1.
Macau
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Macau, also spelled Macao, officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the western side of the Pearl River Delta in East Asia. Macau is bordered by the city of Zhuhai in Mainland China to the north, Hong Kong lies about 64 kilometres to its east across the Delta. With a population of 650,900 living in an area of 30.5 km2, Macau was administered by the Portuguese Empire and its inheritor states from the mid-16th century until late 1999, when it constituted the last remaining European colony in Asia. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s, in 1557, Macau was leased to Portugal from Ming China as a trading port. The Portuguese Empire administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty until 1887, sovereignty over Macau was transferred back to China on 20 December 1999. The Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau and Macau Basic Law stipulate that Macau operate with a degree of autonomy until at least 2049. Macau participates in international organizations and events that do not require members to national sovereignty. Macau is a city in Southern China, known for its casinos. Its gaming revenue has been the worlds largest since 2006, with the heavily dependent on gaming. According to The World Factbook, Macau has the fourth highest life expectancy in the world, the present Chinese name means Inlet Gates. Macau is otherwise known in Chinese as Haojing or Jinghai, the name Macau is thought to be derived from the A-Ma Temple, a temple built in 1448 dedicated to Mazu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the Portuguese then named the peninsula Macau. The history of Macau is traced back to the Qin dynasty, the first recorded Chinese inhabitants of the area were people seeking refuge in Macau from invading Mongols during the Southern Song. Under the Ming dynasty, fishermen migrated to Macau from Guangdong, the Macau native people were Tanka boat people. Macau did not develop as a settlement until the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century. In 1513, Jorge Álvares became the first Portuguese to land in China, in 1535, Portuguese traders obtained the rights to anchor ships in Macaus harbours and to carry out trading activities, though not the right to stay onshore. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, the Portuguese continued to pay an annual tribute up to 1863 in order to stay in Macau. By 1564, Portugal commanded western trade with India, Japan, but their pride was damaged by the indifference with which the Chinese treated them
2.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
5.
Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
6.
Standard Chinese
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Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, and its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a language with topic-prominent organization. It has more initial consonants but fewer vowels, final consonants, Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There exist two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, while Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters. There are many characters that are identical between the two systems, in English, the governments of China and Hong Kong use Putonghua, Putonghua Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin, while those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, use Mandarin. The name Putonghua also has a long, albeit unofficial, history and it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or common tongue/speech, was different from the Guoyu. The former was a prestige variety, while the latter was the legal standard. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different, Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, which is close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called the speech of the modern man. The use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai, prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the term for Standard Chinese. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca, Huayu, or language of the Chinese nation, originally simply meant Chinese language, and was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name Huayu to refer to Mandarin and it also incorporates the notion that Mandarin is usually not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. The term Mandarin is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire, in English, Mandarin may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name Modern Standard Mandarin is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the language from other northern. Chinese has long had considerable variation, hence prestige dialects have always existed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán rather than colloquial regional dialects, rime books, which were written since the Northern and Southern dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times
7.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
8.
Cantonese
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Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a variety of Chinese spoken in the city of Guangzhou in southeastern China. It is the prestige variety of Yue, one of the major subdivisions of Chinese. In mainland China, it is the lingua franca of the province of Guangdong and some neighbouring areas such as Guangxi. In Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese serves as one of their official languages and it is also spoken amongst overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and throughout the Western World. When Cantonese and the closely related Yuehai dialects are classified together, Cantonese is viewed as vital part of the cultural identity for its native speakers across large swathes of southeastern China, Hong Kong and Macau. Although Cantonese shares some vocabulary with Mandarin, the two varieties are mutually unintelligible because of differences in pronunciation, grammar and lexicon, sentence structure, in particular the placement of verbs, sometimes differs between the two varieties. This results in the situation in which a Cantonese and a Mandarin text may look similar, in English, the term Cantonese is ambiguous. Cantonese proper is the variety native to the city of Canton and this narrow sense may be specified as Canton language or Guangzhou language in English. However, Cantonese may also refer to the branch of Cantonese that contains Cantonese proper as well as Taishanese and Gaoyang. In this article, Cantonese is used for Cantonese proper, historically, speakers called this variety Canton speech or Guangzhou speech, although this term is now seldom used outside mainland China. In Guangdong province, people call it provincial capital speech or plain speech. In Hong Kong and Macau, as well as among overseas Chinese communities, in mainland China, the term Guangdong speech is also increasingly being used among both native and non-native speakers. Due to its status as a prestige dialect among all the dialects of the Cantonese or Yue branch of Chinese varieties, the official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English, as defined in the Hong Kong Basic Law. The Chinese language has different varieties, of which Cantonese is one. Given the traditional predominance of Cantonese within Hong Kong, it is the de facto official spoken form of the Chinese language used in the Hong Kong Government and all courts and it is also used as the medium of instruction in schools, alongside English. A similar situation exists in neighboring Macau, where Chinese is an official language along with Portuguese. As in Hong Kong, Cantonese is the predominant spoken variety of Chinese used in life and is thus the official form of Chinese used in the government. The variant spoken in Hong Kong and Macau is known as Hong Kong Cantonese, Cantonese first developed around the port city of Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta region of southeastern China
9.
Jyutping
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Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong, an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanisation Scheme, the LSHK promotes the use of this romanisation system. The name Jyutping is a contraction consisting of the first Chinese characters of the terms Jyut6jyu5, only the finals m and ng can be used as standalone nasal syllables. ^ ^ ^ Referring to the pronunciation of these words. There are nine tones in six distinct tone contours in Cantonese, however, as three of the nine are entering tones, which only appear in syllables ending with p, t, and k, they do not have separate tone numbers in Jyutping. Jyutping and the Yale Romanisation of Cantonese represent Cantonese pronunciations with the letters in, The initials, b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, ng, h, s, gw, kw. The vowel, aa, a, e, i, o, u, the coda, i, u, m, n, ng, p, t, k. But they differ in the following, The vowels eo and oe represent /ɵ/ and /œː/ respectively in Jyutping, the initial j represents /j/ in Jyutping whereas y is used instead in Yale. The initial z represents /ts/ in Jyutping whereas j is used instead in Yale, the initial c represents /tsʰ/ in Jyutping whereas ch is used instead in Yale. In Jyutping, if no consonant precedes the vowel yu, then the initial j is appended before the vowel, in Yale, the corresponding initial y is never appended before yu under any circumstances. Jyutping defines three finals not in Yale, eu /ɛːu/, em /ɛːm/, and ep /ɛːp/ and these three finals are used in colloquial Cantonese words, such as deu6, lem2, and gep6. To represent tones, only tone numbers are used in Jyutping whereas Yale traditionally uses tone marks together with the letter h. Jyutping and Cantonese Pinyin represent Cantonese pronunciations with the letters in, The initials, b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, ng, h, s, gw, kw. The vowel, aa, a, e, i, o, u, the coda, i, u, m, n, ng, p, t, k. But they have differences, The vowel oe represents both /ɵ/ and /œː/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas eo and oe represent /ɵ/ and /œː/ respectively in Jyutping. The vowel y represents /y/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas both yu and i are used in Jyutping, the initial dz represents /ts/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas z is used instead in Jyutping. The initial ts represents /tsʰ/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas c is used instead in Jyutping. To represent tones, the numbers 1 to 9 are usually used in Cantonese Pinyin, however, only the numbers 1 to 6 are used in Jyutping
10.
Portuguese language
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Portuguese is a Romance language and the sole official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It also has co-official language status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Portuguese is part of the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, and has kept some Celtic phonology. Portuguese is also termed the language of Camões, after Luís Vaz de Camões, one of the greatest literary figures in the Portuguese language and author of the Portuguese epic poem, the museum is the first of its kind in the world. In 2015 the museum was destroyed in a fire, but there are plans to reconstruct it, when the Romans arrived in the Iberian Peninsula in 216 BCE, they brought the Latin language with them, from which all Romance languages descend. Between 409 CE and 711 CE, as the Roman Empire collapsed in Western Europe, Portuguese evolved from the medieval language, known today by linguists as Galician-Portuguese, Old Portuguese or Old Galician, of the northwestern medieval Kingdom of Galicia. It is in Latin administrative documents of the 9th century that written Galician-Portuguese words and this phase is known as Proto-Portuguese, which lasted from the 9th century until the 12th-century independence of the County of Portugal from the Kingdom of León, by then reigning over Galicia. In the first part of the Galician-Portuguese period, the language was used for documents. For some time, it was the language of preference for poetry in Christian Hispania. Portugal became an independent kingdom in 1139, under King Afonso I of Portugal, in the second period of Old Portuguese, in the 15th and 16th centuries, with the Portuguese discoveries, the language was taken to many regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas. The language continued to be popular in parts of Asia until the 19th century, some Portuguese-speaking Christian communities in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Indonesia preserved their language even after they were isolated from Portugal. The end of the Old Portuguese period was marked by the publication of the Cancioneiro Geral by Garcia de Resende, Most literate Portuguese speakers were also literate in Latin, and thus they easily adopted Latin words into their writing—and eventually speech—in Portuguese. Portuguese is the language of the majority of people in Brazil and Portugal, perhaps 75% of the population of Angola speaks Portuguese natively, and 85% are fluent. Just over 40% of the population of Mozambique are native speakers of Portuguese, Portuguese is also spoken natively by 30% of the population in Guinea-Bissau, and a Portuguese-based creole is understood by all. No data is available for Cape Verde, but almost all the population is bilingual, there are also significant Portuguese speaking immigrant communities in many countries including Andorra, Bermuda, Canada, France, Japan, Jersey, Namibia, Paraguay, Macau, Switzerland, Venezuela. In some parts of former Portuguese India, namely Goa and Daman and Diu, in 2014, an estimated 1,500 students were learning Portuguese in Goa. Equatorial Guinea made an application for full membership to the CPLP in June 2010. In 2011, Portuguese became its official language and, in July 2014. Portuguese is a subject in The school curriculum in Uruguay
11.
