The Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons is a 1954 United Nations multilateral treaty that aims to protect stateless individuals.

Surrounding events
The United Nations Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights were approved on 10 December 1948. Of significance, the Declaration at Article 15 affirms that:
 Everyone has the right to a nationality.
 No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was promulgated on 28 July 1951. Despite an original intention, it did not include any content about the status of stateless persons and there was no protocol regarding measures to effect the reduction of statelessness.

On 26 April 1954, ECOSOC adopted a Resolution to convene a Conference of Plenipotentiaries to "regulate and improve the status of stateless persons by an international agreement".

The ensuing Conference adopted the Convention on 28 September 1954.

The Convention entered into force on 6 June 1960.

Key substantive content of convention

Article 1 The Convention applies to stateless persons under the protection of the UNHCR but not to those under the protection of other UN agencies (i.e., UNWRA). It does not apply to persons with rights and obligations acknowledged by their country of residence as indistinguishable from those attached to the possession of that country's nationality. It does not apply to war criminals or to the perpetrators of crimes against humanity or against peace. It does not apply to those who have demonstrated themselves to have been enemies of international peace and co-operation.

Article 7 Contracting States shall accord to stateless persons the same treatment as is accorded to aliens generally.

Article 8 No "exceptional measures" to be taken against stateless persons in a Contracting State because of their former nationality.

Article 9 Provisional measures affecting stateless persons may be taken in time of war or grave emergency where national security is at issue.

Article 10 Forcible removal of a stateless person from territory of a Contracting State due to Second World War to count as residence in that territory.

Article 11 Admonition of States to show sympathy to stateless seaman regularly engaged on ships of that State's flag

Article 12 Personal status (e.g. marital status) of a stateless person to be governed by the law of his/her domicile ahead of the law of his/her residence.

Article 13 Rights to property to be no less than accorded to aliens generally.

Article 14 Intellectual property rights to be no less than accorded by a Contracting State to its own nationals.

Article 15 Right of association to be no less than accorded by each Contracting State to aliens generally.

Article 16 Stateless persons not to be discriminated against in providing "security for costs and eventual penalty", or otherwise by courts in Contracting States.

Articles 17–19 Stateless persons to be treated at least as favourably as aliens generally with regard to participation in wage-earning employment.

Articles 20–23 Stateless persons to be treated no less favourably than nationals with respect to rationing, housing, public education, and public relief.

Article 24 Extension of Articles 20–23 to labour legislation and social security.

Article 27 Upon request, Contracting States shall issue travel and identity documents to stateless persons within their territory.

Article 29 No discrimination against stateless persons in fiscal charges.

Article 30 Stateless persons to be permitted to transfer their assets to the place of their resettlement.

Article 31 Stateless persons not to be expelled except on grounds of national security or public order.

Article 32 Contracting States shall facilitate assimilation and naturalization of stateless persons.

Article 34 Interpretation disputes between State parties to be finally referable to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)

Remaining Clauses Territorial application; federal clause; signature, ratification and entry into force.

State parties
As of 2021, the United Nations, the depository of the convention, lists 96 parties to the Convention; one states (Holy See) has signed the convention, but have not ratified it. The 96 parties are: Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eswatini, Fiji, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kiribati, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, South Korea, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, Turkey, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Madagascar denounced its accession made in 1962, effective 2 April 1966. The United Kingdom extended the convention to British Hong Kong, and China has declared that the convention continues to apply to Hong Kong post-1997.

See also
 1954 Convention Travel Document
 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness

Notes

External links
 Introductory note by Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, procedural history note and audiovisual material on the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
 Lectures by Guy S. Goodwin-Gill entitled International Migration Law  – A General Introduction and Forced Migration – The Evolution of International Refugee Law and Organization in the Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

Human rights instruments
United Nations treaties
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
Treaties concluded in 1954
Treaties entered into force in 1960
Treaties of Albania
Treaties of Algeria
Treaties of Antigua and Barbuda
Treaties of Argentina
Treaties of Armenia
Treaties of Australia
Treaties of Austria
Treaties of Azerbaijan
Treaties of Barbados
Treaties of Belgium
Treaties of Belize
Treaties of Benin
Treaties of Bolivia
Treaties of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Treaties of Botswana
Treaties of Brazil
Treaties of Bulgaria
Treaties of Burkina Faso
Treaties of Chad
Treaties of the Republic of the Congo
Treaties of Costa Rica
Treaties of Croatia
Treaties of the Czech Republic
Treaties of Denmark
Treaties of Ecuador
Treaties of El Salvador
Treaties of Fiji
Treaties of Finland
Treaties of France
Treaties of the Gambia
Treaties of Georgia (country)
Treaties of West Germany
Treaties of the Kingdom of Greece
Treaties of Guatemala
Treaties of Guinea
Treaties of Guinea-Bissau
Treaties of Haiti
Treaties of Honduras
Treaties of Hungary
Treaties of Ireland
Treaties of Israel
Treaties of Italy
Treaties of Ivory Coast
Treaties of Kiribati
Treaties of Latvia
Treaties of Lesotho
Treaties of Liberia
Treaties of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Treaties of Liechtenstein
Treaties of Lithuania
Treaties of Luxembourg
Treaties of Malawi
Treaties of Mali
Treaties of Mexico
Treaties of Montenegro
Treaties of Mozambique
Treaties of the Netherlands
Treaties of Nicaragua
Treaties of Niger
Treaties of Nigeria
Treaties of Norway
Treaties of Panama
Treaties of Paraguay
Treaties of Peru
Treaties of the Philippines
Treaties of Portugal
Treaties of South Korea
Treaties of Moldova
Treaties of Romania
Treaties of Rwanda
Treaties of Senegal
Treaties of Serbia and Montenegro
Treaties of Yugoslavia
Treaties of Sierra Leone
Treaties of Slovakia
Treaties of Slovenia
Treaties of Spain
Treaties of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Treaties of Eswatini
Treaties of Sweden
Treaties of Switzerland
Treaties of North Macedonia
Treaties of Trinidad and Tobago
Treaties of Tunisia
Treaties of Turkey
Treaties of Turkmenistan
Treaties of Uganda
Treaties of Ukraine
Treaties of the United Kingdom
Treaties of Uruguay
Treaties of Zambia
Treaties of Zimbabwe
Nationality treaties
1954 in New York City
Treaties extended to Guernsey
Treaties extended to Jersey
Treaties extended to the Isle of Man
Treaties extended to Bermuda
Treaties extended to the British Virgin Islands
Treaties extended to the Falkland Islands
Treaties extended to Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Treaties extended to Anguilla
Treaties extended to Montserrat
Treaties extended to the Turks and Caicos Islands
Treaties extended to the Faroe Islands
Treaties extended to Greenland
Treaties extended to French Algeria
Treaties extended to Guadeloupe
Treaties extended to Martinique
Treaties extended to Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Treaties extended to French Guiana
Treaties extended to New Caledonia
Treaties extended to French Polynesia
Treaties extended to French Somaliland
Treaties extended to French Comoros
Treaties extended to Dutch New Guinea
Treaties extended to Surinam (Dutch colony)
Treaties extended to Basutoland
Treaties extended to the Bechuanaland Protectorate
Treaties extended to Swaziland (protectorate)
Treaties extended to British Guiana
Treaties extended to British Honduras
Treaties extended to British Hong Kong
Treaties extended to the British Solomon Islands
Treaties extended to the Colony of Aden
Treaties extended to the Colony of Fiji
Treaties extended to the Gambia Colony and Protectorate
Treaties extended to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands
Treaties extended to British Kenya
Treaties extended to the Crown Colony of Malta
Treaties extended to British Mauritius
Treaties extended to the Colony of North Borneo
Treaties extended to the Colony of Sarawak
Treaties extended to the Crown Colony of Seychelles
Treaties extended to the Crown Colony of Singapore
Treaties extended to the Uganda Protectorate
Treaties extended to the West Indies Federation
Treaties extended to the Sultanate of Zanzibar
Treaties extended to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Treaties extended to West Berlin


Unicellular organisms are organisms that have one  cell. They are divided into two quite different types, from  different classification kingdoms.

The prokaryotes, bacteria and archaea, have cells with no nucleus and a simple cell structure.
Eukaryotes have a nucleus, and a more complex cell structure.

The differences between the prokaryota and eukaryota are significant. Eukaryotes possess a nucleus and various subcellular organs called organelles, and prokaryotes do not.

Observations
Almost all unicellular organisms are microorganisms but you can observe eukaryotes and many prokaryotes by using a compound microscope. Bacteria just appear as dark dots. To gather unicellular organisms for observation, one can place a cover slip on the surface of pond water, and leave it overnight. By the next morning, numerous unicellular organisms will have grown entire colonies on the bottom of the slip. They multiply fast: colonies can double their size in between 30 minutes and a few hours.

Unicellular organisms can be found everywhere. The oldest forms of life existed 3.8 billion years ago, if not longer. They use a variety of strategies for survival: photosynthesis (cyanobacteria), chemotrophy (many archaea), and heterotrophy (amoeba). Some unicellular organisms have flagella, little tails they use for locomotion, or lobopods, extensions of the cellular skeleton (cytoskeleton), which appear as bloblike arms. The flagella of our unicellular ancestors occurs all the way up into the animals, where it makes an appearance as flagellated sperm.

