the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
1964 television series endings
James Henderson "Jimmy" Finlayson (August 27, 1887 – October 9, 1953) was a Scottish-American actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies.
Finlayson was bald, with a fake moustache, and had many trademark comic mannerisms and is famous for his squinting, outrageous "double-take, "fade away" head reaction, and characteristic expression D'oh!.
James Finlayson Biography
Yes Yes Nanette Public domain short comedy for free download
The body mass index (or BMI) is a measure which shows whether people have the right weight for their height.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), governments and health workers use it.
It is also sometimes called the Quetelet index.
A scientist named Ancel Keys first used the term body mass index in 1972.
He wrote that governments should measure the BMI of adults to find out whether they are too fat or too thin.
measure their weight (body mass) in kilograms or pounds
measure their height in meters or inches
divide their weight by the square of their height
if using pounds and inches, multiply the answer by 703
For example, a man whose weight is  and height is  has a BMI of:
A man whose weight is  and height is  has a BMI of:
Overweight or not
Health organisations, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), use the BMI to help decide whether people are too fat or too thin.
The WHO uses these numbers for adults:
Some people disagree with these numbers.
Some experts think the Overweight range for people with Asian body types should be 23–27.49, not 25–29.99.
Some experts think the lowest Normal BMI should be 20 for men, and 18 for women.
The old BMI definition of overweight was 27.
This changed in 1998.
BMI is useful for governments who want to know about the health of their people.
For example, in the United States in 2007, 74% of adults had a BMI above 25 (Overweight or Obese) and 27% of adults had a BMI above 30 (Obese).
Many of these people will become ill because they are too fat.
This information helps the United States government decide what to do about the health of its people.
BMI is less useful for finding out whether one person is too fat or too thin.
BMI does not say how much weight is fat, how much is muscle and how much is bone.
For example, many athletes have a high BMI.
They are not fat.
Their BMI is high because they have lots of heavy muscle.
Other people have lots of fat and not much muscle.
They are too fat but their BMI is normal.
Even so, BMI is popular.
It is easy to use and easy to understand, and it gives useful information for people with "normal" bodies.
The Ponderal Index is similar to the body mass index, but the height is cubed, not squared.
Some experts suggest that the exponent should be between 2.3 and 2.7.
The best formula might be:
U.S. National Center for Health Statistics:
BMI Growth Charts for children and young adults
BMI calculator for people ages 2–19
BMI calculator for people ages 20 and older
For the time in history, see Middle Ages.
Middle age is the period of life between youth and before old age.
There is no fixed age, but most people think it begins when someone is about 45 years old, until the person is 64 years old.
In most countries, people that think that by middle age, people should be mature, perhaps with a good, steady job and a family.
Due to promotion, middle age is sometimes a time when adults have greater wealth and influence than earlier in their careers, although they may have less disposable income due to having children.
However, it is also common for some adults to suffer from mid-life crisis, when they are unsure about their life and sometimes become depressed because of it.
Women and men often have different experiences of middle age partly depending on whether they choose to work or care for their family full-time.
Middle-aged people begin to look older, with more wrinkles in their skin, and start to have grey hair.
They become less fit and usually gain more weight.
Middle-aged females find it harder to become pregnant.
If they do have a baby, there is a higher chance that it will have a genetic disease (Down syndrome, for example).
Females usually have their menopause in middle age, when they stop bleeding every month.
When that happens, they cannot have children anymore.
A tribute (from Latin tribulum, contribution) is when one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often case in historical situations, of submission or loyalty.
1403: The Ming Dynasty emperor of China gave a patent and a gold seal to  Taejong of Joseon.
This confirmed his legal status as the ruler of the Korean peninsula.
1784: The earliest imperial device in Japan was lost.
It was found in the late 18th century.
A Han Dynasty emperor of China gave the gold object to the emperor of Japan in the first century (57 AD).
This is a relic of the Chinese tribute system.
Musical tribute
In music, a tribute is when a singer, musician or band plays the music of another musical group.
These artists may make an entire album called a "tribute album" that is nothing but songs that were first played by other musicians.
A "tribute band" is a band that only plays songs that were made famous by one other band.
They will often dress like that band and try to look like them as they perform.
For example, a Kiss tribute band will only play songs by the band Kiss.
They will also dress like the band and use the same makeup designs as members of the bands.
Brandy Rayana Norwood (born February 11, 1979), professionally known as Brandy, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer and actress.
Brandy became famous as a teenager in the early 90s with the debut Brandy which received a platinum certification in the US.
In 1997 she became the first African American in history to play the role of Cinderella in the movie with the same title.
Her second album Never Say Never followed which sold over 16 million copies worldwide.
A couple of highly successful singles was released from the record, including "The Boy Is Mine", a duet with Monica, which spent 13 weeks at number one on the US singles chart.
In 1999 Brandy starred in the horror movie I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
Brandy earned the title "Princess of R&B" due to her success in the 1990s.
She starred in the sitcom Moesha as the title character.
Her third album Full Moon was released in 2002.
The album went platinum a month after it's release.
The follow-up titled Afrodisiac was released in 2004.
Thereafter Brandy's career suffered from several setbacks, most notably the 2006 car accident where another driver was killed.
The singer's sixth album is expected for release in 2012.
