Singapore

Singapore (/ˈsɪŋ(ɡ)əpɔːr/ (listen)), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. 　It lies about one degree of latitude (137 kilometres or 85 miles) north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bordering the Strait of Malacca to the west, the Singapore Strait to the south, the South China Sea to the east, and the Straits of Johor to the north. 　The country's territory is composed of one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet; the combined area of these has increased by 25% since the country's independence as a result of extensive land reclamation projects. 　It has the third highest population density in the world. 　With a multicultural population and recognising the need to respect cultural identities of the major ethnic groups within the nation, Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. 　English is the lingua franca and numerous public services are available only in English. 　Multi-racialism is enshrined in the constitution and continues to shape national policies in education, housing, and politics. 　Singapore's history dates back at least a millennium, having been a maritime emporium known as Temasek and subsequently as a major constituent part of several successive thalassocratic empires. 　Its contemporary era began in 1819 when Stamford Raffles established Singapore as an entrepôt trading post of the British Empire. 　In 1867, the colonies in Southeast Asia were reorganised and Singapore came under the direct control of Britain as part of the Straits Settlements. 　During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Japan in 1942, and returned to British control as a separate Crown colony following Japan's surrender in 1945. 　Singapore gained self-governance in 1959 and in 1963 became part of the new federation of Malaysia, alongside Malaya, North Borneo, and Sarawak. 　Ideological differences, most notably the perceived encroachment of the egalitarian "Malaysian Malaysia" political ideology led by Lee Kuan Yew into the other constituent entities of Malaysia—at the perceived expense of the bumiputera and the policies of Ketuanan Melayu—eventually led to Singapore's expulsion from the federation two years later; Singapore became an independent sovereign country in 1965. 　After early years of turbulence whilst lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation rapidly developed to become one of the Four Asian Tigers based on international trade and economic globalisation, integrating itself within the world economy through free trade with minimal-to-no trade barriers or tariffs, export-oriented industrialisation, and the large accumulation of received foreign direct investments, foreign-exchange reserves, and assets held by sovereign wealth funds. 　A highly developed country, it is tied at 12th on the UN Human Development Index and has the second-highest GDP per capita (PPP) in the world. 　Identified as a tax haven, Singapore is the only country in Asia with a AAA sovereign credit rating from all major rating agencies. 　It is a major aviation, financial, and maritime shipping hub, and has consistently been ranked as one of the most expensive cities to live in for expatriates and foreign workers. 　Singapore is placed highly in key social indicators: education, healthcare, quality of life, personal safety, infrastructure, and housing, with a home-ownership rate of 88 percent. 　Singaporeans enjoy one of the longest life expectancies, fastest Internet connection speeds, lowest infant mortality rates, and lowest levels of corruption in the world. 　Singapore is a unitary parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government, and its legal system is based on common law. 　Although the country is a multi-party democracy with free elections, the government under the People's Action Party (PAP) wields significant control and dominance over politics and society. 　The PAP has governed the country continuously since full internal self-government was achieved in 1959, with 83 out of 104 seats in Parliament as of the 2020 general election. 　One of the five founding members of ASEAN, Singapore is also the headquarters of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) Secretariat, and is the host city of many international conferences and events. 　Singapore is also a member of the United Nations (UN), World Trade Organization (WTO), East Asia Summit (EAS), Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Tail

The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. 　It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, reptiles, and birds. 　While tails are primarily a feature of vertebrates, some invertebrates including scorpions and springtails, as well as snails and slugs, have tail-like appendages that are sometimes referred to as tails. 　Tailed objects are sometimes referred to as "caudate" and the part of the body associated with or proximal to the tail are given the adjective "caudal".