Of all the six eukaryote supergroups, four are exclusively composed of unicellular organisms. Unicellular organisms vary in size, with the smallest bacteria measuring only a third of a micron (300 nanometers) across, ranging up to the titanic plasmodial slime molds, which can grow to 20 cm (8 in) across. The largest unicellular organisms may have millions of nuclei scattered throughout the cellular envelope. To observe some of the smallest unicellular organisms requires an electron microscope, while the very largest can be seen with a microscope or anything that enhances images.

Related pages
 Life timeline
 Multicellular organisms
 Microorganism

Other websites
About the kingdom Protista

Microbiology

Unicellular organism


Lake Peipus (Estonian: Peipsi-Pihkva järv, German: Peipussee, Russian: Чудско-Псковское озеро) is a large fresh water lake. It is between Estonia and Russia in Northern Europe. Lake Peipus is the fourth largest lake in Europe. The lake covers 3,500 square kilometres. It has an average depth of 7m. At its deepest point, Lake Peipus is 15m deep. The lake is used for fishing and recreation.

Peipus
Peipus
Geography of Estonia

Lake Peipus


The stomach is part of the digestive system. It is an internal organ between the esophagus and the small intestines. The stomach is the third stage in the digestive process. It holds food after ingestion. Food in the stomach then passes through to the small intestine where most of the food's nutrition is absorbed.

The stomach contains hydrochloric acid made by stomach cells. As a useful side-effect, the acid kills bacteria in the food. However, its main function is to help the protein-digesting enzymes called proteases work. In general, the food is churned, squeezed and mixed. This prepares it for digestion. The partially digested food is called chyme.

The stomach acid may cause problems. It can make peptic ulcers worse. It can also cause  heartburn—pain in the chest when acid from the stomach refluxes (backs up into) the oesophagus. These can usually be treated by neutralizing the acid. Vomiting occurs when food goes back up the oesophagus and out the mouth. Vomiting can be a symptom of disease.

Stomachs of other mammals work differently to human stomachs. Ruminants, for example, have a stomach with multiple compartments.
In that system, food goes through the first part of the digestive system twice, and the work of digesting the grass is done by bacteria.

Other words for stomach include belly and tummy.

References

Basic English 850 words
Anatomy of the digestive system

Stomach


Other meanings are at Limburg
Limburg is the southernmost province of the Netherlands. Its capital is Maastricht. About 1,116,000 people are living in Limburg (2021).

It is the only province in the Netherlands which has hills. It is a very old province; the capital city, Maastricht, is over 2000 years old. The Limburgish people do speak Dutch, but they also speak their own dialects called Limburgish. These dialects - especially the ones in the South of Limburg, the normal Dutch people find difficult to understand. These dialects have many influences from German and French. The Limburgish are renowned for their famous vlaai.

Limburg got its status as a Dutch Province in 1867

Limburger cheese comes from this region.

References

Other websites

Limburg (Netherlands)


Phosphine is a chemical compound. Its chemical name is phosphorus hydride. Its chemical formula is PH3. It is also called phosphane and phosphamine. It contains phosphide and hydrogen ions.

Properties
It is a colorless, flammable gas. It is highly toxic; it can easily kill, even when concentration levels are low. It smells like fish. It can ignite without a spark. When it burns, it makes a white cloud of phosphorus(V) oxide, which is irritating.

Preparation
It is made when hypophosphites and phosphites are heated. It is also made when white phosphorus reacts with warm alkali.

Uses
The gas is used for pest control. It is also used in making semiconductors.

Related pages
Ammonia

Phosphorus compounds

Phosphine


Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks and billed for their first two decades as the Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.

Bagdasarian provided the group's voices by producing sped-up recordings of his own, a technique pioneered on the successful "Witch Doctor". Later in 1958, Bagdasarian released the similarly engineered "The Chipmunk Song" for which he came up with the chipmunk characters and their human father, attributing the track to them. David Seville and the Chipmunks released several more records over the following decade until Bagdasarian's death in 1972. The franchise was revived in 1979 with the characters' voices provided by his son Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and the latter's wife Janice Karman.

Through the successful franchise, the Chipmunks have become one of the most successful children's artists of all time. It has garnered two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and won five Grammy Awards, having four Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 and three certified platinum albums. "The Chipmunk Song" became one of the best-selling singles of all time at 5 million physical copies sold.

The Chipmunks were first depicted in animated form in The Alvin Show (1961). The characters have since featured in several television series and films, as well as other media. In 2019, The Chipmunks received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

History

"Witch Doctor"

In 1958, Ross Bagdasarian Sr. released a novelty song (as David Seville) about being unsuccessful at love until he found a witch doctor who told him how to woo his woman. Seville had bought a tape recorder and he experimented recording himself at different speed to create a duet between him and the witch doctor. The voice of the "witch doctor" was in fact Seville's own voice, sung slowly but recorded at half speed on the tape recorder, then played back at normal speed, thereby speeding up the voice into a high pitched squeaky one. Bagdasarian sang in his normal voice, while the witch doctor's "magic" words was in Bagdasarian's own pitched-up, pre-Chipmunk voice. The "magic" words themselves are nonsense: "Oo-ee, oo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla-walla, bing-bang".

The song was a hit, holding number one for three weeks in the Billboard Top 100 chart. Nothing makes any reference to chipmunks, but the song is sometimes included on Chipmunk compilations as if the Chipmunks had provided the voice of the Witch Doctor. Bagdasarian did record a Chipmunks version of "Witch Doctor", which appeared on the second Chipmunks album, Sing Again with the Chipmunks, in 1960. Bagdasarian performed the song "live" (with a pre-recorded track of the pitched-up voice) on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Bagdasarian (again as Seville) recorded a follow-up song, "The Bird on My Head", singing a duet with his own sped-up voice as the bird. It also reached the Top 40, peaking at No. 34. While driving in Sequoia National Park, Bagdasarian saw a chipmunk dash in front of him. That moment inspired him to create his chipmunk characters. He again used the same technique to pitch up the voice to create the chipmunks.

The technique was imitated by Sheb Wooley's "The Purple People Eater" and The Big Bopper's "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor".

"The Chipmunk Song"

After the success of "Witch Doctor", Liberty Records asked Bagdasarian to create another successful novelty record. He then came up with three singing chipmunks who were named, as an inside joke, after executives at Liberty Records. Alvin (named after Al Bennett), Simon (named after Si Waronker), and Theodore (Ted Keep).

The Chipmunks first officially appeared on the scene in a novelty record released in late fall 1958 by Bagdasarian. The song, originally listed on the record label (Liberty F-55168) as "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", featured the singing skills of the chipmunk trio. One phrase in the chorus has Alvin wishing for a hula hoop, which was that year's hot new toy. The novelty record was highly successful, selling more than 4 million copies in seven weeks, and it launched the careers of its chipmunk stars. It spent four weeks at Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart from December 22, 1958, to January 12, 1959, succeeding "To Know Him Is to Love Him" at Number 1 on the same chart by the Teddy Bears, a pop group that featured Phil Spector. It also earned three Grammy Awards and a nomination for Record of the Year. At the height of its popularity, Bagdasarian and three chipmunk hand-puppets appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, lip-synching the song. "The Chipmunk Song" appeared on the Chipmunks' debut album, Let's All Sing with the Chipmunks, in 1959, and was repeated on Christmas with the Chipmunks, released in 1962. The song also has been included on several compilation albums.

Bob Rivers released a parody of this song for his 2000 Christmas album Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire which was titled "The Twisted Chipmunk Song". In the song, the Chipmunks are referred to as Thagadore (Theodore), Squeaky (Simon), and Melvin (Alvin).

The Three Chipmunks (1959)
The Chipmunks first appeared in comic book form on Dell Comics' Four Color Comics series, issue #1042 (cover-dated Dec. 1959). Alvin, Theodore and Simon were depicted as somewhat realistic, nearly identical anthropomorphic rodents with almond-shaped eyes. When Herb Klynn's Format Films made a deal to develop the Three Chipmunks for animation, the old designs were rejected and new versions of the characters were created. Liberty Records eventually re-issued the early albums with the "new" Chipmunks and it was this new version of the Chipmunks that was used when Alvin's own title was released by Dell in 1962.

The Alvin Show (1961–62)

The first television series to feature the characters was The Alvin Show. By this period, the Chipmunks looked much like their modern incarnations. Also, an animated portrayal of Seville was a reasonable caricature of Bagdasarian himself. The series ran from 1961 to 1962 and was one of a small number of animated series to be shown in prime time on CBS. It was not a prime-time ratings success and was subsequently canceled after one season. Ratings improved significantly in syndication.

