cahya/wikipedia-simple-en huggingface dataset:
Kana

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
Antonio Banderas

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
Jim Carrey

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
Egyptian cobra

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 Baryshnikov

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
Liam Neeson

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
Great Seal of the United States

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
1444

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
1445

Year 1445 was a common year. It started on a Friday.

Events of 1445 
 Dinas Diaz discovers Senegal and Cape Verde.
 Emperor Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia defeats and kills Sultan Arwe Badlay of Adal in the Battle of Gomit.

Births 
 March 1 – Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (died 1510) (born 1444 or 1445)
 March 16 – Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss preacher (died 1510)
 Albert Brudzewski, Polish astronomer (died 1497)
 Nicolas Chuquet, French mathematician (probable)

Deaths 
February 19 – Leonor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal
June 5 – Leonel Power, English composer
June 11 – Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick (born 1424)
July 15 – Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland
August 8 – Oswald von Wolkenstein, Austrian composer (born 1377)
Olug Moxammat, Khan of Kazan
Omar Sharif

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
Toshirō Mifune

Toshirō Mifune (Japanese: 三船 敏郎 Mifune Toshirō – IPA: [miɸɯne toɕiɺoː]) (1 April 1920 – 24 December 1997) was a Japanese actor. He had roles in almost 170 movies.

Other websites

In English 
 Toshirō Mifune - Tribute Site
 Toshirō Mifune: Biographical details and selected filmography  at the British Film Institute

In Japanese 
 http://www.mifuneproductions.co.jp/mifune.html  - Official Toshirō Mifune Website
 Toshirō Mifune at the Japanese Movie Database

1920 births
1997 deaths
Deaths from multiple organ failure
Japanese movie actors
Andy García

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 Santoro

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
Michael Caine

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

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 del Toro

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 Rush

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
Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquín Rafael Phoenix () (born October 28, 1973), originally called Leaf Phoenix, is an American actor. He is from a family of actors, like his brother, the late actor River Phoenix. He has been nominated four times for the Academy Award, winning once in 2020. He also won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA and Grammy Awards.

Phoenix is popular for his roles as Commodus in Gladiator, as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line and as the main character in Joker. 

He is also known for portraying firefighter Jack Morrison in Ladder 49. He has recently begun directing music videos, as well as producing movies and television shows. He also sang and recorded an album, the soundtrack Walk The Line, which won a Grammy Award. He has been a social activist for a long time, especially for animal rights. He is a vegan.

Other websites 

 
 Joaquin Phoenix interview for Walk the Line 
Joaquin Phoenix

Actors who played the Joker
Best Actor Academy Award winners
Grammy Award winners
BAFTA Award winning actors
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Screen Actors Guild Award winners
1974 births
Living people
American political activists
American animal rights activists
American child actors
American television actors
American stage actors
American voice actors
American movie actors
Humanitarians
American philanthropists
American movie producers
Jewish American actors
People from San Juan, Puerto Rico
William Hurt

William Hurt (born March 20, 1950) is an American actor. He won an Academy Award in 1985 for his work in the movie film Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Other websites 
 

1950 births
Living people
American movie actors
BAFTA Award winners
Academy Award winning actors
Actors from Washington, D.C.
Adrien Brody

Adrien Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He starred in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002). The role won him an Academy Award for Best Actor, the youngest actor ever to win the award. His mother, Sylvia Plachy (born 1943) is a Hungarian photographer. His father is of Polish descent.

Other websites 

 
 
 Adrien Brody website 
 Adrien Brody fansite 

1973 births
Living people
Best Actor Academy Award winners
Actors from New York City
American movie actors
American television actors
Mark Wahlberg

Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971) is an American actor and television and movie producer. His father was of Swedish and Irish descent, and his mother is of Irish, Scottish, English, and French-Canadian ancestry. He has been nominated for an Academy Award. He was also known as "Marky Mark" at the beginning of his career, when he had become famous as a rap musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch after a brief time as a member of New Kids on the Block.

Wahlberg was convicted of assault when he was 16, for which he was imprisoned. He is a Roman Catholic.