To date Brandy has sold over 30 million records worldwide which makes her one of the best-selling female artists in music history.
In 2010 she was ranked amongst the 50 most successful teenagers in American history.
Brandy was a contestant in the late 2010 season of Dancing with the Stars.
1994: Brandy
1998: Never Say Never
2002: Full Moon
2004: Afrodisiac
2008: Human
2012: Two Eleven
2020: B7
Additional releases
1999: U Don't Know Me...Like U Used To  (EP)
2000: The Videos  (Video DVD)
2005: The Best of Brandy  (Compilation album)
2011: A Family Business  (Album together with Ray J and Willie Norwood)
Brandy Norwood
The land was a private royal garden until the Victorian era.
In 1840, the Royal Botanic Garden was established.
The Temperate glass house was fixed over 5 years.
It opened again in 2018.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew website
Millennium Seed Bank Project
Images and some highlights of Kew
BBC, Marianne North collection of plant paintings
Botanical gardens in the United Kingdom
is an American television show is an Nick Jr. from August 20, 2007 until February 2, 2009.
It is shown on Nick Jr., on the Nickelodeon network.
The program is about a colourful D.J. named DJ Lance Rock, and 5 toy monsters, who live in Gabbaland.
In every program a band plays music.
Most of the bands are famous indie rock acts, like for instance Arcade Fire and Enon.
The series was first shown on August 20, 2007 on Nick Jr. and began being shown February 23, 2008 on Noggin.
A second series was shown in 2008.
DJ Lance Rock, DJ and Creator of Gabbaland who can make the characters come to life by saying "Yo Gabba Gabba".
Super Mr. Superhero, A superhero who helped protect a monster, showing that superhero’s can only defeat if they know they are evil.
Muno, A Tall, Red Cyclops who is very friendly and a Little Clumsy.
His closest relationships are with DJ Lance, Foofa, and Brobee.
Foofa, A beautiful flower monster who is quiet and loves Unicorns.
Her closest relationships are with DJ Lance, Muno, and Toodee.
Brobee, An Adorable, little green monster who is the youngest of the Gabbas at 3/4 years old.
He is the Gabba Drummer.
His closest relationships are with DJ Lance, Foofa, and Plex.
Toodee, A Two-Tooth Cat who loves to have fun and Ice-Skate.
Her closest relationships are with DJ Lance, Foofa, and Brobee.
Plex, A magical robot who happily serves the Gabbas, but also has fun to pay off.
He is the oldest and is the only Gabba Monster with no land.
His closest relationships are with DJ Lance, Toodie, and Brobee.
Celebrity Appearances
Lance Robertson, DJ Lance Rock (look above for more information)
Biz Markie, A Beatboxer and Rapper who frequently appears for Biz's Beat of the Day.
Mark Mothersbaugh, An artist in Yo Gabba Gabba who draws in every episode and his drawings come to life.
Jack Black, A new friend of the Gabbas who is scared at first but then has a strong friendship with the Gabbas later.
Jack McBrayer, A comedian who appears in the occasional Knock Knock Joke of the day.
Erykah Badu, A very frequent singer and dancer in the show.
Mos Def, Super Mr. Superhero (look above for more information)
Fred Armisen, A rarely shown treasure hunter and crafter.
Paul Scheer, A joker who made a brief cameo and Gabba Land and in New Friends was (along with Jack McBrayer) a member in Knock Knock Joke of the day.
Carmen Osbahr, A puppeteer who plays as Muno's Sister.
Drew Massey, Played as Brobee Cake in the episode Birthday.
Rob Paulsen, Played as Muno in season 4 and was a guest on Dancey Dance Time.
Cam Clarke, Was in the episode Restaurant, but wasn't seen.
2015 American television series endings
Post is an album by Icelandic rock singer Björk.
She sent it out on June of 1995.
It includes techno and dance songs.
Post was one of the most popular albums of Björk.
It was ranked #26 in Spin magazine's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005".
1995 albums
Electronic component, part of electronic circuits
Component ingredient, the main ingredient in a food
Component video, a type of analog video information that is sent or stored as two or more separate signals
Symmetrical component, in electrical engineering, analysis of unbalanced three-phase power systems
Component-based software engineering, a field of study within software engineering dealing with software components, reusable software elements with a specification
Component (thermodynamics), a chemically distinct part of a phase of a system
Component (VTA), a light-rail station in San Jose, California
Lumped component, a model of spatially distributed systems
In math
Component (group theory), a quasisimple subnormal subgroup
Connected component (analysis), a maximal set where there exists a path between any two elements, also known as a path component
Connected component (graph theory), a maximal connected subgraph
Connected component (topology), a maximal connected subspace of a topological space
Vector component, a term in the breaking down of a vector into various directions such as axial, radial or tangential
A landscape means an area of land as one can see it.
This includes landforms, flora, fauna and human elements, for instance human activity or the built environment.
According to its meaning, lighting and weather conditions are part of landscape as well.
Objects inside the building can sometimes be considered part of landscape as well.
The most beautiful landscape in the world is the Yorkshire Dales.
Yorkshire Dales has many extrodinary mountains that youcan actually walk on.
The landscape is determined mainly by the underlying geology.
This can be seen clearly in the East African Great Rift Valley.
There almost everything in the landscape is caused by or connected with the pulling apart of Africa which is happening there.