In addition to Alvin cartoons, the series also featured the scientist Clyde Crashcup and his assistant Leonardo. Those characters did not feature prominently on any of the later series. Crashcup made a single cameo appearance in A Chipmunk Christmas, and in an episode of the 1983 TV series. The television series was produced by Format Films for Bagdasarian Film Corporation. Although the series was broadcast in black and white, it was produced and later re-run in color. Twenty-six episodes each were produced for the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and "Clyde Crashcup" segments, along with 52 musical segments.

New albums and A Chipmunk Christmas (1969–1982)
The final Chipmunks album in the project's original incarnation, The Chipmunks Go to the Movies, was released in 1969. After Bagdasarian's death in 1972, the Chipmunks' careers stalled until NBC showed interest in the original show (the network carried Saturday morning reruns of The Alvin Show as a midseason replacement in 1979) and the following year, Excelsior Records released a new album of contemporary songs performed by the Chipmunks. That album, Chipmunk Punk, featured Bagdasarian's son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr., doing the voices of the characters. That album and the continued reruns of the series proved to be popular enough to warrant further new records as well as new television productions, and on December 14, 1981, the Chipmunks and Seville returned to television in the NBC Christmas special A Chipmunk Christmas, produced by the Bagdasarians with Chuck Jones as a creative consultant. It also inspired a companion record album. The following year, two more albums were released (Chipmunk Rock and The Chipmunks Go Hollywood).

Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983–1990)

The group's name changed from "the Chipmunks" to "Alvin and the Chipmunks".

In 1983, a second animated television series for the group, produced by Ruby-Spears Productions, was released. Titled simply Alvin and the Chipmunks, the outline of the show closely paralleled the original Alvin Show. The series lasted eight production seasons until 1990. The first season introduced the Chipettes (three female versions of the Chipmunks): Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor with their human guardian, the myopic Miss Beatrice Miller (who debuted in the 1986 season). The show's success led to the release of a soundtrack album in 1984, Songs from Our TV Shows.

After 1988, the show was renamed just the Chipmunks to indicate that there were now two groups of them. Also introduced was the boys' "Uncle" Harry, who may or may not have been a relative. The show reflected contemporaneous trends in popular culture; the Chipmunks sang recent hits, and wore contemporary clothing. One "documentary" episode spoofed John Lennon's 1966 infamous comment that the Beatles had become "more popular than Jesus", by recalling how the Chipmunks had fallen in popularity after Alvin boasted they were "bigger than Mickey Mouse". In 1985, the Chipmunks, along with the Chipettes, were featured in the live stage show, Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Amazing Computer. In 1987, during the fifth season of the television show, the Chipmunks had their first animated feature film, The Chipmunk Adventure, directed by Janice Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and released to theaters by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. The film featured the Chipmunks and the Chipettes racing around the world while being involved in a jewel-smuggling operation.

In the 1988–89 season, the show switched production companies to DIC Entertainment (1988-1990) and Murakami Wolf Swenson (1988), by which time the Chipmunks had truly become anthropomorphized. In 1990, the show switched titles again to The Chipmunks Go to the Movies. Each episode in this season was a spoof of a Hollywood film, such as Back to the Future, King Kong, and others. In addition, several television specials featuring the characters were also released. After the eighth season, the show was canceled again. In 1990, a documentary was produced about the show entitled Alvin and the Chipmunks/Five Decades with the Chipmunks. In that year, the Chipmunks also teamed up for the only time with other famous cartoon stars (such as Bugs Bunny, Garfield, etc.) for the drug abuse-prevention special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.

Music releases and short-lived Universal acquisition (1991–2002)
On January 18, 1991, NBC aired a television special starring the Chipmunks entitled Rockin' Through the Decades. The same year, the band released the album The Chipmunks Rock the House. In 1992, the group released the country album Chipmunks in Low Places. Released on September 29, 1992, the album was certified platinum by the RIAA, becoming the group's first platinum record and making it the Chipmunks' best-selling album followed by a greatest hits release and a reissue of 1981's A Chipmunk Christmas. By 1993, Urban Chipmunk was re-released as a compilation album The Chipmunks' 35th Birthday Party with a double album, called The Chipmunks Sing-Alongs.

Their fourth Christmas album, A Very Merry Chipmunk, saw a release in 1994, then When You Wish Upon a Chipmunk in 1995, and Club Chipmunk: The Dance Mixes in 1996 which peaked in the Top 10 on Billboard's Top Kid Audio.

In 1996, Universal Studios purchased the rights to the characters. In 1998, Sony Wonder and Columbia Records released The A-Files: Alien Songs and Greatest Hits: Still Squeaky After All These Years on September 21, 1999. The purchase of the rights to the characters by Universal resulted in the Chipmunks' 1999 reappearance, in the form of the direct-to-video movie Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, released on September 28, 1999. Five new songs were composed for the film and were made available via a soundtrack released by MCA Records. Later that year, The Chipmunks' Greatest Christmas Hits was released.

The movie was successful enough to spark interest in a sequel, and in 2000, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman appeared. Three new songs were composed for the film, that were also made available on a soundtrack by MCA.

Both movies featured the original cast of the second series reprising their roles as the tone was very similar to the series. Universal lost the rights to the characters in 2002 due to a breach of contract with Bagdasarian Productions.

Return to independency, movies and merchandise (2003–2021)
On September 17, 2004, Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises, and Bagdasarian Productions announced a live-action hybrid film starring Alvin and the Chipmunks. Tim Hill directed the 2007 CGI/live-action film adaptation, with Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney providing the voices, along with its 2009, 2011, and 2015 sequels. Bagdasarian Jr. and Karman continue to perform the singing voices for Alvin, Theodore, and the Chipettes, but Steve Vining did Simon's singing voice. The projects have earned five Grammy awards, an American Music Award, a Golden Reel Award, three Kids' Choice Awards, and Emmy nominations.

Possible acquisition (2021–present)
In 2021, the franchise was announced to be sold to a potential buyer, with Paramount Global reportedly interested. As of October 2023, updates on the acquisition have not been publicly announced.

Main characters

Dave Seville

The Chipmunks
In the 1980s media, the boys are triplets, as they celebrate their birthday together in "A Chipmunk Reunion" (Alvin stating to be born five minutes before Simon), and they are about 8–9 years. The 1983 series revealed that the boys' mother "Vinnie" is a similarly anthropomorphic chipmunk living in a nearby forest. One year a particularly harsh winter had caused a nut shortage. Vinnie realized that her newborn children would likely not survive the winter, so she anonymously left them on Dave's doorstep. She returned briefly to see what happened years later. Dave and the boys were unaware of their origins until they asked him during an argument over the exact date of their birthday. Vinnie had never revealed herself to him, but the boys investigated and eventually tracked her down.

While never mentioned, in the CGI movies and 2015 series, the chipmunks are no longer triplets and celebrate different birthdays; but seem to be around the same school age. In the 2007 feature film, the chipmunks lived in a tree, fending for themselves as their parents had taken off to join a hippie commune and had problems gathering nuts for the winter. Their tree is cut down and carted off to grace the entrance lobby of a city office building, with them in it. They eventually wind up in Dave's home, where they wreak havoc.  After being thrown out, Dave notices how well they can sing, making them famous. They eventually win his heart.

Personnel
Alvin Seville – lead and backing vocals
Simon Seville – lead and backing vocals
Theodore Seville – lead and backing vocals

Recording technique

The Chipmunks' voices were recorded at half the normal tape speed on audiotape by voice talent (on the 1960s records, generally Ross Bagdasarian Sr.'s own voice overdubbed three times, on the post-1980s records, studio singers) talking or singing at half the normal speaking rate. When the tape was played back at normal speed, they would sound a full octave higher in pitch, at normal tempo. The technique was by no means new to the Chipmunks. For example, the high- and low-pitched characters in The Wizard of Oz were achieved by speeding up and slowing down vocal recordings. Also, Mel Blanc's voice characterization for Daffy Duck was Sylvester the Cat's voice sped up to some extent. Now, the same effect is created digitally and in real-time with a pitch shift.

However, the extensive use of this technique with the Chipmunks, coupled with their popularity, linked this technique to them. The term "chipmunk-voiced" has entered the American vernacular to describe any artificially high-pitched voice. A similar effect could be obtained in playback by merely taking an LP recorded at 33 RPM and playing it back at 45 or 78 RPM, a trick sometimes tried out by ordinary record listeners. The instrumental portions of the song are sped up as well, however, making it obvious that the music is being played at the wrong speed. Bagdasarian recorded vocals and music at different speeds to combine properly on his recording. Guitarist Les Paul said he visited Bagdasarian's studio in 1958 and helped with the recording.

The technique was used extensively in the British puppet show Pinky and Perky, which predated the Chipmunks. The sound was frequently imitated in comedy records, notably "The Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley, "Transistor Radio" by Benny Hill, "Bridget the Midget" by Ray Stevens, "The Laughing Gnome" by David Bowie, and on several tracks on Joe Meek and the Blue Men's album I Hear a New World. The technique also appears in the "Yeah! You!" line of the Coasters' song "Charlie Brown". Prince used the technique on several of his songs, as well as Frank Zappa on We're Only in It for the Money and on the instrumental album Hot Rats, among others. The early production style of hip-hop artist Kanye West involved sped-up, high-pitch vocal samples from classic soul records incorporated with his own (additional) instrumentation. Due in part to the acclaim of his debut album The College Dropout, such sampling techniques subsequently became much copied by a myriad of other hip-hop producers. In the early 1990s rave scene, many breakbeat hardcore productions would utilize the same studio tricks, often taking a cappella from house records and speeding them up to fit the faster tempo. Vocals in songs that used this method would typically be referred to as "chipmunk vocals".

