1.
Snowy owl
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The snowy owl is a large, white owl of the typical owl family. Snowy owls are native to Arctic regions in North America and Eurasia, males are almost all white, while females have more flecks of black plumage. Juvenile snowy owls have black feathers until they turn white, the snowy owl is a ground nester that predominantly hunts rodents. The snowy owl was one of the bird species originally described by Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae. The genus name Bubo is Latin for the Eurasian eagle-owl and scandiaca is New Latin for Scandinavia, however, some authorities debate this classification, still preferring Nyctea. This yellow-eyed, black-beaked white bird is easily recognisable and it is 52–71 cm long, with a 125–150 cm wingspan. Also, these owls can weigh anywhere from 1.6 to 3 kg, the average lifespan in the wild is 9.5 years. It is one of the largest species of owl and, in North America, is on average the heaviest owl species. The adult male is virtually pure white, but females and young birds have dark spots, the young are heavily barred. Its thick plumage, heavily feathered taloned feet, and colouration render the snowy owl well-adapted for life north of the Arctic Circle. Snowy owl calls are varied, but the call is a barking, almost quacking krek-krek. The song is a deep repeated gahw and they may also clap their beak in response to threats or annoyances. While called clapping, it is believed this sound may actually be a clicking of the tongue, the snowy owl is typically found in the northern circumpolar region, where it makes its summer home north of latitude 60° north. However, it is a particularly nomadic bird, and because population fluctuations in its species can force it to relocate. During the last glacial, there was a Central European subspecies, Bubo scandiacus gallicus and this species of owl nests on the ground, building a scrape on top of a mound or boulder. A site with good visibility is chosen, such as the top of a mound with ready access to hunting areas, gravel bars and abandoned eagle nests may be used. The female scrapes a small hollow before laying the eggs, hatching takes place approximately five weeks after laying, and the pure white young are cared for by both parents. Although the young hatch asynchronously, with the largest in the brood sometimes 10 to 15 times as heavy as the smallest, there is little sibling conflict, both the male and the female defend the nest and their young from predators, sometimes by distraction displays
2.
Thermoregulation
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Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature as its own body temperature, the internal thermoregulation process is one aspect of homeostasis, a state of dynamic stability in an organisms internal conditions, maintained far from thermal equilibrium with its environment. If the body is unable to maintain a temperature and it increases significantly above normal. For humans, this occurs when the body is exposed to constant temperatures of approximately 55 °C, humans may also experience lethal hyperthermia when the wet bulb temperature is sustained above 35 °C for six hours. The opposite condition, when temperature decreases below normal levels, is known as hypothermia. It was not until the introduction of thermometers that any data on the temperature of animals could be obtained. Hence it is important to identify the parts of the body that most closely reflect the temperature of the internal organs, also, for such results to be comparable, the measurements must be conducted under comparable conditions. The rectum has traditionally been considered to reflect most accurately the temperature of internal parts, or in cases of sex or species. Occasionally the temperature of the urine as it leaves the urethra may be of use in measuring body temperature, more often the temperature is taken in the mouth, axilla, ear or groin. Some animals undergo one of forms of dormancy where the thermoregulation process temporarily allows the body temperature to drop. Examples include hibernating bears and torpor in bats, thermoregulation in organisms runs along a spectrum from endothermy to ectothermy. Endotherms create most of their heat via metabolic processes, and are referred to as warm-blooded. Ectotherms use external sources of temperature to regulate their body temperatures and they are colloquially referred to as cold-blooded despite the fact that body temperatures often stay within the same temperature ranges as warm-blooded animals. Ectotherms are the opposite of endotherms when it comes to regulating internal temperatures, in ectotherms, the internal physiological sources of heat are of negligible importance, the biggest factor that enables them to maintain adequate body temperatures is due to environmental influences. Vaporization, Evaporation of sweat and other bodily fluids, convection, Increasing blood flow to body surfaces to maximize heat loss. Conduction, Losing heat by being in contact with a colder surface, for instance, Lying on cool ground. Staying wet in a river, lake or sea, radiation, releasing heat by radiating it away from the body. Convection, Climbing to higher ground up trees, ridges, rocks, entering a warm water or air current
3.
