Hearing

Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium. 　The academic field concerned with hearing is auditory science. 　Sound may be heard through solid, liquid, or gaseous matter. 　It is one of the traditional five senses. 　Partial or total inability to hear is called hearing loss. 　In humans and other vertebrates, hearing is performed primarily by the auditory system: mechanical waves, known as vibrations, are detected by the ear and transduced into nerve impulses that are perceived by the brain (primarily in the temporal lobe). 　Like touch, audition requires sensitivity to the movement of molecules in the world outside the organism. 　Both hearing and touch are types of mechanosensation.

Dinner

Dinner usually refers to what is in many Western cultures the largest and most formal meal of the day, which is eaten in the evening. 　Historically, the largest meal used to be eaten around midday, and called dinner. 　Especially among the elite, it gradually migrated to later in the day over the 16th to 19th centuries. 　The word has different meanings depending on culture, and may mean a meal of any size eaten at any time of day. 　In particular, it is still sometimes used for a meal at noon or in the early afternoon on special occasions, such as a Christmas dinner. 　In hot climates, the main meal is more likely to be eaten in the evening, after the temperature has fallen.

Jazz

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. 　Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. 　Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. 　Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. 　As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. 　New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. 　But jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. 　In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisational style), and gypsy jazz (a style that emphasized musette waltzes) were the prominent styles. 　Bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging "musician's music" which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. 　Cool jazz developed near the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, linear melodic lines. 　The mid-1950s saw the emergence of hard bop, which introduced influences from rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues to small groups and particularly to saxophone and piano. 　Modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation, as did free jazz, which explored playing without regular meter, beat and formal structures. 　Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock music's rhythms, electric instruments, and highly amplified stage sound. 　In the early 1980s, a commercial form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful, garnering significant radio airplay. 　Other styles and genres abound in the 21st century, such as Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz.

Ratio

In mathematics, a ratio shows how many times one number contains another. 　For example, if there are eight oranges and six lemons in a bowl of fruit, then the ratio of oranges to lemons is eight to six (that is, 8:6, which is equivalent to the ratio 4:3). 　Similarly, the ratio of lemons to oranges is 6:8 (or 3:4) and the ratio of oranges to the total amount of fruit is 8:14 (or 4:7). 　The numbers in a ratio may be quantities of any kind, such as counts of people or objects, or such as measurements of lengths, weights, time, etc. 　In most contexts, both numbers are restricted to be positive. 　A ratio may be specified either by giving both constituting numbers, written as "a to b" or "a:b", or by giving just the value of their quotient a/b. 　Equal quotients correspond to equal ratios. 　Consequently, a ratio may be considered as an ordered pair of numbers, a fraction with the first number in the numerator and the second in the denominator, or as the value denoted by this fraction. 　Ratios of counts, given by (non-zero) natural numbers, are rational numbers, and may sometimes be natural numbers. 　When two quantities are measured with the same unit, as is often the case, their ratio is a dimensionless number. 　A quotient of two quantities that are measured with different units is called a rate.

Jews

This article contains Hebrew text. 　Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hebrew letters. 　Jews (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים, ISO 259-2: Yehudim, Israeli pronunciation: [jehuˈdim]) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah. 　Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the ethnic religion of the Jewish people, although its observance varies from strict to none. 　Jews originated as an ethnic and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, in a part of the Levant known as the Land of Israel. 　The Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE (Late Bronze Age). 　The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold in the region with the emergence of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. 　Some consider that these Canaan-sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as the "Hebrews". 　The experience of life in the Jewish diaspora, from the Babylonian captivity and exile (though few sources mention this period in detail) to the Roman occupation and exile, and the historical relations between Jews and their homeland in the Levant thereafter became a major feature of Jewish history, identity, culture, and memory. 　In the following millennia, Jewish diaspora communities coalesced into three major ethnic subdivisions according to where their ancestors settled: the Ashkenazim (Central and Eastern Europe), the Sephardim (initially in the Iberian Peninsula), and the Mizrahim (Middle East and North Africa). 　Prior to World War II, the global Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million, representing around 0.7 percent of the world population at that time. 　During World War II, approximately 6 million Jews throughout Europe were systematically murdered by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. 　Since then, the population has slowly risen again, and as of 2018[update], was estimated to be at 14.6–17.8 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank, comprising less than 0.2 percent of the total world population. 　The modern State of Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. 　Jews have significantly influenced and contributed to human progress in many fields, both historically and in modern times, including in science and technology, philosophy, ethics, literature, politics, business, art, music, comedy, theatre, cinema, architecture, food, medicine, and religion. 　Jews wrote the Bible, founded Christianity, and had an indirect but profound influence on Islam. 　In these ways, Jews have also played a significant role in the development of Western culture.

