AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
In addition to washing, there are other rules that also apply to those who enter the mosque, even if they do not wish to pray there. It is forbidden to wear shoes in the carpeted area of the prayer hall. Some mosques also do not allow wearing shoes in other parts, even though these may not be devoted to praying.
Islam requires that its believers wear clothes that show modesty. As a result, both men and women must follow this rule when they attend a mosque (though mosques may not always enforce the rules). Men are supposed to come to the mosque wearing loose and clean clothes that do not show the shape of the body. Similarly, women who come to the mosque are expected to wear loose clothing, shirts, pants that cover to the wrists and ankles and cover their heads such as with a hijab. Many Muslims, regardless of their ethnic background, wear Middle eastern clothing associated with Arabic Islam to special occasions and prayers at mosques.
Mosques are places of worship. For this reason, those inside the mosque should be respectful to those who are praying. Loud talking or discussion of topics that could be disrespectful, is forbidden in areas where people are praying. It is also considered as rude to walk in front of Muslims in prayer or otherwise disturb them.
Islamic law requires men and women to be separated in the prayer hall. Ideally, women should pray behind men. The second caliph Umar at one time stopped women from attending mosques, especially at night, because he feared they may be teased by males, so he made them to pray at home. Sometimes a special part of the mosque was railed off for women; for example, the governor of Mecca in 870 had ropes tied between the columns to make a separate place for women.
Many mosques today will put the women behind a barrier or partition or in another room. Mosques in South and Southeast Asia put men and women in separate rooms, as the divisions were built into them centuries ago. In nearly two-thirds of American mosques, women pray behind partitions or in separate areas, not in the main prayer hall; some mosques do not admit women at all. Although there are sections only for women and children, the Grand Mosque in Mecca is desegregated.
A few scholars of Islamic law believe that non-Muslims may be allowed into mosques, as long as they do not sleep or eat there. Followers of the "Maliki" school of Islamic jurisprudence disagree. They say that non-Muslims may not be allowed into mosques at all.
Different countries have different opinions on the question. Nearly all the mosques in the Arabian Peninsula as well as Morocco do not allow non-Muslims. The Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca is one of only two mosques in Morocco currently open to non-Muslims.
In modern-day Saudi Arabia, the Grand Mosque and all of Mecca are open only to Muslims. Likewise, the Masjid al-Nabawi and the city of Medina that surrounds it are also off-limits to those who do not practice Islam. For mosques in other areas, it has most commonly been taken that non-Muslims may only enter mosques if granted permission to do so by Muslims and if they have a proper reason.
In modern Turkey non-Muslim tourists are allowed to enter any mosque, but must obey the rules of decorum. Visiting a mosque is allowed only between prayers; visitors must wear long trousers and take off their shoes; women must cover their heads; no photos; no loud talk is allowed. No references to other religions are allowed (no crosses on necklaces, no cross gestures etc.).
However, there are also many other places in the west as well as the Islamic world where non-Muslims are welcome to enter mosques. Most mosques in the United States, for example, report receiving non-Muslim visitors every month. Many Mosques throughout the United States welcome non-Muslims as a sign of openness to the rest of the community and to encourage conversions to Islam.
Dogs are usually banned from entering mosques, but on 24 September 2008, the Muslim Law Council UK made special ruling, called a "fatwa", which granted a blind Muslim permission to take his guide dog into the mosque.
It is common for a smaller mosque to serve as a hostel for Muslims on "haj" (pilgrimage to Mecca). Sometimes mosques are used for refugees, or as temporary homes for homeless people. Obligations to neighbours in Islam are very strict, and specific. In the Qur'an Mohammed(pbuh) said that a person who helps others in the hour of need, and who helps the oppressed; that person God will help on the Day of Travail (agony). There are other commands, such as helping the poor and being nice to people. An important part of being Muslim, or just being part of the mosque, is taking care of people who need help. A mosque is a social, as well as a religious, group.
A madrassa is a little different from a mosque. A madrassa focuses on teaching Islam, usually to children and young people.
When Spain was under Muslim control, some of the most beautiful buildings were mosques. After 1491, Spain was under Christian control. However, the Christians did not tear down the mosques. They simply put a crucifix in them to make them into churches. These mosques influenced the Renaissance architecture (way of building) in Europe.
The class Mammalia are a group of vertebrate animals. They have fur or hair and a very precise kind of temperature regulation.
With the exception of the monotremes, all mammals bear live young. Unlike other vertebrates, they are the only animals that produce milk for the young through their mammary glands. Parental care of the young is universal among mammals, sometimes for extended periods.
Most marsupial and eutherian mammals have a reproductive cycle known as the oestrous cycle (U.S: estrous cycle). Females are sexually active only during the oestrous stage, when they are 'on heat' for a few days each month. If an ovum is not fertilized, the endometrium (uterus lining) is resorbed. Oestrus cycles may occur once or twice a year, or many times a year. Each group of mammals has its own frequency.
