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Punch (magazine). Punch, or The London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and wood-engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, when it helped to coin the term cartoon in its modern sense as a humorous illustration. Artists at Punch included John Tenniel who, from 1850, was the chief cartoon artist at the magazine for over 50 years. The editors took the anarchic puppet Mr Punch, of Punch and Judy, as their mascot—the character appears in many magazine covers—with the character also an inspiration for the magazines name. With its satire of the contemporary, social, and political scene, Punch became a household name in Victorian Britain. Sales of 40,000 copies a week by 1850 rose above 100,000 by 1910. After the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996, but closed again in 2002. Punch was founded on 17 July 1841 by Henry Mayhew and wood-engraver Ebenezer Landells, on an initial investment of £25 (equivalent to £2,871 in 2023). It was jointly edited by Mayhew and Mark Lemon. It was subtitled The London Charivari in homage to Charles Philipons French satirical humour magazine Le Charivari.[1] Reflecting their satiric and humorous intent, the two editors took for their name and masthead the anarchic glove puppet Mr. Punch, of Punch and Judy; the name also referred to a joke made early on about one of the magazines first editors, Lemon, that punch is nothing without lemon.[2] Mayhew ceased to be joint editor in 1842 and became suggestor in chief until he severed his connection in 1845. The magazine initially struggled for readers, except for an 1842 Almanack issue which shocked its creators by selling 90,000 copies. In December 1842, due to financial difficulties, the magazine was sold to Bradbury and Evans, both printers and publishers. Bradbury and Evans capitalised on newly evolving mass printing technologies and also were the publishers for Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray.
Narrative (journal). Narrative is an academic journal published by the Ohio State University that focuses on narratology. It is the official journal of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (formerly known as the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature from its founding in June 1984 until March 2008).[1] Narrative is published triannually in January, May, and October.[2] The Journal of Narrative Technique was the Society for the Study of Narrative Literatures official journal until the founding of Narrative in January 1993. With the founding of the new journal, George and Barbara Perkins ended their tenures as editors of the Journal of Narrative Technique and took up posts as associate editors for Narrative. James Phelan served as Narratives editor from its founding[3] until the Fall 2024 issue, when he was succeeded by new editors Marta Figlerowicz and Kent Puckett.[4] Narrative was founded with the intention to be an outlet for the best current thinking about narrative and narratives; an arena in which a plurality of critical voices will be welcome to speak; a site where theoretical exploration and interpretive practice inform—and sometimes challenge—one another; and a place where critics talk directly to each other.[5] In December 1993, the Council of Editors of Learned Journals named Narrative the best new journal of 1993.[6][7]
Talë. Talë is a seaside resort town, part of the former municipality of Shënkoll in the Lezhë County in Albania. At the 2015 local government reform, it became part of the municipality Lezhë.[1] Its beaches attract many tourists, especially with the increase in small local hotels.
Fukuoka Prefecture. Fukuoka Prefecture (福岡県, Fukuoka-ken; Japanese pronunciation: [ɸɯ̥.kɯꜜ.o.ka, -kɯ.o.kaꜜ.keɴ][3]) is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū.[4] Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 km2 (1,925 sq mi).[5] Fukuoka Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the southwest, Kumamoto Prefecture to the south, and Ōita Prefecture to the southeast. Fukuoka is the capital and largest city of Fukuoka Prefecture, and the largest city on Kyūshū, with other major cities including Kitakyushu, Kurume, and Ōmuta.[6] Fukuoka Prefecture is located at the northernmost point of Kyūshū on the Kanmon Straits, connecting the Tsushima Strait and the Seto Inland Sea across from Yamaguchi Prefecture on the island of Honshu, and extends south towards the Ariake Sea. Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen.[7] Kōra taisha, Sumiyoshi-jinja, and Hakozaki-gū are the chief Shinto shrines (ichinomiya) in the prefecture.[8]
River Tale. The River Tale is a small river that drains the southern slopes of the Blackdown Hills, in Devon, England. It is a tributary of the River Otter and 8.8 miles (14.2 km) in length.[1] Its name is derived from getæl (Old English) meaning quick, active or swift; however, the river is noted as being sluggish.[2] One theory is that its name was transferred from Tala Water, a tributary of the nearby River Tamar.[2] The river is the site of ongoing efforts to reintroduce the water vole, which is thought to be extinct in Devon.[3] The river rises on the southern flanks of the Blackdown Hills, beneath North Hill, and flows southwest through the village of Broadhembury and beneath the A373. It then turns south and passes alongside the grounds of Escot House before flowing through Fairmile where it is crossed by the A30 until it joins the River Otter at Cadhay near Ottery St Mary.[4] Since 1978 the river levels and flows of the Tale have been measured in its lower reaches near Fairmile. The thirty-six year record shows that the catchment of 34 square kilometres (13 sq mi) to the gauging station yielded an average flow of 0.44 cubic metres per second (16 cu ft/s).[5] The highest river level recorded occurred in December 1981 with a height of 1.72 metres (5 ft 8 in) through the gauge, giving a corresponding flow of 19.56 cubic metres per second (691 cu ft/s).[6] The catchment upstream of the station has an average annual rainfall of 921 millimetres (36.3 in) and a maximum altitude of 283 metres (928 ft) at North Hill. Land use is primarily agricultural arable and grassland.[7]
Suwenxue congkan. Suwenxue congkan (Chinese: 俗文學叢刊; pinyin: Súwénxué cóngkān; lit. Book series of folk literature), with the English-language subheading Folk Literature: Materials in the Collection of the Institute of History and Philology, is a 620-volume collection of photomechanically reproduced Chinese performative literature issued by Shin Wen Feng Print Company (新文豐出版公司) in Taipei from 2002 to 2016. One of the most prominent Chinese collections, it includes over 10,000 Quyi and Chinese opera texts from the 18th century in the holdings of the Fu Ssu-Nien Library of the Institute of History and Philology at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan. Suwenxue congkan is one of the most important sources of Chinese performative literature research in current times. The collection contains performative texts from the Qianlong period (1736–1795) to the early Republican times. They were issued in China until the 1930s and are freely available. The quality of the copies varies greatly; masters’ delicate editions come with obvious mass production. The materials were collected by the historian Fu Ssu-nien (1896–1950), the founding director of the Institute of History and Philology at the Academia Sinica. A digital database in which all work titles of the collection are indexed has been established by the East Asian Faculty of Ruhr-Universität Bochum.[1] The Collection issued approximately 20,000 titles in more than 10,000 fascicles. The printed anthology is divided into Generalia (including reproductions of entire special journals, sheet music and materials for instrument lessons) and the main part with photomechanical reproduction of performative texts. These are sorted by genres and historical periods in which the plays take place. The drama texts belong to different regional genres, including Gaoqiang (高腔), Kunqu, Peking opera, Hui opera, Teochew opera and Cantonese opera. There are also texts for shadow plays, tanhuang (彈簧), ballads, and folklores. Volumes 501 to 600 should be attached with an entire index, for all quyi texts.
Folk tale (disambiguation). A folktale or folk tale is a story from the oral literature. Folktale, Folktales, Folk Tale, etc. may also refer to:
Tale, Maharashtra. Tale, Maharashtra is a small village in Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra state in Western India.[1] The 2011 Census of India recorded a total of 1,352 residents in the village.[1] Tale, Maharashtras geographical area is approximately 999 hectares (2,470 acres).[1] 14°26′N 74°52′E / 14.433°N 74.867°E / 14.433; 74.867
Tale, Iran. Tale (Persian: طالع, also Romanized as Ţāle‘)[1] is a village in Rastupey Rural District, in the Central District of Savadkuh County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 241, in 83 families,[2] up from 111 people in 2006.[3] This Savadkuh County location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Transcription activator-like effector. TAL (transcription activator-like) effectors (often referred to as TALEs, but not to be confused with the three amino acid loop extension homeobox class of proteins) are proteins secreted by some β- and γ-proteobacteria.[1] Most of these are Xanthomonads. Plant pathogenic Xanthomonas bacteria are especially known for TALEs, produced via their type III secretion system. These proteins can bind promoter sequences in the host plant and activate the expression of plant genes that aid bacterial infection. The TALE domain responsible for binding to DNA is known to have 1.5 to 33.5 short sequences that are repeated multiple times (tandem repeats).[2] Each of these repeats was found to be specific for a certain base pair of the DNA.[2] These repeats also have repeat variable diresidues (RVDs) that can detect specific DNA base pairs.[2] They recognize plant DNA sequences through a central repeat domain consisting of a variable number of ~34 amino acid repeats. There appears to be a one-to-one correspondence between the identity of two critical amino acids in each repeat and each DNA base in the target sequence. These proteins are interesting to researchers both for their role in disease of important crop species and the relative ease of retargeting them to bind new DNA sequences. Similar proteins can be found in the pathogenic bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum[3][4][1] and Burkholderia rhizoxinica,[5][1] as well as yet unidentified marine microorganisms.[6] The term TALE-likes is used to refer to the putative protein family encompassing the TALEs and these related proteins. Xanthomonas are Gram-negative bacteria that can infect a wide variety of plant species including pepper/capsicum, rice, citrus, cotton, tomato, and soybeans.[7] Some types of Xanthomonas cause localized leaf spot or leaf streak while others spread systemically and cause black rot or leaf blight disease. They inject a number of effector proteins, including TAL effectors, into the plant via their type III secretion system. TAL effectors have several motifs normally associated with eukaryotes including multiple nuclear localization signals and an acidic activation domain. When injected into plants, these proteins can enter the nucleus of the plant cell, bind plant promoter sequences, and activate transcription of plant genes that aid in bacterial infection.[7] Plants have developed a defense mechanism against type III effectors that includes R (resistance) genes triggered by these effectors. Some of these R genes appear to have evolved to contain TAL-effector binding sites similar to site in the intended target gene. This competition between pathogenic bacteria and the host plant has been hypothesized to account for the apparently malleable nature of the TAL effector DNA binding domain.[8] R. solanacearum, B. rhizoxinica, and banana blood disease (a bacterium not yet definitively identified, in the R. solanacearum species group).[1] The most distinctive characteristic of TAL effectors is a central repeat domain containing between 1.5 and 33.5 repeats that are usually 34 residues in length (the C-terminal repeat is generally shorter and referred to as a “half repeat”).[7] A typical repeat sequence is LTPEQVVAIASHDGGKQALETVQRLLPVLCQAHG, but the residues at the 12th and 13th positions are hypervariable (these two amino acids are also known as the repeat variable diresidue or RVD). There is a simple relationship between the identity of these two residues in sequential repeats and sequential DNA bases in the TAL effectors target site.[8] The crystal structure of a TAL effector bound to DNA indicates that each repeat comprises two alpha helices and a short RVD-containing loop where the second residue of the RVD makes sequence-specific DNA contacts while the first residue of the RVD stabilizes the RVD-containing loop.[10][11] Target sites of TAL effectors also tend to include a thymine flanking the 5’ base targeted by the first repeat; this appears to be due to a contact between this T and a conserved tryptophan in the region N-terminal of the central repeat domain.[10] However, this zero position does not always contain a thymine, as some scaffolds are more permissive.[12] The TAL-DNA code was broken by two separate groups in 2010.[8] The first group, headed by Adam Bogdanove, broke this code computationally by searching for patterns in protein sequence alignments and DNA sequences of target promoters derived from a database of genes upregulated by TALEs.[13] The second group (Boch) deduced the code through molecular analysis of the TAL effector AvrBs3 and its target DNA sequence in the promoter of a pepper gene activated by AvrBs3.[14] The experimentally validated code between RVD sequence and target DNA base can be expressed as follows:
World Trigger. World Trigger (Japanese: ワールドトリガー, Hepburn: Wārudo Torigā), also known as WorTri (Japanese: ワートリ, Hepburn: Wātori), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Daisuke Ashihara [ja]. It was initially serialized in Shueishas shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 2013 to November 2018, and transferred to Jump Square in December 2018. Its chapters have been collected in 28 tankōbon volumes as of February 2025. In North America, the manga has been licensed for English release by Viz Media. An anime television series adaptation produced by Toei Animation was aired on TV Asahi from October 2014 to April 2016. A second season aired from January to April 2021, and a third season aired from October 2021 to January 2022. One day, a gate to another world opens in Mikado City (三門市, Mikado-shi) and monsters called Neighbors (近界民, Neibā; lit. Near-world people) start appearing from it. Humanity struggles to fight the Neighbors, as their weapons are ineffective against them, until a mysterious organization appears that is able to repel the Neighbors attacks. The organization is called the National Defense Agency, or Border, and has appropriated the Neighbor technology Triggers, which allows its user to channel an internal energy called Trion and use it as a weapon or for other purposes. When a Trigger is activated, the users body is replaced with a battle-body made of Trion. Four years following the appearance of the gate, the people of Mikado City have become accustomed to fighting with the Neighbors and have mostly returned to everyday life. One day, a mysterious white-haired student named Yūma Kuga (空閑遊真, Kuga Yūma) transfers to the local school. Kuga is actually a strong humanoid Neighbor, which he seeks to hide from Border. At school, he meets another student, Osamu Mikumo (三雲修, Mikumo Osamu), who is secretly a C-rank Border trainee. Since Kuga is unfamiliar with life in Mikado City, Mikumo must help him adjust to life there and keep him a secret from Border.
Tohoku (disambiguation). Tohoku may refer to:
Chubu Centrair International Airport. Chubu Centrair International Airport (中部国際空港, Chūbu Kokusai Kūkō) (IATA: NGO, ICAO: RJGG) is an international airport on an artificial island (which also houses the Aichi International Exhibition Center [ja]) in Ise Bay, Tokoname City in Aichi Prefecture, 35 km (22 mi) south of Nagoya in central Japan.[3] The airport covers about 470 hectares (1,161 acres) of land and has one 3,500 m (11,500 ft) runway.[4] Centrair is classified as a first-class airport and is the main international gateway for the Chubu (central) region of Japan. The name Centrair (セントレア, Sentorea) is an abbreviation of Central Japan International Airport, an alternate translation used in the English name of the airports operating company, Central Japan International Airport Co., Ltd. (中部国際空港株式会社, Chūbu Kokusai Kūkō Kabushiki-gaisha). 12.35 million people used the airport in 2018, ranking 8th busiest in the nation, and 212,797 tons of cargo was moved in 2018. In 2019, the airport was ranked the fifth-best airport in the world by Skytraxs Worlds Top Airports 100, and received the Worlds Best Regional Airport and the Best Regional Airport in Asia.
Mausu Promotion. Mausu Promotion (株式会社マウスプロモーション, Kabushiki-gaisha Mausu Puromōshon), formerly known as Ezaki Productions, is a Japanese talent management agency representing a number of prolific voice actors.
Literature (card game). Literature is a card game for 6 or 8 players in two teams using a shortened version of the standard 52-card pack. The game is sometimes called Fish or Canadian Fish, after the similar Go Fish, or Russian Fish. It is played in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in southern India and in parts of North America. The following rules are based on John McLeods version at pagat.com:[1] The game is played by six or eight players in two teams. Six is best and is standard in the Canadian game.[2] Players sit in alternating order. Four 8s are removed from a standard French-suited 52-card English pattern pack to leave 48 cards. There are thus eight half-suits of six cards each called sets or books such as Low Spades (♠2 ♠3 ♠4 ♠5 ♠6 ♠7) or High Hearts (♥9 ♥10 ♥J ♥Q ♥K ♥A).[1] The objective is to win more books than the other team. Deal and play are assumed to be to the left i.e. clockwise. The first dealer is selected at random by e.g. drawing cards, highest deals. Dealer shuffles and deals all the cards out, individually and face down, beginning with the player to the dealers immediate left. If six play, they will each receive 8 cards; if eight play, 6 cards. When the deal is finished players pick up and look at their own cards.[1]
Japan Standard Time. Japan Standard Time (日本標準時, Nihon Hyōjunji; JST), or Japan Central Standard Time (中央標準時, Chūō Hyōjunji; JCST), is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+09:00).[1] Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to as Tokyo Standard Time. Japan Standard Time is equivalent to Korean Standard Time, Pyongyang Time (North Korea), Eastern Indonesia Standard Time, East-Timorese Standard Time, Palau Time, and Yakutsk Time (Russia). Before the Meiji era (1868–1912), each local region had its own time zone in which noon was when the sun was exactly at its culmination. As modern transportation methods, such as trains, were adopted, this practice became a source of confusion. For example, there is a difference of about 5 degrees longitude between Tokyo and Osaka and because of this, a train that departed from Tokyo would arrive at Osaka 20 minutes behind the time in Tokyo. In 1886, Ordinance 51 was issued in response to this problem, which stated: Ordinance 51 (on the precise calculation of time using the Prime Meridian) – July 13, 1886 According to this, the standard time (標準時, hyōjunji) was set 9 hours ahead of GMT (UTC had not been established yet). In the ordinance, the first clause mentions GMT, the second defines east longitude and west longitude and the third says the standard time zone would be in effect from 1888. The city of Akashi in Hyōgo Prefecture is located exactly on 135 degrees east longitude and subsequently became known as Toki no machi (Town of Time).