Maryland

Maryland (US: /ˈmɛrɪlənd/ (listen) MERR-il-ənd) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. 　It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. 　With a total land area of 12,407 square miles (32,130 km2), Maryland is the 8th smallest state by land area, but with a population of over 6,177,200, it ranks as the 18th most populous state and the 5th most densely populated. 　Baltimore is the largest city in the state, and the capital is Annapolis. 　Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State. 　It is named after Henrietta Maria, the French-born queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, who was known then in England as Mary. 　Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Maryland was inhabited by several groups of Native Americans – mostly by Algonquian peoples and, to a lesser degree, Iroquoian and Siouan. 　As one of the original Thirteen Colonies of England, Maryland was founded by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a Catholic convert who sought to provide a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England. 　In 1632, Charles I of England granted Lord Baltimore a colonial charter, naming the colony after his wife, Henrietta Maria. 　Unlike the Pilgrims and Puritans, who rejected Catholicism in their settlements, Lord Baltimore envisioned a colony where people of different religious sects would coexist under the principle of toleration. 　Accordingly, in 1649 the Maryland General Assembly passed an Act Concerning Religion, which enshrined this principle by penalizing anyone who "reproached" a fellow Marylander based on religious affiliation. 　Nevertheless, religious strife was common in the early years, and Catholics remained a minority, albeit in greater numbers than in any other English colony. 　Maryland's early settlements and population centers clustered around rivers and other waterways that empty into the Chesapeake Bay. 　Its economy was heavily plantation-based and centered mostly on the cultivation of tobacco. 　Demand for cheap labor from Maryland colonists led to the importation of numerous indentured servants and enslaved Africans. 　In 1760, Maryland's current boundaries took form following the settlement of a long-running border dispute with Pennsylvania. 　Maryland was an active participant in the events leading up to the American Revolution, and by 1776, its delegates signed the Declaration of Independence. 　Many of its citizens subsequently played key political and military roles in the war. 　In 1790, the state ceded land for the establishment of the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C. Although then a slave state, Maryland remained in the Union during the American Civil War, its strategic location giving it a significant role in the conflict. 　After the Civil War, Maryland took part in the Industrial Revolution, driven by its seaports, railroad networks, and mass immigration from Europe. 　Since the 1940s, the state's population has grown rapidly, to approximately six million residents, and it is among the most densely populated U.S. states. 　As of 2015[update], Maryland had the highest median household income of any state, owing in large part to its proximity to Washington, D.C., and a highly diversified economy spanning manufacturing, retail services, public administration, real estate, higher education, information technology, defense contracting, health care, and biotechnology. 　Maryland is one of the most multicultural states in the country; it is one of the six states where non-Whites compose a majority of the population, with the fifth-highest percentage of African Americans, and high numbers of residents born in Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, and South and East Asia. 　The state's central role in U.S. history is reflected by its hosting of some of the highest numbers of historic landmarks per capita. 　Sixteen of Maryland's twenty-three counties, as well as the city of Baltimore, border the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay estuary and its many tributaries, which combined total more than 4,000 miles of shoreline. 　Although one of the smallest states in the U.S., it features a variety of climates and topographical features that have earned it the moniker of America in Miniature. 　In a similar vein, Maryland's geography, culture, and history combine elements of the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, and Southern regions of the country.

Norway

Coordinates: 61°N 8°E / 61°N 8°E / 61; 8 Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. 　The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of Norway. 　Bouvet Island, located in the Subantarctic, is a dependency of Norway; it also lays claims to the Antarctic territories of Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land. 　The capital and largest city in Norway is Oslo. 　Norway has a total area of 385,207 square kilometres (148,729 sq mi) and had a population of 5,425,270 in January 2022. 　The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden at a length of 1,619 km (1,006 mi). 　It is bordered by Finland and Russia to the northeast and the Skagerrak strait to the south, on the other side of which are Denmark and the United Kingdom. 　Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. 　The maritime influence dominates Norway's climate, with mild lowland temperatures on the sea coasts; the interior, while colder, is also significantly milder than areas elsewhere in the world on such northerly latitudes. 　Even during polar night in the north, temperatures above freezing are commonplace on the coastline. 　The maritime influence brings high rainfall and snowfall to some areas of the country. 　Harald V of the House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway. 　Jonas Gahr Støre has been prime minister since 2021, replacing Erna Solberg. 　As a unitary sovereign state with a constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the parliament, the cabinet and the supreme court, as determined by the 1814 constitution. 　The kingdom was established in 872 as a merger of many petty kingdoms and has existed continuously for 1,151 years. 　From 1537 to 1814, Norway was a part of the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway, and, from 1814 to 1905, it was in a personal union with the Kingdom of Sweden. 　Norway was neutral during the First World War, and also in World War II until April 1940 when the country was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany until the end of the war. 　Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels: counties and municipalities. 　The Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act. 　Norway maintains close ties with both the European Union and the United States. 　Norway is also a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Free Trade Association, the Council of Europe, the Antarctic Treaty, and the Nordic Council; a member of the European Economic Area, the WTO, and the OECD; and a part of the Schengen Area. 　In addition, the Norwegian languages share mutual intelligibility with Danish and Swedish. 　Norway maintains the Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system, and its values are rooted in egalitarian ideals. 　The Norwegian state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, having extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, and fresh water. 　The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). 　On a per-capita basis, Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East. 　The country has the fourth-highest per-capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. 　On the CIA's GDP (PPP) per capita list (2015 estimate) which includes autonomous territories and regions, Norway ranks as number eleven. 　It has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with a value of US$1 trillion. 　Norway has the second highest Human Development Index ranking in the world, previously holding the top position between 2001 and 2006, and between 2009 and 2019; it also has the second highest inequality-adjusted ranking per 2021. 　Norway ranked first on the World Happiness Report for 2017 and currently ranks first on the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity, the Freedom Index, and the Democracy Index. 　Norway also has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. 　Although the majority of Norway's population is ethnic Norwegian, in the 21st century immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth; in 2021, the five largest minority groups in the country were the descendants of Polish, Lithuanian, Somali, Pakistani, and Swedish immigrants.