Humans and primates, are quite different. They have a menstrual cycle. In this case, females are sexually receptive at any time, but only fertile when an ovum is released from an ovary. In this case, the endometrium (if not needed for an fertilised egg) is discarded. The endometrium is shed, and takes with it a certain amount of blood. In this system, eggs are released from the ovaries mostly in the middle of the cycle, away from the menstrual period. This ovulation is 'concealed', meaning, it is not obvious when it occurs. This process, so it is thought, tends to keep the male and female together, which is unusual in mammals with the oestrous cycle.
One diagnostic feature is the lower jaw which, unlike earlier forms, is composed of a single bone, the dentary. This is one feature which can be seen in fossils, or at least those which are complete enough to have the lower jaw. Mammals have three little bones in their inner ear, the ear ossicles. The ear ossicles are bones which were, long ago, part of the lower jaw in early proto-mammals.
There are quite a number of other features, particularly in the skull and limbs, so that it is usually possible to identify and describe a mammal from its skeleton alone.
Another diagnostic feature is the neocortex of the brain, which no other vertebrate has. This is involved in the kind of flexible behavior and learning typical of mammals. Reptiles and birds have much of their behavior controlled by "inherited behavior chains", which roughly translates as "instincts". Almost all animals can do some learning, but mammals do far more than other vertebrates. Their behavior is much more flexible than lizards, for example, and that is made possible by their neocortex.
Other things in the life of mammals seem to be connected with this flexibility and learning. Play is a kind of early learning period in which, according to one theory, mammals develop skills which they will need in life. All mammalian young play, and this is very obvious in the more intelligent mammals (primates, cats).
The emotions of mammals are very noticeable, and rather similar to ours. It is possible, and quite common, for humans to have a friendly relationship with another mammal. It is quite impossible for a human to have any kind of relationship with a snake or a gecko (for example). This is because the reptile simply does not have the same basic emotions as a human.
There are about 50 characters which are typical of mammals, and some of the most important are discussed above. A few more examples will make it clear that mammals are very different from reptiles and birds:
In the language of cladistics, these 50 unique characters are apomorphies which prove that mammals are a clade descended from a common ancestor.
All mammals feed milk to their young, and protect and look after them.
The vast majority of mammal species give birth to live young, these are the placental mammals, most of which are classified as Eutheria and a small number are classified as marsupials.
Marsupials are mammals with pouches to carry young in, like the kangaroo.
There are only five species (the monotreme mammals) that lay eggs, the duck-billed platypus "Ornithorhynchus", and four species of spiny anteater "Echidna". The monotremes are confined to Australia and New Guinea, and are the sole survivors of an earlier group of mammals.
In terms of number of species mammals, with 5488 species, are not the most successful vertebrates. Birds, with about 10,000 species have nearly twice as many, and reptiles have just as many as birds. Fish have even more species. There are 27,000 species of fish, of which nearly 26,000 are bony fish.
Despite this, many zoologists do regard mammals as a successful group of animals. One reason is that they are successful in all habitats on Earth. In the air, in the water, in forests, in the colder regions of the world, and above all on grasslands, where they are outstandingly successful.
In the air, the bats (Chiroptera) are the mammalian order with the most species. They 'own' the nighttime, since birds are largely diurnal (daytime) animals. Bats are hugely successful, mostly as nighttime predators of insects.
Seagoing mammals, the Cetacea and the pinnipeds, are very successful and significant predators. This includes the whales, seals, walrus, dolphins and others.
The terrestrial mammals are fewer in number of species than lizards, but they are huge in individual numbers, and far more important in the life of the terrestrial biomes. Their ability to move from place to place and adapt has made them a most effective group. Many mammals live in cold places. These mammals have thick hair or blubber to keep them warm. Others may live in rainforests. On land the rodents (rats, mice) are hugely successful, more common in numbers than any other mammals. Large mammals on land have been hunted to extinction in some parts of the world, but the ones which remain are now better protected.
Last, but certainly not least, are the primates. Their natural habitat, with few exceptions, are the forests. Most live in the trees, with hands that grasp, good colour vision, and intelligence. In the Pliocene period some moved out onto the savannahs as grassland replaced forests. Mankind is the result of this shift into the savannahs.
The evolutionary relationships among land vertebrates is as follows:
This sort of classification is not traditional, but it does reflect our knowledge of palaeontology and evolution.
A somewhat standardized classification system has been adopted by most current mammalogy classroom textbooks. It is based on living animals. The following taxonomy of extant and recently extinct mammals is from Vaughan et al. 2000.