Niigata Prefecture. Niigata Prefecture (新潟県, Niigata-ken; Japanese pronunciation: [niː.ɡa.ta, -taꜜ.keɴ, niː.ŋa-][2]) is a prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan.[3] Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area at 12,584.18 km2 (4,858.78 sq mi). Niigata Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture to the southwest, Gunma Prefecture to the south, Fukushima Prefecture to the east, and Yamagata Prefecture to the northeast. Niigata is the capital and largest city of Niigata Prefecture, with other major cities including Nagaoka, Jōetsu, and Sanjō.[4] Niigata Prefecture contains the Niigata Major Metropolitan Area centered on Niigata with a population of 1,395,612, the largest metropolitan area on the Sea of Japan coast and the twelfth-largest in Japan. Niigata Prefecture is part of the historic Hokuriku region and features Sado Island, the sixth largest island of Japan in area following the four main islands and Okinawa Island. Until after the Meiji Restoration, the area that is now Niigata Prefecture was divided into Echigo Province (on the mainland) and Sado Province.[5] During the Sengoku period, the Nagao clan, who were at times vassals to the Uesugi, ruled a fief in the western part of modern Niigata from Kasugayama Castle. The most notable member of the Nagao clan was Nagao Kagetora, later and better known as Uesugi Kenshin. He unified the leaders of Echigo Province and became its sole ruler. By taking the surname Uesugi, he also became the head of the Uesugi clan and effectively brought their realm under his control. The city of Niigata is now the third largest Japanese city facing the Sea of Japan, after Fukuoka and Kitakyushu. It was the first Japanese port on the Sea of Japan to be opened to foreign trade following the opening of Japan by Matthew Perry. It has since played an important role in trade with Russia and Korea. A freighter from North Korea visits Niigata once a month, in one of the few forms of direct contact between Japan and that country. The Etsuzankai organization, led by the politician Kakuei Tanaka, was highly influential in bringing infrastructure improvements to Niigata Prefecture in the 1960s and 1970s. These included the Jōetsu Shinkansen high-speed rail line and the Kanetsu Expressway to Tokyo.
Palais Bourbon. The Palais Bourbon (pronounced [pa.lɛ buʁ.bɔ̃]) is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the Rive Gauche of the Seine across from the Place de la Concorde. The official address is on the Rue de lUniversité, facing the Place du Palais-Bourbon. The original palace was built beginning in 1722 for Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon, the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and the Marquise de Montespan. Four successive architects – Lorenzo Giardini, Pierre Cailleteau, Jean Aubert and Ange-Jacques Gabriel – completed the palace in 1728. It was then confiscated from Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé during the French Revolution and nationalised. From 1795 to 1799, during the Directory, it was the meeting place of the Council of Five Hundred, which chose the government leaders. Beginning in 1806, during Napoleon Bonapartes First French Empire, Bernard Poyets Neoclassical façade was added to mirror that of the Église de la Madeleine, facing it across the Seine beyond the Place de la Concorde. The palace complex today has a floor area of 124,000 m2 (1,330,000 sq ft), with over 9,500 rooms, in which 3,000 people work. The complex includes the Hôtel de Lassay, on the west side of the Palais Bourbon; it is the official residence of the President of the National Assembly. The palace was built for Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon (1673–1743), the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Begun in 1722 and finished in 1728, it was located in what was then a largely rural quarter at the edge of Paris, which was about to become a very fashionable residential neighbourhood, the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Until that time, the area, called the Pré-au-Clercs, was a wooded area popular for fighting duels. After the death of Louis XIV in 1715, following the example of the Regent, the aristocracy began to move their residences from Versailles back to Paris. As building-space land was scarce in the traditional residential area of the nobility and the densely populated Marais, the aristocracy of the Régence looked for land with space for gardens at the edges of the city, either near the Champs-Élysées, on the right bank, or on the left bank.[1] The Duchess of Bourbon had been known for frivolity at the court in Versailles, but by the 1720s, she had had seven children and was widowed. The reputed lover of the Duchess, Armand de Madaillan de Lesparre, Comte de Lassay, proposed the site of the palace to her; he had purchased land next door along the Seine, and the two buildings were constructed at the same time. The parcel of land for the new palace was large, extending from the Seine to the Rue de lUniversité.
The Rose of Versailles. The Rose of Versailles,[a] also known as Lady Oscar and La Rose de Versailles, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Riyoko Ikeda. It was originally serialized in Shueishas shōjo manga magazine Margaret from 1972 to 1973, while a revival of the series was published in the magazine from 2013 to 2018. The series is a historical drama set in 18th century France before and during the French Revolution. Using a combination of historical personages and original characters, The Rose of Versailles focuses primarily on the lives of two women: the Queen of France Marie Antoinette, and Oscar François de Jarjayes, who serves as commander of the Royal Guard. Ikeda created The Rose of Versailles as a story about revolution and populist uprisings after becoming involved with Japans New Left as a member of the Communist Party of Japan in the late 1960s. The series was developed during a significant transitional period for shōjo manga as a medium, characterized by the emergence of stories with complex narratives focused on politics and sexuality. The Rose of Versailles was a significant critical and commercial success, and by 2022 had sold over 23 million copies worldwide. The series contributed significantly to the development of shōjo manga, and was one of the primary works responsible for its shift from a genre aimed at children to a genre aimed at adolescents and young adults. The Rose of Versailles spawned a media franchise, having been adapted into an anime television series produced by TMS Entertainment and broadcast on Nippon Television during the 1979—80 season, a 1979 live-action film directed by Jacques Demy, a series of musicals staged by the Takarazuka Revue, and a 2025 anime film produced by MAPPA. Several sequels and spin-offs have also been produced, notably Eikou no Napoleon – Eroica. The manga series was licensed for an English language release in North America by Udon Entertainment, while the anime adaptation is currently licensed in North America by Discotek Media. The Rose of Versailles follows the young Queen of France Marie Antoinette, though the series later refocuses to Oscar François de Jarjayes, the youngest of six daughters who was raised as a man from birth by her military general father to succeed him as commander of the Royal Guards at the Palace of Versailles. Oscars commoner friend (and later lover) André Grandier, the grandson of her nanny, serves as her attendant.
Kurokos Basketball. Kurokos Basketball (Japanese: 黒子のバスケ, Hepburn: Kuroko no Basuke) is a Japanese sports manga series written and illustrated by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. It was serialized in Shueishas shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2008 to September 2014, with its chapters collected in 30 tankōbon volumes. It tells the story of a high school basketball team trying to make it to the national tournament. An anime television series adaptation by Production I.G aired for three seasons from April 2012 to June 2015. A sequel manga, Kurokos Basketball: Extra Game, was serialized in Jump Next! from December 2014 to March 2016. An anime film adaptation of the Kurokos Basketball: Extra Game manga premiered in March 2017. A stage play adaptation opened in April 2016 followed by more stage adaptations. The manga has been licensed for English-language release by Viz Media in North America. By November 2020, Kurokos Basketball had over 31 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series. The Teiko Middle School basketball team achieves unprecedented dominance in Japanese middle school basketball, securing three consecutive national championships. Its star players, collectively known as the Generation of Miracles, gain nationwide recognition for their extraordinary talent. Upon graduating, the five prodigies—Ryota Kise, Shintaro Midorima, Daiki Aomine, Atsushi Murasakibara, and Seijuro Akashi—enroll at separate high schools with elite basketball programs. Rumors persist of a sixth member, a phantom player whose existence remains unconfirmed. This shadow, Tetsuya Kuroko, later joins Seirin High, a newly established school with an emerging team. Alongside Taiga Kagami, a gifted player raised primarily in the United States, Kuroko seeks to elevate Seirin to national prominence by challenging his former teammates.
Minamiuonuma. Minamiuonuma (南魚沼市, Minamiuonuma-shi) is a city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 December 2020[update], the city had an estimated population of 55,354 with 20,047 households,[2] and a population density of 96.1 persons per km2. Its total area was 584.55 square kilometres (225.70 sq mi). Minamiuonuma is situated in a valley in a mountainous region of Niigata Prefecture, located on Honshu, Japans largest and most centralised island. Dotted with ski lodges and other winter activity facilities, the city is in a region known as Snow Country; indeed, Minamiuonuma sits at an average elevation of around 617 m (2,024 ft) above sea level,[3] creating a wintry climate in the coldest months of the year. The city sits just between Mount Sakado to the southeast, which measures 634 m (2,080 ft) tall, and Masugata Yama, measuring some 747 m (2,450 ft) above sea level, to the northwest.[4] The highest peaks in the area reach well over 1600 m (5,249 ft), and some measure as high as 2000 m (approx. 6,700 ft).[5] Parts of the city are within the borders of the Jōshinetsu-kōgen National Park; to the north, the city is bounded by Uonuma and the Echigo Sanzan-Tadami Quasi-National Park (and its associated mountains), and to the south by Yuzawa, a popular ski resort town. The Uono River flows through most of the city. The city and its surrounding areas are dotted with many onsen (hot springs) and ski resorts, making it a popular destination in winter. There are also a large number of seasonal paddy fields, as this is part of the major koshihikari rice-growing region in Japan. Other popular seasonal produce is grown, as well, like watermelon. Minamiuonuma has a Humid climate (Köppen Cfa), characterised by warm, wet summers and cold winters, with heavy snowfall. The average annual rainfall is 1865 mm (73), with September being the wettest month. The average annual temperature in the region is 11.3 °C (52.3 °F); temperatures are highest, on average, in August, at around 24.3 °C (75.7 °F), and lowest in January, at around -1.1 °C (30 °F).[6] According to Japanese census data,[7] the population of Minamiuonuma peaked around 1950 and has since declined to about the same level as a century ago.
Ashita no Joe. Ashita no Joe (Japanese: あしたのジョー, Hepburn: Ashita no Jō; Tomorrows Joe), also known as Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow, is a Japanese boxing manga series written by Asao Takamori and illustrated by Tetsuya Chiba. It follows drifter Joe Yabuki, who discovers a passion for boxing in a juvenile prison, and his rise through Japans and the global boxing scene. Ashita no Joe was serialized in Kodanshas Weekly Shonen Magazine from 1968 to 1973, with its chapters collected in 20 tankōbon volumes. During its serialization, it was popular with working-class people and college students in Japan. It has been adapted into various media, including the Megalo Box anime, a futuristic reimagining of the original that was made as a part of the series 50th anniversary. The manga has been widely influential, with numerous anime and manga referencing it. Joe Yabuki, a young drifter, has a chance encounter with alcoholic former boxing trainer Danpei Tange while wandering through the Sanya slums. Recognizing his talent, Danpei trains Joe as a boxer, but Joe is arrested for fraud. He fights Nishi Kanichi, the leader of a group of hooligans, in temporary jail, and the two are transferred to a juvenile detention center. There, Joe meets Tōru Rikiishi, a former boxing prodigy, and they develop a rivalry after Rikiishi prevents him from escaping. The prison sets up a boxing tournament led by Danpei and funded by millionaire Mikinosuke Shiraki and his granddaughter Yoko. Rikiishi dominates Joe in the final until the latter hits a cross-counter, resulting in a double knockout. Feeling that the match did not resolve anything, Joe and Rikiishi vow to fight again as professional boxers.
Maya the Honey Bee. Maya the Honey Bee (Japanese: みつばちマーヤの冒険, Hepburn: Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken; lit. The Adventures of Maya the Honey Bee) is an anime television series produced first by Zuiyo Enterprise[5] and Asahi Broadcasting Corporation of Osaka. After the first 6 episodes, Zuiyo Enterprises animation studio division became Nippon Animation, which retained the rights of the series. The series consisted of 52 episodes and was originally telecast from April 1975 to April 1976 on all ANN affiliates. Loosely based on the classic childrens book The Adventures of Maya the Bee by Waldemar Bonsels, the anime series has become extremely popular in continental Europe and has been rebroadcast in countries and languages all around the world since its premiere. A film edited from the first few episodes was released on 15 December 1977.[6] Two English-dubbed versions of the series exist, a South African version produced by Sonovision for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC),[7] using a translated version of the theme tune used for the German dub, and featuring South African accents for the characters; and a United States version with an entirely new theme tune, and a Canadian voice cast, produced by Saban Entertainment, which was broadcast from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 1992 on the childrens television channel Nickelodeon. Maya the Bee aired alongside other juvenile-targeted anime such as Adventures of the Little Koala, Noozles and The Littl Bits as part of Nickelodeons Nick Jr. block of programming for young children. 65 episodes were dubbed.[8] A second Maya the Bee series, Shin Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken (新みつばちマーヤの冒険; The New Adventures of Maya the Honey Bee), was a co-production made in 1979 by Nippon Animation, Wako Productions and Austrian/German Apollo Film, Wien. The second series first premiered in Germany (ZDF) from September 1979 to September 1980. Different and cartoon-like second series, which lasted for 52 episodes, was not much popular and did not premiere in Japan until 12 October 1982, on TV Osaka, and aired through 27 September 1983.[9] The story centres on Maya, an inquisitive, adventurous and somewhat flighty young honeybee, and her adventures in the forest around her. Maya is born in a bee hive during internal unrest: the hive is dividing itself into two new colonies. Maya is raised by her teacher, Mrs. Cassandra. Despite Mrs. Cassandras warnings, Maya wants to explore the wide world and commits the unforgivable crime of leaving the hive. During her adventures, Maya, now in exile, befriends other insects and braves dangers with them.
Sendai. Sendai (仙台市, Sendai-shi; [seꜜn.dai, sen.daꜜi.ɕi] ⓘ) is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. As of 1 August 2023[update], the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households,[1] making it the twelfth most populated city in Japan. The modern city was founded in 1600 by the daimyō Date Masamune. It is nicknamed the City of Trees (杜の都, Mori no Miyako); there are Japanese zelkova trees lining many of the main thoroughfares such as Jōzenji Street (定禅寺通, Jōzenji dōri) and Aoba Street (青葉通, Aoba dōri). In the summer, the Sendai Tanabata Festival, the largest Tanabata festival in Japan, is held. In winter, the trees are decorated with thousands of lights for the Pageant of Starlight (光のページェント, Hikari no pējento), lasting through most of December. The city is also home to Tohoku University, one of the former Imperial Universities. On 11 March 2011, coastal areas of the city suffered catastrophic damage from a magnitude 9.0 offshore earthquake,[2][3][4] which triggered a destructive tsunami.[5] Although the Sendai area was inhabited as early as 20,000 years ago, the history of Sendai as a city begins from 1600, when the daimyō Date Masamune relocated. Masamune was not happy with his previous stronghold, Iwadeyama, which was located in the northern portion of his territories and was difficult to access from Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Sendai was an ideal location, being in the centre of Masamunes newly defined territories, upon the major road from Edo. Tokugawa Ieyasu gave Masamune permission to build a new castle in Aobayama after the Battle of Sekigahara. The previous ruler of the Sendai area had used a castle located on Aobayama. At this time Sendai was written as 千代 (a thousand generations or eternity). Masamune changed the kanji to 仙臺, which later became 仙台 (literally: hermit/wizard plus platform/plateau or figuratively, hermit on a platform/high ground). The character came from a Chinese poem that praised a palace created by the Emperor Wen of Han China (reigned 180–157 BCE), comparing it to a mythical palace in the Kunlun Mountains. Tradition says that Masamune chose this kanji so that the castle would prosper as long as a mountain inhabited by an immortal hermit. Masamune ordered the construction of Sendai Castle in December 1600 and the construction of the surrounding castle town in 1601. The grid plan roads in modern-day central Sendai are based upon his plans. The first railway line between Sendai and Tokyo, now the Tōhoku Main Line, opened in 1887, bringing the area within a days travel from Tokyo for the first time in history. Tohoku Imperial University, the regions first university, was founded in Sendai in 1907 and became the first Japanese university to admit female students in 1913.
Riddarholmen Church. Riddarholmen Church (Swedish: Riddarholmskyrkan) is the church of the former medieval Greyfriars Monastery in Stockholm, Sweden. The church serves as the final resting place of most Swedish monarchs.[1] Riddarholmen Church is located on the island of Riddarholmen, close to the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. The congregation was dissolved in 1807 and today the church is used only for burial and commemorative purposes. Swedish monarchs from Gustavus Adolphus (d. 1632 AD) to Gustaf V (d. 1950) are entombed here (with only one exception: Queen Christina who is buried within St. Peters Basilica in Rome), as well as the earlier monarchs Magnus III (d. 1290) and Charles VIII (d. 1470). It has been discontinued as a royal burial site in favour of the Royal Cemetery and today is run by departments of the Swedish Government and Royal Court.[2] [3] The Churchs age can be seen in its architecture, which is eclectic from various eras. Most of the church is a Northern European Gothic style, but parts of the church are also baroque. It is one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm, parts of it dating to the late-13th century, when it was built as a greyfriars monastery. After the Protestant Reformation, the monastery was closed and the building became a Lutheran church. A spire designed by Flemish architect Willem Boy (1520–1592) was added during the reign of John III, but it was destroyed by a lightning strike on 28 July 1835, after which it was replaced with the present cast-iron spire. [4] Traditionally, the armorial plates depiciting the arms of deceased knights of the Royal Order of the Seraphim are affixed to the walls of the church. When a knight of the Order dies, his coat of arms is carried from the royal palace and rehung in the church, and when the funeral takes place the churchs bells are rung without pause from 12:00 to 13:00.[5]
Désirée Clary. Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary (Swedish: Eugenia Bernhardina Desideria;[1] 8 November 1777 – 17 December 1860) was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 5 February 1818 to 8 March 1844 as the wife of King Charles XIV John. Charles John was a French general and founder of the House of Bernadotte. Désirée Clary, the mother of Oscar I, was the one-time fiancée of Napoleon Bonaparte. Her name was officially changed in Sweden to Desideria although she did not use that name.[2] Désirée Clary was born in Marseille, France, the daughter of François Clary (Marseille, St. Ferreol, 24 February 1725 – Marseille, 20 January 1794), a wealthy French silk manufacturer and merchant, by his second wife (m. 26 June 1759) Françoise Rose Somis (Marseille, St. Ferreol, 30 August 1737 – Paris, 28 January 1815). Eugénie was normally used as her name of address.[3] Her father had been previously married, at Marseille on 13 April 1751, to Gabrielle Fléchon (1732 – 3 May 1758). Clary had a sister and brother to whom she remained very close all her life. Her sister, Julie Clary, married Joseph Bonaparte; she later became Queen of Naples and Spain. Her brother, Nicolas Joseph Clary, was created Count Clary. He married Anne Jeanne Rouyer, by whom he had a daughter named Zénaïde Françoise Clary (Paris, 25 November 1812 – Paris, 27 April 1884). Zénaïde would marry Napoléon Alexandre Berthier (the son of Marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier) and have several children, among them the first wife of Joachim, 4th Prince Murat. As a child, Clary received the convent schooling usually given to daughters of the upper classes in pre-revolutionary France. However, when she was barely 11 years old, the French Revolution (starting in 1789) took place, during which convents were closed.[4] Clary returned to live with her parents, where she was perforce home-schooled thereafter. Later, her education was described as shallow.[5] It has been observed by several historians that Clary was devoted to her birth-family her entire life. In 1794, Clarys father died. Shortly after, it was discovered that in the years before the revolution, he had made an appeal to be ennobled, a request that had been denied. Because of this, Désirée Clarys brother Etienne, now the head of the family and her guardian, was arrested. Désirée Clary went to talk on his behalf and seek his release from the holding. In the process, she met Joseph Bonaparte, inviting him back to their home. Joseph was soon engaged to her elder sister Julie, while Napoleon was engaged to Désirée Clary on 21 April 1795. In 1795–1797, Clary lived with her mother in Genoa in Italy, where her brother-in-law Joseph had a diplomatic mission; they were also joined by the Bonaparte family. In 1795, Napoleon became involved with Joséphine de Beauharnais and broke the engagement to Clary on 6 September. He married Joséphine in 1796.
