Taxonomy.

Of the six orders of Pulmonata, two – the Onchidiacea and Soleolifera – solely comprise slugs. A third family, the Sigmurethra, contains various clades of snails, semi-slugs (i.e. snails whose shells are too small for them to retract fully into) and slugs. The taxonomy of this group is in the process of being revised in light of DNA sequencing. It appears that pulmonates are paraphyletic and basal to the opisthobranchs, which are a terminal branch of the tree. The family Ellobiidae are also polyphyletic.

Description.

The external anatomy of a slug includes the following:  Tentacles Like other pulmonate land gastropods, the majority of land slugs have two pairs of 'feelers' or "tentacles" on their head. The upper pair is light sensing and has eyespots at the ends, while the lower pair provides the sense of smell. Both pairs are retractable.  Mantle On top of the slug, behind the head, is the saddle-shaped "mantle," and under this are the genital opening and anus. On one side (almost always the right hand side) of the mantle is a respiratory opening, which is easy to see when open, but difficult to see when closed. This opening is known as the pneumostome.  Tail The part of a slug behind the mantle is called the 'tail'.  Keel Some species of slugs, for example "Tandonia budapestensis", have a prominent ridge running over their back along the middle of the tail (sometimes along the whole tail, sometimes only the final part). This ridge is called a 'keel'.  Foot The bottom side of a slug, which is flat, is called the 'foot'. Like almost all gastropods, a slug moves by rhythmic waves of muscular contraction on the underside of its foot. It simultaneously secretes a layer of mucus that it travels on, which helps prevent damage to the foot tissues. Around the edge of the foot in some slugs is a structure called the 'foot fringe'.  Vestigial shell Most slugs retain a remnant of their shell, which is usually internalized. This organ generally serves as storage for calcium salts, often in conjunction with the digestive glands. An internal shell is present in the Limacidae and Parmacellidae. Adult Philomycidae, Onchidiidae and Veronicellidae lack shells.

Physiology.

Slugs' bodies are made up mostly of water and, without a full-sized shell, their soft tissues are prone to desiccation. They must generate protective mucus to survive. Many species are most active just after rain because of the moist ground. In drier conditions, they hide in damp places such as under tree bark, fallen logs, rocks and man-made structures, such as planters, to help retain body moisture. Like all other gastropods, they undergo torsion (a 180° twisting of the internal organs) during development. Internally, slug anatomy clearly shows the effects of this rotation—but externally, the bodies of slugs appear more or less symmetrical, except for the positioning of the pneumostome, which is on one side of the animal, normally the right-hand side.  Slugs produce two types of mucus: one is thin and watery, and the other thick and sticky. Both kinds are hygroscopic. The thin mucus spreads from the foot's centre to its edges, whereas the thick mucus spreads from front to back. Slugs also produce thick mucus that coats the whole body of the animal. The mucus secreted by the foot contains fibres that help prevent the slug from slipping down vertical surfaces. The "slime trail" a slug leaves behind has some secondary effects: other slugs coming across a slime trail can recognise the slime trail as produced by one of the same species, which is useful in finding a mate. Following a slime trail is also part of the hunting behaviour of some carnivorous slugs. Body mucus provides some protection against predators, as it can make the slug hard to pick up and hold by a bird's beak, for example, and the mucus itself can be distasteful. Some species of slug, such as "Limax maximus", secrete slime cords to suspend a pair during copulation.

Reproduction.

Slugs are hermaphrodites, having both female and male reproductive organs. Once a slug has located a mate, they encircle each other and sperm is exchanged through their protruded genitalia. A few days later, the slugs lay approximately thirty eggs in a hole in the ground, or beneath the cover of an object such as a fallen log.  Apophallation has been reported only in some species of banana slug ("Ariolimax") and one species of "Deroceras". In the banana slugs, the penis sometimes becomes trapped inside the body of the partner. Apophallation allows the slugs to separate themselves by one or both of the slugs chewing off the other's or its own penis. Once the penis has been discarded, banana slugs are still able to mate using only the female parts of the reproductive system.

Ecology.

Slugs play an important role in the ecosystem by eating decaying plant material and fungi. Most carnivorous slugs on occasion also eat dead specimens of their own kind.

Feeding habits.

Most species of slugs are generalists, feeding on a broad spectrum of organic materials, including leaves from living plants, lichens, mushrooms, and even carrion. Some slugs are predators and eat other slugs and snails, or earthworms.  Slugs can feed on a wide variety of vegetables and herbs, including flowers such as petunias, chrysanthemums, daisies, lobelia, lilies, daffodils, narcissus, gentians, primroses, tuberous begonias, hollyhocks, irises, and fruits such as strawberries. They also feed on carrots, peas, apples, and cabbage that are offered as a sole food source.  Slugs from different families are fungivores. It is the case in the Philomycidae (e. g. "Philomycus carolinianus" and "Phylomicus flexuolaris") and "Ariolimacidae" ("Ariolimax californianus"), which respectively feed on slime molds (myxomycetes) and mushrooms (basidiomycetes). Species of mushroom producing fungi used as food source by slugs include milk-caps, "Lactarius" spp., the oyster mushroom, "Pleurotus ostreatus" and the penny bun, "Boletus edulis". Other species pertaining to different genera, such as "Agaricus", "Pleurocybella" and "Russula", are also eaten by slugs. Slime molds used as food source by slugs include "Stemonitis axifera" and "Symphytocarpus flaccidus". Some slugs are selective towards certain parts or developmental stages of the fungi they eat, though this is very variable. Depending on the species and other factors, slugs eat only fungi at specific stages of development. Moreover, in other cases, whole mushrooms can be eaten, without any selection or bias towards ontogenetic stages.

Predators.

Slugs are preyed upon by myriad vertebrates and invertebrates. The predation of slugs has been the subject of studies for at least a century. Because some species of slugs are considered agricultural pests, research investments have been made to comprehend and investigate potential predators. This is a necessary knowledge to establish biological control strategies.

Vertebrates.

Slugs are preyed upon by virtually every major vertebrate group. With many examples among reptiles, birds, mammals, amphibians and fish, vertebrates can occasionally feed on, or be specialised predators of slugs. Fish that feed on slugs include the brown trout ("Salmo trutta"), which occasionally feeds on "Arion circumscriptus", an "arionid" slug. Similarly, the shortjaw kokopu ("Galaxias postvectis") includes slugs in its diet. Amphibians such as frogs and toads have long been regarded as important predators of slugs. Among them are species in the genus "Bufo" (e. g. "Bufo marinus") and "Ceratophrys".  Reptiles that feed on slugs include mainly snakes and lizards. Some colubrid snakes are known predators of slugs. Coastal populations of the garter snake, "Thamnophis elegans", have a specialised diet consisting of slugs, such as "Ariolimax", while inland populations have a generalized diet. One of its congeners, the Northwestern garter snake ("Thamnophis ordinoides"), is not a specialized predator of slugs but occasionally feeds on them. The redbelly snake ("Storeria occipitomaculata") and the brown snake ("Storeria dekayi") feed mainly but not solely on slugs, while some species in the genus "Dipsas", "Sibynomorphus" (e.g. "Sibynomorphus neuwiedi") and the common slug eater snake ("Duberria lutrix"), are exclusively slug eaters. Several lizards include slugs in their diet. This is the case in the slowworm ("Anguis fragilis"), the bobtail lizard ("Tiliqua rugosa"), the she-oak skink ("Cyclodomorphus casuarinae") and the common lizard ("Zootoca vivipara").  Birds that prey upon slugs include common blackbirds ("Turdus merula"), starlings ("Sturnus vulgaris"), rooks ("Corvus frugilegus"), jackdaws ("Corvus monedula"), owls, vultures and ducks. Studies on slug predation also cite fieldfares (feeding on "Deroceras reticulatum"), redwings (feeding on "Limax" and "Arion"), thrushes (on "Limax" and "Arion ater"), red grouse (on "Deroceras" and "Arion hortensis"), game birds, wrynecks (on "Limax flavus"), rock doves and charadriiform birds as slug predators.  Mammals that eat slugs include foxes, badgers and hedgehogs.

Invertebrates.

Beetles in the family Carabidae, such as "Carabus violaceus" and "Pterostichus melanarius", are known to feed on slugs.

Parasites and parasitoids.