Class Mammalia
Mammals can be divided in a number of orders:
Because two quite different dates are given in the taxobox, an explanation is needed. Rowe defines mammals as "the taxon originating with the most recent common ancestor of extant [living] Monotremata and Theria". That puts the emphasis heavily on living mammals, where, as Rowe points out, the database of characters is extensive.
Kemp explains the problem with that approach: "If the definition of a mammal is based rigorously upon possession of all the characters of living mammals, then some fossil forms that are extremely mammalian in anatomy... are excluded".
"An altogether different perspective on defining Mammalia is based on traditional palaeobiological practice. An arbitrary decision is made about which characters to select as defining characters... Characters deemed appropriate are those reflecting the... fundamental mammalian biology. The essence of mammalian life is to be found in their endothermic temperature physiology, greatly enlarged brain, dentition capable of chewing food, highly agile, energetic locomotion, and so on. The organisms that achieved this grade of overall organisation are deemed to be Mammalia... Around the end of the Triassic period, about 205 mya, a number of fossils are found of very small animals that have [most] of the skeletal characters of modern mammals".
This difference in outlook explains the difference in the two dates given in the taxobox.
A number is a concept from mathematics, used to count or measure. Depending on the field of mathematics, where numbers are used, there are different definitions:
Numbers are also used for other things like counting. Numbers are used when things are measured. Numbers are used to study how the world works. Mathematics is a way to use numbers to learn about the world and make things. The study of the rules of the natural world is called science. The work that uses numbers to make things is called engineering.
There are different ways of giving symbols to numbers. These methods are called number systems. The most common number system that people use is the "base ten" number system. The "base ten" number system is also called the decimal number system. The base ten number system is common because people have ten fingers and ten toes. There are 10 different symbols {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9} used in the base ten number system. These ten symbols are called digits.
A symbol for a number is made up of these ten digits. The position of the digits shows how big the number is. For example, the number 23 in the decimal number system really means (2 times 10) plus 3. Similarly, 101 means 1 times a hundred (=100) plus 0 times 10 (=0) plus 1 times 1 (=1).
Another number system is more common for machines. The machine number system is called the "binary" number system. The binary number system is also called the base two number system. There are two different symbols (0 and 1) used in the base two number system. These two symbols are called bits.
A symbol for a binary number is made up of these two bit symbols. The position of the bit symbols shows how big the number is. For example, the number 10 in the binary number system really means 1 times 2 plus 0, and 101 means 1 times four (=4) plus 0 times two (=0) plus 1 times 1 (=1). The binary number 10 is the same as the decimal number 2. The binary number 101 is the same as the decimal number 5.
English has special names for some of the numbers in the decimal number system that are "powers of ten". All of these power of ten numbers in the decimal number system use just the symbol "1" and the symbol "0". For example, ten tens is the same as ten times ten, or one hundred. In symbols, this is "10 × 10 = 100". Also, ten hundreds is the same as ten times one hundred, or one thousand. In symbols, this is "10 × 100 = 10 × 10 × 10 = 1000". Some other powers of ten also have special names:
When dealing with larger numbers than this, there are two different ways of naming the numbers in English. Under the "long scale", a new name is given every time the number is a million times larger than the last named number. It is also called the "British Standard". This scale used to be common in Britain, but is not often used in English-speaking countries today. It is still used in some other European nations.
Another scale is the "short scale", under which a new name is given every time a number is a thousand times larger than the last named number. This scale is a lot more common in most English-speaking nations today.
Natural numbers are the numbers which we normally use for counting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc. Some people say that 0 is a natural number, too. The set of all natural numbers is written as formula_1.
Another name for these numbers is positive numbers. These numbers are sometimes written as +1 to show that they are different from the negative numbers. But not all positive numbers are natural (for example, formula_2 is positive, but not natural).
If 0 is called a natural number, then the natural numbers are the same as the whole numbers. If 0 is not called a natural number, then the natural numbers are the same as the counting numbers. So if the words "natural numbers" are not used, then there will be less confusion about whether zero is included or not. But unfortunately, some say that zero is not a whole number, while others say that whole numbers can be negative. "Positive integers" and "non-negative integers" are another way to include zero or exclude zero, but only if people know those words.
Negative numbers are numbers less than zero.
One way to think of negative numbers is to use a "number line". We call one point on this line zero. Then we will label (write the name of) every position on the line by how far to the right of the zero point is. For example, the point one is one centimeter to the right, and the point two is two centimeters to the right.
However, the point one centimeter to the left of the zero point cannot be point one, since there is already a point called one. We therefore call this point minus one (−1, as it is one centimeter away but in the opposite direction).
A drawing of a number line is below.
All the normal operations of mathematics can be done with negative numbers:
Since finding the square root of a negative number is impossible for real numbers (as negative times negative equals positive for real numbers), the square root of -1 is given a special name: "i". This is also called the imaginary unit.