Guest appearances
The Chipmunks made their first guest appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 13, 1959, when they performed "The Chipmunk Song".

In 1968, the Chipmunks appeared in an Italian commercial TV program Carosello, in their sponsorship of Prealpi, a cheese-maker in Varese, Italy.

The Chipmunks appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade twice; 1983 and 1986. In the 1983 parade, they performed Tomorrow. In 1986, they performed The Girls of Rock and Roll with The Chipettes as a way to promote their film, The Chipmunk Adventure, which was released six months later.

The Chipmunks performed with Canned Heat on the band's interpretation of "The Chipmunk Song", which is sufficiently derivative of the Chipmunk's 1958 hit that Ross Bagdasarian Sr. gets sole writing credit. It was featured as the flip-side of the band's Christmas Blues single released in late 2009.

The Chipmunks made a guest appearance on Xuxa in 1993, where they performed "Country Pride" from their album, Chipmunks in Low Places.

They also appeared on the FOX NFL Sunday intro (which premiered on December 20, 2009) with the cameo character, Digger (the mascot for NASCAR on Fox).

The Chipmunks made an appearance at a Los Angeles Dodgers preseason game on April 3, 2010, when the Dodgers squared off against their rivals, the Los Angeles Angels. The group performed, "America the Beautiful" with a group of children prior to the game. Also, Simon Seville wore a wig of Manny Ramirez's dreadlocks. Ross Bagdasarian Jr. made the opening ceremonial pitch for that game.

The Chipmunks made multiple appearances on ads for Food Safety to help kids learn safe food practices.

Discography

Video games
 The Chipmunks (1990) – platforms: Tiger Electronic Game.
 Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) – platforms: Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows.
 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) – platforms: Nintendo DS and Wii.
 Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011) – arranger: Eleonora Rossin - platforms: Nintendo DS, Wii and Xbox 360.

Concert tours
 1984:The Chipmunks and the Magic Camera (The Chipmunks)
 1985: Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Amazing Computer (The Chipmunks and the Chipettes)
 2008: Get Munk'd Tour (The Chipmunks)
 2015: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Musical (The Chipmunks and the Chipettes)

Awards and nominations
 1959, won three Grammy Awards for Best Recording for Children, Best Comedy Performance and Best Engineered Record –Non-Classical for the song "The Chipmunk Song" (it was also nominated for Record of the Year, but did not win).
 1960, won a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recording -Non-Classical for the song "Alvin's Harmonica."
 1961, won a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children for the album Let's All Sing with the Chipmunks (it was also nominated for Best Engineered Record -Non-Classical). The song "Alvin for President" was also nominated for both Best Comedy Performance –Musical and Best Engineered Record –Novelty, making two nominations in the latter category.
 1962, was nominated again for a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Record –Novelty for the television tie-in album The Alvin Show.
 1963, was nominated again for Grammy Awards for both Best Album for Children and Best Engineered Record –Novelty for the album The Chipmunk Songbook.
 1966, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children for the song "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".
 1985, was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category "Outstanding Animated Program (Daytime)."
 1987, the second television series was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the category "Exceptional Family Animation Series or Specials."
 1987, was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category "Outstanding Animated Program (Daytime)."
 1988, was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category "Outstanding Animated Program (Daytime)."
 1988, was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the category "Best Motion Picture –Animation" for the movie The Chipmunk Adventure.
 2000, won the Golden Reel Award in the category "Best Sound Editing –Direct to Video – Sound Editorial" for the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein.
 2008, Jason Lee won the Kids' Choice Awards in the category "Favorite Movie" for the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks.
 2008, the 2007 Alvin and the Chipmunks soundtrack won the American Music Award for "Best Movie Soundtrack."
 2010, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel won the Kids' Choice Awards in the category "Favorite Movie."
 2012, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked won the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards in the category "Favorite Movie."
 2019, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Further reading

References

External links

 Chipmunks.com, Bagdasarian Productions' official site

 Cinema.ch Trailer
 "The History of the Chipmunks", Animation.Archive.org
 Alvin and the Chipmunks" at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.

1958 establishments in the United States

American children's musical groups
American novelty song performers
Animated musical groups
American animation studios
Anthropomorphic rodents
Atlantic Records artists
Capitol Records artists
Child musical groups
Columbia Records artists
Decca Records artists
Family musical groups
Fictional musical groups
Fictional adoptees
Fictional characters introduced in 1958
Fictional chipmunks
Fictional musicians
Fictional singers
Fictional trios
Grammy Award winners
Hollywood Records artists
Liberty Records artists
Child characters in animated films
Child characters in animated television series
Child characters in film
American companies established in 1961
1961 establishments in California
Companies based in Santa Barbara County, California
Child characters in television
Teenage characters in film
MCA Records artists
Musical groups established in 1958
American parodists
Parody musicians
RCA Records artists
Fictional characters invented for recorded music
Video game musicians
Mass media franchises introduced in 1958

Alvin and the Chipmunks


A Duke or Grand Duke is a title for nobility of very high rank.

Duke or Dukes may also be:

Individuals

Surname
 See Duke (surname) and Dukes (surname)

Nickname
 Duke Cunningham, an American fighter pilot and disgraced politician
 George Deukmejian, former Governor of California
 David Dickinson, British antiques expert, television presenter
 Michael Dukakis, former Governor of Massachusetts and Democratic nominee for President
 Duke Ellington, jazz musician
 Nathan Ellington, English footballer
 Paul Lo Duca, Major League Baseball catcher
 Dušan Fabian, Slovak author
 Orlando Hernández, "El Duque" - Major League Baseball pitcher
 Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaiian athlete
 Duke Snider, former center fielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers
 Mark Viduka, Australian soccer player
 Rich Ward, guitarist of metal band Fozzy
 John Wayne, American actor

Fictional characters
 Duke (G.I. Joe), from the G.I. Joe TV series, toy line and comic book series
 Duke the Lost Engine, from The Railway series
 Uncle Duke, from Doonesbury
 Duke, character from KOF: Maximum Impact
 Duke of New York, aka "The Duke, A Number One", gang leader in Escape from New York
 Duke, the dog from movies such as Barnyard and Back at the Barnyard
 Duke Nukem (character), fictional character and action hero who has been the protagonist in over a dozen video games.

Movies and television
 The Duke (TV series), 1954
 The Duke (TV miniseries), 1979
 The Duke (TV talk show), 2009, TV talk show for men by AXN Asia
 The Duke (film), a 1999 Disney film
 The Duke (short), a 1999 short film
The Dukes, an animated spinoff of The Dukes of Hazzard

Music
 The Duke (album), album by Jørn Lande, 2006
 Duke (album), by Genesis, March 1980
 Dukes (band), a rock group from New Zealand
 The Dukes (Australian band), rock band
 The Dukes (band), a band featuring Miller Anderson and Jimmy McCulloch and their album The Dukes
 Duke (musician), a British vocalist/songwriter/composer/producer
 MC Duke, a British rapper
 Duke Records, a Memphis, Tennessee record label active from 1952 to 1973
 "The Duke" (Dave Brubeck song), a jazz standard penned by Dave Brubeck
 "The Duke", a song by Blind Melon from Soup

Sports
 The Duke (racehorse), a 19th century racing champion
 Albuquerque Dukes, a former Triple A Baseball team
 Duquesne Dukes, the athletic program of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh
 James Madison Dukes, the athletic program of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia
 Wellington Dukes, a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Wellington, Ontario, Canada
 Duluth-Superior Dukes (1960-1970 team), a minor league baseball team
 Kansas City T-Bones, a professional basesball team formerly known as the Duluth-Superior Dukes (1993-2002)
 The Dukes, sports team from Garber High School in Essexville, Michigan

Business
 Dukes Aerospace, a valve maker and part of TransDigm Group
 Duke Energy, a producer of gas and electric services in the United States
 Duke Video, Motorsport DVD distributor based in the Isle of Man
 Duke's, an Indian soft drink brand of Duke and Sons

Transportation
 Beechcraft Duke, a twin-engined airplane
 Duke motorcycles created by KTM such as '620 Duke', '640 Duke II', '690 Duke'
 The Duke, a short-lived 0-6-0 steam locomotive built in 1817 by George Stephenson for the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway

Dogs
 Duke, family pet in the television series The Beverly Hillbillies
 Duke, anthropomorphic dog with a southern accent in the comic Kelly & Duke
 Duke, a golden retriever who appears in commercials of Tennessee food producer Bush Brothers and Company
 Duke, the dog from movies such as Barnyard and Back at the Barnyard

Other uses
 Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina
 Dukes classification, a system for classifying colorectal cancers
 Duke (mascot), the mascot of the Java programming language
 Duke language, an Oceanic language
 The Duke Endowment, an American philanthropic organization
 Duke, an old English paper size measuring 7x5.5 inches (178x140 mm)
 Duke butterflies, species of the brush-footed butterfly genera

Related pages
Duchess (disambiguation)

Duke (disambiguation)


Maxine Chernoff (born 1952) is an American novelist, writer, poet, academic and literary magazine editor.