Slugs are parasitised by several organisms, including acari and a wide variety of nematodes. The slug mite, "Riccardoella limacum", is known to parasitise several dozen species of mollusks, including many slugs, such as "Agriolimax agrestis", "Arianta arbustrum", "Arion ater", "Arion hortensis", "Limax maximus", "Milax budapestensis", "Milax gagates", and "Milax sowerbyi". "R. limacum" can often be seen swarming about their host's body, and live in its respiratory cavity.  Several species of nematodes are known to parasitise slugs. The nematode worms "Agfa flexilis" and "Angiostoma limacis" respectively live in the salivary glands and rectum of "Limax maximus". Species of widely known medical importance pertaining to the genus "Angiostrongylus" are also parasites of slugs. Both "Angiostrongylus costaricensis" and "Angiostrongylus cantonensis", a meningitis-causing nematode, have larval stages that can only live in mollusks, including slugs, such as "Limax maximus".  Insects such as dipterans are known parasitoids of mollusks. To complete their development, many dipterans use slugs as hosts during their ontogeny. Some species of blow-flies (Calliphoridae) in the genus "Melinda" are known parasitoids of Arionidae, Limacidae and Philomycidae. Flies in the family Phoridae, specially those in the genus "Megaselia", are parasitoids of Agriolimacidae, including many species of "Deroceras". House flies in the family Muscidae, mainly those in the genus "Sarcophaga", are facultative parasitoids of Arionidae.

Behavior.

When attacked, slugs can contract their body, making themselves harder and more compact and more still and round. By doing this, they become firmly attached to the substrate. This, combined with the slippery mucus they produce, makes slugs more difficult for predators to grasp. The unpleasant taste of the mucus is also a deterrent. Some species present different response behaviors when attacked, such as the Kerry slug. In contrast to the general behavioral pattern, the Kerry slug retracts its head, lets go of the substrate, rolls up completely, and stays contracted in a ball-like shape. This is a unique feature among all the Arionidae, and among most other slugs. Some slugs can self-amputate (autotomy) a portion of their tail to help the slug escape from a predator. Some slug species hibernate underground during the winter in temperate climates, but in other species, the adults die in the autumn.  Intra- and inter-specific agonistic behavior is documented, but varies greatly among slug species. Slugs often resort to aggression, attacking both conspecifics and individuals from other species when competing for resources. This aggressiveness is also influenced by seasonality, because the availability of resources such as shelter and food may be compromised due to climatic conditions. Slugs are prone to attack during the summer, when the availability of resources is reduced. During winter, the aggressive responses are substituted by a gregarious behavior.

Human relevance.

The great majority of slug species are harmless to humans and to their interests, but a small number of species are serious pests of agriculture and horticulture. They can destroy foliage faster than plants can grow, thus killing even fairly large plants. They also feed on fruits and vegetables prior to harvest, making holes in the crop, which can make individual items unsuitable to sell for aesthetic reasons, and can make the crop more vulnerable to rot and disease. Excessive buildup of slugs within some wastewater treatment plants with inadequate screening have been found to cause process issues resulting in increased energy and chemical use.  As control measures, baits are the norm in both agriculture and the garden. In recent years, iron phosphate baits have emerged and are preferred over the more toxic metaldehyde, especially because domestic or wild animals may be exposed to the bait. The environmentally safer iron phosphate has been shown to be at least as effective as baits. Methiocarb baits are no longer widely used. Parasitic nematodes ("Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita") are a commercially available biological control method that are effective against a wide range of common slug species. The nematodes are applied in water and actively seek out slugs in the soil and infect them, leading to the death of the slug. This control method is suitable for use in organic growing systems. Other slug control methods are generally ineffective on a large scale, but can be somewhat useful in small gardens. These include beer traps, diatomaceous earth, crushed eggshells, coffee grounds, and copper. It is of scientific interest that salt kills slugs by causing water to leave the body owing to osmosis but this is not used for agricultural control as soil salinity is detrimental to crops.  In a few rare cases, humans have developed "Angiostrongylus cantonensis"-induced meningitis from eating raw slugs. Live slugs that are accidentally eaten with improperly cleaned vegetables (such as lettuce), or improperly cooked slugs (for use in recipes requiring larger slugs such as banana slugs), can act as a vector for a parasitic infection in humans.

Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word "slug" is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a small internal shell, particularly sea slugs and semislugs (this is in contrast to the common name "snail", which applies to gastropods that have a coiled shell large enough that the animal can fully retract its soft parts into the shell).

Nazí plži je obecné označení pro plže, jejichž ulita buď zcela zmizela, nebo je zakrnělá, malá a umístěná uvnitř těla. Ztráta ulity je odvozeným znakem, který je společný všem nahým plžům, nicméně v průběhu evoluce plžů se objevuje vícekrát nezávisle na sobě a nazí plži jsou proto polyfyletickou skupinou.


Biography.

Early years.

Born in Lille, France, Perrin attended the École Normale Supérieure, the elite grande école in Paris. He became an assistant at the school during the period of 1894–97 when he began the study of cathode rays and X-rays. He was awarded the degree of "docteur ès sciences" (PhD) in 1897. In the same year he was appointed as a lecturer in physical chemistry at the Sorbonne, Paris. He became a professor at the University in 1910, holding this post until the German occupation of France during World War II.

Research and achievements.

In 1895, Perrin showed that cathode rays were of negative electric charge in nature. He determined Avogadro's number (now known as the Avogadro constant) by several methods. He explained solar energy as due to the thermonuclear reactions of hydrogen.  After Albert Einstein published (1905) his theoretical explanation of Brownian motion in terms of atoms, Perrin did the experimental work to test and verify Einstein's predictions, thereby settling the century-long dispute about John Dalton's atomic theory. Carl Benedicks argued Perrin should receive the Nobel Prize in Physics; Perrin received the award in 1926 for this and other work on the discontinuous structure of matter, which put a definite end to the long struggle regarding the question of the physical reality of molecules.  Perrin was the author of a number of books and dissertations. Most notable of his publications were: "Rayons cathodiques et rayons X"; "Les Principes"; "Electrisation de contact"; "Réalité moléculaire"; "Matière et Lumière"; "Lumière et Reaction chimique".  Perrin was also the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Joule Prize of the Royal Society in 1896 and the La Caze Prize of the French Academy of Sciences. He was twice appointed a member of the Solvay Committee at Brussels in 1911 and in 1921. He also held memberships with the Royal Society of London and with the Academies of Sciences of Belgium, Sweden, Turin, Prague, Romania and China. He became a Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1926 and was made Commander of the Order of Léopold (Belgium).  In 1919, Perrin proposed that nuclear reactions can provide the source of energy in stars. He realized that the mass of a helium atom is less than that of four atoms of hydrogen, and that the mass-energy equivalence of Einstein implies that the nuclear fusion (4 H → He) could liberate sufficient energy to make stars shine for billions of years. A similar theory was first proposed by American chemist William Draper Harkins in 1915. It remained for Hans Bethe and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker to determine the detailed mechanism of stellar nucleosynthesis during the 1930s.  In 1927, he founded the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique together with chemist André Job and physiologist André Mayer. Funding was provided by Edmond James de Rothschild. In 1937, Perrin established the Palais de la Découverte, a science museum in Paris.  Perrin is considered the founding father of the National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)). Following a petition by Perrin signed by over 80 scientists, among them eight Nobel Prize laureates, the French education minister set up the Conseil Supérieur de la Recherche Scientifique (French National Research Council) in April 1933. In 1936, Perrin, now an undersecretary for research, founded the Service Central de la Recherche Scientifique (French Central Agency for Scientific Research). Both institutions were merged under the CNRS umbrella on October 19, 1939.  His notable students include Pierre Victor Auger. Jean Perrin was the father of Francis Perrin, also a physicist.

Personal life.

Perrin was an atheist and a socialist. He was an officer in the engineer corps during World War I. When the Germans invaded France in 1940, he escaped to the U.S.A., together with his partner Nine Choucroun. He died in New York City. After the War, in 1948, his remains were transported back to France by the cruiser Jeanne d'Arc and buried in the Panthéon.

Jean Baptiste Perrin (30 September 1870 – 17 April 1942) was a French physicist who, in his studies of the Brownian motion of minute particles suspended in liquids, verified Albert Einstein’s explanation of this phenomenon and thereby confirmed the atomic nature of matter (sedimentation equilibrium). For this achievement he was honoured with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1926.