Tower
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A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, Towers are specifically distinguished from buildings in that they are not built to be habitable but to serve other functions. Towers can be stand alone structures or be supported by adjacent buildings or can be a feature on top of a structure or building. Old English torr is from Latin turris via Old French tor, the Latin term together with Greek τύρσις was loaned from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language, connected with the Illyrian toponym Βου-δοργίς. The oldest known may be the stone tower in walls of Neolithic Jericho. Some of the earliest towers were ziggurats, which existed in Sumerian architecture since the 4th millennium BC, the most famous ziggurats include the Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur, built the 3rd millennium BC, and the Etemenanki, one of the most famous examples of Babylonian architecture. The latter was built in Babylon during the 2nd millennium BC and was considered the tallest tower of the ancient world, some of the earliest surviving examples are the broch structures in northern Scotland, which are conical towerhouses. These and other examples from Phoenician and Roman cultures emphasised the use of a tower in fortification, for example, the name of the Moroccan city of Mogador, founded in the first millennium BC, is derived from the Phoenician word for watchtower. The Romans utilised octagonal towers as elements of Diocletians Palace in Croatia, which monument dates to approximately 300 AD, while the Servian Walls, the Chinese used towers as integrated elements of the Great Wall of China in 210 BC during the Qin Dynasty. Towers were also an important element of castles, other well known towers include the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy built from 1173 until 1372 and the Two Towers in Bologna, Italy built from 1109 until 1119. The Himalayan Towers are stone towers located chiefly in Tibet built approximately 14th to 15th century, up to a certain height, a tower can be made with the supporting structure with parallel sides. However, above a height, the compressive load of the material is exceeded. This can be avoided if the support structure tapers up the building. A second limit is that of buckling—the structure requires sufficient stiffness to avoid breaking under the loads it faces, many very tall towers have their support structures at the periphery of the building, which greatly increases the overall stiffness. A third limit is dynamic, a tower is subject to varying winds, vortex shedding and these are often dealt with through a combination of simple strength and stiffness, as well as in some cases tuned mass dampers to damp out movements. Varying or tapering the outer aspect of the tower with height avoids vibrations due to vortex shedding occurring along the building simultaneously. Although not correctly called towers many modern skyscraper are often called towers, in the United Kingdom, tall domestic buildings are referred to as tower blocks. In the United States, the original World Trade Center had the nickname the Twin Towers, the tower throughout history has provided its users with an advantage in surveying defensive positions and obtaining a better view of the surrounding areas, including battlefields
12.
Bungee jumping
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Not to be confused with reverse bungee. Bungee jumping is an activity that involves jumping from a structure while connected to a large elastic cord. The thrill comes from the free-falling and the rebound, when the person jumps, the cord stretches and the jumper flies upwards again as the cord recoils, and continues to oscillate up and down until all the kinetic energy is dissipated. The students had come up with the idea after discussing a vine jumping ritual carried out by certain natives of Vanuatu, the jumpers were arrested shortly after, but continued with jumps in the US from the Golden Gate Bridge and the Royal Gorge Bridge, spreading the concept worldwide. By 1982, they were jumping from mobile cranes and hot air balloons, organised commercial bungee jumping began with the New Zealander, A J Hackett, who made his first jump from Aucklands Greenhithe Bridge in 1986. Hackett remains one of the largest commercial operators, with concerns in several countries, several million successful jumps have taken place since 1980. This safety record is attributable to bungee operators rigorously conforming to standards and guidelines governing jumps, such as checking calculations. As with any sport, injuries can occur, and there have been fatalities. A relatively common mistake in fatality cases is to use a cord that is too long, the cord should be substantially shorter than the height of the jumping platform to allow it room to stretch. When the cord becomes taut and then is stretched, the tension in the cord progressively increases, initially the tension is less than the jumpers weight and the jumper continues to accelerate downwards. At some point, the tension equals the weight and the acceleration is temporarily zero. With further stretching, the jumper has an upward acceleration. See also Potential energy for a discussion of the spring constant, the Bloukrans River Bridge was the first bridge to be bungee jumped off in Africa when Face Adrenalin introduced bungee jumping to the African continent in 1990. Bloukrans Bridge Bungy has been operated commercially by Face Adrenalin since 1997, in April 2008 a 37-year-old Durban man, Carl Mosca Dionisio, made bungee jumping history when he jumped off a 30 m tower attached to a bungee cord made entirely of 18,500 condoms. Around 1930, the name used for a rubber eraser. Unlike in modern bungee-jumping, land-divers intentionally hit the ground, a tower 4,000 feet high with a system to drop a car suspended by a cable of best rubber was proposed for the Chicago World Fair, 1892-1893. The car, seating two hundred people, would be shoved from a platform on the tower and then bounce to a stop, the designer engineer suggested that for safety the ground below be covered with eight feet of feather bedding. The proposal was declined by the Fairs organizers, the elastic rope first used in bungee jumping, and still used by many commercial operators, is factory-produced braided shock cord
13.
Radio masts and towers
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Radio masts and towers are, typically, tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two types, guyed and self supporting structures. They are among the tallest man-made structures, masts are often named after the broadcasting organizations that originally built them or currently use them. In the case of a mast radiator or radiating tower, the whole mast or tower is itself the transmitting antenna, the terms mast and tower are often used interchangeably. However, in engineering terms, a tower is a self-supporting or cantilevered structure. Broadcast engineers in the UK use the same terminology, in US broadcast engineering, a tower is an antenna structure attached to the ground, whereas a mast is a vertical antenna support mounted on some other structure. Masts tend to be cheaper to build but require an extended area surrounding them to accommodate the guy wires, Towers are more commonly used in cities where land is in short supply. There are a few designs that are partly free-standing and partly guyed, called additionally guyed towers. For example, The Gerbrandy tower consists of a tower with a guyed mast on top. The few remaining Blaw-Knox towers do the opposite, they have a lower section surmounted by a freestanding part. Until August 8,1991, the Warsaw radio mast was the worlds tallest supported structure on land, there are over 50 radio structures in the United States that are 600 m or taller. The steel lattice is the most widespread form of construction and it provides great strength, low weight and wind resistance, and economy in the use of materials. Lattices of triangular cross-section are most common, and square lattices are also widely used, guyed masts are often used, the supporting guy lines carry lateral forces such as wind loads, allowing the mast to be very narrow and simply constructed. When built as a tower, the structure may be parallel-sided or taper over part or all of its height, when constructed of several sections which taper exponentially with height, in the manner of the Eiffel Tower, the tower is said to be an Eiffelized one. The Crystal Palace tower in London is an example, guyed masts are sometimes also constructed out of steel tubes. This construction type has the advantage that cables and other components can be protected from weather inside the tube and these masts are mainly used for FM-/TV-broadcasting, but sometimes also as mast radiator. The big mast of Mühlacker transmitting station is an example of this. A disadvantage of this mast type is that it is more affected by winds than masts with open bodies
14.
Grand Lisboa
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Grand Lisboa is a 47-floor, 261-metre-tall hotel in Sé, Macau, China. It is owned by Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau and designed by Hong Kong architects Dennis Lau and its casino and restaurants were opened on February 11,2007, while the hotel was opened in December 2008. The casino offers 800 gaming tables and 1,000 slot machines, the hotel contains 430 hotel rooms and suites. The Grand Lisboa is the tallest building in Macau and the most distinctive part of its skyline, the casino is the first in Macau to offer Texas hold em poker ring games. It was also the first to offer craps, though several other casinos in Macau now offer the game, in 2017 it was reported that the Grand Lisboa suffered a decline in revenue and profits during 2016. Joël Robuchon joined the group in 2007 as the owner of the restaurant, Robuchon au Dome. The restaurant was renamed when it moved locations inside the hotel, the wine list features over 14,600 wines and has won the Wine Spectator “Grand Award”. The Star of Stanley Ho is on permanent display at the Casino Grand Lisboa, according to the Gemological Institute of America, the 218.08 carats diamond is the largest cushion shaped internally flawless D-color diamond in the world
15.
