User:Wiki User 68/My Portal

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Wiki User 68/My Portal

Flag of England
Flag of England
English Coat of arms
English Coat of arms
Location on the world map
Location on the world map
Location on the world map

Wiki User 68 hails from the Great British Isles specifically England /ˈɪŋɡlənd/ which is a country that is part of the United Kingdom.[1][2][3] Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population,[4] whilst its mainland territory occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain. England shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west and elsewhere is bordered by the North Sea, Irish Sea, Celtic Sea, Bristol Channel and English Channel. The capital is London, the largest urban area in Great Britain, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most, but not all, measures.[5]

England became a unified state in the year 927 and takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled there during the 5th and 6th centuries. It has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world[6] being the place of origin of the English language, the Church of England, and English law, which forms the basis of the common law legal systems of countries around the world. In addition, England was the birth place of the Industrial Revolution and the first country in the world to industrialise.[7] It is home to the Royal Society, which laid the foundations of modern experimental science.[8] England is the world's oldest parliamentary system[9] and consequently constitutional, governmental and legal innovations that had their origin in England have been widely adopted by other nations.

Selected Panorama

This approximate true-color image, taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, shows the view of Victoria Crater from Cape Verde. It was captured over a three-week period, from October 16 – November 6, 2006.

Selected Article

Porthcurno Beach
Porthcurno Beach

Cornwall (/ˈkɔrnwɔːl/, Cornish: Kernow [ˈkɛrnɔʊ]), constitutional Duchy and palatine, is a county of England, United Kingdom, located at the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of 526,300, covering an area of 1,376 square miles (3,563 km²).[10] The administrative centre and only city is Truro.

The area now known as Cornwall was first inhabited by Neolithic and then Bronze Age peoples, and later (in the Iron Age) by Celts. Cornwall is part of the Brythonic (Celtic) area of Britain, separated from Wales after the Battle of Deorham, often coming into conflict with the expanding English kingdom of Wessex before King Athelstan set the boundary between English in 922 A.D. and Cornish people at the Tamar.[11] Absorption into England (or not) is highly problematic, and it should be noted that the Cornish language continued to be spoken until the late 18th century, when the last native speaker of Cornish died in 1777.[12][13] A revival of Cornish was begun in the early 20th century, led by Henry Jenner and has progressed further over recent decades; 300 people were in 2000 said to speak Cornish fluently (study by Kenneth MacKinnon). Today, Cornwall's economy struggles after the decline of the mining and fishing industries, and has become more dependent on tourism. The area is noted for its wild moorland landscapes, its extensive and varied coastline and its mild climate.

Cornwall is the homeland of the Cornish people and diaspora, and is considered one of the six "Celtic nations" by many residents and scholars.[14] The County and Duchy continues to retain its distinct identity, with its own history, language and culture. Some inhabitants question the present constitutional status of Cornwall, and a self-government movement seeks greater autonomy. [15][16]

Selected Picture

The Broadway Tower is a folly, or mock tower in Worcestershire.

Selected Natural History

Indochinese Tiger

The Krâvanh Mountains, or literally "Cardamom Mountains" (Khmer regular script: , Chuor Phnom Krâvanh; Thai: เขาบรรทัด, Khao Banthat), is a mountain range in the south west of Cambodia. The highest elevation is Phnom Aural at 1,813 meters (5,948 ft) high. This is also Cambodia's highest peak.

The mountain range extends along a southeast-northwest axis, and is continued to the southeast by the Dâmrei Mountains and to the northwest by an extension into Thailand territory (Chanthaburi Province) known as the Soi Dao Mountains (Khao Soi Dao). The southern boundary of the Cardamoms is in Koh Kong Province and the northern boundary is in Veal Veang District in Pursat Province.

This range of mountains formed one of the last strongholds of the Khmer Rouge and many part are largely inaccessible. The inaccessibility of the hills, however, helped to preserve the area; the mountains now form an endangered ecoregion. The mountains contain many "jar sites" scattered around the mountains. The jars are a unique feature to the mountain. They are 60 cm high and carry the bones of deceased Cambodians. Local legends suggest the bones are the remains of Cambodian royalty.

