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Where it is an organisation which cannot pay its debts, the creditors may ask the court to appoint a "liquidator". The liquidator does a very similar job to the trustee in bankruptcy except that there are no assets which are protected so the liquidator can sell everything. Once all of the assets of the organisation have been sold, the organisation is then "dissolved" and no longer exists. Organisations do not get discharged from bankruptcy in the same way that a living person does. |
People often confuse the terms bankruptcy and insolvency, and sometimes they use one word when they really mean the other. Insolvency usually just means that a someone does not have enough money to pay their debts or (sometimes) that the total amount of their debts is worth more than the total amount of their assets. Bankruptcy is a formal legal process in front of the courts. Although the two terms are connected, just because a person is insolvent does not necessarily mean that they will go into bankruptcy. |
Many countries have alternatives to bankruptcy to try and allow people and businesses to try and avoid the bankruptcy process. |
In various countries, individual people can try and reach "individual voluntary arrangements" (or IVAs) with their creditors. This means that the creditors agree to take less money to discharge their debts. There are similar processes for companies and other organisations, and they go by various different names in different countries, but in many countries they are called "schemes of arrangement". |
In many countries a company or business can ask the courts for "bankruptcy protection" to try and protect the business so that the creditors cannot destroy all of the physical capital and goodwill by breaking it apart and moving it away. The aim of this is provide is more time for the business to reorganise itself and to work out a new deal between the owners and the people the business owes money. In many countries this is called "going into administration". |
However, not all countries have bankruptcy protection laws for businesses. |
Often a creditor threatens a debtor with debt slavery in many parts of the world. In some cases the debtor does not know that they have a right to go bankrupt. This is a human rights problem in some countries. Also, some creditors continue to harass a debtor even though bankruptcy laws say they should not, hoping that the debtor will pay them money that they do not deserve. |
Bankruptcy in the United States falls mostly under federal law, Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code). The types of bankruptcy available in the United States are named after the primary divisions, or "chapters", of that law. The person or business that files a bankruptcy case is known as the "debtor". |
When a bankruptcy case is filed, a trustee is chosen by the court. The trustee has authority over the property of the bankrupt person or business and may use some of the debtor's assets to pay the creditors. After a bankruptcy is filed, creditors are notified that they are to stop trying to collect money directly from the debtor and are to make claims for payment to the bankruptcy court. |
The most common form of bankruptcy is the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, which can be filed by businesses or individuals. It is also called liquidation bankruptcy because some of a debtor's property may be sold (liquidated) to satisfy creditors. When a business is in debt which it cannot pay, it may ask or be forced to file bankruptcy in court under Chapter 7. This usually makes a company stop doing business. Employees often lose their jobs when company files for chapter 7. |
Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a complicated type of bankruptcy that reorganizes the debtor's finances, usually reducing the amount of debt owed and changing debt repayment terms. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy case allows a business to keep running while it finds ways to reduce and arrange payment of its debts. |
Almost all Chapter 11 bankruptcies are filed by businesses. Ordinary people do not usually file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, because a Chapter 13 bankruptcy will almost always be cheaper and easier for them. |
Chapter 13 is the most popular form of bankruptcy in the United States for ordinary people. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy some of your debts may be forgiven (discharged), but you will have to pay back a portion of your debt. The debt repayment plan is supervised by the bankruptcy court and usually lasts for three to five years. Businesses cannot file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. |
Less common forms of bankruptcy may be filed under Chapter 9 and Chapter 12 of the bankruptcy code. |
Breakfast sausage |
Breakfast sausage is a type of fresh pork sausage made from seasoned ground meat mixed with bread crumbs. Breakfast sausage has a blander flavor than many other types of sausage, such as British or Italian-style sausages. |
Breakfast sausages are not cured or smoked like other types of sausages, which means that they have to be cooked soon after they are purchased (unless they are frozen). Uncooked sausages should be stored in the refrigerator or the freezer. Individuals handling them should wash their hands in hot soapy water, because uncooked pork is unhealthy for humans. Pork sausages have to be heated until all of the meat inside is cooked. |