Even in Great Britain, a geologically quiet place, the whole landscape can be understood by understanding its geological past.
One geological place is the rain forest
The word was borrowed as a painters' term from Dutch during the 16th century, when Dutch artists began to become masters of the landscape genre.
The Dutch word landschap had earlier meant simply “region, tract of land” but now meant “a picture depicting scenery on land”.
Dell is a private company that makes laptop and desktop computers and computer accessories.
It was formed in 1984.
It is named after Michael Dell, the CEO and creator of the company.
Dell makes computers for businesses and home users, and they also make computer monitors and Printers.
They used to make portable music players, called the Dell DJ, and PDAs too.
Their company is in Round Rock, Texas.
In 2006, they employed over 78,000 people.
Some of their computers have a Linux operating system.
Most computers for consumer usage will come with Microsoft Windows.
Michael Delle — Founder of the Company.
Founded by Michael Delle, in 1984 in the city of Austin (Texas) as PC Limited, since 1988 — Dell Computer, after 2003 — Dell, Inc.
In 1987, Dell entered the European market, in 1994 they went to the market of the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2005, Fortune called Dell "the company causing the greatest admiration in the United States" (in the world ranking Dell was third place).
The growth rates of profit and sales volumes of the late 1990's to the early 2000's significantly exceeded industry indicators.
In 2013, Michael Dell at the expense of its own funds and funds provided by the investment company Silver Lake Partners, for $25 billion bought a controlling stake in the company from the exchange, 75% of the company passed under the control of Dell.
Dell acquired Perot Systems, Ross Perot's IT infrastructure services company, for approximately $3.9 billion.
On October 12, 2015, the American corporation Dell signed an agreement to acquire EMC for $67 billion, which is the largest deal in the history of the IT industry.
On September 7, 2016, the acquisition of EMC was completed, the acquired EMC became part of the updated Dell Technologies Corporation as a subsidiary with the name "Dell EMC", moreover, it is planned to transfer Dell units involved in the sale of corporate servers to this business unit, data storage systems and some others related to the corporate market.
Dell website
Svartahrid is a black metal band from Norway.
The band was formed in Skien, Telemark in 1994.
Istar - guitarist and singer
Forn - drummer
NidGrim - bassist
Studioalbums
Forthcoming Storm (1999)
As The Sunrise Flickers (2000)
Sadness And Wrath (2007)
Malicious Pride (2008)
Svartahrid at Encyclopaedia Metallum
Marcel Mangel (22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) better known by his stage name Marcel Marceau, was a French mime.
He was one of the most popular mimes in the world.
He was said to be "single-handedly responsible for reviving the art of mime after World War II."
Marceau created many personalities.
The most famous of these is probably Bip the clown.
He received several awards for his works.
The French Legion of Honour, in the rank of an Officer, 1986
Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres
The French Order of Merit
The World of Mime Theatre Library: Marcel Marceau
Compagnie Bodecker&Neander : Alexander Neander and Wolfram v. Bodecker are assistants and members of the Compagnie MARCEL MARCEAU.
Salon - Brilliant Careers
French entertainers
People from Strasbourg
Bugs Bunny is an Academy Award-winning animated rabbit who starred in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series created by Warner Bros. He made the phrase "What's up, Doc?"
popular as early as 1940.
Other things he says are "I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque", "Of course you realize, this means war", and "Ain't I a stinker?".
He is often seen as a very studious character, with a carrot in his mouth.
His counterpart is commonly Daffy Duck, with whom he is usually arguing.
In other shorts, he comes up against Wile E. Coyote, Elmer Fudd, or Yosemite Sam.
Bugs speaks with a Brooklyn accent (and usually a mouthful of carrots), causing him to drop his "Rs".
Bugs is somewhat based on the comedian Groucho Marx.
Bugs is one of a dozen cartoon characters to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; he was the second after Mickey Mouse.
He is also a struggling rapist confirmed after they copyrighted MeatCanyons video.
It is now Canon after the copyright strike.
Chuck Amuck : The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist by Chuck Jones, published by Farrar Straus & Giroux,
Warner Bros. Studios
Bugs' Toonopedia profile
Fictional hares and rabbits
The Kaz II is a 12 metre catamaran that was found drifting 160 km (80 nautical miles) off the northern coast of Australia on April 18, 2007.
What happened to the crew of the boat is still unknown.
The circumstances in which they disappeared are mysterious and have been compared to that of the 1800s ship Mary Celeste.
The Simpsons shorts is a series of one-minute television shorts that ran on the variety show The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons.
The shorts were created by cartoonist Matt Groening.
Season 1: 1987
Season 2: 1987-1988
Season 3: 1988-1989
He is best known for creating American television programs such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Simpsons, Rhoda and Taxi.
His best-known movie is Terms of Endearment, for which he received three Academy Awards in 1984.
Gracie Films Website
Wi-Fi is a way of connecting to a computer network using radio waves instead of wires.
It was invented to connect computers that are near each other, and nowadays is much used for Internet connections.
The Wi-Fi Alliance says Wi-Fi is any "wireless local area network" (WLAN) that follows the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 specification.
A Wi-Fi device can work with any Wi-Fi network anywhere in the world.
The word Wi-Fi is a play on words with hi-fi, and was invented to replace the name "IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum".