Dog
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The domestic dog is a member of genus Canis that forms part of the wolf-like canids, and is the most widely abundant carnivore. The dog and the extant gray wolf are sister taxa, with modern wolves not closely related to the wolves that were first domesticated, the dog was the first domesticated species and has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. Their long association with humans has led dogs to be attuned to human behavior. Dogs vary widely in shape, size and colours, dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This influence on society has given them the sobriquet mans best friend. The term domestic dog is used for both domesticated and feral varieties. The English word dog comes from Middle English dogge, from Old English docga, the term may possibly derive from Proto-Germanic *dukkōn, represented in Old English finger-docce. The word also shows the familiar petname diminutive -ga also seen in frogga frog, picga pig, stagga stag, wicga beetle, worm, the term dog may ultimately derive from the earliest layer of Proto-Indo-European vocabulary. In 14th-century England, hound was the word for all domestic canines, and dog referred to a subtype of hound. It is believed this dog type was so common, it became the prototype of the category hound. By the 16th century, dog had become the general word, the word hound is ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *kwon-, dog. This semantic shift may be compared with in German, where the corresponding words Dogge, a male canine is referred to as a dog, while a female is called a bitch. The father of a litter is called the sire, and the mother is called the dam, the process of birth is whelping, from the Old English word hwelp, the modern English word whelp is an alternate term for puppy. A litter refers to the offspring at one birth which are called puppies or pups from the French poupée, doll. The term dog typically is applied both to the species as a whole, and any male member of the same. An adult female is a bitch, in some countries, especially in North America, dog is used instead due to the vulgar connotation of bitch. An adult male capable of reproduction is a stud, an adult female capable of reproduction is a brood bitch, or brood mother. Immature males or females are pups or puppies, a group of pups from the same gestation period is a litter
4.
Video game
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A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word video in video game referred to a raster display device. Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial, the electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms, examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld computing devices, the input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, joysticks, mouse devices, keyboards, the touchscreens of mobile devices, and buttons, or even, with the Kinect sensor, a persons hands and body. Players typically view the game on a screen or television or computer monitor, or sometimes on virtual reality head-mounted display goggles. There are often game sound effects, music and, in the 2010s, some games in the 2000s include haptic, vibration-creating effects, force feedback peripherals and virtual reality headsets. In the 2010s, the game industry is of increasing commercial importance, with growth driven particularly by the emerging Asian markets and mobile games. As of 2015, video games generated sales of USD74 billion annually worldwide, early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a Cathode ray tube Amusement Device was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U. S. Written by MIT students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanens on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1961, and the hit ping pong-style Pong, used the DEC PDP-1s vector display to have two spaceships battle each other. In 1971, Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was the first commercially sold and it used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. The game was featured in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green, Computer Space was followed in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console. Modeled after a late 1960s prototype console developed by Ralph H. Baer called the Brown Box and these were followed by two versions of Ataris Pong, an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975 that dramatically increased video game popularity. The commercial success of Pong led numerous other companies to develop Pong clones and their own systems, the game inspired arcade machines to become prevalent in mainstream locations such as shopping malls, traditional storefronts, restaurants, and convenience stores. The game also became the subject of articles and stories on television and in newspapers and magazines. Space Invaders was soon licensed for the Atari VCS, becoming the first killer app, the term platform refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate. The term system is commonly used
5.
