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Sirocco (parrot)
Sirocco (hatched 23 March 1997) is a kākāpō, a large, flightless, nocturnal parrot, and one of the remaining kākāpō in the world. He achieved individual fame following an incident on the BBC television series ''Last Chance to See'' in which he attempted to mate with zoologist Mark Carwardine. Subsequent featuring of the incident on television channels around the world and on YouTube resulted in Sirocco becoming internationally known. In his home country of New Zealand, Sirocco has attracted thousands of people during "personal" appearances, and in January 2010 was given the title of Official Spokesbird for Conservation by Prime Minister John Key. In this role, Sirocco helps advocate for conservation through human intermediaries on social media sites and blogs. Biography Sirocco was hatched on 23 March 1997 on the island bird sanctuary of Codfish Island off the west coast of Stewart Island, south of the New Zealand mainland. At three weeks old he suffered a respiratory il ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kākāpō
The kākāpō ( ; ; from the mi, kākāpō, , night parrot), also known as owl parrot (''Strigops habroptilus''), is a species of large, flightless, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrots of the super-family Strigopoidea, endemic to New Zealand. Up to in length, these flightless birds have finely blotched yellow-green plumage, a distinct facial disc, owl-style forward-facing eyes with surrounding discs of specially-textured feathers, a large grey beak, short legs, large blue feet, and relatively short wings and tail: a combination of traits making it unique among parrots. It is the world's only flightless parrot, the world's heaviest parrot, and also is nocturnal, herbivorous, visibly sexually dimorphic in body size, has a low basal metabolic rate, and does not have male parental care. It is the only parrot to have a polygynous lek breeding system. It is also possibly one of the world's longest-living birds, with a reported lifespan of up to 100 years. The weight is for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maungatautari Restoration Project
Maungatautari is a mountain, rural community, and ecological area near Cambridge in the Waikato region in New Zealand's central North Island. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "mountain of the upright stick" for . The Maungatautari Restoration Project is the largest ecological restoration project in New Zealand. The project is engineered to remove all non-native pest mammals and predators and restore endangered native flora and fauna to Maungatautari. There is no intention to restrict all introduced birds, but efforts will be made to control exotic wasps. It includes private land and a government-owned scenic reserve administered by Waipa District Council. It is a community project managed by the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust. Maungatautari Marae and Te Manawanui meeting house located on the northern edge of the mountain, overlooking the Waikato River. It is a meeting place for the Ngāti Korokī Kahukura hapū of Ngāti Hour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Individual Birds
This is a list of well-known real birds. For famous fictional birds, see list of fictional birds. * Águia Vitória, a bald eagle who serves as the mascot for Portuguese football club S.L. Benfica * Albert Ross, an albatross believed to have been observed between 1967 and 1995 * Alex, a grey parrot who, in studies by Dr. Irene Pepperberg, demonstrated an ability to count; differentiate categories involving objects, colors, shapes, and materials; and understand the concept of same and different * All Alone, a Second World War homing pigeon awarded the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross * Andy, a goose born without feet who used sneakers to help him stand and walk. He was killed by an unknown perpetrator in 1991. * Ava, Amy Winehouse's pet bird, a blue jay whose death inspired the song "October Song" from the 2003 album ''Frank''. Its name is a reference to the classic Hollywood actress Ava Gardner. * B95, a red knot known for being the oldest known member ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tongue-in-cheek
The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott in his 1828 ''The Fair Maid of Perth''. The physical act of putting one's tongue into one's cheek once signified contempt. For example, in Tobias Smollett's ''The Adventures of Roderick Random,'' which was published in 1748, the eponymous hero takes a coach to Bath and on the way apprehends a highwayman. This provokes an altercation with a less brave passenger: The phrase appears in 1828 in ''The Fair Maid of Perth'' by Sir Walter Scott: It is not clear how Scott intended readers to understand the phrase. The more modern ironic sense appeared in the 1842 poem "The Ingoldsby Legends" by the English clergyman Richard Barham, in which a Frenchman inspects a watch and cries: The ironic usage originates with the idea of suppressed mirt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Year Of Biodiversity
The International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) was a year-long celebration of biodiversity, biological diversity and its importance, taking place internationally in 2010. Coinciding with the date of the 2010 Biodiversity Target, the year was declared by the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2006. It was meant to help raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity through activities and events, to influence decision makers, and "to elevate biological diversity nearer to the top of the political agenda". Background The United Nations General Assembly declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity (Resolution 61/203). This year coincided with the 2010 Biodiversity Target adopted by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and by Heads of State and government at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), based in Montreal, Canada, was coordinating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slack (software)