They are usually fried or grilled in a pan until they are browned and served at breakfast, often with cooked eggs, pancakes, and toasted bread. Breakfast sausages are also used in other dishes, such as "toad in the hole" a cooked batter dish. |
Different types made from pork and beef mixtures as well as poultry can now be found. There are also vegetarian types that use textured vegetable protein in place of meat. Breakfast sausages are available in patties or slices from a large roll, or in weiner-like links of different lengths and thickness. |
Browser |
A browser is a name given to any animal, usually a herbivorous mammal, which eats leaves and shrubs rather than grass. It is contrasted with grazers, which eat grass. |
Beekeeping |
Beekeeping or apiculture is the farming of honeybees. |
The keeping of bees is usually, and has been in the past, for honey. That is becoming less true. Instead, it is more used for crop pollination and other products. These are wax and propolis. |
There is only one queen bee in each hive and she is bigger than the rest. She lays all the eggs, which makes all the other bees in the hive her daughters and sons. However, they do not control the hive. |
The largest beekeeping operations are agricultural businesses that are operated for profit. Some people also have small beekeeping operations that they do as a hobby. Urban beekeeping is a growing trend, and some have found that "city bees" are actually healthier than "rural bees" because there are fewer pesticides and greater biodiversity. |
Colony Collapse Disorder is a growing problem, along with mites. |
British English |
The British English is the kind of English language which is used in the United Kingdom and in most countries which previously were in the British Empire. |
In the United Kingdom, many different people say words in different ways. For example, a man from a place near London may not pronounce his "r"s the same as a man from Scotland or a man from Northern Ireland. Across the country, the accent is different. For instance, in Liverpool, people may speak with a "scouse" accent, in Birmingham with a "brummie" accent, and in London with a "cockney" accent. Different variations on all of British English exist from the manner in which words are pronounced to the manner in which they are spelt. One place people speak English in a different way is Cornwall, where the Cornish dialect is spoken. |
Britain, like other countries, has languages other than English. In Wales many speak Welsh; in Scotland some people speak Gaelic, and in Ireland a few people speak Irish. However, that is not the subject of this particular article. |
British English often keeps more traditional ways of spelling words than American English. |
In British English, "dock" refers to the water in the space between two "piers" or "wharfs". In American English, the "pier" or "wharf" could be called a "dock", and the water between would be a "slip". |
Some common differences: |
British – American |
American English is used in the United States. In Canada, the accent sounds extremely similar to American English but with few exceptions (see Canadian English). The American spelling in Canada is sometimes used, but traditionally, the British Spelling (with the exceptions of some words like programme, -isation/-ise/-isable, chilli, etc.) is used. Although Commonwealth English is the most spoken, American English is seen more often on the internet. American English vocabulary dominates the visual media: "movies" (British: "films") and television. |
All Commonwealth nations and Africa learn Commonwealth English, while American English is often learnt in the Americas and China. Z pronounced 'Zee' is only seen in the U.S.A and less commonly in Canada, while Z pronounced 'Zed' is spoken almost everywhere else. The United Kingdom and Ireland use British layout keyboards, while Australia, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.A use American layout keyboards. In continental Europe English as a second language is nowadays sometimes even taught in American English, except perhaps in Scandinavia and the Netherlands. |
Being |
The word being means a living person or animal. ‘Human being’ means the same as ’person’. Men, women, and children are human beings. |
Some people write stories or make movies about beings from other planets. Most religions talk about supernatural beings, for example spirits, angels, devils, gods, or God. |
Beijing |
Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China. The city used to be known as Peking. It is in the northern and eastern parts of the country. It is the world's most populous capital city. |
The city of Beijing has played a very important role in the development of China. Many people from different cities and countries come to Beijing to look for better chances to find work. Nearly 15 million people live there. In 2008 Beijing hosted the Summer Olympic Games, and will host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It will be the only city to host both. |
Beijing is well known for its ancient history. Since the Jin Dynasty, Beijing has been the capital of several dynasties (especially the later ones), including the Yuan, Ming, and Qing. There are many places of historic interest in Beijing. |