Sales

Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. 　The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. 　The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in response to an acquisition, appropriation, requisition, or a direct interaction with the buyer at the point of sale. 　There is a passing of title (property or ownership) of the item, and the settlement of a price, in which agreement is reached on a price for which transfer of ownership of the item will occur. 　The seller, not the purchaser, typically executes the sale and it may be completed prior to the obligation of payment. 　In the case of indirect interaction, a person who sells goods or service on behalf of the owner is known as a salesman or saleswoman or salesperson, but this often refers to someone selling goods in a store/shop, in which case other terms are also common, including salesclerk, shop assistant, and retail clerk. 　In common law countries, sales are governed generally by the common law and commercial codes. 　In the United States, the laws governing sales of goods are somewhat uniform to the extent that most jurisdictions have adopted Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, albeit with some non-uniform variations.

Thou

The word thou (/ðaʊ/) is a second-person singular pronoun in English. 　It is now largely archaic, having been replaced in most contexts by the word you, although it remains in use in parts of Northern England and in Scots (/ðu/). 　Thou is the nominative form; the oblique/objective form is thee (functioning as both accusative and dative); the possessive is thy (adjective) or thine (as an adjective before a vowel or as a possessive pronoun); and the reflexive is thyself. 　When thou is the grammatical subject of a finite verb in the indicative mood, the verb form typically ends in -(e)st (e.g. "thou goest", "thou do(e)st"), but in some cases just -t (e.g., "thou art"; "thou shalt"). 　Originally, thou was simply the singular counterpart to the plural pronoun ye, derived from an ancient Indo-European root. 　In Middle English, thou was sometimes represented with a scribal abbreviation that put a small "u" over the letter thorn: þͧ (later, in printing presses that lacked this letter, this abbreviation was sometimes rendered as yͧ). 　Starting in the 1300s, thou and thee were used to express familiarity, formality, or contempt, for addressing strangers, superiors, or inferiors, or in situations when indicating singularity to avoid confusion was needed; concurrently, the plural forms, ye and you began to also be used for singular: typically for addressing rulers, superiors, equals, inferiors, parents, younger persons, and significant others. 　In the 17th century, thou fell into disuse in the standard language, often regarded as impolite, but persisted, sometimes in an altered form, in regional dialects of England and Scotland, as well as in the language of such religious groups as the Society of Friends. 　The use of the pronoun is also still present in Christian prayer and in poetry. 　Early English translations of the Bible used the familiar singular form of the second person, which mirrors common usage trends in other languages. 　The familiar and singular form is used when speaking to God in French (in Protestantism both in past and present, in Catholicism since the post–Vatican II reforms), German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Scottish Gaelic and many others (all of which maintain the use of an "informal" singular form of the second person in modern speech). 　In addition, the translators of the King James Version of the Bible attempted to maintain the distinction found in Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic and Koine Greek between singular and plural second-person pronouns and verb forms, so they used thou, thee, thy, and thine for singular, and ye, you, your, and yours for plural. 　In standard modern English, thou continues to be used in formal religious contexts, in wedding ceremonies, in literature that seeks to reproduce archaic language, and in certain fixed phrases such as "fare thee well". 　For this reason, many associate the pronoun with solemnity or formality. 　Many dialects have compensated for the lack of a singular/plural distinction caused by the disappearance of thou and ye through the creation of new plural pronouns or pronominals, such as yinz, yous and y'all or the colloquial you guys. 　Ye remains common in some parts of Ireland, but the examples just given vary regionally and are usually restricted to colloquial speech.

Promise

A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something. 　As a noun promise means a declaration assuring that one will or will not do something. 　As a verb it means to commit oneself by a promise to do or give. 　It can also mean a capacity for good, similar to a value that is to be realized in the near future. 　In the law of contract, an exchange of promises is usually held to be legally enforceable, according to the Latin maxim pacta sunt servanda.

Passenger

A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. 　The vehicles may be bicycles, buses, passenger trains, airliners, ships, ferryboats, and other methods of transportation. 　Crew members (if any), as well as the driver or pilot of the vehicle, are usually not considered to be passengers. 　For example, a flight attendant on an airline would not be considered a passenger while on duty and the same with those working in the kitchen or restaurant on board a ship as well as cleaning staff, but an employee riding in a company car being driven by another person would be considered a passenger, even if the car was being driven on company business.

