cahya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Scott Moir is an ice dancer from Canada. His skating partner is Tessa Virtue. Virtue and Moir have been skating together since 1997. In the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the duo won the gold medal in the ice dancing competition; which was not only a first for them, but also for the country of Canada. They went on to win two silver medals in 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and two gold medals in 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. They are now the most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history.

Virtue and Moir were the most successful junior-level Canadian ice dancers ever. They won Canada's first gold medal in ice dancing at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in 2006. In that year, they also won the bronze medal at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, a senior-level competition for skaters who are from countries that are not in Europe.

In their first full season skating at the senior level, Virtue and Moir won the silver medal (second place) at the Skate Canada International and again at Nationals. Their debut at the World Championships was the highest debut by any team in over two decades when they placed 6th. This made them immediately seeded skaters going into the 2007/2008 season.

Virtue and Moir are known for their artistry, musicality, and grace on the ice. They often look as if they were dancing, not skating. They have a close connection. While most of their programs have been soft and romantic, Virtue and Moir have also done humorous programs in exhibition. 

Virtue and Moir are coached by Igor Shpilband and  Marina Zueva.

Moir comes from a family of skaters. His older brother Danny competed internationally on the junior level with one of his cousins. That cousin now skates competitively as a synchronized skater. Other relatives of Moir's are judges and coaches.

Other websites
Official Site 
Skate Canada Profile 
 International skating union biography  
Care to Ice Dance? - Virtue & Moir 

Canadian figure skaters
Albena Denkova (born December 3, 1974 in Sofia) is an ice dancer from Bulgaria. Her skating partner and fiancee is Maxim Staviski.

Denkova and Staviski are the first Bulgarian skaters to win Worlds, which they did in 2006 and 2007.

In 2006, Denkova was elected as the president of the Bulgarian figure skating federation.

After 2007 Worlds, Denkova and Staviski did not announce if they would retire, leaving it open. However, in the summer of 2007, Staviski was involved in a fatal car crash that killed a man and left someone else in a coma. Staviski survived unharmed. However, he was legally drunk. Denkova and Staviski have withdrawn from the Grand Prix events they were scheduled to attend. Denkova has not made an official announcement as to their retirement, but if Staviski goes to jail, they will be unable to compete.

Denkova's younger sister Ina Demireva is also an ice dancer.

Denkova and Staviski are known for being pioneers of dance lifts. They invented or popularized most of the ice dance lifts currently in use at the international level.

References

Other websites 

 International skating union biography 
 Denkova & Staviski official web site
 Care to Ice Dance? - Denkova & Staviski 

1974 births
Living people

Bulgarian sportspeople
Figure skaters
People from Sofia
Maxim Staviski () (born November 16, 1977, in Rostov-on-Don, Soviet Union (now Russia)) is an ice dancer from Bulgaria. His skating partner and fiancee is Albena Denkova.

Staviski originally competed for the Soviet Union and later Russia. He moved to Bulgaria when he started skating with Denkova. He has acquired Bulgarian citizenship and considers himself wholly Bulgarian. He was insulted when a reporter told him he was the only Russian skater to win a gold medal at the 2006 World Championships.

Denkova and Staviski are the first Bulgarian skaters to win Worlds, which they did in 2006 and 2007.

After 2007 Worlds, Denkova and Staviski did not announce if they would retire, leaving it open. However, in the summer of 2007, Staviski was involved in a fatal car crash that killed a man and left someone else in a coma. Staviski survived unharmed. However, he was legally drunk.  Denkova and Staviski have withdrawn from the Grand Prix events they were scheduled to attend. Denkova has not made an official announcement as to their retirement, but if Staviski goes to jail, they will be unable to compete.

Denkova and Staviski are known for being pioneers of dance lifts. They invented or popularized most of the ice dance lifts currently in use at the international level.

References

Other websites 
  International skating union biography 
 Denkova & Staviski official web site
 Care to Ice Dance? - Denkova & Staviski 

1977 births
Living people

Bulgarian sportspeople
Russian figure skaters
Soviet figure skaters
The First Sino-Japanese War (, ; 1 August 1894–17 April 1895) was a war between the Qing Dynasty and the Empire of Japan. Finally, the Empire of Japan won the war. They signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895.

Comparison of the Military Power

Status of Chinese Fleets 

There were totally 65 warships in China before the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War. They were divided into four fleets (Beiyang Fleet, the Nanyang Fleet, the Guangdong Fleet and the Fujian Fleet). However, the Beiyang Fleet was the only fleet participated in the war. In order to save their ships, the other fleets' commanders were opposed to join the war.

In the Beiyang Fleet, there were 25 warships. Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were the most powerful warships in the fleet. Dingyuan had 6,000 horsepower and displaced 7,670 tons loaded. Nevertheless, as Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to build a grand garden she embezzled the money originally allocated for expanding the Beiyang Fleet, the commanders did not have enough money to buy the latest weapons for the fleet. Most of the warships in the fleet were not well equipped before joining the war.