References

Other websites 

 Mark Wahlberg Message Board 
 Mark Robert Wahlberg British fan site
 
 Mark Wahlberg Interview at Moviehole.net 
 Mark Wahlberg Interview on "Fresh Air"
 Mark Wahlberg on The Hour
 Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation

Actors from Boston, Massachusetts
American movie actors
American movie producers
American people convicted of assault
American pop musicians
Rap musicians from Massachusetts
American Roman Catholics
American television actors
American television producers
BAFTA Award winners
Businesspeople from Boston, Massachusetts
Musicians from Boston, Massachusetts
Singers from Boston, Massachusetts
1971 births
Living people
Wesley Snipes

Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, martial artist and movie producer. He is best known for his role as the vampire hunter in the Blade trilogy movies.

Snipes was born in Orlando, Florida and spent most of his childhood in The Bronx, New York City. He moved back to Orlando when he was a teenager.

Film

Television

Theatre

Music videos

Soundtrack appearances

Video games

References

Other websites 
 

Actors from Orlando, Florida
Actors from the Bronx
African American actors
American movie actors
African American movie producers
American television actors
1962 births
Living people
Edward Norton

Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American movie actor and director. He was nominated for three Academy Awards. He won the Golden Globe in 1997 for Primal Fear.

References

Other websites
 
 

1969 births
Living people
American movie actors
American television actors
American stage actors
American voice actors
American movie directors
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Actors from Boston, Massachusetts
Cardinal (bird)

The Cardinals or Cardinalidae are a family of  passerine birds that live in North and South America.

References 
 Stiles and Skutch,  A guide to the birds of Costa Rica  
 Hilty, Birds of Venezuela, 
  ffrench, Birds of Trinidad and Tobago 
 "National Geographic" Field Guide to the Birds of North America  
 Klicka, Burns & Spellman. Defining a monophyletic Cardinalidae: a molecular perspective.  . p. 36

Other websites 

Cardinalidae videos on the Internet Bird Collection

Passeriformes
Magpie

Magpies are birds in the crow family, Corvidae. They are general scavengers and predators of insects, small mammals, and other birds' eggs and young.

The word "magpie" usually means the European magpie (Pica pica), which is a very common bird, found all over Europe. Elsewhere, there are other species of magpie. Most are black and white and are in the genus Pica.

Other birds called "magpie" 
There are other species of bird that are called 'magpies', though they are not true magpies. Oriental "magpies" are green and blue in colour, and are in the genera Urocissa and Cissa. There is also one blue and white magpie, the azure-winged magpie Cyanopica cyana. There is the black magpie, which is really a treepie. There is also the Australian magpie. It is not a member of the crow family at all. It is in the Artamidae family. All these are in different genera from Pica. This is a good example of the confusion caused by common names before the Linnaean system came into use.

Description 
Magpies are large birds. They often have long tails. Magpies eat lots of different kinds of food. They may eat baby birds, eggs and carrion. They may also eat seeds and other parts of plants.

Magpies are clever birds. They can pass the mirror test. This is when the bird sees itself in a mirror and understands that it is a reflection. Magpies do not have any attraction to bright, shiny things, contrary to popular belief.

Related pages 
Yellow-billed magpie
Black-billed magpie

Other websites 
 Magpie videos on the Internet Bird Collection
 Magpie webcam  - Live webcam stream Magpies & Blackbirds nest

Corvids
Final Fantasy Tactics

Final Fantasy Tactics is a tactical role-playing game for the Playstation and Game Boy Advance. It was released in 1997 by Square Co., Ltd. (now Square Enix).

Final Fantasy games
1997 video games
Vacuole

A vacuole is a membrane-bound organelle. They are a kind of vesicle. Vacuoles are closed sacs, made of membranes with inorganic or organic molecules inside, such as enzymes. They have no set shape or size, and the cell can change them as needed. They are in most eukaryotic cells and do many things. They can store waste. Vacuoles and their contents are distinct from the cytoplasm, and are classified as ergastic according to some people. The solution that fills the vacuole is called cell sap.