NPR
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NPR produces and distributes news and cultural programming. Individual public radio stations are not required to broadcast all NPR programs that are produced and its content is also available on-demand via the web, mobile, and podcasts. The organizations legal name is National Public Radio and its brand is NPR. Is NPR has been used by its hosts for many years. However, National Public Radio remains the name of the group. National Public Radio replaced the National Educational Radio Network on February 26,1970 and this act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which created the Public Broadcasting Service in addition to NPR. A CPB organizing committee under John Witherspoon first created a Board of Directors chaired by Bernard Mayes, the board then hired Donald Quayle to be the first president of NPR with 30 employees and 90 charter member stations, and studios in Washington, D. C. NPR aired its first broadcast in April 1971, covering United States Senate hearings on the Vietnam War, a month later, the afternoon drive-time newscast All Things Considered began, on May 3,1971, first hosted by Robert Conley. NPR was primarily a production and distribution organization until 1977, when it merged with the Association of Public Radio Stations, NPR suffered an almost fatal setback in 1983 when efforts to expand services created a deficit of nearly US$7 million. After a congressional investigation and the resignation of NPRs president, Frank Mankiewicz, NPR also agreed to turn its satellite service into a cooperative venture, making it possible for non-NPR shows to get national distribution. It took NPR approximately three years to pay off the debt, delano Lewis, the president of C&P Telephone, left that position to become NPRs CEO and president in January 1994. In November 1998, NPRs board of directors hired Kevin Klose, NPR spent nearly $13 million to acquire and equip a West Coast 25, 000-square-foot production facility, NPR West, which opened in Culver City, Los Angeles County, California, in November 2002. C. In November 2003, NPR received US$235 million from the estate of the late Joan B, Kroc, the widow of Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds Corporation. This was the largest monetary gift ever to a cultural institution, in 2004 NPRs budget increased by over 50% to US$153 million due to the Kroc gift. US$34 million of the money was deposited in its endowment, the endowment fund before the gift totaled $35 million. NPR will use the interest from the bequest to expand its news staff, the 2005 budget was about US$120 million. In August 2005, NPR entered podcasting with a directory of over 170 programs created by NPR, by November of that year, users downloaded NPR and other public radio podcasts 5 million times
6.
Lolcat
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A lolcat is an image macro of one or more cats. The images text is often idiosyncratic and grammatically incorrect, and is known as lolspeak, Lolcat is a compound word of the acronymic abbreviation for LOL and the word cat. A synonym for lolcat is cat macro, since the images are a type of image macro, lolcats are commonly designed for photo sharing imageboards and other Internet forums. British portrait photographer Harry Pointer created a carte de visite series featuring cats posed in various situations in the early 1870s, to these he usually added amusing text intended to further enhance their appeal. Other notable early figures include Harry Whittier Frees and Walter Potter, the first recorded use of the term lolcat is from the anonymous imageboard 4chan. The word Lolcat was in use as early as June 2006, and their popularity was spread through usage on forums such as Something Awful. The News Journal states that some trace the lolcats back to the site 4chan, ikenburg adds that the images have been slinking around the Internet for years under various labels, but they did not become a sensation until early 2007 with the advent of I Can Has Cheezburger. The first image on I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER. was posted on January 11,2007, the domain name caturday. com was registered on April 30,2005. Entertainment Weekly put them on its end-of-the-decade, best-of list, saying and we can neber haz enuf of deez capshioned pics of cuddlie kittehs. Lolcat was also a runner-up under the Most Creative category under the American Dialect Society Word of the Year Awards, in December 2014, the word lolcat entered the Oxford English Dictionary, appearing in its online version. Lolcat is a composite of two words, lol and cat, lol stands for Laugh out Loud or Laughing out Loud, hence, lolcats are intended to be funny and to include jokes. Lolcats images comprise a photo of a cat with a large caption characteristically set in a sans serif font such as Impact or Arial Black. The image is, on occasion, digitally edited for effect, the caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the cat, or as a description of the depicted scene. The text parodies the grammar-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang, frequently, lolcat captions take the form of phrasal templates. Some phrases have a source, usually a well-known Internet meme, such as All your base are belong to us or Do not want. The language of lolcats has also likened to baby talk, however it draws on a variety of linguistic resources. Common themes include jokes of the form Im in ur, -ing ur, many lolcat images capture cats performing characteristically human actions or appearing to use modern technology, such as computers. There are several well-known lolcat images and single-word captions that have spawned many variations and imitations, others include Fail and I Can Has Cheezburger
7.