Jean Baptiste Perrin ["žán batist perén"] (30. září 1870, Lille, Francie – 17. dubna 1942, New York, USA) byl francouzský fyzik.


History.

Shiga was known as Ōmi Province or Gōshū before the prefectural system was established. Omi was a neighbor of Nara and Kyoto, at the junction of western and eastern Japan. During the period 667 to 672, Emperor Tenji founded a palace in Otsu. In 742, Emperor Shōmu founded a palace in Shigaraki. In the early Heian period, Saichō was born in the north of Otsu and founded Enryaku-ji, the center of Tendai and one a UNESCO World Heritage Site and monument of Ancient Kyoto now.  In the Medieval Period, the Sasaki clan ruled Omi, and afterward the Rokkaku clan, Kyōgoku clan and Azai clans ruled Omi. In the 1570s, Oda Nobunaga subjugated Omi and built Azuchi Castle on the eastern shores of Lake Biwa in 1579. Tōdō Takatora, Gamō Ujisato, Oichi, Yodo-dono, Ohatsu and Oeyo were Omi notables in the Sengoku period. In those times, Ninja were active in Kōka (See also Kōga-ryū).  In 1600, Ishida Mitsunari, born in the east of Nagahama and based in Sawayama Castle, made war against Tokugawa Ieyasu in Sekigahara, Gifu. After the battle, Ieyasu made Ii Naomasa a new lord of Sawayama. Naomasa established the Hikone Domain, later famous for Ii Naosuke. Ii Naosuke became the Tokugawa shogunate's Tairō and concluded commercial treaties with the Western powers and thus ended Japan's isolation from the world in the 19th century. Besides the Hikone Domain, many domains ruled Omi such as Zeze. With the abolition of the han system, eight prefectures were formed in Omi. They were unified into Shiga Prefecture in September 1872. "Shiga Prefecture" was named after "Shiga District" because Otsu belonged to the district until 1898. From August 1876 to February 1881, southern Fukui Prefecture had been incorporated into Shiga Prefecture.  In 2015, Shiga Governor Taizō Mikazuki conducted a survey asking citizens whether they felt it necessary to change the name of the prefecture, partly to raise its profile as a destination for domestic tourism.

Geography.

Shiga borders Fukui Prefecture in the north, Gifu Prefecture in the east, Mie Prefecture in the southeast, and Kyoto Prefecture in the west.  Lake Biwa, Japan's largest, is located at the center of this prefecture. It occupies one-sixth of its area. The Seta River flows from Lake Biwa to Osaka Bay through Kyoto. This is the only natural river that flows out from the lake. Most other natural rivers flow into the lake. There were many lagoons around Lake Biwa, but most of them were reclaimed in 1940s. One of the preserved lagoons is the in Omihachiman, and it was selected as the first Important Cultural Landscapes in 2006.  The lake divides the prefecture into four different areas: "Kohoku" (湖北, north of lake) centered Nagahama, "Kosei" (湖西, west of lake) centered Imazu, "Kotō" (湖東, east of lake) centered Hikone and "Konan" (湖南, south of lake) centered Otsu.  Plains stretch to the eastern shore of Lake Biwa. The prefecture is enclosed by mountain ranges with the Hira Mountains and Mount Hiei in the west, the Ibuki Mountains in the northeast, and the Suzuka Mountains in the southeast. Mount Ibuki is the highest mountain in Shiga. In Yogo, a small lake is famous for the legend of, which is similar to a western Swan maiden.  Shiga's climate sharply varies between north and south. Southern Shiga is usually warm, but northern Shiga is typically cold with high snowfall and hosts many skiing grounds. In Nakanokawachi, the northernmost village of Shiga, snow reached a depth of in 1936.  As of 1 April 2014, 37% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks (the highest total of any prefecture), namely the Biwako and Suzuka Quasi-National Parks; and Kotō, Kutsuki-Katsuragawa, and Mikami-Tanakami-Shigaraki Prefectural Natural Parks.

Municipalities.

Cities.

Thirteen cities are located in Shiga Prefecture:

Towns.

These are the towns in each district:

Politics.

The current governor of Shiga is Taizō Mikazuki, a former member of the House of Representatives from Shiga (DPJ, 3rd district), who was narrowly elected in July 2014 with center-left support against ex-METI-bureaucrat Takashi Koyari (supported by the center-right national-level ruling parties) to succeed governor Yukiko Kada. In June 2018, he was overwhelmingly reelected to a second term against only one, Communist challenger.  The prefectural assembly has 44 members from 16 electoral districts, and is still elected in unified local elections (last round: 2019). As of July 2019, the assembly was composed by caucus as follows: LDP 20 members, Team Shiga (CDP, DPP, former Kada supporters etc.) 14, JCP 4, Sazanami Club (of independents) 3, Kōmeitō 2, "independent"/non-attached 1.  In the National Diet, Shiga is represented by four directly elected members of the House of Representatives and two (one per ordinary election) of the House of Councillors. For the proportional representation segment of the lower house, the prefecture forms part of the Kinki block. After the national elections of 2016, 2017 and 2019, the directly elected delegation to the Diet from Shiga consists of (as of August 1, 2019):

Economy.

Cultivated areas occupy nearly one-sixth of the prefecture. Rice is the principal crop: over 90 percent of the farmlands are rice fields. Most farms are small, producing only a slight income. Most farmers depend on income from other sources. Eastern Shiga is famous for cattle breeding and southeastern Shiga is famous for green tea. On Lake Biwa, some people are engaged in fishery and freshwater pearl farming.  Since the Medieval Period, especially in Edo period, many Shiga people were active in commerce and were called, sometimes by other envious merchants. For example, Nippon Life, Itochu, Marubeni, Takashimaya, Wacoal and Yanmar were founded by people from Shiga. In their home towns such as Omihachiman, Hino, Gokashō and Toyosato, their mansions were preserved as tourist attractions.  Beginning in the 1960s, Shiga developed industry, supporting major factories owned by companies such as IBM Japan, Canon, Yanmar Diesel, Mitsubishi, and Toray. According to Cabinet Office's statistics in 2014, the Manufacturing sector accounted for 35.4% of Gross Shiga Product, the highest proportion in Japan. Traditional industries include textiles, Shigaraki ware, Butsudan in Hikone and Nagahama, medicines in Koka, and fan ribs in Adogawa.

Demographics.

The population is concentrated along the southern shore of Lake Biwa in Otsu city (adjacent to Kyoto) and along the lake's eastern shore in cities such as Kusatsu and Moriyama, which are within commuting distance to Kyoto. The lake's western and northern shores are more rural and resort-oriented with white sand beaches. In recent years, many Brazilians settled in Shiga to work in nearby factories. 25,040 foreigners live in Shiga and 30% of foreigners were Brazilians as of December 2016.

Culture.

Biwa Town (now a part of Nagahama) is a home of The Tonda Traditional Bunraku Puppet Troupe. Founded in the 1830s, the group is one of the most active traditional "Bunraku" puppet theaters in Japan outside the National Theater in Osaka. Toyosato and Higashiomi are known to a mecca of Goshu ondo.  Museums include the Sagawa Art Museum in Moriyama, the Lake Biwa Museum in Kusatsu and the Miho Museum in Kōka. In Kōka, a ninja house is preserved as a visitor center.

Cuisine.

Since ancient times, Shigans have eaten fish from Lake Biwa. The most famous lake-food is. It retains the ancient style of sushi and has a pungent odor. Shiga is also famous for high quality wagyū, Ōmi beef. The Hikone Domain presented beef as medicinal food to shōguns. In addition, "tsukemono" of root crops, in northern Shiga, in Omihachiman, in Nagahama, and lightly seasoned champon in Hikone are examples of specific cuisine in Shiga.

Mass media.

Biwako Broadcasting broadcasts local TV programs. NHK has a broadcasting station in Otsu. Shiga is the only prefecture which has no regional newspapers. Kyoto Shimbun is a de facto regional newspaper of Shiga.

Education.

Ten universities, two junior colleges, and a learning center of The Open University of Japan operate in Shiga.

Sports.

The following sports teams are based in Shiga.

Tourism.