Biography
She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and attended the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Chernoff is a professor and Chair of the Creative Writing program at San Francisco State University. With her husband, Paul Hoover, she edits the long-running literary journal New American Writing. She is the author of six books of fiction and ten books of poetry, including The Turning (2008) and Among the Names (2005), both from Apogee Press.

Chernoff's novel American Heaven and her book of short stories, Some of Her Friends That Year, were finalists for the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award. With Paul Hoover, she has translated The Selected Poems of Friedrich Hölderlin (Omnidawn Press, 2008) which won the 2009 PEN Translation Prize.

As of 2013, she lives in Mill Valley, California.

Works

Novels
  A Boy in Winter (Crown Publishing, 1999; Harper Flamingo Australia, 2000)
  American Heaven (Coffee House Press, 1996), a finalist for the Bay Area Book
Reviewers Award
  Plain Grief (Summit, 1991; available as e-book from Previewport.com, 2001)

Short stories
  Some of Her Friends That Year: New & Selected Stories (Coffee House Press, 2002), a finalist for the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award
  Signs of Devotion: (stories) (Simon & Schuster, 1993) a New York Times Book Review Notable Book for 1993.
  Bop, stories (Coffee House Press, 1986; Vintage Contemporaries, 1987)

Poetry
 Camera (Subito Press, 2017)
 Here (Counterpath Press, 2014)
 Without (Shearsman, England, 2012)
 A House in Summer (Argotist Press, England, 2012)
 To Be Read in the Dark  (Omnidawn, 2011)
 The Turning (Apogee Press, 2008)
  Among the Names (Apogee Press, 2005)
  Evolution of the Bridge: Selected Prose Poems (Salt Publications, 2005)
  World: Poems 1991–2001 (Salt Publications, 2001)
 Leap Year Day: New & Selected Poems (Another Chicago Press, 1990; Jensen Daniels, 1999)
 Japan (Avenue B Press, 1988)
 New Faces of 1952 (Ithaca House, 1985)
   Utopia TV Store (The Yellow Press, 1979)
  A Vegetable Emergency, prose poems (Beyond Baroque Foundation, 1976)
The Last Aurochs (Now Press, 1976)

Editor
Selected Poems of Friedrich Hölderlin, co-translated with Paul Hoover; (Omnidawn, 2008)
New American Writing (with Paul Hoover), (1986) — present)

Awards
1985 Carl Sandburg Award
1985 PEN New Books Award
1986 Friends of American Writers' Award
1986 LSU Southern Review Fiction Award
1993 Sun-Times Fiction Prize
1988 CCLM Editors' Award
2002 Marin Arts Council Fellowship
1996 and 2002 BABRA finalist
2009 PEN Translation Award
5 Illinois Arts Council Fellowships
 2013 NEA Poetry Fellowship

References

Sources

External links
Maxine Chernoff Faculty profile page at San Francisco State University
Apogee Press – Authors
Maxine Chernoff Online Works
Poem by Maxine Chernoff at Melancholia's Tremulous Dreadlocks
New American Writing: Web site
"Add-Verse" a poetry-photo-video project Chernoff participated in

1952 births
Living people
American women short story writers
20th-century American novelists
Modernist women writers
Poets from Chicago
Writers from California
University of Illinois Chicago alumni
American women poets
American women novelists
20th-century American women writers
20th-century American poets
Jewish poets
20th-century American short story writers
Novelists from Illinois

Maxine Chernoff


Approbation, in Catholic canon law, is an act by which a bishop or other legitimate superior grants to an ecclesiastic the actual exercise of his ministry.

The necessity of approbation, especially for administering the sacrament of penance, was expressly decreed by the Council of Trent so, except in the case of imminent death, the absolution by a non-approved priest would be invalid. This approbation for the sacrament of penance is the judicial declaration of the legitimate superior that a certain priest is fit to hear, and has the faculties to hear, the confession of his subjects.

By bishop is meant also his vicar general, the diocesan administrator during the vacancy of a see, or any regular prelate who has ordinary jurisdiction over a certain territory. This approbation may be given verbally or in writing, and may be given indirectly, for instance, when priests receive power to choose in their own diocese an approved priest of another diocese as their confessor. The bishop may wrongfully but validly refuse his approbation, without which no priest may hear confessions.

A confessor's jurisdiction may be restricted to various classes of persons; for example to children or to men, without the right to hear women. A special approbation is required to hear nuns or women of religious communities; this extends with modifications to all communities of recognized sisterhoods.

References

External links

Sacramental law
Catholic Church legal terminology

Approbation (Catholic canon law)


Mary Gilbert was the first European woman to live in the Port Phillip settlement of Melbourne, Australia.

Life
She was the daughter of one John Duff, and was married to James Gilbert, blacksmith. The Gilberts were pioneer settlers who disembarked on the banks of the Yarra River and set up camp on 30 August 1835. The schooner Enterprize, owned by John Pascoe Fawkner, had brought them and other settlers from Launceston, Tasmania,  where she had married James at the age of eighteen.

The initial landing party included Captain John Lancey, master mariner, the landing party's leader and Fawkner's representative; George Evans, builder; carpenters William Jackson and Robert Hay Marr; ploughman Charles Wise; blacksmith James Gilbert and his pregnant wife, Mary; and Evan Evans, George Evans' servant.

On 29 December 1835 Mary gave birth to her son, James Melbourne Gilbert, the first European child born in the new district. She was given  of land and a town allotment.
A life-sized bust of Mary Gilbert can be found at the Conservatory, in the Fitzroy Gardens. The sculpture was created by the Melbourne artist, Ailsa O'Connor (1921-1980).

On 30 April 1837, Mary gave birth to a second son, Charles Phillip Gilbert, also fathered by her husband, James. According to the transcription of her death, two other sons were John and William.

Although James (possibly later known as John) Melbourne Gilbert was not known to have any offspring, his younger brother Charles was known to have fathered at least eight children to his wife Amelia in both Victoria and New South Wales.

She was accidentally burnt to death in a bush fire at South Talbingo, Tumut River, New South Wales, on 20 February 1878, and buried on the Cumberland Range on 24 February that year.

See also
 History of Melbourne

External links
 Fitzroy Gardens - Statue of Mary Gilbert

1878 deaths
Settlers of Melbourne
Year of birth missing

Mary Gilbert


Altamira Software was founded in Mill Valley, California by Dr. Alvy Ray Smith, Eric Lyons and Nicholas Clay in 1991.

The company's primary product was Altamira Composer. This PC based software pioneered object-based drawing and image editing. Composer was one of the first to bring important tools such as anti-aliased effects and image sprites to the desktop. The company was acquired by Microsoft in 1994. Thea Grigsby was Vice President of Marketing. David Shantz of WildOutWest, LLC (www.wildoutwest.com) was responsible for branding, package design and the development of a series of image object libraries that were released along with the product.

Seed capital came from Autodesk and second-round financing from a team of venture capitalists (TVI) and private individuals. Altamira's Windows product,  Altamira Composer, one of the first image composition applications with image sprites (i.e., non-rectangular, floating images), entered the market in November 1993 (CoSA After Effects 1.0 shipped in January of that same year).

References

Defunct software companies of the United States
Microsoft acquisitions
Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Companies based in Marin County, California
Software companies established in 1991
Software companies disestablished in 1994
1991 establishments in California
1994 disestablishments in California
1994 mergers and acquisitions
Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area

Altamira Software


Fraud (or defrauding or scamming) is a crime in which someone tricks somebody else to get unfair or unlawful gain. Frauds are almost always about money, either directly or indirectly.

A fraudster or a fraud is the person who commits the fraud. Fraudulence is the adjective, as in He tried to pass a fraudulent cheque. To defraud someone is to commit a fraud against them.

Fraudsters may find people to defraud by phone calls, emails, or websites. Fraud often starts by saying there is a free or low price item. The fraudster then asks for personal information, such as a home address and bank account numbers. Instead of giving an item, the fraudster takes their money. Fraudsters often target senior citizens.

Fraud is a criminal wrong: a fraudster may be prosecuted and imprisoned. It is also a civil wrong: a fraud victim may sue the fraudster to get compensation.

All societies have laws against fraud, but the details differ in each jurisdiction. In England an Act of Parliament defines three kinds of fraud.
fraud by false representation,
fraud by failing to disclose information, and
fraud by abuse of position.
Lesser cases are heard in a Magistrates' Court; more serious offences are tried in the High Court (jury proceedings).