Pattern

A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. 　As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. 　A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated like a wallpaper design. 　Any of the senses may directly observe patterns. 　Conversely, abstract patterns in science, mathematics, or language may be observable only by analysis. 　Direct observation in practice means seeing visual patterns, which are widespread in nature and in art. 　Visual patterns in nature are often chaotic, rarely exactly repeating, and often involve fractals. 　Natural patterns include spirals, meanders, waves, foams, tilings, cracks, and those created by symmetries of rotation and reflection. 　Patterns have an underlying mathematical structure;: 6  indeed, mathematics can be seen as the search for regularities, and the output of any function is a mathematical pattern. 　Similarly in the sciences, theories explain and predict regularities in the world. 　In art and architecture, decorations or visual motifs may be combined and repeated to form patterns designed to have a chosen effect on the viewer. 　In computer science, a software design pattern is a known solution to a class of problems in programming. 　In fashion, the pattern is a template used to create any number of similar garments. 　In many areas of the decorative arts, from ceramics and textiles to wallpaper, "pattern" is used for an ornamental design that is manufactured, perhaps for many different shapes of object.

Classic

A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. 　The word can be an adjective (a classic car) or a noun (a classic of English literature). 　It denotes a particular quality in art, architecture, literature, design, technology, or other cultural artifacts. 　In commerce, products are named 'classic' to denote a long-standing popular version or model, to distinguish it from a newer variety. 　Classic is used to describe many major, long-standing sporting events. 　Colloquially, an everyday occurrence (e.g. a joke or mishap) may be described in some dialects of English as 'an absolute classic'. 　"Classic" should not be confused with classical, which refers specifically to certain cultural styles, especially in music and architecture: styles generally taking inspiration from the Classical tradition, hence classicism.

Translation

Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. 　The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between translating (a written text) and interpreting (oral or signed communication between users of different languages); under this distinction, translation can begin only after the appearance of writing within a language community. 　A translator always risks inadvertently introducing source-language words, grammar, or syntax into the target-language rendering. 　On the other hand, such "spill-overs" have sometimes imported useful source-language calques and loanwords that have enriched target languages. 　Translators, including early translators of sacred texts, have helped shape the very languages into which they have translated. 　Because of the laboriousness of the translation process, since the 1940s efforts have been made, with varying degrees of success, to automate translation or to mechanically aid the human translator. 　More recently, the rise of the Internet has fostered a world-wide market for translation services and has facilitated "language localisation".

Translation (biology)

In molecular biology and genetics, translation is the process in which ribosomes in the cytoplasm or endoplasmic reticulum synthesize proteins after the process of transcription of DNA to RNA in the cell's nucleus. 　The entire process is called gene expression. 　In translation, messenger RNA (mRNA) is decoded in a ribosome, outside the nucleus, to produce a specific amino acid chain, or polypeptide. 　The polypeptide later folds into an active protein and performs its functions in the cell. 　The ribosome facilitates decoding by inducing the binding of complementary tRNA anticodon sequences to mRNA codons. 　The tRNAs carry specific amino acids that are chained together into a polypeptide as the mRNA passes through and is "read" by the ribosome. 　Translation proceeds in three phases: Initiation: The ribosome assembles around the target mRNA. 　The first tRNA is attached at the start codon. 　Elongation: The last tRNA validated by the small ribosomal subunit (accommodation) transfers the amino acid it carries to the large ribosomal subunit which binds it to the one of the precedingly admitted tRNA (transpeptidation). 　The ribosome then moves to the next mRNA codon to continue the process (translocation), creating an amino acid chain. 　Termination: When a stop codon is reached, the ribosome releases the polypeptide. 　The ribosomal complex remains intact and moves on to the next mRNA to be translated. 　In prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea), translation occurs in the cytosol, where the large and small subunits of the ribosome bind to the mRNA. 　In eukaryotes, translation occurs in the cytoplasm or across the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum in a process called co-translational translocation. 　In co-translational translocation, the entire ribosome/mRNA complex binds to the outer membrane of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the new protein is synthesized and released into the ER; the newly created polypeptide can be stored inside the ER for future vesicle transport and secretion outside the cell, or immediately secreted. 　Many types of transcribed RNA, such as transfer RNA, ribosomal RNA, and small nuclear RNA, do not undergo translation into proteins. 　A number of antibiotics act by inhibiting translation. 　These include anisomycin, cycloheximide, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, streptomycin, erythromycin, and puromycin. 　Prokaryotic ribosomes have a different structure from that of eukaryotic ribosomes, and thus antibiotics can specifically target bacterial infections without any harm to a eukaryotic host's cells.