Shiga has many tourism resources, but Shiga is overshadowed by its much more famous neighbor Kyoto. Over four million foreign tourists visited Japan in 2000, but only sixty-five thousand visited Shiga.  The main gateways to Shiga are the Maibara Station in northern Shiga and the city of Ōtsu in the south. The Maibara Station is about 2 hours and 20 minutes away from the Tokyo Station by the Tokaido Shinkansen. It is easy to go to Ōtsu from Kyoto and Osaka by high-speed trains.  Shiga's most prominent feature is Lake Biwa. The northern shore is especially scenic, such as the cherry blossoms of Kaizu Osaki in spring and the sacred island Chikubu-shima. The western shore has white sand beaches, popular among Kyotoites during the summer. The scenery of the southern shore, particularly around Otsu, was selected as "Ōmi Hakkei" or Eight Views of Ōmi, popularized by Hiroshige's ukiyo-e. Most of the original eight views are now almost gone or changed from centuries ago. One remaining view is the Ukimidō "floating temple" building at Mangetsu-ji temple in Katata, northern Ōtsu. It was reconstructed with concrete in 1937, but a small temple still stands on the lake near the shore, accessible by a short bridge. Another scene features Ishiyama-dera temple in southern Otsu, which is also renowned for having a room where Murasaki Shikibu thought up the plan for some chapters of "Tale of Genji".  The mountains around the lake offer extensive views. Mount Hira is a picnic spot. Mountain roads like the Oku-Biwako Parkway road up north and the Hiei-zan Driveway and Oku-Hiei Driveway overlooking the southwestern shore. In Ōtsu, the Ōtsu Prince Hotel's Top of Otsu restaurant provides views of the lake and city. The "Michigan" paddlewheel boat offers lake cruises.  Besides the natural environment, historical buildings and festivals persons rank among those of national importance. Shiga has 807 National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties, that ranks the fourth large number in Japan. Shiga's most famous historical building is Hikone Castle, one of four national treasure castles in the country. The castle tower is well preserved and has many cherry trees. The neighboring city of Nagahama has tourism in addition to its hikiyama festival. Nearby shrines include Hiyoshi Taisha in Otsu and Taga-taisha in Taga, which respectively head the seventh and twentieth largest shrine networks in Japan, at about 4,000 shrines and 260 shrines, respectively.  Festivals include the hikiyama festival (floats parade festival), held in ten areas such as Nagahama, Otsu, Maibara, Hino and Minakuchi. The Nagahama hikiyama festival held each April is one of the three major hikiyama festivals in Japan and was designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1979. During this festival ornate floats are mounted with miniature stages on which boys (playing both male and female roles) act in kabuki plays. Higashiomi (formerly Yōkaichi) city holds a Giant Kite Festival every May along the riverbank. Ordinary people are invited to pull the rope that sends the kites aloft.

Transportation.

Roads.

Meishin Expressway, Shin-Meishin Expressway and Hokuriku Expressway pass through Shiga. National highway Route 1, 8, 21, 8, 161, 303, 306, 307, 365, 367, 421, 422 and 477 connect with neighboring prefectures. Two bridges span southern part of Lake Biwa.

Boats.

With development of land transportation in the 20th century, waterborne transportation in Lake Biwa was disused except for steamer services to islands on the lake and pleasure boats.

Sister states.

Shiga has cooperative agreements with three states.

Ōtsu is the capital and largest city of Shiga Prefecture, with other major cities including Kusatsu, Nagahama, and Higashiōmi. Shiga Prefecture encircles Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan, and 37% of the total land area is designated as Natural Parks, the highest of any prefecture. Shiga Prefecture's southern half is located adjacent to the former capital city of Kyoto and forms part of Greater Kyoto, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Japan. Shiga Prefecture is home to Ōmi beef, the Eight Views of Ōmi, and Hikone Castle, one of four national treasure castles in Japan.

Prefektura Šiga (: 滋賀県, "Šiga-ken") je jednou ze 47 prefektur Japonska. Nachází se v regionu Kansai na ostrově Honšú. Hlavním městem je Ócu.


History.

Tencent QQ was first released in China in February 1999 under the name of OICQ ("Open ICQ", a reference to the early IM service ICQ).  After the threat of a trademark infringement lawsuit by the AOL-owned ICQ, the product's name was changed to QQ (with "Q" and "QQ" used to imply "cute"). The software inherited existing functions from ICQ, and additional features such as software skins, people's images, and emoticons. QQ was first released as a "network paging" real-time communications service. Other features were later added, such as chatrooms, games, personal avatars (similar to "Meego" in MSN), online storage, and Internet dating services.  The official client runs on Microsoft Windows and a beta public version was launched for Mac OS X version 10.4.9 or newer. Formerly, two web versions, WebQQ (full version) and WebQQ Mini (Lite version), which made use of Ajax, were available. Development, support, and availability of WebQQ Mini, however, has since been discontinued. On 31 July 2008, Tencent released an official client for Linux, but this has not been made compatible with the Windows version and it is not capable of voice chat.  In response to competition with other instant messengers, such as Windows Live Messenger, Tencent released Tencent Messenger, which is aimed at businesses.  Tencent QQ holds the Guinness World Record for the highest number of simultaneous online users on an instant messaging program with 210,212,085 users online on July 3, 2014.

Membership.

In 2002, Tencent stopped its free membership registration, requiring all new members to pay a fee. In 2003, however, this decision was reversed due to pressure from other instant messaging services such as Windows Live Messenger and Sina UC. Tencent currently offers a premium membership scheme, where premium members enjoy features such as QQ mobile, ringtone downloads, and SMS sending/receiving. In addition, Tencent offers "Diamond" level memberships. Currently, there are seven diamond schemes available:

QQ Coin.

The QQ Coin is a virtual currency used by QQ users to "purchase" QQ related items for their avatar and blog. Q Coins are obtained either by purchase (one coin for one RMB) or by using the mobile phone service. Due to the popularity of QQ among young people in China, QQ Coins are accepted by online vendors in exchange for "real" merchandise such as small gifts. This has raised concerns of replacing (and thus "inflating") real currency in these transactions.  The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, tried to crack down on Q Coins due to people using Q Coins in exchange for real world goods. However, this only caused the value of QQ coins to rise as more and more third-party vendors started to accept them. Tencent claims the QQ Coin is a mere regular commodity, and is, therefore, not a currency.

Q Zone.

Qzone is a social networking website based in China which was created by Tencent in 2005. Q Zone is a personal blog for QQ users. It can be set as a public page or a private friend-only page. Users can upload diaries and share photos.

QQ International.

Windows.

In 2009, QQ began to expand its services internationally with its QQ International client for Windows distributed through a dedicated English-language portal.  QQ International offers non-Mandarin speakers the opportunity to use most of the features of its Chinese counterpart to get in touch with other QQ users via chat, VoIP, and video calls, and it provides a non-Mandarin interface to access Qzone, Tencent's social network. The client supports English, French, Spanish, German, Korean, Japanese and Traditional Chinese.  One of the main features of QQ International is the optional and automatic machine translation in all chats.

Android.

An Android version of QQ International was released on September 2013. The client's interface is in English, French, Spanish, German, Korean, Japanese and Traditional Chinese. In addition to text messaging, users can send each other images, videos, and audio media messages. Moreover, users can share multimedia content with all contacts through the client's Qzone interface.  The live translation feature is available for all incoming messages and supports up to 18 languages.

iOS.

QQ International for iPhone and iOS devices was released at the end of 2013, fully equivalent to its Android counterpart.

Partnerships.

In India, Tencent has partnered with ibibo to bring services such as chat, mail and game to the developing Indian internet sphere.  In Vietnam, Tencent has struck a deal with VinaGame to bring the QQ Casual Gaming portal as well as the QQ Messenger as an addition to the already thriving Vietnamese gaming communities.  In the United States, Tencent has partnered with AOL to bring QQ Games as a contender in the US social gaming market. Launched in 2007, QQ Games came bundled with the AIM installer, and competed with AOL's own games.com to provide a gaming experience for the AIM user base.

Web QQ.

Tencent launched its web-based QQ formally on 15 September 2009, the latest version of which being 3.0. Rather than solely a web-based IM, WebQQ 3.0 functions more like its own operating system, with a desktop in which web applications can be added.

Social network website.