Integers are all the natural numbers, all their opposites, and the number zero. Decimal numbers and fractions are not integers.
Rational numbers are numbers which can be written as fractions. This means that they can be written as "a" divided by "b", where the numbers "a" and "b" are integers, and "b" is not zero.
Some rational numbers, such as 1/10, need a finite number of digits after the decimal point to write them in decimal form. The number one tenth is written in decimal form as 0.1. Numbers written with a finite decimal form are rational. Some rational numbers, such as 1/11, need an infinite number of digits after the decimal point to write them in decimal form. There is a repeating pattern to the digits following the decimal point. The number one eleventh is written in decimal form as 0.0909090909 ... .
A percentage could be called a rational number, because a percentage like 7% can be written as the fraction 7/100. It can also be written as the decimal 0.07. Sometimes, a ratio is considered as a rational number.
Irrational numbers are numbers which cannot be written as a fraction, but do not have imaginary parts (explained later).
Irrational numbers often occur in geometry. For example, if we have a square which has sides of 1 meter, the distance between opposite corners is the square root of two, which equals 1.414213 ... . This is an irrational number. Mathematicians have proved that the square root of every natural number is either an integer or an irrational number.
One well-known irrational number is pi. This is the circumference (distance around) of a circle divided by its diameter (distance across). This number is the same for every circle. The number pi is approximately 3.1415926535 ... .
An irrational number cannot be fully written down in decimal form. It would have an infinite number of digits after the decimal point, and unlike 0.333333 ..., these digits would not repeat forever.
Real numbers is a name for all the sets of numbers listed above:
The real numbers form the real line. This is all the numbers that do not involve imaginary numbers.
Imaginary numbers are formed by real numbers multiplied by the number i. This number is the square root of minus one (−1).
There is no number in the real numbers which when squared, makes the number −1. Therefore, mathematicians invented a number. They called this number i, or the imaginary unit.
Imaginary numbers operate under the same rules as real numbers:
Imaginary numbers were called "imaginary" because when they were first found, many mathematicians did not think they existed. The person who "discovered" imaginary numbers was Gerolamo Cardano in the 1500s. The first to use the words "imaginary number" was René Descartes. The first people to use these numbers were Leonard Euler and Carl Friedrich Gauss. Both lived in the 18th century.
Complex numbers are numbers which have two parts; a "real" part and an "imaginary" part. Every type of number written above is also a complex number.
Complex numbers are a more general form of numbers. The complex numbers can be drawn on a number plane. This is composed of a real number line, and an imaginary number line.
All of normal mathematics can be done with complex numbers:
To multiply two complex numbers is more complicated. It is easiest to describe in general terms, with two complex numbers a + bi and c + di.
For example, (4 + 5i) × (3 + 2i) = (4 × 3 − 5 × 2) + (4 × 2 + 5 × 3)i = (12 − 10) + (8 + 15)i = 2 + 23i.
A real or complex number is called a "transcendental number" if it can not be obtained as a result of an algebraic equation with integer coefficients.
Proving that a certain number is transcendental can be extremely difficult. Each transcendental number is also an irrational number. The first people to see that there were transcendental numbers were Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Leonhard Euler. The first to actually prove there were transcendental numbers was Joseph Liouville. He did this in 1844.
Some well-known transcendental numbers include:
November (Nov.) is the eleventh and penultimate (second-last) month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, coming between October and December. It has 30 days. Its name is from the Latin word "novem", which meant "nine". It was the ninth month of the year before January and February were added to the Roman Calendar.
November always begins on the same day of the week as March, and additionally, February in common years. November always ends on the same day of the week as August.
November is the eleventh month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, after October and before December, which is the last month. November has 30 days. It was the ninth month in the old Roman calendar, which is where its name comes from. It kept its name when January and February were added to the beginning of the year, despite becoming the eleventh month. The ninth month is now September.
November begins on the same day of the week as February in common years and March every year, as each other's first days are exactly 39 weeks (273 days) and 35 weeks (245 days) apart respectively. November ends on the same day of the week as August every year, as each other's last days are exactly 13 weeks (91 days) apart.
In common years, November starts on the same day of the week as June of the previous year, and in leap years, September and December of the previous year. In common years, November finishes on the same day of the week as March and June of the previous year, and in leap years, September of the previous year.
In years immediately before common years, November starts on the same day of the week as August of the following year, and in years immediately before leap years, May of the following year. In years immediately before common years, November finishes on the same day of the week as May of the following year, and in years immediately before leap years, February and October of the following year.
In the Northern Hemisphere, November is an Autumn (Fall) month, and the further north in the hemisphere, the more likely it is to get colder as December approaches. In the Southern Hemisphere it is a Spring month. In each hemisphere, it is the seasonal equivalent of May in the other.