Status of Japanese Fleets 
There were totally 240,616 soldiers could be mobilized in Japan before the outbreak of the war. Also, there were 32 battleships and 24 torpedo boats in the Imperial Japanese Navy. All of them had the latest, and newest weapons.

Main Battles During the War 

1. Battle of the Yalu River

On 17 September 1894, the Beiyang Fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy fought at the Yalu River, the border between China and Korea. In this battle, the commander of the Beiyang Fleet was Ding Ruchang, originally a cavalryman, and Sukeyuki Ito was the commander of Japanese fleet. The battle lasted 5 hours. Finally, 4 battleships of the Beiyang Fleet was destroyed and 1,000 soldiers were killed. Only 1 battleship was lost in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The commander of the Beiyang Fleet retreated to the port of Lushun.

2. Battle of Lushunkou

On 17 September 1894, the Japanese armies occupied the fortresses with powerful cannons and cities in Lushun and Dalian. The Japanese troops entered the cities and killed 20,000 Chinese civilians within 4 days. This incident was historically called Port Arthur massacre.

3. Battle of Weihaiwei

In January 1895, the Japanese armies invaded Weihaiwei. The Beiyang Fleet was fairly defeated. 11 battleships of the team was seized.

Other websites
 Video footage of a naval battle during the First Sino-Japanese war

1894
1895
1890s in Asia
History of Korea
History of Taiwan
Wars involving China
Wars involving Japan
Johnny Weir (born July 2, 1984 in Coatesville, Pennsylvania) is an American figure skater. He won the United States national championships three times. In a memoir released in January 2011, he wrote that he was gay.

Weir had a late start in skating, starting at the age of 12. He had previously competed as an equestrian.

Weir and his family moved to Delaware so he could skate. Weir originally trained at the University of Delaware. Despite his late start, Weir was the World Junior Champion in 2001 at the age of sixteen. He and Evan Lysacek won the top two medals that year, becoming the first time since 1987 that the US had gone one-and-two at Junior Worlds.

In 2003, Weir was in second place after the short program at the national championships in Dallas. However, he literally hit the wall during the program and then had a bad fall on a jump. He withdrew in the middle of the program. As he left, he got a hug from Lysacek, who told he would see him back the next year.

Following that bad competition, Weir left the University of Delaware club and moved to The Pond ice arena. His coach Priscilla Hill came with him.

In 2004, Weir won the National championships and again in 2005 and 2006. For the 2005/2006 season, Weir had a short program to The Swan. It was mocked during the movie Blades of Glory and became iconic of the 2006 Olympics. Weir had the most success of his career with this short program. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Weir was second after the short program. After a long program in which he omitted the eighth jumping pass and did two combinations when three were allowed, he dropped to fifth place overall.

In 2007, Weir won the bronze medal at Nationals. After that season he switched coaches to Galina Zmievskaya, who previously coached Viktor Petrenko and Oksana Baiul to Olympic gold medals.

Weir lives and trains in New Jersey. He also works as a model. He has appeared in spreads in fashion magazines and walked the catwalk during New York Fashion Week.

Other websites 

 Johnny Weir Official Website 
 International skating union biography 
 U.S. Figure Skating biography 

1984 births
Living people
American figure skaters
American LGBT people
American Olympians
Gay men
LGBT Olympians
Sportspeople from Pennsylvania
is a Japanese athlete.  He is best known as a figure skater from Japan. 

Oda is a descendant of Oda Nobunaga who was an important daimyo during Japan's Sengoku period.

Career
Oda won the 2005 World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

In 2009, he was the Japanese national champion figure skater.

Oda was a member of the Japanese team at the 2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver in Canada.

Related pages
 Sports in Japan
 Japan at the Olympics

References

Other websites

 Nobunari Oda International skating Union (ISU)
 Nobunari Oda at Icenetwork.com 

1987 births
Living people
Japanese figure skaters
People from Osaka Prefecture
Male enhancement supplements work by increasing the amount of blood flow the genital region receives and the volume of blood that it can retain. In a flaccid state, the penis, like any other part of the body, receives a normal amount of blood flow. When an erection occurs, the penis is surged with a rich supply of blood which is then trapped in the spongy tissues of the Cavernosa and Spongiosum. 

Male enhancement supplements can be synthetic or herbal. Synthetic ones may have more side-effects. 

The time it takes to see results, said to be a matter of weeks, depends on a man's body type, eating habits, overall health, genetics, and other factors.