The Mandarin Chinese name of the city is "Běijīng", which means "The Northern Capital". It got this name when the Yongle Emperor of the Ming family of rulers moved most of his government from Nanjing ("The Southern Capital") in the early 1400s. In Chinese, Beijing's name is written Today, people spell it "Beijing" because they use the pinyin way of spelling, which shows what the name should sound like in Mandarin. People used to spell it "Peking" because that was the spelling used by some of the first people from Europe to visit the Ming and write home about it; the Jesuits' work was made popular by their French brother Du Halde. It then became the official Chinese Postal Map spelling around 1900 and continued to be used until pinyin became more popular. |
Beijing was also known as Beiping ("City of Northern Peace") between 1928 and 1949, when the Nationalists moved the Chinese capital to Nanjing and Chongqing. |
The center of Beijing was settled in the 1st millennium BC. In those days, the Kingdom of Yan (燕, Yān) set up their capital where Beijing is today. They called it Ji (蓟, Jì). After the Kingdom of Yan was destroyed, the city became smaller, although it was still an important place. |
Beijing became more important again in the 10th century, when the Jin dynasty set its capital there. This city was destroyed by Mongol forces in 1215. Then in 1267, Mongols built a new city on the north side of the Jin capital, and called it "Great Capital" (大都, Dàdū), which was the beginning of modern Beijing. When Kublai Khan the Mongolian monarch, set up the Yuan dynasty, this city became his capital. |
The Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing dynasty all made Beijing their capital. When the Qing dynasty lost power and the Republic of China was set up, the new Republic moved its capital from Beijing to Nanjing. When the People's Republic of China seized power, Beijing became the capital of China again. |
In 1989, there were protests in Tian'anmen Square because some people wanted democracy. |
Important places in Beijing include: |
Beijing is the education center of People's Republic of China. More than 500 famous universities of China are in Beijing. They also include 5 of the top universities: Peking University, Tsinghua University, China People University, Beijing Normal University, and Beihang University. Beijing is also education center of China for teaching Chinese as a foreign language. The standard Chinese pronunciation is based on Beijing dialect, so over 70% foreigners who want to study Chinese go to Beijing for their studies. |
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Bottle |
A bottle is a container used to carry liquids. Bottles can have many different sizes. Bottles are usually made of glass or plastic. Usually, Beer bottles are made of glass, and soft drinks are made of plastic. |
Milk, wine, lemonade, and water are often put into bottles. |
Berry |
The word berry is used for many different kinds of small fruits that have many seeds and can be used as food. Some examples are raspberry, strawberry, lingonberry and blueberry. |
When botanists talk about "berries", they mean a simple fruit produced from a single ovary. They sometimes call this "true berry", to distinguish it from "false berries". By that statement of how words are used, grapes or tomatoes are true berries. |
The berry is the most common type of soft fruit in which the entire ovary wall gets to the right stage of development of the pericarp which can be taken as food. The flowers of these plants have an upper ovary with one or more carpels. The seeds are inside the soft body of the ovary. |
Berries are small, sweet, bright colored fruits. Due to this, they are able to bring more animals towards them and spread their seeds. |
Some fruits that are called "berries" in English are not "true berries" by the use of words above. These include raspberries, strawberry, blackberries, cranberries, and boysenberries. Some true berries do not have "berry" in their name. These include tomatoes, bananas, eggplants, guavas, pomegranates and chillies. Pumpkins, cucumbers, melons, oranges and lemons are also berries that have slightly different structure and may be called by different names (pepo for pumpkins, cucumbers, and melons, or hesperidium for oranges and lemons). |
Boil |
Boil might mean: |
Beard |
A beard is the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face. |
The hair that grows on the upper lip of some men is a mustache. When a man has hair only below the lower lip and above the chin, it is called a soul patch. Some men have a lot of hair and a big beard, and some have very little. In the modern world, many men shave part or all of their beards, or cut their beard so it does not get very long. Women with hirsutism will also have beards. |
Some animals also have hair like this, and people sometimes also call this hair a beard. |
Black |
In light, black is lack of all color. In painting, however, the black pigment is the combination of all colors. In heraldry, black is called "sable". It is the opposite of white. |
The word "black" comes from Old English blæc ("black, dark", also, "ink"), from Proto-Germanic *blakkaz ("burned"), and from Proto-Indo-European *bhleg-. Black is the darkest color/tone on a scale. |
In science, an object that is black absorbs the light that hits it. Because these objects do not reflect any light, the human eye can't see any color coming from that object. The brain then sees these objects as black. |
A way to create black objects is to mix pigments. A pigment works by reflecting only the color of the pigment. For example, a blue pigment absorbs all colors except blue. By mixing pigments in the right quantities, black can be made. |