In 2009, Tencent launched Xiaoyou (校友,'schoolmate'), its first social network website. In mid-2010, Tencent changed direction and replaced Xiaoyou with Pengyou (朋友, 'friends'), trying to establish a more widespread network, to which extant QQ users could be easily redirected, hence giving Pengyou a major advantage over its competitors. Tencent's social network Qzone is linked to in the International and native versions of QQ.

Open source and cross-platform clients.

Using reverse engineering, open source communities have come to understand the QQ protocol better and have attempted to implement client core libraries compatible with more user-friendly clients, free of advertisements. Most of these clients are cross-platform, so they are usable on operating systems which the official client does not support. However, these implementations had only a subset of functions of the official client and therefore were limited in features. Furthermore, QQ's parent company, Tencent, has over successive versions modified the QQ protocol to the extent that it can no longer be supported by most, and perhaps any, of the third-party implementations that were successful in the past (some of which are listed below). As of 2009, none of the developers of third-party clients have publicized any plans to restore QQ support.

Merchandise.

Tencent has taken advantage of the popularity of the QQ brand and has set up many Q-Gen stores selling QQ branded merchandise such as bags, watches, clothing as well as toy penguins.

Controversies and criticisms.

Coral QQ.

Coral QQ, a modification of Tencent QQ, is another add-on for the software, providing free access to some of the services and blocking Tencent's advertisements. In 2006, Tencent filed a copyright lawsuit against Chen Shoufu (aka Soft), the author of Coral QQ, after his distribution of a modified Tencent QQ was ruled illegal. Chen then published his modification as a separate add-on. On 16 August 2007, Chen was detained again for allegedly making profits off of his ad-blocking add-on. His case is pending at Shenzhen Nanshan district court.

Dispute with Qihoo 360.

In 2010, Chinese anti-virus company, Qihoo 360, analyzed the QQ protocol and accused QQ of automatically scanning users' computers and uploading their personal information to QQ's servers without the users' consent. In response, Tencent called 360 a malware and denied users of installing 360 access to some of the QQ's services. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information reprimanded both companies for "improper competition" and ordered them to come to an agreement.

Government surveillance.

Some observers have criticized QQ's compliance in the Chinese government's Internet surveillance and censorship. A 2013 report by Reporters Without Borders specifically mentioned QQ as allowing authorities to monitor online conversations for keywords or phrases and track participants by their user number.

Adware controversy.

The Chinese version of QQ makes use of embedded advertisements. Older versions of the client have been branded as malicious adware by some antivirus and anti-spyware vendors.  Both the Chinese and International versions of QQ had been tested in 2013.Currently it is identified as malware by DrWeb, Zillya, NANO-Antivirus, and VBA32 give positive results, most of which identify it as a trojan.

Security.

On March 6, 2015, QQ scored 2 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's secure messaging scorecard. It received points for having communications encrypted in transit and for having a recent independent security audit. It lost points because communications are not end-to-end encrypted, users can't verify contacts' identities, past messages are not secure if the encryption keys are stolen (i.e. the service does not provide forward secrecy), the code is not open to independent review (i.e. the code is not open-source), and the security design is not properly documented.

Tencent QQ (), also known as QQ, is an instant messaging software service and web portal developed by the Chinese tech giant Tencent. QQ offers services that provide online social games, music, shopping, microblogging, movies, and group and voice chat software. The logo of the software is a winking penguin wearing a red scarf. It is the world's 5th most visited website, according to Alexa. As of April 2014, over 200 million simultaneous online QQ users were recorded. At the end of June 2016, there were 899 million active QQ accounts.

Tencent QQ (často zkracováno pouze na QQ) je program pro instant messaging, nejvíce používaný v Asii. Celosvětově se jedná o jeden z nejoblíbenějších služeb instant messanging s více než 800 miliony uživatelů v roce 2016. Program je vyvíjen firmou Tencent, a jeho uživatelská základna většinově migrovala na novější aplikaci WeChat.


Conception and creation.

The original idea of a new costume for Spider-Man that would later become the character Venom was conceived by a Marvel Comics reader from Norridge, Illinois named Randy Schueller. In 1982, Jim Shooter, Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time, sent Schueller a letter acknowledging Marvel's interest in the idea, which they ended up purchasing from him for $220. Shooter came up with the idea of switching Spider-Man to a black-and-white costume, possibly influenced by the intended costume design for the new Spider-Woman; artist Mike Zeck designed it.  Writer/artist John Byrne says on his website that he conceived a costume of self-healing biological material when he was the artist on "Iron Fist —" to

Hosts.

Spider-Man (Peter Parker).

The story of how Spider-Man gets his new black costume is recounted in "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" #8 (December 1984), in which writer Jim Shooter and artist Mike Zeck depicted the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe transported to another planet called Battleworld by a being called the Beyonder. After Spider-Man's costume is ruined from battles with the villains, he is directed by Thor and the Hulk to a room at the heroes' base where they inform him a machine can read his thoughts and instantly fabricate any type of clothing. Choosing a machine he believes to be the correct one, Spider-Man causes a black sphere to appear before him, which spreads over his body, dissolving the tattered old costume and covering his body to form a new black and white costume. To Spider-Man's surprise, the costume can mimic street clothes and provides a seemingly inexhaustible and stronger supply of webbing.  During their run on "The Amazing Spider-Man", writer Tom DeFalco

Eddie Brock.

David Michelinie would later write the backstory of Eddie Brock as the alien's new host that would become the villain Venom, using the events of Peter David's 1985 "Sin Eater" storyline in "The Spectacular Spider-Man" as a basis for Brock's origin. Venom's existence was first indicated in "Web of Spider-Man" #18 (September 1986), when he shoved Peter Parker in front of a subway train without Parker's spider-sense warning him, though only Brock's hand was seen on-panel. The next indication of Venom's existence was in "Web of Spider-Man" #24 (March 1987), when Parker climbed out of a high story window to change into Spider-Man, but found a black arm coming through the window and grabbing him, again without being warned by his spider-sense. After appearing in shadow in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #298

Scorpion (Mac Gargan).

The Venom Symbiote approaches Mac Gargan, the villain formerly known as Scorpion, and offered him new abilities as the second Venom. Gargan bonded with the creature, which would later give him an extra edge as part of Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve. As the Avengers dealt with the rest of the Twelve, Spider-Man swiftly defeated Gargan, even with these additional powers, which Spider-Man suggests is attributed to the fact that Mac Gargan does not hate Spider-Man as much as Eddie Brock did. Gargan later became a member of a sub-group of the Thunderbolts, which was drafted by the Avengers to hunt down the members of the fugitive New Avengers. It was then revealed that he had been outfitted with electrical implants by the government to keep the Symbiote in check.  When in the

Flash Thompson.

On December 9, 2010, Marvel Comics announced a new "black ops" Venom owned by the government. This new Venom was featured in a new series called "Venom" in March 2011. The birth of the new Venom can be seen in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #654 in February 2011. On January 28, 2011, the identity of "black ops" Venom was revealed to be Flash Thompson. Flash is hired by

Lee Price.

Lee Price first appeared in "Venom" Vol. 3 #1 and dying in "Spider-Man/Venom Free Comic Book Day" #1. After being separated from Flash Thompson through unspecified means, the Venom symbiote happens upon a black market deal between Black Cat's gang and Tombstone's gang. He resorts to bonding with one of the men present, a discharged Army Ranger named Lee Price who was with Scorpion as part of Black Cat's gang. The weakened symbiote pleads with Price, attempting to convince him to become a hero like Thompson. Price ignores and overpowers it, intent on using it for personal gain as a new, wholly villainous Venom.  Lee Price makes his way to Black Cat's hideout where Scorpion accuses him of botching the black market sale by causing the shoot-out. After having to keep the Venom symbiote from attacking Black Cat, Lee Price takes his leave from Black Cat's lair as Scorpion gets suspicious towards Lee. His departure is seen by some FBI Agents. Lee Price later gets attacked by Tombstone's minion Firebug. Upon defeating Firebug, an FBI Agent with a bazooka appears telling

Tel-Kar.