As of 2013, most wireless networks use one of two radio frequency bands.
These are not the only two bands, but are the most used.
One of the bands is at around 2.4 GHz, and the other is at 5 GHz.
Both of these have benefits and drawbacks: The 2.4 GHz band is widely used, and devices are usually cheaper.
Microwave ovens, DECT telephones and other wireless devices also use the 2.4 GHz band, and sometimes cause interference which slows transmissions.
The 5 GHz band has more frequencies and usually less interference, but there are more rules for using it.
In some places, the 5 GHz band may not be used outdoors.
Because fewer devices use the 5 GHz band, devices that do are often more expensive.
Wi-Fi Alliance
Free WiFi - A list of free wifi around the world
A Digital Object Identifier (or DOI) is a permanent way to identify an online document.
This identification is not related to its current location.
A typical use of a DOI is to give a scientific paper or article a unique number that can be used by anyone find the location of the paper.
It may also make it possible to find an electronic copy, for example, on the Internet.
The DOI system has a DOI resolution system which is used to locate where the document is.
When the document is moved, the DOI resolution system is updated with the new location of the document.
For example, doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.03.001 links to "Web 2.0 authorship: Issues of Referencing and citation for academic integrity" by Kathleen Gray et al.
The work was published in The Internet and Higher Education, Vol.
11, Issue 2, 2008.
Welcome to the DOI System
Factsheet: DOI System and Internet Identifier Specifications
Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives is a website which lists bands from various forms of heavy metal music.
Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives
Tropical Depression Ten was a short-lived tropical cyclone that moved onto land on western Florida in September 2007.
It was the tenth tropical cyclone of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season.
The storm formed as a subtropical depression on September 21 in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico from the contact of a tropical wave, the end of a cold front, and a low pressure system.
Originally, the system had a disorganized circulation and thunderstorm patterns, but later turned into a tropical depression after convection became more organized over the center.
Moving northwestward, the depression came onto land near Fort Walton Beach early on September 22, and shortly later, it dissipated over southeastern Alabama.
The depression caused only light damages to the area and was limited to light rainfall, although the system that would later become Tropical Depression 10 created a damaging tornado in Eustis, Florida.
By September 17, the contact between a tropical wave and the end of a cold front created huge amounts of thunderstorms over the Bahamas and western Atlantic Ocean.
An upper-level low over western Florida created more convection across the area, and on September 18 the system began moving towards Florida.
Originally, the system was very disorganized, but surface pressures slowly went down across the area, with a weak low pressure area forming on September 19.
A Hurricane Hunters aircraft was sent to fly into the system on September 20 reported an organized low and strong wind gusts in the storm as it moved into the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, along with little and disorganized thunderstorm activity.
Convection slowly became better organized, with a well-defined rainband in its eastern half and irregular thunderstorm activity near the center.
In spite of its bad organization, with a disorganized circulation and an upper-level low aloft, the National Hurricane Center started advisories on Subtropical Depression Ten at 1500 UTC on September 21 while it was located about 40 miles (60 km) south of St. Vincent Island, Florida, stating "the potential for additional development right along the coastline."
With a mid-level ridge to its northwest, the subtropical depression was predicted to move alongside with the coastline of Florida and Alabama.
As an outcome, the cyclone was forecasted to have winds of 45 mph (75 km/h) and move onto land on southern Mississippi.
The circulation became better organized as convection modestly increased over the center, and within 6 hours of its formation, the system turned into a tropical depression.
The cyclone continued moving northwestward, making landfall around 0000 UTC on September 22 near Fort Walton Beach, Florida with winds of 35 mph (55 km/h).
The cloud pattern began to become disorganized as it moved inland, and 3 hours after it moved ashore the National Hurricane Center gave out its last advisory on the depression.
As the depression continued into Alabama, it became more disorganized, and by 0900 UTC on September 22 the cyclone collapsed into a remnant low pressure area.
Preparations and impact
At the same time the National Hurricane Center gave out its first advisory on the depression, they also gave out a tropical storm warning from Apalachicola, Florida to the delta of the Mississippi River.
Shortly thereafter, an inland tropical storm warning was given out for Pearl River, Walthall, and Pike counties in Mississippi and Washington Parish in Louisiana.
Also, the New Orleans National Weather Service gave out a coastal flood watch for four parishes in southeastern Louisiana.
In Mississippi, Governor Haley Barbour declared a state of emergency.
Officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for people living in areas of low lands and in mobile homes for Jackson, Harrison, and Hancock counties.
Officials in New Orleans opened three emergency shelters, stating the possible need of shelter for citizens in about 17,000 FEMA trailers after Hurricane Katrina.
Because of the threat of the cyclone, Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco also declared a state of emergency and placed the state's National Guard and other disaster services on stand-by.
Before of the depression's development, several oil and gas companies removed unneeded workers from offshore oil platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico; the Shell Oil Company evacuated about 700 employees, while Noble Energy removed its workforce of about 300 people from two oil rigs.
Exxon Mobil stopped its production by about 1,000 barrels of oil and 55,000 ft³ (1,500 m³).
With 27.7% of the daily crude oil production stopped because of the depression, oil prices rose higher after days of increasing levels, and on September 20 reached a record rate of over $84 per barrel.