Some herbal male enhancement supplements 

Supplements which are said to have effect, may be made from herbs such as: 
 Muira Puama (a powerful aphrodisiac),
 Ginkgo biloba (improves peripheral circulation, oxygenation, and increases blood flow to the genitals),
 Horny Goat (stress reduction),
 Panax Ginseng (Used to combat impotence, infertility, and premature ejaculation, it normalizes blood pressure while rejuvenating and revitalizing the body. It also promotes the growth of nerve tissue.),
 Damiana (a sexual stimulant for men and women),
 Inosine (improves performance),
 Tribulus Terrestris (increase levels of testosterone by increasing the body's production of luteinizing hormone (LH) levels),
 Cayenne Fruit (stimulates blood flow by strengthening the heart, capillaries, and nerves),
 Ginseng (rejuvenator, sexual stimulant, and body fortifier against the effects of environmental stress),
 Fo-Ti (rejuvenating properties; ancients believed it can help one preserve youthfulness and restore fertility),
 Gotu Kola (impotence remedy) and
 Saw Palmett (nourish the nerves, toning and strengthening the male reproductive system, particularly the prostate gland).
 All Natural Male Enhancement FAQ – The Positive Effects and Side Effects

Human sexuality
Zealand or Zeeland can mean:

Places

Zealand (Danish Sjælland), the Danish island
Region Sjælland, a Danish administrative region

Zeeland, the Dutch province
Zeeland (North Brabant), a town in the Netherlands
Zeeland (Gelderland), a hamlet in the Netherlands

Zeeland, Michigan, U.S. town
Zealand, New Brunswick, Canadian town
Zeeland, North Dakota, U.S. town
New Zealand, an island country in the southwestern Pacific ocean

People
Zeeland, Vadim, contemporary Russian mystic and author
Californication is an American television series. The series is shown on the Showtime television network. Californication was created by Tom Kapinos and stars David Duchovny as Hank Moody. It is about a troubled novelist who moves to Los Angeles, California. The series deals with problems with his job that cause problems with his relationships with his partner Karen (Natascha McElhone) and daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin). The series was first shown on television on August 13, 2007. Channel Five in the UK and Network Ten in Australia have bought the rights to this television series.

It was announced that after the seventh season, that Californication would end. The seventh season started airing on April 13, 2014.

References

Other websites 
  Showtime Announcement 

2007 American television series debuts
2000s American television series
2010s American television series
2014 American television series endings
American drama television series
Television series set in Los Angeles
English-language television programs
Honour, spelt honor in the United States, is the idea of the trustworthiness and social status of a person by the society, by judgement of his actions. The idea of honour, like most cultural things, is very different from place to place, and through time. In Europe in the Middle Ages, honour took form in the code of Chivalry. In Japan, a similar thing happened with Bushido. As time passed, the honour of a gentleman and his family was generally expressed in the practice of duelling. The idea has declined in modern times, but still exists, mostly as an approval of one's actions by the society.

Related pages 
Honor killing

Virtues
An oil field is a region with many oil wells extracting petroleum (oil) from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs usually extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, the only way to completely exploit the field is with many wells in different parts of the field. Other than wells, there may be pipelines to transport the oil elsewhere, and support buildings for the workers and for repairs.

Other websites

Interactive Oil Field Map  Mississippi Oil Journal
Interactive Oil and Gas Maps Kansas Geological Survey

Fuel
Brian Joubert (born September 20, 1984 in Poitiers) is a French figure skater. He won the 2007 World Championships, the 2004, 2007 & 2009 European Championships, and has won the French Nationals seven times. He competed in the 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.

Joubert did not have a good junior career, but this was due to him going senior at 15, as soon as he was able to.

Joubert won the bronze medal (third place) at the 2002 Nationals, but did not immediately qualify for the 2002 Olympic team because France had only two spots to the Olympics. But at the 2002 European Championships, Joubert won the bronze medal, placing ahead of the other French skaters at the competition, and he was put on the Olympic team. He placed 14th at the Olympics.

Joubert is one of two men (with Emanuel Sandhu) who has beaten Evgeni Plushenko between the 2002 Olympics and the 2006 Olympics. Joubert beat him at the 2004 European Championships. Joubert then went on to place 2nd at Worlds, winning his first World medal.

Joubert has had an up-and-down career. He has switched coaches many times. He was briefly coached by Alexei Yagudin. He is now coached by Jean-Christophe Simond. At the 2005 World Championships, he placed sixth. Nevertheless, he was seen as a threat for an Olympic medal. But at the Olympics, he placed 6th. He was criticized harshly in the French press for this. After the 2006 Worlds, where he won the silver medal, he said he felt pressured to do it in part because of the way the French press had turned on him.

In the 2006/2007 season, Joubert swept the season. He won every competition he entered, including the Grand Prix Final, the European Championships, and the World Championships. At the Cup of Russia, he became one of the few skaters in history to perform three quadruple jumps in one program.

Joubert is known for the power in his skating. He is a very fast skater with very big jumps. He has been criticized in the past for having very bad spins, but he has been working to correct this, working with spinning coaches like Lucinda Ruh. Joubert has also been criticized for his lack of artistry, which has led him to seek out new choreographers, such as Kurt Browning, who are able to take Joubert's strength and force on the ice and work it into a good program for his style.

Other websites

Official Site
 

1984 births
Living people
2002 Winter Olympics
2006 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
2014 Winter Olympics
Figure skaters
French Olympians
People from Poitiers
A gift or a present is something (usually money or a good) which is given to someone. People give gifts voluntarily and do not expect anything in return. A gift is usually something that family or friends give to each other on special occasions like a birthday or holiday. For example you will give and / or receive gifts and presents at Christmas time, or chocolate (most commonly chocolate eggs) for Easter. Gifts are usually something that you really want to have. If it is a birthday gift, it would be money or an item that is not costly. A small gift is usually wrapped in wrapping paper while a big gift is most likely to be just given to the receiver or in a box without wrapping.