Auckland
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Auckland is a city in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the most populous area in the country. Auckland has a population of 1,495,000, which constitutes 32 percent of New Zealands population, a diverse and multicultural city, Auckland is home to the largest Polynesian population in the world. It has also been called Ākarana, the Māori pronunciation of Auckland, the Auckland urban area ranges to Waiwera in the north, Kumeu in the northwest, and Runciman in the south. It is not contiguous, the section from Waiwera to Whangaparāoa Peninsula is separate from its nearest neighbouring suburb of Long Bay, the surrounding hills are covered in rainforest and the landscape is dotted with dozens of dormant volcanic cones. The central part of the area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two major bodies of water. The isthmus on which Auckland resides was first settled around 1350 and was valued for its rich, Māori population in the area is estimated to have peaked at 20,000 before the arrival of Europeans. After a British colony was established in 1840, the new Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson and he named the area Auckland for George Eden, Earl of Auckland, British First Lord of the Admiralty. It was replaced as the capital in 1865, but immigration to the new city stayed strong, today, Aucklands Central Business District is the major financial centre of New Zealand. Auckland is classified as a Beta World City because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, education and tourism. Aucklands landmarks such as the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Harbour Bridge, the Sky Tower, the isthmus was settled by Māori around 1350, and was valued for its rich and fertile land. Many pā were created, mainly on the volcanic peaks, Māori population in the area is estimated to have been about 20,000 people before the arrival of Europeans. As a result, the region had relatively low numbers of Māori when European settlement of New Zealand began, there is, however, nothing to suggest that this was the result of a deliberate European policy. Auckland was officially declared New Zealands capital in 1841 and the transfer of the administration from Russell in the Bay of Islands was completed in 1842. However, even in 1840 Port Nicholson was seen as a choice for an administrative capital because of its proximity to the South Island. After losing its status as capital, Auckland remained the city of the Auckland Province until the provincial system was abolished in 1876. Each of the four settlements had about 800 settlers, the men being fully armed in case of emergency but spent nearly all their time breaking in the land and establishing roads
16.
Stanley Ho
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Dato Sri Stanley Ho GBM GLM GBS GML OBE, also known as Ho Hung Sun, Stanley Ho Hung Sun, is a Hong Kong and Macanese business magnate. Ho has been nicknamed The King of Gambling, reflecting the government-granted monopoly he held on the Macau gambling industry for 40 years, in 2011 he was the 13th richest man in Hong Kong with a net worth of US$2 billion. He is also Macaus wealthiest person and amongst the wealthiest in Asia and he owns many properties in both Hong Kong and Macau and has taken part in many kinds of business including entertainment, tourism, shipping, real estate, banking, and air transport. It is also estimated that his enterprises employ almost one fourth of the workforce of Macau, apart from Hong Kong and Macau, he has also invested in mainland China, Portugal, North Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mozambique, Indonesia and East Timor. Ho is also an industrialist and entrepreneur in Asia and has held a number of important positions in many firms in Hong Kong and his opinions and statements on Hong Kongs real estate and commercial development have considerable sway on the market. In the past few years he has involved in litigation with his own sister, Winnie Ho. Ho Fook, Stanley Hos grandfather, was the brother of Robert Hotung and his father was Ho Sai Kwong. Ho is the ninth of thirteen children, Ho studied at Queens College, Hong Kong, at which he attended Class D - the lowest class level in the then Hong Kong Class System - owing to unsatisfactory academic results. After realizing that studying assiduously was the way to improve his social status, his hard work paid off. He became the first student from Class D to be granted a university scholarship and his university studies were cut short by the outbreak of World War II. In 1942, he fled from the Japanese and settled in Macau, Ho began clerical work at a Japanese-owned import-export firm in Macau. He made his first fortune smuggling luxury goods across the Chinese border from Macau during World War II, in 1943 he set up a kerosene company and established a construction company with his money. Ho, along with partners, including Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok, Macau gambler Yip Hon and his brother-in-law Teddy Yip, in 1961 the company was renamed Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, S. A. R. L. Business at its flagship Lisboa Casino Hotel blossomed, the later to become well-known internationally. In the same year, Ho also set up Shun Tak Holdings Ltd, through a subsidiary, TurboJET, it owns one of the worlds largest fleets of high-speed jetfoils, which ferries passengers between Hong Kong and Macau. Hos investments in Macau are diverse, in 1989, after STDM took full control of the Macau Jockey Club, Ho became its chairman and chief executive officer. In 1998 Ho became the first living Macanese resident to have a street named after him. He also launched Asias first football and basketball lottery called SLOT, Ho took part in the joint advisory committee
17.
Sky Tower (Auckland)
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The Sky Tower is an observation and telecommunications tower located at the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets in the Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand. It is 328 metres tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast, making it the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere and it has become an iconic landmark in Aucklands skyline due to its height and unique design. The tower is part of the SkyCity Auckland casino complex, originally built in 1994–1997 for Harrahs Entertainment, several upper levels are accessible to the public, attracting an average of 1,150 visitors per day. There is also a brasserie-style buffet located one floor above the main observatory level and it has three observation decks at different heights, each providing 360-degree views of the city. The main observation level at 186 m has 38 mm thick sections of flooring giving a view straight to the ground. The top observation deck labeled Skydeck sits just below the antenna at 220 m. The tower also features the SkyJump, a 192-metre jump from the observation deck, the jump is guide-cable-controlled to prevent jumpers from colliding with the tower in case of wind gusts. Climbs into the antenna mast portion are also possible for tour groups, the tower is also used for telecommunications and broadcasting with the Auckland Peering Exchange being located on Level 48. The aerial at the top of the hosts the largest FM combiner in the world which combines with 58 wireless microwave links located above the top restaurant to provide a number of services. These include television, wireless internet, RT, and weather measurement services, a total of twenty-three FM radio stations and six digital terrestrial television multiplexes broadcast from the tower. Two VHF analogue television channels broadcasting from the tower were switched off in the hours of Sunday 1 December 2013 as part of New Zealands digital television transition. It was designed by Gordon Moller of Craig Craig Moller architects and has received a New Zealand Institute of Architects National Award as well as regional awards, the Project Architect was Les Dykstra. Taking two years and nine months to construct, the tower was opened on 3 August 1997, the tower is constructed of high-performance reinforced concrete. Its 12-metre diameter shaft is supported on eight legs based on 16 foundation piles drilled over 12 m deep into the local sandstone, the main shaft was built using climbing formwork. The upper levels were constructed from composite materials, structural steel, precast concrete and reinforced concrete, a structural steel framework supports the upper mast structure. During construction 15,000 cubic metres of concrete,2,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel, the mast weighs over 170 tonnes. It had to be lifted into place using an attached to the structure. The tower is designed to wind in excess of 200 km/h
18.
Beca Group
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Beca Group Limited is an employee-owned engineering and related consultancy service company in the Asia-Pacific. While it is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, Beca operates from three main hubs, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, Beca has almost 3,000 employees in total, in its 17 offices around the world. Beca has alliances, joint ventures or cooperative arrangements with Amec, CH2M Hill, Beca has had several name changes following amalgamations. Beca Steven existed from 1989 to 2001 after amalgamation of Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner with Steven Fitzmaurice & Partners, in 2001, CH2M Hill merged with Beca Steven to form CH2M Beca Ltd. Beca supplies engineering and related services to four key markets, industrial, buildings, infrastructure. According to its website, Beca has completed 156 projects in countries across the Asia Pacific region. Amongst its major projects is the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand and it is also involved in transportation projects such as the Manukau Harbour Crossing, and has provided engineering design services to the Victorian Desalination Project in Australia. In September 2010, Beca was rated the fourth most reputable organisation in New Zealand in a commissioned by consultancy group Hay Group. In December 2010, Beca was named Company of the Year at the 2010 New Zealand Deloitte/Management Magazine Top 200 Awards. In the Engineering News Records Magazine in 2013, Beca was ranked 76th in the Top 200 international design firms, in 2011, Hay Group named Beca as New Zealands Most Reputable Organisation. Sir Ron Carter, former Chairman of Beca Beca website
19.
