Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent. It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,200,000 square kilometres, it is the fifth-largest continent and nearly twice the size of Australia. At 0.00008 people per square kilometre, it is by far the least densely populated continent. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness, which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctica, on average, is the coldest and windiest continent, has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Most of Antarctica is a polar desert, with annual precipitation of 200 mm along the coast and far less inland; the temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C, though the average for the third quarter is −63 °C. Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at research stations scattered across the continent.

Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, fungi, plants and certain animals, such as mites, penguins and tardigrades. Vegetation, where it occurs, is tundra. Antarctica is noted as the last region on Earth in recorded history to be discovered, unseen until 1820 when the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny sighted the Fimbul ice shelf; the continent, remained neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of accessible resources, isolation. In 1895, the first confirmed. Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status. Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, thirty-eight have signed it since then; the treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal, supports scientific research, protects the continent's ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations.

The name Antarctica is the romanised version of the Greek compound word ἀνταρκτική, feminine of ἀνταρκτικός, meaning "opposite to the Arctic", "opposite to the north". Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c. 350 BC. Marinus of Tyre used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century CE; the Roman authors Hyginus and Apuleius used for the South Pole the romanised Greek name polus antarcticus, from which derived the Old French pole antartike attested in 1270, from there the Middle English pol antartik in a 1391 technical treatise by Geoffrey Chaucer. Before acquiring its present geographical connotations, the term was used for other locations that could be defined as "opposite to the north". For example, the short-lived French colony established in Brazil in the 16th century was called "France Antarctique"; the first formal use of the name "Antarctica" as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew.

The long-imagined south polar continent was called Terra Australis, sometimes shortened to'Australia' as seen in a woodcut illustration titled Sphere of the winds, contained in an astrological textbook published in Frankfurt in 1545. Although the longer Latin phrase was better known, the shortened name Australia was used in Europe's scholarly circles. In the nineteenth century, the colonial authorities in Sydney removed the Dutch name from New Holland. Instead of inventing a new name to replace it, they took the name Australia from the south polar continent, leaving it nameless for some eighty years. During that period, geographers had to make do with clumsy phrases such as "the Antarctic Continent", they searched for a more poetic replacement, suggesting various names such as Antipodea. Antarctica was adopted in the 1890s. Antarctica has no indigenous population, there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. However, in February 1775, during his second voyage, Captain Cook called the existence of such a polar continent "probable" and in another copy of his journal he wrote: " believe it and it's more than probable that we have seen a part of it".

However, belief in the existence of a Terra Australis—a vast continent in the far south of the globe to "balance" the northern lands of Europe and North Africa—had prevailed since the times of Ptolemy in the 1st century AD. In the late 17th century, after explorers had found that South America and Australia were not part of the fabled "Antarctica", geographers believed that the continent was much larger than its actual size. Integral to the story of the origin of Antarctica's name is that it was not named Terra Australis—this name was given to Australia instead, because of the misconception that no significant landmass could exist further south. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has been credited with popularising the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia, he justified the titling of his book A Voyage to Terra Australis by writing in the introduction: There is no probability, that any other detached body of land, of nearly equal extent, will be found in a more southern latitude.

The Toyota Sai is a hybrid electric car sharing the same platform and hybrid drivetrain as the Lexus HS. It was launched in Japan on October 20, 2009, following the launch of the Lexus HS in January of the same year. Toyota received about 14,000 orders in one month after its introduction, the Sai is available at all Toyota Japanese dealership sales channels. On June 25, 2010, Lexus recalled 17,801 2010 model year HS250h and Sai models for failing to comply with US FMVSS 301, "Fuel System Integrity", due to excessive fuel leakage in the event of a rear-end collision. A recall of these Sai and HS models for reprogramming the brake software in February 2010 led some buyers to question the model, with word of the issue scaring away potential buyers. In early 2010, based on units sold, the HS was considered one of the less popular Lexus sedans in the US, despite its success in Japan. In late 2011, Ward's AutoWorld reported that Lexus was discontinuing sales of the HS 250h in the US due to many complaints from customers.

On November 15, 2017, the Sai was discontinued and replaced by the Lexus ES 300h, released in Japan on October 24, 2018. Official website

In American law, a signing agent or courtesy signer is an agent whose function is to obtain a formal signature of an appearer to a document. In common parlance, most jurisdictions require the appearer to sign before a notary public. From this, the practice of a notary public designating themselves as a signing agent has arisen. There are notaries public who specialize in the notarization of real estate transfer and loan document signings. Signing agents have certification and training through private organizations, but is not a requirement in law, although it may be a requirement of the lender in the oversight of real estate transaction document signatures. Referred to as a notary signing agent or a loan signing agent, a signing agent should not be confused with a mortgage loan closer or closing agent. Signing agents are notaries public, who have experience and/or training concerning the proper execution of loan documents and are hired by mortgage companies, escrow companies, title companies, signing services to identify loan documents, obtain the necessary signatures, in some cases deliver the documents to the borrower.

A signing agent is an impartial party to the transaction, must adhere to the notary laws of their state or jurisdiction. In some states of the United States where signing agents are allowed, signing agents may identify documents and can point out terms to the loan transaction. However, signing agents are prohibited from giving legal advice or in any way explaining or interpreting the meaning of any terms or documents, they are not permitted to prepare the documents, or alter them in any way. Any advice, explanation, or opinion can be considered unauthorized practice of law, except in the State of Louisiana, governed by Civil Law; the American Signing Agents Association Inc defines the signing agent as, "A signing agent is a trusted professional a state commissioned notary public, that performs the closing ceremony for real estate transactions, mortgage loan transactions, legal process transactions and other similar transactions where an independent third part is requested. A signing agent should insure that they are disinterested in the transaction and have a mutual obligation to all parties to remain objective, neutral to any position, insure awareness of document contents by affiant and make a reasonable effort to prevent fraud and protect affiants from coercion."

Courtesy Signing John A. Gale. Nebraska Notary Law Seminar. Accessed 2007