Brick

A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. 　Properly, the term brick denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured construction blocks. 　Bricks can be joined using mortar, adhesives or by interlocking them. 　Bricks are usually produced at brickworks in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities. 　Block is a similar term referring to a rectangular building unit composed of similar materials, but is usually larger than a brick. 　Lightweight bricks (also called lightweight blocks) are made from expanded clay aggregate. 　Fired bricks are one of the longest-lasting and strongest building materials, sometimes referred to as artificial stone, and have been used since circa 4000 BC. 　Air-dried bricks, also known as mud-bricks, have a history older than fired bricks, and have an additional ingredient of a mechanical binder such as straw. 　Bricks are laid in courses and numerous patterns known as bonds, collectively known as brickwork, and may be laid in various kinds of mortar to hold the bricks together to make a durable structure.

Mile

The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English feet, or 1,760 yards. 　The statute mile was standardised between the British Commonwealth and the United States by an international agreement in 1959, when it was formally redefined with respect to SI units as exactly 1,609.344 metres. 　With qualifiers, mile is also used to describe or translate a wide range of units derived from or roughly equivalent to the Roman mile, such as the nautical mile (now 1.852 km exactly), the Italian mile (roughly 1.852 km), and the Chinese mile (now 500 m exactly). 　The Romans divided their mile into 5,000 Roman feet but the greater importance of furlongs in Elizabethan-era England meant that the statute mile was made equivalent to 8 furlongs or 5,280 feet in 1593. 　This form of the mile then spread across the British Empire, some successor states of which continue to employ the mile. 　The US Geological Survey now employs the metre for official purposes, but legacy data from its 1927 geodetic datum has meant that a separate US survey mile (6336/3937 km) continues to see some use, although it was officially phased out in 2022. 　While most countries replaced the mile with the kilometre when switching to the International System of Units (SI), the international mile continues to be used in some countries, such as Liberia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and a number of countries with fewer than one million inhabitants, most of which are UK or US territories or have close historical ties with the UK or US.

Rescue

Look up rescue in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 　Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or the urgent treatment of injuries after an accident or a dangerous situation. 　Tools used might include search and rescue dogs, mounted search and rescue horses, helicopters, the "jaws of life", and other hydraulic cutting and spreading tools used to extricate individuals from wrecked vehicles. 　Rescue operations are sometimes supported by rescue vehicles operated by rescue squads. 　Rescue is a potent theme in human psychology, both from mortal perils and moral perils, and is often treated in fiction, with the rescue of a damsel in distress being a notable trope. 　Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud introduced the concept of "rescue fantasies" by men pursuing "fallen women" in his 1910 work "A Special Type of Choice of Object Made by Men"; Freud's insight into this aspect of male psychology might retain merit, though his proposed Oedipus complex used to frame this concept is no longer in vogue. 　Within the practice of psychoanalysis, the term has taken on the additional sense concerning therapists' desire to 'rescue' their clients. 　Historically, rescue could refer to an act of property seizure in service of an unpaid debt. 　For example, there is record of a countryman living in the vicinity of present-day Wythenshawe being prosecuted in a local court for "making rescue" of a pig which had been seized as a distress for non-payment of money owed.

