕陽納欲宇複筆辞徳困則永痛秘池筋宗札貴延益里簡停枚倍己脳羽昭勤敵票染暴片刊混易季底功坂群祭希折射夕閉快暮層厚億樹竹欠暗弱閣庁奈倉卒雪弟毛批宣賀兄栄救績純副骨仮聖晴券魚覧礼届操憲仏律署束沖迷宝飯損丁犬盟災吸冬鹿頂貨郷至均悲借謝縮郵歯腹荷包臣湯洗衣翌燃牛臨昼窓舎黄幼童砂誤鳴郡眼奏菜昔誕酸胸乳貸沿宙雲縄皮塩秒耳詩努祖賛液招勉箱梅揮句姉矢敬捨浅慣看漢浴熊忠緑桜尊虫豆祝妹旗泣賃訓紅寒勇干湖才銭穴毒潮柱詞鏡誠仁唱帳孫漁俳臓貧枝畑炭拝預晩岐牧序灯飼刀暖冊械孝鼻粉往棒氷卵熟刷墓糸貯縦泳潟脈肥貿麦弁兆糖梨垂朗恩埼暑蒸奮巣拾銅鉱径綿舌寸磁灰茨芽耕鋼潔皿肺腸阜貝胃班弓滋栃羊机尺后笛俵穀媛陛汽絹蚕[4] Kokuji are characters originally created in Japan; two of them are kyōiku kanji: 働 (Grade 4) and 畑 (Grade 3). There are also 8 kokuji within the secondary-school kanji and 16 within the jinmeiyō kanji. The character 働 and some others are also used in Chinese now, but most kokuji are unknown outside Japan.
Legal (disambiguation). Legal matters relate to the system of law governing a society. Legal also may refer to:
Surrey, British Columbia. Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surrey is the provinces second-largest by population after Vancouver and the third-largest by area after Abbotsford and Prince George. Seven neighbourhoods in Surrey are designated town centres: Cloverdale, Fleetwood, Guildford, Newton, South Surrey, and City Centre encompassed by Whalley.[8] Surrey was incorporated in 1879 and sits upon the lands of a number of Indigenous nations, namely the Katzie and the Kwantlen (who speak hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓) and the Semiahmoo (who speak the North Straits Salish language, similar to the W̱SÁNEĆ).[9] When Englishman H.J. Brewer looked across the Fraser River from New Westminster and saw it was reminiscent of his native County of Surrey in England, the settlement of Surrey was placed on the map.[10] The area then comprised forests of Douglas fir, fir, red cedar, hemlock, blackberry bushes, and cranberry bogs. A portion of present-day Whalley (named after Harry Whalley, who owned and operated a gas bar at the bend in King George Blvd, (formerly King George Highway) at 108 Avenue, Whalleys Corner) was used as a burial ground by the Kwantlen (or Qwontlen) Nation. Settlers arrived first in Cloverdale and parts of South Surrey, mostly to farm, fish, harvest oysters, or set up small stores. Once the Pattullo Bridge was erected in 1937, the way was open for Surrey to expand. In the post-war 1950s, North Surreys neighbourhoods filled with single-family homes and Surrey (not yet a city) became a bedroom community, absorbing commuters who worked in Burnaby or Vancouver. In the 1980s and 1990s, the city witnessed unprecedented growth, as people from different parts of Canada and the world, particularly Asia, began to make the municipality their home. In 2013, it was projected to surpass the city of Vancouver as the most populous city in BC within the following 10 to 12 years.[11]
Pringle Bay. Pringle Bay (Afrikaans: Pringlebaai) is a small, coastal village in the Overberg region of the Western Cape, in South Africa. It is situated at the foot of Hangklip, on the opposite side of False Bay from Cape Point. The town and surrounds are part of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO Heritage Site. The bay is named after Rear-Admiral Thomas Pringle, of the Royal Navy, who commanded the naval station at the Cape in the late 1790s.[2] Situated between Bettys Bay and Gordons Bay, many of the houses in the small community are only used as holiday houses by their owners. It is accessed by the R44, which connects it to the N2. Pringle Bay is well known for the Hangklip (hanging rock) that leans out to sea and marks the eastern end of False Bay. The Hangklip Mountain at 484m above sea level is packed with numerous natural caves, and was once a refuge for bandits and slaves escaping their Dutch masters, hence the mountain cave being named Drostersgat - Deserters Cave. [3]
Law (disambiguation). Law is a system of rules that regulate behavior. Law, the law, LAW, laws or similar variants may also refer to:
Non-metropolitan county. A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a subdivision of England used for local government.[1] The non-metropolitan counties were originally created in 1974 as part of a reform of local government in England and Wales, and were the top tier of a two-tier system of counties and districts. 21 non-metropolitan counties still use a two-tier system; 56 are unitary authorities, in which the functions of a county and district council have been combined in a single body. Berkshire has a unique structure. Non-metropolitan counties cover the majority of England with the exception of Greater London, the Isles of Scilly, and the six metropolitan counties: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire. The non-metropolitan counties are all part of ceremonial counties. Some ceremonial counties, such as Norfolk, contain a single non-metropolitan county, but many contain more than one and it is also common for ceremonial counties and non-metropolitan counties to share a name. Lancashire, for example, contains the non-metropolitan counties of Lancashire, Blackpool, and Blackburn with Darwen.