Tel-Kar first appeared in "Venom: First Host" #1. During the Kree-Skrull War, the Kree, desiring to replicate the Skrull's shape-shifting abilities, they obtain the newborn Venom, which had been outcast from the other symbiotes, on Gorr's planet where Knull had created the symbiotes. Tel-Kar is recruited to be bonded to the newborn symbiote in order to infiltrate the Skrull army. Tel-Kar's body is biologically altered so he can have full control over the symbiote's mind to the point of erasing its memories. He successfully infiltrated the Skrull army discovering various secrets. However he blew his cover up in order to save some Kree refugees and handed the symbiote to them to return it to Hala. Then Tel-Kar was betrayed by Ronan the Accuser who used a Kree Sentry to capture Tel-Kar and was given to the Skrulls as a war criminal. Separated from Tel-Kar after his capture, the

Malekith.

During the "War of the Realms" event, after Venom was separated from Eddie, the symbiote, in its humanoid form, joined the War Avengers (composed of Captain Marvel, Deadpool, Lady Sif, Winter Soldier, Weapon H, Black Widow and Captain Britain) to fight off Malekith's invasion. However, upon fighting Malekith, the Dark Elf with the use of the Ebony Blade, teleported away along with Venom. Since Malekith was aware of Knull

Other hosts.

There have been other, shorter term hosts for the symbiote.

Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly).

In the "Planet of the Symbiotes" storyline, the symbiote was rejected by Eddie, causing it to release a powerful scream that attracts the other symbiotes to Earth. Subsequently the symbiote

Anne Weying.

Anne Weying first appears in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #375. She is Eddie Brock's ex-wife and a successful lawyer. Weying assists Spider-Man by sharing some of Brock's history. Later, she follows Spider-Man to the amusement park where Venom had Peter's (fake) parents. She confronts Brock and manages to convince him to end his feud. After Sin-Eater shoots Ann as part of a crusade against social injustice, Ann becomes She-Venom when the Venom Symbiote temporarily

Patricia Robertson.

The story follows U.S. Army communication specialist Patricia Robertson. During a supply run to an Ararat Corporation owned outpost she discovers everyone at the installation dead except for one scientist. It is revealed that the Ararat Corporation is run by an alien colony of miniature spider robots led by an entity named Bob, that have infiltrated the American government. The Ararat Corporation has cloned Venom to facilitate the extermination of humanity, but the clone ravages its hosts. The clone is responsible for the death of the outpost crew.  Robertson finds an ally in the Suit, a mysterious individual made of the same miniature robots as Bob, revealed to

Angelo Fortunato.

Angelo Fortunato first appeared in "Marvel Knights Spider-Man" #7 and was killed in issue #8. Angelo is the son of Don Fortunato, a prominent Mafia capo. His frail physique and shy attitude leave Angelo frequently bullied and humiliated by his father. Don attends a supervillain auction and purchases the Venom Symbiote from Brock for

Kulan Gath.

In the 2008 "Spider-Man / Red Sonja" miniseries, where Spider-Man and Red Sonja, possessing the body of Mary Jane, fought the evil

Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers).

During the "Siege", Mac Gargan with the symbiote was fighting Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel. When they separated Mac

Red Hulk (Thunderbolt Ross).

During the "Circle of Four" storyline, when Red Hulk came crashing into Flash's apartment so he can recruit him, the symbiote sensing Red Hulk as a danger, briefly bonds

Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius).

When Flash Thompson with the symbiote was infiltrating into the Crime Master's men, Superior Spider-Man came attacking the criminals who was then confronted by Agent Venom. Doc Ock thinking that Venom was still evil attacked Flash with Web Shooters filled with burner fuel and in the process injured Flash. While Flash was recovering, Superior Spider-Man put the symbiote in a canister and gave Flash a pair of prosthetic legs. Then the symbiote broke out and instead of

Groot, Rocket Racoon and Drax.

When Flash was part of the Guardians of the Galaxy he got separated from the symbiote and his team mates decided to send him to Earth. While traveling Groot accidentally bonds to the symbiote and started attacking the others. Then Rocket tried to save his friend, but the symbiote left

Mercurio the 4-D Man.

Agent Venom as Venom Space Knight foils the Gramosian's attempts to steal resources from the home planets of the P'qui and the Wugin, and to acquire chemical weapons derived from the blood of kidnapped Vvexians.  Mercurio forces a Ruu'lto named Pik Rollo, whose child he is holding hostage, to try and assassinate Agent Venom, but Rollo instead betrays Mercurio, and joins forces with Venom. When the two

Mysterio (Quentin Beck).

In the mini-series "Symbiote Spider-Man" in which explored the time when Spider-Man was still bonded to the symbiote, Mysterio blackmailed Black Cat into stealing a piece of Spider-Man's suit for him. When he had his friend, Jonathan Ohnn, the scientist of Kingpin, examine the piece, the symbiote controlling Peter's body came to retrieve it, however, after clashing with the men of Kingpin, was unable to find it and fled. Kingpin then had Mysterio tied up for interrogation, but the severed piece bonded to Mysterio which allowed him to overpower Kingpin and his men. He then went after Spider-Man in order to steal the suit and use it for himself.

Powers and abilities.

Though it requires a living host in order to survive, the Venom symbiote has been shown to be adept at fending for itself independent of a host. The Symbiote is capable of shapeshifting abilities, including the ability to form spikes or expand its size, as well as mimic the appearance of other humanoids after it has obtained a host. The organism can additionally use its shape-shifting abilities to conceal itself by altering its coloration or by becoming completely invisible. It also contains a small "dimensional aperture", allowing its hosts to carry items without adding mass to the costume. The Symbiote also exhibits telepathic abilities, primarily when it needs to communicate with its host.  Because of its contact with Spider-Man, the Symbiote grants all of its subsequent hosts that hero's powers and cannot be detected by his spider-sense. As Spider-Man's fighting style is partly dependent on his spider-sense,

Other versions.

As a fictional character, Venom has appeared in various adaptations, from comic books to films and television series. Each version of the work typically establishes its own

In other media.

Film.

Venom's first appearance in a motion picture was originally planned for a titular film written by David S. Goyer and produced by New Line Cinema, in which Venom would have been portrayed as an antihero and Carnage as the antagonist. By 2007, the film rights to Venom had reverted to Sony Pictures.

"Spider-Man" trilogy.

Eddie Brock / Venom appears as the main antagonist in the 2007 feature film "Spider-Man 3", played by Topher Grace. In the film, the Symbiote, after being rejected by Peter Parker, joins with Brock after the rival freelance photographer is exposed by Parker to have used a fake photograph, which ruins him publicly. Venom seeks an alliance with Flint Marko / Sandman to kill Spider-Man, but is

"The Amazing Spider-Man" series.

The Venom Symbiote has a cameo appearance at the end of the 2014 feature film "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" in the Oscorp building, in a scene which features Gustav Fiers / The Gentleman walking past many of Oscorp's technology and experiments, including Vulture's wings and the mechanical arms of Doctor Octopus. In the viral marketing campaign for "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" an article by Eddie Brock (one of the most notable hosts of Venom) detailing the capture of Cletus Cassidy (who later went on to become Carnage) was featured, with

Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters.

In March 2016, following the introduction of Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was announced that Sony was moving forward with a standalone film by hiring Dante Harper to write the script, and Arad, Matt Tolmach and Amy Pascal producing. The film was initially reported to have no connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, nor have any relation to Spider-Man, and that it would be set in its own continuity. A year later, Sony announced that "Venom" would be released on October 5, 2018 with Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner signed on as screenwriters. It was reported to be

Video games.

Venom is a playable character and boss

Reception.

Comics journalist and historian Mike Conroy writes of the character: "What started out as a replacement costume for Spider-Man turned into one of the Marvel web-slinger's greatest nightmares." Venom was ranked as the 22nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time in IGN's list of the top 100 comic villains. IGN also ranked Mac Gargan's incarnation of Venom as #17 in their list of "The Top 50 Avengers", while the Flash Thompson incarnation was ranked as #27. The character was listed as #33 on "Empire"s 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters and was also ranked at #8 in "Marvel"'s "Top 10 Spider-Verse Characters".

Venom is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Spider-Man. The character is a sentient alien Symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form, who survives by bonding with a host, usually human. This dual-life form receives enhanced powers and usually refers to itself as "Venom". The Symbiote was originally introduced as a living alien costume in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #252 (May 1984), with a full first appearance as Venom in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #300 (May 1988).

