The symbol # is known as the number sign, hash, or, in North American usage, pound sign. The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes including the designation of an ordinal number and as a ligatured abbreviation for pounds avoirdupois – having been derived from the now-rare ℔.Since 2007, widespread usage of the symbol to introduce metadata tags on social media platforms has led to such tags being known as "hashtags", and from that, the symbol itself is sometimes called a hashtag.The symbol is distinguished from similar symbols by its combination of level horizontal strokes and right-tilting vertical strokes.


== History ==

It is believed that the symbol traces its origins to the symbol ℔, an abbreviation of the Roman term libra pondo, which translates as "pound weight". This abbreviation was printed with a dedicated ligature type, with a horizontal line across, so that the lowercase letter l would not be mistaken for the numeral 1. Ultimately, the symbol was reduced for clarity as an overlay of two horizontal strokes "=" across two slash-like strokes "//". Examples of it being used to indicate pounds exist at least as far back as 1850.The symbol is described as the "number" character in an 1853 treatise on bookkeeping, and its double meaning is described in a bookkeeping text from 1880. The instruction manual of the Blickensderfer model 5 typewriter (c. 1896) appears to refer to the symbol as the "number mark". Some early-20th-century U.S. sources refer to it as the "number sign", although this could also refer to the numero sign. A 1917 manual distinguishes between two uses of the sign: "number (written before a figure)"; and "pounds (written after a figure)". The use of the phrase "pound sign" to refer to this symbol is found from 1932 in U.S. usage.

Number sign

Number_sign

Primark () is an Irish fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, and a subsidiary of the British food processing and retail company ABF. The company is named Penneys in the Republic of Ireland, where it was founded. The Penneys brand is not used outside of Ireland because it is owned elsewhere by American retailer J. C. Penney. The company has operations in Europe and the United States.


== History ==
The company's first store, still in operation, was founded by Arthur Ryan on behalf of the Weston family (who had founded Associated British Foods in 1935) in June 1969 on 47 Mary Street, Dublin.Success in the Republic of Ireland led to expansion into Northern Ireland, with Penneys opening a large store in Belfast City Centre in 1971. The company subsequently expanded outside of Ireland with a Primark store in Derby, England, in 1973. The company could not use the name "Penneys" in Europe outside Ireland as it was registered by J. C. Penney. The name "Primark" was then invented to use outside Ireland.Primark opened its current headquarters in 2015 in a redeveloped Dublin building, Arthur Ryan House, formerly Chapel House.On 28 August 2018, a fire started on the roof of a Primark store in Belfast as it came towards the end of a major redevelopment, destroying the building and emitting plumes of thick, black smoke over the city. The building was a former bank with historical value that had been renovated previously. The destroyed building is currently being reconstructed.  What was to be the new store extension was saved from the fire and opened on 8 December 2018.

Primark

The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la chanson), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which features participants representing primarily European countries. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, transmitted to national broadcasters via the EBU's Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine a winner.
Based on the Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy since 1951, Eurovision has been held annually (apart from 2020) since 1956, making it the longest-running annual international televised music competition and one of the world's longest-running television programmes. Active members of the EBU, as well as invited associate members, are eligible to compete, and as of 2021, 52 countries have participated at least once. Each participating broadcaster sends one original song of three minutes duration or less to be performed live by a singer or group of up to six people aged 16 or older. Each country awards two sets of 1–8, 10 and 12 points to their favourite songs, based on the views of an assembled group of music professionals and the country's viewing public, with the song receiving the most points declared the winner. Other performances feature alongside the competition, including a specially-commissioned opening and interval act and guest performances by musicians and other personalities, with past acts including Cirque du Soleil, Madonna and the first performance of Riverdance. Originally consisting of a single evening event, the contest has expanded as new countries joined, leading to the introduction of relegation procedures in the 1990s, and eventually the creation of semi-finals in the 2000s. As of 2021, Germany has competed more times than any other country, having participated in all but one edition, while Ireland holds the record for the most victories, with seven wins in total.
Traditionally held in the country which won the preceding year's event, the contest provides an opportunity to promote the host country and city as a tourist destination.

Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision_Song_Contest

Amerigo Vespucci (; Italian: [ameˈriːɡo veˈsputtʃi]; 9 March 1451  – 22 February 1512) was an Italian-born merchant, explorer, and navigator from the Republic of Florence, from whose name the term "America" is derived. He became a Castillian citizen in 1505.
Between 1497 and 1504, Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the Age of Discovery, first on behalf of Spain (1499–1500) and then for Portugal (1501–1502). In 1503 and 1505, two booklets were published under his name, containing colourful descriptions of these explorations and other alleged voyages. Both publications were extremely popular and widely read across much of Europe. Although historians still dispute the authorship and veracity of these accounts, at the time they were instrumental in raising awareness of the new discoveries and enhancing the reputation of Vespucci as an explorer and navigator.
Vespucci claimed to have understood, back in 1501 during his Portuguese expedition, that Brazil was part of a continent new to Europeans, which he called the New World. The claim inspired cartographer Martin Waldseemüller to recognize Vespucci's accomplishments in 1507 by applying the Latinized form "America" for the first time to a map showing the New World. Other cartographers followed suit, and by 1532 the name America was permanently affixed to the newly discovered continents.
It is unknown whether Vespucci was ever aware of these honours.

Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo_Vespucci

Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus Trichechus) are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), and the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis). They measure up to 4.0 metres (13 ft 1 in) long, weigh as much as 590 kilograms (1,300 lb), and have paddle-like flippers.
Manatees are herbivores and eat over 60 different freshwater and saltwater plants. Manatees inhabit the shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Amazon basin, and West Africa.
The main causes of death for manatees are human-related issues, such as habitat destruction and human objects. Their slow-moving, curious nature has led to violent collisions with propeller-driven boats and ships. Some manatees have been found with over 50 scars on them from propeller blades. Natural causes of death include adverse temperatures, predation by crocodiles on young, and disease.


== Etymology ==
The etymology of the name is unclear, with connections having been made to Latin manus (‘hand’), and to a word – sometimes cited as manati – used by the Taíno, a pre-Columbian people of the Caribbean, meaning "breast".

Manatee

A crow is a bird of the genus Corvus, or more broadly a synonym for all of Corvus. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of species including:

Corvus albus – pied crow (Central African coasts to southern Africa)
Corvus bennetti – little crow (Australia)
Corvus brachyrhynchos – American crow (United States, southern Canada, northern Mexico)
Corvus capensis – Cape crow or Cape rook (Eastern and southern Africa)
Corvus caurinus – northwestern crow (Olympic peninsula to southwest Alaska)
Corvus cornix – hooded crow (Northern and Eastern Europe and Northern Africa)
Corvus corone – carrion crow (Europe and eastern Asia)
Corvus culminatus – Indian jungle crow
Corvus edithae – Somali crow or dwarf raven (eastern Africa)
Corvus enca – slender-billed crow (Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia)
Corvus florensis – Flores crow (Flores Island)
Corvus fuscicapillus – brown-headed crow (New Guinea)
Corvus hawaiiensis (formerly C. tropicus) – Hawaiian crow (Hawaii)
Corvus imparatus – Tamaulipas crow (Gulf of Mexico coast)
Corvus insularis – Bismarck crow (Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea)
Corvus jamaicensis – Jamaican crow (Jamaica)
Corvus kubaryi – Mariana crow or aga (Guam, Rota)
Corvus leucognaphalus – white-necked crow (Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico)
Corvus levaillantii – eastern jungle crow (India, Burma)
Corvus macrorhynchos – large-billed crow
Corvus meeki – Bougainville crow or Solomon Islands crow (Northern Solomon Islands)
Corvus moneduloides – New Caledonian crow (New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands)
Corvus nasicus – Cuban crow (Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, Grand Caicos Island)
Corvus orru – Torresian crow or Australian crow (Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands)
Corvus ossifragus – fish crow (Southeastern U.S. coast)
Corvus palmarum – palm crow (Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic)
Corvus sinaloae – Sinaloa crow (Pacific coast from Sonora to Colima)
Corvus splendens – house crow or Indian house crow (Indian subcontinent, Middle East, east Africa)
Corvus torquatus – collared crow (Eastern China, south into Vietnam)
Corvus tristis – grey crow or Bare-faced crow (New Guinea and neighboring islands)
Corvus typicus – piping crow or Celebes pied crow (Sulawesi, Muna, Butung)
Corvus unicolor – Banggai crow (Banggai Island)
Corvus validus – long-billed crow (Northern Moluccas)
Corvus violaceus – violet crow (Seram) – recent split from slender-billed crow
Corvus woodfordi – white-billed crow or Solomon Islands crow (Southern Solomon Islands)


== See also ==
Jackdaw
Raven
Rook


== Further reading ==
Franklin Coombs (1978). The Crows: A Study of the Corvids of Europe. Batsford. ISBN 9780713413274.

Crow

The United States Declaration of Independence is the pronouncement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776. The Declaration explained why the Thirteen Colonies at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain regarded themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule. With the Declaration, these new states took a collective first step toward forming the United States of America. The declaration was signed by representatives from New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The Lee Resolution for independence was passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 2 with no opposing votes. The Committee of Five had drafted the Declaration to be ready when Congress voted on independence. John Adams, a leader in pushing for independence, had persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, which Congress edited to produce the final version. The Declaration was a formal explanation of why Congress had voted to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America" – although Independence Day is actually celebrated on July 4, the date that the wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved.
After ratifying the text on July 4, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms.

United States Declaration of Independence

United_States_Declaration_of_Independence

Harry Houdini (; born Erik Weisz, later known as Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-born American escape artist, illusionist, stunt performer and mysteriarch, noted for his escape acts.He first attracted notice in vaudeville in the United States and then as "Harry 'Handcuff' Houdini" on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can with water in it.
In 1904, thousands watched as he tried to escape from special handcuffs commissioned by London's Daily Mirror, keeping them in suspense for an hour. Another stunt saw him buried alive and only just able to claw himself to the surface, emerging in a state of near-breakdown. While many suspected that these escapes were faked, Houdini presented himself as the scourge of fake spiritualists. As President of the Society of American Magicians, he was keen to uphold professional standards and expose fraudulent artists. He was also quick to sue anyone who imitated his escape stunts.
Houdini made several movies but quit acting when it failed to bring in money. He was also a keen aviator and aimed to become the first man to fly a powered aircraft in Australia.