What a vacuole does and how important it is depends on what kind of cell they are in. They are much more important in plant and fungus cells than in animal cells. Some common jobs of a vacuole are to:
 
 Hold waste products, and keep things separate from the rest of the cell
 Hold water in plant cells
 Keep the internal hydrostatic pressure or turgor steady in a cell. In land plants, this holds the stem upright.
 Keep an acidic pH on the inside of a cell
 Hold small molecules
 In seeds, proteins that seeds use to sprout are put in 'protein bodies'. Protein bodies are just vacuoles that are a little bit different from normal.

Vacuoles are also important in autophagy, keeping a balance between making and getting rid of many things in cells and organisms. They also help with destroying and recycling broken proteins that build up in cells. Vacuoles may help attack bacteria and some kinds of vacuoles may act as a house for symbiotic bacteria. In protists, vacuoles also store and help digest food that the protist ate.

Central vacuole 
The central vacuole is a cellular organelle found in plant cells. It is often the largest organelle in the cell. It is surrounded by a membrane and holds materials and wastes. It also keeps the proper pressure in the plant cells, and supports the growing plant.

Evolution 
The evolution of multicellularity took place several times on Earth. That is, separately in animals, fungi, streptophytes (charophyte algae and land plants), red algae, and brown algae. The vacuole probably evolved several times independently, even within the green plants.

References 

Organelles
City of Sunderland

The City of Sunderland is a metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, in North East England.  Since 1992 it has had the status of a city and metropolitan borough. 

It is named after its largest settlement, Sunderland, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Washington, Houghton-le-Spring, and other smaller settlements.

The district was created in 1974 as the Metropolitan Borough of Sunderland when all local government in England and Wales was changed by the Local Government Act 1972.  This was when four different local government districts from County Durham were joined together. 

Sunderland became a city in 1992, the 40th anniversary of  Queen Elizabeth's accession (the time she became queen). 

The district had a population of 280,807 at the time of the 2001 census. 

On March 24, 2004, the City adopted St Benedict Biscop as its patron saint. A patron had never been adopted before.

Related pages
Sunderland
Washington
Houghton-le-Spring

References 

Sunderland, Tyne and Wear

Settlements in Tyne and Wear
Self-Strengthening Movement

The Self-Strengthening Movement ( or ;  1861 - 1895) was a reform organised during the late Qing Dynasty. The movement's intent was the modernization of China as a result of many military defeats it had faced at the hands of the West. It could be divided into three phases the first phase (1861 - 1872), the second phase (1872 - 1885) and the third phase (1885 - 1895). 

After the defeat of Opium Wars and the outbreak of Taiping Rebellion, the emperor and imperial officials realised that the Qing Government might be overthrown soon and they would no longer reign the country. In order to prevent this, a series of reforms were implemented in the Self-Strengthening Movement, sometimes called "Westernization" which sought to adopt ideas from the West, mainly in technology.

Major leaders 
 Yixin, Prince Gong ()
 Wenxiang           ()
 Zeng Guofan        ()
 Li Hongzhang       ()
 Zuo Zongtang       ()
 Shen Baozhen       ()
 Zhang Zhidong      ()

History of China
Michael Keaton

Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), better known by the artistic name Michael Keaton, is an American actor who became popular for his early comedic film roles, most notably his performance as the title character of Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, and later gained international fame for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne / Batman in Tim Burton's Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992) and will play the role again in The Flash and Batgirl (both 2022). He won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2015 for his role in Birdman. In 2016, he played Ray Kroc in The Founder.

Early life
Keaton was born in Kennedy Township, Pennsylvania. He lived in Robinson Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. His father, George A. Douglas, worked as a civil engineer and surveyor, and his mother, Leona Elizabeth (nee Loftus), a homemaker, came from McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. Keaton was raised in a Catholic family. He is of Irish and Scots-Irish ancestry. He attended Montour High School in Pennsylvania. Douglas studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh.