Venom je postava z komiksu Spiderman. Je to mimozemský symbiont, představující černou hmotu, která se přisaje na hostitele a způsobí u něj tělesné a psychické změny (zvýšení agresivity), které však nikdy nejsou v plné kontrole symbionta a jeho hostitel má vždy částečnou kontrolu nad jejich akcemi. Černý symbiotický kostým se objevil poprvé v čísle 252. Ultimate Spider-Man a postava v čísle 300 téhož časopisu.


Names.

The full official name "pound sterling" (plural: "pounds sterling"), is used mainly in formal contexts and also when it is necessary to distinguish the United Kingdom currency from other currencies with the same name. Otherwise the term "pound" is normally used. The currency name is sometimes abbreviated to just "sterling", particularly in the wholesale financial markets, but not when referring to specific amounts; for example, "Payment is accepted in sterling" but never "These cost five sterling". The abbreviations "ster." and "stg." are sometimes used. The term "British pound" is sometimes used in less formal contexts, but it is not an official name of the currency.

Etymology.

There is a variety of theories regarding the origin of the term "pound sterling". The Oxford English Dictionary (and sources derived therefrom) state that the "most plausible" etymology is derivation from the Old English "steorra" for "star" with the added diminutive suffix "-ling", to mean "little star" and to refer to a silver penny of the English Normans.  Another argument that the Hanseatic League was the origin for both the origin of its definition and manufacture,

Symbol.

The currency sign for the pound is, which is usually written with a single cross-bar (as on modern banknotes exclusively since 1975). A variation with a double cross-bar () has been used intermittently with since the earliest banknotes of 1725 when both were used. Historically,

Currency code.

The ISO 4217 currency code is GBP, formed from "GB", the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for the United Kingdom, and the first letter of "pound". Occasionally, the abbreviation "UKP" is used but this is non-standard because the ISO

Cable.

The exchange rate of the pound sterling against the US dollar is referred to as "cable" in the wholesale foreign exchange markets. The origins of this term are

Quid (slang).

A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is "quid", which is singular and plural, except in the common phrase "quids in!". The term may have

Subdivisions and other units.

Decimal coinage.

Since decimalisation on Decimal Day in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence (denoted on coinage, until 1981, as "new pence"). The symbol for the penny is "p"; hence an amount such as 50p

Pre-decimal.

Before decimalisation in 1971, the pound was divided into 20 shillings and each shilling into 12 pence, making 240 pence to the pound. The symbol for the shilling was ""s"."—not from the first letter of "shilling", but from the Latin "solidus". The symbol for the penny was ""d".", from the French "denier", from the Latin "denarius" (the solidus and denarius were Roman coins). A mixed sum of shillings and pence, such as 3 shillings and 6 pence, was written as "3/6" or "3"s". 6"d"." and spoken as "three and six" or "three and sixpence" except for "1/1," "2/1" etc., which

History.

At various times, the pound sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold, but it is currently fiat money, with its value determined only by its continued acceptance in the national and international economy. The pound sterling is the world's oldest currency still in use and which has been in continuous use since its inception.

Anglo-Saxon.

The "pound" was a unit of account in Anglo-Saxon England, equal to 240 silver pence (the plural of penny) and equivalent to one pound weight of silver. It evolved into the modern British currency, the pound sterling.  The accounting system of four farthings = one penny, twelve pence = one shilling, twenty shillings = one pound, was adopted from that introduced by Charlemagne to the Frankish Empire (see French livre). The penny was abbreviated to 'd', from "denarius", Latin for penny;'s' from

Medieval.

The early pennies were struck from fine silver (as pure as was available). However, in 1158, a new coinage was introduced by King Henry II (known as the "Tealby penny") which was struck from 0.925 (92.5%) silver. This became the standard until the 20th century and is today known as sterling silver, named after its association with the currency. Sterling silver is harder than the 0.999 (99.9%) fine silver that was traditionally used and so sterling silver coins did not wear down as rapidly as fine silver coins. English coins were almost exclusively made of silver until 1344, when the gold noble was successfully introduced into circulation. However, silver remained the legal basis for the pound sterling until

Tudor.

During the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, the silver coinage was drastically debased, although the pound was redefined to the troy pound of in 1526. In 1544, a silver coinage was issued containing just one-third silver and two-thirds copper—equating to 0.333 silver, or 33.3 per cent pure. The result was a coin

Unofficial gold standard.

In 1663, a new gold coinage was introduced, based on the 22 carat fine guinea. Fixed in weight at to the troy pound in 1670, this coin's value varied considerably against the silver coinage until 1717, when it was fixed at 21 shillings (21/-, 1.05 pounds). However, despite the efforts of Sir Isaac Newton, Master of the Mint, to reduce the guinea's value, this valuation remained fixed, overvaluing gold relative to silver, when compared to the valuations in other European countries. In line with Gresham's Law, English merchants sent silver abroad in payments, while goods for export were paid for with gold. Scotland, meanwhile, had its own Pound Scots. As a consequence of these flows of silver out and gold in, England was effectively on a gold standard. Trade with China aggravated this outflow,

Establishment of modern currency.

The Bank of England was founded in 1694, followed

Currency of Great Britain (1707) and the United Kingdom (1801).

The pound Scots once had much the same value as the pound sterling, but it suffered far higher devaluation until in the 17th century it was pegged to sterling at a value of 12 pounds Scots = 1 pound sterling.  In 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland merged to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. In accordance

Use in the Empire.

Sterling circulated in much of the British Empire. In some parts, it was used alongside local currencies. For example, the gold sovereign was legal tender in Canada despite the use of the Canadian dollar. Several colonies and dominions adopted the pound as their own currency. These included Australia, Barbados, British West Africa, Cyprus, Fiji, British India, the Irish Free State, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa

Gold standard.

During the American war of independence and the Napoleonic wars, Bank of England notes were legal tender, and their value floated relative to gold. The Bank also issued silver tokens to alleviate the shortage of silver coins. In 1816, the gold standard was adopted officially, with silver coins minted at a rate of 66 shillings to a troy pound of sterling silver, thus rendering them as "token" issues (i.e. not containing their value in precious metal). In 1817, the sovereign was introduced, valued at 20 shillings. Struck in 22‐carat gold, it contained of gold and replaced the guinea as the standard British gold coin without changing the gold standard. In 1825, the Irish pound, which had been pegged to sterling since 1801 at a rate of 13 Irish pounds = 12 pounds sterling, was replaced, at the same rate, with sterling.  By the 19th century, the pound sterling was widely accepted outside Britain. The American Nellie Bly carried Bank of England notes on her

Bretton Woods.

In 1940, an agreement with the US pegged the pound to the U.S. dollar at a rate of £1 = $4.03. (Only the year before, it had been $4.86.) This rate was maintained through the Second World War and became part of the Bretton Woods system which governed post-war exchange rates. Under continuing economic pressure, and despite months of denials that it would do so, on 19 September 1949 the government devalued the pound by 30.5 per cent to $2.80. The move prompted several other currencies to be devalued against the dollar.

Decimalisation.

Until decimalisation, amounts were stated in pounds, shillings, and pence, with various widely understood notations. The same amount could be stated as 32s 6d, 32/6, £1 12s 6d, or £1/12/6. It was customary to specify some prices (for example professional fees and auction prices for works of art) in guineas (one guinea was 21 shillings) although guinea coins were no longer in use.  Formal parliamentary proposals to decimalise sterling were first made in 1824 when Sir John Wrottesley, MP for Staffordshire, asked in the

Free-floating pound.

With the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, the pound floated from August 1971 onwards. At first, it appreciated a little, rising to almost $2.65 in March

1976 sterling crisis.

James Callaghan became Prime Minister in 1976. He was immediately told the economy was facing huge problems, according to documents released in 2006 by the National Archives. The effects of the 1973 oil crisis were still being felt, with inflation rising to nearly 27 per cent in 1975. Financial markets were beginning to believe the pound was overvalued, and in April that year "The Wall Street Journal" advised the sale of sterling investments in the face of high taxes, in

1979–1989.

The Conservative Party was elected to office in 1979, on a programme of fiscal austerity. Initially, the pound rocketed, moving above US$2.40, as interest rates rose in response to

Following the Deutsche Mark.