Edison Chen
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Edison Koon-hei Chen is a Hong Kong film actor, musician, producer, entrepreneur, and fashion designer. Chen is also the founder of CLOT Inc. and the CEO of Clot Media Division Limited and he returned in 2010 but other than a brief cameo in the 2014 film Golden Chickensss, he did not make a complete comeback to the Hong Kong film industry until 2016. Chen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, of Chinese, Chens father is businessman Edward Chen, a Hong Kong entertainment industry mogul famously known as Ninth Brother. Palmer Secondary School in Richmond, British Columbia and also attended Hong Kong International School and he was in the same tenth grade class as fellow actor Nicholas Tse. He spoke English as his first language before learning Cantonese and Mandarin later on and he speaks some Japanese as well. He also knows some basic Khmer since he had to learn it to play a Cambodian Assassin in Dog Bite Dog He has two older sisters, in 1999, a talent scout approached Chen while he was clubbing with friends in Hong Kong. He asked him to film a commercial and he was at the age of 19 where he is featured in a Leon Lais Citibank commercial. In the early 2000 he starred alongside Cecilia Cheung in a commemorative subway commercial, from then on, his career began with the Japanese film Dead or Alive 2, Birds. He made his Hong Kong film debut in the film Gen-Y Cops in 2000 and he starred in many popular films including Infernal Affairs, Infernal Affairs II, Initial D, and Dog Bite Dog. Determined to expand his horizons to countries around the world, he starred in the Japanese drama Under the Same Moon. In 2006, he made his American debut as a Hong Kong journalist in The Grudge 2 and he was offered a small role in The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift but he declined. His final film in Hong Kong as of 2013 is The Sniper and he also filmed a cameo as a thug in The Dark Knight but because of the scandal, his role was reduced and was seen very briefly as a receptionist instead. Some reports states that he was originally cast to play Lau, a corrupted Chinese Accountant and he made his comeback in an Asian American film called Almost Perfect which he and his co-stars have been spending time promoting on several film festivals. On 28 October, during an event in Beijing, Edison Chen announced that he would be starring in Initial D2. The filming of the movie was scheduled to begin in 2011, in 2014, he made an brief comeback to the Hong Kong film industry in Golden Chickensss. After eight years of doing short roles, he is making a comeback to the entertainment business after he was spotted filming for Lou Yes new project in Guangzhou on April 2016. In 2000, at the age of 20, Chen landed a deal with Emperor Entertainment Group. It took him a number of album releases before he was given the opportunity to produce a hip hop album
20.
Guinness World Records
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The book itself holds a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted book of all time. As of the 2017 edition, it is now in its 63rd year of publication, the international franchise has extended beyond print to include television series and museums. On 10 November 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then the director of the Guinness Breweries, went on a shooting party in the North Slob, by the River Slaney in County Wexford. After missing a shot at a golden plover, he involved in an argument over which was the fastest game bird in Europe. That evening at Castlebridge House, he realised that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europes fastest game bird. Beaver knew that there must be numerous other questions debated nightly in pubs throughout Ireland and abroad and he realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove successful. Beavers idea became reality when Guinness employee Christopher Chataway recommended University friends Norris and Ross McWhirter, the twin brothers were commissioned to compile what became The Guinness Book of Records in August 1954. A thousand copies were printed and given away, after the founding of The Guinness Book of Records at 107 Fleet Street, the first 198-page edition was bound on 27 August 1955 and went to the top of the British best seller lists by Christmas. The following year, it launched in the US, and sold 70,000 copies, since then, Guinness World Records has become a household name and the global leader in world records. Because the book became a hit, many further editions were printed, eventually settling into a pattern of one revision a year, published in September/October. The McWhirters continued to compile it for many years, Ross McWhirter was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1975. Following Ross assassination, the feature in the show where questions about records posed by children were answered was called Norris on the Spot, Guinness Superlatives Limited was formed in 1954 to publish the first book. Sterling Publishing owned the rights to the Guinness book in the US for decades, and, under their management, the group was owned by Guinness PLC and subsequently Diageo until 2001, when it was purchased by Gullane Entertainment. Gullane was itself purchased by HIT Entertainment in 2002, with offices in New York City and Tokyo, Guinness World Records global headquarters remain in London, while its museum attractions are based at Ripley headquarters in Orlando, Florida, US. Recent editions have focused on record feats by person competitors, many records also relate to the youngest person who achieved something, such as the youngest person to visit all nations of the world, being Maurizio Giuliano. Each edition contains a selection of the records from the Guinness database, as well as new records. The majority of records are no longer listed in the book or on the website. For those unable to wait the 4–6 weeks for a reply, the Guinness Book of Records is the worlds most sold copyrighted book, earning it an entry within its own pages
21.
Eiffel Tower
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The Eiffel Tower is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed, the Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world,6.91 million people ascended it in 2015. The tower is 324 metres tall, about the height as an 81-storey building. Its base is square, measuring 125 metres on each side, due to the addition of a broadcasting aerial at the top of the tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by 5.2 metres. Excluding transmitters, the Eiffel Tower is the second-tallest structure in France after the Millau Viaduct, the tower has three levels for visitors, with restaurants on the first and second levels. The top levels upper platform is 276 m above the ground – the highest observation deck accessible to the public in the European Union, tickets can be purchased to ascend by stairs or lift to the first and second levels. The climb from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, although there is a staircase to the top level, it is usually only accessible by lift. Eiffel openly acknowledged that inspiration for a tower came from the Latting Observatory built in New York City in 1853, sauvestre added decorative arches to the base of the tower, a glass pavilion to the first level, and other embellishments. Little progress was made until 1886, when Jules Grévy was re-elected as president of France and Édouard Lockroy was appointed as minister for trade. On 12 May, a commission was set up to examine Eiffels scheme and its rivals, which, after some debate about the exact location of the tower, a contract was signed on 8 January 1887. Eiffel was to all income from the commercial exploitation of the tower during the exhibition. He later established a company to manage the tower, putting up half the necessary capital himself. The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and these objections were an expression of a long-standing debate in France about the relationship between architecture and engineering. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the column of bolted sheet metal. Gustave Eiffel responded to criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian pyramids. Will it not also be grandiose in its way, and why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris. Indeed, Garnier was a member of the Tower Commission that had examined the various proposals, some of the protesters changed their minds when the tower was built, others remained unconvinced. Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible
22.
Jack Osbourne
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Jack Joseph Osbourne is an English media personality with dual American and British citizenship. As the son of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, he starred on MTVs reality series The Osbournes, along with his father, mother Sharon, and sister Kelly. Osbourne has since pursued a career as a fitness and travel reporter, presenting shows such as Jack Osbourne, Adrenaline Junkie and he was diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis in 2012. As of summer 2016, he and father Ozzy are travelling the world in the History Channel reality series Ozzy & Jacks World Detour, Osbourne was born in London to heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath, and his wife and manager, Sharon. He has two sisters, Aimee and Kelly Osbourne, as well as two paternal half-siblings, Louis John Osbourne and Jessica Hobbs, from his fathers previous marriage. Osbourne has stated that his childhood was happy and contented. For the first six years of his life, he lived in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, when he was six, his parents moved the family to Los Angeles, but a year later the family returned to Buckinghamshire. When Osbourne was 11, the family moved back to Southern California, in spite of moving so many times at a young age, Osbourne did not find it disruptive. At the time, he was studying at a Christian school in Los Angeles and he returned to England for a year before returning to Los Angeles, where he was enrolled into the special needs Park Century School. At 14 he was offered an internship at Virgin Records, where his mother was managing the band the Smashing Pumpkins, after Sharon stopped managing that band, Osbourne started A&R scouting for Epic Records, where his father had been on for many years. Osbourne also helped his mother in managing his fathers annual touring festival, Ozzfest, on his 13th birthday, Osbourne got drunk for the first time on whisky, by the time he was 14, he was drinking regularly and had started smoking marijuana. He started partying heavily, and made headlines on 21 April 2003 when he was admitted to a psychiatric ward for an addiction to OxyContin. Osbournes drug addiction escalated after his mother was diagnosed with cancer and he woke up 12 hours later. Osbourne continued with his drug use until he realised that he never wants to feel this way ever again and he spent 10 days detoxing and was moved to an adolescent rehabilitation centre in Malibu, where he enrolled in a recovery programme. Osbourne gained high visibility in 2002 after appearing in his familys reality television show The Osbournes, in the show, Osbourne was mostly shown as a rebellious teenager who liked to party and to fight with sister Kelly Osbourne. In 2002, Osbourne briefly appeared in Austin Powers, Goldmember along with the rest of his family, from 2002 to 2003, Osbourne appeared in Season 6 of Dawsons Creek, playing Audreys childhood friend. He also made cameos in The X Factor, the season of That 70s Show. Post-rehab, Osbourne went on in 2003 to star in his own show on Channel 4, in 2004 he played a small role in New York Minute, a film starring the Olsen twins, in which he plays a music promoter named Justin
23.