Further reading

 
 
cool stuff to buy
 

Giving
Timothy Goebel (born September 10, 1980 in Evanston, Illinois) is an American figure skater. He is Catholic and was adopted as an infant.

Goebel is the first skater to perform a quadruple salchow jump and the first American skater to perform a quadruple jump of any kind. Goebel is also the first skater to perform three quadruple jumps in one program. At the 2002 Olympics, he became the first skater to land a quadruple salchow jump in combination at the Olympics. He is the first and so far only skater to land 6 quadruple jumps in one competition.

He has landed 76 career quadruple jumps, the most of any skater.

Because of these things, he was nicknamed the Quad King. However, after the 2003-2004, Goebel began having problems with the quad. He did not land it correctly at all in the 2005-2006 season.

Goebel won the bronze medal at the 2002 Olympics. It was a close call for the silver between him and World Champion Evgeni Plushenko. That would happen again at the 2003 World Championships where Plushenko beat Goebel out for the gold.

Goebel dealt with injuries in later seasons. An injury forced him to not finish competing at the 2004 Nationals and give up on the rest of the season. At the 2005 Nationals, the mother of Angela Nikodinov, a good friend of Goebel, died in a car crash. Goebel spent much of time at that competition in mourning. With Nikodinov watching, Goebel started crying partly through his free skate. He finished the performance in tears. He placed 2nd.

Goebel was not able to qualify for the 2006 Olympic team. He retired from competitive skating after the 2006 Nationals. In May 2010, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Columbia University's School of General Studies. He works as a technical specialist, the person who watches a skating program and tells the judges what each move was and how difficult it was.

During his career, Goebel was known mainly as a "jumping bean", a skater whose skating is mostly jumps. But Goebel worked hard to change this. His free skate in the 2002 season was the best of his career and led Goebel to a different kind of artistry.

Goebel was also known for his hydroblading maneuvers. He was one of the skaters who popularized this move in the United States.

Other websites

 U.S. Figure Skating biography 
 International skating union biography 
 USOC Bio Page - US Olympic Committee Biography
 USFSA News  - Goebel retires from competitive skating

1980 births
Living people
American adoptees
American figure skaters
American Olympic bronze medalists
Sportspeople from Illinois
Columbia University alumni
Angela Nikodinov (born May 9, 1980 in Spartanburg, South Carolina), is an American figure skater. She is the 2000 Four Continents Champion.

Biography
Nikodinov is the daughter of Bulgarian immigrants. She speaks Bulgarian fluently. She was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Her family moved to southern California when she was very young. She was raised in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California.

Nikodinov trained at Lake Arrowhead, California. She also trained in Detroit for one season (1999-2000) but moved back to California in fall 2000. Her coaches included John Nicks, Peter Oppegard, Frank Carroll, Elena Tcherkasskaia, Richard Callaghan, Igor Pashkevich. Her coach Tcherkasskaia, with whom she was very close, died of cancer in November 2001. 

Nikodinov missed the 2002-2003 season. She injured her shoulder in February 2002 and again in September. She also had a virus. She had shoulder surgery in February 2003 and was off the ice for seven months. After missing two seasons, Nikodinov returned to win the 2004 Skate America.

While in Portland, Oregon, for the 2005 U.S. National Championships, she and her family were in a car accident that killed her mother. Nikodinov did not return to competition after the accident.

Nikodinov coached Bulgarian figure skater Ivan Dinev in the 2005-2006 season. They are now coaching together in the Los Angeles area. Nikodinov and Dinev were married in July 2008. Along with her coaching duties, she  skates in shows and was a guest skater on the Stars on Ice tour. The pairs team of Bianca Butler & Joseph Jacobsen and Tenile Victorsen are among her and Dinev's former students that have qualified for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Senior level.

References

Other websites

Figure-Skating.com  - Official Site
 International skating union biography 
Stars on Ice profile 

People from Spartanburg, South Carolina
American figure skaters
Sportspeople from South Carolina
1980 births
Living people
Catia (Computer Aided Three dimensional Interactive Application) is a commercial designing software.  It was made by Dassault Systemes and marketed world-wide by IBM.  CATIA is written in C++.

Other websites 
 Dassault Systemes Home Page
 IBM CATIA page 
 CATIA in South Africa 
 Catia V5 French web site with methodology, videos in catweb.fr
 CATIA gallery by Maciej Ziemak 
 Catia V5 video Lessons catiatutor.com

References 

Software
Brigham Young (June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) was the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon church) and the first Governor of the American state of Utah. Young was born in Vermont. He became president of the Mormon church in 1847 after the death of Joseph Smith, Jr in 1844.

Brigham Young University is named after Young.

John Taylor replaced Young as leader of the church three years after Young died.