Slack is an instant messaging program designed by Slack Technologies and owned by Salesforce. Although Slack was developed for professional and organizational communications, it has been adopted as a community platform. Users can communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "workspaces". Slack also uses IRC-style features such as persistent chat rooms (channels) organized by topic, private groups, and direct messaging. In addition to these online communication features, Slack integrates with other software. Slack runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, Windows Phone and iOS. History Slack began as an internal tool for Stewart Butterfield's company, Tiny Speck, during the development of ''Glitch'', an online game. Slack launched to the public in August 2013. According to Butterfield, "Slack" is an acronym standing for "Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge," which he chose in 2012 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rags-to-riches
Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popular culture, such as the writings of Horatio Alger, Jr. Pre-20th-century fictional examples * Fairy tales, such as ''Cinderella'' and ''Aladdin''. * The Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist'', whose protagonist rises from a workhouse to child labour to a gang of pickpockets to being adopted by a wealthy family. * The Arthurian story of Sir Gareth, who rises from a lowly kitchen boy to a prominent Knight of the Round Table. * The folklore tale of Dick Whittington and His Cat, who, with the help of his cat, rises from orphaned poverty to become thrice Lord Mayor of London. Historical examples * Abdalonymus was a gardener who was appointed king of Sidon by Alexander the Great due to his possible royal ancestry. * Baibars, a slave who rose to become t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Television New Zealand
, type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands , founded = , owner = Minister of Finance (50%) Minister of Broadcasting (50%) , key_people = Simon Power (CEO) , homepage = , divisions = , products = Television , subsid = Former TV stations , revenue = (2019) , net_income = (2019) , assets = 43.2% (2019) , predecessor = Television New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki o Aotearoa), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a television network that is broadcast throughout New Zealand and parts of the Pacific region. All of its currently-operating channels are free-to-air and commercially funded. TVNZ was established in February 1980 following the merger of the two government-owned television networks, Television One (now TVNZ 1) and South Pacific Television (now TVNZ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and 'Reblogging, retweet' tweets, while unregistered users only have the ability to read public tweets. Users interact with Twitter through browser or mobile Frontend and backend, frontend software, or programmatically via its APIs. Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams (Internet entrepreneur), Evan Williams in March 2006 and launched in July of that year. Twitter, Inc. is based in San Francisco, California and has more than 25 offices around the world. , more than 100 million users posted 340 million tweets a day, and the service handled an average of 1.6 billion Web search query, search queries per day. In 2013, it was one of the ten List of most popular websites, most-visited websites and has been de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name comes from the face book directories often given to American university students. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, gradually expanding to other North American universities and, since 2006, anyone over 13 years old. As of July 2022, Facebook claimed 2.93 billion monthly active users, and ranked third worldwide among the most visited websites as of July 2022. It was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s. Facebook can be accessed from devices with Internet connectivity, such as personal computers, tablets and smartphones. After registering, users can create a profile revealing information about themselves. They can post text, photos and multimedia which are shared with any ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuff
Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to: *Physical matter *General, unspecific things, or entities Arts, media, and entertainment Books *''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly *''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jeremy Strong (author), Jeremy Strong Fictional character *A flying creature in the video game ''Kya: Dark Lineage'' Film *''The Stuff'', a 1985 horror/comedy film by Larry Cohen *Stuff (film), ''Stuff'' (film), a 1993 documentary about John Frusciante's life Illustration *Henry Wright (artist), Henry Wright (1849–1937), worked for ''Vanity Fair'' under the pseudonym "Stuff" Music *Stuff (Holly McNarland album), ''Stuff'' (Holly McNarland album), 1997 *Stuff (band), a 1970s-1980s fusion/rhythm and blues music group **Stuff (Stuff album), ''Stuff'' (Stuff album) *''Stuff'', a 1992 album by Bill Wyman *Stuff (song), "Stuff" (song), a 2000 single by Diamond Rio from the album ''One More Day'' *Stuff (Eleanor McEvoy album), ''Stuff'' (Eleanor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of Fry & Laurie'' (1989–1995) and ''Jeeves and Wooster'' (1990–1993). He also starred in the sketch series ''Alfresco'' (1983–1984) alongside Laurie, Emma Thompson and Robbie Coltrane, and in ''Blackadder'' (1986–1989) alongside Rowan Atkinson. Since 2011, he has served as president of the mental health charity Mind. Fry's film acting roles include playing his idol Oscar Wilde in the film ''Wilde'' (1997), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor; Inspector Thompson in Robert Altman's murder mystery ''Gosford Park'' (2001); and Mr. Johnson in Whit Stillman's ''Love & Friendship'' (2016). He has also made appearances in the films ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981), '' A Fish Called Wanda'' (1988), ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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