Finance

Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. 　It is related to, but not synonymous with economics,which is the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of financial economics bridges the two). 　Finance activities take place in financial systems at various scopes, thus the field can be roughly divided into personal, corporate, and public finance. 　In a financial system, assets are bought, sold, or traded as financial instruments, such as currencies, loans, bonds, shares, stocks, options, futures, etc. 　Assets can also be banked, invested, and insured to maximize value and minimize loss. 　In practice, risks are always present in any financial action and entities. 　A broad range of subfields within finance exists due to its wide scope. 　Asset, money, risk and investment management aim to maximize value and minimize volatility. 　Financial analysis is the viability, stability, and profitability assessment of an action or entity. 　In some cases, theories in finance can be tested using the scientific method, covered by experimental finance. 　Some fields are multidisciplinary, such as mathematical finance, financial law, financial economics, financial engineering and financial technology. 　These fields are the foundation of business and accounting. 　The early history of finance parallels the early history of money, which is prehistoric. 　Ancient and medieval civilizations incorporated basic functions of finance, such as banking, trading and accounting, into their economies. 　In the late 19th century, the global financial system was formed. 　In the middle of the 20th century, finance emerged as a distinct academic discipline, separate from economics. 　(The first academic journal, The Journal of Finance, began publication in 1946.) 　The earliest doctoral programs in finance were established in the 1960s and 1970s. 　Finance is today also widely studied through career-focused undergraduate and master's level programs.

Salt

Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. 　Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater. 　The open ocean has about 35 g (1.2 oz) of solids per liter of sea water, a salinity of 3.5%. 　Salt is essential for life in general, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. 　Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous food seasonings, and is known to uniformly improve the taste perception of food, including otherwise unpalatable food. 　Salting, brining, and pickling are also ancient and important methods of food preservation. 　Some of the earliest evidence of salt processing dates to around 6,000 BC, when people living in the area of present-day Romania boiled spring water to extract salts; a salt-works in China dates to approximately the same period. 　Salt was also prized by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Hittites, Egyptians, and Indians. 　Salt became an important article of trade and was transported by boat across the Mediterranean Sea, along specially built salt roads, and across the Sahara on camel caravans. 　The scarcity and universal need for salt have led nations to go to war over it and use it to raise tax revenues. 　Salt is used in religious ceremonies and has other cultural and traditional significance. 　Salt is processed from salt mines, and by the evaporation of seawater (sea salt) and mineral-rich spring water in shallow pools. 　The greatest single use for salt (sodium chloride) is as a feedstock for the production of chemicals. 　It is used to produce caustic soda and chlorine; it is also used in the manufacturing processes of polyvinyl chloride, plastics, paper pulp and many other products. 　Of the annual global production of around three hundred million tonnes of salt, only a small percentage is used for human consumption. 　Other uses include water conditioning processes, de-icing highways, and agricultural use. 　Edible salt is sold in forms such as sea salt and table salt which usually contains an anti-caking agent and may be iodised to prevent iodine deficiency. 　As well as its use in cooking and at the table, salt is present in many processed foods. 　Sodium is an essential nutrient for human health via its role as an electrolyte and osmotic solute. 　Excessive salt consumption may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension, in children and adults. 　Such health effects of salt have long been studied. 　Accordingly, numerous world health associations and experts in developed countries recommend reducing consumption of popular salty foods. 　The World Health Organization recommends that adults consume less than 2,000 mg of sodium, equivalent to 5 grams of salt per day.

Musician

A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. 　According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. 　Musicians include songwriters who write both music and lyrics for songs, conductors who direct a musical performance, or performers who perform for an audience. 　A music performer is generally either a singer who provides vocals or an instrumentalist who plays a musical instrument. 　Musicians may perform on their own or as part of a group, band or orchestra. 　Musicians specialize in a musical style, and some musicians play in a variety of different styles depending on cultures and background. 　A musician who records and releases music can be known as a recording artist.