Several observances around the beginning of the month are believed to be related, linked to the old Celtic celebration of Samhain on November 1. These events include Halloween (October 31), Day of the Dead in Mexico (October 31 to November 2), All Saints Day (November 1) and All Souls Day (November 2).
In several mainly Christian countries, it is month in which people who died in war are commonly remembered, mainly related to the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. Near the end of the month Advent, the period leading up to Christmas, begins.
National anthem
A national anthem is a country's official national song that the people of a country use to remember and respect their country.
Some countries, like Spain, have a national anthem which has no lyrics (words of a song)
A name is a word (or a set of words) given to things and people.
For example, "cat" is the name of a kind of animal. "Ryan" is a name of a person, usually a male. "Julia" is a common female name.
The word 'name' can also be used as a verb. To name something is to give it a name.
In many cultures, there are rules and customs about how to give a person a name.
Some of the rules are defined by laws, and others are defined by traditions (doing things in the way they have been done for a long time).
There are rules about different aspects of the names and naming, including the following:
1. Number of parts of a name
In some cultures, a person has a one-part name, such as "ShiningWater."
In other cultures, a person has a two-part name, such as "John Smith."
In some cultures, a person can have any number of name parts. In the United States, for example, some people have three: first name, middle name, and last name. Other people have only two: a first and last name.
In Chinese cultures, it is typical for a person to have three-part name, such as "Cheah Ching San," where "Cheah" is the surname. Written in English format a comma is introduced making it "Ching San, Cheah."
2. Relations with names of parents and other relatives
In some cultures, people have the same "family name" (or surname) as their parents. For example, the father of John Smith may be Mike Smith. And Mike Smith's father may be James Smith. The "Smith" part is the same for all the family.
In other cultures, a person has the same name as his or her father, but the name is in a different place. For example, Shafiq Hanif's son may be Hanif Kamal. Hanif is in both the father's and son's name.
3. Name changes
In some cultures, a name changes when people marry, divorce, go through some religious ceremony, etc. For example, in some Spanish-speaking countries, people use two last names: their mother's father's name and their father's name. If Elena Rodriguez Gomez and Jose Sanchez Soria marry, she may change her name to Elena Rodriguez de Sanchez, and their child could be named Pilar Sanchez Rodriguez, taking the names of both of her grandfathers.
4. Name origins
In some cultures, personal names come from history. In most European countries, some first names are taken from the Bible. In some cultures, names are taken from a relative. In other cultures, a name shows what the parents hope their child will be like. A baby may be given a name Wisdom because parents hope the baby will be a wise girl or boy.
Some cultures avoid giving people a name of an animal. For example, there is no name like dog, cat, snake, owl, or fish in Japanese people's first names. But in some cultures animal names may be good.
5. Lengths, pronunciations, spelling, etc.
In some languages and cultures, you can tell if a word is a person's name or not by just looking at the spelling or listening to its pronunciation. There are some other linguistic patterns. For example, many Chinese names are made up of three syllables.
6. Use of names, titles, nicknames, etc.
In some cultures, people use names when they call each other. In other cultures, people use their nicknames. In some other cultures, people use their titles ("father," "professor," etc.) when they call each other.
7. Spelling of names, titles, nicknames, etc.
8. Name awareness
Taking note of names is taken a step farther by those who elect to celebrate a name (e.g., "Celebrate Your Name Week") whether their own name, someone else's name, or names in general, complete ownership of one's name might very well include celebrating it.
9. Middle names
While some people might choose to "hide" a middle name for any number of reasons (i.e., they consider the middle name they were given to be an "embarrassment"), others have taken to celebrating their middle name (e.g., "Middle Name Pride Day").
In the English language, names exclusively are usually pronounced in correlation with the spelling, however can be pronounced as desired, e.g. John is (jon) but can also be (ned). However, not probable, is held true in the English rules of grammar.
Examples of names
Sarah, Lucy, Ellen, Claire, Ben.
Names can be shortened e.g. Isabelle can become Izzy or Belle.
Here are some things that are often found in Japanese names today. In the past, people went by different rules.
Japanese names have two parts. One is the family name and the other is the given name.
"Suzuki Ichiro" is a name of a Japanese person. Suzuki is the family name, and Ichiro is the first name. In the Japanese language, the family name comes first, and the given name comes second. (It is like writing Smith John, instead of John Smith.)
Only some members of the royal family do not have a family name.
A newborn baby gets a family name from their parents. The parents have the same family name. So, a son of Ono Yoko (female) and Ono Ken (male) is Ono something.
The family name Ono is mostly shared by the paternal (male) part of the family. So Ono Ken's parents have the family name Ono, but Ono Yoko's parents probably do not.