In sunlight, black objects become quickly warm because they absorb much light. |
Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, safety, birth, male, and mystery. Black is a dark color, the darkest color there is. Black, along with gray and white, is a "neutral" color. This means that it is not a "hot" color or a "cool" color. |
Black is a color seen with fear and the unknown (black holes). It can have a bad meaning (blackbird, black bunny) or a good meaning ('in the black', 'black is beautiful'). Black can stand for strength and power. It can be a formal, elegant, and high-class color (black tie, black Mercedes, black man). Black clothing is dark in emo and goth subculture. |
Bubonic plague |
Bubonic plague is the best-known form of the disease plague, which is caused by the bacterium "Yersinia pestis". The name "bubonic plague" is specific for this form of the disease, which enters through the skin, and travels through the lymphatic system. |
The plague was spread by fleas on rats. That kind of disease is called a zoonosis. |
If the disease is left untreated, it kills about half its victims, in between three and seven days. The bubonic plague was the disease that caused the Black Death, which killed tens of millions of people in Europe, in the Middle Ages. |
Symptoms of this disease include coughing, fever, and black spots on the skin. |
There are different kinds of Bubonic plague. The most common form of the disease is spread by a certain kind of flea, that lives on rats. Then there is an incubation period which can last from a few hours to about seven days. |
Sepsis happens when the bacterium enters the blood and makes it form tiny clots. |
This happens when the bacterium can enter the lungs. About 95% of all people with this form will die. Incubation period is only one to two days. |
This is the most harmless form. It will result in a little fever. After that, there are antibodies that protect against all forms for a long time. |
The first recorded epidemic was in the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), It was called the Plague of Justinian after emperor Justinian I, who was infected but survived through extensive treatment. The pandemic resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25 million (6th century outbreak) to 50 million people (two centuries of recurrence). |
During the 1300s, this epidemic struck parts of Asia, North Africa, and Europe. Almost a third of the people in Europe died of it. Unlike catastrophes that pull communities together, this epidemic was so terrifying that it broke people's trust in one another. Giovanni Boccaccio, an Italian writer of the time, described it: ""This scourge had implanted so great a terror in the hearts of men and women that brothers abandoned brothers, uncles their nephews, sisters their brothers, and in many cases wives deserted their husbands. But even worse... fathers and mothers refused to nurse and assist their own children"." |
Local outbreaks of the plague are grouped into three plague pandemics, whereby the respective start and end dates and the assignment of some outbreaks to either pandemic are still subject to discussion. The pandemics were: |
Globally about 600 cases of plague are reported a year. In 2017 the countries with the most cases include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Peru. |
The transmission of "Y. pestis" by fleas is well known. Fleas are the vector. The flea gets the bacteria as they feed on an infected animal, usually a rodent. Several proteins then work to keep the bacteria in the flea digestive tract. This is important for the survival of "Y. pestis" in fleas. |
In the 20th century, some countries did research on the bacteria that causes bubonic plague. They did research to use it for biological warfare. |
Samples of this bacteria are carefully controlled. There is much paranoia (fear) about it. Dr. Thomas C. Butler, a US expert in this organism was charged in October 2003 by the FBI with various crimes. This happened after he said he lost samples of "Yersinia pestis". This is the bacteria that causes bubonic plague. The FBI did not find the samples. They do not know what happened to them. |
Biology |
Biology is the science that studies life, and living things, and the evolution of life. Living things include animals, plants, fungi (such as mushrooms), and microorganisms such as bacteria and archaea. |
The term 'biology' is relatively modern. It was introduced in 1799 by a physician, Thomas Beddoes. |
People who study biology are called biologists. Biology looks at how animals and other living things behave and work, and what they are like. Biology also studies how organisms react with each other and the environment. It has existed as a science for about 200 years, and before that it was called "natural history". Biology has many research fields and branches. Like all sciences, biology uses the scientific method. This means that biologists must be able to show evidence for their ideas and that other biologists must be able to test the ideas for themselves. |
Biology attempts to answer questions such as: |
Modern biology is influenced by evolution, which answers the question: "How has the living world come to be as it is?" |
The word "biology" comes from the Greek word "βίος" ("bios"), "life", and the suffix "-λογία" ("logia"), "study of". |
Applications in biology |
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