Jordan

Jordan (Arabic: الأردن; tr. Al-ʾUrdunn [al.ʔur.dunː]), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia. 　It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. 　Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and east, Iraq to the northeast, Syria to the north, and the Palestinian West Bank, Israel, and the Dead Sea to the west. 　It has a 26 km (16 mi) coastline in its southwest on the Gulf of Aqaba's Red Sea, which separates Jordan from Egypt. 　Amman is Jordan's capital and largest city, as well as its economic, political, and cultural centre. 　Modern-day Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. 　Three stable kingdoms emerged there at the end of the Bronze Age: Ammon, Moab and Edom. 　In the third century BC, the Arab Nabataeans established their Kingdom with Petra as the capital. 　Later rulers of the Transjordan region include the Assyrian, Babylonian, Roman, Byzantine, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abassid, and the Ottoman empires. 　After the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 during World War I, the Greater Syria region was partitioned by Britain and France. 　The Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921 by the Hashemite, then Emir, Abdullah I, and the emirate became a British protectorate. 　In 1946, Jordan gained independence and became officially known in Arabic as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. 　The country captured the West Bank during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and annexed it until it was lost to Israel in 1967. 　Jordan renounced its claim to the territory in 1988, and became the second Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. 　Jordan is a semi-arid country, covering an area of 89,342 km2 (34,495 sq mi), with a population of 10 million, making it the eleventh-most populous Arab country. 　The dominant majority, or around 95% of the country's population, is Sunni Muslim, with a mostly Arab Christian minority. 　Jordan has been mostly unscathed by the violence that swept the region following the Arab Spring in 2010. 　From as early as 1948, Jordan has accepted refugees from multiple neighboring countries in conflict. 　An estimated 2.1 million Palestinian and 1.4 million Syrian refugees are present in Jordan as of a 2015 census; with most Palestinian refugees holding Jordanian citizenship. 　The kingdom is also a refuge to thousands of Christian Iraqis fleeing persecution by the Islamic State. 　While Jordan continues to accept refugees, the recent large influx from Syria placed substantial strain on national resources and infrastructure. 　The sovereign state is a constitutional monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. 　Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation. 　The country has a high Human Development Index, ranking 102nd, and is considered an upper middle income economy. 　The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce. 　The country is a major tourist destination, also attracting medical tourism due to its well developed health sector. 　Nonetheless, a lack of natural resources, large flow of refugees, and regional turmoil have hampered economic growth.

Lambda

Lambda (/ˈlæmdə/; uppercase Λ, lowercase λ; Greek: λάμ(β)δα, lám(b)da) is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiced alveolar lateral approximant IPA: [l]. 　In the system of Greek numerals, lambda has a value of 30. 　Lambda is derived from the Phoenician Lamed . 　Lambda gave rise to the Latin L and the Cyrillic El (Л). 　The ancient grammarians and dramatists give evidence to the pronunciation as [laːbdaː] (λάβδα) in Classical Greek times. 　In Modern Greek, the name of the letter, Λάμδα, is pronounced [ˈlam.ða]. 　In early Greek alphabets, the shape and orientation of lambda varied. 　Most variants consisted of two straight strokes, one longer than the other, connected at their ends. 　The angle might be in the upper-left, lower-left ("Western" alphabets) or top ("Eastern" alphabets). 　Other variants had a vertical line with a horizontal or sloped stroke running to the right. 　With the general adoption of the Ionic alphabet, Greek settled on an angle at the top; the Romans put the angle at the lower-left. 　The HTML 4 character entity references for the Greek capital and small letter lambda are Λ and λ respectively. 　The Unicode code points for lambda are U+039B and U+03BB.

Carbon

Carbon (from Latin carbo 'coal') is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. 　It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. 　It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. 　Carbon makes up about 0.025 percent of Earth's crust. 　Three isotopes occur naturally, 12C and 13C being stable, while 14C is a radionuclide, decaying with a half-life of about 5,730 years. 　Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity. 　Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. 　Carbon's abundance, its unique diversity of organic compounds, and its unusual ability to form polymers at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth, enables this element to serve as a common element of all known life. 　It is the second most abundant element in the human body by mass (about 18.5%) after oxygen. 　The atoms of carbon can bond together in diverse ways, resulting in various allotropes of carbon. 　Well-known allotropes include graphite, diamond, amorphous carbon and fullerenes. 　The physical properties of carbon vary widely with the allotropic form. 　For example, graphite is opaque and black while diamond is highly transparent. 　Graphite is soft enough to form a streak on paper (hence its name, from the Greek verb "γράφειν" which means "to write"), while diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material known. 　Graphite is a good electrical conductor while diamond has a low electrical conductivity. 　Under normal conditions, diamond, carbon nanotubes, and graphene have the highest thermal conductivities of all known materials. 　All carbon allotropes are solids under normal conditions, with graphite being the most thermodynamically stable form at standard temperature and pressure. 　They are chemically resistant and require high temperature to react even with oxygen. 　The most common oxidation state of carbon in inorganic compounds is +4, while +2 is found in carbon monoxide and transition metal carbonyl complexes. 　The largest sources of inorganic carbon are limestones, dolomites and carbon dioxide, but significant quantities occur in organic deposits of coal, peat, oil, and methane clathrates. 　Carbon forms a vast number of compounds, with about two hundred million having been described and indexed; and yet that number is but a fraction of the number of theoretically possible compounds under standard conditions.