Cape of Good Hope. The Cape of Good Hope (Afrikaans: Kaap die Goeie Hoop [ˌkɑːp di ˌχujə ˈɦuəp])[a] is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, based on the misbelief that the Cape was the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. In fact, the southernmost point of Africa is Cape Agulhas about 150 kilometres (90 mi) to the east-southeast.[1] The currents of the two oceans meet at the point where the warm-water Agulhas current meets the cold-water Benguela current and turns back on itself. That oceanic meeting point fluctuates between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point (about 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) east of the Cape of Good Hope). When following the western side of the African coastline from the equator, however, the Cape of Good Hope marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward. Thus, the first modern rounding of the cape in 1487 by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was a milestone in the attempts by the Portuguese to establish direct trade relations with the Far East (although Herodotus mentioned a claim that the Phoenicians had done so far earlier).[2] Dias called the cape Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms; Dutch: Stormkaap), which was the original name of the cape.[3] As one of the great capes of the South Atlantic Ocean, it has long been of special significance to sailors, many of whom refer to it simply as the Cape.[4] It is a waypoint on the Cape Route and the clipper route followed by clipper ships to the Far East and Australia, and still followed by several offshore yacht races.
Legal history. Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilizations[1] and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and historians of legal process have seen legal history as the recording of the evolution of laws and the technical explanation of how these laws have evolved with the view of better understanding the origins of various legal concepts; some consider legal history a branch of intellectual history. Twentieth-century historians viewed legal history in a more contextualised manner – more in line with the thinking of social historians.[2] They have looked at legal institutions as complex systems of rules, players and symbols and have seen these elements interact with society to change, adapt, resist or promote certain aspects of civil society. Such legal historians have tended to analyze case histories from the parameters of social-science inquiry, using statistical methods, analysing class distinctions among litigants, petitioners and other players in various legal processes. By analyzing case outcomes, transaction costs, and the number of settled cases, they have begun examining legal institutions, practices, procedures, and briefs offering a more nuanced picture of law and society than traditional legal studies of jurisprudence, case law and civil codes can achieve.[3] Ancient Egyptian law, dating as far back as 3000 BC, was based on the concept of Maat, and was characterised by tradition, rhetorical speech, social equality and impartiality.[4] By the 22nd century BC, Ur-Nammu, an ancient Sumerian ruler, formulated the first extant law code, consisting of casuistic statements (if... then...). Around 1760 BC, King Hammurabi further developed Babylonian law, by codifying and inscribing it in stone. Hammurabi placed several copies of his law code throughout the kingdom of Babylon as stelae, for the entire public to see; this became known as the Codex Hammurabi. The most intact copy of these stelae was discovered in the 19th century by British Assyriologists, and has since been fully transliterated and translated into various languages, including English, German and French. Ancient Greek has no single word for law as an abstract concept,[5] retaining instead the distinction between divine law (thémis), human decree (nómos) and custom (díkē).[6] Yet Ancient Greek law contained major constitutional innovations in the development of democracy.[7] Ancient India and China represent distinct traditions of law, and had historically independent schools of legal theory and practice. The Arthashastra, dating from the 400 BC, and the Manusmriti from 100 BCE[8] were influential treatises in India, texts that were considered authoritative legal guidance.[9] Manus central philosophy was tolerance and pluralism, and was cited across South East Asia.[10] During the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent, sharia was established by the Muslim sultanates and empires, most notably Mughal Empires Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, compiled by emperor Aurangzeb and various scholars of Islam.[11][12] After British colonialism, Hindu tradition, along with Islamic law, was supplanted by the common law when India became part of the British Empire.[13] Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Hong Kong also adopted the common law. The eastern Asia legal tradition reflects a unique blend of secular and religious influences.[14] Japan was the first country to begin modernising its legal system along western lines, by importing bits of the French, but mostly the German Civil Code.