Anthony Bourdain
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Anthony Michael Bourdain is an American chef, author, and television personality. He is a 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, although Bourdain is no longer employed as a chef, he maintains a relationship with Les Halles in New York. He became widely known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential, Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly and his first food and world-travel television show was A Cooks Tour, which ran for 35 episodes on the Food Network from 2002 through 2003. In 2005 he began hosting the Travel Channels culinary and cultural adventure programs Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations, in 2013, he switched to CNN to host Anthony Bourdain, Parts Unknown. Anthony Bourdain was born in New York City, and grew up in Leonia and his parents were Pierre Bourdain, a classical music industry executive for Columbia Records, and Gladys Bourdain, a staff editor for The New York Times. Bourdain has said he was raised without religion, and that his ancestors were Catholic on his fathers side and Jewish on his mothers side. His paternal grandparents were French, his grandfather emigrated from Arcachon to New York following World War I. Bourdain has written that his love of food was kindled in his youth while on a vacation in France. He graduated from the Dwight-Englewood School in 1973 and he attended Vassar College, dropping out after two years, and at the same time working in Provincetown, Massachusetts seafood restaurants, which sparked his decision to pursue cooking as a career. Bourdain went on to attend the Culinary Institute of America, graduating in 1978, from there he went on to run various restaurant kitchens in New York City—including the Supper Club, One Fifth Avenue, and Sullivans. In 1998 he became chef at Brasserie Les Halles, based in Manhattan with additional locations at the time in Miami, Washington, D. C. and Tokyo. He remained executive chef there for many years, though Bourdain is no longer formally employed at Brasserie Les Halles, he maintains a relationship with the restaurant, where he was described as recently as January 2014 as their chef-at-large. Bourdains New York Times bestselling book Kitchen Confidential, Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly was an outgrowth of his article in The New Yorker called Dont Eat Before Reading This. A sequel to Kitchen Confidential was published in 2010, called Medium Raw, A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food, on the Internet, Bourdains blog for Season 3 of Top Chef was nominated for a Webby Award for best Blog – Cultural/Personal in 2008. In 2012, Bourdain co-wrote the original graphic novel Get Jiro. for DC Comics/Vertigo along with Joel Rose, with art by Langdon Foss. The acclaim surrounding Bourdains memoir, Kitchen Confidential, led to an offer by the Food Network to host his own food and world-travel show, A Cooks Tour and it ran for 35 episodes, through 2003. In July 2005, Bourdain premiered a new, somewhat similar television series, Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations, in July 2006, Bourdain was in Beirut filming an episode of No Reservations when the Israel-Lebanon conflict broke out. The unexpected conflict broke out after the crew had filmed only a few hours of footage for the food, wolf after Harvey Keitels character in Pulp Fiction
24.
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
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Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations is an American travel and food show that airs on the Travel Channel, it also airs on the Discovery Travel & Living channel around the world. In it, host Anthony Bourdain visits overseas countries, cities worldwide, the series premiered in 2005 on the Travel Channel. The format and content of the show is similar to Bourdains 2001–2002 Food Network series, the Travel Channel announced that season 9 would be the shows final season. Season 9 premiered on September 3,2012 and concluded with its series finale episode on November 5,2012, the special episode Anthony Bourdain in Beirut that aired between Seasons 2 and 3 was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming in 2007. In 2009 and 2011 the series won the Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming, three special episodes were aired in 2006, one before the season, and two after. Season 3 was aired in two parts, six episodes in the winter of 2007, and nine in the summer/autumn of 2007, two special episodes were also aired in 2007, book-ending the regular episodes. As with Season 3, Season 4 was aired in two parts, nine episodes in the winter of 2008, and ten in the summer of 2008. Various sources have referred to the episodes as Season 5. One special episode followed the regular 2008 episodes, Season 5 is another split season, with 10 episodes aired in the winter of 2009, and 10 episodes following in the summer. As of March 2013, Travel Channel has released seven collections of the series on DVD, despite that the series has been shot mostly with high-definition video cameras, it is not available for purchase in high definition format like Blu-ray disc. In March 2013, Netflix canceled instant streaming of the show without explanation, hulu offers 5 episodes from season 7 and 8 The DVD releases do not have subtitles enabled for the hearing impaired. Collection 1 Disc 1- Paris, New Jersey Disc 2- Sicily, Las Vegas Disc 3- New Zealand, Malaysia Disc 4- Iceland, Vietnam Collection 2 Disc 1- Sweden, Puerto Rico, Quebec, U. S. C. Bourdain appeared as a guest on the New York City episode of Zimmerns Travel Channel show Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, the two shows were edited such that one show led nearly seamlessly into the other. Bourdains wife Ottavia Busia, who is a native of Sardinia, Italy, appeared anonymously on the Season 3 Tuscany episode and she is also featured prominently in the Season 5 episode when the Bourdains visit Sardinia. She was also featured in the Season 6 Rome and Season 7 Naples episodes, Bourdains brother Chris was his companion on the Season 4 Uruguay episode. In addition, Chris and his family appears in the first Holiday episode, the shows holiday specials also included performances by Queens of the Stone Age, Norah Jones and Das Racist. Actors who appeared on the program include Bill Murray, Sean Penn, politicians who appeared include German politician Gregor Gysi and Sicilys governor Salvatore Cuffaro. In the Puerto Rico episode, Tony boxed with and had lunch with boxer Miguel Cotto, when Tony visits EA Sports Canada in the Vancouver episode, NBA superstar Kevin Durant can be seen getting his motion capture suit adjusted
25.
America's Next Top Model
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Created and executive produced by Tyra Banks, the series premiered in May 2003, and was aired semiannually until 2012, then annually from 2013. The first six seasons were aired on UPN, before UPN merged The WB to create The CW in 2006, the following sixteen cycles were aired on The CW until the series was first cancelled in October 2015. The series has since been revived, with cycle 23 currently airing on VH1, the series was among the highest-rated programs on UPN, and was the highest-rated show on The CW from 2007 to 2010. Advertisers paid $61,315 per 30-second slot during the 2011–12 television seasons, the first twenty-two cycles of the series were presented by Banks, with cycle 23 being presented by Rita Ora. The series employs a panel of three or four judges, the original panel consisted of Banks, Janice Dickinson, Beau Quillian and Kimora Lee Simmons. Quillian and Simmons were replaced by Nigel Barker and Eric Nicholson in cycle 2, after cycle 4, Marin and Dickinson were replaced by J. Alexander and Twiggy in cycle 5. Paulina Porizkova joined the panel in cycle 10, in place of Twiggy, after cycle 12, Porizkova was fired by Banks and the panel was left with three judges in cycle 13. In cycle 14, Alexander left the panel and was replaced by André Leon Talley, in cycle 18, Kelly Cutrone replaced Talley. After cycle 18, Banks fired long-standing cast members Barker, Alexander, Barker was replaced by Rob Evans in cycle 19, and Manuel by Johnny Wujek. Alexander returned to the panel in cycle 21 in place of Evans, before the panel was replaced with Ora, Ashley Graham, Drew Elliott. Ora will be replaced as presenter and judge by the returning Banks for the upcoming cycle 24, cycles 1–16 and cycle 19 each consisted of a cast of between 10 and 14 female contestants with no previous participation on the series. Cycles 20–22 featured male contestants in the contest, including two eventual winners, cycle 23 follows the series original format of an all-new, all-female cast. Winners typically receive a feature in a magazine and a contract with a modeling agency among other prizes, the series is the originator of the international Top Model franchise. Over 30 versions of the series have been produced internationally and it was announced on January 24,2006, that Top Model would be part of the new The CW network, a merge between UPN and The WB, when the seventh cycle started in September airing on Wednesdays. The series became the first series among regular programming to air on the network, prior to the announcement of merging with The WB, UPN had committed to renewing the series through its ninth cycle on January 20,2006, for which casting was conducted throughout mid-2006. Americas Next Top Model is the show left on the network that was originally from UPN. On July 21,2006, the writers of Americas Next Top Model went on strike while working on cycle 7, the writers sought representation through the Writers Guild of America, West, which would allow them regulated wages, access to portable health insurance, and pension benefits. These benefits would be similar to those given to writers on scripted shows, the strike was the focus of a large rally of Hollywood writers coinciding with the premiere of the new network on September 20,2006
26.
An Idiot Abroad
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Though the New Seven Wonders of the World include the Colosseum in Rome, this is not one of Pilkingtons destinations, instead he visits the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Most of each episode focuses on Pilkington’s reactions to cultural differences and idiosyncrasies in the countries he visits, Gervais and Merchant call Pilkington during each trip, to assign him tasks often not related to why he believed he was visiting the country. These include training as a luchador, travelling the desert on a camel and it was confirmed by the shows producers that Pilkington has no prior warning about these situations. The camera man coaxes him along, Gervais commented, This is a documentary than most others youll ever see on television. We dont plan it, he doesnt know whats going to happen, a book entitled The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington was published shortly after the series. It was authored by Pilkington and gives an insight into his feelings on what he was experiencing. The second series shows Pilkington performing activities from a bucket list. Gervais produced a Christmas special mini-series that aired in the UK in late 2012, the original concept, pitched by Gervais, was to show Pilkington and Warwick Davis travelling around England on a bike together. The final outcome featured the pair travelling to China from Venice via Eastern Europe and India, Gervais said, We started planning the route for An Idiot Abroad 3, The Short Way Round, this week. Its only a special but weve decided to make it a bit more global as opposed to around Kent for a few days. An Idiot Abroad 3 did not feature Stephen Merchant who was busy with other projects, after the conclusion of the show, Ricky Gervais and Karl Pilkington worked together again in the TV series Derek. There is also an official podcast to accompany the programme and book, the programme was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky1, and has since started airing in other countries. The very first episode of An Idiot Abroad aired on 23 September 2010 at 9, 00pm on Sky1, the program increased its viewing figures throughout its run, with Episode 3 attracting 1,850,000 viewers and Episode 7 attracting 1,918,000 viewers. The show returned on 23 September 2011 at 9, 00pm on Sky1 with 2,659,000 viewers, making it the most watched Sky1, a three-part Christmas special was shown from 30 November 2012 to 14 December 2012 on Sky1. Pilkington is joined by actor Warwick Davis travelling to locations along the route taken by Marco Polo to China. On 21 December 2012, an episode entitled A Commentary was broadcast, it featured Davis, Pilkington. Gervais confirmed that the specials would be the end of the series, now with never-before-seen footage and Same idiot, more scenes. Each Lost Luggage episode is made up of the original episode, in each Lost Luggage segment, Gervais and Pilkington hold a short discussion
27.