Names of Japan. The word Japan is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by many languages. The Japanese names for Japan are Nihon ([ɲi.hoꜜɴ] ⓘ) and Nippon ([ɲip.poꜜɴ] ⓘ). They are both written in Japanese using the kanji 日本. Since the third century, Chinese called the people of the Japanese archipelago something like ˀWâ (倭), which can also mean dwarf or submissive.[1]: 4–6 Japanese scribes found fault with its offensive connotation, and officially changed the characters they used to spell the native name for Japan, Yamato, replacing the 倭 (dwarf) character for Wa with the homophone 和 (peaceful, harmonious). Wa 和 was often combined with 大 (great) to form the name 大和, which is read as Yamato[2][3] (see also Jukujikun for a discussion of this type of spelling where the kanji and pronunciations are not directly related). The earliest record of 日本 appears in the Chinese Old Book of Tang, which notes the change in 703 when Japanese envoys requested that its name be changed. It is believed that the name change within Japan itself took place sometime between 665 and 703.[4] During the Heian period, 大和 was gradually replaced by 日本, which was first pronounced with the sound reading (onyomi) Nippon and later as Nifon, and then in modern usage Nihon, reflecting shifts in phonology in Early Modern Japanese.[1][failed verification] In 1076, Turkic scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari in his book Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk mentioned this country as Jabarqa (جَابَرْقَا).[5] Marco Polo called Japan Cipangu around 1300, based on the Chinese enunciation of the name,[6] probably 日本國; sun source country (compare modern Min Nan pronunciation ji̍t pún kok). In the 16th century in Malacca, Portuguese traders first heard from Indonesian and Malay the names Jepang, Jipang, and Jepun.[7] In 1577 it was first recorded in English, spelled Giapan.[7] At the end of the 16th century, Portuguese missionaries came to coastal islands of Japan and created brief grammars and dictionaries of Middle Japanese for the purpose of trade. The 1603–1604 dictionary Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam has 2 entries: nifon[8] and iippon.[9] Since then many derived names of Japan appeared on early-modern European maps. Both Nippon and Nihon literally mean the suns origin, that is, where the sun originates,[10] and are often translated as the Land of the Rising Sun. This nomenclature comes from Imperial correspondence with the Chinese Sui dynasty and refers to Japans eastern position relative to China. Before Nihon came into official use, Japan was known as Wa (倭) or Wakoku (倭国).[11] Wa was a name early China used to refer to an ethnic group living in Japan around the time of the Three Kingdoms period.[citation needed] Although the etymological origins of Wa remain uncertain, Chinese historical texts recorded an ancient people residing in the Japanese archipelago (perhaps Kyūshū), named something like ˀWâ or ˀWər 倭. Carr (1992:9–10) surveys prevalent proposals for Was etymology ranging from feasible (transcribing Japanese first-person pronouns waga 我が my; our and ware 我 I; oneself; thou) to shameful (writing Japanese Wa as 倭 implying dwarf), and summarizes interpretations for ˀWâ Japanese into variations on two etymologies: behaviorally submissive or physically short. The first submissive; obedient explanation began with the (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi dictionary. It defines 倭 as shùnmào 順皃 obedient/submissive/docile appearance, graphically explains the person; human radical 亻 with a wěi 委 bent phonetic, and quotes the above Shijing poem[clarification needed]. Conceivably, when Chinese first met Japanese, Carr (1992:9) suggests they transcribed Wa as ˀWâ bent back signifying compliant bowing/obeisance. Bowing is noted in early historical references to Japan. Examples include Respect is shown by squatting (Hou Han Shu, tr. Tsunoda 1951:2), and they either squat or kneel, with both hands on the ground. This is the way they show respect. (Wei Zhi, tr. Tsunoda 1951:13). Koji Nakayama interprets wēi 逶 winding as very far away and euphemistically translates Wō 倭 as separated from the continent. The second etymology of wō 倭 meaning dwarf, pygmy has possible cognates in ǎi 矮 low, short (of stature), wō 踒 strain; sprain; bent legs, and wò 臥 lie down; crouch; sit (animals and birds). Early Chinese dynastic histories refer to a Zhūrúguó 侏儒國 pygmy/dwarf country located south of Japan, associated with possibly Okinawa Island or the Ryukyu Islands. Carr cites the historical precedence of construing Wa as submissive people and the Country of Dwarfs legend as evidence that the little people etymology was a secondary development.[1]: 9
Désirée Clary. Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary (Swedish: Eugenia Bernhardina Desideria;[1] 8 November 1777 – 17 December 1860) was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 5 February 1818 to 8 March 1844 as the wife of King Charles XIV John. Charles John was a French general and founder of the House of Bernadotte. Désirée Clary, the mother of Oscar I, was the one-time fiancée of Napoleon Bonaparte. Her name was officially changed in Sweden to Desideria although she did not use that name.[2] Désirée Clary was born in Marseille, France, the daughter of François Clary (Marseille, St. Ferreol, 24 February 1725 – Marseille, 20 January 1794), a wealthy French silk manufacturer and merchant, by his second wife (m. 26 June 1759) Françoise Rose Somis (Marseille, St. Ferreol, 30 August 1737 – Paris, 28 January 1815). Eugénie was normally used as her name of address.[3] Her father had been previously married, at Marseille on 13 April 1751, to Gabrielle Fléchon (1732 – 3 May 1758). Clary had a sister and brother to whom she remained very close all her life. Her sister, Julie Clary, married Joseph Bonaparte; she later became Queen of Naples and Spain. Her brother, Nicolas Joseph Clary, was created Count Clary. He married Anne Jeanne Rouyer, by whom he had a daughter named Zénaïde Françoise Clary (Paris, 25 November 1812 – Paris, 27 April 1884). Zénaïde would marry Napoléon Alexandre Berthier (the son of Marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier) and have several children, among them the first wife of Joachim, 4th Prince Murat. As a child, Clary received the convent schooling usually given to daughters of the upper classes in pre-revolutionary France. However, when she was barely 11 years old, the French Revolution (starting in 1789) took place, during which convents were closed.[4] Clary returned to live with her parents, where she was perforce home-schooled thereafter. Later, her education was described as shallow.[5] It has been observed by several historians that Clary was devoted to her birth-family her entire life. In 1794, Clarys father died. Shortly after, it was discovered that in the years before the revolution, he had made an appeal to be ennobled, a request that had been denied. Because of this, Désirée Clarys brother Etienne, now the head of the family and her guardian, was arrested. Désirée Clary went to talk on his behalf and seek his release from the holding. In the process, she met Joseph Bonaparte, inviting him back to their home. Joseph was soon engaged to her elder sister Julie, while Napoleon was engaged to Désirée Clary on 21 April 1795. In 1795–1797, Clary lived with her mother in Genoa in Italy, where her brother-in-law Joseph had a diplomatic mission; they were also joined by the Bonaparte family. In 1795, Napoleon became involved with Joséphine de Beauharnais and broke the engagement to Clary on 6 September. He married Joséphine in 1796.
Surname. In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of ones personal name that indicates ones family.[1][2] It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several given names and surnames are possible in the full name. In modern times most surnames are hereditary, although in most countries a person has a right to change their name. Depending on culture, the surname may be placed either at the start of a persons name, or at the end. The number of surnames given to an individual also varies: in most cases it is just one, but in Portuguese-speaking countries and many Spanish-speaking countries, two surnames (one inherited from the mother and another from the father) are used for legal purposes. Depending on culture, not all members of a family unit are required to have identical surnames. In some countries, surnames are modified depending on gender and family membership status of a person. Compound surnames can be composed of separate names.[3] The use of names has been documented in even the oldest historical records. Examples of surnames are documented in the 11th century by the barons in England. English surnames began to be formed with reference to a certain aspect of that individual, such as their trade, fathers name, location of birth, or physical features, and were not necessarily inherited. By 1400 most English families, and those from Lowland Scotland, had adopted the use of hereditary surnames.[4] The study of proper names (in family names, personal names, or places) is called onomastics.
Tarō (given name). Tarō (太郎) (alternatively romanized Taro, Tarô, Talo, Taroh or Tarou), is a stand-alone masculine Japanese given name or a common name second half of such a name (literally meaning eldest son). Tarō can also be used as a surname, but the etymology and kanji are different. The name Tarō can have many different meanings depending on the kanji characters used to write it. It can also be written using hiragana or katakana. Possible variations of the name Taro include:
Prince Kanin Kotohito. Prince Kanin Kotohito (閑院宮載仁親王, Kanin-no-miya Kotohito-shinnō; November 10, 1865 – May 21, 1945) was the sixth head of a cadet branch of the Japanese imperial family, and a career army officer who served as Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff from 1931 to 1940. During his tenure as the Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, the Imperial Japanese Army committed numerous war crimes against Chinese civilians including the Nanjing Massacre and the systemic use of chemical and bacteriological weapons. Prince Kanin Kotohito died several months before the end of the Second World War. Prince Kotohito was born in Kyoto on November 10, 1865, as the sixteenth son of Prince Fushimi Kuniie (1802–1875). His father was the twentieth head of the Fushimi-no-miya, one of the four shinnōke, branches of the Imperial Family which were eligible to succeed to the throne if the main line should die out. Since the infant mortality rate in the main imperial household was quite high, Emperor Kōmei, the father of Emperor Meiji, adopted Prince Kotohito as a potential heir. Prince Kotohito was thus the adopted brother of Emperor Meiji and a great uncle to both Emperor Shōwa and his consort, Empress Kōjun. Prince Kotohito was initially sent to Sambō-in monzeki temple at the age of three to be raised as a Buddhist monk, but was selected in 1872 to revive the Kanin-no-miya, another of the shinnōke households, which had gone extinct upon the death of the fifth head, Prince Naruhito. On December 19, 1891, Prince Kotohiko married Sanjō Chieko (January 30, 1872 – March 19, 1947), a daughter of Prince Sanjō Sanetomi. The couple had seven children: five daughters and two sons. Prince Kanin entered the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1877 and graduated in 1881. Emperor Meiji sent him as a military attaché to France in 1882 to study military tactics and technology. He graduated from the Army Staff College in 1894, specializing in cavalry. He commanded the 1st Cavalry Regiment from 1897 to 1899.
Yamada. Yamada (山田; lit. mountain rice field) is the 12th most common Japanese surname.[1]
Placeholder name. Placeholder names are names used as placeholder words, i.e., referring to things, places, or people, the names of which or of whom do not actually exist; are temporarily forgotten, or are unimportant; or in order to avoid stigmatization, or because they are unknowable or unpredictable given the context of their discussion; or to deliberately expunge direct use of the name.[1][2][3][4] Placeholder names for people are often terms referring to an average person or a predicted persona of a typical user or for an individual whose name is unknown.[3][5][6] Placeholder names serve as a common language that provide flexibility and clarity when talking or writing about concepts.[4] Some morphologists will distinguish between placeholders such as thingummy and placeholder names like John Doe.[7] In computer programming and printing, placeholder names allow creator to test or visual the end product.[4] Use of placeholder names has caused problems in circumstances where the placeholder is not thereafter substituted for a real name when it becomes available. For example, in 2009, the United States Army was forced to issue an apology when letters addressed to John Doe were sent to thousands of families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.[8] A 2015 report noted that hospitals using a standard Babyboy or Babygirl placeholder for the first names of unidentified newborns has led to mix-ups in identification and medication of the infants.[9] Ace and Acme were popular in company names as positioning words in alphabetical directories.[10] It has been claimed to be an acronym, either for A Company Making Everything, American Companies Make Everything, or American Company that Manufactures Everything.[11][12] (Acme is a regular English word from the Ancient Greek ἀκμή, akme meaning summit, highest point, extremity or peak, and thus sometimes used for best.)[13] A well-known example of Acme as a placeholder name is the Acme Corporation, whose products are often seen in the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons.[14] Oceanic Airlines is used as a fictional airline in several films, TV programmes, and comic books, typically when it is involved in a disaster or another event with which actual airlines would prefer not to be associated.[15][16]
Kanin-no-miya. The Kanin-no-miya (閑院宮家) was the youngest of the four shinnōke, branches of the Imperial Family of Japan which were eligible to succeed to the Chrysanthemum Throne in the event that the main line should die out. It was founded by Prince Naohito, the son of Emperor Higashiyama. Fearing extinction of the imperial house, Arai Hakuseki proposed that a new branch of the Imperial Family be created. In 1718, Emperor Emeritus Reigen bestowed upon his grandson the title of Kanin-no-miya and land worth 1000 koku. This was the first new shinnōke formed since the Arisugawa-no-miya lineage in 1625. The name Kanin-no-miya is thought to have come from the title of Prince Sadamoto, a son of the Heian-era Emperor Seiwa. Arai Hakuseis wisdom was soon proved with the second head of the house, Imperial Prince Sukehito. When Emperor Go-Momozono died, he had only a daughter. Sukehitos younger son was chosen to become Emperor Kōkaku. The Kanin House became extinct upon the death of its 5th head, Prince Kanin Naruhito, in 1842, but was revived by Emperor Meiji, who assigned the name to Prince Kotohito, 16th son of Prince Fushimi Kuniie (one of the other shinnoke houses).
Shinnōke. Seshū Shinnōke (世襲親王家) was the collective name for the four cadet branches of the Imperial House of Japan,[1] which were until 1947[2] entitled to provide a successor to the Chrysanthemum Throne if the main line failed to produce an heir. The heads of these royal houses held the title of imperial prince (親王, shinnō), regardless of their genealogical distance from the reigning Emperor of Japan, as the term seshū in their designation meant that they were eligible for succession. The Imperial family of Japan considers itself a single dynasty in unbroken succession; however, the succession has often not been directly from father to son, but has been in the male line within a closely related group of people. In the Muromachi period, Prince Yoshihito, the son of the Northern Emperor Sukō was permitted to establish a parallel lineage to the main imperial line, and took the name Fushimi-no-miya from the location of his palace. Without this permission, the line would be considered commoners, and therefore excluded from the succession. This served politically to cement the reunification of the Northern and Southern Court, but provided insurance in the extreme event that the main imperial line should fail to produce a direct heir and become extinct. This proved to be a fortunate decision, as in 1428, the son of the second Prince Fushimi-no-miya ascended the throne as Emperor Go-Hanazono. In the Edo period, three additional seshū shinnōke households were created by the Tokugawa shogunate, in conscious imitation of the Tokugawa Gosanke.
BA. BA or variants may refer to:
Imperial House of Japan. The Imperial House (皇室, Kōshitsu) is the reigning dynasty of Japan, consisting of those members of the extended family of the reigning emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present constitution of Japan, the emperor is the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people. Other members of the imperial family perform ceremonial and social duties, but have no role in the affairs of government. The duties as an emperor are passed down the line to their male children. The Japanese monarchy is the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world.[6] The imperial dynasty does not have a name, therefore its direct members do not have a family name. The imperial house recognizes 126 monarchs, beginning with Emperor Jimmu (traditionally dated to 11 February 660 BCE), and continuing up to the current emperor, Naruhito. However, scholars have agreed that there is no evidence of Jimmus existence,[3][7] that the traditional narrative of the imperial familys founding is mythical, and that Jimmu is a mythical figure.[8] Historical evidence for the first 25 emperors is scant, and they are considered mythical, but there is sufficient evidence of an unbroken agnatic line since the early 6th century.[9] Historically, verifiable emperors of Japan start from 539 CE with Emperor Kinmei, the 29th tennō.[3][4][5] The earliest historic written mentions of Japan were in Chinese records, where it was referred to as Wa (倭 later 和), which later evolved into the Japanese name of Wakoku. Suishō (ca. 107 CE) was a king of Wa, the earliest Japanese monarch mentioned in Volume 85 of the Book of the Later Han from 445 CE. Further records mention the five kings of Wa, of which the last one Bu of Wa is generally considered to be Emperor Yūryaku (417/18 – 479 CE). The existence of his reign has been established through modern archaeological research. While the main line of the dynasty does not have a name and is referred to as Kōshitsu (皇室, imperial house), there are agnatic cadet branches which split during the course of centuries who received their own family names in order to distinguish them from the main line. They were considered a part of the imperial family (皇族 Kōzoku), with members carrying the title Imperial Highness, until the laws changed in 1947. The most important branches were the Shinnōke of which the most senior branch Fushimi-no-miya is first in the order of succession. Out of the Fushimi branch the Ōke branches split, which are the Kuni, Kaya, Asaka, Higashikuni and Takeda families as of 2024. Furthermore there are branches created from sons of the emperor who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the court (kuge) or sword (buke) nobility. Such families are the Minamoto (源 also known as Genji), Taira (平 also known as Heishi), as well as through in-laws the Tachibana for example. Out of these families further branches split through male descent who were also considered noble Japanese clans. The line of legitimate direct male descendants of emperors is therefore numerous. Other terms used for the dynasty are also Kōka (皇家, Imperial House). Formerly the term Kyūshitsu (宮室, Palace Household) was also used under the old Imperial Constitution and the Imperial Household Law, as well as Teishitsu (帝室, Imperial Household).