Politics
Keaton supported Senator Bernie Sanders for President in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Filmography

Animated Roles
 Gary the Rat - Jerry Andrews
 King of the Hill - Trip Larson
 The Simpsons - Jack Crowley

Film Roles
 Cars - Chick Hicks
 Minions - Walter Nelson
 Porco Rosso - Porco Rosso
 Toy Story 3 - Ken
 Toy Story 4 - Ken
 Woody's Roundup: The Movie - Ken
 Spotlight (movie) - Walter “Robby” Robinson

Video Game Roles
 Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Jason Hudson
 Cars - Chick Hicks
 Cars Race-O-Rama - Chick Hicks

References

Other websites
 
 Story on Michael Keaton 

1951 births
Living people
Actors from Pennsylvania
Actors who played Batman
American movie actors
American television actors
American video game actors
American voice actors
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Satellite Award winners
Stage names
Chechnya

Chechnya (; ), officially the Chechen Republic (; ), is a federal subject in Russia. It is located in the Caucasus region. The capital is Grozny.

Most people in Chechnya are Muslims and are of ancient Hurrian roots who spoke a Caucasian language. Most Chechens belong to the Shafi`i school of Sunni Islam.

Chechens speak their own language, not related to the Russian language. Chechen is part of the Northeast Caucasian, or Vainakh, family, while Russian is a Slavic language.

During Soviet control, Chechnya was unified with Ingushetia. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Chechnya broke away from Ingushetia to form its own republic. The Chechens wanted independence. After the First Chechen War, Chechnya was de facto independent as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. After the Second Chechen War, Russia regained control of Chechnya.

Russia has claimed Chechnya as part of its country since the Russians invaded the Caucasus in the 18th century.

The current leader of the Chechen Republic is Ramzan Kadyrov. He is also the son of the 1st Chechen President, Akhmad Kadyrov.

References

Other websites 
 Official site of the Republic of Chechnya 

 
Federal subjects of Russia
Republics of Russia
Opposite number

In mathematics, the opposite or additive inverse of a number  is a number  which, when added to , results in 0. The opposite of  is . For example, −7 is the opposite of 7, because . 

The opposite of a positive number is the negative version of the number. The opposite of a negative number is the positive version of the number. The opposite of 0 is 0.

Two opposite numbers have the same absolute value.

Related pages 

 Addition
Reciprocal
Absolute value

References 

 
Numbers
Arithmetics
Mathematics
Nth root

An n-th root of a number r is a number which, if n copies are multiplied together, makes r. It is also called a radical or a radical expression. It is a number k for which the following equation is true:

(for the meaning of , see Exponentiation.)

We write the nth root of r as . If n is 2, then the radical expression is a square root. If it is 3, it is a cube root. Other values of n are referred to using ordinal numbers, such as fourth root and tenth root.

For example,  because . The 8 in that example is called the radicand, the 3 is called the index, and the check-shaped part is called the radical symbol or radical sign.

Roots and powers can be changed as shown in .

The product property of a radical expression is the statement that . The quotient property of a radical expression is the statement .

Simplifying 

This is an example of how to simplify a radical.

If two radicals are the same, they can be combined. This is when both of the indexes and radicands are the same.

This is how to find the perfect square and rationalize the denominator.

Related pages
 Geometric mean
 Rationalization (mathematics)
 Square number

References

Mathematics
Isle of Portland

The Isle of Portland is an island in Dorset in the south of England. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth. 13,000 people live there. It is where the famous Portland limestone was originally found.

In 2012, the sailing in the Olympics will take place on Portland and in Weymouth.

References

Other websites 

Dorset
Islands of England
Weymouth, Dorset

Weymouth is a resort town in Dorset on the south coast of England. 52,000 people live in the town. Thousands of tourists have holidays there, because it is by the sea. In summer it is sometimes sunny and warm and there is lots to do. The sailing in the 2012 Summer Olympics were held in Weymouth and on the Isle of Portland nearby.

Weymouth, Dorset
Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemums are a genus (Chrysanthemum) of about 30 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, from Asia and northeast Europe.

References and other websites 
Germplasm Resources Information Network: Chrysanthemum 
Painting of Chrysanthemums
Chrysanthemum Gardening and care
ICBN: List of conserved genera (scroll down for Chrysanthemum)

Flowers
Asteraceae
Flagship

A flagship is the ship used by the officer who commanded a group of naval ships. The term comes from the custom of the commanding officer to fly a special flag to show he was present.