Karl Pilkington
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Karl Pilkington is an English television presenter, author, comedian, radio producer, actor, and voice actor. Pilkington gained prominence as the producer of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchants radio programme on XFM and he appeared on The Ricky Gervais Show, presented the Sky travel comedy series An Idiot Abroad, and made his full acting debut on Gervais 2012 comedy-drama series Derek. Pilkington is a co-founder, along with Gervais and Merchant, of RiSK Productions, Pilkington recently starred in the Sky 1 travel documentary comedy series The Moaning of Life. This is his first show to not have any involvement from either Gervais or Merchant, Pilkington was born on 23 September 1972 in Manchester. After several years he work on The Ricky Gervais Show. Initially Pilkington was solely the programmes producer, as Gervais and Merchant began to invite him to make the odd comment, Pilkingtons persona came to light and his popularity increased. Pilkington was eventually included as an element of the broadcasts, with large amounts of airtime often given over to his thoughts on various subjects. In December 2005, Pilkington stood in for two BBC6 Music shows for Nemone, and co-presented the shows with Russell Brand, Pilkingtons presence on The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts significantly increased his popularity. He has often mentioned in interviews given by Gervais, and is often the butt of Gervais practical jokes. After saying I could eat a knob at night on the podcast, Gervais encouraged his listeners to sample the sound bite, the phrase spawned several dance music mixes, T-shirts, and other merchandise. Many of Pilkingtons quotes have since gained publicity, particularly on the Internet, reuters, commenting on this issue, described Pilkington as a phenomenon who had made Internet history. On 23 November 2010, while appearing live on Richard Bacons Radio 5 Live afternoon show, Pilkington has worked independently of Gervais and Merchant on several projects. He appeared as a guest on the shows Flipside TV and The Culture Show, Merchant and Gervais have repeatedly denied claims that Pilkingtons comic persona is their creation. Gervais concurred, pointing out that writing a series worth of six half-hour episodes of shows such as The Office. An interviewer for The Daily Telegraph concluded that Pilkingtons persona is genuine, Pilkington appeared in an interview on Ricky Gervaiss live stand-up comedy DVD, Politics. He was given a role in the final episode of Extras. He wrote a book to accompany the series, following the success of the first series, Pilkington starred in the second series subtitled The Bucket List, which debuted on 23 September 2011 on Sky1. The premise of the series involves Pilkington trying to experience ultimate things to do before you die except that the list of activities is not entirely of his choosing, in June 2011, he won the Best Presenter award for An Idiot Abroad at the Factual Entertainment Awards
28.
Warwick Davis
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Davis also starred as a fictionalised version of himself in the sitcom Lifes Too Short, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Davis was born in Epsom, Surrey, the son of Susan J. and Ashley Davis and he was educated at Chinthurst School and later the City of London Freemens School. Davis was born with Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a rare form of dwarfism. When Davis was 11, his grandmother heard a radio advert calling for people who were 4 feet tall or shorter to be in Return of the Jedi, to Davis, who was a fan of the Star Wars films, it was a dream come true. During the filming of Return of the Jedi, Mark Hamill bought Davis every Star Wars figure he did not have, Davis based his Ewok movements on his dog, who would tilt his head from side to side whenever he saw something strange. The unreleased film was a look at his decision to become an actor and act in the film. Davis reprised his role as Wicket in the ABC made-for-TV films Caravan of Courage, An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks, The Battle for Endor. In 1987, Davis was called to Elstree Studios in London to meet with Ron Howard and George Lucas to discuss a new project called Willow. Willow was his first opportunity to act with his face visible and he co-starred with Val Kilmer in the film, which received a Royal Premiere before the Prince and Princess of Wales. In 1993, he played the villainous Irish goblin in Leprechaun, Davis played the role of Professor Filius Flitwick in the Harry Potter films. Davis played a white-moustached Flitwick in the first two films, and then an unnamed chorus conductor for the third instalment of the series. In the fourth film, Flitwick is younger looking, with short, brown hair, in addition to playing Flitwick, Davis played the role of the goblin Griphook in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, despite the role being played previously by fellow dwarf actor Verne Troyer. In 2004, Davis played the character Plates in the indie film Skinned Deep, in 2006, Davis appeared, alongside fellow Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, in an episode of BBCs comedy series Extras as a satirical version of himself. Davis starred in the version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. In December 2006, Davis starred in the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at the Opera House, Manchester, and again in 2007–08 at the New Wimbledon Theatre. Davis appeared in The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, in which he played Nikabrik the Dwarf and he also appeared as a contestant on the 2007 series of Children in Need reality show Celebrity Scissorhands. Davis starred as a version of himself in Lifes Too Short, written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. In December 2012, Davis returned to New Wimbledon Theatre to reprise his role in Snow White, in 2014, Davis hosted a factual series for ITV called Weekend Escapes with Warwick Davis
29.
Running Man (TV series)
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Running Man is a South Korean variety show, forming part of SBSs Good Sunday lineup. It first aired on July 11,2010, Running Man was classified as an urban action variety, a genre of variety shows in an urban environment. The MCs and guests were to complete missions at a landmark to win the race, the show has since shifted to a more familiar reality-variety show concept focused on games. It has garnered attention as being the program for Yoo Jae-suk. The show has made it to the list of Business Insiders 20 TV Shows of 2016. Since April 2017, Running Man is airing as the first part of Good Sunday at 4,50 pm KST and competing against KBS2s The Return of Superman and MBCs King of Mask Singer. Running Man previously aired at 6,25 pm KST on Sundays, as the part of Good Sunday, airing after Flower Crew, competing against KBS2s 1 Night 2 Days. As of episode 48, the members take part in a series of missions to become the winner at the end of the race. In the first episode, they were divided into two teams and raced to find the codes hidden within the landmark that were required to unlock the main doors. After all the numbers had been found by either of the teams, they approached the main door, the exact team was allowed to leave the landmark while the losing team was required to complete a punishment inside the landmark. From the second episode to the episode, both teams competed to find golden pigs filled with money that was hidden within the landmark. At the end of episode, the team with the most money was declared the winner and was allowed to leave the landmark while the losing team received a punishment. The money collected by the teams was donated in the teams honor. From episodes 6 to 10, a consistent game format was used where both competed to obtain the most Running Man Balls. Running Balls were awarded to the team found a ball, and were also given to individuals who won a game. Each of the games and races was referred to as missions, previously, the Photo Zone Game was played at every landmark. Mission 2 was the race mission, Mission 3 was Leisure Time for a Cup of Tea. This mission was discontinued after episode ten due to controversies, Mission 4 was Morning Team Sports
30.
The Amazing Race
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The Amazing Race is a reality television game show in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. Clues provided in each leg lead the teams to the destination or direct them to perform a task. These challenges are related in some manner to the country wherein they are located or its culture, teams are progressively eliminated until three are left, at that point, the team that arrives first in the final leg is awarded the grand prize. Emmy-award-winning New Zealand television personality Phil Keoghan has been the host of the U. S. version of the show since its inception, the show has branched out to include a number of international versions following a similar format. Unless otherwise indicated, the seasons refer to the U. S. version of the series, typically, each cycle of the Race features eleven teams. Original Race rules required that teammates have had a relationship longer than three years, and no previous acquaintances with other racers during that cycle. The team format has varied in some seasons, four seasons featured an additional team of two, while the Family Edition featured ten teams of four players and included young children. Season 29 will feature 22 complete strangers who meet for the first time. Unseen by the viewer most of the time, teams are accompanied by an audio and video production crew that records the team as they race. The production crews are switched among teams each leg to avoid familiarity, at the beginning of each leg of the race, each team receives an allowance with their first clue, from which all expenses must be purchased during the Leg. Selected tasks have also required the teams to use their money to complete the task, however, teams are given a credit card which they must use to purchase airline tickets. While early seasons of the U. S. version of the allowed for teams to use the credit card to reserve flights outside of an airport or travel agency. Allowance money is given in the same currency as the shows nation regardless of location. In one exception, teams were given money in the currency of Vietnam at the start of that Leg, the amount of money varies from leg to leg, and has ranged from hundreds of dollars to nothing. Teams are allowed to any unused money for future race legs. If team members all of their money or have it taken away in a non-elimination leg. This includes borrowing money from other teams, begging from locals or selling their possessions, since season seven, teams have been prevented from begging at United States airports. Additionally, teams may not use their personal possessions to barter payment for services, however, the exact amount is not known, nor are the exact circumstances when it can be used
31.