The Bachelor of Arts. The Bachelor of Arts (1937) is a novel written by R. K. Narayan. It is the second book of a trilogy that begins with Swami and Friends and ends with The English Teacher.[1] It is again set in Malgudi, the fictional town Narayan invented for his novels. The story follows the coming-of-age of Chandran, a young upper-middle class college graduate into adulthood. Chandran falls in love with Malathi, who he desires to marry. Their relationship is rejected by her parents as Chandrans horoscope[2] describes him as having a Mangala Dosha – a superstition in which a marriage to a non-Manglik, Malathi, would lead to her early death. Malathi is then married to someone else. Heartbroken, Chandran goes to Madras and lives on the streets. Disillusioned, Chandran embraces a nomadic life, becoming a Sanyasi and renouncing his life of worldly pursuits.[2] Along his journey, Chandran is misunderstood as a great sage by the villagers he meets. After eight months, Chandran rouses to his senses, remembering his parents. He returns home, finding employment as a newsagent. Despite his return home, Chandran still obsesses over Malathi. His father comes to him with a proposal of marriage to another girl, Sushila. Chandran is initially skeptical about finding love again, but later decides to meet her. Chandran falls in love with Sushila at first sight.
Boron arsenide. Boron arsenide (or Arsenic boride) is a chemical compound involving boron and arsenic, usually with a chemical formula BAs. Other boron arsenide compounds are known, such as the subarsenide B12As2. Chemical synthesis of cubic BAs is very challenging and its single crystal forms usually have defects. BAs is a cubic (sphalerite) semiconductor in the III-V family with a lattice constant of 0.4777 nm and an indirect band gap of 1.82 eV. Cubic BAs is reported to decompose to the subarsenide B12As2 at temperatures above 920 °C.[5] Boron arsenide has a melting point of 2076 °C. The thermal conductivity of BAs is exceptionally high, recently measured in single-crystal BAs to be around 1300 W/(m·K) at room temperature, making it the highest among all metals and semiconductors.[6] The basic physical properties of cubic BAs have been experimentally measured:[7] Band gap (1.82 eV), optical refractive index (3.29 at wavelength 657 nm), elastic modulus (326 GPa), shear modulus, Poissons ratio, thermal expansion coefficient (3.85×10−6/K), and heat capacity. It can be alloyed with gallium arsenide to produce ternary and with indium gallium arsenide to form quaternary semiconductors.[8] BAs has high electron and hole mobility, >1000 cm2/V/second, unlike silicon which has high electron mobility, but low hole mobility.[9] In 2023, a study in journal Nature reported that subjected to high pressure BAs decreases its thermal conductivity contrary to the typical increase seen in most materials.[10][11][12]
Bachelor of Arts (film). Bachelor of Arts is a 1934 American drama film directed by Louis King and written by Lamar Trotti. The film stars Tom Brown, Anita Louise, Henry B. Walthall, Mae Marsh, Arline Judge and Frank Albertson. The film was released on November 23, 1934, by Fox Film Corporation.[1][2][3] Alexander Alec Hamilton, Jr., a headstrong, but likable freshman at the state college, falls in love at first sight with co-ed Mimi Smith when he sees her standing over him after he gets involved in a brawl at an antiwar speech. After nearly getting into a couple of more fights, Alec, whose father, the owner of Hamilton Iron Works, is sending him through college, proposes to Mimi, who works her way through as a dining hall cashier, but she only agrees to date. After Alec breaks a date with Mimi when his fraternity initiation turns into an all-night drinking party, he meets a radical reading Karl Marxs Das Capital and, convinced that Mimi has not come up against the realities of life, takes her to a rally in the park. The rally soon turns into a brawl when the people congregated resent Alec and Mimis intrusion. Mimi and Alec become engaged, but when Alec, on a whim, buys a car instead of her engagement ring, she calls him a spoiled child and says that they should not see each other again. After she sees him driving with Gladys Cottle, who tries to make her jealous, Mimi returns Alecs fraternity pin. As Alec gets acquainted with one of his instructors, Professor Barth, the professors wife Mary, who is ill, and Robert Neal, an excellent student who uses a wheelchair, he begins to mature; however, when he thinks that Mimi and Professor Donald Woolsey, who has fallen in love with her, are making fun of his singing at Glee Club practice, Alec rebukes Mimi, goes drinking with Gladys and neglects his studies. After the dean reprimands Alec and he is arrested for reckless driving, Mimi writes his father and convinces him not to give Alec money so that he will have to work. Alec gets a job in the University Cafe, and when he learns from Neal that Mrs. Barth will die if she does not get to a better climate soon, he retrieves his fraternity pin from Gladys, who gives it up for a kiss when she sees Mimi watching, hocks it with his watch and sells his blood to get $200, which he leaves anonymously for Mary and Professor Barth so that they can go to the desert. After Mimi reprimands Alec for kissing Gladys, Woolsey, who saw Alec leave the money, tells Mimi of the deed and explains that Alec needed contact with something real: the Barths. Mimi stops Alec from leaving school, and they are reconciled.[4]
AB. AB, Ab, or ab may refer to:
UTC+09:00. UTC+09:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +09:00. During the Japanese occupations of British Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Philippines, Singapore, and French Indochina, it was used as a common time with Tokyo until the fall of the Empire of Japan. Principal cities: Yakutsk, Blagoveshchensk, Chita, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Yokohama, Sapporo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Ulsan, Incheon, Jeju, Changwon, Pohang, Gumi, Geoje, Pyongyang, Koror, Jayapura, Sorong, Ternate, Ambon, Dili. This concerns areas within 127°30′ E and 142°30′ E longitude.
Terra (satellite). Terra (EOS AM-1) is a multi-national scientific research satellite operated by NASA in a Sun-synchronous orbit around the Earth. It takes simultaneous measurements of Earths atmosphere, land, and water to understand how Earth is changing and to identify the consequences for life on Earth.[1] It is the flagship of the Earth Observing System (EOS) and the first satellite of the system which was followed by Aqua (launched in 2002) and Aura (launched in 2004). Terra was launched in 1999. The name Terra comes from the Latin word for Earth. A naming contest was held by NASA among U.S. high school students. The winning essay was submitted by Sasha Jones of Brentwood, Missouri. The identifier AM-1 refers to its orbit, passing over the equator in the morning. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on December 18th, 1999, aboard an Atlas IIAS vehicle and began collecting data on February 24th, 2000. It was placed into a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 705 km (438 mi), with a 10:30am descending node. Terra carries a payload of five remote sensors designed to monitor the state of Earths environment and ongoing changes in its climate system:[2] Data from the satellite helps scientists better understand the spread of pollution around the globe. Studies have used instruments on Terra to examine trends in global carbon monoxide and aerosol pollution.[7] The data collected by Terra will ultimately become a new, 15-year global data set.
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), also known as the National Television Academy until 2007, is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television industry.[1] Headquartered in New York City, NATAS membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country. NATAS distributes several groups of Emmy Awards, including Daytime, Sports, News and Documentary, and Childrens and Family Emmys. NATAS is a sister organization to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the other two bodies that present Emmy Awards to other sectors of television programming. NATAS was originally established when the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) merged with a New York academy founded by Ed Sullivan. The Los Angeles chapter then broke away from NATAS in 1977, splitting the distribution of the several groups of Emmy Awards as part of their agreement. Among others, ATAS continues to present the Primetime and Los Angeles Emmys; while NATAS is responsible for the Daytime, Sports, News and Documentary, Childrens and Family, and the regional Emmys outside of Los Angeles.[2] Sister organization International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (IATAS), presenter of the International Emmys, was then founded in 1969 as the International Council of the NATAS.[3] One of its past presidents, Don DeFore, was instrumental in arranging for the Emmy Awards to be broadcast on national TV for the first time on March 7, 1955. Other past presidents include Diana Muldaur, John Cannon, Peter Price, Frank Radice and Bob Mauro. NATAS distributes several US national level groups of Emmy Awards, including: 19 Regional NATAS chapters organize award ceremonies of their own, awarding Emmy statues similar to those given out at the national ceremonies. They also administer their own regional scholarship and student productions award programs.[4]
Kinki (disambiguation). Kinki may refer to:
Sports and Recreation Center (Poland). The Sports and Recreation Center, Ośrodek Sportu i Rekreacji (OSiR) is an entity dedicated to promoting physical culture, sports, and recreational activities among the residents of a particular locality, primarily in Poland. Its responsibilities include maintaining sports facilities, managing sports sections, and organizing competitions at local and higher levels. In many cities, such centers operate under the name Municipal Sports and Recreation Center, Miejski Ośrodek Sportu i Rekreacji (MOSiR).[1][2][3][4] These centers are typically public entities funded by local government budgets, sponsor donations, and subsidies from the European Union.[1]
Kansai dialect. The Kansai dialect (関西弁・関西方言, Kansai-ben, Kansai hōgen; Japanese pronunciation: [kaɰ̃.sai.beɴ, kaɰ̃.sai hoː.ɡeꜜɴ, -ŋeꜜɴ, kaɰ̃.sai hoꜜː.ɡeɴ, -ŋeɴ]ⓘ) is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region (Kinki region) of Japan. In Japanese, Kansai-ben is the common name and it is called Kinki dialect (近畿方言, Kinki-hōgen) in technical terms. The dialects of Kyoto and Osaka are known as Kamigata dialect (上方言葉, Kamigata kotoba; or Kamigata-go (上方語)), and were particularly referred to as such in the Edo period. The Kansai dialect is typified by the speech of Osaka, the major city of Kansai, which is referred to specifically as Osaka-ben. It is characterized as being both more melodic and harsher by speakers of the standard language.[1] Since Osaka is the largest city in the region and its speakers received the most media exposure over the last century, non-Kansai-dialect speakers tend to associate the dialect of Osaka with the entire Kansai region. However, technically, Kansai dialect is not a single dialect but a group of related dialects in the region. Each major city and prefecture has a particular dialect, and residents take some pride in their particular dialectal variations. The common Kansai dialect is spoken in Keihanshin (the metropolitan areas of the cities of Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe) and its surroundings, a radius of about 50 km (31 mi) around the Osaka-Kyoto area (see regional differences).[2] This article mainly discusses variations in Keihanshin during the 20th and 21st centuries. Even in the Kansai region, away from Keihanshin and its surrounding areas, there are dialects that differ from the characteristics generally considered to be Kansai dialect-like. Tajima and Tango (except Maizuru) dialects in northwest Kansai are too different to be regarded as Kansai dialects and are thus usually included in the Chūgoku dialect. Dialects spoken in Southeastern Kii Peninsula including Totsukawa and Owase are also far different from other Kansai dialects, and considered a language island. The Shikoku dialect and the Hokuriku dialect share many similarities with the Kansai dialects, but are classified separately.
John F. Kennedy. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president at 43 years.[a] Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress prior to his presidency. Born into the prominent Kennedy family in Brookline, Massachusetts, Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940, joining the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. During World War II, he commanded PT boats in the Pacific theater. Kennedys survival following the sinking of PT-109 and his rescue of his fellow sailors made him a war hero and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, but left him with serious injuries. After a brief stint in journalism, Kennedy represented a working-class Boston district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate, serving as the junior senator for Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Kennedy ran in the 1960 presidential election. His campaign gained momentum after the first televised presidential debates in American history, and he was elected president, narrowly defeating Republican opponent Richard Nixon, the incumbent vice president. Kennedys presidency saw high tensions with communist states in the Cold War. He increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam, and the Strategic Hamlet Program began during his presidency. In 1961, he authorized attempts to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion and Operation Mongoose. In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba. The resulting period of tensions, termed the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly resulted in nuclear war. In August 1961, after East German troops erected the Berlin Wall, Kennedy sent an army convoy to reassure West Berliners of U.S. support, and delivered one of his most famous speeches in West Berlin in June 1963. In 1963, Kennedy signed the first nuclear weapons treaty. He presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps, Alliance for Progress with Latin America, and the continuation of the Apollo program with the goal of landing a man on the Moon before 1970. He supported the civil rights movement but was only somewhat successful in passing his New Frontier domestic policies. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. His vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, assumed the presidency. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination, but he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby two days later. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Warren Commission both concluded Oswald had acted alone, but conspiracy theories about the assassination persist. After Kennedys death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Revenue Act of 1964. Kennedy ranks highly in polls of U.S. presidents with historians and the general public. His personal life has been the focus of considerable sustained interest following public revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and extramarital affairs. Kennedy is the most recent U.S. president to have died in office.
Hokkaido (disambiguation). Hokkaido:
Danny Jacobs (actor). Danny Jacobs is an American actor and comedian. Following his voice acting debut in 1999 with an uncredited role in Full Blast, he took over the role of King Julien (originally voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen) in The Penguins of Madagascar (2008–2015) and reprised his role in the Christmas special Merry Madagascar (2009), the Valentines Day short Madly Madagascar (2013) and All Hail King Julien (2014–2017). He also impersonated Cohens character Borat Sagdiyev (as well as a cameo appearance as a Pirate with an Eye Patch) in Epic Movie (2007). Besides King Julien, his voice work includes the role of Rowdy Remington in Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil (2010–2012), Victor Zsasz in Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) and Batman: Arkham City (2011), Special Agent Porter in Justice League: Doom (2012), Snake / Snakeweed in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), Grifter and Captain Cold in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013), Baron Mordo in Ultimate Spider-Man (2016) and Heinrich Zemo in Avengers Assemble (2016). Jacobs is a devout Catholic of Lebanese descent.[1] Growing up, Jacobs originally intended to become an NBA player. Jacobs attended Bishop Gallagher High School in Harper Woods, Michigan where he started to become interested in acting after seeing a production of West Side Story, in which he attended the rehearsals. Jacobs would later act in school productions of Grease and The Wiz. He enrolled in Wayne State University where he was in the community theater and later transferred to the University of Arizona where he majored in musical theater. Jacobs was further inspired by his cousin who appeared on the original Broadway rendition of Les Misérables. He moved to Los Angeles where he initially did commercial voice overs as a side gig to his theatrical work. He started animation voice acting as a walla voice actor alongside James Arnold Taylor and Teresa Ganzel.[2] In 1993, Jacobs originated the role of Chico Fernández in Jeff Daniels comedy The Vast Difference at the Purple Rose Theatre.
Eartha Kitt. Eartha Mae Kitt (née Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress. She was known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of Cest si bon and the Christmas novelty song Santa Baby. Kitt began her career in 1942 and appeared in the 1945 original Broadway theatre production of the musical Carib Song. In the early 1950s, Kitt had six US Top 30 entries, including Uska Dara (1953) and I Want to Be Evil (1953). Her other recordings include the UK Top 10 song Under the Bridges of Paris (1954), Just an Old Fashioned Girl (1956) and Where Is My Man (1983). Orson Welles once called her the most exciting woman in the world.[4] Kitt starred as Catwoman in the third and final season of the television series Batman in 1967.[5] In 1968, Kitts career in the U.S. deteriorated after she made anti-Vietnam War statements at a White House luncheon with Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson.[5] Ten years later, Kitt made a successful return to Broadway in the 1978 original production of the musical Timbuktu!, for which she received the first of her two Tony Award nominations. Kitts second was for the 2000 original production of the musical The Wild Party. She wrote three autobiographies.[6] Kitt found a new generation of fans through her various voice acting roles in the last decade of her life. She voiced the villains Yzma and Vexus in The Emperors New Groove franchise and My Life As A Teenage Robot, with the former earning her two Daytime Emmy Awards. Kitt posthumously won a third Emmy in 2010 for her guest performance on Wonder Pets!.
Demonym. A demonym (/ˈdɛmənɪm/; from Ancient Greek δῆμος (dêmos) people, tribe and ὄνυμα (ónuma) name) or gentilic (from Latin gentilis of a clan, or gens)[1] is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place.[2] Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, state, country, and continent).[3] Demonyms are used to designate all people (the general population) of a particular place, regardless of ethnic, linguistic, religious or other cultural differences that may exist within the population of that place. Examples of demonyms include Cochabambino, for someone from the city of Cochabamba; Tunisian for a person from Tunisia; and Swahili, for a person of the Swahili coast. Many demonyms function both endonymically and exonymically (used by the referents themselves or by outsiders); others function only in one of those ways. As a sub-field of anthroponymy, the study of demonyms is called demonymy or demonymics. Since they are referring to territorially defined groups of people, demonyms are semantically different from ethnonyms (names of ethnic groups). In the English language, there are many polysemic words that have several meanings (including demonymic and ethnonymic uses), and therefore a particular use of any such word depends on the context. For example, the word Thai may be used as a demonym, designating any inhabitant of Thailand, while the same word may also be used as an ethnonym, designating members of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms. For example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Briton or, informally, a Brit.