Coat

A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. 　Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a belt, or a combination of some of these. 　Other possible features include collars, shoulder straps and hoods.

Cheek

Look up cheek in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 　The cheeks (Latin: buccae) constitute the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left or right ear. 　"Buccal" means relating to the cheek. 　In humans, the region is innervated by the buccal nerve. 　The area between the inside of the cheek and the teeth and gums is called the vestibule or buccal pouch or buccal cavity and forms part of the mouth. 　In other animals the cheeks may also be referred to as jowls.

Flesh (theology)

In the Bible, the word "flesh" is often used simply as a description of the fleshy parts of an animal, including that of human beings, and typically in reference to dietary laws and sacrifice. 　Less often it is used as a metaphor for familial or kinship relations, and (particularly in the Christian tradition) as a metaphor to describe sinful tendencies. 　A related turn of phrase identifies certain sins as "carnal" sins, from Latin caro, carnis, meaning "flesh."

Flesh

Flesh is any aggregation of soft tissues of an organism. 　Various multicellular organisms have soft tissues that may be called "flesh". 　In mammals, including humans, flesh encompasses muscles, fats and other loose connective tissues, but sometimes excluding non-muscular organs (liver, lung, spleen, kidney) and typically discarded parts (hard tendon, brain tissue, intestines, etc.). 　In a culinary context, consumable animal flesh is called meat, while processed visceral tissues are known as offal. 　In particular animal groups such as vertebrates, molluscs and arthropods, the flesh is distinguished from tougher body structures such as bone, shell and scute, respectively. 　In plants, the "flesh" is the juicy, edible structures such as the mesocarp of fruits and melons as well as soft tubers, rhizomes and taproots, as opposed to tougher structures like nuts and stems. 　In fungi, flesh refers to trama, the soft, inner portion of a mushroom, or fruit body. 　A more restrictive usage may be found in some contexts, such as the visual arts, where flesh may refer only to visibly exposed human skin, as opposed to parts of the body covered by clothing and hair. 　Flesh as a descriptor for colour usually refers to the non-melanated pale or pinkish skin colour of white humans, however, it can also be used to refer to the colour of any human skin. 　In Christian religious circles, the flesh is a metaphor associated with carnality.

Rolling

Rolling is a type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an axially symmetric object) and translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the other moves), such that, if ideal conditions exist, the two are in contact with each other without sliding. 　Rolling where there is no sliding is referred to as pure rolling. 　By definition, there is no sliding when there is a frame of reference in which all points of contact on the rolling object have the same velocity as their counterparts on the surface on which the object rolls; in particular, for a frame of reference in which the rolling plane is at rest (see animation), the instantaneous velocity of all the points of contact (e.g., a generating line segment of a cylinder) of the rolling object is zero. 　In practice, due to small deformations near the contact area, some sliding and energy dissipation occurs. 　Nevertheless, the resulting rolling resistance is much lower than sliding friction, and thus, rolling objects, typically require much less energy to be moved than sliding ones. 　As a result, such objects will more easily move, if they experience a force with a component along the surface, for instance gravity on a tilted surface, wind, pushing, pulling, or torque from an engine. 　Unlike cylindrical axially symmetric objects, the rolling motion of a cone is such that while rolling on a flat surface, its center of gravity performs a circular motion, rather than a linear motion. 　Rolling objects are not necessarily axially-symmetrical. 　Two well known non-axially-symmetrical rollers are the Reuleaux triangle and the Meissner bodies. 　The oloid and the sphericon are members of a special family of developable rollers that develop their entire surface when rolling down a flat plane. 　Objects with corners, such as dice, roll by successive rotations about the edge or corner which is in contact with the surface. 　The construction of a specific surface allows even a perfect square wheel to roll with its centroid at constant height above a reference plane.