Together, the wind shear and low-level helicity created moderate convection across central Florida associated with the precursor low pressure system.
Late on September 20, a supercell formed near Lake Apopka, and moved quickly northward it created an EF1 tornado near Eustis; the tornado moved around for about 2 miles (3 km) and reached winds of about 100 mph (160 km/h).
The tornado destroyed 20 homes, left 30 others severely damaged, and injured one person, and cut power for about 300 people.
The depression also created waves of about 5 feet (1.5 m) and rip currents along the west coast of Florida.
Outer rainbands began affecting coastal sections of western Florida by about 12 hours before the formation of the depression.
Precipitation in the state reached 2.83 inches (71.9 mm) in Crestview.
In other places, rainfall totals reached 1.46 inches (37.1 mm) in Albany, Georgia and 0.51 inches (13 mm) in Dothan, Alabama.
NHC's advisory archive on Tropical Depression Ten
Tropical depressions
2000s in Alabama
Software piracy (officially called copyright infringement of software) refers to the illegal copying of software.
It often uses the Internet.
Some countries have laws about this.
The problem is considered to be bigger in certain countries than in others.
Those who hold the copyright get less money because of copyright infringement.
As a result of this, some copyright holders publish “anti-piracy” campaigns to tell people about the effects of infringement.
Very often, the people making the laws have to make a trade-off between allowing people to copy and use the software, and the copyright holders charging for the content.
At the same time, even not allowed distribution makes the content more popular.
Because of these two reasons, infringement of copyright for proprietary software and content can be bad also for free software and content.
In 2010 to 2012, the entertainment industry advocated changes to United States law to make it easier to end piracy websites, called Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act.
Some websites including the English Wikipedia protested these proposals on January 18, 2012.
The next day, the United States Department of Justice seized the Megaupload website which is claimed to be one of the largest piracy websites.
Why people pirate
Some reasons on why people pirate are:
DRM may limit people from using the software in legitimate ways.
The price of software may be too expensive to a person.
Not available in their country; No legitimate stores sell that software in their country.
The experience or quality may be bad for a person, but the pirate's service can be better than a legitimate seller's.
If a person wanted to be anonymous, software piracy doesn't require an email, or other information that may identify them.
A person may be opposed to copyright law in general.
How to distinguish software piracy
Can't meet the proprietor's requirement for a legal copyright certificate.
No after-sales service.
Unusually low price (though legitimate prices also vary).
Can't upgrade by the official method.
Distribution by download from other than the maker's official Website.
No DRM, letting people use the software offline or for other purposes.
Bionicle (stylized BIONICLE) is a line of toys by the LEGO Group marketed primarily for 5- to 16-year-olds.
The line was launched on December 30, 2000 in Europe and June/July 2001 in Canada and the United States. "
Bionicle" is a portmanteau constructed from the words "biological" and "chronicle", which is also actually derived from the word "bionics".
The concept is similar to Lego Group's earlier themes, Slizers/Throwbots and RoboRiders in that each of those lines had characters based on classical elements.
Earlier Bionicle packages had displayed the Technic Logo, but it has since been phased out, evolving Bionicle into its own branch of LEGO.
It has recently been announced by the director of LEGO that they will stop making new Bionicle sets after Winter 2010 "for the foreseeable future".
However, while production of sets will stop, the story  will not, as Greg Farshtey will continue to update it on the website.
Bionicle was replaced by Hero Factory, which was released later in July 2010.
The Bionicle story is set in a science fantasy world and is primarily told through the book series, Bionicle Chronicles, Bionicle Adventures, and Bionicle Legends as well as through comic books published by DC Comics.
Four films have also been made.
As of 2010, the main Bionicle story will be published online.
The 2001–2008 Bionicle story arc was set in a world inhabited predominantly by part-organic, part-machine beings (most notably the Matoran) in a subterranean world, which exists in massive domes underground.
2009 began a new saga of the story-line, leaving behind the previous years and venturing out to newer possibilities as Mata Nui, after having been banished by Makuta Teridax, finds his way to a mysterious barren planet called Bara Magna.
Here he becomes the center of the story and makes new allies as he tries to find a way to save the Matoran from Makuta Teridax's tyrannical rule.
The concept of Bionicle was proposed in 2000.
During that time, Lego was suffering a ten-year downturn.
In 1998, the company suffered its first loss, resulting layoffs for the first time with 1000 people being laid off the following year.
In January 2004, Lego posted a loss of 1.4 billion Danish kroner (140 million British pounds and 223.86 million USD).
A few weeks earlier, in order to "stabilise its financial situation," another 500 jobs were cut.
Initially, the idea of Bionicle was faced with resistance from "company traditionalists" as Lego had "no experience of creating the kind of story-based, multichannel brand that was being proposed."
Also, the war-like appearance of the Bionicle characters went against the company's values: "high-quality products, an emphasis on free play and encouraging the imagination, and no modern warfare or violence."
However, the Bionicle line soon became the "biggest of the recent hits" and the number one product of Lego in 2003.
The series made its first debut in virtual form on the web in December 2000.
In 2004, the sets accounted for approximately all of Lego's turnover.
As the sets were produced, Lego developed them on the sets' website through "character bios and an episodic adventure game."
The main storyline is developed by a team of eight people around the world, who decide "which media gets which bit of the story."