Daytime Emmy Awards. The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the Daytime Emmys are presented in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming. The first ceremony was held in 1974, expanding what was originally a prime time-themed Emmy Award. Ceremonies generally are held in May or June, but starting in 2025, the ceremony will be held in October. The first Emmy Award ceremony took place on January 25, 1949. The first daytime-themed Emmy Awards were given out at the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony in 1972, when The Doctors and General Hospital were nominated for Outstanding Achievement in a Daytime Drama. That year, The Doctors won the first Best Show Daytime Emmy. In addition, the award for Outstanding Achievement by an Individual in a Daytime Drama was given to Mary Fickett from All My Children. A previous category Outstanding Achievement in Daytime Programming was added once in 1968 with individuals like Days of Our Lives star Macdonald Carey nominated. Due to voting rules of the time, judges could opt to either award one or no Emmy, and in the end they decided that no one nominated was deserving of the golden statuette. This snub outraged then-Another World writer Agnes Nixon, causing her to write in The New York Times, ...after viewing the recent fiasco of the Emmy awards, it may well be considered a mark of distinction to have been ignored by this group.[1] Longtime General Hospital star John Beradino became a leading voice to have daytime talent honored with special recognition for their work. The first separate awards show made just for daytime programming was broadcast in 1974 from the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center in New York. The hosts that year were Barbara Walters and Peter Marshall. For years, the gala was held in New York, usually at nearby Radio City Music Hall, with occasional broadcasts from Madison Square Garden. In 2006, the Daytime Emmys was moved to the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, the first time they had ever been held outside of New York.[2] The Kodak Theatre also hosted the 2007 and 2008 ceremonies, before it was moved again in 2009 to the Orpheum Theatre across town. In 2010 and 2011, the Daytime Emmys were instead held in Las Vegas. From 2012 onward, the Daytime Emmys have been held at various venues in Los Angeles, never to return again to New York (most likely as a reflection of the current state of American daytime dramas, where all New York-produced network soap operas have since been cancelled, and the ones left on the air are being recorded in Los Angeles). In 2007, child voice actress Danica Lee, the voice for Ming-Ming in Wonder Pets! became the first Asian nominee overall in Daytime Emmy history while Eric Bauza became the first adult Asian nominee in Daytime Emmy history.
Kansai International Airport. Kansai International Airport (Japanese: 関西国際空港, romanized: Kansai Kokusai Kūkō) (IATA: KIX, ICAO: RJBB), commonly known as Kankū (Japanese: 関空), is located on an artificial island and serves as the primary international airport in the Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is located on an artificial island, Kankūjima (関空島), in the middle of Osaka Bay off the Honshu shore, 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Ōsaka Station,[4] located within three municipalities, including Izumisano (north),[5] Sennan (south),[6] and Tajiri (central),[7] in Osaka Prefecture. The airports first airport island covers approximately 510 hectares (1,260 acres) and the second covers approximately 545 hectares (1,347 acres), for a total of 1,055 hectares (2,607 acres).[8] Kansai opened on 4 September 1994 to relieve overcrowding at Osaka International Airport, also called Itami Airport, which is closer to Osaka. It consists of two terminals: Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Terminal 1, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, is the longest airport terminal in the world with a length of 1.7 km (1+1⁄16 mi). The airport serves as an international hub for All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, and Nippon Cargo Airlines and as a hub for Peach, the first international low-cost carrier in Japan.[9] It is also the north Pacific hub for FedEx Express, which obtained fifth freedom rights under the 1998 U.S. and Japan air agreement and established the hub in 2014.[10][3] In 2019, 31.9 million passengers used the airport, making it the third busiest in Japan. The freight volume was 802,162 tonnes total: 757,414 t international (18th in the world) and 44,748 t domestic.[11] The 4,000 m × 60 m (13,120 ft × 200 ft) second runway was opened on 2 August 2007. As of June 2014[update], Kansai Airport has become an Asian hub, with 780 weekly flights to Asia and Australasia (including 119 freight), 59 weekly flights to Europe and the Middle East (5 freight), and 80 weekly flights to North America (42 freight).[12] In 2020, Kansai was ranked the tenth-best airport in the world by Skytrax and received its awards for Best Airport Staff in Asia, Worlds Best Airport Staff, and Worlds Best Airport for Baggage Delivery.[13][14]
List of islands of Japan. Japan is an island country of 14,125 islands, of which approximately 260 are inhabited.[1][2] Japan is the third-largest island country in the world, behind Indonesia and Madagascar.[3] Japan is also the second-most-populous island country in the world, only behind Indonesia. According to a survey conducted by the Japan Coast Guard in 1987, the number of islands in Japan was 6,852. At that time, the survey only counted islands with coastlines of 100 meters or more that were shown on paper maps. On February 28, 2023, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan announced that the number of islands had been updated to 14,125 through a recount using digital maps. Since there is no international standard for counting islands, only islands with a coastline of 100 meters or more were counted, as in the past. According to the GSI, advances in surveying technology and the detailed representation of topographic features through digital mapping contributed to this announcement.[4][1] The four main islands of Japan are:[5][6] Most of these are located in the East China Sea.
Minor planet. According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet.[a] Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term minor planet, but that years meeting reclassified minor planets and comets into dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies (SSSBs).[1] In contrast to the eight official planets of the Solar System, all minor planets fail to clear their orbital neighborhood.[2][1] Minor planets include asteroids (near-Earth objects, Earth trojans, Mars trojans, Mars-crossers, main-belt asteroids and Jupiter trojans), as well as distant minor planets (Uranus trojans, Neptune trojans, centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects), most of which reside in the Kuiper belt and the scattered disc. As of October 2024[update], there are 1,392,085 known objects, divided into 740,000 numbered, with only one of them recognized as a dwarf planet (secured discoveries) and 652,085 unnumbered minor planets, with only five of those officially recognized as a dwarf planet.[3] The first minor planet to be discovered was Ceres in 1801, though it was called a planet at the time and an asteroid soon after; the term minor planet was not introduced until 1841, and was considered a subcategory of planet until 1932.[4] The term planetoid has also been used, especially for larger, planetary objects such as those the IAU has called dwarf planets since 2006.[5][6] Historically, the terms asteroid, minor planet, and planetoid have been more or less synonymous.[5][7] This terminology has become more complicated by the discovery of numerous minor planets beyond the orbit of Jupiter, especially trans-Neptunian objects that are generally not considered asteroids.[7] A minor planet seen releasing gas may be dually classified as a comet. Objects are called dwarf planets if their own gravity is sufficient to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium and form an ellipsoidal shape. All other minor planets and comets are called small Solar System bodies.[1] The IAU stated that the term minor planet may still be used, but the term small Solar System body will be preferred.[8] However, for purposes of numbering and naming, the traditional distinction between minor planet and comet is still used. Hundreds of thousands of minor planets have been discovered within the Solar System and thousands more are discovered each month. The Minor Planet Center has documented over 213 million observations and 794,832 minor planets, of which 541,128 have orbits known well enough to be assigned permanent official numbers.[9][10] Of these, 21,922 have official names.[9] As of 1 September 2025[update], the lowest-numbered unnamed minor planet is (4596) 1981 QB,[11] and the highest-numbered named minor planet is 826631 Frascati.[12]
China. China,[h] officially the Peoples Republic of China (PRC),[i] is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China is vast; it borders fourteen countries by land[j] across an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), making it the third-largest country by land area.[k] The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions: 22 provinces,[l] 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities, and 2 semi-autonomous special administrative regions. Beijing is the countrys capital, while Shanghai is its most populous city by urban area and largest financial center. Considered one of six cradles of civilization, China saw the first human inhabitants in the region arriving during the Paleolithic. By the late 2nd millennium BCE, the earliest dynastic states had emerged in the Yellow River basin. The 8th–3rd centuries BCE saw a breakdown in the authority of the Zhou dynasty, accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques, literature, philosophy, and historiography. In 221 BCE, China was unified under an emperor, ushering in more than two millennia of imperial dynasties including the Qin, Han, Tang, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. With the invention of gunpowder and paper, the establishment of the Silk Road, and the building of the Great Wall, Chinese culture flourished and has heavily influenced both its neighbors and lands further afield. However, China began to cede parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of unequal treaties. After decades of Qing China on the decline, the 1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and the monarchy and the Republic of China (ROC) was established the following year. The country under the nascent Beiyang government was unstable and ultimately fragmented during the Warlord Era, which was ended upon the Northern Expedition conducted by the Kuomintang (KMT) to reunify the country. The Chinese Civil War began in 1927, when KMT forces purged members of the rival Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who proceeded to engage in sporadic fighting against the KMT-led Nationalist government. Following the countrys invasion by the Empire of Japan in 1937, the CCP – under the leadership of Mao Zedong – and KMT formed the Second United Front to fight the Japanese. The Second Sino-Japanese War eventually ended in a Chinese victory; however, the CCP and the KMT resumed their civil war as soon as the war ended. In 1949, the resurgent Communists established control over most of the country, proclaiming the Peoples Republic of China and forcing the Nationalist government to retreat to the island of Taiwan. The country was split, with both sides claiming to be the sole legitimate government of China. Following the implementation of land reforms, further attempts by the PRC to realize communism failed: the Great Leap Forward was largely responsible for the Great Chinese Famine that ended with millions of Chinese people having died, and the subsequent Cultural Revolution was a period of social turmoil and persecution characterized by Maoist populism. Following the Sino-Soviet split, the Shanghai Communiqué in 1972 would precipitate the normalization of relations with the United States. Economic reforms that began in 1978 moved the country away from a socialist planned economy towards a market-based economy, spurring significant economic growth. A movement for increased democracy and liberalization stalled after the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989. China is a unitary communist state led by the CCP that self-designates as a socialist state. It is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council; the UN representative for China was changed from the ROC (Taiwan) to the PRC in 1971. It is a founding member of several multilateral and regional organizations such as the AIIB, the Silk Road Fund, the New Development Bank, and the RCEP. It is a member of BRICS, the G20, APEC, the SCO, and the East Asia Summit. Making up around one-fifth of the world economy, the Chinese economy is the worlds largest by PPP-adjusted GDP and the second-largest by nominal GDP. China is the second-wealthiest country, albeit ranking poorly in measures of democracy, human rights and religious freedom. The country has been one of the fastest-growing major economies and is the worlds largest manufacturer and exporter, as well as the second-largest importer. China is a nuclear-weapon state with the worlds largest standing army by military personnel and the second-largest defense budget. It is a great power, and has been described as an emerging superpower. China is known for its cuisine and culture and, as a megadiverse country, has 59 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the second-highest number of any country.
Childrens television series. Childrens television series (or childrens television shows) are television programs designed specifically for children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are normally broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake, immediately before and after school schedules generally start in the country where they air. Educational themes are also prevalent, as well as the transmission of cautionary tales and narratives that teach problem-solving methods in some fashion or another, such as social disputes. The purpose of these shows, aside from profit, is mainly to entertain or educate children, with each series targeting a certain age of child: some are aimed at infants and toddlers,[1] some are aimed at those aged 6 to 11 years old, and others are aimed at all children.[2] Childrens television is nearly as old as television itself.[3] In the United Kingdom, the BBCs For the Children was first broadcast in 1946, and in English-speaking circles, is generally credited with being the first TV programme specifically for children.[4] Some authors posit television for children tended to originate from similar programs on radio. For example, the BBCs Childrens Hour was launched as a radio broadcast in 1922,[5] with BBC School Radio commencing live broadcasts in 1924. In the early 1930s, radio adventure serials such as Little Orphan Annie began to emerge in the United States and became a staple of childrens afternoon radio listening.[6]
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a research institute of the Smithsonian Institution, concentrating on astrophysical studies including galactic and extragalactic astronomy, cosmology, solar, earth and planetary sciences, theory and instrumentation, using observations at wavelengths from the highest energy gamma rays to the radio, along with gravitational waves. Established in Washington, D.C., in 1890, the SAO moved its headquarters in 1955 to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where its research is a collaboration with the Harvard College Observatory (HCO) and the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. In 1973, the Smithsonian and Harvard formalized the collaboration as the Center for Astrophysics \| Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) under a single Director. Samuel Pierpont Langley, the third Secretary of the Smithsonian, founded the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory on the south yard of the Smithsonian Castle (on the U.S. National Mall) on March 1,1890. The Astrophysical Observatorys initial, primary purpose was to record the amount and character of the Suns heat[1]. Charles Greeley Abbot was named SAOs first director, and the observatory operated solar telescopes to take daily measurements of the Suns intensity in different regions of the optical electromagnetic spectrum. In doing so, the observatory enabled Abbot to make critical refinements to the Solar constant, as well as to serendipitously discover Solar variability. It is likely that SAOs early history as a solar observatory was part of the inspiration behind the Smithsonians sunburst logo, designed in 1965 by Crimilda Pontes.[2] In 1955, the scientific headquarters of SAO moved from Washington, D.C. to Cambridge, Massachusetts to affiliate with the Harvard College Observatory (HCO).[1] Fred Lawrence Whipple, then the chairman of the Harvard Astronomy Department, was named the new director of SAO. The collaborative relationship between SAO and HCO therefore predates the official creation of the CfA by 18 years. SAOs move to Harvards campus also resulted in a rapid expansion of its research program. Following the launch of Sputnik (the worlds first human-made satellite) in 1957, SAO accepted a national challenge[3] to create a worldwide satellite-tracking network, collaborating with the United States Air Force on Project Space Track.[4] With the creation of NASA the following year and throughout the space race, SAO led major efforts in the development of orbiting observatories and large ground-based telescopes, laboratory and theoretical astrophysics, as well as the application of computers to astrophysical problems. The followings persons served as director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory:[5]
International Astronomical Union. The International Astronomical Union (IAU; French: Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and development through global cooperation. It was founded on 28 July 1919 in Brussels, Belgium and is based in Paris, France. The IAU is composed of individual members, who include both professional astronomers and junior scientists, and national members, such as professional associations, national societies, or academic institutions. Individual members are organised into divisions, committees, and working groups centered on particular subdisciplines, subjects, or initiatives. As of May 2024,[update] the Union had 85 national members and 12,734 individual members, spanning 90 countries and territories.[5] Among the key activities of the IAU is serving as a forum for scientific conferences. It sponsors nine annual symposia and holds a triannual General Assembly that sets policy and includes various scientific meetings. The Union is best known for being the leading authority in assigning official names and designations to astronomical objects, and for setting uniform definitions for astronomical principles. It also coordinates with national and international partners, such as UNESCO, to fulfill its mission. The IAU is a member of the International Science Council, which is composed of international scholarly and scientific institutions and national academies of sciences.