Western migration 
Young started a journey that would take the Mormon pioneers to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, in 1846, then to the Salt Lake Valley. Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, a date now known as Pioneer Day in Utah, which is also one of its holidays. The Mormon pioneers' journey was one of the largest and one of the best organized migration to the West. On August 22, 29 days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Young started the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

In the church, Young was in some of the important positions, and after three years, he became the president of the church on December 27, 1847.

Young served 29 years in the LDS Church.

Temple building  
Young helped in building temples in his time in the LDS Church and made temple building a main purpose. When Joseph Smith was the president, Young was helping to build the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples. Only four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Young found the location for the Salt Lake Temple; and then started the building process on April 6, 1853. During his time as the church president, Young look over the construction of the Salt Lake Tabernacle and then he announced plans to build the St. George (1871), Manti (1875), and Logan (1877) temples. He also helped fix the building the Endowment House, a "short-term temple" that began to be used in 1855 for church members to go to while they were building the Salt Lake Temple.

References

1801 births
1877 deaths
American Latter Day Saints
Christian religious leaders
Governors of Utah
19th century in Utah
American abolitionists
Educators from Salt Lake City, Utah
American theologians
Christian mystics
Deaths from peritonitis
Freemasons
Mormonism
Politicians from Salt Lake City, Utah
Religious leaders
Speaker is the title of the person in charge of some legislatures, usually the lower house.

House of Commons of the United Kingdom
The speaker is elected by other members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, and is usually a member of the government party, but leaves his or her party because the speaker must be neutral (not like one side more than another).  The speaker does not vote. If the speaker wants to stand in for re-election the other parties do not oppose him to show he is neutral.  As of January 2020, the speaker is Lindsay Hoyle, a member of the Labour Party.

Dail Éireann in Ireland 
The speaker (Ceann Comhairle) of the Dáil Éireann is  neutral, but the constitution (Bunreacht) of Ireland says he does not need to stand for re-election, he is given the first seat in his constituency. The current speaker (November 2017) is Sean Treacy.

United States House of Representatives 
The speaker is the leader of the largest party. He or she is not neutral, but votes for his or hers party's policies.  The speaker also helps to get his or her party's ideas made law.  The term of the speaker of the House is two years in office. Democratic Nancy Pelosi became Speaker again in 2019.

 
Government occupations
An orator is someone who pleads a case in public. Originally, it meant speaking in a public place for or against a person or a proposal. In ancient Greek, Latin, French and English, an orator spoke for and against the accused in courts, and for or against big political decisions, such as whether to go to war. Gradually, it came to mean someone who spoke in public on formal occasions.

Oratory, or rhetoric, is the skill of argument or persuasion used by orators. The invention of printing allowed books to be multiplied and produced cheaply. This has made it possible for orators to do their persuasion in print as well as speaking. Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill are good examples of how orators in the 20th century used media such as radio and movies where once they could only use speech. Both wrote books which sold in large numbers, though Churchill's books were about more than politics. Today television and newspapers play a vital role in deciding elections; the web less so.

Other types of orator are those who wish to change beliefs. Religious preachers like Martin Luther and John Knox changed religion in western Europe; William Wilberforce and Sojourner Truth led the fight against the evil of slavery. Emmeline Pankhurst, Martin Luther King Jr and others fought to get equal rights for all citizens.

We have orators today as much as the ancient Greeks did. The main difference is that the Greeks could see and listen to them face to face, but we rarely do today.

Rhetoric 
The study of how persuasion is done by orators is called rhetoric. It has been studied for 2,500 years at least, and there are a huge number of books about it.

References 

Saunders A.N.W. 1970. Greek political oratory. Penguin. Translations of some important examples.

Public speaking
Politics
Kana  is the name for syllable-based writing systems used in the Japanese language.

There are three types of kana:
 Manyogana  is the use of Chinese characters (or kanji) to represent each sound in spoken Japanese.
 Hiragana  is the script used to write native Japanese words and grammatical elements.
 Katakana  is the script used to write loanwords (or gairaigo) and onomatopoeia.
Although manyogana is the oldest of the three types of kana, being used as early as the seventh century, it was soon replaced by hiragana and katakana. Both of these characters came from the kanji characters that made up manyogana.

Today, there are 46 basic sounds in Japanese that are each represented by a hiragana and a corresponding katakana character as seen in the chart below. (The characters for the sounds wi and we are no longer used.) There are 25 other sounds that can be made by adding one of two diacritics: a dakuten or a handakuten. Also, 12 of the kana come in a smaller size to make other combinations of syllables.

Japanese sentences are usually written using a mix of hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Although it is possible to write a sentence in only hiragana or katakana characters, it is hard for most Japanese people to understand because the kanji symbols represent a concept which the kana do not show. Small kana symbols, however, can be put above kanji to show how it is pronounced (this is called furigana and is used a lot in karaoke).

Besides kana, Japanese sounds can also be written in Romaji (using the Roman alphabet) to help people who do not speak Japanese learn the language.