In 1988, Margaret Thatcher's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, decided that the pound should "shadow" the West German Deutsche Mark (DM), with the unintended result of a rapid rise in inflation as the economy boomed due to low-interest rates. (For ideological reasons, the Conservative Government declined to use alternative mechanisms to control the

Following the European Currency Unit.

On 8 October 1990 the Conservative government (Third Thatcher ministry) decided to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), with the pound set at DM2.95. However, the country was forced to withdraw from the system on "Black Wednesday" (16 September 1992) as Britain's

Following inflation targets.

In 1997, the newly-elected Labour government handed over day-to-day control of interest rates to the Bank of England (a policy that had originally been advocated by the Liberal Democrats). The Bank is now responsible for setting its base rate of interest so as to keep inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI)) very close to 2% per annum. Should CPI inflation be more than

Euro.

As a member of the European Union, the United Kingdom could have adopted the euro as its currency. However, the subject was always politically controversial, and the UK negotiated an opt-out on this issue. Following the UK's ending of its membership of the EU on 31 January 2020, the question has ceased to be any more than a thought experiment.  In 2007, Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, ruled out membership for the foreseeable future, saying that the decision not to join had been right for Britain and for Europe.  On 1 January 2008, with the Republic of Cyprus switching its currency from the Cypriot pound to the euro, the British sovereign bases on Cyprus (Akrotiri and Dhekelia) followed suit, making the Sovereign Base Areas the only territory under British sovereignty to officially use the euro.  The government of former Prime Minister Tony Blair had pledged to hold a public referendum to decide on the adoption of the Euro should "five

Recent exchange rates.

The pound and the euro fluctuate in value against one another, although there may be correlation between movements in their respective exchange rates with other currencies such as the US dollar. Inflation concerns in the UK led the Bank of England to raise interest rates in late 2006 and 2007. This caused the pound to appreciate against other major currencies and, with the US dollar depreciating at the same time, the pound hit a 15-year high against the US dollar on 18 April 2007, reaching US$2 the day before,

Annual inflation rate.

The Bank of England had stated in 2009 that the decision had been taken to prevent the rate of inflation falling below the 2% target rate. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, had also suggested there

Coins.

Pre-decimal coins.

The silver penny (plural: "pence"; abbreviation: "d") was the principal and often the only coin in circulation from the 8th century until the 13th century. Although some fractions of the penny were struck (see farthing and halfpenny), it was more common to find pennies cut into halves and quarters to provide smaller change. Very few gold coins were struck, with the gold penny (worth 20 silver pence) a rare example. However, in 1279, the "groat", worth 4d, was introduced, with the half groat following in 1344. 1344 also saw the establishment of a gold coinage with the introduction (after the failed gold florin) of the "noble" worth six shillings and eight pence (6/8) (i.e. 3 nobles to the pound), together with the half and quarter noble. Reforms in 1464 saw a reduction

Decimal coins.

British coinage timeline:  At present, the oldest circulating coins in the UK are the 1p and 2p copper coins introduced in 1971. No other coins from before 1982 are in circulation. Prior to the withdrawal from circulation of the larger 10p in 1993, the oldest

Banknotes.

The first sterling notes were issued by the Bank of England shortly after its foundation in 1694. Denominations were initially handwritten on the notes at the time of issue. From 1745, the notes were printed in denominations between £20 and £1000, with any odd shillings added by hand. £10 notes were added in 1759, followed by £5 in 1793 and £1 and £2 in 1797. The lowest two denominations were withdrawn after the end of the Napoleonic wars. In 1855, the notes were converted to being entirely printed, with denominations of £5, £10, £20, £50, £100, £200, £300, £500 and £1000 issued.  The Bank of Scotland began issuing notes in 1695. Although the pound Scots was still the currency of Scotland, these notes were denominated in sterling in values up to £100. From 1727, the Royal Bank of Scotland also issued notes. Both banks issued some notes denominated in guineas as well as pounds. In the 19th century, regulations limited the smallest note issued by Scottish banks to be the £1 denomination, a note not permitted in England.  With the extension of sterling to Ireland in 1825, the Bank of Ireland began issuing sterling notes, later followed by other Irish banks. These notes included the unusual denominations of 30/- and £3. The highest denomination issued by the Irish banks was £100.  In 1826, banks at least from London were given permission to issue their own paper money. From 1844, new banks were excluded from issuing notes in England and Wales but not in Scotland and Ireland. Consequently, the number of private banknotes dwindled in England and Wales but proliferated in Scotland and Ireland. The last English private banknotes were issued in 1921.  In 1914, the Treasury introduced notes for 10/- and £1 to replace gold coins. These circulated until 1928 when they were replaced by Bank of England notes. Irish independence reduced the number of Irish banks issuing sterling notes to five operating in Northern Ireland. The Second World War had a drastic effect on the note production of the Bank of England. Fearful of mass forgery by the Nazis (see Operation Bernhard), all notes for £10 and above ceased production, leaving the bank to issue only 10/-, £1 and £5 notes. Scottish and Northern Irish issues were unaffected, with issues in denominations of £1, £5, £10, £20, £50 and £100.  The Bank of England reintroduced £10 notes in 1964. In 1969, the 10/- note was replaced by the 50p coin to prepare for decimalisation. £20 Bank of England notes were reintroduced in 1970, followed by £50 in 1981. A £1 coin was introduced in 1983, and Bank of England £1 notes were withdrawn in 1988. Scottish and Northern Irish banks followed, with only the Royal Bank of Scotland continuing to issue this denomination.  UK notes include raised print (e.g. on the words "Bank of England"); watermarks; embedded metallic thread; holograms; and fluorescent ink visible only under UV lamps. Three printing techniques are involved: offset litho, intaglio and letterpress; and the notes incorporate a total of 85 specialized inks.  The Bank of England produces notes named "giant" and "titan". A giant is a one million pound note, and a titan is a one hundred million pound bank note, of which there are about 40. Giants and titans are used only within the banking system.

Monetary policy.

As the central bank of the United Kingdom which has been delegated authority by the government, the Bank of England sets the monetary policy for the British pound by controlling the amount of money in circulation. It has a monopoly on the issuance of banknotes in England and Wales and regulates the amount of banknotes issued by seven authorized banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. HM Treasury has reserve powers to give orders to the committee "if they are required in the public interest and by extreme economic circumstances" but such orders must be endorsed by Parliament within 28 days.  Unlike banknotes which have separate issuers in Scotland

Legal tender and national issues.

Legal tender in the United Kingdom is defined such that "a debtor cannot successfully be sued for non-payment if he pays into court in legal tender." Parties can alternatively settle a debt by other means with mutual consent. Strictly speaking, it is necessary for the debtor to offer the exact amount due as there is no obligation for the other party to provide change.  Throughout the UK, £1 and £2 coins are legal tender for any amount, with the other coins being legal tender only for limited amounts. Bank of England notes are legal tender for any amount in England and Wales, but not in Scotland or Northern Ireland. (Bank of England 10/- and £1 notes were legal tender, as were Scottish banknotes, during World War II under the Currency (Defence) Act 1939, which

Value.

In 2006, the House of Commons Library published a research paper which included an index of prices in pounds for each year between 1750 and 2005, where 1974 was indexed at 100.  Regarding the period 1750–1914 the document states: "Although there was considerable year on year fluctuation in price levels prior to 1914 (reflecting the quality of the harvest, wars, etc.) there was not the long-term steady increase in prices associated with the period since 1945". It goes on to say that "Since 1945 prices have risen in every year with an aggregate rise of over 27 times".  The value of the index in 1751 was 5.1, increasing to

Exchange rate.

The pound is freely bought and sold on the foreign

Reserve.

Sterling is used as a reserve currency around the world and is currently ranked fourth in value held as reserves.

Pound sterling (symbol: £; ISO code: GBP), known in some contexts simply as the pound or sterling, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the British Antarctic Territory, and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 "pence" (singular: "penny", abbreviated: "p"). The Pound sterling is the oldest currency in continuous use. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have currencies called the "pound".

Libra šterlinků, nebo též britská libra () je zákonné platidlo Spojeného království. Oficiální ISO 4217 kód měny je GBP. Značka pro libru je £ a v angličtině se dává před sumu. Původně libra označovala jen jednotku hmotnosti (1 libra = 453 gramů), až později se libra šterlinků začala používat i jako měnová jednotka. Jedna libra se dělí na 100 pencí.