[15] This partly reflected Germanys status as a rising power in the late nineteenth century. Similarly, traditional Chinese law gave way to westernisation towards the final years of the Qing dynasty in the form of six private law codes based mainly on the Japanese model of German law.[16] Today Taiwanese law retains the closest affinity to the codifications from that period, because of the split between Chiang Kai-sheks nationalists, who fled there, and Mao Zedongs communists who won control of the mainland in 1949. The current legal infrastructure in the Peoples Republic of China was heavily influenced by soviet Socialist law, which essentially inflates administrative law at the expense of private law rights.[17] Today, however, because of rapid industrialisation China has been reforming, at least in terms of economic (if not social and political) rights. A new contract code in 1999 represented a turn away from administrative domination.[18] Furthermore, after negotiations lasting fifteen years, in 2001 China joined the World Trade Organization.[19]
Mersin Province. Mersin Province (Turkish: Mersin ili), formerly İçel Province (İçel ili), is a province and metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. Its area is 16,010 km2,[3] and its population is 1,916,432 (2022).[2] The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezitli, Toroslar and Yenişehir. Next largest is Tarsus, the birthplace of Paul the Apostle. The province is considered to be a part of the geographical, economical and cultural region of Çukurova, which covers the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Hatay. The province is named after its biggest city Mersin. Mersin was named after the aromatic plant genus Myrsine (Greek: Μυρσίνη, Turkish: mersin) in the family Primulaceae, a myrtle that grows in abundance in the area. The 17th-century Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi has recorded in his Seyahatnâme that there was also a clan named Mersinoğulları in the area.[4] Ninth biggest province of Turkey by land area, Mersin consists 2,02% of Turkey.[6] 87% of the land area is mountain, leading up to the rocky heights of the central Taurus Mountains, the highest peak is Medetsiz (3,584 m) in the Bolkar range, and there are a number of important passes over to central Anatolia. There are many high meadows and small plains between 700 and 1500m. The coastal strip has many large areas of flatland, formed from soil brought down by rivers and streams running off the mountains. This is fertile land, the largest area being the plain of Tarsus. The largest rivers are the Göksu and the Berdan (Göksu Calycadnus and Berdan Cydnus of antiquity), but there are many small streams running into lakes, reservoirs or the Mediterranean sea. Mersin has 321 km of coastline, much of it sandy beach. The climate is typical of the Mediterranean; very hot and rainless in summer, mild and wet in winter. The winter rains can be very heavy and flooding is a problem in many areas, but it never snows on the coast, only in the mountainous areas.
Jurisprudence. Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values; and the relationship between law and other fields of study, including economics, ethics, history, sociology, and political philosophy. Modern jurisprudence began in the 18th century and was based on the first principles of natural law, civil law, and the law of nations. Contemporary philosophy of law addresses problems internal to law and legal systems and problems of law as a social institution that relates to the larger political and social context in which it exists. Jurisprudence can be divided into categories both by the type of question scholars seek to answer and by the theories of jurisprudence, or schools of thought, regarding how those questions are best answered: The terms philosophy of law and jurisprudence are often used interchangeably, though jurisprudence sometimes encompasses forms of reasoning that fit into economics or sociology. Whereas lawyers are interested in what the law is on a specific issue in a specific jurisdiction, analytical philosophers of law are interested in identifying the features of law shared across cultures, times, and places. Taken together, these foundational features of law offer the kind of universal definition philosophers are after. The general approach allows philosophers to ask questions about, for example, what separates law from morality, politics, or practical reason.[1] While the field has traditionally focused on giving an account of laws nature, some scholars have begun to examine the nature of domains within law, e.g. tort law, contract law, or criminal law. These scholars focus on what makes certain domains of law distinctive and how one domain differs from another. A particularly fecund area of research has been the distinction between tort law and criminal law, which more generally bears on the difference between civil and criminal law.[2]
London (disambiguation). London is the capital city and largest metropolitan region of both England and the United Kingdom. London may also refer to:

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