Translation (sociology)

In actor-network theory (ANT), translation is the process that allows a network to be represented by a single entity, which can in itself be an individual or another network. 　It encompasses all negotiations, intrigues, calculations, and acts of persuasion, thanks to which an actor (or actant) takes authority to speak or act on behalf of other actors. 　According to ANT, an actor is an actant, something made to act, therefore it includes both human and non-human entities. 　Non-humans can have interests, they can enroll others, in exactly the same way as humans do. 　The concept of translation was developed by the French philosopher Michel Serres, and then applied to sociology by Michel Callon.

Advance

Look up advance in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 　Advance commonly refers to: Advance, an offensive push in sports, games, thoughts, military combat, or sexual or romantic pursuits Advance payment for goods or services Advance against royalties, a payment to be offset against future royalty payments Advance may also refer to:

Nose

A nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which receive and expel air for respiration alongside the mouth. 　Behind the nose are the olfactory mucosa and the sinuses. 　Behind the nasal cavity, air next passes through the pharynx, shared with the digestive system, and then into the rest of the respiratory system. 　In humans, the nose is located centrally on the face and serves as an alternative respiratory passage especially during suckling for infants. 　The protruding nose that completely separate from the mouth part is a characteristic found only in therian mammals. 　It has been theorized that this unique mammalian nose evolved from the anterior part of the upper jaw of the reptilian-like ancestors (synapsids).

Bronze

Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such as arsenic or silicon. 　These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as strength, ductility, or machinability. 　The archaeological period in which bronze was the hardest metal in widespread use is known as the Bronze Age. 　The beginning of the Bronze Age in western Eurasia and India is conventionally dated to the mid-4th millennium BCE (~3500 BCE), and to the early 2nd millennium BCE in China; elsewhere it gradually spread across regions. 　The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age starting from about 1300 BCE and reaching most of Eurasia by about 500 BCE, although bronze continued to be much more widely used than it is in modern times. 　Because historical artworks were often made of brasses (copper and zinc) and bronzes with different compositions, modern museum and scholarly descriptions of older artworks increasingly use the generalized term "copper alloy" instead.

Sword

A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. 　Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. 　A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip. 　A slashing sword is more likely to be curved and to have a sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade. 　Many swords are designed for both thrusting and slashing. 　The precise definition of a sword varies by historical epoch and geographic region. 　Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger; the earliest specimens date to about 1600 BC. 　The later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. 　The spatha, as it developed in the Late Roman army, became the predecessor of the European sword of the Middle Ages, at first adopted as the Migration Period sword, and only in the High Middle Ages, developed into the classical arming sword with crossguard. 　The word sword continues the Old English, sweord. 　The use of a sword is known as swordsmanship or, in a modern context, as fencing. 　In the early modern period, western sword design diverged into two forms, the thrusting swords and the sabres. 　Thrusting swords such as the rapier and eventually the smallsword were designed to impale their targets quickly and inflict deep stab wounds. 　Their long and straight yet light and well balanced design made them highly maneuverable and deadly in a duel but fairly ineffective when used in a slashing or chopping motion. 　A well aimed lunge and thrust could end a fight in seconds with just the sword's point, leading to the development of a fighting style which closely resembles modern fencing. 　The sabre and similar blades such as the cutlass were built more heavily and were more typically used in warfare. 　Built for slashing and chopping at multiple enemies, often from horseback, the sabre's long curved blade and slightly forward weight balance gave it a deadly character all its own on the battlefield. 　Most sabres also had sharp points and double-edged blades, making them capable of piercing soldier after soldier in a cavalry charge. 　Sabres continued to see battlefield use until the early 20th century. 　The US Navy kept tens of thousands of sturdy cutlasses in their armory well into World War II and many were issued to Marines in the Pacific as jungle machetes. 　Non-European weapons classified as swords include single-edged weapons such as the Middle Eastern scimitar, the Chinese Dao and the related Japanese katana. 　The Chinese jiàn 剑 is an example of a non-European double-edged sword, like the European models derived from the double-edged Iron Age sword.