Related pages
 Phishing
 Ponzi scheme
 Pyramid scheme
 Welfare fraud
 Internet fraud, online fraud

Financial crimes

Fraud


Hornets are the largest of the social wasps. They can reach up to 55mm (5.5 cm, 2.2in) in length. The true hornets make up the genus Vespa. True hornets can be distinguished from other vespines by the form of their head. Hornets live in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They live in warm and wet forests, and in desert climates. They do not occur in climates where it is cold all year round.

Life-cycle
First a queen starts to build a nest. This depends on the weather. In North America this happens in spring. As the hornet that starts to build the nest, she is the architect of the nest's design. In the built space she will lay eggs. These hatch, and become larvae. The queen will feed the first larvae, until they make a cocoon. After transforming, they will become the first workers. These will do most of the work. The workers will build a hierarchy amongst themselves.

If the space where the nest is built becomes too small, the colony will move to another spot.

In autumn young queens will hatch. Young males will hatch from unfertilized eggs. These males are called drones. The young queens will build a cocoon to spend the winter, once they have been fertilized. All the other animals will die with the first frost.

Prey
Hornets and yellowjackets are good for gardens. This is because their prey is mostly made of insects which are considered pests. They also feed on bees, but their colonies only last for a year, they die in winter. A medium-sized colony, made of 300-400 animals will need about 500g  (half a kilo, 1 lb) of food per day, during the high season, that is in the summer months. Animals hunted include flies, wasps, bees, locusts, beetles, caterpillars, dragonflies and spiders.

Hornets and other animals

Animals called hornets

Hornets are often confused with yellowjackets. Yellowjackets are smaller, and their coloring is different. They are bright yellow and black.

Yellowjackets are attracted to the sweetness of human foods, especially in autumn. Hornets feed on live insects, this sweetness does not attract them.

Some other large wasps are sometimes referred to as hornets. This is particularly true  for the bald-faced hornet in North America.  The bald-faced hornet is mostly black and white in coloring. This is very different from the black-and-yellow coloring of other wasps.  It is set apart by its black and ivory coloration. The name "hornet" is used for this and related species mainly because of their habit to make aerial nests (similar to the true hornets') rather than the nests underground the wasps use. Another example is the Australian hornet, which is actually a species of potter wasp.

Animals that look like hornets
There are some animals that have changed their appearance to look like hornets. In these case, looking like a hornet is a defense for the animal, because it will be attacked less often. These animals include the Lunar Hornet Moth, the Hornet Moth, the Hornet Mimic Hoverfly. This behaviour is called Batesian mimicry

Animals living with hornets
There is a kind of beetle, called Velleius dilatatus that lives with hornet nests. It lives from the leftovers of the hornets' food, and from dead hornets. It finds hornet nests with its very good sense of smell.

Hornets and people

Dealing with flying hornets
Flying hornets which are hunting and which are not close to their nest will usually not sting, unless they feel threatened. They should not be squeezed; making a breeze at them can also irritate them and make them feel threatened.

Hornets hunt when there is only little light available - humans will call it darkness. Like other insects they are attracted to light. If possible, the light should be extinguished for a short time. The hornets will then continue as usual. If it is not possible to put out the light, a glass jar can be used to catch the hornet. With a paper under the glass, the hornet can then be transported to a safe place away from that light where it can be released.

Dealing with hornet nests
Hornets will defend their nest, or hive. Depending on the species of hornet, they will do this in a radius of between . Concussions within that radius should be avoided. If they are disturbed often, they will make this radius bigger. There are specially trained people who can move hornet nests - note that in many parts of Europe, the hornet is an endangered species; killing a hornet, destroying or disturbing a hornet nest can lead to a fine.

Stings
Hornets have a stinger. They use this to kill prey, and to defend themselves.
Hornet stings can be very painful, but they are not more dangerous than the stings of other wasps or bees. With every sting, there is the danger of an allergic reaction and of shock after this reaction. Also, stings in the area of the mouth can make breathing difficult, or impossible.

People who are allergic develop an Anaphylaxis - an allergic reaction. This can be fatal, if it is not treated immediately with Epinephrine (also known as Adrenaline).

Hornets can alert the whole nest. This means that all workers there will defend it. This can lead to a dangerous situation. One sting of a hornet is not dangerous;  with 200 to 250 of them, the situation is different.

References

Other websites

 Controlling Wasps, Hornets, and Yellowjackets
 Hornets & Yellowjackets
 Yellowjackets and Other Social Wasps
 Vespidae of the World

Wasps

Hornet


A stellar-wind bubble is a cavity light-years across filled with hot gas blown into the interstellar medium by the high-velocity (many thousand km/s) stellar wind from a single massive star of type O or B. Weaker stellar winds also blow bubble structures, which are also called astrospheres. The heliosphere blown by the solar wind, within which all the major planets of the Solar System are embedded, is a small example of a stellar-wind bubble.

Stellar-wind bubbles have a two-shock structure. The freely-expanding stellar wind hits an inner firing shock, where its kinetic energy is thermalized, producing 106 K, X-ray-emitting plasma.  The hot, high-pressure, shocked wind expands, driving a shock into the surrounding interstellar gas. If the surrounding gas is dense enough (number densities  or so), the swept-up gas radiatively cools far faster than the hot interior, forming a thin, relatively dense shell around the hot, shocked wind.

References

Astronomy

Stellar-wind bubble


Leonardo is a male given name. Many people have this name. The name is Germanic in origin. It means "Strong as a lion." This name was ranked #87 on the US Popular Names in 2021.

People
Leonardo Araújo, Brazilian football player (b. 1969)
Leonardo Augusto Vieira Moreira, Brazilian football player (b. 1986)
Leonardo Cimino, American actor
Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian Renaissance painter, scientist, mathemetician, inventor and sculptor.
Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor
Leonardo Fibonacci, Italian mathemetician. Better known as Fibonacci. Also known as Leonardo Pisano and Leonardo of Pisa.
Leonardo Ponzio, Argentine footballer
Leonardo Santiago, Brazilian footballer (b. 1983). Commonly just referred to just as Leonardo.

References

Given names

Leonardo


प्रशान्त महासागर हलिमयागु दक्ले तधंगु महासागर खः। थ्व एसिया व अमेरिकायागु दथुइ लाः।The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan) is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Antarctic in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia on the west and the Americas on the east.  At 169.2 million square kilometres (65.3 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean – and, in turn, the hydrosphere – covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about 32% of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined.  The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean.  The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the Pacific and the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,798 ft)

म्हसीका
The ocean encompasses a third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 179.7 million square kilometres (69.4 million sq mi and 161 million cubic mi) —significantly larger than Earth's entire landmass, with room for another Africa to spare. Extending approximately 15,500 kilometres (9,600  mi) from the Bering Sea in the Arctic to the icy margins of Antarctica's Ross Sea in the south (although the Antarctic regions of the Pacific are sometimes described as part of the circumpolar Southern Ocean), the Pacific reaches its greatest east-west width at about 5°N latitude, where it stretches approximately 19,800 kilometres (12,300 mi) from Indonesia to the coast of Colombia and Peru - halfway across the world, and more than five times the diameter of the Moon. The western limit of the ocean is often placed at the Strait of Malacca. The lowest point on earth—the Mariana Trench—lies 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) below sea level. Its average depth is 4,280 metres (14,000 ft).

The Pacific contains about 25,000 islands (more than the total number in the rest of the world's oceans combined), the majority of which are found south of the equator.

The Pacific Ocean is currently shrinking from plate tectonics, while the Atlantic Ocean is increasing in size.

Along the Pacific Ocean's irregular western margins lie many seas, the largest of which are the Celebes Sea, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Philippine Sea,  Sea of Japan, South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Tasman Sea, and Yellow Sea. The Strait of Malacca joins the Pacific and the Indian Oceans on the west, and the Strait of Magellan links the Pacific with the Atlantic Ocean on the east. To the north, the Bering Strait connects the Pacific with the Arctic Ocean.

As the Pacific straddles the ± 180° meridian, the West Pacific (or western Pacific, near Asia) is actually in the Eastern Hemisphere, while the East Pacific (or eastern Pacific, near the Americas) is actually in the Western Hemisphere.

For most of Magellan's voyage from the Strait of Magellan to the Philippines, the explorer indeed found the ocean peaceful. However, the Pacific is not always peaceful. Many tropical cyclones (typhoons, the equivalent of Atlantic hurricanes), batter the islands of the Pacific. The lands around the Pacific rim are full of volcanoes and often affected by earthquakes. Tsunamis, caused by underwater earthquakes, have devastated many islands and destroyed entire towns.

लया गुण

Water temperatures in the Pacific vary from freezing in the poleward areas to about 25-30 °C Celsius 84 °F Fahrenheit near the equator. Salinity also varies latitudinally. The water near the equator is less salty than that found in the mid-latitudes because of abundant equatorial precipitation throughout the year. Poleward of the temperate latitudes salinity is also low, because little evaporation of seawater takes place in these frigid areas. The Pacific Ocean is generally warmer than the Atlantic ocean.

The surface circulation of Pacific waters is generally clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (the North Pacific Gyre) and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The North Equatorial Current, driven westward along latitude 15°N by the trade winds, turns north near the Philippines to become the warm Japan or Kuroshio Current.