References

Other websites 
Kana Copybook (PDF)

Writing systems
Japanese language

de:Japanische Schrift#Kana
José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), better known as Antonio Banderas, is an Spanish movie actor, producer and singer. He has acted in several important Hollywood movies including Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, Assassins, Interview with the Vampire, Mariachi sequels, Philadelphia, The Mask of Zorro, The Legend of Zorro, and Puss in Boots in the Shrek movies.

Banderas and his wife Melanie Griffith said in June 2014 that they are divorcing. The divorce was finalized in 2015.

Filmography

Director

References

Other websites

1960 births
Living people
Entertainers from Andalusia
People from Malaga
Spanish movie actors
Spanish movie directors
Spanish movie producers
Spanish stage actors
Spanish television actors
Spanish voice actors
James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian actor, artist, comedian, producer and writer. He is known for his acting in movies, such as the Ace Ventura movie series, Dumb and Dumber, The Cable Guy, Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty. He has also been successful in dramatic roles in movies such as The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Number 23. He won the Golden Globe Award in 2000. Carrey has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Filmography

References

Other websites 
 Jim Carrey | Facebook
 
 
 Carrey: Life Is Too Beautiful , a summary of a November 2004 60 Minutes interview with Carrey
 Jim Carrey Biography - Cinema.com
 Top 11 Jim Carrey Film Roles  on Moviefone

1962 births
Living people
Actors from Ontario
Canadian Christians
Canadian comedians
Canadian movie actors
Canadian television actors
Canadian voice actors
Canadian writers
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Naturalized citizens of the United States
The Egyptian cobra (naja haje) is a type of poisonous cobra. It was worshiped by the Ancient Egyptians.  It lives in both North Africa and Southwestern Asia. It is one of the most venomous snakes in the world.  Egyptian cobras can grow up to 5 feet or 6 feet, 8 inches (1.5–2 m) and have been seen as large as 8 feet in some areas.   Recently, a man was sentenced to a year in jail and a fine of $17,000 for owning an Egyptian cobra.  Small symbols of Egyptian cobras were included in the crown of the pharaohs.

References 

Elapidae
Mikhail Nikolaevitch Baryshnikov (, born 27 January 1948) is a Russian-American dancer, choreographer, and actor. Born in Latvia to Russian parents during the time of the Soviet Union, he later became an American citizen. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre, Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in western dance.

He has been called the world's greatest living male ballet dancer. Critic Clive Barnes once called him, "The most perfect dancer I have ever seen".

While on a tour in Canada with the Kirov Ballet in 1974, Baryshnikov asked for political asylum in Toronto. He became an American citizen in 1986. He has won three Emmy Awards.

Part of his significance is that he danced both classical ballet and modern dance. From 1978 he worked full-time in the New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine. In 1980 he became artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre. Later he founded his own company and moved towards modern dance. He has danced many times on television in North America.

References

Other websites 
 
 Kennedy Center Honors biography as of 2000
 Baryshnikov Dance Foundation
 Backstage with Baryshnikov  by Michael Dare

1948 births
Living people
American movie actors
Ballet dancers
Emmy Award winners
People from Riga
Russian dancers
Naturalized citizens of the United States
Latvian movie actors
Latvian television actors
William John "Liam" Neeson, OBE (born 7 June 1952) is an Irish actor and comedian, nominated for many awards including the Oscar. He is well known for his role as Oskar Schindler in the 1993 movie Schindler's List, and after that he has appeared in several popular movie series, including the Star Wars prequel trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia and Batman Begins. He has also continued to play real-life characters, including Michael Collins and Alfred Kinsey.

Other websites 
 
 

1952 births
Living people
Irish movie actors
Irish television actors
Irish voice actors
Actors from Northern Ireland
Irish stage actors
Irish radio actors
County Antrim
The Great Seal of United States is the official coat of arms of United States, and it is placed in official documents from United States Government. The name is used both for the coat of arms, and the material seal itself, which is made by the United States' executive power. The great seal was used for the first time in the year of 1782.

The seal's design is used in national documents, such as passports, by the United States military, and flags. As a coat of arms, it has the national colors of the United States, but the material seal itself only has a basic black and white design (like when used on paper).

Since 1935, the two faces of Great Seal appear in the note of one dollar.

Other websites 
 Vectorial logo the Great Seal to download & print  
 The Great Seal
 downloadable PDF booklet from U.S. State Department
 Original Copy of the Great Seal

Symbols of the United States
United States
Year 1444was a leap year. It started on a Wednesday.