The mountain range is home to fourteen endangered and threatened mammal species including the Asian elephant, Indochinese Tiger, Malayan sun bear and Pileated gibbon, Irrawaddy and humpback dolphins, and half of Cambodia’s bird species. It is the last place on earth with Siamese crocodiles and is the only habitat remaining in Cambodia for the nearly extinct batagur baska, or "Royal turtle".

The population of the Cardamom Mountain Range is extremely poor, and threats to the biological diversity of the region include habitat loss due to illegal logging, wildlife poaching, and forest fires caused by slash-and-burn agriculture. Among the international conservation organizations working in the area are Wildlife Alliance, Conservation International, Fauna and Flora International and WWF (conservation organization).

Dense tropical rain forest prevails on their western slopes, which annually receive from 150 to 200 inches (3,800–5,000 mm) of rainfall; only 40 to 60 inches (1,000 to 1,500 mm) fall on the wooded eastern slopes in the rain shadow facing the interior Cambodian plain. On their slopes cardamons and pepper are still grown commercially.

Tourism is relatively new to the area. In 2008, Wildlife Alliance launched a community-based ecotourism program in the village of Chi Phat, marketed as the "gateway to the Cardamoms". However the number of international visitors remains very small in comparison to the tourism development of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, or Phnom Penh.

Selected Technology

NASA researcher checking hydroponic onions with Bibb lettuce to his left and radishes to the right

Hydroponics (from the Greek words hydro water and pono labor) is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, or mineral wool.

Plant physiology researchers discovered in the 19th century that plants absorb essential mineral nutrients as inorganic ions in water. In natural conditions, soil acts as a mineral nutrient reservoir but the soil itself is not essential to plant growth. When the mineral nutrients in the soil dissolve in water, plant roots are able to absorb them. When the required mineral nutrients are introduced into a plant's water supply artificially, soil is no longer required for the plant to thrive. Almost any terrestrial plant will grow with hydroponics. Hydroponics is also a standard technique in biology research and teaching.

In the news

World News
World News
In the news
In the news


4 May 2024 – 2024 London mayoral election
Sadiq Khan wins re-election as mayor of London, England, with 43.8% of the vote, becoming the first London mayor to be elected to a third term. (BBC News)
30 April 2024 – 2024 Hainault sword attack
A man attacks people with a sword after crashing a car into a house in Hainault, London, England, United Kingdom, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, including two police officers. (BBC News) (The New York Times)
17 April 2024 –
Scientists announce that they have identified fossil remains of the Ichthyotitan, the largest marine reptile currently known, in the Westbury Formation in England. (NOS)

Selected Biography

44th President of the United States of America
44th President of the United States of America

Barack Hussein Obama II (/bəˈrɑːk hˈsn ˈbɑːmə/ , bə-RAHK hoo-SAYN oh-BAH-mə; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president in U.S. history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004, and as a community service organizer, civil rights lawyer, and university lecturer. (Full article...)

Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree, and practiced as a civil rights attorney in Chicago before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for United States Senate in 2004. Obama's unexpected landslide victory in the March 2004 U.S. Senate primary made him a rising star in the national Democratic Party, with his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004 further raising his visibility. He was elected by a landslide margin to the U.S. Senate in November 2004.

After a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination, becoming the first major African American candidate for President. In the 2008 general election, he defeated Republican candidate John McCain and was inaugurated as President on January 20, 2009.

Selected Geography

Map showing extent and types of permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest, and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions.[17] The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea, classifying it as one of the mediterranean seas of the Atlantic Ocean.

In geology, permafrost or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water (0 °C or 32 °F) for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of the ground material. Most permafrost is located in high latitudes (i.e. land in close proximity to the North and South poles), but alpine permafrost may exist at high altitudes in much lower latitudes.

The extent of permafrost can vary as the climate changes. Today, a considerable area of the Arctic is covered by permafrost (including discontinuous permafrost). Overlying permafrost is a thin active layer that seasonally thaws during the summer. Plant life can be supported only within the active layer since growth can occur only in soil that is fully thawed for some part of the year. Thickness of the active layer varies by year and location, but is typically 0.6–4 m (2 to 12 feet) thick. In areas of continuous permafrost and harsh winters the depth of the permafrost can be as much as 1493 m (4510 ft) in the northern Lena and Yana River basins in Siberia. Permafrost can also be a storage of carbon. One estimate is that 1700 Gt of carbon are stored within the permafrost worldwide.

Categories

Selected quote

The tragedy of modern war is not so much that young men die but that they die fighting each other, instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.

Edward Abbey
naturalist and author (1927-1989)

Did you know?

  • ...that optimistic estimations of peak oil production forecast the global decline will begin by 2020 or later, and assume major investments in alternatives will occur before a crisis, without requiring major changes in the lifestyle of heavily oil-consuming nations. These models show the price of oil at first escalating and then retreating as other types of fuel and energy sources are used?[18]
  • ...that if the Greenland ice-sheet melted through global warming, it would raise the global sea level by 7 meters, or 22 feet?

Topics

Cities: AmsterdamBangkokBarcelonaBrusselsCalcuttaCologneFlorenceGibraltarLas VegasLisbonLos AngelesLondonMaastrichtMarbellaMarrakechMumbaiOttawaPaphosSan FranciscoTokyoTorontoYokohama

Climate change: Global warmingGlobal dimmingFossil fuelsSea level riseGreenhouse gas

Conservation: The British IslesSpecies extinctionPollinator declineCoral bleachingHolocene extinction eventInvasive speciesPoachingEndangered species

Computer science: Artificial intelligenceCompilersComputer programmingCryptographyOperating systemsProgramming languages

Geography: GeologyClimateOceansIslandsRivers

History: Prehistoric BritainRoman BritainAnglo-Saxon EnglandHouse of LancasterHouse of Stuart

Linguistics: Anthropological linguisticsEurolinguisticsWriting systems

Resource depletion: Acid mine drainageClearcuttingConsumerismOver-consumptionBlast fishingBottom trawlingCyanide fishingDeforestationGhost netsIllegal loggingIllegal, unreported and unregulated fishingLoggingMountaintop removal miningOverfishingShark finningWhaling

Science: AstronomyBiologyChemistryFormal scienceGeologyMathmaticsPhysics

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  1. ^ The Countries of the UK statistics.gov.uk, accessed 10 October, 2008
  2. ^ "Countries within a country". 10 Downing Street. Retrieved 2007-09-10. The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
  3. ^ "ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Date: 2007-11-28 No I-9. "Changes in the list of subdivision names and code elements" (Page 11)" (PDF). International Organisation for Standardisation codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions -- Part 2: Country subdivision codes. Retrieved 2008-05-31. ENG England country
  4. ^ National Statistics Online - Population Estimates. Retrieved 6 June 2007.
  5. ^ The official definition of LUZ (Larger Urban Zone) is used by the European Statistical Agency (Eurostat) when describing conurbations and areas of high population. This definition ranks London highest, above Paris (see Larger Urban Zones (LUZ) in the European Union); and a ranking of population within municipal boundaries also puts London on top (see Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits). However, research by the University of Avignon in France ranks Paris first and London second when including the whole urban area and hinterland, that is the outlying cities as well (see Largest urban areas of the European Union).
  6. ^ England - Culture. Britain USA. Retrieved 12 September 2006.
  7. ^ "Industrial Revolution". Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  8. ^ "History of the Royal Society". The Royal Society. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  9. ^ "Country profile: United Kingdom". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
  10. ^ "T 09: Quinary age groups and sex for local authorities in the United Kingdom; estimated resident population Mid-2006 Population Estimates". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  11. ^ Stenton, F. M. (1947) Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Clarendon Press; p. 337
  12. ^ Ellis, P. B. (1974) The Cornish Language and its Literature. London: Routledge; ch. 5: the death of the language (pp. 95-124)
  13. ^ [1]
  14. ^ Payton, Philip (1996). Cornwall. Fowey: Alexander Associates
  15. ^ The Duchy of Cornwall - history supported by references to primary source material
  16. ^ "Country profiles: England". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  17. ^ Michael Pidwirny (2006). "Introduction to the Oceans". www.physicalgeography.net. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
  18. ^ "CERA says peak oil theory is faulty". Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA). 2006-11-14. Retrieved 2008-07-27.