Names of people change when they marry and divorce. It is a custom in many parts of the world that women change their family name to that of their new husband when they marry. However, in Europe and North America especially, many women no longer do this even though their mothers and grandmothers may have. Sometimes, the man will take the woman's family name.
Niihau
Niihau (or Niʻihau) is the smallest of the inhabited islands of Hawaii, in the United States. It has a land area of 70 sq. miles (184 km). It is the oldest of the eight main islands.
The whole island is owned by the Robinson family. They bought it from the Kingdom of Hawaii for $10,000. It was said that the buyer, Elizabeth Sinclair (later Sinclair-Robinson), liked the island better than other places such as Waikiki, Pearl Harbor, and the island of Lanai. There is a small US Navy base where a handful of Navy people work.
The island has a few hundred permanent inhabitants. Almost all of them are native Hawaiians. They support themselves largely with small family farms. Many work for the ranch owned by the Robinsons. The native Hawaiians lead a rural, low-tech life. They speak the Hawaiian language and keep traditions alive. This is because Ms. Sinclair promised to help preserve Hawaiian culture and tradition when she bought the island. Niihau is the only one of the Hawaiian islands where the Hawaiian language is the main language.
Niihau is also known as the "Forbidden Island". This is due to the fact that until recently, the island was off-limits to all but family members, US Navy personnel, government officials and expressly invited guests. Now, tourists can go on one of a limited number of supervised tours or hunting safaris.
On the beaches of the island are found shells which are the only shells to be classified as gems. Niihau shells and the jewelry made from them are very popular. Many, especially those with darker and richer color, are collectors items. The sale of shells and shell jewelry brings extra money for the local people.
Nēnē
The Nēnē, or Hawaiian goose ("Branta sandvicensis") is a species of goose. It is found today on only three Hawaiian islands. It gets its name from its soft call.
This is an unmistakable species, with its generally brown plumage (feathers) and darker head. Its strong toes have much reduced webbing (skin between the toes), an adjustment to the lava flows on which it breeds. The Nēnē goes about on land much more than other water birds. When moulting (dropping old feathers and growing new ones), the Nēnē cannot fly, as do other geese, a factor which made it vulnerable to hunting.
The Nēnē was once among the most threatened waterfowl species around the world. Once common, hunting and predators brought to the islands such as mongooses, pigs and cats reduced the population to only 30 birds in the 1950s. However, this species breeds well in captivity (zoos and bird parks), and has been successfully re-introduced. There are also good numbers in wild bird collections.
The Nēnē is the state bird of Hawaii.
A communication network is a group of things that are connected or linked together. They may be used for talking or other communication to transfer information, data, signal and things as in a transport network. The pattern by which things are connected is called a network topology. A television network, for example, connects television stations. Computer networks are numerous.
Fishing net
A fishing net is a woven trap usually used to catch fish. They are usually made out of rope. A net is a kind of tool.
Internet slang
Internet slang is slang words which are used on the internet. Most of these words are new, such as Wiki and blog, which were not used before the internet became popular.
Some old words were given new meanings, such as mail (which now means email). This makes many metaphors on the Internet, such as boot (which otherwise mean a shoe) and link (which otherwise means a joint in a metal chain). Some existing acronyms, such as "AFK" (To mean "Away from keyboard") and "IRL" (To mean "In real life") were used on bulletin board systems before the internet became popular. These are now used on the internet, such as in chat rooms and on instant messenger software.
People have also created some verbs and adjectives to describe things that only happen on the internet:
Shorthand is where a word is written in a shorter way because it is quicker and easier to type. It is also done to fit more text into a limited space.
Internet slang uses many acronyms because they are quicker and easier to type. They are often shorthand for common phrases and idioms, but they can show somebody's emotions and their certainty.
Leet speak (written as: L33T or 1337) is the most common language on MMORPGs because rude words are not stopped by filters. This language is changing all the time because new words are made and used. A lot of the words use numbers instead of letters but some were made because of typing errors which are now done on purpose. Also, some suffixes are used, such as "-age" and "-ness".
Some of the numbers and symbols used instead of letters are in the table below.
Nauru, ( ) officially the Republic of Nauru, is a sovereign island nation located in the Micronesian South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in the Republic of Kiribati, due east. Nauru is the world's smallest island nation, covering just , the smallest independent republic, and the only republican state in the world without an official capital. With 10,670 residents, it is the third least-populated country after Vatican City and Tuvalu.
Nauru is a phosphate rock island, and its primary economic activity since 1907 has been the export of phosphate mined from the island. English and Nauruan are the official languages of Nauru. The current president of Nauru is Lionel Aingimea.
Nauru is a oval-shaped island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, south of the Equator. The island is surrounded by a coral reef, which is exposed at low tide and dotted with pinnacles. The presence of the reef has prevented the establishment of a seaport, although channels in the reef allow small boats access to the island. A fertile coastal strip wide lies inland from the beach.