Events 
 March 2 – The Albanian League started in Lezha; Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg becomes leader of the Albanian resistance
 April 16 – Truce of Tours begins between England and France
 June 15 – Cosimo de' Medici starts the Laurentian Library.
 August 26 – Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs in the Old Zürich War.
 August – Murad II abdicates because of defeat at the Battle of Jalowaz.
 November 10 – Battle of Varna. King Ladislas of Poland and Hungary is killed.
 The Sultan of Egypt fails to take Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes
 The Iguvine Tables are discovered at Gubbio, Italy
 Portuguese explorers reach the mouth of the Senegal river and the Gambia river.
 The Mercado de Escravos, the first European slave market for selling African Slaves, opens in Lagos, Portugal.
 A fire occurs at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Births 
 January 24 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Italian duke (died 1476)
 March 1 – Sandro Botticelli, Italian artist (died 1510) (born 1444 or 1445)
 March 11 – Donato Bramante, Italian architect (died 1514)
 John de Mowbray, English duke (died 1476)
 Nilakantha Somayaji, Indian mathematician and astronomer (died 1544)

Deaths 
 February 14 – Henriette of Mömpelgard,countess (born 1387)
 March 9 – Leonardo Bruni, Italian humanist (born 1374)
 April 26 – Robert Campin, Flemish artist (born 1378)
 May 20 – Bernardino of Siena, Italian saint and missionary (born 1380)
 May 27 – John Beaufort, English duke and military leader (born 1404)
 October 15 – Niccolò Piccinino, Italian mercenary (born 1386)
 November 10 – King Wladislaus III, king of Poland (born 1424)
 November 25 – Martin Gouge, French chancellor
Omar Sharif (; born 10 April 1932 – 10 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor who worked in many Hollywood movies. He acted in Arabic, French, and English movies. Sharif is most famous for his roles in Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and Funny Girl (1968). He was nominated for the Academy Award and won the Golden Globe Award three times. Sharif had a son and two grandsons. He converted from Christianity to Islam.

Contract bridge career 
Sharif once ranked among the world's best-known contract bridge players, forming the "Omar Sharif Bridge Circus" in 1967 which toured the world, competing against famous teams.

With Charles Goren, Sharif co-wrote a syndicated newspaper bridge column for the Chicago Tribune for several years, but later turned over most of the writing of the column to Tannah Hirsch.

He was also author or co-author of several books on bridge, and licensed his name to a bridge video game. An MS-DOS version and Amiga version was released in 1992 as Omar Sharif on Bridge. It is still sold in Windows and "mobile platform" versions.

Health and death 
In May 2015, it was reported that Sharif had Alzheimer's disease. His son, Tarek El-Sharif, said that his father was getting confused. He was forgetting facts about some of the biggest movies of his career.

On July 10, 2015, at the age of 83, Sharif died after a heart attack at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt.

On July 12, 2015, Sharif's funeral was held at the Grand Mosque of Mushir Tantawi in eastern Cairo. The funeral was attended by a group of Sharif's relatives, friends and Egyptian actors. His casket was draped in the Egyptian flag and a black shroud.  He is burued in El-Sayeda Nafisa cemetery in southern Cairo.

References

Other websites 

1932 births
2015 deaths
Contract bridge players
Converts to Islam
Deaths from myocardial infarction
Disease-related deaths in Egypt
Egyptian movie actors
Egyptian Muslims
Egyptian sportspeople
Egyptian television actors
Former Christians
Golden Globe Award winning actors
People from Alexandria
People with Alzheimer's disease
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), professionally known as Andy Garcia, is an Cuban American actor and director born in Cuba. He became famous in the 1990s, when he acted in many successful Hollywood movies, including The Godfather: Part III, When a Man Loves a Woman, Ocean's Eleven, and Ocean's Thirteen. He was nominated for several awards for his work, including the Oscar.

References

Other websites 

 
 
 Watch: Andy Garcia interviewed at the 2006 Miami Film Festival on independentfilm.com
 Andy Garcia interview for Smokin’ Aces 

American movie actors
Actors from Florida
Cuban actors
1956 births
Living people
Rodrigo Junqueira dos Reis Santoro (born August 22, 1975) is a Brazilian Actor. He started his career acting in different soap operas in his country. In the last few years, he has become known after his roles in the movies Love Actually and 300.

Santoro was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. He is half of Italian descent.

Filmography

Awards and nominations
 Brasília Film Festival
 2000 – Best Actor for Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Won)
 Recife Film Festival
 2001 – Best Actor for Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Won)
Brazil Quality Award
 2001 – Best Actor for Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Won)
Santo Domingo Film Festival
 2001 – Best Actor for Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Won)
SESC Best Film Festival
 2001 – Best Actor for Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Won)
Cinema Brazilian Grand Prix
 2002 – Best Actor for Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Won)
APCA Trophy
 2002 –  Best Actor for Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Won)
 Cartagena Film Festival
 2002 – Best Actor for Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Won)
Cero Latitud Film Festival
 2003 – Best Actor for Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Won)
 Brasília Film Festival
 2003 – Best Actor for Carandiru (Nominated)
 Cannes Film Festival
 2004 – Chopard Trophy of Male Revelation (Won)
 MTV Movie Awards
 2007 – Best Villain for 300 (Nominated)
 Brasília Film Festival
 2011 – Best Actor for Meu País (Won)
Havana Film Festival
 2011 – Best Actor for Heleno (Won)

References

Other websites
 

1975 births
Living people
Brazilian actors
Sir Michael Caine CBE ; (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr., 14 March 1933) is an English actor, producer, and author. Known for his distinctive cockney accent, Caine has appeared in over 115 movies, and is regarded as a British movie icon.