Internet forum
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An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, also, depending on the access level of a user or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes visible. Forums have a set of jargon associated with them, example. A discussion forum is hierarchical or tree-like in structure, a forum can contain a number of subforums, within a forums topic, each new discussion started is called a thread, and can be replied to by as many people as so wish. Depending on the settings, users can be anonymous or have to register with the forum. On most forums, users do not have to log in to read existing messages, the modern forum originated from bulletin boards, and so-called computer conferencing systems, and are a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system. From a technological standpoint, forums or boards are web applications managing user-generated content, early Internet forums could be described as a web version of an electronic mailing list or newsgroup, allowing people to post messages and comment on other messages. Later developments emulated the different newsgroups or individual lists, providing more than one forum, Internet forums are prevalent in several developed countries. Japan posts the most with two million per day on their largest forum, 2channel. China also has millions of posts on forums such as Tianya Club. Some of the very first forum systems were the Planet-Forum system, developed in the beginning of the 1970-s, the EIES system, first operational in 1976, one of the first forum sites, and still active today, is Delphi Forums, once called Delphi. The service, with four members, dates to 1983. Forums perform a similar to that of dial-up bulletin board systems. Early web-based forums date back as far as 1994, with the WIT project from W3 Consortium and starting from this time, a sense of virtual community often develops around forums that have regular users. Technology, video games, sports, music, fashion, religion, and politics are popular areas for forum themes, Internet slang and image macros popular across the Internet are abundant and widely used in Internet forums. Forum software packages are available on the Internet and are written in a variety of programming languages, such as PHP, Perl, Java. The configuration and records of posts can be stored in files or in a database. Each package offers different features, from the most basic, providing text-only postings, to more advanced packages, offering multimedia support, many packages can be integrated easily into an existing website to allow visitors to post comments on articles
8.
Visual Basic
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Microsoft intended Visual Basic to be relatively easy to learn and use. A programmer can create an application using the components provided by the Visual Basic program itself, over time the community of programmers developed third party components. Programs written in Visual Basic can also use the Windows API, the final release was version 6 in 1998. On April 8,2008 Microsoft stopped supporting Visual Basic 6.0 IDE, in 2014, some software developers still preferred Visual Basic 6.0 over its successor, Visual Basic. NET. In 2014 some developers lobbied for a new version of Visual Basic 6.0, in 2016, Visual Basic 6.0 won the technical impact award at The 19th Annual D. I. C. E. A dialect of Visual Basic, Visual Basic for Applications, is used as a macro or scripting language within several Microsoft applications, like the BASIC programming language, Visual Basic was designed to accommodate a steep learning curve. Programmers can create simple and complex GUI applications. Since VB defines default attributes and actions for the components, a programmer can develop a program without writing much code. Programs built with earlier versions suffered performance problems, but faster computers, though VB programs can be compiled into native code executables from version 5 on, they still require the presence of around 1 MB of runtime libraries. Core runtime libraries are included by default in Windows 2000 and later, earlier versions of Windows, require that the runtime libraries be distributed with the executable. Forms are created using drag-and-drop techniques, a tool is used to place controls on the form. Controls have attributes and event handlers associated with them, default values are provided when the control is created, but may be changed by the programmer. Many attribute values can be modified during run time based on actions or changes in the environment. For example, code can be inserted into the form resize event handler to reposition a control so that it remains centered on the form, expands to fill up the form, etc. Visual Basic can create executables, ActiveX controls, or DLL files, dialog boxes with less functionality can be used to provide pop-up capabilities. Controls provide the functionality of the application, while programmers can insert additional logic within the appropriate event handlers. For example, a drop-down combination box automatically displays a list, when the user selects an element, an event handler is called that executes code that the programmer created to perform the action for that list item. Alternatively, a Visual Basic component can have no user interface and this allows for server-side processing or an add-in module
9.
Computer worm
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A computer worm is a standalone malware computer program that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers. Often, it uses a network to spread itself, relying on security failures on the target computer to access it. Worms almost always cause at least some harm to the network, even if only by consuming bandwidth, many worms that have been created are designed only to spread, and do not attempt to change the systems they pass through. However, as the Morris worm and Mydoom showed, even these payload free worms can cause major disruption by increasing network traffic, the actual term worm was first used in John Brunners 1975 novel, The Shockwave Rider. In that novel, Nichlas Haflinger designs and sets off a data-gathering worm in an act of revenge against the men who run a national electronic information web that induces mass conformity. You have the biggest-ever worm loose in the net, and it automatically sabotages any attempt to monitor it, theres never been a worm with that tough a head or that long a tail. S. Court of Appeals estimated the cost of removing the virus from each installation was in the range of $200–53,000, Morris himself became the first person tried and convicted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Any code designed to do more than spread the worm is typically referred to as the payload, typical malicious payloads might delete files on a host system, encrypt files in a ransomware attack, or exfiltrate data such as confidential documents or passwords. Probably the most common payload for worms is to install a backdoor and this allows the computer to be remotely controlled by the worm author as a zombie. Networks of such machines are referred to as botnets and are very commonly used for a range of malicious purposes. Worms spread by exploiting vulnerabilities in operating systems, vendors with security problems supply regular security updates, and if these are installed to a machine then the majority of worms are unable to spread to it. If a vulnerability is disclosed before the security patch released by the vendor, users need to be wary of opening unexpected email, and should not run attached files or programs, or visit web sites that are linked to such emails. However, as with the ILOVEYOU worm, and with the growth and efficiency of phishing attacks. Anti-virus and anti-spyware software are helpful, but must be kept up-to-date with new pattern files at least every few days, the use of a firewall is also recommended. In the April–June,2008, issue of IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, the researchers discovered how to contain the kind of worm that scans the Internet randomly, looking for vulnerable hosts to infect. They found that the key is for software to monitor the number of scans that machines on a network send out. When a machine starts sending out too many scans, it is a sign that it has been infected, allowing administrators to take it off line, in addition, machine learning techniques can be used to detect new worms, by analyzing the behavior of the suspected computer. Those worms allowed testing by John Shoch and Jon Hupp of the Ethernet principles on their network of Xerox Alto computers, the Nachi family of worms tried to download and install patches from Microsofts website to fix vulnerabilities in the host system—by exploiting those same vulnerabilities
10.