== Early life ==
Erik Weisz was born in Budapest to a Jewish family.

Harry Houdini

Harry_Houdini

Ketchup is a table condiment. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although original recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among other ingredients.Tomato ketchup is a sweet and tangy condiment made from tomatoes, sugar, and vinegar, with seasonings and spices. The spices and flavors vary, but commonly include onions, allspice, coriander, cloves, cumin, garlic, and mustard, and sometimes include celery, cinnamon, or ginger. The market leader in the United States (60% market share) and the United Kingdom (82%) is Heinz Tomato Ketchup. Tomato ketchup is most often used as a condiment to dishes that are usually served hot and may be fried or greasy: french fries and other potatoes, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders, tater tots, hot sandwiches, meat pies, cooked eggs, and grilled or fried meat. Ketchup is sometimes used as the basis for, or as one ingredient in, other sauces and dressings, and the flavor may be replicated as an additive flavoring for snacks, such as potato chips.


== History ==


=== Mushroom ketchup ===

In the United Kingdom, preparations of ketchup were historically and originally prepared with mushrooms as a primary ingredient, rather than tomatoes. Ketchup recipes began to appear in British and then American cookbooks in the 18th century. In a 1742 London cookbook, the fish sauce had already taken on a very British flavor, with the addition of shallots and mushrooms. The mushrooms soon became the main ingredient and from 1750 to 1850 the word "ketchup" began to mean any number of thin dark sauces made of mushrooms or even walnuts.

Ketchup

The Mariana Trench or Marianas Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean about 200 kilometres (124 mi) east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about 2,550 km (1,580 mi) in length and 69 km (43 mi) in width. The maximum known depth is 10,984 metres (36,037 ft) (± 25 metres [82 ft]) (6.825 miles) at the southern end of a small slot-shaped valley in its floor known as the Challenger Deep. However, some unrepeated measurements place the deepest portion at 11,034 metres (36,201 ft). If Mount Everest were hypothetically placed into the trench at this point, its peak would still be underwater by more than two kilometres (1.2 mi).At the bottom of the trench, the water column above exerts a pressure of 1,086 bars (15,750 psi), more than 1,071 times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level. At this pressure, the density of water is increased by 4.96%. The temperature at the bottom is 1 to 4 °C (34 to 39 °F).In 2009, the Marianas Trench was established as a US National Monument. Monothalamea have been found in the trench by Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers at a record depth of 10.6 kilometres (6.6 mi) below the sea surface. Data has also suggested that microbial life forms thrive within the trench.


== Etymology ==
The Mariana Trench is named after the nearby Mariana Islands, which are named Las Marianas in honour of Spanish Queen Mariana of Austria, widow of Philip IV of Spain.

Mariana Trench

Mariana_Trench

A people is a plurality of persons considered as a whole, as is the case with an ethnic group, nation or the public of a polity.


== In politics ==

Various states govern or claim to govern in the name of the people. Both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire used the Latin term Senatus Populusque Romanus, (the Senate and People of Rome). This term was fixed abbreviated (SPQR) to Roman legionary standards, and even after the Roman Emperors achieved a state of total personal autarchy, they continued to wield their power in the name of the Senate and People of Rome.
A People's Republic is typically a Marxist or socialist one-party state that claims to govern on behalf of the people even if it in practice often turns out to be a dictatorship. Populism is another umbrella term for various political tendencies that claim to represent the people, usually with an implication that they serve the common people instead of the elite.
Chapter One, Article One of the Charter of the United Nations states that "peoples" have the right to self-determination. Though the mere status as peoples and their right to self-determination, as for example in the case of Indigenous peoples, does not provide for claiming independence and a sovereign state, since peoples also need territory and a central government to reach sovereignty in international politics.


== In law ==

In criminal law, in certain jurisdictions, criminal prosecutions are brought in the name of the People. Several U.S. states, including California, Illinois, and New York, use this style.

People

Russia (Russian: Россия, Rossiya, Russian pronunciation: [rɐˈsʲijə]), or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, covering over 17 million square kilometres (6.6×10^6 sq mi), and encompassing more than one-eighth of Earth's inhabited land area. Russia extends across eleven time zones, and has borders with sixteen sovereign nations. It has a population of 146.2 million; and is the most populous country in Europe, and the ninth-most populous country in the world. Moscow, the capital, is the largest city in Europe, while Saint Petersburg is the nation's second-largest city and cultural centre. Russians are the largest Slavic and European nation; they speak Russian, the most spoken Slavic language, and the most spoken native language in Europe.
The East Slavs emerged as a recognisable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. The medieval state of Rus' arose in the 9th century. In 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus' ultimately disintegrated until it was finally reunified by the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 15th century. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, the third-largest empire in history.

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