His early role in Alfie (1966) earned him an Academy Award nomination. He also starred in The Italian Job (1969) and Battle of Britain (1969). 

His roles in the 1970s included Get Carter (1971), The Last Valley (1971), Sleuth (1972), for which he earned his second Academy Award nomination, The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and A Bridge Too Far (1977). 

In 1986, he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters.

Caine played Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). In 1999, he won a second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Cider House Rules. 

Caine played Nigel Powers, Austin Powers' father in the 2002 parody Austin Powers in Goldmember, and Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. He appeared in several other of Nolan's movies, including The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010) and Interstellar (2014). 

He also appeared in Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men and Matthew Vaughn's action comedy movie Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Caine is one of only two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s, the other one being Jack Nicholson.

References

Other websites 
The Official Michael Caine website

Michael Caine's Norfolk childhood
PLAY DIRTY/Caine Special on Location in Spain
Carfax Theatre  Horsham Scene of Sir Michael's first professional acting role

1933 births
Living people
Actors from London
BAFTA Award winning actors
Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners
English movie actors
English stage actors
English television actors
English voice actors
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Military personnel of the Korean War 
Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Stage names
Begging means asking people for money, food, shelter or other things, when one is not able to give anything instead. It is also referred to as sponging, spanging (short for "spare-changing") or (in American English) panhandling.

In larger cities, it is common to see beggars who ask for money, food, or other items. Typically, beggars often beg for spare change using coffee cups, mugs, small boxes, hats, or other items into which monies can be placed and sometimes display signs with messages such as "Help me. I'm homeless."

Use of funds obtained by begging 

A 2002 study of 54 panhandlers in Toronto reported that of a median monthly income of $638 CAD, those interviewed spent a median of $200 CAD on food and $192 CAD on alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.  The Fraser Institute, however, criticized this study.  They said there were many forms of begging including ones in which good money can be earned.  They also said that panhandlers' reports were not reliable 

Because of this, some people say that it would be better to give the beggars gift cards or food/service vouchers, instead of money. Some shelters also offer business cards with information on the shelter's location and services, which can be given instead of cash.

Aggressive panhandling 
Aggressive panhandling means to ask for donations or help in a threatening manner. This is not mugging, but rather similar and therefore often forbidden by law. Examples include:
 Asking customers inside a store or restaurant.
 Extending a hand, or even the head and both arms, into a car window
 Asking after dark, in a secluded area.
 There have been reports of beggars who will try to have their limbs amputated in the hope that they can get more out of sympathy.

Well known beggars 
 Bampfylde Moore Carew self-styled King of the Beggars
 Nicholas Jennings in Thomas Harman's "Caveat for Common Cursitors"
 Ryan Larkin
 Eugene Kim (one of the homeless who hopes to pay his way through college by these means)
 Lazarus
 Omar

Related pages
 Homelessness

References

Further material 
 Born Losers: A History of Failure in America, by Scott A. Sandage (Harvard University Press, 2005).

Occupations
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rican actor and film producer. He grew up in Santurce, but spent his adolescence and high school years in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, USA. He has won several awards in his career, including an Academy Award.

Other websites
 
 
 Benicio Del Toro Zone - Official Site
 This Is My Life: Benicio Del Toro - Miami Herald (October 10, 1997)
 All About Benicio - Biography 
 Benicio Del Toro - Photo Gallery 
 Benicio Del Toro - Video: Declaration of Independence Performance 
Benicio del Toro Heaven: THE Place for Benoholics© - Message Board
 The World of Benicio del Toro

1967 births
Living people
Actors who played Bond villains
American movie actors
American movie producers
Puerto Rican actors
Academy Award winning actors
BAFTA Award winning actors
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Actors from Pennsylvania
Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor who has won the Academy and Emmy awards, as well as several others. He was the first Australian actor to win an Academy Award for acting.

He has won one Academy Award for acting (from four nominations), three British Academy Film Awards (from five nominations), two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. 

He is the foundation President of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and was named the 2012 Australian of the Year.

Rush was born on 6 July 1951 in Toowoomba, Queensland. He studied at Everton Park State High School and at University of Queensland. Rush was raised in Brisbane.

In 1975, Rush went to Paris for two years and studied mime, movement and theatre at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, before returning to continue his stage career with QTC. In 1979, he shared an apartment with actor Mel Gibson for four months while they co-starred in a stage production of Waiting for Godot.

Rush is known for his roles in Shine, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Shakespeare in Love, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Quills, Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and in The King's Speech. 

Since 1988, Rush has been married to actress Jane Menelaus, with whom he has a daughter, Angelica (born 1992), and a son, James (born 1995). Geoffrey Rush lives at Camberwell station, Camberwell, Victoria.

References

Other websites 

 
 
 Geoffrey Rush – Stage acting credits
 Professional photographs of Geoffrey Rush – National Library of Australia

Academy Award winning actors
Actors from Queensland
Australian movie actors
Australian of the Year Award winners
Australian television actors
Australian voice actors
BAFTA Award winning actors
Emmy Award winning actors
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Screen Actors Guild Award winners
1951 births
Living people