Turning eastward at about 45°N, the Kuroshio forks and some waters move northward as the Aleutian Current, while the rest turn southward to rejoin the North Equatorial Current. The Aleutian Current branches as it approaches North America and forms the base of a counter-clockwise circulation in the Bering Sea. Its southern arm becomes the chilled slow, south-flowing California Current.

The South Equatorial Current, flowing west along the equator, swings southward east of New Guinea, turns east at about 50°S, and joins the main westerly circulation of the Southern Pacific, which includes the Earth-circling Antarctic Circumpolar Current. As it approaches the Chilean coast, the South Equatorial Current divides; one branch flows around Cape Horn and the other turns north to form the Peru or Humboldt Current.

खनिजशास्त्र

The andesite line is the most significant regional distinction in the Pacific. It separates the deeper, mafic igneous rock of the Central Pacific Basin from the partially submerged continental areas of felsic igneous rock on its margins. The andesite line follows the western edge of the islands off California and passes south of the Aleutian arc, along the eastern edge of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, Japan, the Mariana Islands, the Solomon Islands, and New Zealand. The dissimilarity continues northeastward along the western edge of the Andes Cordillera along South America to Mexico, returning then to the islands off California. Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, New Guinea, and New Zealand—all eastward extensions of the continental blocks of Australia and Asia—lie outside the Andesite Line.

Within the closed loop of the andesite line are most of the deep troughs, submerged volcanic mountains, and oceanic volcanic islands that characterize the Pacific basin. Here basaltic lavas gently flow out of rifts to build huge dome-shaped volcanic mountains whose eroded summits form island arcs, chains, and clusters. Outside the Andesite Line, volcanism is of the explosive type, and the Pacific Ring of Fire is the world's foremost belt of explosive volcanism. The Ring of Fire is named after the several hundred active volcanoes that sit above the various subduction zones.

The Pacific Ocean is the only ocean which is almost totally bounded by subduction zones. Only the boundary with the Antarctic plate is not a subduction zone.

Landmasses

The largest landmass entirely within the Pacific Ocean is the island of New Guinea— the second largest island in the world.  Almost all of the smaller islands of the Pacific lie between 30°N and 30°S, extending from Southeast Asia to Easter Island; the rest of the Pacific Basin is almost entirely submerged.

The great triangle of Polynesia, connecting Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand, encompasses the island arcs and clusters of the Cook Islands, Marquesas, Samoa, Society, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuamotu, Tuvalu and the Wallis and Futuna islands.

North of the equator and west of the International Date Line are the numerous small islands of Micronesia, including the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands and the Mariana Islands.

In the southwestern corner of the Pacific lie the islands of Melanesia, dominated by New Guinea. Other important island groups of Melanesia include the Bismarck Archipelago, Fiji, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Islands in the Pacific Ocean are of four basic types: continental islands, high islands, coral reefs, and uplifted coral platforms. Continental islands lie outside the Andesite Line and include New Guinea, the islands of New Zealand, and the Philippines. These islands are structurally associated with nearby continents. High islands are of volcanic origin, and many contain active volcanoes. Among these are Bougainville, Hawaii, and the Solomon Islands.

The third and fourth types of islands are both the result of coralline island building. Coral reefs are low-lying structures that have built up on basaltic lava flows under the ocean's surface. One of the most dramatic is the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia. A second island type formed of coral is the uplifted coral platform, which is usually slightly larger than the low coral islands. Examples include Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and Makatea in the Tuamotu group of French Polynesia.

इतिहास व अर्थतन्त्र

Important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times, most notably those of the Austronesians (specifically, the Polynesians), from the Asian edge of the ocean to Tahiti and then to Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island.

The ocean was sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century, first by the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1513), who crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and then by Ferdinand Magellan, who sailed the Pacific during his circumnavigation (1519-1522). In 1564, conquistadors crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi who sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. For the remainder of the 16th century, Spanish influence was paramount, with ships sailing from Spain to the Philippines, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands; the Manila Galleons linked Manila and Acapulco.

During the 17th century, the Dutch, sailing around southern Africa, dominated discovery and trade; Abel Janszoon Tasman discovering Tasmania and New Zealand in 1642. The 18th century marked a burst of exploration by the Russians in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, the French in Polynesia, and the British in the three voyages of James Cook (to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest).

Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by Great Britain and France, followed by the United States. Significant contributions to oceanographic knowledge were made by the voyages of HMS Beagle in the 1830s, with Charles Darwin aboard; HMS Challenger during the 1870s; the USS Tuscarora (1873-76); and the German Gazelle (1874-76). Although the United States conquered the Philippines in 1898, Japan controlled the western Pacific by 1914 and occupied many other islands during World War II. By the end of the war, the U.S. Pacific Fleet was the virtual master of the ocean.

Seventeen independent states are located in the Pacific: Australia, Fiji, Japan, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Republic of China (Taiwan), Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Eleven of these nations have achieved full independence since 1960. The Northern Mariana Islands are self-governing with external affairs handled by the United States, and Cook Islands and Niue are in similar relationships with New Zealand. Also within the Pacific is the U.S. state of Hawaii and several island territories and possessions of Australia, Chile, Ecuador, France, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The exploitation of the Pacific's mineral wealth is hampered by the ocean's great depths. In shallow waters of the continental shelves off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, petroleum and natural gas are extracted, and pearls are harvested along the coasts of Australia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Philippines, although in sharply declining volume in some cases. The Pacific's greatest asset is its fish. The shoreline waters of the continents and the more temperate islands yield herring, salmon, sardines, snapper, swordfish, and tuna, as well as shellfish.

In 1986, the member nations of the South Pacific Forum declared the area a nuclear-free zone in an effort to halt nuclear testing and prevent the dumping of nuclear waste there.

Environmental Issues

Marine pollution is a generic term for the harmful entry into the ocean of chemicals or particles. The biggest culprit are rivers that empty into the Ocean, and with it the many chemicals used as fertilizers in agriculture as well as waste from livestock and humans. The excess of oxygen depleting chemicals in the water leads to hypoxia and the creation of a dead zone (ecology).

मू बन्दरगाह

 Acapulco, Mexico
 Anchorage, Alaska, United States
 Antofagasta, Chile
 Arica, Chile
 Auckland, New Zealand
 Bangkok, Thailand
 Batangas, Philippines
 Portoviejo, Ecuador
 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
 Buenaventura, Colombia
 Busan, South Korea
 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
 Callao, Peru
 Cebu City, Philippines
 Chongjin, North Korea
 Dalian, People's Republic of China
 Ensenada, Mexico
 Esmeraldas, Ecuador
 Guayaquil, Ecuador
 Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
 Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
 Incheon, South Korea
 Iquique, Chile
 Kaohsiung, Republic of China (Taiwan)
 Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada
 Keelung, Republic of China (Taiwan)
 Klang, Malaysia
 Kobe, Japan
 Laem Chabang, Thailand
 Long Beach, California, United States
 Los Angeles, California, United States

 Manta, Ecuador
 Manzanillo, Mexico
 Mazatlan,  Mexico
 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
 Metro Manila, Philippines
 Nampo, North Korea
 Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
 Oakland, California, United States
 Panama City, Panama
 Portland, Oregon, United States
 Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada
 Puerto Montt, Chile
 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
 Qingdao, People's Republic of China
 San Antonio, Chile
 San Diego, California, United States
 San Francisco, California, United States
 Seattle, Washington, United States
 Shanghai, People's Republic of China
 Shenzhen, People's Republic of China
 Singapore
 Songkhla, Thailand
 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
 Tacoma, Washington, United States
 Taichung, Republic of China (Taiwan)
 Talcahuano, Chile
 Tauranga, New Zealand
 Tianjin, People's Republic of China
 Tijuana, Mexico
 Valparaiso, Chile
 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
 Vladivostok, Russia
 Xiamen, People's Republic of China
 Yantai, People's Republic of China
 Yokohama, Japan

स्वयादिसँ
 War of the Pacific
 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
 Pacific-Antarctic Ridge
 Pacific Coast
 Pacific hurricane
 Pacific Islands
 Pacific Rim
 Pacific Time Zone
 Pacific War

लिधँसा

स्वयादिसँ
Based on public domain text from US Naval Oceanographer

पिनेया स्वापूत

 LA Times special Altered Oceans
 EPIC Pacific Ocean Data Collection Viewable on-line collection of observational data
 NOAA In-situ Ocean Data Viewer Plot and download ocean observations
 NOAA Ocean Surface Current Analyses - Realtime (OSCAR)  Near-realtime Pacific Ocean Surface Currents derived from satellite altimeter and scatterometer data
 NOAA PMEL Argo profiling floats Realtime Pacific Ocean data
 NOAA TAO El Niño data Realtime Pacific Ocean El Niño buoy data

भूगोल
महासागर

प्रशान्त महासागर


Rock, paper, scissors (RPS) is a two-person hand game. It is often used as a selection method in a similar way to coin flipping or drawing straws to randomly select a person for some purpose. However, unlike truly random selections, it can be played with skill if the game extends over many sessions, as a player can often recognize and exploit the non-random behavior of an opponent.