Coral cliffs surround Nauru's central plateau. The highest point of the plateau, called the Command Ridge, is above sea level. The only fertile areas on Nauru are on the narrow coastal belt, where coconut palms flourish. The land surrounding Buada Lagoon supports bananas, pineapples, vegetables, pandanus trees, and indigenous hardwoods such as the tomano tree.
Nauru was one of three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean (the others were Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia). The phosphate reserves on Nauru are now almost entirely depleted. Phosphate mining in the central plateau has left a barren terrain of jagged limestone pinnacles up to high. Mining has stripped and devastated about 80 per cent of Nauru's land area, and has also affected the surrounding Exclusive Economic Zone; 40 per cent of marine life is estimated to have been killed by silt and phosphate runoff.
There are only about 60 recorded vascular plant species native to the island, none of which are endemic. Coconut farming, mining, and introduced species have caused serious disturbance to the native vegetation. There are no native land mammals, but there are native insects, land crabs, and birds, including the endemic Nauru Reed Warbler. The Polynesian rat, cats, dogs, pigs, and chickens have been introduced to Nauru from ships.
There are limited natural fresh water resources on Nauru. Rooftop storage tanks collect rainwater, but the islanders are mostly dependent on three desalination plants housed at Nauru's Utilities Agency. Nauru's climate is hot and very humid year-round because of its proximity to the equator and the ocean. Nauru is hit by monsoon rains between November and February, but does not typically experience cyclones. Annual rainfall is highly variable and is influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, with several significant recorded droughts. The temperature on Nauru ranges between and during the day and between and at night.
As an island, Nauru is vulnerable to climate and sea level change. Nauru is the seventh most global warming threatened nation due to flooding. At least 80 per cent of the land of Nauru is well elevated, but this area will be uninhabitable until the phosphate mining rehabilitation programme is implemented.
Nauru is divided into fourteen administrative districts which are grouped into eight electoral constituencies.
Noun
A noun is a kind of word (see part of speech) that is usually the name of something such as a person, place, thing, animal, or idea. In English, nouns can be singular or plural.
Nouns often need a word called an article or (like "the" or "that"). These words usually do not go with other kinds of words like verbs or adverbs. (For example, people do not also describe nouns). In English, there are more nouns than any other kind of word.
Every language in the world has nouns, but they are not always used in the same ways. They also can have different properties in different languages. In some other languages, nouns do not change for singular and plural, and sometimes there is no word for "the".
Examples of nouns: "time, people, way, year, government, day, world, life, work, part, number, house, system, company, end, party, information".
The word noun comes from the Latin "nomen" meaning "name." Words like nouns were described in early days by the Sanskrit grammarian and ancient Greeks like Dionysios Thrax.
In English sentences, nouns can be used as a subject, object, or complement. They often come after prepositions, as the 'object of preposition'.
Nouns can sometimes describe other nouns (such as a soccer ball). When they do this, they are called modifiers or adjuncts.
There are also verb forms that can be used in the same way as nouns (such as 'I like "running".') These are called "verbals" or "verbal nouns", and include "participles" (which can also be adjectives) and "infinitives".
Nouns are classified into common and proper. Pronouns have commonly been considered a different part of speech from nouns, but in the past some grammars have included them as nouns as do many modern linguists.
Proper nouns (also called proper name) are specific names. Examples of proper nouns are: "London, John, God, October, Mozart, Saturday, Coke, Mr. Brown, Atlantic Ocean." Proper nouns are individual things with names, not general nouns.
Proper nouns begin with an (capital) letter in English and many other languages that use the Roman alphabet. (However, in German, all nouns begin with an upper case letter.) The word "I" is really a pronoun, although it is capitalized in English, like a proper noun.
Some common nouns (see below) can also be used as proper nouns. For example, someone might be named 'Tiger Smith' -- even though he is not a tiger or a smith.
Common nouns are general names. Sometimes the same word can be either a common noun or a proper noun, depending on how it is used; for example:
In English and many other languages, nouns have 'number'. But some nouns are only singular (such as "furniture, physics") and others are only plural (such as "clothes, police"). Also, some nouns are countable (for example, "one piece, two pieces") but others are uncountable (for example, we do not say "one furniture, two furnitures").
The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter(s) -(e)s.
Despite plural forms being written using the letter(s) -(e)s, the pronunciation of the letter(s) will pronounced as /-s/, /-z/, or /-ız/ depending on which type of phoneme, or unique sound, comes before it. These variations of the plural morpheme are called allomorphs.
Some dictionaries list "busses" as an acceptable plural for "bus". Presumably, this is because the plural "buses" looks like it ought to rhyme with the plural of "fuse," which is "fuses." "Buses" is still listed as the preferable plural form. "Busses" is the plural for "buss," a seldom used word for "kiss."