Image macro
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The term image macro originated on the Something Awful forums. The name derived from the fact that the macros were a bit of text a user could enter that the forum software would automatically parse. Beginning in 2007, lolcats and similar image macros spread beyond the initial communities who created them, white text with a black border is typically used because it is easily readable on almost any background color. Typically, the text at the top is only for introduction, exaggerated, intentional spelling errors are also used frequently for humorous effect. Image to be placed behind the text and these are typically drawn from a set of known images that are understood by many Internet users, such as Bad Luck Brian. However, by using the aforementioned style, any image can take on the context or aesthetic of an image macro. One of the famous image macros is O RLY. O RLY is often used on the internet as an abbreviation for the phrase Oh, originally started with a snowy owl photograph, it spread out over the Web quickly and was followed by other macros that convey a wide range of emotions. Another style of image macro that has amassed its own separate subculture is the lolcat, the text is often idiosyncratic and grammatically incorrect, and its use in this way is known as lolspeak or kitty pidgin. Many times, the image is told from the point of view of the animal, as mentioned above, cats and other animals in general have been a popular choice for images with humorous captions since the mid 2000s. Rage Comics use rage faces to humorously depict an everyday or exaggerated situation, another popular type of image macro includes a picture of a certain person or figure drawn from various sources in front of a colored background. These characters often share the image, but different internet users can choose different humorous captions. These characters can include Bad Luck Brian, Success Kid, and Scumbag Steve, among others
11.
World of Warcraft
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World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe. Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2,2001, the game was released on November 23,2004, on the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. The first expansion set of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released on January 16,2007, the second expansion set, Wrath of the Lich King, was released on November 13,2008. The third expansion set, Cataclysm, was released on December 7,2010, the fourth expansion set, Mists of Pandaria, was released on September 25,2012. The fifth expansion set, Warlords of Draenor, was released on November 13,2014, the sixth expansion set, Legion, was released on August 30,2016. In January 2014, Blizzard announced that more than 100 million accounts had been created over the games lifetime, players may instead use a trial account that lets the player character reach level 20 for free but has many features locked. To enter the game, the player must select a server, each realm acts as an individual copy of the game world and falls into one of four categories. RP – a variant of PvE, where players roleplay in-character, rP-PvP – roleplay-PvP – a variant of PvP, where players are in-character and cross-faction combat is assumed. Realms are also categorized by language, with support in the language available. Players can make new characters on all realms within the region, to create a new character, in keeping with the storyline of previous Warcraft games, players must choose between the opposing factions of the Alliance or the Horde. Characters from the factions can perform rudimentary communication, but only members of the same faction can speak, mail, group. The player selects the new race, such as orcs or trolls for the Horde. Players must select the class for the character, with such as mages, warriors. Most classes are limited to particular races, as characters become more developed, they gain various talents and skills, requiring the player to further define the abilities of that character. Characters can choose two primary professions that can focus on producing items, such as tailoring, blacksmithing or jewelcrafting or on gathering from resource nodes, characters can learn all four secondary skills, archeology, cooking, fishing and first aid. Much of World of Warcraft play involves the completion of quests and these quests are usually available from NPCs. Quests usually reward the player with some combination of points, items