Used in this way, "flagship" is normally a temporary name; the flagship is wherever the officer is flying his flag. However, admirals have always needed a special place; a meeting room large enough to hold all the captains of the fleet, and a place for the admiral's staff to make plans and draw up orders.

Over the years, the term "flagship" has been borrowed by other industries. These include broadcasting, automobiles, cell phones, and others to mean their core products or services.

References 

Ships
Eurasian magpie

The Eurasian magpie or common magpie (Pica pica) is a bird that lives in Europe, much of Asia, and northwest Africa. It is one of several birds in the crow family named as magpies.

In Europe, "magpie" is used by English speakers to call the European magpie; it is the only magpie in Europe outside the Iberian Peninsula.

Related pages

General licences under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981

Other websites 
 European Magpie videos  on the Internet Bird Collection
 Avibase 

Corvids
Sui generis

Sui generis (pronounced  or ) is a term from Latin. It can be translated to Of (his/her/its) own kind. It basically means that something has VERY special characteristics. They are so special, that the thing cannot really be compared to anything else. It is used in various contexts. The term was invented by philosophers. What they originally wanted to say was that an idea is so specific as to be unique, that it cannot really be part of a broader concept.

Law
When lawyers talk about something being sui generis, they mean that something is unique.  It cannot be compared. With intellectual property, a design can be sui generis.

Political sciences
The European Union is something that has come to be in the last few years. In some ways it is like state in others like a confederation of states or an international organisation. It is mostly classified as sui generis.

Sociology
In the sociology of Emile Durkheim, sui generis is used to illustrate his theories on social existence. He says that society, as it was there before any living individual was born, is independent of all individuals. His sui generis (its closest English meaning in this sense being 'independent') society will furthermore continue its existence after the individual ceases to interact with it.

Examples in media
Meryl Streep was praised in a Wall Street Journal review of The Devil Wears Prada: "(her) pitch-perfect portrayal of Miranda is sui generis, with a dramatic existence of its own, as unique and memorable as, say, a Bette Davis character."

Martin Kettle in The Guardian said about hung parliaments: "Each is sui generis, dependent on the particular parliamentary arithmetic, inter-party momentum and surrounding political circumstances."

Slate has used the term several times; one article discussed the unique variations of French Rose Champagne: "Grower Champagnes are wines made by small farmers in the Champagne region who, bucking convention, choose to craft their own wines rather than sell their grapes to the major Champagne houses. Typical of farmer fizzes, the grower rosés are utterly sui generis—in a few cases almost freakishly so."

A CNN The Marquee post said about James Brown, "I can't even begin to talk about his importance. He was sui generis."

Political commentator Dick Morris referred to the intense public interest in the 2008 US Presidential race as "clearly sui generis, and anything can happen."

References

Legal terms
Latin words and phrases
Regular polygon

A regular polygon is a polygon which is both equilateral (which means all its sides have the same length) and equiangular (which means that all its angles are the same).

Examples
The simplest examples of regular polygons are:

Polygons
Straightedge and compass construction

Straightedge and compass construction, also known as ruler-and-compass construction, is drawing of lengths, angles or shapes using only a ruler and compass. 

Some things cannot be drawn this way.  For example, there are only 32 regular polygons with an uneven number of sides which are known to be constructible.  It has been proven that a square with the same area as the area of a circle cannot be constructed.  This is called "Squaring the circle".

Mathematics

eo:Geometrio#Klasikaj problemoj
fa:تثلیث زاویه
Carnation

A carnation is a type of flower. It has been grown for so many years, we are not sure where it came from.

Related pages
 Sweet William

Caryophyllaceae
Air Force One

Air Force One is the air traffic call sign (name) of any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States.

The president usually flies in one of the two specially changed Boeing 747 jumbo jets (airplane) kept by the United States Air Force. 

They are only called Air Force One when the president is on board.  Otherwise it is called by its number like any other airplane.