Because the Bionicle story is told through multiple media (books, comics, and movies), the purpose of the website is to put the different parts together.
The practice of making every Bionicle product "from toys to toothbrushes" promote the website resulted in web traffic averaging more than a million page views per month in August 2004.
Another strategy used to promote the website was the use of "Kanoka points".
Each toy packaging had special access codes that allows users to earn the points ("the Bionicle equivalent of a loyalty scheme") that can be used to play web games.
The 2001–2008 storyline arc of Bionicle was set in a science fantasy world inhabited predominantly by part-organic, part-machine beings in a subterranean world, which exists in massive domes underground.
This world (dubbed "The Matoran Universe") and its races were once protected by a Great Spirit named Mata Nui, until he was cast into an eternal slumber by the evil Makuta Teridax and the Brotherhood of Makuta.
The world of the Matoran began to fall apart.
But mask of life that was stored inside Mata Nui was sent out to space to find a new planet.
The mask landed on the planet of Bara Magna and the mask created a small body.
2009 began a whole new saga of the story-line, leaving behind the previous years, and venturing out to newer possibilities as Mata Nui, after having been banished by Makuta Teridax, crash lands on a mysterious barren planet, called Bara Magna.
Here he becomes the center of the story, and makes new allies as he tries to find a way to save the Matoran and the Toa from Makuta Teridax's tyrannical rule.
2001 – Quest for the Masks
The story begins with six Toa Mata: Tahu, Lewa, Gali, Kopaka, Pohatu, and Onua, arriving on an island known as the Island of Mata Nui, remembering nothing beyond their names.
They discovered that the inhabitants, the Matoran villagers, face constant attacks from infected Rahi, savage beasts controlled by the powerful influence of Makuta Teridax through use of Infected Kanohi masks, causing a war which lasted about 1000 years.
After searching for and finding numerous Kanohi masks, the Toa each receive a Golden Kanohi mask with tremendous power and seek out Makuta himself.
After challenging the ferocious Manas crabs and the Shadow Toa (evil doppelganger-like illusional replicas of the Toa ), the Toa confront Makuta and defeat him by uniting their elemental powers.
2002 – The Bohrok Swarms
Upon his defeat, Makuta released the ancient Bohrok.
Bohrok are robotic drones that were designed to "cleanse" the island of Mata Nui to its state "in the before-time".
The Bohrok began to tear through the villages on the island, forcing Matoran to flee.
One inventive Matoran of Earth, Nuparu, builds a powerful vehicle called the Boxor, made from parts of a damaged Bohrok in order to fight off the swarms.
The Toa, unaware of the Bohrok's purpose, collected the Bohrok's Krana (mask-like creatures that function as their brains) to confront the Bohrok Queens, the Bahrag: Cahdok and Gahdok.
The defeated Cahdok and Gahdok are sealed in a prison created by the Toa's elemental powers.
The Toa Mata are then exposed to a substance called Energized Protodermis, which transforms them, granting them new armor and weapons.
They renamed themselves the "Toa Nuva".
2003 – The Bohrok-Kal Strike and the Mask of Light
With Cahdok and Gahdok defeated, the Bohrok Swarms are stopped and returned to their hives.
However, six new elite Bohrok, called the Bohrok-Kal, appeared with the purpose of releasing the Bahrag.
They then proceeded to steal the Toa Nuva's powers, which are the key to breaking the seal.
On the verge of defeat, the Toa force all of their powers into the Bohrok-Kal, overloading and defeating them.
Shortly afterwards, two Matoran, Takua and Jaller, discovered the Kanohi Mask of Light.
They were tasked with traveling across the island of Mata Nui to find the Toa of Light.
Meanwhile, Makuta created and sent out six creatures called Rahkshi to find the mask and stop the coming of the Toa of Light.
The Rahkshi tore across Mata Nui, destroying the villages of Ta-Koro and Onu-Koro.
The Rahkshi were stopped by the Toa, but not before killing Jaller.
Jaller's death caused Takua to realize he was the Toa of Light, and he donned the mask to become Toa Takanuva.
Takanuva went to confront Makuta and, during their battle, they both fell into a pool of energized protodermis, a silvery substance with the power to change or destroy a being, and became fused together into the being Takutanuva.
Takutanuva then proceeded to open the door to the city of Metru Nui, allowing the Matoran and Toa through.
Using some of his life energy, he revived Jaller while still holding the door open.
However, the use of energy was too great and Takutanuva was crushed by the door, seeming to kill both Takanuva and Teridax, leaving only Takanuva's Mask of Light.
Takanuva was promptly revived when his mask was used to activate the beacon to Metru Nui.
Afterwards, the Matoran prepared to return to the island city of Metru Nui.
2004 – Legends of Metru Nui
As the Matoran prepared to journey to Metru Nui, the Turaga (village elders) revealed that they had once been Toa, fighting in Metru Nui against threats such as the Morbuzakh plant creature and the Dume-controlled Vahki enforcement squads.
They, as Matoran, were transformed into the Toa Metru by Toa stones containing power sacrificed by Toa Lhikan.
Their mission was to find the six Great Disks and defeat the Morbuzakh, a plant menace that threatened to destroy the city.
When they did, however, they were betrayed by Dume, the Turaga of the city.
