A manor house or fortified manor-house is a country house, which has historically formed the centre of a manor (see Manorialism). The term is sometimes used for relatively small country houses which belonged to gentry families, as well as to grand stately homes, particularly as a technical term for minor late medieval castles more intended for show than for defence.
In general terms, the manor house was the house of a feudal lord of a manor, which he occupied only on occasional visits if he held many manors. Although not built with strong fortifications as castles were, many manor houses were partly fortified: they were enclosed within walls or ditches. Often the farm buildings were within these walls as well. Many manor houses had small gatehouses and watchtowers.
The main feature of the manor house was its great hall. By the beginning of the 16th century, manor houses as well as small castles began to acquire the character and amenities of the residences of country gentlemen. This late 16th century transformation produced many of the smaller Renaissance châteaux of France and the many country mansions of the Elizabethan and Jacobean styles in England.
In France, the terms "château" or "manoir" are often used to describe a French manor house. "Maison-forte" is another French word to describe a strongly fortified manor house. In the western France provinces of Brittany and Normandy, certain large manors enjoyed real means of protection.
In modern usage, the term "manor" or "manor house" is often used, especially outside Europe, to mean simply either a country house or indeed any other house considered to resemble one, without any reference to age or to the historical sense of the term.
English country house
The English country house is generally accepted as a large house that was once in the ownership of an individual who in most of the cases owned another great house in the West End of London. The country house was not only a weekend retreat for aristocrats, but also often a full time residence for the minor gentry.
The country houses of England have developed over the last 500 years. Before this time most larger houses were fortified, because their owners were feudal lords or overlords of their manor. The Tudor period of stability in the country saw the first of the large unfortified country houses.
With the rise of modern industry and urbanization, when people left the country to go to the big cities the popularity of country houses declined as there were less people in the country. After 1945 it became very difficult to pay for the huge staff that was required to maintain these houses.
Larynx
The larynx (plural "larynges"), also known as the voice box, is an organ in the neck of humans and animals. It helps to protect the wind pipe by stopping it from inhaling food. It also helps with breathing and making sounds. The larynx houses the vocal cords.
The larynx makes the voice. Both pitch and loudness are controlled here. It has a small slit through which air passes and makes the vocal cords vibrate. The vibrating vocal cords make the air vibrate. This sound changes as it travels through the vocal tract. It becomes a different sound based on the position of the tongue, lips, mouth, and pharynx.
When swallowing, the backward motion of the tongue forces part of the larynx called the epiglottis to cover up the opening to the larynx, also called the laryngeal opening. This is to stop the food swallowed from entering the lungs. The larynx is also pulled upwards to help with this process. If the larynx is irritated by something that is swallowed, a strong cough reflex is used to protect the lungs.
There are several things that can cause a larynx to not function properly. Some symptoms are hoarseness, loss of voice, pain in the throat or ears, and breathing difficulties. Larynx transplant is not done very often. The world's first successful operation took place in 1998 at the Cleveland Clinic, and the second took place in October 2010 at the University of California Medical Center in Sacramento.
Endangered species
An endangered species is a species (a population) of animals, plants or other organisms that is in danger of becoming extinct. This could happen because there are few of that animal left, its predators have grown in number, or the climate that it lives in is changing, or the places it lives in have been destroyed. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has worked out that endangered species are 40% of all organisms.
Many countries have laws to protect these plants and animals. These laws, if obeyed, can save species by stopping hunting, land development or making parks and reserves. Poaching and other illegal activities, however, can still destroy them.
Only a few plants and animals at risk of extinction, mostly vertebrates, are put on the lists and get legal protection. Many more species become extinct, or will become extinct, without people knowing about it.
This is a list of mammals that are endangered. They include:
Here is a list of birds that are endangered. They include:
Archosaur
Archosaurs are a large group of reptiles, including all crocodiles, birds, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs (flying reptiles). There are also a number of smaller extinct groups, mostly from the Triassic period.
The Archosaurs are definitely a monophyletic clade, and do not include reptiles such as the Squamata (lizards and snakes) and the Sphenodontia ("Sphenodon").
They have these diagnostic features, called "synapomorphies" in cladistics talk:
The archosaurs or their immediate ancestors survived the catastrophic Permian–Triassic extinction event. Then, in the early and middle Triassic, there was rapid evolution into the types of aquatic and land tetrapods which dominated the rest of the Mesozoic era.
Clades:
This is an even wider group, which includes diapsid Sauropsida which appeared in the middle Permian and Triassic periods. Their relationships are not well established at present.
MS Explorer
The MS "Explorer was a cruise ship ("MS" stands for motor ship). It had been known as MS "Lindblad Explorer (–1985) and MS "Society Explorer" (–1992). It was registered in Liberia. It was designed for sailing in cold areas, such as around Antarctica. The MS "Explorer" was originally ordered by the Swedish explorer Lars-Eric Lindblad. The ship was sold several times. Its last owner was the Toronto-based travel company G.A.P Adventures. It had bought the "Explorer" in 2004.
Besides being the first cruise ship ever built specifically to ply the frigid waters of the Antarctic Ocean, the "Explorer" became the first ever to sink there when it struck an unidentified submerged object, possibly ice, on November 23, 2007, which caused a 10-by-4 inch (25 × 10 cm) gash in the hull. Everyone escaped from "Explorer" in the early hours of November 23, 2007, after taking on water near the South Shetland Islands in the Southern Ocean, which is usually stormy, but was calm at the time. The "Explorer" was confirmed by the Chilean Navy to have sunk at approximately position: 62 degrees 24 minute South and 57 degrees 16 minutes west, between South Shetlands and Grahams Land, in the Bransfield Strait, where the depth is roughly 2,000 feet (600 m).
Commissioned by Lars-Eric Lindblad, the Swedish-American pioneer of exotic expedition tours, the "Explorer" was built in 1969 at Nystads Varv shipyard in Uusikaupunki, Finland. The ship was built to stay afloat with two of its compartments filled with water, and its ice class on the HELCOM scale was IC.
The vessel was originally named the "Lindblad Explorer" in honor of Lars-Eric Lindblad. On February 11, 1972 the "Explorer" ran aground (into the ground) near La Plaza Point, Antarctica; its passengers, Lars-Eric Lindblad among them, were rescued by the Chilean Navy. It was towed to Buenos Aires, Argentina and then to Kristiansand, Norway for repairs.
In 1998 "Explorer" was the first ship to sail around the James Ross Island;.