When Richard Nixon resigned as president in 1974 he flew back to his home in California in Air Force One, but halfway to California he stopped being president and the airplane was then given a new name, SAM (Special Air Mission) 2700.

Related pages 

 Japanese Air Force One

United States Air Force

Individual aircraft
Commonwealth realm

A Commonwealth realm is a country in the Commonwealth of Nations which has Queen Elizabeth II as monarch. It includes her home country of the United Kingdom and many of its former colonies or territories, including:

In each of the countries outside the UK, the Queen appoints a Governor-General to represent her, who, after consulting with the government of the realm, has all of the powers and duties of the queen. Usually the Governor-General signs all acts of parliament into law, but can wait and ask the Queen for advice or wait for her to sign the act herself.  This happened in 1982 when Queen Elizabeth signed the important Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms during a visit to Ottawa, and the Australia Act 1986 in Canberra.

Although Queen Elizabeth II is monarch of many countries, the British government has no power in the other realms, just as the governments of the other realms have no power in the UK. This is why each realm decides on the Queen's official title. Usually it is "Queen of (realm) and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth". But two countries mention the UK in their title for the Queen: Grenada uses "Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Grenada and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth", while Canada uses the old fashioned form, which reads "by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith." Not all countries use the title Defender of the Faith.


Other websites
 The Commonwealth Secretariat official site
 The Commonwealth - UK government site

Commonwealth
 United Commonwealth  Main all-Commonwealth group

Australia
 Australian Monarchist League (traditionalist constitutional monarchists)
 No Republic - Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (Moderate constitutional monarchists)

Canada
 Canadian Monarchy - The Official Site 
 Canadian Monarchist ONLINE
 Monarchist League of Canada

New Zealand
 Monarchist League of New Zealand 

History of the United Kingdom
 
British monarchy
Dashiki

A Dashiki is a loose fitting, brightly coloured garment associated with African culture. It is also associated with the counterculture of the 1960s in the United States. The most popular styles cover the top half of the body. It originated in West Africa. A common form is a loose-fitting pullover garment, with an ornate V-shaped collar. It often has an embroidered neck and sleeve lines. There are both casual and formal versions.

History 
The dashiki originated in West Africa and East Africa. Twelfth and thirteenth centuries burial mounds in Mali (West Africa) have revealed versions of dashikis. Dashikis were worn by both men and women. They may have been influenced by the thawb worn by Arabs who came to the region. Both garments keep the wearer cool in the hot African climate. The dashiki was worn as a work shirt in the shorter version. Another much longer version was called the grand boubou. It is also similar to the kaftan. All three are common to West Africa.

1960s US counterculture 
The dashiki became popular in the hippie culture of the 1960s. Peace Corps members returning from Africa brought back dashikis. African diplomats to the United Nations in New York were often seen and photographed wearing colorful dashikis. Dashikis were seen as a symbol of support for black racial struggles. Groups like the Black Panthers wore the Dashiki as a symbol of their black heritage. The Afro hairstyle, faded blue jeans and the Dashiki were all popular expressions of the Black is beautiful cultural movement.

Musical groups 
 
Many of the rock groups of the 60s and 70s wore Dashikis. But black performers of the 60s 70s preferred the more conventional suit and tie look. But in the 80s several black groups wore the dashiki to show their heritage. One South African vocal group, 'Ladysmith Black Mambazo', wore dashikis extensively. This identified them more as Africans than Zulus.

References

Other websites 

 Dashikis
 Dashiki

Tops (clothing)
Africa
Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche are an American ice hockey in the National Hockey League (NHL). They play their home games at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. They play in the Central Division of the Western Conference. The team has won the Stanley Cup championship two times, in 1996 and in 2001.

References

Other websites
Official website

 
1972 establishments in the United States
Avalanche
Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild are a NHL team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The team's name was chosen by a fans' contest. The logo suggests the "wild" lands of northern Minnesota. It includes trees, the moon, stars and a river. Those things are surrounded by the outline of the head of a wild animal, possibly a bear.

The Wild joined the NHL in 2000. They play at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.

References

Other websites
Official website

Minnesota Wild