The Amazing Race 11
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The Amazing Race 11 is the 11th installment of the US reality television show The Amazing Race. The eleventh season premiered on February 18,2007 at 8,00 p. m. EST,7,00 p. m. CST, for one hour, and the season finale was on May 6,2007. Dating couple Eric Sanchez and Danielle Turner, who had competed on opposing teams on The Amazing Race 9 and they were the first team to win a season without finishing first in a non-final leg of the race. A DVD was released on May 1,2013, courtesy of Amazons CreateSpace program, as early as 2004, there had been talk about an all-star edition, with speculation that it would occur during the eighth season, as with Survivor. These rumors were fueled by reports that season 4 winner Reichen Lehmkuhl had been invited to appear in a future all-star race, speculation continued for the next few years, particularly after CBS aired all-star editions of their two other reality competition series, Survivor and Big Brother. On September 28,2006, CBS ordered an 11th season of The Amazing Race, in November 2006, host Phil Keoghan was originally skeptical that an all-star edition was feasible. Over time, Keoghan felt that as we got more and more really good teams and this season traveled a little over 45,000 miles, across 30 cities and six continents. This season was the second to visit every continent except Antarctica, the new locales visited in this season were Ecuador, Mozambique, Poland, Macau, and Guam. This was the last season in the US series to feature the Yield, as of 2016, this is also the last season that did not either start or finish in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Six legs of this race were won by all-female teams setting a record which would later be matched in season 17 and this seasons 11 teams were selected from past contestants, going back among the first ten seasons. Keoghan personally submitted a list of 15 teams that he thought should return, the team he didnt choose was Eric & Danielle, who did not previously race together. Keoghan said, I didnt think of new combination, which actually is a really good one. He also added that the teams goal for the race wasnt to pick the best racers. Despite the All-Stars title, only one team, Uchenna & Joyce, had won a previous season, some former racers were angered by their omission from All-Stars, most notably Chip and Kim McAllister, and BJ Averell and Tyler MacNiven, who publicly criticized CBS casting process. Colin Guinn and Christie Woods were expected to be in All-Stars, the newly created team for All-Stars thus became Eric and Danielle. A series of 13 web episodes presented the eliminated contestants living together in a house in their sequester location in Acapulco, Mexico. The following teams participated in the race, each listed along with their placements in each leg, note that this table is not necessarily reflective of all content broadcast on television, owing to the inclusion or exclusion of some data. Placements are listed in finishing order, A red team placement indicates that the team was eliminated, a green ƒ indicates that the team won a Fast Forward clue
32.
CBS
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CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
33.
The Amazing Race Canada 2
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The second season of The Amazing Race Canada was a reality game show based on the American series The Amazing Race. It featured eleven teams of two, each with a relationship in a race across Canada and around the world. Jon Montgomery returned as the host, the season premiered on July 8,2014 and the finale aired on September 21,2014. Best friends Michael Mickey Henry and Peter Pete Schmalz were the winners, on September 16,2013, CTV announced that the show was renewed for the second season during the first season reunion special. Unlike the first season, the race traveled to destinations outside of Canada like other international Amazing Race counterparts. This show features MasterChef Canada judge Alvin Leung as a judge for the Master Chef task in Leg 3 and Hong Kong-Canadian actress Jennifer Tse, casting began in November 2013, with an online site for submission of applications and audition videos. The first three teams were revealed on June 17,2014, with the teams announced on June 18. Air Canada and Chevrolet retain their sponsorship from the first season, the new prize includes receiving a gas supply from Petro-Canada and each leg prize includes cash from Scotiabank. After episode 6, a special mid-season reunion/recap titled After The Race aired, hosted by James Duthie, the program reviewed the events of the first 6 episodes with the first 5 eliminated teams. A second After The Race special that was hosted by Duthie. The following teams are participating in the Race, each listed along with their relationships as announced by CTV, a red team placement means the team was eliminated. A green ƒ indicates that the team won a Fast Forward, an underlined blue teams placement indicates that the team came in last on a non-elimination leg and had to perform a Speed Bump during the next leg of the race. A purple ε indicates that the team decided to use the first Express Pass on that leg, a magenta ə indicates the team had previously been given the second Express Pass and used it on that leg. A brown ⊃ or a cyan ⋑ indicates that the team chose to use one of the two U-Turns in a Double U-Turn, ⊂ or ⋐ indicates the team who received it, episode titles are often taken from quotes made by the racers. Whats It Take to Get a Cup of Tea, – Bob Theres a Fish in My Pants – Sukhi Snakes and Liars – Producer Named Theyre Harshing Our Mellow – Mickey Who Designs These Torture Tests. – Rex Shes the Pierogi Poobah – Bob Lest We Forget – Non-Racer I Said Yes, – Audrey How Are We Going to Explain This to Mom and Dad. – Jinder Hot Poop – Rob Put the Fun Back in Fundy – Pete Whos Da Bomb, – Non-Racer The prize for each leg is awarded to the first place team for that leg. Trips are sponsored by Air Canada and cash prizes by Scotiabank, Leg 1 – Two Express Passes – an item that can be used on the race to skip any one task of the teams choosing up and until the eighth leg of the race
34.
The Amazing Race Asia 3
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The Amazing Race Asia is a reality television game show based on the American series, The Amazing Race. The third installment of the show features ten teams of two with a relationship, in a race around Asia to win US$100,000. The season premiered on September 11,2008 and consists of 11 episodes, the season finale aired on November 20,2008. In 2009, the series was nominated for an International Emmy Award for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment, friends Vince Chung & Sam Wu, representing Hong Kong, were the winners of the race. Vince also becomes the first non-Asian by nationality to win the race, the third season of The Amazing Race Asia covered 21,600 kilometres in six countries. Route markers were coloured yellow and white in Vietnam to avoid confusion with the flag of South Vietnam. This season introduced the U-turn marker, while the Intersection was not included and this season, like the American versions Family Edition and Brazilian version, was the first to have had the entire Race take place in one continent, Asia. Unlike past seasons, this was the first race to not have the first leg as a non-elimination leg and this season also had the number of episodes decreased from 13 to 11. During filming, one crew member was even hospitalized. Applications for the season were due on March 3,2008. Interviews for semi-finalists and finalists were held sometime around March or April 2008, filming was expected to have taken place around the middle of 2008. This seasons cast include cousins, and a father & son team, like Season 2, the Race featured a large number of local media personalities or their relatives. Natalie is the winner of Miss Universe 2005 and also the wife of Thai tennis player Paradorn Srichaphan and her teammate, Pailin, is the runner-up in 2006 Miss Thailand Universe and also contested in Miss Earth 2006. William and Isaac are sports commentators and football agents for professional players in the Korean K-League, Vince is a leading stand-up comedian in Hong Kong, often performing and hosting at The TakeOut Comedy Club Hong Kong, and was a finalist in Hong Kongs first nationwide stand-up comedy competition. This season consists of three non-Asians, natalie and Vince are Canadians, and Geoff is from New Zealand. Additionally, Sam, who was originally from Singapore, is representing Hong Kong, tisha is of Canadian nationality but of Filipino ethnicity, Henry and Bernie are of Australian nationality but of Chinese ethnicity. Paula Taylor, one of the racers in Season 2, appeared as the local greeter in the first leg of the Race, kynt Cothron and Vyxsin Fialas audition video was shown on the Racers Revealed episode. But if we do an All Star version down the track you never know, the third season of The Amazing Race Asia had six official sponsors, they are Caltex, MASkargo, Nokia, Singha, Sony and Standard Chartered Bank
35.