Knight

A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. 　Knighthood finds origins in the Greek hippeis and hoplite (ἱππεῖς) and Roman eques and centurion of classical antiquity. 　In the Early Middle Ages in Europe, knighthood was conferred upon mounted warriors. 　During the High Middle Ages, knighthood was considered a class of lower nobility. 　By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior. 　Often, a knight was a vassal who served as an elite fighter or a bodyguard for a lord, with payment in the form of land holdings. 　The lords trusted the knights, who were skilled in battle on horseback. 　Knighthood in the Middle Ages was closely linked with horsemanship (and especially the joust) from its origins in the 12th century until its final flowering as a fashion among the high nobility in the Duchy of Burgundy in the 15th century. 　This linkage is reflected in the etymology of chivalry, cavalier and related terms. 　In that sense, the special prestige accorded to mounted warriors in Christendom finds a parallel in the furusiyya in the Islamic world. 　The Crusades brought various military orders of knights to the forefront of defending Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. 　In the Late Middle Ages, new methods of warfare began to render classical knights in armour obsolete, but the titles remained in many countries. 　Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I is often referred to as the "last knight" in this regard. 　The ideals of chivalry were popularized in medieval literature, particularly the literary cycles known as the Matter of France, relating to the legendary companions of Charlemagne and his men-at-arms, the paladins, and the Matter of Britain, relating to the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. 　Today, a number of orders of knighthood continue to exist in Christian Churches, as well as in several historically Christian countries and their former territories, such as the Roman Catholic Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Spanish Order of Santiago, the Protestant Order of Saint John, as well as the English Order of the Garter, the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim, and the Order of St. Olav. 　There are also dynastic orders like the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Order of the British Empire and the Order of St. George. 　In modern times these are orders centered around charity and civic service, and are no longer military orders. 　Each of these orders has its own criteria for eligibility, but knighthood is generally granted by a head of state, monarch, or prelate to selected persons to recognise some meritorious achievement, as in the British honours system, often for service to the Church or country. 　The modern female equivalent in the English language is Dame. 　Knighthoods and damehoods are traditionally regarded as being one of the most prestigious awards people can obtain.

Oregon

Oregon (/ˈɒrɪɡən/ (listen)) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. 　Oregon is a part of the Western United States, with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. 　The 42° north parallel delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada. 　The western boundary is formed by the Pacific Ocean. 　Oregon has been home to many indigenous nations for thousands of years. 　The first European traders, explorers, and settlers began exploring what is now Oregon's Pacific coast in the early to mid-16th century. 　As early as 1564, the Spanish began sending vessels northeast from the Philippines, riding the Kuroshio Current in a sweeping circular route across the northern part of the Pacific. 　In 1592, Juan de Fuca undertook detailed mapping and studies of ocean currents in the Pacific Northwest, including the Oregon coast as well as the strait now bearing his name. 　The Lewis and Clark Expedition traversed Oregon in the early 1800s, and the first permanent European settlements in Oregon were established by fur trappers and traders. 　In 1843, an autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country, and the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. 　Oregon became the 33rd state of the U.S. on February 14, 1859. 　Today, with 4 million people over 98,000 square miles (250,000 km2), Oregon is the ninth largest and 27th most populous U.S. state. 　The capital, Salem, is the second-most populous city in Oregon, with 175,535 residents. 　Portland, with 652,503, ranks as the 26th among U.S. cities. 　The Portland metropolitan area is the 25th largest metro area in the nation, with a population of 2,453,168. 　Oregon is also one of the most geographically diverse states in the U.S., marked by volcanoes, abundant bodies of water, dense evergreen and mixed forests, as well as high deserts and semi-arid shrublands. 　At 11,249 feet (3,429 m), Mount Hood, a stratovolcano, is the state's highest point. 　Oregon's only national park, Crater Lake National Park, comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. 　The state is also home to the single largest organism in the world, Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus that runs beneath 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of the Malheur National Forest. 　Oregon's economy has historically been powered by various forms of agriculture, fishing, logging, and hydroelectric power. 　Oregon is the top lumber producer of the contiguous United States, with the lumber industry dominating the state's economy during the 20th century. 　Technology is another one of Oregon's major economic forces, beginning in the 1970s with the establishment of the Silicon Forest and the expansion of Tektronix and Intel. 　Sportswear company Nike, Inc., headquartered in Beaverton, is the state's largest public corporation with an annual revenue of $30.6 billion.