Later, they discovered that Makuta Teridax had taken the disguise of Dume and taken control of the Vahki (law enforcement robots).
His plan was to put the Matoran to sleep, wipe out their memories, and reawaken them "as their conqueror."
The Toa fled, but were attacked by Teridax.
Combining their elemental powers, they were able to seal Teridax in a prison of crystallized protodermis.
The Toa traveled to a new island, which would later be known as Mata Nui, vowing to return to save the Matoran.
2005 – Web of Shadows
They do return.
However, the evil king Sidorak and his viceroy Roodaka had been reigning on the island, with vicious spider-like creatures called Visorak.
The Toa were soon captured and mutated into bestial Toa Hordika.
To revert to normal, the Toa sought out the legendary Rahi Keetongu.
Toa Vakama, however, betrayed the other Toa and joined Sidorak, who made him the leader of the Visorak.
The other Toa confronted the Visorak horde in a great battle, and convinced Vakama to rejoin them.
Vakama then ordered the Visorak to be free.
Keetongu then killed Sidorak, whom Roodaka and Vakama betrayed.
The six Toa then defeated Roodaka with all six of their elemental powers.
However, this had the side effect of freeing Makuta because Roodaka carried a fragment of his prison.
The Toa struck her for this reason.
Having been restored by Keetongu, the Toa Metru brought the Matoran to a new island.
When they sacrificed their power to awaken the Matoran, they become Turaga, and later established new villages on this island called Mata Nui.
2006 – Island of Doom
The Toa Nuva learned that Mata Nui was not only asleep but dying.
To save him, they must travel to the island of Voya Nui and seek the mysterious Kanohi Ignika, the Mask of Life.
The Toa Nuva set out on this adventure but are quickly taken prisoner by six new and powerful enemies, the Piraka: Zaktann, Hakann, Vezok, Thok, Reidak, and Avak.
They sought the mask for their own dark purposes.
When the Toa failed to return, a group of six Matoran followed after them.
Jaller, Hahli, Hewkii, Nuparu, Kongu, and Matoro escaped to the island in Toa canisters, but as they traveled, bolts of lighting from the Red Star transformed them into the Toa Inika.
Upon their arrival, they learn of the Piraka and how they enslaved the local Matoran by posing as false Toa, in order to make the Matoran build them a fortress.
With the help of a small Matoran Resistance and the ancient guardian Axonn, the Toa Inika were able to free the Toa Nuva, find the temple of the mask, and battle the Piraka as well as the other creatures guarding it.
They eventually emerged victorious with the Kanohi.
But the Mask of Life possessed a will of its own, and in the last moment evades them all, rushing into the depths of the sea.
2007 – Sea of Darkness
Following the chase for the Mask of Life, the Toa Inika descended into the waters after receiving the mysterious clue "save the sunken city" from an unknown Matoran, who had saved Hahli from drowning at the cost of him dying from decompression sickness.[14] A burst of energy from the Mask of Life transformed the Toa Inika into water-breathing forms.
They discovered an inhabited village of Mahri Nui that had broken off from Voya Nui and sunk a thousand years ago.
The village was threatened by ancient warlords known as Barraki that had been mutated by the nearby mutagenic waters called "The Pit".
The Toa, now known as Toa Mahri, faced off against the Barraki to survive.
However, by the time the Toa retrieved the mask, the Great Spirit died.
Realizing there was still hope, Toa Matoro rushed to the core of the universe and sacrificed his life to revive Mata Nui.
In the last moments of his life, Toa Matoro used the Mask's power to teleport the Toa Mahri back to Metru Nui and allow them to breathe air again.
The Great Spirit's life was saved but he still had to be awakened.
2008 – The Final Battle
After being given new armor and weapons by Artakha, the Toa Nuva arrived at Karda Nui, the core of the universe.
There, they came to face the Makuta who were trying to turn the population of Av-Matoran – Matoran of Light – into Shadow Matoran.
The Toa Nuva were helped by the arrival of Takanuva, now able to control Light and Shadow because of a shadow leech attack, and Toa Ignika, who is the Mask of Life itself.
The Kanohi Ignika had made a body for itself because it wished to see what it was like to be a living being.
With their combined forces, they reached a structure in the center of Karda Nui called the Codrex, where Toa Ignika had to sacrifice his new body to awaken Mata Nui.
Takanuva, with the help of the remaining uncorrupted Av-Matoran, returned the Shadow Matoran to their previous states.
Shortly afterwards, the Toa escaped the core before the energy storm caused by Mata Nui's awakening could destroy them.
The Makuta, however, failed to escape, and were all killed.
Back in Metru Nui, Mata Nui's awakening was celebrated, but celebration was cut short when it was revealed that Teridax had taken over the body of Mata Nui, revealed to be the universe of the Matoran.
Trapping the spirit of Mata Nui in the Mask of Life, he sent it flying into space so that the former Great Spirit cannot interfere with his control over the universe.
2009 – The Legend Reborn
The Bionicle story continues after Mata Nui was banished from his body by Makuta Teridax, onto a planet called Bara Magna.
With the exception of a few wildlife species, Bara Magna is a barren desert planet which only supports few resources, so each tribe on the planet has a few warriors, called Glatorian, to battle for them.
These resources, such as food and water, are distributed accordingly.