Honolulu (disambiguation). Honolulu is the capital and the most populous community of the state of Hawaii in the United States. Honolulu may also refer to:
Mike Young (producer). Michael Emlyn Young (born 16 October 1945) is a Welsh Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning producer. He is the founder of two animation companies in both the UK and America. His company in 2015 changed its name from Mike Young Productions to Splash Entertainment, which also is a majority owner of the AVOD network Kabillion. Young was born in Cwm, Ebbw Vale, Gwent, in the flat above a fish and chip shop owned by the family of actor Victor Spinetti, who would later go on to provide the voice of Mikes character, Texas Pete. He trained as a television producer, and while working as an advertising copywriter he met his wife Liz Young. After the pair married in the 1970s, Youngs stepson Richard Finn (later head of post-production at MYP), was having trouble falling asleep. Young created stories about a teddy bear and Finn told his school friends the stories, which resulted in the SuperTed books, co-produced with Young.[1] In 1981, Young, along with his wife, animator Dave Edwards and producer Robin Lyons, founded Siriol Productions. They approached the newly formed Welsh TV channel S4C and secured a commission to produce an animated series of SuperTed. Due to the success of the initial series, it was re-dubbed in English. A special edition was made for the Welsh Office which instructed children on the dos and donts of road safety.[2] The series sold well in the UK, and was followed by the more ambitious Fantastic Max (with Hanna-Barbera) and Little Dracula (with Steven Hahn Productions).[3] Young found it difficult to sell his series to Hollywood executives without a local presence there so in 1989 the family moved to Los Angeles, selling their rights to SuperTed and shares owned in Siriol Animation to finance the move and to set up Mike Young Productions, now called Splash Entertainment. The companys first production was P. J. Sparkles, after which it was involved in many other animated series, including The Hot Rod Dogs and Cool Car Cats (co-produced with the Dave Edwards Studio), The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (the 2002 series), Two computer-animated series: Pet Alien, Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks (which won seven Emmys and a BAFTA Award), Growing Up Creepie, a Bratz TV series and five full-length Bratz DVD movies, I Got a Rocket! (which won a Emmy Award), Dive Olly Dive, Chloes Closet, Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot, Strawberry Shortcake, and Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch.[3]
Peadar Lamb. Peadar Lamb (24 December 1929 – 1 September 2017) [1]was an Irish actor. He was known for his roles in numerous Irish-language stage productions, including playing King Fin Varra in the television series Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, and voicing Grandpa Piggley Winks on the childrens television series Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks. Lamb grew up in An Cheathrú Rua, Carraroe. His father, Charles Lamb, was a well-known painter. Peadar Lamb trained at the Abbey Theatre and first appeared on stage in 1954.[2] Lamb had a theatrical career lasting over 60 years. Over the course of this time, he played diverse characters and appeared in a number of plays by famous playwrights including Brendan Behan, Dion Boucicault and Seán OCasey: Other stage performances include a role as Curly in John Murphys The Country Boy and as the blind man in W. B. Yeats On Bailes Strand. Lamb toured America and Canada in 1990 with John Millington Synges The Playboy of the Western World.[3] In June 2002, Peadar Lamb and his wife Geraldine Plunkett played leading roles in a production of Tony Guerins play Hummin, performed by the Waterford-based Red Kettle Company.[2]
Tara Strong. Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian and American actress.[1] She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strongs voice roles include animated series such as The Powerpuff Girls, The Fairly OddParents, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Teen Titans, Xiaolin Showdown, Ben 10, Drawn Together, The New Batman Adventures, Rugrats, The Proud Family, Chowder, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, Unikitty!, and DC Super Hero Girls. She has also voiced characters in the video games Mortal Kombat X, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Jak and Daxter, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Blue Dragon, and Batman: Arkham. Strong has earned Annie Award and Daytime Emmy nominations and won an award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Strong was born as Tara Lyn Charendoff in Toronto, Ontario, on February 12, 1973,[2] the younger daughter of Syd and Lucy Charendoff.[3] Strong has called her Jewish background a big part of her identity.[4] Her grandfather was a cantor, while her grandmother ran a catering business in Torontos Beth Radom Congregation.[5] She has a sister.[6] At age four, Strong became interested in acting and volunteered to be a soloist at a school production.[7] Strong worked in Yiddish Theatre in Toronto, where she memorized her lines phonetically because she did not know the Yiddish language. Strong also performed with the Toronto Jewish Theater, where she acted in A Night of Stars and was featured in an audiotape for Lay Down Your Arms with the Habonim Youth Choir, singing the lyrics in both English and Hebrew.[7] Strongs first professional role was Gracie in Limelight Theaters production of The Music Man at the age of 13.[7] She had a guest role in the action series T. and T. Her first major voice role, also at the age of 13, was the title role in Hello Kittys Furry Tale Theater.[8] Strong starred in the short-lived CBC Television sitcom Mosquito Lake.[7] She took improv classes at The Second City in Toronto[8] and continued acting in both animated and live-action shows and films, before moving to Los Angeles in January 1994.[4][9]
Downtown Honolulu. Downtown Honolulu is the current historic, economic, and governmental center of Honolulu, the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is bounded by Nuʻuanu Stream to the west, Ward Avenue to the east, Vineyard Boulevard to the north, and Honolulu Harbor to the south. Both modern and historic buildings and complexes are located in the area, with many of the latter declared National Historic Landmarks on the National Register of Historic Places. Downtown Honolulu can be subdivided into four neighborhoods, each with its own central focus and mix of buildings. These areas are the Capitol District, the Central Business District, Chinatown, and the Waterfront. The Capitol District, or Civic Center, contains most of the federal, state, and city governmental buildings and is centered on the Hawaiʻi State Capitol, ʻIolani Palace, and Honolulu Hale (city hall). It is roughly bounded by Richards Street on the west, Ward Avenue on the east, Vineyard Boulevard to the north, and Nimitz Highway to the south. Significant buildings in this area include: Centered on Bishop Street and Fort Street Mall, the central business district is roughly bounded by Nuʻuanu Avenue, Nimitz Highway, Richards Street, and Vineyard Boulevard. This area contains most of the headquarters buildings of Hawaiʻi-based companies and most of the skyscrapers. Buildings in this area include:
Russi Taylor. Russi Taylor (May 4, 1944 – July 26, 2019) was an American voice actress. She is best remembered for voicing the character of Minnie Mouse in English from 1986 to 2019, and was married to voice actor Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, until his death on May 18, 2009. She was the longest-tenured voice actress to voice the character, holding the role for 33 years. She also provided the voices of several characters in The Simpsons. Taylor was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 4, 1944.[1] Taylor began her voice-over career in the mid-1970s. Her first voice-over role was the voice of Ted and Georgettes baby on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.[2] Taylor became the voice of Minnie Mouse in 1986, and continued to voice the character for 33 years until her death in 2019. Russi Taylor was 75 years old.[3] She also voiced Huey, Dewey, and Louie and Webby Vanderquack in the television series DuckTales and in other appearances.[3] Taylor provided the voices of numerous characters in the animated series The Simpsons, including fourth-grade nerd Martin Prince, purple-haired twins Sherri and Terri and German exchange student Üter.[4] After her death, The Simpsons producers cast Grey DeLisle as her characters.[5] She voiced Pebbles Flintstone in The Flintstone Comedy Show for Hanna-Barbera in 1980.[6] Taylor was also the original voice of Strawberry Shortcake and the voice of Baby Gonzo in Muppet Babies, Nova in Twinkle, the Dream Being, Pac-Baby in the television series Pac-Man, the high-pitched Nurses that were mice in The Rescuers Down Under, Melissa in the Pound Puppies episode Garbage Night: The Musical, Queen Rosedust in My Little Pony and Birdie the Early Bird in McDonaldland commercials. She was also the voice of Drizella and the Fairy Godmother in the Cinderella sequels, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.[7]
Asteroid. An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). Asteroids are rocky, metallic, or icy bodies with no atmosphere, and are broadly classified into C-type (carbonaceous), M-type (metallic), or S-type (silicaceous). The size and shape of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from small rubble piles under a kilometer across to Ceres, a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter. A body is classified as a comet, not an asteroid, if it shows a coma (tail) when warmed by solar radiation, although recent observations suggest a continuum between these types of bodies.[1][2] Of the roughly one million known asteroids,[3] the greatest number are located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, approximately 2 to 4 AU from the Sun, in a region known as the main asteroid belt. The total mass of all the asteroids combined is only 3% that of Earths Moon. The majority of main belt asteroids follow slightly elliptical, stable orbits, revolving in the same direction as the Earth and taking from three to six years to complete a full circuit of the Sun.[4] Asteroids have historically been observed from Earth. The first close-up observation of an asteroid was made by the Galileo spacecraft. Several dedicated missions to asteroids were subsequently launched by NASA and JAXA, with plans for other missions in progress. NASAs NEAR Shoemaker studied Eros, and Dawn observed Vesta and Ceres. JAXAs missions Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 studied and returned samples of Itokawa and Ryugu, respectively. OSIRIS-REx studied Bennu, collecting a sample in 2020 which was delivered back to Earth in 2023. NASAs Lucy, launched in 2021, is tasked with studying ten different asteroids, two from the main belt and eight Jupiter trojans. Psyche, launched October 2023, aims to study the metallic asteroid Psyche. ESAs Hera, launched in October 2024, is intended to study the results of the DART impact. CNSAs Tianwen-2 was launched in May 2025,[5] to explore the co-orbital near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa and the active asteroid 311P/PanSTARRS and collecting samples of the regolith of Kamooalewa.[6] Near-Earth asteroids have the potential for catastrophic consequences if they strike Earth, with a notable example being the Chicxulub impact, widely thought to have induced the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction. As an experiment to meet this danger, in September 2022 the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft successfully altered the orbit of the non-threatening asteroid Dimorphos by crashing into it.
ʻIolani Palace. The ʻIolani Palace (Hawaiian: Hale Aliʻi ʻIolani) was the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi beginning with Kamehameha III under the Kamehameha Dynasty (1845) and ending with Queen Liliʻuokalani (1893) under the Kalākaua Dynasty. It is located in the capitol district of downtown Honolulu in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi. It is now a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, the building was used as the capitol building for the Provisional Government, Republic, Territory, and State of Hawaiʻi until 1969. The palace was restored and opened to the public as a museum in 1978. ʻIolani Palace is the only royal palace on US soil.[1] In the early 19th century, the site of ʻIolani Palace was near an ancient burial site known as Pohukaina.[2] It is believed to be the name of a chief (sometimes spelled Pahukaina) who according to legend chose a cave in Kanehoalani in the Koʻolau Range for his resting place.[3] The land belonged to Kekauluohi, who later served as Kuhina Nui.[4] She lived there with her husband Charles Kanaina. Kekūanaōʻa, a chief who served as Governor of Oʻahu, also had his home, called Haliimaile, just west of Kekauluohis home. Another chief, Keoni Ana, lived in Kīnaʻu Hale (which was later converted into the residence of the royal chamberlain), all members of the House of Kamehameha.[citation needed] Kekāuluohi and Kanaʻinas original home was similar to that of the other estates in the neighborhood consisting of small buildings used for different purposes. The sitting and sleeping area had a folding door entrance of green painted wood under glass upper panels. The house had two rooms separated by a festooned tent door of chintz fabric and was carpeted with hand crafted makaloa mats. In the front was a lounge area opposite a sideboard and mirror. In the middle they placed a semi circle of armchairs with a center table where the couple would write. Four matching cabinet-bookshelves with glass doors were set in each corner of the room with silk scarves hanging from each.[5] In his book, A visit to the South Seas, in the U.S. Ship Vincennes: during the years 1829 and 1830, Charles Samuel Stewart describes the area and homes in detail.[5] Next to Kekāuluohi and Kanaʻinas home was an old estate that had been demolished called Hanailoia.[6] According to oral history, Hanailoia was the former site of a destroyed heiau called Kaʻahaimauli.[7][8]
JPL (disambiguation). JPL is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a NASA research center in California. JPL may also refer to:
Orbit. In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object[1] such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a planet, moon, asteroid, or Lagrange point. Normally, orbit refers to a regularly repeating trajectory, although it may also refer to a non-repeating trajectory. To a close approximation, planets and satellites follow elliptic orbits, with the center of mass being orbited at a focal point of the ellipse,[2] as described by Keplers laws of planetary motion. For most situations, orbital motion is adequately approximated by Newtonian mechanics, which explains gravity as a force obeying an inverse-square law.[3] However, Albert Einsteins general theory of relativity, which accounts for gravity as due to curvature of spacetime, with orbits following geodesics, provides a more accurate calculation and understanding of the exact mechanics of orbital motion. Historically, the apparent motions of the planets were described by European and Arabic philosophers using the idea of celestial spheres. This model posited the existence of perfect moving spheres or rings to which the stars and planets were attached. It assumed the heavens were fixed apart from the motion of the spheres and was developed without any understanding of gravity. After the planets motions were more accurately measured, theoretical mechanisms such as deferent and epicycles were added. Although the model was capable of reasonably accurately predicting the planets positions in the sky, more and more epicycles were required as the measurements became more accurate, hence the model became increasingly unwieldy. Originally geocentric, it was modified by Copernicus to place the Sun at the centre to help simplify the model. The model was further challenged during the 16th century, as comets were observed traversing the spheres.[4][5] The basis for the modern understanding of orbits was first formulated by Johannes Kepler whose results are summarised in his three laws of planetary motion. First, he found that the orbits of the planets in the Solar System are elliptical, not circular (or epicyclic), as had previously been believed, and that the Sun is not located at the center of the orbits, but rather at one focus.[6] Second, he found that the orbital speed of each planet is not constant, as had previously been thought, but rather that the speed depends on the planets distance from the Sun. Third, Kepler found a universal relationship between the orbital properties of all the planets orbiting the Sun. For the planets, the cubes of their distances from the Sun are proportional to the squares of their orbital periods. Jupiter and Venus, for example, are respectively about 5.2 and 0.723 AU distant from the Sun, their orbital periods respectively about 11.86 and 0.615 years. The proportionality is seen by the fact that the ratio for Jupiter, 5.23/11.862, is practically equal to that for Venus, 0.7233/0.6152, in accord with the relationship. Idealised orbits meeting these rules are known as Kepler orbits.
Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands are now a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The U.S. government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet and the right to maintain a repair and coaling station for ships here in 1887.[1] The surprise attack on the harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941, led the United States to declare war on the Empire of Japan, marking the United States entry into World War II.[2][3][4] Pearl Harbor was originally an extensive shallow embayment called Wai Momi (meaning Waters of Pearl)[5] or Puʻuloa (meaning long hill) by the Hawaiians. Puʻuloa was regarded as the home of the shark goddess, Kaʻahupahau, and her brother (or son), Kahiʻuka, in Hawaiian legends. According to tradition, Keaunui, the head of the powerful Ewa chiefs, is credited with cutting a navigable channel near the present Puʻuloa saltworks, by which he made the estuary, known as Pearl River, accessible to navigation. Making due allowance for legendary amplification, the estuary already had an outlet for its waters where the present gap is; but Keaunui is typically given the credit for widening and deepening it. During the early nineteenth century, Pearl Harbor was not used for large ships due to its shallow entrance. The United States interest in the Hawaiian Islands grew as a result of its whaling, shipping and trading activity in the Pacific. As early as 1820, an Agent of the United States for Commerce and Seamen was appointed to look after American business in the Port of Honolulu. These commercial ties to the American continent were accompanied by the work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. American missionaries and their families became an integral part of the Hawaiian political body. Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, many American warships visited Honolulu. In most cases, the commanding officers carried letters from the U.S. Government giving advice on governmental affairs and of the relations of the island nation with foreign powers. In 1841, the newspaper Polynesian, printed in Honolulu, advocated that the U.S. establish a naval base in Hawaii for the protection of American citizens engaged in the whaling industry. The British Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Crichton Wyllie, remarked in 1840 that, ... my opinion is that the tide of events rushes on to annexation to the United States.
Twenty-Five-Foot Space Simulator. The Twenty-Five-Foot Space Simulator is a chamber for testing spacecraft in space-like conditions, including extreme cold, high radiation, and near-vacuum pressure. Built in 1961, it is located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. It has been used to prepare many American space probes for their launches, including the Ranger, Surveyor, Mariner, and Voyager spacecraft. The first facility of its type, the chamber served as an example for other countries seeking to establish space programs.[3] It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.[2][1] The Twenty-Five-Foot Space Simulator is a stainless-steel cylinder 85 feet (26 m) in height and 27 feet (8.2 m) in diameter. A doorway 15 feet (4.6 m) wide and 25 feet (7.6 m) high provides access for bringing test objects and equipment into the chamber; a personnel access door is built into the larger doorway. Its walls and floor are lined with cooling shrouds that help provide a controllable temperature range from −320 °F (−195.6 °C) to 200 °F (93 °C). A series of lamps, lenses, and mirrors can irradiate the chamber with a directed beam of simulated solar energy in a variety of patterns and strengths. The chamber can be depressurized to 5×10−7 torr. Test objects can be mounted with a number of attachment points and methods. The chamber is mounted on a seismically isolated foundation.[3] The chamber requires about 75 minutes to achieve a space-like environment, and about 21⁄2 hours to return to a normal environment. Next to the chamber is a clean room in which equipment can be prepared for testing.[3]
Minor Planet Center. The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The Minor Planet Center is the official worldwide organization in charge of collecting observational data for minor planets (such as asteroids), calculating their orbits and publishing this information via the Minor Planet Circulars. Under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, which is part of the Center for Astrophysics along with the Harvard College Observatory.[1] The MPC runs a number of free online services for observers to assist them in observing minor planets and comets. The complete catalogue of minor planet orbits (sometimes referred to as the Minor Planet Catalogue) may also be freely downloaded. In addition to astrometric data, the MPC collects light curve photometry of minor planets. A key function of the MPC is helping observers coordinate follow up observations of possible near-Earth objects (NEOs) via its NEO web form and blog, the Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page.[2][3] The MPC is also responsible for identifying, and alerting to, new NEOs with a risk of impacting Earth in the few weeks following their discovery (see Potentially hazardous objects and § Videos).[1] The Minor Planet Center was set up at the University of Cincinnati in 1947, under the direction of Paul Herget.[4][5]: 63 Upon Hergets retirement on June 30, 1978,[5]: 67 the MPC was moved to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, under the direction of Brian G. Marsden.[5]: 67 From 2006 to 2015,[6] the director of the MPC was Timothy Spahr,[7] who oversaw a staff of five. From 2015 to 2021, the Minor Planet Center was headed by interim director Matthew Holman.[8] Under his leadership, the MPC experienced a significant period of reorganization and growth, doubling both its staff size and the volume of observations processed per year. Upon Holmans resignation on February 9, 2021 (announced on February 19, 2021) Matthew Payne became acting director of the MPC.[9][10]
NISAR (satellite). The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is a joint project between NASA and ISRO to co-develop and launch an Earth observation satellite (EOS) equipped with dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in 2025. It will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequencies. It will be used for remote sensing, to observe and understand natural processes on Earth. For example, its left-facing instruments will study the Antarctic cryosphere.[7] With a total cost estimated at US$1.5 billion, NISAR is likely to be the worlds most expensive Earth-imaging satellite.[8] The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR satellite, will use advanced radar imaging to map the elevation of Earths land and ice masses four to six times a month at resolutions of 5 to 10 meters.[9] It is designed to observe and measure some of the planets most complex natural processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.[10][11] The mission is a partnership between NASA and ISRO.[10] Under the terms of the agreement, NASA will provide the missions L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a high-rate telecommunication subsystem for scientific data GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and a payload data subsystem. ISRO will provide the satellite bus, an S-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the launch vehicle, and associated launch services.[12] All data from NISAR will be freely available one to two days after observation and within hours in case of emergencies like natural disasters.[9] Data collected from NISAR will reveal information about the evolution and state of Earths crust, help scientists better understand our planets natural processes and changing climate, and aid future resource and hazard management.[10]
United States. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also asserts sovereignty over five major island territories and various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean.[j] It is a megadiverse country, with the worlds third-largest land area[c] and third-largest population, exceeding 340 million.[k] Paleo-Indians migrated from North Asia to North America over 12,000 years ago, and formed various civilizations. Spanish colonization established Spanish Florida in 1513, the first European colony in what is now the continental United States. British colonization followed with the 1607 settlement of Virginia, the first of the Thirteen Colonies. Forced migration of enslaved Africans supplied the labor force to sustain the Southern Colonies plantation economy. Clashes with the British Crown over taxation and lack of parliamentary representation sparked the American Revolution, leading to the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Victory in the 1775–1783 Revolutionary War brought international recognition of U.S. sovereignty and fueled westward expansion, dispossessing native inhabitants. As more states were admitted, a North–South division over slavery led the Confederate States of America to attempt secession and fight the Union in the 1861–1865 American Civil War. With the United States victory and reunification, slavery was abolished nationally. By 1900, the country had established itself as a great power, a status solidified after its involvement in World War I. Following Japans attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S. entered World War II. Its aftermath left the U.S. and the Soviet Union as rival superpowers, competing for ideological dominance and international influence during the Cold War. The Soviet Unions collapse in 1991 ended the Cold War, leaving the U.S. as the worlds sole superpower. The U.S. national government is a presidential constitutional federal republic and representative democracy with three separate branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. It has a bicameral national legislature composed of the House of Representatives (a lower house based on population) and the Senate (an upper house based on equal representation for each state). Federalism grants substantial autonomy to the 50 states. In addition, 574 Native American tribes have sovereignty rights, and there are 326 Native American reservations. Since the 1850s, the Democratic and Republican parties have dominated American politics, while American values are based on a democratic tradition inspired by the American Enlightenment movement. A developed country, the U.S. ranks high in economic competitiveness, innovation, and higher education. Accounting for over a quarter of nominal global GDP, its economy has been the worlds largest since about 1890. It is the wealthiest country, with the highest disposable household income per capita among OECD members, though its wealth inequality is highly pronounced. Shaped by centuries of immigration, the culture of the U.S. is diverse and globally influential. Making up more than a third of global military spending, the country has one of the strongest militaries and is a designated nuclear state. A member of numerous international organizations, the U.S. plays a major role in global political, cultural, economic, and military affairs.