Soil

Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. 　Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from soil by restricting the former term specifically to displaced soil. 　Soil consists of a solid phase of minerals and organic matter (the soil matrix), as well as a porous phase that holds gases (the soil atmosphere) and water (the soil solution). 　Accordingly, soil is a three-state system of solids, liquids, and gases. 　Soil is a product of several factors: the influence of climate, relief (elevation, orientation, and slope of terrain), organisms, and the soil's parent materials (original minerals) interacting over time. 　It continually undergoes development by way of numerous physical, chemical and biological processes, which include weathering with associated erosion. 　Given its complexity and strong internal connectedness, soil ecologists regard soil as an ecosystem. 　Most soils have a dry bulk density (density of soil taking into account voids when dry) between 1.1 and 1.6 g/cm3, though the soil particle density is much higher, in the range of 2.6 to 2.7 g/cm3. 　Little of the soil of planet Earth is older than the Pleistocene and none is older than the Cenozoic, although fossilized soils are preserved from as far back as the Archean. 　The pedosphere interfaces with the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere. 　Collectively, Earth's body of soil, called the pedosphere, has four important functions: as a medium for plant growth as a means of water storage, supply and purification as a modifier of Earth's atmosphere as a habitat for organisms All of these functions, in their turn, modify the soil and its properties. 　Soil science has two basic branches of study: edaphology and pedology. 　Edaphology studies the influence of soils on living things. 　Pedology focuses on the formation, description (morphology), and classification of soils in their natural environment. 　In engineering terms, soil is included in the broader concept of regolith, which also includes other loose material that lies above the bedrock, as can be found on the Moon and other celestial objects.

Commerce

Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, national or international economies. 　More specifically, commerce is not business, but rather the part of business which facilitates the movement and distribution of finished or unfinished but valuable goods and services from the producers to the end consumers on a large scale, as opposed to the sourcing of raw materials and manufacturing of those goods. 　Commerce is subtly different from trade as well, which is the final transaction, exchange or transfer of finished goods and services between a seller and an end consumer. 　Commerce not only includes trade as defined above, but also a series of transactions that happen between the producer and the seller with the help of the auxiliary services and means which facilitate such trade. 　These auxiliary services include transportation, communication, warehousing, insurance, banking, financial markets, advertising, packaging, the services of commercial agents and agencies, etc. 　In other words, commerce encompasses a wide array of political, economical, technological, logistical, legal, regulatory, social and cultural aspects of trade on a large scale. 　From a marketing perspective, commerce creates time and place utility by making goods and services available to the customers at the right place and at the right time by changing their location or placement. 　Described in this manner, trade is a part of commerce and commerce is a part of business. 　Commerce was a costly endeavor in the antiquities because of the risky nature of transportation, which restricted it to local markets. 　Commerce then expanded along with the improvement of transportation systems over time. 　In the middle ages, long-distance and large-scale commerce was still limited within continents. 　With the advent of the age of exploration and oceangoing ships, commerce took an international, trans-continental stature. 　Currently the reliability of international trans-oceanic shipping and mailing systems and the facility of the Internet has made commerce possible between cities, regions and countries situated anywhere in the world. 　In the 21st century, Internet-based electronic commerce (where financial information is transferred over Internet), and its subcategories such as wireless mobile commerce and social network-based social commerce have been and continue to get adopted widely. 　Legislative bodies and ministries or ministerial departments of commerce regulate, promote and manage domestic and foreign commercial activities within a country. 　International commerce can be regulated by bilateral treaties between countries. 　However, after the second world war and the rise of free trade among nations, multilateral arrangements such as the GATT and later the World Trade Organization became the principal systems regulating global commerce. 　The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is another important organization which sets rules and resolves disputes in international commerce.

Wheel

A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. 　The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. 　Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be moved easily facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. 　Wheels are also used for other purposes, such as a ship's wheel, steering wheel, potter's wheel, and flywheel. 　Common examples are found in transport applications. 　A wheel reduces friction by facilitating motion by rolling together with the use of axles. 　In order for wheels to rotate, a moment needs to be applied to the wheel about its axis, either by way of gravity or by the application of another external force or torque. 　Using the wheel, Sumerians invented a device that spins clay as a potter shapes it into the desired object.

Tennis

Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). 　Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. 　The object of the game is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. 　The player who is unable to return the ball validly will not gain a point, while the opposite player will. 　Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages. 　The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. 　The original forms of tennis developed in France during the late Middle Ages.　[citation needed] The modern form of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis. 　It had close connections both to various field (lawn) games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport today called real tennis. 　The rules of modern tennis have changed little since the 1890s. 　Two exceptions are that until 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s. 　A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point-challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of a point, a system known as Hawk-Eye. 　Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is a popular worldwide spectator sport. 　The four Grand Slam tournaments (also referred to as the majors) are especially popular: the Australian Open, played on hardcourts; the French Open, played on red clay courts; Wimbledon, played on grass courts; and the US Open, also played on hardcourts.