In British and American culture, finding a penny is often thought to be lucky. A popular expression is "Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck." If someone asks you "A penny for your thoughts" They're wanting to know what you think. The phrase was first written in John Heywood's 1547 Dialogue Conteinying the Nomber in Effect of All the Proverbes in the Englishe Tongue, written when the penny was still a sterling silver coin. The possibly related American expression "my two cents" (meaning "my humble opinion") uses the low value of the penny to make fun of one's own thoughts in a funny way. In British English, to "spend a penny" means to urinate. The phrase does actually imply spending an actual penny: coin-operated public toilets commonly charged a predecimal penny, starting with the Great Exhibition of 1851. Around Decimal Day, British Rail introduced the "Superloo", better public toilets that charged 2p (roughly the equivalent of 6d.).
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening (born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, producer, animator, author, musician, comedian, and voice actor. He is the creator of the comic strip "Life in Hell", as well as two successful television series, "The Simpsons" and "Futurama".
Groening has won 12 Primetime Emmy Awards, ten for The Simpsons and two for Futurama as well as a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004. In 2002, he won the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for his work on Life in Hell. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2012.
He was born on February 15, 1954 in Portland, Oregon, the middle of five children. His mother Margaret Ruth was once a teacher. His father Homer Philip Groening was a filmmaker, advertiser, writer and cartoonist. Groening has Norwegian and German ancestry.
Groening grew up in Portland, and attended Ainsworth Elementary School, Lincoln High School and also The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
Groening identifies himself as agnostic and liberal. He has often made campaign contributions to Democratic Party candidates. His first cousin, Laurie Monnes Anderson, is a member of the Oregon State Senate representing eastern Multnomah County.
He has been married twice. Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986. They had 2 sons - Homer (who is called Will) and Abe. Couple split up in 1999. In 2011, Groening married Argentinian artist Agustina Picasso and became stepfather to her daughter Camille. In May 2013, Picasso gave birth to Nathaniel Philip Picasso Groening who was named after American writer Nathanael West.
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky (Никола́й Ива́нович Лобаче́вский, 1792–1856) was a Russian mathematician. He became known for his achievements in non-Euclidean geometry.
Lobachevsky was born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. His parents were Ivan Maksimovich Lobachevsky, a clerk in a landsurveying office, and Praskovia Alexandrovna Lobachevskaya. In 1800, his father died and his mother moved to Kazan. In Kazan, Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky attended Kazan Gymnasium. He graduated in 1807 and then went to Kazan University which was founded just three years earlier, in 1804.
At Kazan University, Lobachevsky was influenced by professor Johann Christian Martin Bartels (1769–1833). Bartels was a former teacher and friend of German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. Lobachevsky received a Master's degree in physics and mathematics in 1811. In 1814, he became a lecturer at Kazan University, and in 1822 he became a full professor. He served in many administrative positions and was the rector of Kazan University from 1827 to 1846. He retired (or was dismissed) in 1846. After this event his health rapidly deteriorated. In addition to teaching mathematics and physics at Kazan University Lobachevsky also was an astronomy teacher there.
In 1832, he married Varvara Alexivna Moisieva. They had seven children.
Wildebeest
A wildebeest (or gnu) is an animal. It is a large hoofed mammal in the Bovidae family. There are two species of wildebeest. Both live in Africa.
Wildebeest grow to 1.15 to 1.40 metres (at the shoulder) and they weigh between 150 and 250 kilograms when they are fully grown. They live in the plains and open woodlands in southern Africa. The biggest herds can be found in the Serengeti. Wildebeest can live for more than 20 years.
Like other members of the same family (antelopes, deer and goats, amongst others), they mainly eat grass. But since in the African grasslands, there is not always grass, wildebeest are forced to migrate to find food all year round. In May, about 1.5 million animals move from the grasslands to the woods. In November they move back; there is grass in the plains in summer.
The cows (female Gnus) will calve (give birth to the young) in summer in the plains. After the females have given birth, the breeding season begins. The dominant males mark off (and defend) some territory. They do this with feces, and with scent.
Wildebeest are an important part of the ecosystem. With their feces, they fertilize the ground, and their trampling is good for new growth. They also provide food for predators, like lions and hyenas.
Gnu
Gnu or GNU may mean:
Serengeti
The Serengeti (also Seremgeti) is a region of savannah (woodlands and grasslands) in East Africa. The south of it (80%) belongs to Tanzania. The north of it is in Kenya. It is about 30,000 square kilometers, and one of the greatest areas for wildlife.
It has more than 1.6 million herbivores and thousands of predators. Wildebeests, gazelles, zebras and buffalos are the most common animals in the region.
This area is most famous for the migration that takes place every year.
Every year around October nearly 1.5 million herbivores travel towards the southern plains, crossing the Mara River, from the northern hills for the rains. And then back to the north through the west, once again crossing the Mara river, after the rains in around April. This phenomenon is sometimes also called the Circular Migration.
Also in this area is the archeologically significant Olduvai Gorge where some of the oldest hominid fossils are found.
The Serengeti region contains the Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Maswa Game Reserve in Tanzania and the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.
The park covers 14,763 km² (5,700 square miles) of grassland plains and savanna as well as riverine forest and woodlands. The park is in the north of the country, bordered to the north by the national Tanzania and Kenyan border, where it is continuous with the Masai Mara National Reserve. To the southeast of the park is Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the southwest is Maswa Game Reserve, and to the western borders are Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, to the northeast is Loliondo Game Control Area.
Few people are allowed to live in the National Park. Exceptions the staff of the Park, researchers and staff of Frankfurt Zoological Society, and staff of the various lodges and hotels. The main settlement is at Seronera.
The park has three regions:
As well as the migration of ungulates, the park has a healthy stock of other resident wildlife, especially the "Big Five":
The park also supports many further species, including cheetah, Thomson's and Grant's gazelle, topi, eland, water buck, hyena, baboon, impala, African wild dog and giraffe. The park also boasts about 500 bird species, including ostrich, secretary bird, Kori bustard, crowned crane, marabou stork, martial eagle, lovebirds and many species of vultures.
Ngorongoro is the caldera of a huge extinct volcano, which is part of the Serengeti area.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site 180 km (112 miles) west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania.