The brown rat known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat, Parisian rat or wharf rat, is one of the best known and most common rats. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown or grey rodent with a head and body length of up to 28 cm long, a tail shorter than that, it weighs between 500 g. Thought to have originated in northern China, this rodent has now spread to all continents except Antarctica, is the dominant rat in Europe and much of North America, making it, by at least this particular definition, the most successful mammal on the planet alongside humans. With rare exceptions, the brown rat lives wherever humans live in urban areas. Selective breeding of the brown rat has produced the fancy rat as a pet, as well as the laboratory rat – rats used as model organisms in biological research. Called the "Hanover rat" by people wishing to link problems in 18th century England with the House of Hanover, it is not known for certain why the brown rat is named Rattus norvegicus, as it did not originate from Norway.

However, the English naturalist John Berkenhout, author of the 1769 book Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain, is most responsible for popularizing the misnomer. Berkenhout gave the brown rat the binomial name Rattus norvegicus, believing it had migrated to England from Norwegian ships in 1728. By the early to middle part of the 19th century, British academics believed that the brown rat was not native to Norway, hypothesizing that it may have come from Ireland, Gibraltar or across the English Channel with William the Conqueror; as early as 1850, however, a new hypothesis of the rat's origins was beginning to develop. The British novelist Charles Dickens acknowledged this in his weekly journal, All the Year Round, writing: Now there is a mystery about the native country of the best known species of rat, the common brown rat, it is called, in books and otherwise, the'Norway rat', it is said to have been imported into this country in a ship-load of timber from Norway. Against this hypothesis stands the fact that when the brown rat had become common in this country, it was unknown in Norway, although there was a small animal like a rat, but a lemming, which made its home there.

Academics began to prefer this etymology of the brown rat towards the end of the 19th century, as seen in the 1895 text Natural History by American scholar Alfred Henry Miles: The brown rat is the species common in England, best known throughout the world. It is said to have travelled from Persia to England less than two hundred years ago and to have spread from thence to other countries visited by English ships. Though the assumptions surrounding this species' origins were not yet the same as modern ones, by the 20th century, it was believed among naturalists that the brown rat did not originate in Norway, rather the species came from central Asia and China; the fur is coarse and brown or dark grey, while the underparts are lighter grey or brown. The brown rat is a rather large murid and can weigh twice as much as a black rat and many times more than a house mouse; the head and body length ranges from 15 to 28 cm while the tail ranges in length from 10.5 to 24 cm, therefore being shorter than the head and body.

Adult weight ranges from 140 to 500 g. Exceptionally large individuals can reach 900 to 1,000 g but are not expected outside of domestic specimens. Stories of rats attaining sizes as big as cats are exaggerations, or misidentifications of larger rodents, such as the coypu and muskrat. In fact, it is common for breeding wild brown rats to weigh less than 300 g. Brown rats have acute hearing, are sensitive to ultrasound, possess a highly developed olfactory sense, their average heart rate is 300 to 400 beats per minute, with a respiratory rate of around 100 per minute. The vision of a pigmented rat is poor, around 20/600, while a non-pigmented with no melanin in its eyes has both around 20/1200 vision and a terrible scattering of light within its vision. Brown rats are dichromates which perceive colors rather like a human with red-green colorblindness, their colour saturation may be quite faint, their blue perception, however has UV receptors, allowing them to see ultraviolet lights that some species cannot.

The brown rat is nocturnal and is a good swimmer, both on the surface and underwater, has been observed climbing slim round metal poles several feet in order to reach garden bird feeders. Brown rats dig well, excavate extensive burrow systems. A 2007 study found brown rats to possess metacognition, a mental ability only found in humans and some primates, but further analysis suggested they may have been following simple operant conditioning principles. Brown rats are capable of producing ultrasonic vocalizations; as pups, young rats use different types of ultrasonic cries to elicit and direct maternal search behavior, as well as to regulate their mother's movements in the nest. Although pups will produce ultrasounds around any other rats at 7 days old, by 14 days old they reduce ultrasound production around male rats as a defensive response. Adult rats will emit ultrasonic vocalizations in response to perceived danger; the female rat will emit ultrasonic vocalizations during mating. Rats may emit short, high frequency, ultrasonic induced vocalization during rough and tumble play, before receiving morphine, or mating, when tickled.

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Pangil Bhaskaran is an Indian novelist writing in Malayalam. Bhaskaran has been a college teacher, farmer and government official in revenue department. Pattunoolpuzhukkal Mulayaruthum Mudi Murichum Orumpettaval Vellinakshatrangale Thedi Abhishekachadangile Balan Sundarippasu Mezhukuthirikal Oonuvadikal Bhrithyanmar Sahayatrikar Odampal Thanne Parannathum Thalli Parathiyathum Akathalam Oru Njandinte Aathmakatha Veerangana Nandikeshan Sakshi Krishnante Jananavum Sakhavu Sekharanum Engane Kadaledukkunna Kure Jeevithangal Abudabi Sakti Award for Pangil Bhaskaran's novel'Bhrity-anmar' in 1988. Aksharakkoottam Award for'Akathalam' in 2013. Bhāskaran, Pāṅṅil Bhāskaran, Pāṅṅil

Far-Less was a five-piece post-hardcore band from Marion, with members from Marion and other surrounding areas, including Pulaski and Blacksburg. They were signed to Nail Records. Far-less played their final show on August 14, 2009, at the Greene Street Club in Greensboro, NC. Far-Less began in the summer of 2001 in Virginia; the original lineup included vocalist Jordan Powers, bassist Joseph Powers, drummer Ray Felts and guitarist Jacob Murray. The quartet wrote and recorded the Emerge EP and played a handful of local shows before the exit of Murray near the end of the year, a change which prompted Jordan's shift to guitar and the inclusion of Brandon Welch as lead vocalist; the band's name is the hyphenated version of a friend's surname. This lineup was stable for the following year, in which the band released the Apossibility EP and recorded their full-length debut Broken Hearts Unite for the Raleigh, North Carolina-based indie label Silent Uproar Records. Regional tours continued as the band started to receive more attention with Broken Hearts Unite, Mark Karsten was added as second guitarist.

In 2003 Far-Less started to draw attention from larger record companies, in 2004 the band was invited to perform in a showcase for Seattle's Tooth and Nail Records. This performance resulted in a new record label for the band, the Turn to the Bright EP followed that year. Following a long period of touring the band returned to the studio to record a second full-length album, Everyone Is Out to Get Us; the record received many positive reviews, as well as a notable 4/5 rating in Alternative Press. More touring ensued, in 2006 the band parted ways with drummer Ray Felts. North Carolina native Todd Turner stepped in as the band's new drummer, with the shifting dynamic of the band came a renewed creative energy which came to fruition with the group's third album A Toast to Bad Taste. In the middle of the recording process the group added keyboardist Elizabeth “Bitsy” Pina to its ranks. Tours in the United States and Canada followed, with the record being released in 2007—-again to critical acclaim—but with low sales.

Shortly thereafter, bassist Joseph Powers returned to school. Karsten and Turner soon followed in his footsteps. 2008 proved to be a strenuous year for Far-Less, yet the band pushed on with the aid of long-time friends Brandon Hackler on guitar and Tyler Hill on drums. A national tour in the spring of 2008 resulted in the loss of Pina, but the band managed to finish the tour dates with help from Mike Schey, Josh King and Robert Smith. After a brief hiatus the band filled the empty bass slot with Brian Freeman, moved to Radford and continued the writing process; the forthcoming Headache EP is the result, was due to be released digitally by Tooth & Nail Records in the summer of 2009, but for unknown reasons the EP has yet to come out. Far-Less played its final show at the Greene Street Club in Greensboro, NC; the band ended its career with a twenty-song set including songs from all EPs. The band had many special guests at the show, including Josh King of House of Fools, were able to reassemble many of the past members to create a Far-Less "super group" with performances by Ray Felts, Joseph Powers, Todd Turner, Mark Karsten, along with the final line-up of the band.

Brandon Welch - lead vocals, guitar Jordan Powers - Guitar & Vocals Brandon Hackler - Guitar Brian Freeman - Bass Tyler Hill - Drums Jacob R. Murray - guitar Ray Felts - drums Joseph "Joep" Powers - bass Todd Turner - drums Elizabeth "Bitsy" Pina - keyboard Mark Karsten - guitar Far-Less at Tooth & Nail Records Far-Less at MTV You Hear It First Far-Less