Karen Mok
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Karen Mok known in the Chinese-speaking communities by Mok Man-wai/Mo Wen Wei, is one of the leading Chinese actors and pop stars. She has won the Golden Melody Award three times, has released over 20 solo CDs, has acted in over 40 movies and has over 36 million followers on Chinese microblogging site Weibo and she speaks English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Italian, German and French. She is of mixed ancestry, her father is half-Chinese and half-Welsh, while her mother is half-Chinese, quarter-Iranian, Mok attended Diocesan Girls School from primary to secondary grade in Hong Kong. When she was a F.5 student, she received the 1st Hong Kong Outstanding Students Awards and she later left Hong Kong in 1987 and studied abroad. She attended United World College of the Adriatic near Trieste, Italy from 1987 to 1989 and she also supplied the voice of Princess Kida for the Cantonese dub of Walt Disneys Atlantis, The Lost Empire. Mok played the lead in the 10th anniversary Asian tour of the hit Broadway musical Rent in the lead role of Mimi in 2005 and 2006. Mok carried the torch at the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, in October 2008, she launched her own brand of perfume in Hong Kong. Mok conducted a number of concert tours, the most recent ones being The original Karen Mok show, The Age of MOKnificence. She was the first Chinese pop artist to give concerts in Madrid. For her tour REGARDEZ, she acted as concert director. Mok has completed many endorsement agreements with leading brands such as Canon, Kappa, Cadillac, Clear, Chow Tai Fook, Lux, Titus, Mok has 3 step-children and spends her time between London and her international engagements. Mok is an advocate for animals and animals rights and has been involved in numerous campaigns for this purpose. She has also involved with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia-Pacifics. In 2007, Mok was involved with MTV EXIT, a campaign against human trafficking in Asia and she presented Traffic, An MTV EXIT Special, a documentary on trafficking. Karen currently serves as ambassador for UNICEF, SPCA, Animals Asia Foundation, Enlighten-Action for Epilepsy, Care for Children, and Roll Back Malaria. In 2016, she was awarded the title of the ambassador of the Italian city of Bergamo. Official website Karen Mok at the Internet Movie Database Karen Mok at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
36.
Ming Xi
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Ming Xi is a Chinese fashion model, born on March 8,1989 in Shanghai, China. Her professional modeling career started in 2009 after she attended a TV competition and her international modeling career took off in 2011 after she walked her first well-known runway debut for Givenchy Haute Spring Show. In the same year, Ming Xi modeled the Givenchy ready-to-wear collection, Ming Xi also modeled for Victorias Secret Fashion Shows in 2013 and 2014. She was named as a top supermodel of the world, in 2007, Ming Xi graduated from Shanghai Donghua University majoring in Fashion Design and Acting. A year later, she attended a TV quest competition on Dragon Television called “Go and this was her first appearance on television in the public eye. Two years after she graduated college, Ming Xi participated in the Elite Model Look competition. Ming ranked third in the competition, shortly after the contest, she was offered a contract with Givenchy. Later on, Ming walked the Givenchy Haute Couture Show and Ready-to-Wear shows, Ming attracted more attention by appearing in Givenchy Runway Shows. This was the beginning of her career and she started her international modeling career shortly after. In the same year, Ming Xi appeared in the Givenchy F/W2010 campaign, Ming Xi also engaged in Fall/ Winter 2011 New York Fashion Week with other three Chinese fashion models, Shu Pei, Sun Feifei, and Liu Wen. Ming Xi modeled the Victorias Secret Fashion Show in 2013,2014,2015 and 2016, in 2014, Michael Kors invited Ming to model Michael Kors Shanghai Extravaganza with Rosie Huntington and Miranda Kerr. Ming also participated in the Met Gala red carpet with Michael Kors, karl Lagerfeld selected Ming to star in a new campaign for his label, and cooperated with Kendall Jenner and Sasha Luss. Ming Xi on Sina Weibo Ming Xi on Instagram Ming Xi at the Fashion Model Directory Ming Xi
37.
Xie Na
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Xie Na, also known as Nana, is a Chinese host, singer and actress. She is famous for co-hosting the Hunan Satellite TV program Happy Camp with fellow hosts He Jiong, Li Weijia, Du Haitao and she graduated from Sichuan Normal University, where she majored in performance. She is a famous celebrity in China, with over 84 million followers on Weibo as of May 2016. Xie Na arrived in Beijing at age 18 to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, prior to becoming a host, Xie Na started her career as an actress, starring in movies, TV series and stage productions. In 2006, she released her autobiography Na Shi Yi Zhen Feng, in 2008, her second book Na Xie Nian Hua was published. Xie Na also released her debut album Bo Luo Bo Luo Mi in 2006, Xie Na founded her personal clothing line HUANXING on October 15,2010, with a flagship store in Taobao Mall online. The brand has been worn by Zhang Jie, He Jiong, Su Xing, Cao Ying, on May 5,2011, Xie Na and singer Jason Zhang registered their marriage in Chengdu, China. Their wedding ceremony was held on September 26,2011, in Shangri-La City, in July 2013, Xie Na attended Boston Universitys Center for English Language & Orientation Programs for a 6 week program to improve her English skills. In addition to releasing her own music, in 2010, Xie Na also participated in Happy Camps album Youll See the Happiness, Na Shi Yi Zhen Feng Na Xie Nian Hua Na Me Kuai Le Xie Na at the Internet Movie Database Xie Na on Sina Weibo
38.
Joe Chen
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Joe Chen Chiao-en is a Taiwanese singer, actress, writer and model. Known as the Queen of Idol Dramas, Joe is known for her roles in The Prince Who Turns into a Frog, Fated to Love You, Chen also entered the Forbes China Celebrity 100 List for the first time. She established her status as an A-list-er with her roles in dramas and movies The Monkey King, Cruel Romance. As of 2015, she is listed by Forbes as the 61st most influential celebrity in mainland China, Joe Chen began working as a model and assistant in 2001. She entered the entertainment industry after winning 1st place on Sanlih E-Televisions talent show, in 2002, she began her acting career by taking on a supporting role in the television drama, Lavender. She also became a host for SET variety shows Zhong Guo Na Me Da and Zong Yi Qi Jian, alongside famous Taiwanese hosts Jacky Wu and NONO. After being neglected by her company for six months, she attracted the attention of SETs executive Zong Limei and this was her first leading role. The drama became the highest rated Taiwanese drama then, and also achieved moderate success overseas, in 2004, Joe debuted with Taiwanese girl group 7 Flowers. In 2005, Joe had her breakout role in The Prince Who Turns into a Frog, the drama had a peak rating of 8.05, dethroning the previous record held by Meteor Garden to become the highest rated Taiwanese idol drama. From 2006 to 2007, Joe began to host Taiwanese variety programs Treasure Hunter and she also starred in the dramas A Game About Love and Ying Ye 3 Jia 1. In 2008, Joe starred in Fated to Love You opposite Ethan Juan, the series beats Joes previous drama, The Prince Who Turns into a Frog to become the highest rated Taiwanese idol drama. Broadcasting rights of the show were sold to 15 countries, the drama was also covered by Americas Wall Street Journal. Joe was nominated for Best Actress in a TV Series at the 43rd Golden Bell Awards and was named Queen of Idol Dramas by Taipei Times, in 2009, Joe was cast in the romance drama The Girl in Blue, adapted from an online novel. This also marks her first forays into mainland China, the series was broadcast on Hunan TV in 2010. In 2011, Joe made her film debut in Barbara Wongs romance film. In 2012, Joe made her return to idol dramas after 4 years in The Queen of SOP, the drama was the highest rated drama in its time slot for the year, and also received positive reviews from audience. She also released an OST for the drama titled Like to be Lonely, Joe rose to mainstream popularity in China after starring in the Chinese wuxia drama Swordsman, adapted from Louis Chas novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. She portrayed the anti-heroine Dongfang Bubai, though there were initial doubts to her characters, Joe later won the hearts of the audience through her complex and rich portrayal of her character
39.
Almaty Tower
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The Almaty Television Tower, or simply Almaty Tower, is a 371. 5-metre-high steel television tower built between 1975 and 1983 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The tower is located on slopes of Kok Tobe mountain south-east of downtown Almaty. Unlike other similar TV towers, it is not a concrete and it is the tallest free-standing tubular steel structure in the world. The tower is 371.5 m tall, its 114 m metal aerial reaches 1000 meters above sea level and it has two observation decks at the height of 146 m and 252 m, which are accessible by two high-speed elevators. It is however not open to the public, the tower was built by the architects Terziev, Savchenko, Akimov and Ostroumov
40.
Aspire Tower
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Aspire Tower, also known as The Torch Doha, is a 300-metre-tall skyscraper hotel located in the Aspire Zone complex in Doha, Qatar. Designed by architect Hadi Simaan and AREP and engineer Ove Arup and Partners, the tower is currently the tallest structure and building in Doha and Qatar, but it will be surpassed by the Dubai Towers Doha, and the Barwa Tower when either project is completed. The tower has also known as Khalifa Sports Tower or Doha Olympic Tower. The tower was a landmark of the 2006 Asian Games due to its size and proximity to the main venue, the modules themselves are composed of steel columns, metal decking, concrete slabs, and outer tension and compression ring beams, which support glass-paneled outer walls. The bottom of each module is covered with glass reinforced concrete. The building was completed in November 2007 at a final cost of 133,395,000 €
41.
Bailong Elevator
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The Bailong Elevator is a glass elevator built onto the side of a huge cliff in the Wulingyuan area of Zhangjiajie, Peoples Republic of China that is 326 m high. It is claimed to be the highest and heaviest outdoor elevator in the world, construction of the elevator began in October 1999, and it was opened to the public by 2002. The environmental effects of the elevator have been a subject of debate and controversy, operations were stopped for 10 months in 2002-2003, reportedly due to safety concerns, not environmental ones. On 16 July 2015, the elevator was officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest outdoor lift