Sportsmen often use RPS (both officially and unofficially, in place of a coin toss) to decide on opening plays. Similarly, uncertain calls, or even the whole game in case of rain, may be so decided. It is also often used as a method for creating appropriately non-biased random results in live action role-playing games, as it requires no equipment. It is also used in some gambling sites as a form of novelty betting.

The exact name of the game can vary, with the three components appearing in a different order, or with "stone" in place of "rock". Non-English speakers may know the game by their local words for "rock, paper, scissors", although it is also known as Janken or Yakyuken in Japan, Kawi Bawi Bo in Korea, Pierre-Papier-Ciseaux in France, Ca-Chi-Pun in Chile, and in South Africa as Ching-Chong-Cha, the words used in the 'count'.

The players both count aloud to three, or speak the name of the game (e.g. "Rock! Paper! Scissors!" or "Reaux! Sham! Beaux!"), each time raising one hand in a fist and swinging it down on the count. On the third count, or on a further beat after the third count (saying "shoot"), the players change their hands into one of three gestures, which they then "throw" by extending it towards their opponent.

Rock is represented by a closed fist.
Paper is represented by an open hand.
Scissors is represented by the index and middle fingers extended.
The objective is to select a gesture which defeats that of the opponent. Gestures are resolved as follows:

Rock blunts/smashes scissors; rock wins.
Paper covers rock; paper wins.
Scissors cut paper; scissors wins.

In terms of logic, this type of game is intransitive.
If both players choose the same gesture, the game is tied and played again.

In some variations of the game, the winner of each round "uses" the weapon on the opponent's weapon, to demonstrate that they have won.

RPS is frequently played in a "best two out of three" match, and tournament players often prepare sequences of three gestures ahead of time.

Popularity
The game is famous in Korea, Japan, China, and the United States.

References

Rock, paper, scissors

Rock–paper–scissors


A Lord (Laird in some Scottish contexts) is a person who has power and authority. Women will usually (but not universally) take the title 'Lady' instead of Laird or Lord, but there is an example of a female Lord: Lord of Mann, the ruler of the Isle of Man. The territory belonging to a lord is often called a lordship. Lords as a group are a peerage.

The word actually comes from the Old English forms for "loaf" (bread) and "ward" (used to mean "protector", although today it means "one who is protected"). So a lord or "loaf ward" was originally "the one who protected the loaf". A mesne lord was a lord in the feudal system who had vassals who held land from him, but who was himself the vassal of a higher lord. The one who ruled over mesne lords was sometimes called an overlord. This higher lord was sometimes the king.

In a religious context, The Lord means God, mainly by Christianity.

References

Royalty and nobility
Religious terminology

Lord


The banner o Luxembourg (, , ) consists o three horizontal stripes, red, white an blue, an can be in 1:2 or 3:5 ratio. It wis first uised atween 1845 an 1848 an offeecially adoptit on Juin 23, 1972.
Luxembourg haed nae banner till 1830, when patriots wur urged tae display the naitional colors. The banner wis defined as a horizontal tricolor o reid, white, an blue in 1848, but it wis no offeecially adoptit till 1972. The tricolor banner is amaist identical tae that o the Netherlands, except that it is langer an its blue stripe is a lichter shade. The reid, white, an blue colorin wis derived frae the Grand Duke's coat o airms, which dates frae the 13t century.

Description
Accordin tae the Règlement Grand-Ducal frae Julie 27, 1993, the proper colors are:

History
The colours o the Banner o Luxembourg wur first adoptit aroond 1830 durin the Belgian Revolution.  Thay wur probably derived frae the coonts, dukes an later grand-dukes o Luxembourg's coat o airms which in turn wis derived frae the combination o the dukes o Limbourg's Lion an the supposed striped banner o the early coonts o Luxembourg. The three-colored horizontal design wis fixed on Juin 12, 1845.

It teuk till Juin 23, 1972 afore a law wis passed regulatin the banner o Luxembourg.  The same law an aa prescribed ensign an roondel for aircraft an ships registered in Luxembourg.

Ane important clarification brocht bi this law wis that the colour blue wis defined as bein a vera bricht blue, in contrast tae the banner o the Netherlands (exactly the same design, but the Dutch banner uises daurk blue an a less oblong shape).

The heraldric blazon for the banner is per fess Gules an Azure, a fess Argent.

Ensign

The reid lion is the offeecial ensign for ships registered in Luxembourg. It is uised for river an sea shippin, as well as for aviation. This banner is based on the Coat o airms o Luxembourg an is uised as the ensign tae avoid the possibility o Luxembourg's ensign bein confused for that o the Netherlands.  Ten white an blue stripes serve as the field for a reid lion wi a yellae tongue an croun.  The proper ratio for this ensign is 5:7.

The Réglement Grand-Ducal o Julie 27, 1993 defined the ensign's colors as:
 Red: Pantone 032 c
 White:
 Blue: Pantone 299 c
 Yellae: Pantone 116c

Roondel

The roondel o Luxembourg is seen on the AWACS aircraft uised bi NATO.

Banner discussion
On October 5, 2006, MP Michel Wolter introduced a legislative proposition tae replace the current reid-white-blue naitional banner wi the reid lion ensign. He argued that the current banner wis commonly ramfeeselt wi that o the Netherlands an that the reid lion on the ither haund wis mair popular, mair aesthetic an o greater historic value. Wolter an aa claimed he haed personally discussed the matter wi some three hunder fowk, maist o whom expressed thair support for his initiative.

On the ither haund, mony naitional politeecians (includin leadin members o Wolter's awn CSV) an VIPs hae expressed astonishment in the local media concernin baith the timing an necessity for such a chynge. The anerlie poleetical pairty tae express support for Wolter's initiative wis the naitionalist an populist ADR. On October 24, 2006 a local initiative cried Initiativ Roude Léiw (Initiative Reid Lion) held a press conference explainin thair intention tae support Wolter's project on a non-partisan basis. Thair first actions wad include distribution o reid lion bumper stickers, a petition an a poll.

A formal obstacle for replacin the banner coud be that the neighbourin Belgian province o Luxembourg uises a coat o airms seemilar tae the reid lion banner on thair awn banner. The German state o Hesse an aa incorporates a somehou seemilar design on its coat o airms, which is in turn featurt on the state banner, tho the ceevil banner bears nae resemblance.

See an aa
Leet o banners o Luxembourg

Notes

Freemit airtins

Naitional seembols o Luxembourg
Luxembourg

Banner o Luxembourg


The Royal Victorian Order is a British honour. It is given by The King, to people who have served him, or his Monarchy personally. Like the Orders of the Garter and Thistle, the Prime Minister does not suggest who should get the honour.

The Order was created in April 1896, by Queen Victoria, as a way of rewarding personal service to her. Today, people receive their award either privately from The King or another member of the Royal Family, or during an investiture.

Often, and on a State Visit, the King will invest people in the country visited before returning to the UK. The British Ambassador and others who have helped the Visit may be rewarded, as can foreigners, and it is often awarded by the Sovereign during official tours overseas.

The first foreigners to get the Order were the Prefect of Alpes Maritimes and the Mayor of Nice, during Queen Victoria's visit to the south of France, in 1896.

The Chapel of the Order is The King's Chapel of the Savoy, a 'Royal peculiar', which for historic reasons is in the private possession of the Sovereign, in his or her right as the Duke of Lancaster.

The Savoy Chapel is not very big, so now, the service for those who have been given the award is held in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, every four years.

Many members of the Royal Family have been given the award, along with many other recipients, who include servants of The King, who have served the Monarchy for many years.

The motto is Victoria.

Ranks
In order, the ranks are:

 Knight or Dame Grand Cross (GCVO)
 Knight or Dame Commander (KCVO) or (DCVO, for women)
 Commander (CVO)
 Lieutenant (LVO)
 Member (MVO)

Royal Victorian Medal

The Royal Victorian Medal was set up at the same time as the order.  It is for personal service to the Sovereign or the Royal Family, and as a mark of royal esteem.

Although the Medal is related to the Royal Victorian Order, it differs in appearance and in the way it is worn. The Medal is given to civilians and non-commissioned military personnel, often to people who have worked for the Sovereign for a long time.

References

Royal Victorian Order


A stencil is a blocking material used to mask a surface. In it there are holes for ink or paint to pass through. That way an image is made on the material behind the stencil. Stencils are used when many copies are needed of the same image. It is used in street art, and many public notices.

Screen printing is a printing technique using a fine mesh. Ink is applied except in areas blocked by a stencil.

Printing

Stencil


An audit is an evaluation or examination of something by a person or group of people. They can be made to a person, to a company, to buildings, to systems, to documents and many other things that are used by people.

Audits are made to check something, like a person is paying their taxes correctly or that a document is correct.

The most common type of audit are the audits performed on companies and their financial statements, a type of document. In business, many companies inform and report their operations, their money, and their income in financial statements to many people for many reasons. They inform people like banks, governments, investors, and the public, for reasons like getting a loan, paying taxes, getting investments, and improving their public image.

References

Business law

Audit