There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms. Plurals formed in this way are sometimes called mutated (or mutating) plurals.
Many of the above irregular plural forms stem from Old English, which had more complex rules for making plural forms.
And, finally, there are nouns that maintain their Latin or Greek form in the plural.
Nouns are words for things, and since things can be possessed, nouns can also change to show possession in grammar. In English, we usually add an apostrophe and an "s" to nouns to make them "possessive", or sometimes just an apostrophe when there is already an "s" at the end, like this:
Most adjectives become nouns by adding the suffix -ness. Example: Take the adjective 'natural', add 'ness' to get 'naturalness', a noun. To see a list of 100 adjectives used in Basic English, click here.
A noun phrase is a phrase where the head word is a noun. In English, the word order of most noun phrases is that determiners, adjectives, and modifying nouns in respective order must appear before the head word, and relative clauses must appear after the head word.
The words nature and natural are used for all the things that are normally not made by humans. Things like weather, organisms, landforms, celestial bodies and much more are part of nature. Scientists study the way the parts of nature work. Things that have been made by people are said to be man-made or called artifacts.
There are natural sciences that study different parts of nature, for example the science of ecology is about plants and animals as a whole, while biology studies every type of living thing.
From one point of view, humans are a prime example of nature, and are the most widely studied natural inhabitants of the planet earth. Humans interact with each other in their natural environment on a day-to-day basis. Every part of nature everything from the air outside to the dirt on the ground is interdependent. Medicine studies humans in health and sickness.
From another point of view, humans and nature can be said to be in conflict. Nature is often seen by humans as natural resources. People cut down trees, mine ores, and grow crops. Fires, cars, and factories make a lot of smoke and harm many places. People who like to leave nature unharmed and those who feel they need to use more of nature often fight about what they should do. In the modern world, with many more people and many big cities, these problems are becoming more serious.
Nature, in the broadest sense, means the physical world as a whole. This is the meaning that physics, the study of nature (etymologically), takes.
A useful definition of "natural" is
Natural resource
A natural resource is what people can use which comes from the natural environment. Examples of natural resources are air, water, wood, oil, wind energy, natural gas, iron, and coal.
The dividing line between natural resources and man-made resources is not clear-cut. Hydro-electric energy is not a natural resource because people use turbines to convert the energy from moving water. Petroleum and iron ores are natural, but need work to make them into usable refined oil and steel. Atomic energy comes from metallic nuclear fuels, like fissionable uranium and plutonium, but natural rocks need technical work to make them into these nuclear fuels.
We often say there are two sorts of natural resources: renewable resources and non-renewable resources.
Most natural resources are limited. This means they will eventually run out. A perpetual resource has a never-ending supply. Some examples of perpetual resources include solar energy, tidal energy, and wind energy. There may be a limit to how much can be taken in a given day or year, but that amount can be taken again next day or next year.
Non perpetual resources include Fossil fuels such as Petroleum,coal ,etc. They have a limit of usage.
Some of the things influencing supply of resources include whether it is able to be recycled, and the availability of suitable substitutes for the material. Non-renewable resources cannot be recycled. For example, fossil fuels cannot be recycled.
The demand for resources can change with new technology, new needs, and new economics (e.g. changes in cost of the resources). Some material can go completely out of use, if people do not want it any more. Demand of many natural resources is very high, but availability of some, such as precious metals, is very low.
Different places have different natural resources. When people do not have a certain resource they need, they can either replace it with another resource, or trade with another country to get the resource. People have sometimes fought to have them (for example, spices, water, arable farmland, gold, or petroleum).
When people do not have some resources, their quality of life can get lower. So, people protect resources. When they can not get clean water, people may become ill; if there is not enough wood, trees will be cut and the forest will disappear over time (deforestation); if there are not enough fish in a sea, people can die of starvation. Renewable resources include crops, wind, hydroelectric power, fish, and sunlight. Many people carefully save their natural resources so that others can use them in future.
Negentropy
Negentropy is reverse entropy. It means things becoming more in order. By 'order' is meant organisation, structure and function: the opposite of randomness or chaos. One example of negentropy is a star system such as the Solar System. Another example is life.
As a general rule, everything in the universe tends towards entropy. Star systems eventually become dead. All energy has gone, and everything in the system is "at the temperature of the surrounding space". The opposite of entropy is negentropy. It is a temporary condition in which certain things are hotter and more highly organised than the surrounding space. This is the second law of thermodynamics:
Life is considered to be negentropic because it converts things which have less order, such as food, into things with more order, such as cells in the body, tissues, and organs. In doing so, it gives off heat. Another example of negentropic things are societies, or social systems, because they take disorderly things such as communications, and make them more orderly and useful.