Astrometry. Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. The history of astrometry is linked to the history of star catalogues, which gave astronomers reference points for objects in the sky so they could track their movements. This can be dated back to the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus, who around 190 BC used the catalogue of his predecessors Timocharis and Aristillus to discover Earths precession. In doing so, he also developed the brightness scale still in use today.[1] Hipparchus compiled a catalogue with at least 850 stars and their positions.[2] Hipparchuss successor, Ptolemy, included a catalogue of 1,022 stars in his work the Almagest, giving their location, coordinates, and brightness.[3] In the 10th century, the Iranian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi carried out observations on the stars and described their positions, magnitudes and star color; furthermore, he provided drawings for each constellation, which are depicted in his Book of Fixed Stars. Egyptian mathematician Ibn Yunus observed more than 10,000 entries for the Suns position for many years using a large astrolabe with a diameter of nearly 1.4 metres. His observations on eclipses were still used centuries later in Canadian–American astronomer Simon Newcombs investigations on the motion of the Moon, while his other observations of the motions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn inspired French scholar Laplaces Obliquity of the Ecliptic and Inequalities of Jupiter and Saturn.[4] In the 15th century, the Timurid astronomer Ulugh Beg compiled the Zij-i-Sultani, in which he catalogued 1,019 stars. Like the earlier catalogs of Hipparchus and Ptolemy, Ulugh Begs catalogue is estimated to have been precise to within approximately 20 minutes of arc.[5] In the 16th century, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe used improved instruments, including large mural instruments, to measure star positions more accurately than previously, with a precision of 15–35 arcsec.[6] Ottoman scholar Taqi al-Din measured the right ascension of the stars at the Constantinople Observatory of Taqi ad-Din using the observational clock he invented.[7] When telescopes became commonplace, setting circles sped measurements English astronomer James Bradley first tried to measure stellar parallaxes in 1729. The stellar movement proved too insignificant for his telescope, but he instead discovered the aberration of light and the nutation of the Earths axis. His cataloguing of 3222 stars was refined in 1807 by German astronomer Friedrich Bessel, the father of modern astrometry. He made the first measurement of stellar parallax: 0.3 arcsec for the binary star 61 Cygni. In 1872, British astronomer William Huggins used spectroscopy to measure the radial velocity of several prominent stars, including Sirius.[8]
List of capitals in the United States. This is a list of capital cities of the United States, including places that serve or have served as federal, state, insular area, territorial, colonial and Native American capitals. Washington, D.C. has been the federal capital of the United States since 1800. Each U.S. state has its own capital city, as do many of its insular areas. Most states have not changed their capital city since becoming a state, but the capital cities of their respective preceding colonies, territories, kingdoms, and republics typically changed multiple times. There have also been other governments within the current borders of the United States with their own capitals, such as the Republic of Texas, Native American nations, and other unrecognized governments. The buildings in cities identified in the chart below served either as official capitals of the United States under the United States Constitution, or, prior to its ratification, sites where the Second Continental Congress or Congress of the Confederation met. The United States did not have a permanent capital under the Articles of Confederation.
Boston College (disambiguation). Boston College is an American private research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Boston College may also refer to several other educational institutions:
Sojourner (rover). The robotic Sojourner rover reached Mars on July 4, 1997 as part of the Mars Pathfinder mission. Sojourner was operational on Mars for 92 sols (95 Earth days), and was the first wheeled vehicle to operate on an astronomical object other than the Earth or Moon. The landing site was in the Ares Vallis channel in the Chryse Planitia region of the Oxia Palus quadrangle.[1] The rover was equipped with front and rear cameras, and hardware that was used to conduct several scientific experiments. It was designed for a mission lasting 7 sols, with a possible extension to 30 sols,[2] and was active for 83 sols (85 Earth days). The rover communicated with Earth through the Pathfinder base station, which had its last successful communication session with Earth at 3:23 a.m. PDT on September 27, 1997.[3] The last signal from the rover was received on the morning of October 7, 1997.[4] Sojourner traveled just over 100 meters (330 ft) by the time communication was lost.[5] Its final confirmed command was to remain stationary until October 5, 1997, (sol 91) and then drive around the lander;[6] there is no indication it was able to do so. The Sojourner mission formally ended on March 10, 1998, after all further options were exhausted. Sojourner was an experimental vehicle whose main mission was to test in the Martian environment technical solutions that were developed by engineers of the NASA research laboratories.[7] It was necessary to verify whether the design strategy followed had resulted in the construction of a vehicle suitable for the environment it would encounter, despite the limited knowledge of it. Careful analysis of the operations on Mars would make it possible to develop solutions to critical problems identified and to introduce improvements for subsequent planetary exploration missions. One of the missions main aims was to prove the faster, better, cheaper approach embraced by the NASA administration. Development took three years and cost under $150 million for the lander, and $25 million for the rover; development was faster and less costly than all previous missions.[8]
Mars 2020. Mars 2020 is a NASA mission that includes the rover Perseverance, the now-retired small robotic helicopter Ingenuity, and associated delivery systems, as part of the Mars Exploration Program. Mars 2020 was launched on an Atlas V rocket at 11:50:01 UTC on July 30, 2020,[4] and landed in the Martian crater Jezero on February 18, 2021, with confirmation received at 20:55 UTC.[5] On March 5, 2021, NASA named the landing site Octavia E. Butler Landing.[6] As of 13 September 2025, Perseverance has been on Mars for 1623 sols (1668 total days; 4 years, 207 days).[7][8][9][10][11] Ingenuity operated on Mars for 1042 sols (1071 total days; 2 years, 341 days) before sustaining serious damage to its rotor blades, possibly all four, causing NASA to retire the craft on January 25, 2024.[12][13] Perseverance is investigating an astrobiologically relevant ancient environment on Mars for its surface geological processes and history, and assessing its past habitability, the possibility of past life on Mars, and the potential for preservation of biosignatures within accessible geological materials.[14][15] It will cache sample containers along its route for retrieval by a potential future Mars sample-return mission.[15][16][17] The Mars 2020 mission was announced by NASA in December 2012 at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Perseverances design is derived from the rover Curiosity, and it uses many components already fabricated and tested in addition to new scientific instruments and a core drill.[18] The rover also employs nineteen cameras and two microphones,[19] allowing for the audio recording of the Martian environment. On April 30, 2021, Perseverance became the first spacecraft to hear and record another spacecraft, the Ingenuity helicopter, on another planet. The launch of Mars 2020 was the third of three space missions sent toward Mars during the July 2020 Mars launch window, with missions also launched by the national space agencies of the United Arab Emirates (the Emirates Mars Mission with the orbiter Hope on July 19, 2020) and China (the Tianwen-1 mission on July 23, 2020, with an orbiter, deployable and remote cameras, lander, and Zhurong rover). The Mars 2020 mission was announced by NASA on December 4, 2012, at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.[20] The selection of Mars as the target of NASAs flagship mission elicited surprise from some members of the scientific community. Some criticized NASA for continuing to focus on Mars exploration instead of other Solar System destinations in constrained budget times.[21][22] Support came from California U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, who said he was interested in the possibility of advancing the launch date, which would enable a larger payload.[20] Science educator Bill Nye endorsed the Mars sample-return role, saying this would be extraordinarily fantastic and world-changing and worthy.[23]
Ever to Excel. Ever to Excel is the English translation of the Ancient Greek phrase αἰὲν ἀριστεύειν aièn aristeúein. It has been used as motto by a number of educational institutions. The phrase is derived from the sixth book of Homers Iliad, in which it is used in a speech Glaucus delivers to Diomedes. During a battle between the Greeks and Trojans, Diomedes is impressed by the bravery of a mysterious young man and demands to know his identity. Glaucus replies: Hippolochus begat me. I claim to be his son, and he sent me to Troy with strict instructions: Ever to excel, to do better than others, and to bring glory to your forebears, who indeed were very great ... This is my ancestry; this is the blood I am proud to inherit. It is the motto of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff. The phrase has also been used as the motto of a number of schools and universities, mainly in the United Kingdom, notably the University of St Andrews,[1] but also in the United States and Canada. These include schools such as Caistor Grammar School, the Edinburgh Academy,[2] Kelvinside Academy[3] and Old Scona Academic High School,[4] as well as Boston College.[5]
Neo-futurism. Neo-futurism is a late-20th to early-21st-century movement in the arts, design, and architecture.[2][3] Described as an avant-garde movement,[4] as well as a futuristic rethinking of the thought behind aesthetics and functionality of design in growing cities, the movement has its origins in the mid-20th-century structural expressionist work of architects such as Alvar Aalto and Buckminster Fuller.[2] Futurist architecture began in the early 20th century in Italy focusing on the future, valuing speed, risk and heroism; while Neo-futurism was defined in the 1980s as a broader movement that appeared in the 1950s and continues today.[5][6] Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s by architects such as Buckminster Fuller[7] and John C. Portman Jr.;[8][9][failed verification] architect and industrial designer Eero Saarinen,[10] Archigram, an avant-garde architectural group (Peter Cook, Warren Chalk, Ron Herron, Dennis Crompton, Michael Webb and David Greene, Jan Kaplický and others);[11][12][13][14][15][16] it is considered in part an evolution out of high-tech architecture, developing many of the same themes and ideas.[17]
Geographic coordinate system. A geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or geodetic coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on Earth as latitude and longitude.[1] It is the simplest, oldest, and most widely used type of the various spatial reference systems that are in use, and forms the basis for most others. Although latitude and longitude form a coordinate tuple like a cartesian coordinate system, geographic coordinate systems are not cartesian because the measurements are angles and are not on a planar surface.[2] A full GCS specification, such as those listed in the EPSG and ISO 19111 standards, also includes a choice of geodetic datum (including an Earth ellipsoid), as different datums will yield different latitude and longitude values for the same location.[3] The invention of a geographic coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who composed his now-lost Geography at the Library of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC.[4] A century later, Hipparchus of Nicaea improved on this system by determining latitude from stellar measurements rather than solar altitude and determining longitude by timings of lunar eclipses, rather than dead reckoning. In the 1st or 2nd century, Marinus of Tyre compiled an extensive gazetteer and mathematically plotted world map using coordinates measured east from a prime meridian at the westernmost known land, designated the Fortunate Isles, off the coast of western Africa around the Canary or Cape Verde Islands, and measured north or south of the island of Rhodes off Asia Minor. Ptolemy credited him with the full adoption of longitude and latitude, rather than measuring latitude in terms of the length of the midsummer day.[5]
Sumida, Tokyo. Sumida (墨田区, Sumida-ku) is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Sumida City. As of 1 April 2025, the ward has an estimated population of 287,766 and a population density of 20,120 persons per km2. Its total area is 13.77 km2. Sumidas city office is located in Azumabashi, while its commercial center is the area around Kinshicho Station in the south. Sumida is in the north-eastern part of the mainland portion of Tokyo. The Sumida and Arakawa are the major rivers, and form parts of its boundaries. Its neighbors are all special wards: Adachi to the north; Arakawa to the northwest; Katsushika to the east; Edogawa to the southeast; Taitō to the west; Chūō to the southwest; and Kōtō to the south. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. It was previously the (ordinary) wards Honjo and Mukojima. Mukojima, formed in 1932, contained the former town of Sumida, which along with the river gave the ward its name.
Late Pleistocene. The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently defined as the time between c. 129,000 and c. 11,700 years ago. The late Pleistocene equates to the proposed Tarantian Age of the geologic time scale, preceded by the officially ratified Chibanian (commonly known as the Middle Pleistocene).[4] The beginning of the Late Pleistocene is the transition between the end of the Penultimate Glacial Period and the beginning of the Last Interglacial around 130,000 years ago (corresponding with the beginning of Marine Isotope Stage 5).[5] The Late Pleistocene ends with the termination of the Younger Dryas, some 11,700 years ago when the Holocene Epoch began.[2] The term Upper Pleistocene is currently in use as a provisional or quasi-formal designation by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). Although the three oldest ages of the Pleistocene (the Gelasian, the Calabrian and the Chibanian) have been officially defined, the late Pleistocene has yet to be formally defined.[6] Following the brief Last Interglacial warm period (~130–115,000 years ago), where temperatures were comparable to or warmer than the Holocene, the Late Pleistocene was dominated by the cool Last Glacial Period, with temperatures gradually lowering throughout the period, reaching their lowest during the Last Glacial Maximum around 26–20,000 years ago. In palaeoanthropology, the Late Pleistocene contains the Upper Palaeolithic stage of human development, including the early human migrations of modern humans outside of Africa, and the extinction of all archaic human species.
Boston University. Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodists with its original campus in Newbury, Vermont. It was chartered in Boston in 1869. The university is a member of the Association of American Universities and the Boston Consortium for Higher Education.[13][14] The university has nearly 38,000 students and more than 4,000 faculty members[15] and is one of Bostons largest employers.[16] It offers bachelors degrees, masters degrees, doctorates, and medical, dental, business, and law degrees through 17 schools and colleges on three urban campuses.[17] BU athletic teams compete in the Patriot League and Hockey East conferences, and their mascot is Rhett the Boston Terrier. The Boston University Terriers compete in NCAA Division I. The university is nonsectarian, though it retains its historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church.[5][6][7] The main campus is situated along the Charles River in Bostons Fenway–Kenmore and Allston neighborhoods, while the Boston University Medical Campus is located in Bostons South End neighborhood. The Fenway campus houses the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, formerly Wheelock College, which merged with BU in 2018.[18] The university is classified among R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity.[19] Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont, in 1839,[20] and was chartered with the name Boston University by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869. The university organized formal centennial observances both in 1939 and 1969.[21] One or the other, or both dates, may appear on various official seals used by different schools of the university.
Latin. Latin (lingua Latina or Latinum[I]) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy.[1] Through the expansion of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. It has greatly influenced many languages, including English, having contributed many words to the English lexicon, particularly after the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest. Latin roots appear frequently in the technical vocabulary used by fields such as theology, the sciences, medicine, and law. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had evolved into standardized Classical Latin. Vulgar Latin refers to the less prestigious colloquial registers, attested in inscriptions and some literary works such as those of the comic playwrights Plautus and Terence[2] and the author Petronius. While often called a dead language,[3] Latin did not undergo language death. Between the 6th and 9th centuries, natural language change in the vernacular Latin of different regions evolved into distinct Romance languages. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe into the early 19th century, by which time modern languages had supplanted it in common academic and political usage. Late Latin is the literary form of the language from the 3rd century AD onward. No longer spoken as a native language, Medieval Latin was used across Western and Catholic Europe during the Middle Ages as a working and literary language from the 9th century to the Renaissance, which then developed a classicizing form, called Renaissance Latin. This was the basis for Neo-Latin, which evolved during the early modern period. Latin was taught to be written and spoken at least until the late seventeenth century, when spoken skills began to erode; Contemporary Latin is generally studied to be read rather than spoken. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the official language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Latin grammar is highly fusional, with classes of inflections for case, number, person, gender, tense, mood, voice, and aspect. The Latin alphabet is directly derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets.