Apartment

An apartment (American English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), or unit (Australian English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. 　There are many names for these overall buildings, see below. 　The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing, to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium (strata title or commonhold), to tenants renting from a private landlord (see leasehold estate).

Principle

A principle is a proposition or value that is a guide for behavior or evaluation. 　In law, it is a rule that has to be or usually is to be followed. 　It can be desirably followed, or it can be an inevitable consequence of something, such as the laws observed in nature or the way that a system is constructed. 　The principles of such a system are understood by its users as the essential characteristics of the system, or reflecting system's designed purpose, and the effective operation or use of which would be impossible if any one of the principles was to be ignored. 　A system may be explicitly based on and implemented from a document of principles as was done in IBM's 360/370 Principles of Operation. 　Examples of principles are, entropy in a number of fields, least action in physics, those in descriptive comprehensive and fundamental law: doctrines or assumptions forming normative rules of conduct, separation of church and state in statecraft, the central dogma of molecular biology, fairness in ethics, etc. 　In common English, it is a substantive and collective term referring to rule governance, the absence of which, being "unprincipled", is considered a character defect. 　It may also be used to declare that a reality has diverged from some ideal or norm as when something is said to be true only "in principle" but not in fact.

Ontario

Ontario (/ɒnˈtɛərioʊ/ (listen) on-TAIR-ee-oh; French: [ɔ̃taʁjo]) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. 　Located in Central Canada, it is Canada's most populous province, with 38.3 percent of the country's population, and is the second-largest province by total area (after Quebec). 　Ontario is Canada's fourth-largest jurisdiction in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included. 　It is home to the nation's capital city, Ottawa, and the nation's most populous city, Toronto, which is Ontario's provincial capital. 　Ontario is bordered by the province of Manitoba to the west, Hudson Bay and James Bay to the north, and Quebec to the east and northeast, and to the south by the U.S. states of (from west to east) Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. 　Almost all of Ontario's 2,700 km (1,678 mi) border with the United States follows inland waterways: from the westerly Lake of the Woods, eastward along the major rivers and lakes of the Great Lakes/Saint Lawrence River drainage system. 　There is only about 1 km (0.6 mi) of actual land border, made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. 　The great majority of Ontario's population and arable land is in Southern Ontario. 　In contrast, Northern Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and heavy forestation.

Ear

An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. 　In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. 　The outer ear consists of the pinna and the ear canal. 　Since the outer ear is the only visible portion of the ear in most animals, the word "ear" often refers to the external part alone. 　The middle ear includes the tympanic cavity and the three ossicles. 　The inner ear sits in the bony labyrinth, and contains structures which are key to several senses: the semicircular canals, which enable balance and eye tracking when moving; the utricle and saccule, which enable balance when stationary; and the cochlea, which enables hearing. 　The ears of vertebrates are placed somewhat symmetrically on either side of the head, an arrangement that aids sound localization. 　The ear develops from the first pharyngeal pouch and six small swellings that develop in the early embryo called otic placodes, which are derived from ectoderm. 　The ear may be affected by disease, including infection and traumatic damage. 　Diseases of the ear may lead to hearing loss, tinnitus and balance disorders such as vertigo, although many of these conditions may also be affected by damage to the brain or neural pathways leading from the ear. 　The ear has been adorned by earrings and other jewelry in numerous cultures for thousands of years, and has been subjected to surgical and cosmetic alterations.

Emergency

Look up emergency in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 　An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. 　Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening of the situation, although in some situations, mitigation may not be possible and agencies may only be able to offer palliative care for the aftermath. 　While some emergencies are self-evident (such as a natural disaster that threatens many lives), many smaller incidents require that an observer (or affected party) decide whether it qualifies as an emergency. 　The precise definition of an emergency, the agencies involved and the procedures used, vary by jurisdiction, and this is usually set by the government, whose agencies (emergency services) are responsible for emergency planning and management.

Giant

In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: gigas, cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. 　The word giant is first attested in 1297 from Robert of Gloucester's chronicle. 　It is derived from the Gigantes (Greek: Γίγαντες) of Greek mythology. 　Fairy tales such as Jack the Giant Killer have formed the modern perception of giants as dimwitted ogres, sometimes said to eat humans, while other giants tend to eat the livestock. 　The antagonist in Jack and the Beanstalk is often described as a giant. 　In some more recent portrayals, like those of Jonathan Swift and Roald Dahl, some giants are both intelligent and friendly.