The villagers of this world are known as Agori.
The Agori together make up six different tribes, each affiliated with a region.
After the Mask of Life lands on Bara Magna, it creates a body for Mata Nui to use.
Mata Nui then teams up with a few Glatorian to defeat the combined forces of the Skrall and Bone Hunters, two major threats to the villages, and look for a way to return to his body.
With the help of his new Glatorian and Agori friends he exposes a traitor known as Metus and defeats the Skrall and Bone Hunters.
He helps the villages of the world to unite, taking all of the giant pieces of robot and linking them into a large prototype robotic body, a body like the one the Matoran Universe resides in.
2010 – Journey's End
After defeating the Skrall and seeing the rest of the villages unite, Mata Nui stands against the challenge of taking back his old body from Teridax.
He learns that he was created by the Great Beings on the planet of Spherus Magna, which is now divided into a jungle moon (Bota Magna), an ocean moon (Aqua Magna), and the remaining desert planet (Bara Magna), as the result of the Core War.
Mata Nui also learns that before he was built, there was a previous robot, which the Agori use as their home.
An Agori of Tesara named Tarduk helps Mata Nui by showing him an ancient power source that could power up the old robot.
In this final journey, two heroes return to finish the fight: Tahu, returned to his original form to wear the powerful Golden Armor, and Takanuva.
They are aided by Gresh.
They fight off the Skakdi Warlord, Nektann to defeat Makuta, and his army; hordes of Rahkshi, armed with heat vision; and Skrall.
The story continues as the forces of both the Matoran Universe and Glatorian face the oncoming onslaught of Skakdi, Rahkshi, and Skrall.
The golden armour, scattered by Makuta's blast is collected by Tahu, Gresh, and Takanuva from the many enemies.
Tahu defeats Skakdi warlord Nektann, and then dons the armour, which incinerates every Rahkshi Kraata on Bara Magna.
Teridax claims that he will destroy Bara Magna with gravitic energy, until Mata Nui forces his arm upwards, causing Teridax to send the energy wave to the moons above.
Mata Nui pushes Teridax back into one of the onrushing moons, the green moon of Bota Magna, whose impact destroys his core processor, which kills Teridax.
Mata Nui then mourns the brother that he could have had, in his mind.
The finale concludes when Mata Nui uses his strength, and the power of the Mask of Life, to bring Spherus Magna together once more, to heal those who were mutated by Pit Mutagen, to bring life back to the planet, and to reconstruct destroyed geographical features.
The strain causes his power core to dissipate, destroying the prototype robot.
When the Glatorian and Toa discover the Ignika unscathed in the location where Mata Nui was, Mata Nui speaks to them from within the Mask of Life.
He tells them that the future is their own and theirs to build.
He then remains dormant in the Ignika.
The Agori, Matoran, Toa, Glatorian and all others begin a new life on Spherus Magna.
Future of Bionicle
The Bionicle toyline drew to a close in late 2009, after the 2010 sets were finalized for release, and was replaced in the summer of 2010 by Hero Factory, a Lego theme that´s compatible with Bionicle sets.
But despite this, the story is continuing in serials written by Greg Farshtey online at BIONICLEstory.com .
The Bionicle franchise has been well received, with one reviewer describing the sets as "good combination of assembly and action figure" and first-year sales of 100 million British pounds (161.7 million USD).
Bionicle had received a Toy of the Year Award for Most Innovative Toy in 2001 from the Toy Industry Association.
Māori language controversy
In 2001, several Māori tribal groups from New Zealand threatened legal action against Lego for allegedly trademarking Māori words used in naming the Bionicle product range.
In response, a Lego spokesperson stated that only the term "Bionicle" had been trademarked.
Lego agreed to stop commercial use of the Māori language after sending an executive to meet with Māori representatives in New Zealand.
Some Māori terms used by Lego were changed, such as "Huki", which was changed to "Hewkii", and "Tohunga", which was changed to "Matoran".
Within the fictional Bionicle universe, these changes were explained by the introduction of a "Naming Day" holiday, in which characters who have done heroic deeds for their village are honored by having the spelling of their name changed (though the pronunciation remains the same).
However, a number of Māori terms such as "Toa", which means "warrior", "Kanohi", which means "face", and "Kopaka", which means "cold", were not changed.
Since this controversy, Lego has not made any more names that are common terms in other living languages (with the exception of Umbra, a Latin word, and some names that are real names in some languages).
The rapid success of Bionicle has had a major impact on the Lego company.
According to Stephanie Lawrence, the global director of licensing for Lego, "We've created an evergreen franchise to complement the many event-based properties on the children's market.
An increasing number of category manufacturers want to tap into the power of the BIONICLE universe, and the key for us now is to manage the excitement to stay true to the brand and the lifestyle of our core consumer."
According to one source, Bionicle has changed the way children think of, and play with, LEGO products by combining "the best of LEGO building with the story telling and adventure of an action figure line," and that 85% of American boys age 6–12 know of the Bionicle brand and 45% own the toys.
Paul Hardcastle and Simon Fuller produced the first soundtracks for Bionicle's commercials used in 2001 to 2003.
Music for the first three Bionicle films featured a more classical tune, rather that the techno-like beats used in the ads and animations.
In 2005, the first official Bionicle songs were released.