Alvan Clark. Alvan Clark (March 8, 1804 – August 19, 1887) was an American astronomer and telescope maker. Born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, Clark started as a portrait painter and engraver (c.1830s–1850s), and at the age of 40 became involved in telescope making. Using glass blanks made by Chance Brothers of Birmingham, England, and Feil-Mantois of Paris, France, his firm Alvan Clark & Sons ground lenses for refracting telescopes. Their lenses included the largest in the world at the time: the 18.5-inch (47 cm) at Dearborn Observatory at the Old University of Chicago (the lens originally intended for Ole Miss); also the two 26-inch (66 cm) telescopes at the United States Naval Observatory and McCormick Observatory, the 30-inch (76 cm) at Pulkovo Observatory, which was destroyed in the Siege of Leningrad (only the lens survives), the 36-inch (91 cm) telescope at Lick Observatory (still the third-largest), and later the 40-inch (100 cm) at Yerkes Observatory, which remains the largest successful refracting telescope in the world. Although not specifically searching for double stars, he did make a number of discoveries while testing his completed telescope objectives,[1] including Mu Herculis, 8 Sextantis, and 95 Ceti.[2] One of Clarks sons, Alvan Graham Clark, discovered the dim companion of Sirius. Two craters bear Clark Sr.s name. The crater Clark on the Moon is jointly named for him and his son, Alvan Graham Clark, and one on Mars is named in his honour.[3] His other son was George Bassett Clark; both sons were partners in the firm. Clark was also competitive in target shooting and received a patent for his device to allow bullets to be seated into a muzzle-loading rifle without damage to either the bullet or the rifles muzzle. Exclusive license to this patent (1,565 of April 24, 1840) was made to Edwin Wesson, brother of Daniel B. Wesson.[4] In 1880, Clark was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.[5]
Yamatai. Yamatai or Yamatai-koku (邪馬台国) (c. 1st century – c. 3rd century) is the Sino-Japanese name of an ancient country in Wa (Japan) during the late Yayoi period (c. 1,000 BCE – c. 300 CE). The Chinese text Records of the Three Kingdoms first recorded the name as /ja-maB-də̂/ (邪馬臺)[1] or /ja-maB-ʔit/ (邪馬壹) (using reconstructed Eastern Han Chinese pronunciations)[1][2] followed by the character 國 for country, describing the place as the domain of Priest-Queen Himiko (卑弥呼) (died c. 248 CE). Generations of Japanese historians, linguists, and archeologists have debated where Yamatai was located and whether it was related to the later Yamato (大和国).[3][4][5] The oldest accounts of Yamatai are found in the official Chinese dynastic Twenty-Four Histories for the 1st- and 2nd-century Eastern Han dynasty, the 3rd-century Wei kingdom, and the 6th-century Sui dynasty. The c. 297 CE Records of Wèi (traditional Chinese: 魏志), which is part of the Records of the Three Kingdoms (三國志), first mentions the country Yamatai, usually spelled as 邪馬臺 (/ja-maB-də̂/), written instead with the spelling 邪馬壹 (/ja-maB-ʔit/), or Yamaichi in modern Japanese pronunciation.[3] Most Wei Zhi commentators accept the 邪馬臺 (/*ja-maB-də̂/) transcription in later texts and dismiss this initial spelling using 壹 (/ʔit/) meaning one (the anti-fraud character variant for 一 one) as a miscopy, or perhaps a naming taboo avoidance, of 臺 (/dʌi/) meaning platform; terrace. This history describes ancient Wa based upon detailed reports of 3rd-century Chinese envoys who traveled throughout the Japanese archipelago: Going south by water for twenty days, one comes to the country of Toma, where the official is called mimi and his lieutenant, miminari. Here there are about fifty thousand households. Then going toward the south, one arrives at the country of Yamadai, where a Queen holds her court. [This journey] takes ten days by water and one month by land. Among the officials there are the ikima and, next in rank, the mimasho; then the mimagushi, then the nakato. There are probably more than seventy thousands households. (115, tr. Tsunoda 1951:9)
Yayoi period. The Yayoi period (弥生時代, Yayoi jidai) (c. 300 BC – 300 AD) is one of the major historical periods of the Japanese archipelago. It is generally defined as the era between the beginning of food production in Japan and the emergence of keyhole-shaped burial mounds (前方後円墳, zenpō-kōen-fun). Chronologically, it spans from around the 10th century BCE or 9th–8th century BCE to the mid-3rd century CE.[1][2] Following the Jōmon period, which was characterized by a hunter-gatherer economy, the Yayoi period marked the transition to a productive economy based on wet-rice agriculture. In the latter half of the late Yayoi period (around the 1st century CE), large regional powers emerged throughout western Japan, including the Tokai and Hokuriku regions. By the end of the 2nd century, the political entity known as Wa-koku (倭国) had formed. It is generally considered that the Yayoi period transitioned into the Kofun period around the mid-3rd century, although the precise starting point of the Kofun period remains debated among scholars.[1][2] The name “Yayoi” was given in the 19th century by archaeologists, after artifacts and remains characteristic of this period were discovered in the Yayoi district of Tokyo. [1]The most distinctive features of the Yayoi period are the emergence of a new style of pottery and the beginning of intensive rice cultivation in paddy fields. Yayoi pottery is more utilitarian and simpler in design compared to the decorative and intricate Jōmon pottery. With the advent of rice farming, people began to settle in one place for extended periods. Metallurgical techniques based on bronze and iron were introduced, and the inhabitants began to weave hemp, and to live in raised-floor dwellings with thatched roofs.[3][4] From an archaeological perspective, the term Yayoi people refers collectively to agricultural migrants from the Korean Peninsula and regions to the south, such as the South Pacific, who arrived during the Yayoi period. It does not denote a single ethnic group. These migrants gradually assimilated with the indigenous Jōmon population, forming the foundation of the modern Japanese people.[5] The degree of Yayoi cultural influence varied by region: Kyushu, Okinawa, and the Tōhoku region retained stronger Jōmon traits, while Kansai and Shikoku exhibited more pronounced Yayoi characteristics.[6]
Greek language. Greek (Modern Greek: Ελληνικά, romanized: Elliniká, [eliniˈka] ⓘ; Ancient Greek: Ἑλληνική, romanized: Hellēnikḗ, [helːɛːnikɛ́ː]) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, Caucasus, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records.[10] Its writing system is the Greek alphabet, which has been used for approximately 2,800 years;[11][12] previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary.[13] The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer, ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon. Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek.[14][15] Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute the objects of study of the discipline of Classics. During antiquity, Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world.[16] It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek.[17] In its modern form, Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. It is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora. Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary.
Lovell Telescope. The Lovell Telescope (/ˈlʌvəl/ LUV-əl) is a radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey, Cheshire, in the north-west of England. When construction was finished in 1957, the telescope was the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world at 76.2 metres (250 feet) in diameter;[1] it is now the third-largest, after the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia, United States, and the Effelsberg telescope in Germany.[2] It was originally known as the 250 ft telescope or the Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank, before becoming the Mark I telescope around 1961 when future telescopes (the Mark II, III, and IV) were being discussed.[3] It was renamed to the Lovell Telescope in 1987 after Sir Bernard Lovell,[4] and became a Grade I listed building in 1988.[5][6][7] The telescope forms part of the MERLIN and European VLBI Network arrays of radio telescopes. Both Bernard Lovell and Charles Husband were knighted for their roles in creating the telescope.[8] In September 2006, the telescope won the BBCs online competition to find the UKs greatest Unsung Landmark.[9] 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the telescope. If the air is clear enough, the Mark I telescope can be seen from high-rise buildings in Manchester such as the Beetham Tower, and from as far away as the Pennines, Winter Hill in Lancashire, Snowdonia, Beeston Castle in Cheshire, and the Peak District. It can also be seen from the south-facing windows of the Terminal 1 restaurant area and departure lounges of Manchester Airport. Bernard Lovell built the Transit Telescope at Jodrell Bank in the late 1940s. This was a 218 ft (66 m)-diameter radio telescope that could only point directly upwards; the next logical step was to build a telescope that could look at all parts of the sky so that more sources could be observed, as well as for longer integration times. Although the Transit Telescope had been designed and constructed by the astronomers that used it, a fully steerable telescope would need to be professionally designed and constructed; the first challenge was to find an engineer willing to do the job. This turned out to be Charles Husband, whom Lovell first met on 8 September 1949.[10][11]
Tobu Railway. The Tobu Railway Company, Ltd. (東武鉄道株式会社, Tōbu Tetsudō kabushiki gaisha) is a Japanese commuter railway and keiretsu holding company in the Greater Tokyo Area as well as an intercity and regional operator in the Kantō region. Excluding the Japan Railways Group companies, Tobus 463.3 km (287.9 mi) rail system is the second longest in Japan after Kintetsu. It serves large portions of Saitama Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture and Tochigi Prefecture, as well as northern Tokyo and western Chiba Prefecture. The Tobu Railway Company is listed in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 index. The Tobu corporate group is also engaged in road transportation (bus/taxi), real estate, and retail. It is the owner of the Tokyo Skytree, the third tallest tower in the world. The company is a member of the Fuyo Group keiretsu. The name Tobu is formed from the kanji for east (東) and Musashi (武蔵), the initial area served. Tobu is one of the oldest railway companies in Japan. It was established in November 1897 and began operation between Kita-Senju and Kuki in August 1899. The Tojo Railway was founded in 1911 as a separate company, but shared its president and head office with Tobu.[3] In 1905, Nezu Kaichirō became the president of Tobu Railway and successfully helped to grow the company to one of the largest private rail operators in the Kanto region.[4]
Kanji (disambiguation). Kanji (Japanese: 漢字) is a Japanese writing system that can refer to all Chinese characters in general, especially in the Japanese Language. Kanji may also refer to:
Wa (name of Japan). Wa[a] is the oldest attested name of Japan[b] and ethnonym of the Japanese people. From c. the 2nd century AD Chinese and Korean scribes used the Chinese character 倭; submissive, distant, dwarf to refer to the various inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago, although it might have been just used to transcribe the phonetic value of a Japonic ethnonym with a respectively differing semantic connotation. In the 8th century, the Japanese started using the character 和, wa, harmony, peace, balance instead due to the offensive nature of the former. Although the etymological origins of Wa remain uncertain, Chinese historical texts recorded an ancient people residing in the Japanese archipelago (perhaps Kyūshū), named something like ɁWâ, transcribed with Chinese character 倭, pronounced ʔuɑi < ʔwɑi in Eastern Han Chinese.[1] In modern Chinese dictionaries, Carr surveys prevalent proposals for Was etymology ranging from a transcription of the Japanese first-person pronouns waga 我が my; our and ware 我 I; oneself; thou to Wa as 倭 implying dwarf barbarians, and summarizes interpretations for ʼWâ Japanese into variations on two etymologies: behaviorally submissive or physically short.[2] The first submissive; obedient explanation began with the (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi dictionary. It defines 倭 as shùnmào 順皃 obedient/submissive,[3] graphically explains the person; human radical with a wěi 委 bent phonetic, and quotes the above Shi Jing poem. According to the 1716 Kangxi Dictionary (倭又人名魯宣公名倭), 倭 was the name of King Tuyen (魯宣公) of Lu (Chinese: 魯國; pinyin: Lǔ Guó, c. 1042 – 249 BCE). Conceivably, when Chinese first met Japanese, Carr suggests they transcribed Wa as *ʼWâ bent back signifying compliant bowing/obeisance. Bowing is noted in early historical references to Japan.[4] Examples include Respect is shown by squatting,[5] and they either squat or kneel, with both hands on the ground. This is the way they show respect..[6] Koji Nakayama interprets wēi 逶 winding as very far away and euphemistically translates Wō 倭 as separated from the continent. The second etymology of wō 倭 meaning dwarf; short person has possible cognates in ǎi 矮 short (of stature); midget, dwarf; low, wō 踒 strain; sprain; bent legs, and wò 臥 lie down; crouch; sit (animals and birds). Early Chinese dynastic histories refer to a Zhūrúguó 侏儒國 pygmy/dwarf country located south of Japan, associated with possibly Okinawa Island or the Ryukyu Islands. Carr cites the historical precedence of construing Wa as submissive people and the Country of Dwarfs legend as evidence that the little people etymology was a secondary development.
Last Glacial Maximum. The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Last Glacial Coldest Period,[1] was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago.[2] Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Europe, and Asia and profoundly affected Earths climate by causing a major expansion of deserts,[3] along with a large drop in sea levels.[4] Based on changes in position of ice sheet margins dated via terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides and radiocarbon dating, growth of ice sheets in the southern hemisphere commenced 33,000 years ago and maximum coverage has been estimated to have occurred sometime between 26,500 years ago[1] and 20,000 years ago.[5] After this, deglaciation caused an abrupt rise in sea level. Decline of the West Antarctica ice sheet occurred between 14,000 and 15,000 years ago, consistent with evidence for another abrupt rise in the sea level about 14,500 years ago.[6][7] Glacier fluctuations around the Strait of Magellan suggest the peak in glacial surface area was constrained to between 25,200 and 23,100 years ago.[8] There are no agreed dates for the beginning and end of the LGM, and researchers select dates depending on their criteria and the data set consulted. Jennifer French, an archeologist specialising in the European Palaeolithic, dates its onset at 27,500 years ago, with ice sheets at their maximum by around 26,000 years ago and deglaciation commencing between 20,000 and 19,000 years ago.[9] The LGM is referred to in Britain as the Dimlington Stadial, dated to between 31,000 and 16,000 years ago.[10][11] The average global temperature about 21,000 years ago was about 6 °C (11 °F) colder than today.[12][13][14] According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), permanent summer ice covered about 8% of Earths surface and 25% of the land area during the last glacial maximum.[15] The USGS also states that sea level was about 125 meters (410 ft) lower than in present times (2012).[15] When comparing to the present, the average global temperature was 15 °C (59 °F) for the 2013–2017 period.[16] As of 2012 about 3.1% of Earths surface and 10.7% of the land area is covered in year-round ice.[15]
List of named minor planets (alphabetical). This is a list of named minor planets in an alphabetical, case-insensitive order grouped by the first letter of their name.[a][b] New namings, typically proposed by the discoverer and approved by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN) of the International Astronomical Union, are published nowadays in their WGSBN Bulletin and summarized in a dedicated list several times a year.[1] Over the last four decades, the list has grown significantly with an average rate of 492 new namings published every year (or 1.35 namings per day). While in March 1979,[2] only 1924 minor planets had received a name and completed the designation process, as of 15 July 2024[update], the list contains 24,836 named objects.[1] This, however, only accounts for 3.45% of all numbered bodies, as there are over 720,000 minor planets with a well established orbit which is a precondition for receiving a name. Of all these minor-planet names, 1311 contain diacritical marks.[3]
Logogram. In a written language, a logogram (from Ancient Greek logos word, and gramma that which is drawn or written), also logograph or lexigraph, is a written character that represents a semantic component of a language, such as a word or morpheme. Chinese characters as used in Chinese as well as other languages are logograms, as are Egyptian hieroglyphs and characters in cuneiform script. A writing system that primarily uses logograms is called a logography. Non-logographic writing systems, such as alphabets and syllabaries, are phonemic: their individual symbols represent sounds directly and lack any inherent meaning. However, all known logographies have some phonetic component, generally based on the rebus principle, and the addition of a phonetic component to pure ideographs is considered to be a key innovation in enabling the writing system to adequately encode human language. Some of the earliest recorded writing systems are logographic; the first historical civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and Mesoamerica all used some form of logographic writing.[1][2] All logographic scripts ever used for natural languages rely on the rebus principle to extend a relatively limited set of logograms: A subset of characters is used for their phonetic values, either consonantal or syllabic. The term logosyllabary is used to emphasize the partially phonetic nature of these scripts when the phonetic domain is the syllable. In Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Cholti, and in Chinese, there has been the additional development of determinatives, which are combined with logograms to narrow down their possible meaning. In Chinese, they are fused with logographic elements used phonetically; such radical and phonetic characters make up the bulk of the script. Ancient Egyptian and Chinese relegated the active use of rebus to the spelling of foreign and dialectical words. Logoconsonantal scripts have graphemes that may be extended phonetically according to the consonants of the words they represent, ignoring the vowels. For example, Egyptian was used to write both sȝ duck and sȝ son, though it is likely that these words were not pronounced the same except for their consonants. The primary examples of logoconsonantal scripts are Egyptian hieroglyphs, hieratic, and demotic: Ancient Egyptian.
Furigana. Furigana (振り仮名; Japanese pronunciation: [ɸɯɾigaꜜna] or [ɸɯɾigana]) is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana (syllabic characters) printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters to indicate their pronunciation. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also known as yomigana (読み仮名) and rubi (ルビ; [ɾɯꜜbi]) in Japanese. In modern Japanese, it is usually used to gloss rare kanji, to clarify rare, nonstandard or ambiguous kanji readings, or in childrens or learners materials. Before the post-World War II script reforms, it was more widespread.[1] Furigana is most often written in hiragana, though in certain cases it may be written in katakana, Roman alphabet letters or in other, simpler kanji. In vertical text, tategaki, the furigana is placed to the right of the line of text; in horizontal text, yokogaki, it is placed above the line of text, as illustrated below. or
Tokyo. Tokyo,[a] officially the Tokyo Metropolis,[b] is the capital and most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is one of the most populous urban areas in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring prefectures, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 41 million residents as of 2024[update]. Lying at the head of Tokyo Bay, Tokyo is part of the Kantō region, on the central coast of Honshu, Japans largest island. It is Japans economic center and the seat of the Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers Tokyos central 23 special wards, which formerly made up Tokyo City; various commuter towns and suburbs in its western area; and two outlying island chains, the Tokyo Islands. Although most of the world recognizes Tokyo as a city, since 1943 its governing structure has been more akin to that of a prefecture, with an accompanying Governor and Assembly taking precedence over the smaller municipal governments that make up the metropolis. Special wards in Tokyo include Chiyoda, the site of the National Diet Building and the Tokyo Imperial Palace; Shinjuku, the citys administrative center; and Shibuya, a hub of commerce and business. Tokyo, originally known as Edo, rose to political prominence in 1603 when it became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, and by the mid-18th century, Edo had evolved from a small fishing village into one of the largest cities in the world, with a population surpassing one million. After the Meiji Restoration (1868), the imperial capital in Kyoto was moved to Edo, and the city was renamed Tokyo (lit. Eastern Capital). Tokyo was greatly damaged by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and by allied bombing raids during World War II. From the late 1940s, Tokyo underwent rapid reconstruction and expansion, which fueled the Japanese economic miracle, in which Japans economy became the second-largest in the world at the time, behind that of the United States.[9] As of 2023[update], Tokyo is home to 29 of the worlds 500 largest companies, as listed in the annual Fortune Global 500—the second highest number of any city.[10] Tokyo was the first city in Asia to host the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, in 1964 and then in 2021. It also hosted three G7 summits, in 1979, 1986, and 1993. Tokyo is an international hub of research and development and an academic center, with several major universities, including the University of Tokyo, the top-ranking university in Japan.[11][12] Tokyo Station is the central hub for the Shinkansen, the countrys high-speed railway network; and the citys Shinjuku Station is the worlds busiest train station. Tokyo Skytree is the worlds tallest tower.[13] The Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, which opened in 1927, is the oldest underground metro line in Asia.[14]

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